Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Stuffed Figs

Greetings from Barcelona!

After a gorgeous (and virtually internet-less) week with friends in an adorable village on the coast of Portugal called Sao Martinho do Porto, Eugene and I flew to Spain, where we'll be spending the next week doing a bit more traveling.

I already have dozens and dozens of photos and stories and recipe ideas to share with you once I get back to New York, but I couldn't resist taking advantage of the super fast WiFi (pronounced "wee-fee" here) in our guesthouse here, to share a quick post and recipe with you.

Our home for the week in Portugal was a lovely seaside villa that we rented along with a few of our friends. We spent our days exploring the surrounding villages and enjoying lunches by the water, then returning home to swim, drink wine, and eat casual, but abundant, dinners in the comfort of our own dining room.

I loved cooking in that little house.

We bought meat from the local butcher, picked up fresh produce from the outdoor market, and popped into the local InterMarche (a supermarket) to browse the aisles and stock up on necessities like little glass pots of yogurt, salted golden butter, local spices, and freshly-baked rolls and pastries from the bakery.

I marinated meats and vegetables that I then handed off to the boys to grill, then set to work arranging appetizer boards piled high with local charcuterie, cheeses, olives, almonds, and other tasty bites.

I whipped that lovely yogurt up with herbs to make dips, roasted tiny potatoes with loads of garlic and oil, and tossed peppery watercress with simple vinaigrettes.

We opened up bottle after bottle of wine, and for dessert split Portuguese pastries, fruit, and frozen Magnum bars.

On our last day, I opened up the fridge to find a large bowl of ripe figs that absolutely needed to be used. I'd purchased these a couple days earlier at the farmer's market in Caldas da Rainha.

Bright green, tender, and dripping with honey, this lush variety of fig from Alcobaça is called the Pingo de Mel, or "Drop of Honey." They were on sale at the market for an incredible 1.50 euros per kilo, and so I brought home a giant bag filled with them. 

I split them gently, tucked in a  piece of salty cheese, and wrapped them in thin sliced of cured ham (a local prosciutto-like variety).


Nestled against each other in a small baking dish, I roasted them for about 25 minutes, until the ham crisped and the figgy honey oozed out of the little packages. 

We ate them warm as an appetizer; plump, sweet, salty, and bursting with flavor.




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Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Stuffed Figs
Depending on how many you're serving, you can multiply this recipe as needed. This serves about 4 as an appetizer.

Ingredients
12 ripe fresh figs (any variety!)
1/4 pound salty cheese (such as Manchego), cut into 12 1-inch pieces
6 slices prosciutto or jamon serrano, sliced in half lengthwise
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Use a small knife to cut a slit in each fig deep enough to almost fully insert the piece of cheese. Wrap each stuffed fig with the ham (doesn't have to be perfect--just tuck it all the way around like a little blanket).

Place the wrapped figs with cut part up on a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with kosher salt and black pepper.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until the ham is crisp and the figs are tender. (Some of the juice and cheese will melt out--that's ok!)

Serve hot as an appetizer.

Note: The figs can be stuffed and wrapped with ham up to 8 hours in advance, then baked just before serving.

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Guest Post: Ginger Spiced Pumpkin Butter by NoshOn.It

Hi Always Order Dessert readers! Vijay from NoshOn.It here and I’m so excited to be guest posting while Alejandra is on vacation...and a little jealous! I’ll admit, right after Labor Day Passed, I was NOT one of the people on the “OMG, THE PUMPKIN RECIPES ARE COMING” bandwagon. Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin things as much as the next person but I’m not quite ready to let go of summer.

The sun is still shining, the weather is still sometimes warm enough where my flip-flips stay in rotation, and part of me wishes I were still in school so I could have a summer vacation.

But alas, you can’t always get what you want and soon enough, I’m going to have to come to the realization that fall is here. Lately, I’ve been trying to get into making more of my condiments at home. This is partially to try to flex my DIY muscles more than I have in the fast and partially to see if I could actually do it. I can handle savory things on the stove, but baking, sweets, and desserts in general are not really my thing.

Given that the name of Alejandra’s blog is “Always Order Dessert,” I thought I’d try my hand at making something sweet that you could use for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anytime!

Plus, it has pumpkin so consider this my fall confessional.

Unlike other forms of butter made from dairy, pumpkin butter is nothing more than pumpkin puree simmered on the stove with something to sweeten it and spices until it’s thick, shiny, and spreadable. You can go as simple as using pumpkin pie spice, but I prefer to make my own spice blends so I can control every element.
This pumpkin butter has both grated fresh ginger as well as dried ground ginger and a host of other spices to really warm it up. I originally had the idea of adding ground cardamom...but in the midst of a busy day I totally forgot. Feel free to add a ½ teaspoon if you’d like and change up the quantities of the spices to suit your taste. Stored in jars, this stuff will stay good in the fridge for at least a week and in the freezer for several months...if it even lasts that long.

Some ideas on how to use it: spread it on toast, fill it into crepes, use it instead of plain maple syrup on pancakes, sandwich it with cream cheese between bread for a stuffed French Toast, serve it warm over vanilla ice cream, use it as a condiment for grilled pork or chicken. Or just eat it with a spoon!

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it for you. Come on over and say hello to us at NoshOn.It and until then, happy noshin’!

About Vijay & NoshOn.It: Vijay Nathan is the Co-Founder, Editor, and Chief Nosher of NoshOn.It, a daily recipe newsletter and website that helps you discover recipes you’ll crave from new food bloggers you’ll love. He is passionate about helping people realize that anyone can be a great cook with just a little bit on inspiration and education. And he’ll fight you for that last piece of bacon. Send him a high-five on Twitter!

Ginger Spiced Pumpkin Butter
Makes: 2 ½ cups

Ingredients:
1 14.5 oz. can 100% pumpkin puree (or homemade)
¾ cup apple juice or apple cider
½ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg


Directions:
In a saucepan with tall sides, combine all of the ingredients and whisk to combine. Bring the pan to a simmer over medium heat, turn the heat down to low, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes, whisking often. The mixture has a tender to splatter so you can partially cover it while simmering if needed.

Remove the pan from the heat, allow to cool to room temperature and store in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for several months.

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Buttered Popcorn Blondies

A few weeks ago, I was asked to contribute a sweet treat to a charity bake sale. I quickly agreed, and then spent FOR-EV-ER trying to figure out what to make.

I finally decided to go with blondies.

Blondies are unfairly underrated. They're looked upon as brownie's milder, less-delicious sister, which I understand, but simply don't accept.

Blondies shouldn't be compared to brownies; they're their own wonderful treat! A perfect blank canvas that can be customized and transformed to every taste or season. And even when left alone, plain and simple, they can be absolutely sublime. Hints of butterscotch and vanilla. A thin crackly crust. And that melty, almost cookie-dough like texture (because blondies, like many sweets, are best served slightly underdone).

Yes, a blondie is a beautiful thing.


For this batch I decided to add popcorn. I had to buy a lot of popcorn for another recipe project I'm working on, and so the boxes and bags of popcorn kernels have been sitting on my kitchen counter for weeks just begging to be played with. While standing there trying to figure out what to put in my blondies, I saw them and knew it had to be done.

A quick Google to see if anyone else had the same idea came up empty, but I did discover some popcorn cookies from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook via the lovely Joy, which gave me the confidence to go ahead with my plan.

Salty, buttery microwave popcorn, folded into that salty, butterscotch-y batter.

Baked just a couple minutes short of complete, then left to cool at room temperature for a few hours until the popcorn softens a bit into the batter.

The result is delightfully chewy and sticky, with hints of popcorn balls and a bit of toasted corn. It reminded me a little bit of that cereal, Corn Pops! Sweet. Salty.

I actually ate four of them before I realized what I was doing and packed the rest away.

Now here's the thing: popcorn being popcorn means that there are going to be a few little hulls in your blondie. The soft corn part softens into the batter, but that tiny bit o' hull will still be there. I didn't mind, and even enjoyed this, but Eugene was not a fan. (That said, Eugene won't eat oatmeal or farro because they have "plastic-y bits," so he's very particular about texture.)

Just a fair warning.

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!  



Buttered Popcorn Blondies

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted
1 1/2 cups tightly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 bag microwave popcorn, popped [NOTE: use something buttered and salted or about 1/4 cup kernels, popped then buttered and salted if you prefer to pop your own. Be sure to sift through and remove the unpopped kernels!]
Flaky sea salt for garnish (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with foil so that it overhangs, and grease the sides.

Combine the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the base of a mixer and beat until creamy and evenly combined. Add the salt and flour and continue to mix. You should have a creamy, loose batter. Now use a spatula to fold the popcorn in a few cups at a time until it's fully coated in the batter. (Make sure there are NO unpopped kernels left; you don't want to lose a tooth!)

Spread the batter out on the prepared pan (it will be thick) and use fingers dipped in cold water to even it out. Sprinkly with a bit of flaky sea salt, if using.
Pop in the oven and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes, or until the edges are a little bit darker and the top is all set and glossy looking. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan 10 minutes, before lifting out onto a rack to cool further. (You can also pop it in the fridge.)

Once completely cool, slice into squares and serve. Will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for about 3 days. 
Basic blondie base recipe adapted from Inspired Taste.

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Baked Blueberry Chipotle Chicken Wings

We had a wing party for dinner the other night.

I had to develop some recipes for a brand I'm working with, and one of them involved chicken wings. When developing recipes for clients, I always have to make sure that I buy enough ingredients to make the recipe multiple times, which left me with a LOT of extra chicken wings to use up.

I made a few classic spicy Buffalo wings, but also wanted to do something a little sweet and sticky that would be perfect for serving during football season.

Hence, Blueberry Chipotle Chicken Wings!

A little bit sweet. A little bit spicy. These crispy baked wings are delicious, totally addictive, and really (really!) easy to make.

I always bake my wings. Honestly, it's just easier.

You toss the wings with some oil, season them generously and pop them in the oven for an hour.

Poof! Super crispy wings without the mess and fuss and massive quantities of oil used for the deep-fried kind.

Anytime I can let the oven do the work for me, I'm a happy girl.

The sauce is equally simple. Just combine the ingredients in the pot and let simmer for a few minutes, whisking it here and there.

The two key ingredients here are blueberry jam (I used this amazing Blueberry Sage Jam from my favorite Potlicker Kitchen. You can also use it to make Blueberry Jam Mojitos!) and Chipotle-flavored Tabasco (another favorite that is a staple in my pantry).

You can easily substitute another kind of jam--strawberry would be incredible here, as would seedless raspberry (the seedless part is a MUST--but I urge you to seek out the Chipotle Tabasco--the flavors are unbeatable. (Regular Tabasco + a chopped up canned chipotle would be my second choice.)

Dunk those crispy wings inside the sticky sauce and pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes--really just long enough to let the glaze set a bit.

Then you can dig in!

And don't throw out any extra sauce: It would seriously be good on regular cooked chicken breasts or even baked salmon. Oooh...and ribs!

Whether you're entertaining guests or just having a mid-week wing party at home, these will definitely be a hit.  

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!  



Blueberry Chipotle Chicken Wings
This makes about 5-6 appetizer-sized servings

Ingredients
For the wings
4 lbs chicken wings, tips removed and drummettes and flat pieces separated if they don't already come that way
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper

For the sauce
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup blueberry jam (substitute strawberry or seedless raspberry, if desired)
1/3 cup Chipotle Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon smoked spanish paprika (optional, but enhances smoky flavor)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Top 2 baking sheets with a metal rack. (You can use the same kind you use to cool cakes.) Line a third baking sheet with foil.

Remove chicken wings from package and pat very dry with a paper towel. Toss in a bowl with olive oil and generously season with kosher salt and black pepper, then arrange on the prepared baking sheets, allowing at least 1 inch between each piece of chicken on all sides.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until crisp and golden brown. (You can turn the broiler on for the last 3-5 minutes to give them even more color, if desired.)

While the chicken cooks, make the sauce. Combine the butter, blueberry jam, and Chipotle Tabasco in a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk continuously until it starts to boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, and whisk in paprika and salt. Let simmer 5 minutes, whisking occasionally, until the sauce thickens. Taste and adjust seasoning, if desired.

Once the chicken is ready, remove from oven and use tongs to roll each piece in the sauce, then place on the prepared foil-lined baking sheet. Lower oven to 350, and bake 7 minutes to set glaze. Serve immediately with additional sauce on the side for dipping.
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Kitchen Tip: Rinse Canned Beans

I absolutely love using canned beans. They're inexpensive, non-perishable and a quick and healthy way to add protein to a meal. While I occasionally use dried beans, 9 times out of 10, I rely on the convenience of canned beans.

Only problem? Canned beans can often be high in sodium and the starchy liquid in the bottom of the can add a slightly funky, muddy taste to your finished dish.

To avoid this, I always drain AND rinse my canned beans under cold running water before adding to my recipe.

Rinsing canned beans before using reduces sodium by up to 40% and leaves you with beans that taste fresher. Add this quick step to your routine and you'll end up with a much healthier and better-tasting final dish.



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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 
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Giveaway: Win a Box of New Orleans Chocolates from Sucré

I have a sweet treat for you this Friday! Inspired by my recent travels, I have a delicious New Orleans Chocolate Collection giveaway ($30 value) for you from one of my favorite shops in that fine city, Sucré .

Sucré is a gorgeous pastry and chocolate shop in New Orleans that specializes in creative macarons, truffles, and New Orleans' specialties like their Mardi Gras King Cake. (One of the best in the city!)

The chocolates in this particular box are each inspired by the flavors of the city, including Coffee & Chicory, Praline Pecan, Brown Butter - Meunière, Bananas Foster, and Caramel & Sea Salt. 


To enter, just leave a comment below letting me know one thing you'd love to do, see, or eat in New Orleans (Check out my New Orleans travel story if you need a little inspiration!)

**You can get extra entries by doing any of the following and leaving a separate comment for each one you did. If you don't leave a separate comment, it's just going to count as one entry so LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT. You can leave up to 6 comments (entries) total.

1. Like Always Order Dessert on Facebook. Already a fan? Leave a comment on the page to say hello, then comment here to say you did.  
2. Follow me on Twitter (@nandita) and comment to say you did
3. Post about this giveaway on your own personal or fan page Facebook wall, tagging my FB page, then comment here to say you did.
4. Post the following message or a similar one in your own words on Twitter: Giveaway! Win a box of New Orleans-themed chocolates from @nandita & @SucreNewOrleans: bit.ly/17KTkYQ
(then comment here to say you did)
5. "Pin" an Always Order Dessert recipe or post of your choice on Pinterest and then comment here to say you did.
The winner will be selected via Random Number Generator. Your entry must be in by 5PM EST on Friday, September 13, 2013. US residents only, please.
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Travel Diaries: New Orleans, Part 2

Let's start with breakfast. It should come as no surprise that eating new and delicious things is my favorite part of travel. But out of all the things, it's really breakfast that I love the most.

Going out for dinner or lunch is a fairly common occurrence--especially here in New York City.

But there is something incredibly luxurious about sitting down to a relaxed breakfast in a new city while on vacation.

You're well-rested from a night in a delicious hotel bed. The hunger is real and fresh. And you know that after the meal, a full day of adventure stretches ahead.

(Bonus points if it's a weekday and all the regular people are at work.)

And New Orleans? Oh, New Orleans knows how to do breakfast very, very well.

My favorite meal in New Orleans that weekend came from Stanley, a lovely casual spot located in the heart of the French Quarter on Jackson Square. Eugene found it online the previous night, and because the reviews were amazing and we both thought the name was funny, we decided to give it a shot.

(The restaurant is named after Stanley in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire; there is also a more upscale sister restaurant named Stella.)

I admit we were a bit skeptical of its touristy location. Jackson Square is a bustle of activity, even early in the morning, and we had to push through a crowd of people tossing coins at a giant mechanical man just to get to the front door.

Fortunately, there was no need to worry.

Inside, Stanley is lovely and cool with high ceilings, tall windows, and white marble tables and counters.
And the menu?

Oh, baby!

I started with that gorgeous Brandy Milk Punch pictured above, and then chose the Omelet Sandwich, which I swear is the best thing I ate all weekend.

Toasted, buttery multi-grain bread filled with eggs, melted American cheese, crispy bacon, ham, caramelized sweet onions, and a spicy Cajun mayo.

It was breakfast sandwich perfection, and I can't even express to you how badly I'm craving another.

Eugene ordered a spectacular dish called the Breaux Bridge Benedict: thick French baguette slices topped with local pork boudin patties, poached eggs, cheese, smoked ham, and hollandaise.

(Please note the ham garnish. Take that, parsley!)

We also ordered a side of the most beautiful Corned Beef Hash I've ever seen, served over delightfully spicy Creole Breakfast Potatoes.

After breakfast, Eugene and I spent some time wandering around Jackson Square and the rest of the Quarter.
We poked into vintage shops and a charming and possibly haunted bookstore called Crescent City Books, where I bought 7 books--something I slightly regretted as I lugged my billion pound carry-on through the airport the next day.
I also wanted to buy this little guy, but this particular store was closed...

I also dragged Eugene into every single praline and candy shop I saw to take advantage of the copious free samples.


Oh, man, do I love pralines!
This confection is called Mississippi Mud from a store called Laura's Candies, which billed itself as "New Orleans' Oldest Candy Store."

It's a layered chocolate bark made with caramel, chocolate, and pecans, and it took all I had to stop myself from buying a 2lb box of it to bring home.

Speaking of sugar...


We, of course, had to stop at Cafe du Monde so that Eugene could have his first taste of beignets.

Eugene wanted to share an order, but I put a swift stop to that, and we each got our own order of three, burning hot and piled high with powdery sugar. We also each got a cup of that famous chicory coffee.

We walked the donuts off by wandering through the French Market. The flea market part wasn't very thrilling (it was very similar to the ones in NY except with more masks and beads), but the food part was magnificent.

Had we not already eaten, I probably would have tried a dozen different things. 

We kept wandering and eventually found ourselves on Frenchmen Street, which is a great place to go at night for live music (and much more relaxed than crazy ol' Bourbon).

 I loved these signs at one of the clubs on Frenchmen. Get your soul right! (This, by the way, is Domenic. Thanks, YouTube!)

I wanted to go the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum as I'm fascinated by old time-y pharmacies (tinctures! linaments!), but it was closed. 

These blue dogs, by contemporary artist George Rodrigue, can be spotted all over the city. We saw them used in ads, on building murals, and on paintings in just about every restaurant we went to. We finally looked it up to learn more.

The sign on the left was on a window across from our hotel, The International House.

"Here's to the creative ones," is the hotel's motto, and they had large photographs and mixed media paintings of John Lennon, Steve Jobs, and Audrey Hepburn and others decorating their walls. They also host regular events honoring talented creatives. (Check out their Pinterest page).

Eugene wanted to see the "Mighty Mississippi," so the absolute last thing we did before leaving was walk over to the water to watch the riverboats go by.

I can't wait to get back to this city.

xoxo

Alejandra


Disclaimer: Eugene and I were invited to visit New Orleans as guests of The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation #FollowYourNOLA campaign. Our travel, lodgings, and most of our meals were paid for, but all opinions and experiences are, of course, my own.




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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 


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Travel Diaries: New Orleans, Part 1

New Orleans is so many amazing things at once.

Old and new. Elegant and bawdy. Urban and tropical. Loud, and yet also beautifully and peacefully silent.

There is sadness, but also so much humor.

And there is a heat that flows through, swirling around and pulling you along, encouraging you to taste and experience as much as you can. It's lusty. It's indulgent.

It's all of the things that I love.

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in this magical city last month.

It was only a weekend, but we made a point of exploring and eating and soaking in as much as we possibly could, and now I want to share a few of those moments with you.

The streets of the city were sprinkled with red that first day. It was the morning of the Red Dress Run, a yearly charity run that brings out the young and old, male and female, in bright red dresses and sneakers.

We saw them everywhere--waiting in line for breakfast. Browsing through shops. And as we got closer and closer to the Quarter, the red filled out more and more until we were completely surrounded.

Eugene wanted to skip Bourbon Street to avoid the commotion, but I pulled him in for one block. I wanted to feel how it felt to get swept along in that sea of red enthusiasm, smiles, and music.

I felt a little bit envious of the others, and wished that I could change into a red dress and join right in.

The heat that weekend was heavy, breaking into thick tropical rainstorms that kept sending us running for cover.

Though we'd come prepared with a loose itinerary, we quickly decided to just let the weather guide our plans, walking along while the sun shined, and ducking into bars and shops when the fat droplets started to fall.

It was the perfect way to experience the city.
One of the first places we fell into was named Kingfish.

Named after former Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long (nicknamed "The Kingfish"), it's an elegant cocktail bar and restaurant with a cool, classic feel to it.

We took seats at the bar and ordered drinks from a pretty red-haired bartender who chatted easily with us.

A refreshing Pimm's Cup for me. A classic Sazerac for Eugene.
We actually only intended to stay for one drink, but the place was so lovely and the conversation was so nice, that we each ordered a second and then decided to get lunch, too.

New Orleans is a perfect place for lingering...

When the rain stopped, we pulled ourselves away from our cozy spot and headed back out for another round of exploration along those gorgeous streets.

So many colors...

 Old time-y streetcars and palm trees make me incredibly happy.

So do masks and feathers.

When the rain started again, we ran into a little dive bar called Molly's Irish Pub where we sipped good, strong drinks and watched people escaping from the rain.

I loved these three and took their picture.

And then this guy saw me and jumped in to have his picture taken, too!

The one thing Eugene wanted was "a lot of oysters," so we made our way to Felix's, which is across from the slightly more famous Acme, and ordered oysters all of the ways: charbroiled, raw, and a po'boy.

Hot, smokey, and buttery oysters. They're the kind of delicious you eat with eyes closed, not caring about anything but the taste.

The raw oysters were huge and meaty, and not too briny. We topped them off with lemon juice and extra-spicy cocktail sauce that we mixed up ourselves right on the table.

Eugene was a happy dude.

For dinner our first night, we headed to ROOT, a bright, airy, and fairly new restaurant on Julia Street that, like so much of New Orleans, serves dishes that combine the old and the modern.
The dishes seemed to alternate between dainty, like this soup, and outright decadent, like my Cohiba-Smoked Scallops with Chorizo Dust that arrived inside of a wooden cigar box.

That dish was like kissing a man, I swear.

We also ordered this, which I think was called something along the lines of: "All of the sausage in the world + pickles."

Recommended for sharing, Eugene and I demolished most of it as an appetizer, and then laughed when a huge party of 8 next to us ordered the same thing.

"Amateurs!" we giggled under our breaths.

After dinner, we slowly wandered back to our hotel, already discussing what to do about breakfast the next day.

Click Here to read Part II of my New Orleans Travel Diary, where I share the most delicious thing I ate all weekend.


Disclaimer: Eugene and I were invited to visit New Orleans as guests of The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation #FollowYourNOLA campaign. Our travel, lodgings, and most of our meals were paid for, but all opinions and experiences are, of course, my own.

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 


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