Commander's Palace

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Geo: 29.9537, -90.0778

Today was my long day in classes so there's less to say about the goings-on of this day then the others. It was raining lightly on my morning commute walking and taking the streetcar to the convention center. It was incredibly muggy, like being in a rainforest. I also sent a quick email to the landlord of the studio, telling her what happened with the shutter being pried open (part of it was now broken) and literally asking at the end of the email if the property happened to be haunted by any chance. Yeah. I went there.
I had time to go to one of the SuperSessions today and was stunned by the impressiveness of the ceremonies and speakers. It looked like a rock concert in there and the energy was intense. I really had no idea what I was in for and I wasn't disappointed. Our keynote speaker that day was Mel Robbins, made famous by her 5 Second Rule. She's funny- loved her motivational talk.
After a couple classes, Anna met me at the Convention Center to grab brunch. Within a few minutes walking distance happened to be Cochon Butcher, another popular place we'd heard about. So we ordered way too much food per usual and split everything. Before New Orleans, I had no idea what pralines were. This was my second time eating pralines (with bits of bacon in it) this trip and it is gloriously amazing. We also ordered duck pastrami sliders, mac 'n cheese and le pig mac (a giant two ham patty and cheese sandwich). Of course it was all great. =) And... we tried BOUDIN. I heard this is a local hit or miss when it comes to visitors liking the dish. Definite hit for us. It's like a sausage but you don't eat the skin. You just sorts of dip it in mustard and squeeze out the soft, mushy stuff into your mouth. Super good.

I went back to my classes and finished out my long day. During one of the last classes I received a long phone message from the landlord. I listened to it as I walked to where I was meeting up with Anna downstairs. She said there were definitely no ghosts but it turns out a skinny little wasted drunk guy had walked up to our door and tried to open it. He must have been pretty drunk if the camera was able to pick up on that. It made sense because there are multiple properties on Bourbon that look just like ours, some painted different colors. He couldn't get the door open so he jerked at it until it gave way. Then he must have realized it wasn't actually his place because he walked away. End of crazy story but it certainly had scared the crap outta us. The landlord assured us that nothing like that had ever happened and they were going to reinforce the door that day. By the time I got the message, the property manager had already fixed the broken shutter and showed Anna how to reinforce the door even further at night. I incredibly appreciated the swift and caring response of this property owner. =)

Anna met me up at the Convention Center again at 5:30pm. I changed into a little black dress, heels and make-up in the bathroom, then ordered an Uber to take us to Commander's Palace all the way in the Garden District. It would have been much too far to walk in nice clothes, let alone heels. The restaurant was gorgeous inside, and the food and service was literally everything the Jazz Dinner Cruise the night before was not. We were early for our reservation, and were waiting for my co-worker and her boyfriend to arrive, yet they still insisted on seating us and serving us drinks while we waited. I tried a sazerac finally. I'm not a fan of most liquor, tequila not included. I can tolerate mixed drinks but this stuff was STRONG. But I have this belief when I'm traveling... even if I'm sure I won't like it, I have to try it when it's something local or cultural to the area. So there ya go. The food was perfect- I had the famous turtle soup along with quail and then (also renowned) bread pudding souffle. The wait staff was impeccable- they wouldn't take away one course without everyone having finished the course we were on. Then, like synchronized swimmers, all four servers would spirit away the dishes and flourish the next bit of feast on your table. They were all friendly, enjoyed chatting and treated you like you were the most important guest there even though they're clearly busy. (Can you tell I loved this place?) Overall, I highly recommend this place. But so does everyone else who visits NOLA.

Anna and I decided to have a nice quiet night at the studio instead of going out. I think she knew better than I would mentally accept that I needed to slow down a little. I was getting up at 6am every morning, attending classes all day and then staying out until nearly midnight every night. So, I relented and we bought a bottle of not-so-cheap, not great wine and watched a crime show on tv. I expected we'd stay up longer and enjoy the night in but we both got very tired very fast, and passed out around 10pm.

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