Sweet Visit: Louisiana

Not as exciting as New Orleans but sweet nonetheless- I flew to Alexandria, Lousiana to meet Matt for a lazy weekend.

The four-gate (and very new!) airport

If you want to really, really spend time with a loved one or ones, with few distractions,  go to a tiny town. We took walks, ate delicious crawfish (Saturday night) and fried chicken (Sunday lunch), sat by a fire pit, had cafe lattes in the picturesque town of Natchitoches, Louisiana (Steel Magnolias was filmed there!), and read in the sun. 

A pretty bench in a pretty town

My first time eating (whole) crawfish

Lunch in Lecompte, the pie capital of Louisiana

It was a thoroughly delightful weekend.

Sweet Visit: New Orleans

I can't think of a much better way to spend three short days than Passover/Easter in New Orleans.  Matt had a much-needed weekend off and we meet at the restaurant of our hotel on Friday night. Any vacation that starts off with a Sazerac (the local specialty) and a plate of prosciutto served with something I can only describe as "savory beignets" is bound to be a good one.

We woke up Saturday morning and took a walk around the French Quarter, where I could not stop taking pictures of darling houses:

Along with some friends, we had Saturday afternoon cocktails next to the pool- I had a pink gin fizz:

pink gin fizz

Dinner Saturday was at Cochon, a Cajun-Southern restaurant where I had oyster roast, soft-shell crab, and strawberry pudding. This all served as very good padding for a night exploring the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. We begin Bar Tonique, made our way down Bourbon Street, and ended at the bar at the The Saint Hotel. Somewhere along the way, Matt bought me a Mardi Gras mask. It was a very, very good night.  

The clock in our hotel lobby

We had Sunday brunch at Atchafalaya, off Magazine Street. I had deconstructed oysters casino on top of a corn cake. Delicious. 

Matt and I split a beer while waiting for our table.
No open container laws= quite the party on the sidewalks while waiting for a table. 

I'm planning on reading Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans as soon as I can take it out from the library to learn more about the history of New Orleans. I'm so fascinated by this gorgeous, decaying, deeply weird city. 

* an administrative note- you can now follow Sweet Heartland on Instagram!

Vagabond pop-up 4.0

I'm a fan of events in unexpected places, delicious food, and pop-up events. So, the Vagabond 4.0 pop-up restaurant at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was a dream of an evening for five of us ladies. Sabine wrote about what we all wore. Suffice to say, we were all inspired by the very summery heat- the weather was perfect. To make the evening better- one of my very best friends was visting for the weekend. I was so excited to show her Kansas Citys very best face. 

We were in group 2 which meant we got drinks first.
 Bubbly rose was perfect. 

Drinks were followed by a private tour of the museum. 

Each course of the dinner was inspired by a different piece of art in the museums modern wing, the Bloch Building. We visited each piece on our tour.  

 We ended up outside the Lens 2 event space upstairs in the Bloch Building. Lens 2 was originally slated to become a restaurant in the modern addition and unfortunately it never opened. Too bad- it has some of the most gorgeous views in the city and we were lucky to have a table next to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Then dinner began. Each of the seven courses was paired with a generous glass of wine and everything was something to write home about. I ate and enjoyed things I never have before- raw scallops, fried chickens feet, smoked ramps, squid ink pasta. 

Lime Line by Dean Fleming= lake trout tartar, bowfin caviar, beet, asparagus, pretzel bread  (via)

Kelp by Brett Weston= Seabeans, seaweeds, black radishes, black sesame, raw scallop (via) 

Study of Clenched Hand by Auguste Rodin= Boneless chicken/duck foot, soy, foie gras, smoked ramps, brioche (via)

Untitled 1952 by Jackson Pollock= Pollock, boudin blanc, squid ink pasta, black trumpets, rosemary (via)

Untitled 2004 by Alexander Ross= Pea sculpture, lamb, goat cheese, morels (via)

Diaphen 15, Orange Yellow/Orange by Clytie Alexander= Parmesan/saffron tuile, miso creme fraiche, turnip, prosciutto (via)

Shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Brugge (this is in front of the museum- kind of a mascot)= Dark Chocolate, cherry, basil, clove meringue (via)

It was a wonderful night. I'm looking so forward to Vagabond 5.0!