Taking it easy in the Big Easy – Part 3

Day 3 in the Big Easy started off with:

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Haha, well actually it started off with FREE continental breakfast at the hotel.  Thennnnn the Maker’s Mark (for Jarrod anyway… I think that stuff tastes like nail polish remover).

After breakfast and some meandering through the French Quarter

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Then we stopped at Primo’s for some snacking:

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Primo’s got horrible reviews online, but we were dying for some bruschetta and they happened to have it on the menu so we decided to ignore the reviews.

I love how all the bars and restaurants down here are open to the streets.  Most of the buildings have huge windows that you can open up and it makes you feel like your are in a courtyard instead of inside the building.

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I should also mention that the whether has been AMAZING the whole time we have been here.  80+ degrees, sunny, and no humidity.  GLORIOUS!

I’m so glad we ignored those reviews on Primo’s!  Take a look at this beauty:

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Jarrod said it was the best bruschetta he ever had.  I don’t know about the BEST, but it definitely was REALLY friggin delicious.

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We also ordered a small margherita pizza:DSCF3834

This was tasty too—just needed a little hot sauce!

Primo's on Urbanspoon

After lunch we had some time to kill, so we popped a squat across the street from Jackson Square to watch some street performers.

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These guys were actually REALLY good!

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And they drew quite the crowd!

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It’s crazy what these guys can do with their bodies.  I can’t do a pushup let alone hold my whole body up with one arm and spin it around like a helicopter while simultaneously bouncing up and down:

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Me and the BF in Jackson Square:

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After lunch, we headed to our French Quarter & Cemetery tour (which I purchased on Groupon a month or so ago).  The tour only cost us $10 a piece, and it was a self-guided walking tour that lasted 1.5 hours.  SCORE!

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While walking around the French Quarter a random man shouted out Jarrod “Man you big as an Avatar!  Look at that big ole white boy!”  Neither of us have seen the movie (so we’re not quite sure how Jarrod reminded the guy of an Avatar), regardless we both busted out in laughter at the man’s explanation (as did the group of people walking behind us).  Only in New Orleans 😀

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You may be wondering why the heck we wanted to go on a cemetery tour on our vacation.  No, it’s not because we are nearing on Halloween.  It’s because New Orleans cemeteries are uniquely interesting: DSCF3853

Since the city is located below sea level, all of the deceased are buried ABOVE the ground.

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What’s even more interesting is that family members are added to the tombs over CENTURIES.  We passed many tombs where the first family member was buried in the 1800’s and over the years more and more family members were added (even as most recent as 2004)!

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Jarrod and the tour guide:

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The tour guide told us that this is the tomb Nicholas Cage built for himself:

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Even though this tour was REALLY cool, we both felt odd smiling for a picture in front of a tomb (hence the grimace on Jarrod’s face) 😛

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After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for our daily afternoon nap (we’re like a bunch of old farts, I swear!).

We were having a lot of debate on where to go for dinner, but settled on Margaritaville.  I know, I know…  Jimmy Buffet is one of Jarrod’s unstated idols, and neither of us have ever been to Margaritaville, so off we went.

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We wanted to push ourselves a little out of our comfort zones, so we opted for the Crab, Shrimp, and Mushroom dip for our appetizer:

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It came with delicious garlic bread for dipping.  I thought it was actually really good (Jarrod wasn’t quite so keen on it, but he was fully satisfied with the bread).

For dinner we went with the Jambalaya:

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Jarrod said this was the best meal he had to date in New Orleans, and I agree it was DELICIOUS.  And yes, that is seven (count them) seven pieces of garlic bread that we wolfed down during dinner 🙂

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe on Urbanspoon

After dinner we strolled over to Bourbon Street and stopped on the backside of Jackson Square to snap a photo of the shadow casted on the backside of the building:

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While on Bourbon St this time, we hit up several bars including Club 524, Krazy Korner, and the Bourbon Street Blues Company (again!).

On our walk back to the hotel, we both concurred that our favorite parts of New Orleans were everything we had seen OUTSIDE of Bourbon Street.  Bourbon Street is definitely fun and full of crazies, but it is a little too commercialized.  We both just prefer the old-world charm of NOLA over the flashing neon lights of Bourbon Street.  I do wish we had an extra day in LA to visit the districts outside of the French Quarter, but alas that will have to wait til next time!

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The great salad extraction…

Before we get into my salad debacle, let’s recap breakfast!

Breakfast #1

While getting ready for work this morning, I realized I wanted NEEDED eggs for breakfast.  I was already crunched for time, and considered passing on my fav B#1, but then it dawned on me.  EGGINS. 

“Eggins” are baked eggs that I cook up in a muffin tin.  Get it?  Egg + Muffin = Eggin 😉 (bear with me… it is Monday after all). 

I had 9 eggs in the fridge, so I decided to go with 2 whole eggs and 7 egg whites.  I mixed these up with S&P, Frank’s Red Hot, and a splash of water, and then evenly distributed them into 6 regular size muffin tins.  I also threw 2 cups of broccoli into a pan that I had sprayed down with cooking spray.  I seasoned the broccoli with some S&P, then threw everything into the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes while I continued getting ready for work.

2 breakfasts in < 5 minutes prep.  Bada bing, bada boom 🙂

I had 1/2 of the above ingredients at work today with some ketchup, of course:

Stats:  171 calories, 12g carbs, 5g fat, 21g protein, 2g fiber

Breakfast #2

Blueberry Chobani + Strawberries:

Mixed into a fruity frenzy:

Tasty!

Stats: 163 calories, 26 g carbs, 0g fat, 14g protein, 2g fiber

Lunch

Now we get to the salad debacle.  Yesterday, I went to my sister’s for a cookout and brought a huge salad.  There was a ton leftover, which meant lunch for today 😀

Sad story:  the lettuce in the salad was EXTREMELY wilty and soggy this morning.  If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s soggy lettuce (and olives–not that there were any olives involved in this story but I just want to make sure we are clear 👿 ). 

Wilty and yucky:

I’m not one to waste food, so I decided to perform a salad extraction.  In preparation for this procedure, I brought a bag of lettuce from the fridge at home.

My saviour:

Piece by piece I sifted through the salad pulling out any of the soggy pieces.

Icky bits:

Icky on the left, crispy on the right:

So fresh and so crisp, crisp:

I also had a Jennie O Turkey Sausage on the side with some mustard:

I may or may not have spent some time playing in the paint program over lunch…

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Girl loves coffee

This morning, I literally sprung out of bed before the alarm went off because my body was subconsciously excited to try the coffee I picked up at Trader Joe’s yesterday.  Just the smell of coffee beans makes my mouth water and instantly improves my mood.

Trader Joe’s French Roast didn’t disappoint!

Breakfast #1 today was a 3 egg white scramble seasoned with my go-to seasoning combo:  salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes.

I served the egg whites up in 1/2 a Joseph’s low carb pita, and a bit o’ ketchup.

Egg white pita

Stats:  86 calories, 7g carbs, 1g fat, 14g Protein, 2g Fiber

Breakfast #2:  1/2 a Thomas’ Whole Wheat Bagel Thin and 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s almond butta with Trader Joe’s pomegranate Greek Yogurt!

gotta give it a good stir

Both the almond butter and the yogurt were DELICIOUS.  I’m now officially obsessed with Trader Joe’s!

Stats:  265 Calories, 27g carbs, 10g fat, 21g Protein, 5g Fiber

 

Lunch = Big ole salad with 2 tbs balsamic dressing and a Turkey/Ham Lettuce wrap with 1/2 a Laughing Cow french onion cheese wedge with some leftover Gionino’s hot sauce!

That's a lot of veggie action!
Lettuce wrap prior to rolling
Salad with balsamic vinegar
me holding my lettuce wrap like a trophy

I think it’s safe to say I have mastered the lettuce wrap 😀

Side note — how weird is this??  http://www.sushipopper.com/default.aspx

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