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

[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!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"How hard could it be?" she asked with unfounded confidence.