First I want to say SORRY for being so late on my New Orleans posting! Last week was super duper hectic for me, and I barely had a chance to even unpack for my trip. Everything was pushed to the side (including working out), but I’m all settled now!

We started off our morning with some fresh beignets at Café Du Monde. This place is super busy! The servers go through an assembly line of beignets and coffee. They are really quick here. It’s gotta be the busiest place in the French Quarter.

Here is the Café Au Lait. They mix the coffee with chicory (which was used a long time ago to help preserve freshness). It has a great flavor your can’t find anywhere else.

Here are the delicious beignets! Doused with powdered sugar…it’s the only way to eat them!

Our next stop was the Abita Brewery Tour. We made the 1 hour drive to Covington, LA to check it out. This was definitely one of the trip highlights. Not only is the tour free, but you can drink as much beer as you want. PLUS…you can pour your own samples! This was pretty much heaven for me…haha.

I tried almost every beer. I didn’t try the ones I’ve already had, like Abita Amber (one of my favorites and their original brew). My favorite was the Abita Turbodog, a very smooth, dark beer. My least favorite was Satsuma, a seasonal brew that had a very odd orange flavor.

After tasting came the quick tour, which led us around their small brewery. They are a staple in Louisiana, but not so much in other states. If you see it in the store near you, give it a try! It’s worth the couple extra bucks.

After the tour we went to Buster’s Place in downtown Covington. They had a great menu with lots of Louisiana favorites. We ordered some Chargrilled Oysters to start. They were delicious! Plump oysters covered in cheese with butter to dip them in…you can’t get oysters any better than that.

I ordered the shrimp po boy and splits some red beans and rice with my sister. The shrimp was perfectly cooked and the bread nice and soft. The red beans and rice were the best ones we had of the whole trip. They were creamy with bits of andouille sausage. They tasted like they were cooked all day!

Stay tuned for NOLA Part 2! Monday night I’m gonna post all about the best creation ever…Praline Bacon!