hello helloooo,
i’m 30 today!! what a delight. when i was little i had such a strong feeling that i’d be thrilled to be 30. she frickin called it, i was right :’).
to celebrate, fotn madeline warshaw and i met up in new orleans. we’ve been dreaming of staying at hotel peter and paul for yrs and it was such a treat, my #1 rec of them all.
nola is a city that’s been under french, then spanish, then french rule once again before it became a part of the us. now it's always celebrating something. i couldn't get over the beautiful architecture informed by all of the above that even impacted the little free libraries.
in nola, i also rec...
🍴 eating: louisiana grandma dishes at mosquito supper club (sit at the communal table), pani puri and lemon meringue ice cream pie at mister mao’s, soufflé potatoes at arnaud’s, and steak and eggs at the cafe at the elysian bar.
☕ beignets: the most famous version + frozen coffee at cafe du monde, a blue crab take at la petite grocery, a praline version at loretta’s, and an adjacent rec of cornbread jalapeño cookies at ayu bakehouse.
🎷 activities: see spanish moss and a fab sean scully at the sydney and walda besthoff sculpture garden, eavesdrop on ghost tours in the french quarter and house tours in the garden district, and listen to live music at preservation hall and also on most main streets.
🛍️ shops: endless antique stores exist here, from outrageous jewels at m.s. rau to swedish cabinets at petricia thompson. soul study in the french quarter is a v cool build-a-poem spot, but overall the best boutiques are on magazine st - start at marquet and just keep walking.
🍧 sno-balls: a local treat somewhere btwn shaved ice and a snow cone. the texture is soft, and it’s topped w homemade creams and syrups. our fav was nectar cream + tiger blood at imperial woodpecker’s, think i need to do a deep dive into this but fwiw, go.
🧛 everywhere we went someone called us sweetheart or baby, i rly felt like a yankee. don’t mind the ghosts if you see one, they bury their dead above ground. oh, and you can always watch interview w a vampire — a camp-y ‘90s movie filmed there, just to get a taste.
💌 that’s tiny! grateful to enter my 3rd decade on such a special note. lmk what i missed for next time besides hansen's to cross-reference sno-balls. tysm for reading, xo aud