Bama LifeStyle - Chillin

Bama LifeSyle - Birmingham Peanut Depot

Serving (delicious) fresh roasted peanuts since 1907, the Peanut Depot is a cool throwback to old school B'ham.  It's on a cobblestone road downtown and they still make their peanuts in the antique roasters.  

 

The Peanut Depot was even open on Christmas Eve with a decent number of customers coming in to stock up on some holiday peanuts.  Tasty.

 
 America.  Freedom.  Democracy.  Peanuts.
 

Where Is The Awesome?

In this sky.

 

On this grill.

Inside my mouth.

Down this road.

Around this bamboo.

(Photos mostly by Little Boucher)

Lake Verret, Pt. 2

Lake Verret, Pt. 1

River Shack LifeStyle

Abita Brew Tour

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Abita Brewery on the North Shore.  The tour lasted one hour and can basically be summed up as follows: 10 minutes of tour, plus 50 minutes of beer sampling.

I had a fun time at the brewery, but there's not much else to write.  The tour was fun, fast, and to the point.

Swamp LifeStyle Pt. II

Swamp LifeStyle Pt. I

Gulf Coast LifeStyle

While New Orleans does not really have a beach (sorry Lake Pontchartrain, but you don't count), we are a scant 3 hours from Gulf Shores, AL.  At the beach this past weekend, the topic on everyone's mind was the BP screw-up and subsequent unleashing of oil all over our coast.

We saw few signs that any oil had been dumped into the Gulf of Mexico at all, other than the smattering of tar balls along the sand.  The water itself looked and felt like normal, and there were crabs, minnows, and even dolphins cruising around as if nothing was wrong.  From a recreational beach-going perspective, the sand was as white as ever, the water as crystal clear as ever, and the relaxation as accessible as ever.

From my lay-man's understanding of the BP screw-up, the damage will be mostly unseen.  Fish populations shut down, a Gulf Coast fishing culture on the brink of extinction, coastal wetlands wiped out, etc.

Here's hoping that the damage is less than expected.

One Day Visitor - LifeStyle Condensed

Camellia Grill, streetcar, beignets, hurricanes, Uptown..... how to cram as much into one day as possible.

Photos From a Friend

Photos courtesy of Baca.  Experiences courtesy of New Orleans.

 

Tourist LifeStyle

Classy and skanky.  This juxtaposition embodies my relationship with New Orleans, and this is how I like to portray the city to visitors.  Mix in Pat O's versus Margaritaville.  Cochon versus Miss Mae's.  Cafe du Monde versus Unique Grocery.  Hurricanes versus Cherry Bombs.  Abita versus High Life.  With two DC friends in town and an Italian called Cajun leading the way, we hit the highs and the lows and a few in between.

We somehow managed to squeeze in Uptown, Downtown, Warehouse District, Marigny, French Quarter, and Magazine all into about 36 hours of mayhem.  Most impressively, we walked the fine line between never stopping and never getting exhausted.

Moreover, the weekend reinforced two ideas that have become ingrained in my head since moving to New Orleans.  First, I miss the hell out of my friends from Washington, DC.  Second, I absolutely love this town.

These photos are compliments of Audrey.  More photos of the weekend will be coming soon.

Over and Out.