Day 6: Where am I and who took my diet will power?

OK....so much for consistency in writing.  It seems most routines get disrupted by vacation no matter how great your intentions.  Alas, what can you do.  I started my New Orleans entry Saturday upon returning.  Apparently I ate too much to continue, and yesterday was another travel day...so I am way off on keeping you all posted on my Southern adventures.  Before I dive into a variety of disjointed stories I will note that there is no weigh in this Monday (collective "Awwwww" noted).  There is a scale here, and it's not that I'd be that embarrassed if I had put on weight.  However, I sort of feel if I use a different scale it's a bit inaccurate.  So I get a pass this week on weigh in and hope that I can contain the damage and possible reign in the bad eating a tad before next Monday rolls around!

Now that business is taken care of, back to our previously scheduled story:

Day 4: Take it easy in the Big Easy...Yeah Right!
I have never been to New Orleans before (my virgin trip was suppose to be the weekend Katrina hit...obviously when we saw radar images from the Gulf earlier that week we cancelled our plans).  My Columbia, MS in-laws thought this a perfect opportunity to jut down for the day, as well to further corrupt an already shaky few days of dieting.  Sigh.  We loaded into the car and made the two hour drive down,down, down into the sweltering heat of the Big Easy.  Upon exiting the car, the sweat instantly begins to pool in a number of unsavory places.  Suck it up and walk on!

Our first stop (it seems this entire trip was one food excursion after another) was a famous restaurant call The Court of Two Sisters (http://www.courtoftwosisters.com/), which featured a jazz brunch.  Apparently there used to be a Sunday jazz brunch at a restaurant at the Hilton but that is no longer there.  Given the way we ate at this venue I'm not too sad this other brunch wasn't around anymore.

It's more fun to tell my food story through pictures...so take a look.

We arrive....no the lady in blue is not me.  I am glad my muffin top is much reduced since the onset of the diet.  Plus I'm pretty private and not sure if there are strangers (I welcome you!!) out there reading me, but not sure I want the world to know "who" I am!

There were two long buffets spreads down the left and right side of the inner restaurant littered with cold and hot dishes.  There were several standards and a plethora of traditional Creole dishes.  Case in point, the infamous Crawfish

What brunch would be complete without a heaping pile of "Breakfast Meats?"

You can't possibly call yourself a respectable brunch establishment unless you have a crew of dedicated staff working an egg station.  I don't know how they did it in the heat, but these cooks deserve a raise.  I caught this picture in one of the only breaks in the line.  You'll have to excuse the picture quality...you don't mess with hungry people at a jazz brunch...I tried to snap and go as quickly as possible.

And the final product...I almost wish I was an Eggs Benedict person because these look damn near perfect!  But that whole Hollandaise sauce thing violates my condiment rule.  As well, the runny yolk is not my bag (When I have a poached egg I cook the yolk through...so in all likelihood I'm no longer eating a poached egg, but what do I care??)

Now, I am a pretty non-experimental eater.  Sweets are one thing, but entrees a whole separate game.  There is always an ingredient in a dish I don't like.  I swear, I am Sally from "When Harry Met Sally."  It takes me at least 10 minutes to order and I'm surprised MM hasn't divorced me over this quirk alone.  Obviously at a brunch the dish is the dish and there will be no special orders.  However, I felt empowered and decided to live on the edge (maybe it's because I'm so damn tired of nonfat cooking spray and leaves, that I'll try anything....almost).  Here was plate number one (honestly, they were small so it looks like more than it was).  Instead of my normal gargantuan helpings, I grabbed a lot of small helpings of things so I could maximize on my eating adventure.  I made sure to try what I thought were most authentic to the area and forgo anything traditional.  The rundown is as follows: turtle soup (yes, I ate Yertle the Turtle), Shrimp Etouffee, Cornbread Stuffing, Grits, Duck L'Orange, some Catfish with a cream/butter sauce (wish I could recall the name because it was AMAZING), Shrimp, and I tried my very first Crawfish.

Given my overly bleeding heart for all critters (If PETA knew me I'm sure they'd recruit me) everyone thought the crawfish weren't going to be a hit.  I live in New England and I won't eat a lobster!  But when in Rome, right?  This is how much compassion I had for the crustacean brethren:

I liked them enough to go back for more.  However, they are A LOT of work for a little meat.  On the plus side, I've been told they are pretty low in calories...so bonus!  I made the mistake of smelling my fingers after peeling a few...big mistake for someone whose olfactory gland might as well lend me to truffle hunting!  My fish fingers were enough to turn me off to eating anymore seafood for the day.  You will note the biscuit on the plate too.  This was more or less my dessert.  I don't want to know how many calories or grams of fat lay in that bread product.  I simply don't care.  It was the most amazing thing I have ever consumed.  Honestly, I will never be satisfied with another biscuit so long as I live.

The meal ended with a few samplings of dessert...nothing that was as impressive as the meal itself.  Again, I will stress that I pigged out by recent standards, but if I look at my efforts compared to the good old days it was a poor showing that I left comfortable verses with a vomit bag "just in case."

Our sweating tour of New Orleans continued through the French Quarter, Bourbon Street (I was forced to drink part of a Hurricane.....more calories and sugar.  Luckily MM helped me out with that one), and then we stumbled on the 24th Annual Cajun Tomato Festival.  I couldn't possibly call myself a respectable tourist without seeking and destroying a pile of Fried Green Tomatoes.  Find them I did...

I wouldn't say I "sampled" these.  I ate 3 of the 4 slices of crispy tart bliss.  I must have complained about the the thirst (I'm sure in part was due to the salt from these suckers, and in part due to the fact I'd likely lost 1/2 the water volume of my body in perspiration along) because no sooner was I about to burst did my father in law show up with a gigantic sized fruit smoothie.  I managed to drink a little.  The cold alone was reason to do so.  But I will tell you that getting in that car for a 2 hour drive back to MS was long, hard and full.

Thus concludes my trip to New Orleans...leaving me with a taste to go back sans toddler and not really on a diet to enjoy all of the city's finest attributes (mostly notably missed on the tour was Cafe du Monde's Beignets...simply too stuffed and hot to eat by end of day.  If you are in the area you SHOULD find the room for them unlike me: http://www.cafedumonde.com/).  

The trip to Columbia, MS concluded with more eating than I've done in months.  I am officially in food detox mode back in Jackson, MS.  I do not think I'm out of the woods yet.  However, I ended last night with a large salad.  Today I had a tomato sandwich, not with the mayo of course!  My mother in law took me to a local farm stand where I picked up some wonderful fresh produce that I'm hoping will keep me on track for a day or so until the next Southern challenge comes my way.

Until then, I wish you all happy and healthy eating.  I hope your temptations far less than mine at the moment!