Laissez un bon temps rouler

Hopped on my magic invisible jet (yes, in imagination vacations you can have an invisible jet!) and headed to NOLA last night. Sadly, despite the amazing invisible jet, it was very hard to keep duping myself into believing I was actually in New Orleans because Lubbock is so dreadfully LAME! I went to the cajun restaurant, ordered a hurricane (they were out) and boudin (they were out). Decided on gumbo and new potatoes. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I am picky about my gumbo, so the roux was a little too thick for my taste. Plus, the shrimp was canned, and the roux had tilapia in it, which was a mite disturbing. The new potatoes were actually a new potato served whole on a plate with no seasoning. What made the place worse was the obnoxious college kids who were pissed off that they were working there instead of going to Florida. Oh and that the place, like everything else in Lbb, closes at 6 on Sundays. Side story--when I asked for the boudin, the waiter actually looked at me with this obnoxious look of disdain and disgust and said, "Um, this is totally not boudin season. It's like oysters, you know? We don't have oysters either because it is not the season. Gah." He really said Gah. How in the hell does boudin have its own season? It's pig! Do pigs have a season? Figures. I've been going mostly vegetarian lately, so maybe this was my hint to stay that way. Damnit, though, because I loves me some boudin.

So I leave and hit the only place open on Sunday, a shady little place called The Lone Star Oyster Bar or O-Bar to the locals. I figure oysters are NOLAish, so I stop there. And it was providence! Ended up talking to a guy for 6 hours, debating nature vs nurture, quantum mechanics and alternate universes, Shakespeare vs Marlowe, the evolution of the theatre, intubation techniques, hockey... Wow, a wonderful evening with a new well-read friend in the medical profession. We have plans to see a play sometime this week.

And that, my friends, was NOLA. I'm thinking of China tonight. Keep you posted.