New Orleans, Monday Afternoon

[stringstothesoul]

A fun fact about Erasmus: he owned a car! A car that had been taking up space in his mother's driveway since he went off to college, and even though it wasn't like he needed it on the island, she would like it gone, please. So yesterday he and his friends had portaled to his momma's house, been fussed over appropriately, and spent the night and been fed breakfast this morning before they had promptly headed out.

In the wrong direction, because New Orleans was right there and Erasmus knew his duties as Local Guide. They had like four more days after this to drive back to Maryland. It would be fine.

Now they were standing in the middle of the French Quarter as Erasmus tried really hard not to think about how much he was paying for the privilege of parking his car, and he asked, "Okay, what do we want to do? Bourbon Street is a hellhole." He was just getting that out there first thing.

((For those friends. NFB due to distance!))

Comments

[mindofageneration]

"Food," Riri said immediately. She noddedlike it was clearly the only plausible first choice.

[stringstothesoul]

"Beignets, po'boys, samples from one of the nine million hot sauce bars?" Erasmus suggested.

[mindofageneration]

"Yes." To all of that. "If we can figure out how to get places with all the construction."

[stringstothesoul]

"It's like being in a fun maze!" Erasmus said, fully aware that 'fun' was a strong word. "...if we can figure out how to get to Royal Street."

[mindofageneration]

"Which is... what way?" Give them a week, they'd get it. Oh, they didn't have a week? Damn.

[stringstothesoul]

Okay, okay, Erasmus could do this.

Maybe.

"The river is...that way?" Question mark? "So I think we want to go...left?" They wanted to turn around and go straight.

[mindofageneration]

"Left it is," Riri said, nodding. "Oh wait, they've got pralines!"

See, this is the danger of just walking around the Quarter.

[stringstothesoul]

"Do they have samples?" You had to get samples.

[mindofageneration]

"They better have samples," Riri muttered, hooking her arm around his to drag him into the air conditioning. It was already hot and it was only the start of May. Why was it already hot?

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden immediately nodded. "If we don't take every opportunity to show you Southern cuisine--" by which Arden meant 'prove to you the innate superiority of Southern cuisine, especially over your weird casserole-pizza' "--we'll be being bad friends," she told Riri.

[mindofageneration]

You shut your heathen mouth about deep-dish!

"I'll have to return the favor sometime." And also feel deeply conflicted and panicked about going back to Chicago.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

They hated Jesus because he told them the truth.

"Well, not when it gets cold or else Erasmus might die," she said quickly. Because she was worried about Erasmus's health and comfort and not because she wanted to postpone a Chicago "food" tour for as long as she possibly could.

[mindofageneration]

Hey now. The pope's from Chicago now.

"He is a little like one of those dogs that shiver a lot," Riri admitted. With love! She did it with love!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

The pope could be right about matters of theology and wrong about the matters of cuisine.

"Clearly we need to dress him in more little sweaters and knit booties," Arden said. Also with love!

[mindofageneration]

Tsk. Clearly she never had a good Italian beef.

"Another one of those really puffy jackets too."

Erasmus should be thrilled these were the friends he'd made.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Point of order: was there such a thing?

"And one of those little hats with a pom-pom on the top!"

They were blessings. Both of them.

[mindofageneration]

Oh, thems were fightin' words. Sorry not every part of the country could have diabetes flavored tea.

"A Bears one," Riri agreed immediately. Because it would be hilarious to her. And maybe only to her.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Sweet tea. And sweet tea snoballs while we explore," Arden said, pretty much on the heels of Riri's answer. "Goddess, I love being places where the default isn't unsweetened ice tea."

Ugh.

[stringstothesoul]

"And proper cornbread," Erasmus agreed. Yankee cornbread just wasn't right. It was cake.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Add it to the list of foods Northerners got wrong. LIKE CHICAGO STYLE PIZZA, RIRI.

"And barbecue that means something more than 'barbecue sauce slathered on something cooked in a backyard grill,'" Arden sniffed. She would die on the hill of 'cookout' vs 'barbecue' and consider it a noble death.

[stringstothesoul]

Wait until they found out about Chicago style popcorn. That was where the real horrors awaited.

"We're in the wrong city for that," Erasmus reminded her. "Have you seen what they call 'barbecue shrimp'? It's never seen a smoker in its life. But once we get back into Mississippi I'm sure we can find some shack by the side of the road that's about to fall down." And would sell them the best smoked pork they'd ever had in their lives, of course.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Sure, but we're in the right region," Arden said. "And we'll be driving through and--yes, exactly!"

You could have 'ambiance' or you could have transcendent food. It was either/or, everybody knew that.

[stringstothesoul]

"That'll be tomorrow," he promised her. "For now Riri and I were talking about getting brunch. Maybe somewhere with bananas foster french toast." Or shrimp and grits if you insisted on not getting diabetes with your meal he had magic hypoglycemia, okay?!. "You in?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Listen, they were magic kids with weird metabolisms. It wasn't their fault, okay?

"Obviously," Arden declared. "You can't trust people who turn down brunch. It's unnatural."

[stringstothesoul]

"We just have to find our way out of the street construction maze!" Good luck with that, guys!