Definitely one of the highlights of the trip was our Cocktail Tour we went on. This little sassafras of a lady from N.O. named Sandy led our yankee asses around to some of the biggest tourist traps best bars in the city. Actually, they were touristy I guess, but even the tourist traps in N.O. seem way cooler and more local friendly than the same types of places elsewhere.

On the tour we got to sample Pim’s Cup, the Sazarac, and of course the Hurricane. You’d think that after Katrina, that drink would be banned, but nevertheless, the vodka/hawaiian punch stomach ache of a drink persists! I also was educated on what bitters are when Sandy ordered some bitters and club soda.  I thought bitters were some form of alcohol, so I got one as well. Turns out, there is no alcohol content, but some sort of stomach healing properties said to cure indigestion. So, I gulped it down with high hopes of it curing any existing damage to my alcohol filled innards.

This was our krewe. They were surprisingly all 50+

Legend holds a ghost comes there to drink the wine left out for him every night.  How do I get one of these ghosts in my house?

Audrey and I forcing down some corn syrup infused hurricanes.

This place was pretty cool… we wound up going back for brunch a couple of days later…

The fountain outside was frozen. Sandy said it was the first time in all her pub crawls she’s seen it frozen. I proceeded to eat an icicle, which Sandy insisted would give me a stomach ache. She turned out to be right and I listened to her for the rest of the night.

Antoine’s is bad ass. So bad ass, pretty much every president since it opened has eaten there. They have all these hidden rooms where you can eat, drink, cheat, sleep, smoke, marry, whatever in.

Hermes is the bar at Antoines… here we were introduced to the sazarac.

This is a hidden room we came into.  The photos on the wall feature the yearly kings of mardi gras from the 1840’s until today!

This is a costume the queen of mardi gras wears…

The bombay club offers a wide selection of martinis.

I opted for a dirty vodka one. The next morning, this particular beverage was determined to be the blame for my killer hangover and Audrey’s non-existent one.

This was one of the more weird things on the tour. That dude is that woman’s son, but they had only met for the first time the previous day! He was put up for adoption years ago, found his mom, and proceeded to take her on a cocktail tour! Congrats!

The Old Absinthe House was where Audrey and I headed after the tour was over and it was quite literally the end of the night mentally, physically, spiritually.

This pic is dark, but noteworthy because it was an absinthe cocktail and one of few beverages in my lifetime that I failed to finish. I even put it in a “go cup,” took it with us on our drunken march to the hotel, and wound up throwing it in the trash. Nothing makes you more regretful than absinthe I’m afraid.

More tomorrow on N.O. and the ensuing hangover recovery.

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Last year Audrey and I decided we needed to go to a warm place every winter that we’re on the east coast. Last year it was Aruba, this year I didn’t want to miss a ton of work, so we decided to keep it domestic and chose New Orleans. Neither of us had been and it seemed like a warm, fun time awaited us.

Fun, the trip was, but it was anything but warm. In fact, when we arrived last weekend, we kept hearing about how they were planning to experience record lows! Good thing we packed our NYC winter clothes, because I think we were the only ones moderately prepared for it!

The cold sucked, but we had a really awesome time regardless. Apparently it was technically Mardi Gras, but we didn’t really get any indication of that, I’m sure because of the cold!
Audrey on the Mississippi

Falcor Moore

Falcette Langhorn

Cafe du Monde. This place is legendary for their Cafe au Laitte and Beignets (french doughnuts). Everyone knows if you’ve been here because you can’t escape without getting some powdered sugar on you.

This is Jackson Square, with the oldest Catholic church in the “New World”.

Joan of Arc runs this place

The cathedral, with all the flags of the occupying countries hanging above

Good to see the church adopting new technology

Smoking a cigar by the Napoleon House

Check back for more on our trip to New Orleans in the coming days!

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My friend got married in early December, and much to my surprise, I wound up being the best man. This was cool news, except for the fact it came only a few weeks before the wedding! Everything worked out quite well though, so it goes to show that it’s good to have luck on your side.

Here are a few pics from the ceremony and reception…

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Right now I’m sitting in my office here at Morgan Stanley with a half empty bottle of Jameson, a bottle of champagne cooling in the fridge, and the madness of Times Square going on over my shoulder! I’m saying “F you” to all the $100+ covers for lame bar nights going on across the city and decided to take advantage of my opportunity to enjoy the night watching to sorry souls below! Also, the fact that Audrey is working tonight made me not want to go and have no one to kiss…

Anyway, I’m going to make a big effort in 2010 to not only go out and do the remaining items on my NYC bucket list, but to also be sure to update the Seal on a more consistent basis! I guess I’ve been so caught up with getting myself self employed and working my ass off, I’ve neglected the old, trustworthy practices of blog posting!

Hmm… maybe I’ll even get around to doing some of the much needed and mentioned blog upgrades??? Anyway, I’m off to enjoy another episode of Mad Men and to watch some of this chaos from 30 stories up! Happy New Year and expect great things in 2010!

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If you’re heavy on time to burn and are a Star Wars (or hookers in the basement) fan, then this 70 minute review of The Phantom Menace is a pretty good thing for you to enjoy. If you don’t like Star Wars or hookers, then I’ll be sure to get my Indian wedding post up ASAP!

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One of the difficult things about living in “Little Athens” is how many of the businesses here have pretty much unintelligible names. I’m talking names that don’t really use the same alphabet!

This place serves sort of mediocre pastries and when you ask for half and half in your coffee, they give you heavy cream. *puke*

This is known as “That place on the corner with the spinning meat,” or “that place that has gone out of business 4 or 5 times since we moved here.”

This is the place for fish, obviously, but I don’t know what EAAHNIKO means. Seems like a long word for fish?

Astoria is a quirky place, but I like it fair enough despite my consuming confusion.

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Ford Unveils New Car For Cash-Strapped Buyers: The 1993 Taurus

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So a few weeks ago I wrote about the awesome experience of the Noodle Bar and mentioned the jealousy of the nearby table and their fried chicken dinner. Well, thanks to a very good friend who battled the stupid online reservation system, I was able to eat the chicken!

Here are the stats:

• 2 chickens. One was “southern style” with some Old Bay mixed into the buttermilk batter. The other was a tangy Korean style.
• 4 sauces. I know one was ginger scallion, another was a sweet hoison, another was a chili-type sauce and I forget the last one…
• 6 people. They recommend 8, so we stuffed ourselves and had some to take home to whomever. Audrey scored a take-home breast!

It also came with some bib lettuce, mushu bread, and some herbs and peppers. For dessert, there was sweet potato/pie crust soft serve. Pretty awesome!

The lettuce and wrap-related items.

The two chickens. It didn’t look like a lot to us either, but it was.

I’m calling this one “Hoison Splooge”

The table paper was an oily mess afterwards.

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Audrey and I are lucky to have made some really good friends here in NY. They bring our carless asses around on weekend getaways and show us all the great things in the northeast area. This past weekend they took us wine tasting in the Finger Lakes area of upstate NY. If you know maps, take a look at this:

So you can see, there are several finger lakes with the longest, Seneca, going from nearly the Pennsylvania border in the south to the Canadian border in the north. We were supposed to camp at the bottom of Seneca, near the NASCAR town of Watkins Glen, but the weather was supposed to be horrid, so we scored a cabin in the north. Man oh man this was a good decision, not just because it was cold, but because the cabin was awesome! It was just what I think a cabin should be like: awesome lake-front location, firepit, deck, dock, plenty of room inside, roof, and heater. The place wasn’t going to win any interior decorating competitions as Salvation Army pickups can only get you so far, but that made it even more awesome in my book. I think the most shocking thing was this house is worth no more than $250k. Anyway, here are some pics…

The backyard!

Steps to the dock

One of the better wineries… the wine at these places was really quite good!

Here are some grapes…

The limo-bus was a good investment for everything but the livers

The legs on those plastic chairs can’t handle this guy

The firepit and benches. These are simple things but essential to life.

So anyway, I didn’t mention the wineries much, but rest assured they were good. We lost count, but unofficial reports say we visited 7 or 8. We rented a limobus driven by a 75 year old man named Harry, who had just come out of 10 years of retirement. His other job is a Santa Claus. This was his first time ever using navigation. He got the job done and was a good sport.

I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back to the Finger Lakes, but if you get a chance, I recommend them!

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We’ve been seeing a lot of California commercials out here in NYC over the past few weeks.  This begs the question, would you rather go to an Arnold-endorsed California or Brazil?

California

Brazil

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