A Mid-Westerner in Mid-Wales

IAC and I recently returned from a return trip to the US, New Orleans to be exact.  This was each of our first times to the Big Easy. Between Bourbon St., Katrina, the Spill, and the Jazz leaving, we didn’t really know what to expect. Well, we did expect to eat good food, lots of good food.

We arrived early evening on Thursday and went straight to the first pre-wedding event, an authentic crawfish boil. The boil was hosted by the bride’s resident family and consisted of eating wonderful cajun food outside on the warm Spring evening.  The smells alone would be worth the trip!

The next day was spent with our soon-to-be uncle F. As part of our adoption saga, we are required to get signatures from medical specialists (our GP’s signature wasn’t accepted). One problem of the NHS in the UK is that it is hard to be seen by a specialist if you actually have a problem (I am on a six month waiting list to see an orthopaedist) and virtually impossible if you are healthy. So we found it easier to actually spend the bulk of one of our few days in New Orleans going to a hospital to get signatures. But we did succeed (and saw some old plantations while we were at it)!

Friday night was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at a restaurant/club off of Jackson Sq. called Muriel’s. In the New Orleans tradition, the rehearsal dinner is where the best man, me, has to deliever the best man toast. I was pretty nervous because I had never given one of these before so I didn’t know how I would react.  (I had the added pressure of not saying anything that would make the couple call of the wedding too as they weren’t married yet. I must have succeeded as they got married the next day!)  After the great food, toasts, and general merriment, the younger crowd headed into the Quarter to Pat O’Brien’s to try their hurricanes.

Still getting up early from the jet lag, the wedding day began with a morning walk to Cafe du Monde to eat beignets and have their famous cafe au lait. Jet lag rewarded us with powdered sugar covered fried yumminess.

My brother happened to pick my father’s birthday as his wedding day. So as not to have his birthday lost in the shuffle the wonderful IAC coordinated a lunch at the Gumbo Shop for him and 25 of his closest relatives for lunch.  I was really looking forward to this meal as it was my first chance to get some gumbo.  I ate a chicken and andouille gumbo, finished off my mother’s seafood gumbo, and cleaned up a number of other plates.  I so miss cajun food.

The wedding that evening was in the Immaculate Conception Church, a beautiful Jesuit church just outside the French Quarter.  My brother and my new sister-in-law were so happy and everybody looked wonderful.  My duties as best man were fortunately limited to ring duty.  I passed the test!  Leaving the church we were greeted by a New Orleans brass band who proceeded to lead us from the church to the reception at the old Board of Trade in a tradition called Second Line.  We all had to wave white handkerchiefs over our head while we walked. I have never had a police escort to a wedding reception before. My brother and his wife pulled out all the stops on this one.

The wedding reception also followed a more traditional New Orleans flavor. The idea of the reception is for people to mingle and socialize so there aren’t assigned seats or a sit down dinner (buffet only). In fact, there are only seats for about 30-40% of the guest in attendance. The food was great, flowers and candles everywhere, and I really enjoyed spending time with the family. Still feeling my best man duties weighing on me, I made sure that I was the last one out of the reception at the end and everyone could get back to the hotel.

For the last day and a half in New Orleans we walked around the French Quarter festival, walked along the river, caught up with the people that I hadn’t yet, and ate more wonderful food.

The weekend was a success for us and my brother and his beautiful bride.  I now have two sisters! Maybe someday we will get back there and have a little more time to explore and eat.

*Side note: Is it strange that there isn’t a mention of the BP oil spill on the New Orleans wikipedia entry?

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 1st, 2011 at 11:08 pm and is filed under Holidays and Trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.