FOOD!!!

Inner Journey



Today was the day that I have been waiting for. The culinary tour!! I have wanted to taste food that New Orleans has to offer for ten years. I was first turned on to creole style food when I worked in a restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago. It was fine dining and I had to be trained for two weeks on the style of food and what specific ingredients were in the food. We had crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo, boudin, dirty rice and a multitude of different seafood dishes. Ever since working there I have wanted to see if the food in the actual city was similar, or dare I say, better than, the food that I was trained on.


We went to five different places that all served us different dishes. Two of the restaurants were the oldest in the city. We learned the difference between creole and Cajun food. Although we learned about it there was not any Cajun food that we ate. Everything that we had was creole, which is more of a tomato-based food. It was all delicious. We had beef brisket sandwiches, seafood gumbo, red beans and rice, shrimp remoulade, and turtle soup. At each stop we toured the restaurant, looked for the spirits that haunt them, and tasted the delicious food. Everything that we tried had some sort of seafood in it. My favorite dishes were the brisket sandwich and the turtle soup. I have never tried turtle before, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it. The texture of turtle is kind of stringy making each bite become a question on whether or not I had a hair in it. Other than that, the flavor was beefy and robust. The brisket sandwich that we tried was served with a special sauce and on a French baguette with lettuce and tomato. Every bite I took tasted amazing and made me want to eat ten more! I am happy to say that the food was just as good as I was hoping it would be, although my jeans will not be.















Outer Journey




We got to enjoy a home-cooked pot of red beans and rice while sitting in a courtyard. As we walked through the store to the back room, we entered the courtyard through a skinny blue doorway. The walls in the courtyard were whitewashed and the sun was peaking in through the opening. There was an older woman sitting behind a thin tall table that had a very large silver pot producing steam. We all sat down in the chairs that were set up into rows of three. The courtyard was warm and welcoming with a small water fountain against the wall. There was a cool, soft breeze that would quickly come and go. The silver haired woman spoke to us about her creole roots and how to make an authentic roux. The steaming pot was full of red beans and rice that she had prepared for the group to taste. Along with the rice and beans, there was a bottle of Louisiana hot sauce that was passed around. Once everyone had their own bowl it was silent while we all enjoyed our food. Each bite of rice and beans was tender and full of flavor. After finishing the bowls, the garbage was collected, and we were taught about specific products that were sold in the store we had previously walked through to get to the courtyard. There was a dark brown of bottle that was passed around. Each person took a whiff of the bottle and then took a second whiff. The aroma was that of the sweet vanilla bean. It smelled so amazing that I wish I could have it as a scented candle. I cannot wait to taste it and bake with it.