road trip - spring 2014, part 10

This is the tenth installment of the series of post on a road trip during the spring of 2014.

You know you are in trouble in keeping up posting when over a month later you have still not finish blogging your month long trip.I have lost the battle to the incessant onslaught of photos.


Here I resume from the visit to the plantation of Edward Douglass White Historic Site in Thibodaux. Edward Douglass White was a US supreme court justice.

i sneaked into the basement which is normally off limit to the visitors - i was the only visitor that morning; no vintage wine collection were to be found

 outside there is a adjoining sugar cane field

The good, bad, and the ugly restaurants I experienced on the trip. I refrained from going to the ones that I did not research ahead. I stop by here because of the allure of a chance find great po boy joint. The parking lot is full of vehicles with Louisiana license plates so what can go wrong? It was near lunch time.

  i should know better seeing all the memorabilia merchandise the restaurant also sell

Since my fish dish last night was disappointing I thought I would try my luck on the wild snapper jambalaya. I also asked for a cup of water but the guy just hand me this house brand bottle water and rang up the register. Yep, why should they give me a free water when everyone order a soda. I didn't feel like fighting it hoping the meal would be decent.

I have been wary of fallen trap to tourist trap eateries claim to be Cajun or Creole (and there are lots of them) but this meal proved to be one. While I have no proof the fish did not taste anything like wild snapper. It tasted more like one of the common farmed fish from Asia. The shrimp or crawfish sauce tasted doctored with ready made processed food sauce base. This is no hometown cooking or roadside greasy spoon with tasty comfort food. It is a greedy money making machine with no soul.

In case you wonder why I made such a fuss about being charge $2.50 for a bottle of water. Bottled water is evil plain and simple. It is a manufactured need by the conglomerates that feed you and kill you at the same time. I don't want to support the destruction of our planet, in addition to a business that used unfair tactic to rob me of a few more bucks.

across the street is another plantation

 next I visited the Laurel Valley (general ) Store and the slave quarters on the road behind it

 the slaves' quarters along the road and the river next to it is the best preserved original slave living structure

 sugar cane processing crane for loading on and off the railcars

 a long list of movies shot in this location

back to bywater - note the streetcar's name

I was watching A Streetcar Named Desire a week ago and it dawned on me that I saw a bus named Desire while in New Orleans. At the time I didn't make the connection to the play that there was actually a streetcar line of Desire, which is now replace with buses called the Desire route.

during the day a lot of vehicles parked here but in the late afternoon it is deserted

 i chose here to prepare dinner that night

 a lazy dinner

after dinner i went jazz club hopping; one of many cool cafes/restaurants in Bywater

 a lot of houses are decking out ready for the upcoming Mardi Gras

 love how this place is illuminated

 the Frenchmen Street

 I always drop in the Spotted Cat

 the night was still young

 this band in the Spotted Cat that night was very good and I love the vocal and the classics she sang

 the Adolfo's is a decent affordable place on Frenchmen Street

 love the artificial egrets in this gorgeous private garden

 that is what you get to hire someone to install a window in this wet city after a night of Mardi Gras partying

 yes, not surprised to find an ad for Bubba's II in the free tourist guidebook

 the country terrine from Bourgeois' Meat Market is divine

 weekend morning at the Central Grocery with long line waiting to buy the famed muffuletta sandwich

these guys came up to me pretends to be nice local folks; I was force to converse with them and before long the guy in the middle which initially seemed well read and spoken started spilling BS; the Vietnamese insisted that I take a picture of them; it all became clear of their motive before long; they wanted meal money and demanded $5 each; i gave them $3 total to keep peace and left

love the understated entrance of the Preservation Hall

one of many loud music bars along Bourbon St

I have been wanting to give the famed Antoine's a try but it was early afternoon. Too late for lunch and too early for dinner.

i decided to order the appetizer sampler

you can certainly they prepared a big batch of this before hand and just plate them when an order comes in; it is very pedestrian for such a famed historic place