We went to New Orleans over the weekend so that my crazy husband could run his seventh (eighth?) marathon. I haven’t been to New Orleans in over ten years and obviously it’s changed. I took the photo above in the Lower 9th Ward. The devastation from Katrina was vast and although my aunt lost her home in Slidell, I could not have fathomed the scope of this disaster in its present day state until I saw it — miles and miles of homes still damaged or destroyed (satellite images). Yet the history of the city remains with the French Quarter, St. Charles Avenue, and Audubon Park relatively unscathed. The spirit and energy of this cultural intersection are still there in its eclectic mix of people and in the outstanding food, drink and music. If you’d like to see some more of my photos, you can view them here.
Trying to stay on-topic here on the blog (and desperately trying to avoid the obvious question about why New Orleans still looks like this), here is a link to a café au lait recipe! The beignets were yummy too, but who wants to do all that frying in their kitchen? The café au lait recipe is from Emeril and since he’s from New Orleans I suppose it’s a good recipe, though there seems to be something about chicory in the coffee which is not included.