February 2006 – Page 2 – Deep Fried Kudzu

February 19, 2006

Marriott, Mobile AL

We stayed at this Marriott in Mobile after the Order of Inca Mardi Gras parade. It was pretty average in every way…

…and didn’t make enough of an impression on me to want to stay here again. It’s not downtown – it’s over by the malls, and it just didn’t have a lot of character one way or the other.

I’m really waiting for the Battle House Hotel that the RSA is doing to open…that should turn out to be the best hotel in Mobile. The only weird thing is that the website has a tab for the spa, but it looks as though instead of having an on-site spa, that they’ll be directing people to the “minutes away” Grand Hotel Marriott in Point Clear.

Um, Point Clear is about 35-45 minutes away from downtown Mobile – not across the street or even across town – so I’m thinking that if you just want an hour massage or a mani/pedi, that’s not going to sound very good to spend more time driving over and back than the time your treatment takes…and if you’re going for a spa experience, it would make more sense to just stay in Point Clear….

February 19, 2006

Order of Inca, Mobile Mardi Gras

We left New Orleans for Mobile and went to the Order of Inca Mardi Gras parade:

We got there early to get a good spot. The parade started with the motorcycle police doing circles in the middle of the street, and then the mounted police went over to the little kids in the crowd so they could pet the horses. After that started a line of old Mobile police car, and then the parade actually started.

At Order of Inca Mardi Gras Parade, Mobile AL

Ack! I didn’t have a chance to take good pictures of the floats because I was so busy grabbing beads, doubloons, frisbees, moon pies, and a stuffed animal!

This year was Order of Inca’s 50th anniversary, and the theme was “Inca Finds Gold.”

There were lots of kids there, and the riders were really good about making sure they got tons of stuff – I was giving some of what I caught to a little boy next to me too – he was just in awe of everything!

Av and I got so much stuff that we started just stuffing it down his shirt (we totally forgot to bring bags)! We had a great time!

More pics are in my Flickr photostream here.

February 17, 2006

Hilton New Orleans Riverside, and Paul’s Pastry Shop King Cake

We stayed at the Hilton Riverside for the first time this week. Usually I like to stay somewhere in the Quarter, but for various reasons this was a good choice for this particular stay (plus we got upgraded including the cost of breakfast downstairs, which was pretty good). Everything here was fine, except the parking deck (they aren’t offering valet service right now) is downright dark and scary.

On the way, we stopped in Picayune (MS) to go to Paul’s Pastry Shop (they make *the* best king cakes – I think they’re better than Randazzo’s, Gambino’s, or Tastee making the McKenzie-recipe cake, even!). Paul’s was actually out of cakes, but we stopped at one of the other shops that sells them and bought the very last one – a pecan praline-filled one. Yum!

This is what close-up shots were made for:

Now what I **really** want to do this year is make a galette des rois cake – it’s the traditional king cake from France that’s just soooo beautiful. If it works out, I’ll post the pics and recipe in an upcoming post!

February 15, 2006January 6, 2020

Love Is In The Air…

Valentine’s Day was sooooo nice! For one thing, Av had this beautiful orchid delivered (orchids are my favorite flower/plant of all time) – and this one has lots of buds, so it will be flowering for at least the next couple of months at least! So pretty!

My big present was a lithgraph by Nall (my favorite artist). Av (the best husband anybody could ever have!!!) left it unframed so I could pick out how to have it done. I could theoretically do it myself in a style complemetary to his, which might be really interesting and fun…..and if it all fell apart or I didn’t like the way it turned out I could just take it to a frame shop and have it done in a more traditional way. Hmmm……

Av got a cd and his other thing hasn’t arrived yet…so I’m not going to say yet what it is! 🙂

We also traded kiddie Valentines (mine were Hello Kitty and Av’s were Star Wars), which we added super-corny sayings to, and last night we opened each other’s card box to read them out loud – they were **hilarious**!!!!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!!

February 14, 2006

Pics from Krewe du Vieux, New Orleans

All year (really – all year!) I look forward to being in New Orleans for Mardi Gras season. Av is in the Krewe du Vieux parade, so we always get a big kick out of it.

Soooooooo much fun!!!!
There are lots more pics on my Flickr set here.

February 14, 2006

Omni Royal Orleans, New Orleans LA

This was our first stay at the Omni Royal Orleans – Av wanted us to get a hotel right on the parade route for the Krewe du Vieux so that since I would be by myself (he’s in the parade) I wouldn’t have to walk anywhere to be able to see it. The parade went right in front of the hotel and I was all set (I’ll post pics of the parade tomorrow)!

This is our room – it was small, but pretty nice. Av wanted to get us a balcony room so that I could be up there for the parade if I wanted, but they didn’t have any available, and when he checked us in, he asked again but they only had the regular rooms open.

Hotel Room, Omni Royal Orleans, New Orleans LA

For some reason, he asked if we could open the windows and they actually said that the windows were *nailed shut* because of people jumping out of them!!! WHAT?! Um…first of all I have a hard time believing that but also I can’t imagine telling a guest that, even if ever was true.

I was thinking that because this was a Omni hotel that it might be a little nicer. It wasn’t one of those hotels where everybody that works there knows your name (like when we’ve stayed at the Ritz-Carlton) but the lobby was nice and the room was okay.

The weirdest thing was that the commode flushed at something like 200 decibels. I would actually flush and run it was so loud!!! hahahaha!!

Anyway, we had a *fabulous* time – I’ll put pics up tomorrow of the Krewe du Vieux. Fun!