Staycation in your own city - New Orleans

Elizabeth and I did a staycation this weekend for her birthday.  I highly suggest you do one in your own city.

Transcript

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Hello, stun up it, stun up a yellow two coming. Two coming. Well, this weekend is a uh special weekend, especially for my wife. She is turning 5-0 on Monday. So in this case, that's tomorrow. So this weekend we decided to do a little staycation. When was the last time you enjoyed your own city and your own facade, your own, your own everything? You know, it's like when was the last time you just got a hotel room downtown and you experience downtown like tourists do? And uh just let go of your common everyday world and um just soak it in. And it's very different for me when I'm downtown working. You know, I have destinations to go to, I know where to park, I know how long things are gonna take, where we gotta go, the homeless on the street are, you know, part of the not part of the plan, but part of the scene, and you know, just the randomness of everybody that is not local, so many out-of-towners. And, you know, here in New Orleans, I really do believe that we take for granted um many aspects of our city, actually, you know, like the history of New Orleans. I mean, did you know the Germans built the cobblestone streets? Um, you know, there's oh my god, there's there's just so many aspects of what we are, who we are, and how we are, how we got to where we are. Um, it's just very, very cool. So today, so um, so yesterday, yesterday we went into town and there was a place called Plates. P-L-A-T-E-S, just like the plate you eat on. It's called Plates. I've been hearing this name thrown around quite a bit from um clients of mine, and I'm always like, where do y'all like to go eat? You know, like what's your favorite places downtown? I'm always curious because there's so many places. So when you hear the same names come up several times, then that's that's your cue to uh go check them out. And uh this place called Plates, it's right off of the interstate, and maybe a block over. And it was extremely good, extremely good. The place itself is very unique, very, very comfortable, very casual, but modern. You know, they have a bar, it's it's a big place, honestly. But the food, the the chef there, or the chefs, whoever came up with this menu system. Um, what I liked about it is that it was at least what we got were um single plate size of like appetizers. And we got one was tuna something. It was two types of tuna. One tuna was like the raw tuna, and it had crushed almonds on top with like like a sauce at the bottom. That was delicious. The other tuna plate we did get was seared tuna, so it was cooked, um, very pink in the middle, but it was on top of couscous, and the tomatoes, little cherry tomatoes cut in half, um, you know, a little bit of vinaigrette in a pan, and the the flavors together, the texture and the flavors together were so good. It was just like every bite was this is unique. Like the couscous has a different texture than the tomatoes do, and then you've got that nice seared tuna, you know, and it and all the flavors just come together. It's like, mmm. I know you're you're a little uh you're a little you're salivating right now, aren't you? You're hungry. Well, this is just one of the many places that New Orleans has to offer. And what I can appreciate these days is that there's quite a few places that are really stepping up their game as far as uh the types of food you can eat. So, you know, if you're just thinking about Cajun, spicy, you know, seafood, that kind of thing, when you think about New Orleans, um, we actually have way more than that to offer. Like uh like the other appetizer we had was was it a shrimp croquette, and it was so good. It was these little balls of um I don't really know what to say. The inside. The inside was moist and flipping delicious. The shrimp was in there, but the outside was crust and it was fried, lightly fried, so it was crunchy, but you had that nice soft metal of rice and some other stuff, and it was just fantastic. We actually got it twice, we ordered it again because it comes like four, four balls on a on a plate. So two for wifey, two for me. So it's like, hmm, we could do another one of those actually. We did, and it was fantastic. Um, I forget this other thing. It was you know how if you look at a cast iron where you would put eggs to like boil an egg, I guess, to kind of put a single egg in these six little spots on this um this kind of pan, it's made for like the broiler or something like that. Well, they used it to cook an oyster in it with its own sauce. Oh my gosh, the the garlic goodness and the bread crumb with the uh roasted oyster. It was so good. It was so good. And because it was roasted, because it was all in one thing basically, put into the oven, all the oysters were cooked the same. So that is one plus compared to maybe getting grilled oysters where they're grilled manually, you know, and taken care of manually. And you know, you know, it that's still a fantastic experience, too. They're very different experiences, obviously, but this was just wonderful. So that was the start of our little night stay. And uh from there we went and checked in over at the Omni Royal Orleans. Gotta give a special thank you to my friend over there, Celeste Myers. Um, she's not only a fantastic friend, but she's been in this industry for a very long time, same as I. And I love having um friends of mine across the plateau of downtown on different hotels or whatever it is. And it's nice to know people who are working in the same industry as you, and you can call and say, hey, any deals this weekend, or you know, I have a job coming up soon. Can we take care of parking or whatever, whatever it is? But Celeste was fantastic. Not only did she um help me out with getting a room, it was a great rate, actually. Um, when we did arrive, how sweet was she to have a bottle of champagne and the ice and this sweet dome glass container um covering brie and some honey with some watercrust crackers. It was so good. It was so good. And that was a beautiful, beautiful surprise. It was great for Elizabeth to have this nice getaway. She needs it, man. She's uh she's a school teacher and she's working camp. Um, you know, if you are an educator like my wife is, you understand that any extra dollars that you can make helps pay your life bills. So she's doing the camp thing right now. So it was wonderful to take a break, go enjoy our city. After we checked in, we went walking around and we went over to Cats Meow and we walked all the way down bourbon just to decide on where to go. We jumped into one bar to hear some blues and uh some jazz, and it was nice to get a beer. And whenever I'm downtown working, I always tell the people that I'm dealing with, I'm like, hey, look, I'm a local, so don't you have to treat me like a tourist. Because their little tourist spiel, you know, that you're so used to doing, it's very different when they realize that I'm one of them. You know, we can just talk to each other. It's like, oh, cool man, cool man. What y'all doing here? Said, ah, it's her birthday weekend. We're doing a staycation just one night. And the bartender who we never met before, I've never even been in this bar, but this is exactly what I'm talking about when I talk about the spirit of New Orleans and who we are as people. Bartender goes, takes care of our draft beers. He comes back with a couple of shot glasses, and he and one for him, one for her, one for me. And I think it was just vodka, which like like some lime. But I told him it was, you know, we're it's a staycation, my wife's birthday weekend, she's turning 5-0, you know, she doesn't look like it, isn't she amazing? And he sets us up. That was just the sweetest, coolest thing ever. You know, wifey's like, ooh, a shot. I'm like, it's it's vodka, it's not like tequila or something. Um, but how generous was that to celebrate another local and to celebrate just somebody having a moment in their life, you know? And um, after that, we went to Pato's. We I have not been to Pat O'Brien's in a very long time because I'm working downtown and you leave. You know, the whole going out thing, and let's go downtown, that doesn't happen as often as you would think because we live here. It's it's kind of the opposite. Um, Pato's was actually a whole lot of fun. There's this room in the back that is like the battling piano players, and it's just it you walked in, and at first it reminded me of I don't know, man, some I don't want to say Disney, but you know, you're hot as can be outside. We're dying of sweating. And you go in this room, it's nice and dark, it's cold, everybody's ordering drinks, the pianos are up there, huge mirrors are on the side of them, so you can see them playing the piano, which is really neat. But the whole idea is they take requests, and uh, of course, you can tip them. And um, it's just fun to see the whole room singing, the whole room just being there, man. You know, and it's and by the way, we did all this during the day. I think we're at Paddo's at like four or five in the afternoon. It doesn't get dark till eight o'clock right now, so it was weird coming out of the bars, you know, which you would normally expect to be at night, and um, it's blazing hot sun, which is kind of neat. So, um, you know, and then today we woke up and we went to Stanley's, which is directly across the street from Muriel's in Jackson Square. We did breakfast, and their uh classic breakfast was very good. And we're walking back to the hotel to go do our checkout thing, and it was early, and uh, we see the priests to the cathedral outside coming down the alley on the side of the church, going into the front of the church, which would be the back, which once you're in the church, that's the back of the church for mass. So she was like, I've I've never been to a mass at the St. Louis Cathedral. I'm like, Well, let's go. And uh that was beautiful. It was so nice to see, first of all, a full house. Second of all, the many textures and flavors, shall we say, of people there. And what was really neat for me was, you know, you know how you way back when you were younger, your teachers may have told you something, or you're you just you just got some knowledge from somebody when you were younger, and some things stick and a lot don't. But the ones that do stick, um, it's kind of wild how they bubble up to your memory banks later in life. And I'm looking around in church and I'm seeing some of the homeless people are in there. Um, it may be the only time they're allowed in air, actually, because it's during mass, so they're at mass to get out of that heat, I understand, it's nice and cold. But the uh two or three that were there were doing the whole kneeling thing and praying, and they just look so happy to be a part of something bigger than them. They were just blessed for their day. So as I'm looking at the whole church in his different ages, everybody's dressed a little different. I mean, it's torched from all over the place, obviously. You know, we're there, and I'm looking at the homeless guy who's right across the pew from us, and he has his hands on his heart on his chest, and he's just taking it all in, you know? And what I remember from somebody told me many, many years ago was everybody is welcome in the house of God. Everybody that doesn't mean anything. You can judge, nobody is above anybody else in that building. Everybody is the same, everybody is welcome, everybody there is there for the same human experience. That's beautiful. To me, that's just beautiful. I couldn't wait to get home and throw this podcast on and kind of share that with you, you know. I think if more people took life everyday experiences with that same attitude, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. You know? It's uh it's it's weird for me to see these huge differences of people, and you know, somebody like the homeless here and there, or somebody else. It's like, you know, everybody just wants to help each other. And it's it's just I don't know, man. It's just it hit it hit my heart in a way to where I just had to come share it with you. I guess that's it, you know. So anyway, wifey is having a beautiful birthday weekend. We're not done. It's Sunday. We just got home. Uh, I just made a mimosa trying to get her to have one too. And uh, I want to put burgers on the grill in a couple hours, have some people over and uh kind of go from there. But as a photographer downtown, I never take my own city for granted. I don't like as we're walking around, I'm still seeing things that I appreciate. I mean, come on. Our architecture alone is fantastic. You know, the amount of history, the amount of textures, the amount of colors, there's just everything, dude. It really is like being in a different world when you're downtown, you know, and then we come home and we're on the interstate to come home, and it's like, you know, back to life, back to normal life. But I had the blessing as a photographer to work downtown quite often. And in my 32 years of working downtown, I'm still extremely happy to be downtown and still respect downtown, still appreciate my city, you know, my backdrop. And there's quite a few people that are here that are transplants, meaning you were not born and raised here. And look, there's nothing wrong with that. We'll love you the same because you're here long enough, you become one of us. It's you just we just break you, man. Whatever issues you have with the rest of the world, whether you think CNN news is true, come over here for a little bit, dude. Go walk around, go talk to people, go actually experience the human experience downtown. And you're gonna learn really quick that we all don't give a crap about that stuff. We just don't. We understand what the human experience is supposed to be about, you know? We understand in southern hospitality, which is what the priest was talking about today, which is very cool. That was just unique for me. For me, being in the hospitality industry, you know, we cater to our guests all the time, and it's what our city does all the time. Um, but like he said, it's not just for economic reasons, it's more of a um a southern reason, a Christian reason, you know, uh getting along with others reason. It's just neat, and it's neat for me to see a pocket of the state, you know. You talk about New Orleans, it's New Orleans is smaller than you realize, but to see on a constant everyday basis when I'm down there working, um, I can talk to anybody, man. Like, like I have no problems talking to anybody. And to me, that's home. Home to me is being that way, being hospitable. You know, we do care, we do want you to have a good time when you're here. We're excited to share with you our experiences, our stories. Um you know, it's just so many factors of people that are from so many places that either stay here or they just keep on coming back. And I appreciate that. I really do. And I'm proud to be part of that circle that is hospitable to others when they're here. I've said this many times before. When a pocket of people, I do a lot of convention work, a lot of corporate events, okay? And a lot of times, let's say there's a thousand people at this event over four days. They have a convention, they have a seminar, they have a trade show, they have outings, they all go to dinner, they experience whatever. Who they interact with while they're here are the people that they will remember as New Orleanians. So the people they are in contact with is the experience they talk about when they go home. So I take my job extra serious in the aspect to where I know damn well I want to give them something to talk about in a good way for when they leave. Now, granted, it's just me being me, to be honest. It really is. But I just, I don't know, there's something about that responsibility I really do take seriously. You know, if people are a-holes from time to time because you're having a bad day and tourism stops coming here, and then you don't have as many jobs because people aren't coming here and booking all these events, and you're one of the vendors that are not getting booked, well, that doesn't help, does it? So it's awesome for me to be a part of the uppercrust level of New Orleans that delivers such an amazing experience to other people. Me being a quote unquote tourist in my own city, um, it was still wonderful to see that all over the place, you know. So whenever we did go places, I always told like the bartender or the waiter or whoever it was, I'm always like, hey, we're on a staycation, we're locals, and um and it and it's interesting because we do respect each other and we do understand something about that, you know. It's like suddenly click, it all makes sense, and uh you know how you verbally cater to a tourist, we don't need that, like us locals, and they're it's super even more cool, honestly. It's kind of like, oh man, that's so cool. What you doing down here? It's like it's her 50. Oh my god, what y'all drinking, man? You know, and it's it's just that's my people, you know. This city, I'm just so proud to be a part of it. I was born in Baptist hospital, so we had a commercial a couple years back saying Baptist baby, you know, I'm a Baptist baby. Um and that's true. So born and raised here, and now my career with photography has me um in the deep heart of all the big things happening in New Orleans. And let me tell you something. What goes on on a Tuesday or a Wednesday for a corporate event with a half million dollar party at Mardi Gor World in food, food trucks, entertainers, the bands, the oh my gosh. Like I've seen it. I've seen it. And the neat thing is for me, I'll take a break and go outside, and it sits on the river. So I'm looking at the river, I'm looking at the GNO, and you know, whatever kind of night we're having, just to kind of like take a break and walk away from the building. And I'm thinking to myself, it's eight o'clock on a Wednesday, and none of my friends are here. Like nobody's experiencing this. Everybody had their nine to five, they're home doing their chilling, their routine of breaking it down, getting into bed, wash, rinse, repeat. I love the fact that my wash, rinse, repeat is different every single time. Every time I have a photography gig, that client is different, where they're from could be different, you know, but my level of expertise in what I do, I'm just so happy to give that service to people that appreciate it. And I think at the end of the day, don't we all want that? We all just want to be appreciated, told thank you, smiled at a little bit more, you know, a few less bad days. Like, we all want the same thing, man. Like to me, that's what the human experience is, and how we do cause and effect, whatever you do, causes the effect from the person in front of you, around you. So I'm not gonna make this long. Uh I gotta go pre-make the burgers and start doing some things. Um, but yeah, man. Hope you guys and girls out there have a creative rest of the weekend, which is only today, which is Sunday. I'm gonna get this live now so it's relevant to you, and just remind you that in your own city, do a staycation, man. Go to a restaurant you heard of and you haven't been to. You know, go to one of your hotels, go to the pool, like go be a tourist in your own city. You know, unless you don't have those kinds of things, and maybe you just need to come to New Orleans and uh, you know, have fun here. I know. I know that was great. All right, you guys, I am going to get out of here, and as usual, I need to get from rock in here and wake y'all up. See y'all later. Stay focused on your dreams, y'all. Visual historian.