My hubby goes home :(

After spending a great day on Wednesday.....Thursday arrives and Al is scheduled to go home.  He's got an early flight, so we get up and out early and head back over to the Market Cafe for another yummy breakfast.  Walked around for a bit and then head over to Bourbon St so he can get a cab to airport.  Lots of hugs and smooches, a few tears and off he goes. 

Now, at the same time, my friends from high school are arriving for the 2nd weekend of JF.  Walt and Denise show up, their brother is flying in, other friends are arriving.  So I meet up with them at their hotel and off we go to the Old Absinthe House (http://www.oldabsinthehouse.com/).  We spend quite a bit of time here.

  Meanwhile, hubby is texting me sweet and mushy notes (and I back to him).  They split an absinthe (UGH!  tastes like black licorice...and anyone ever gotten sick on Sambucca ME can't stand that smell). 

"For those not familiar with Absinthe, it is a liquor made from, among other things, wormwood.  It is said to have a bitter, licorice flavor and is greenish/chartreuse in color.  Originally brought to popularity in Europe, Absinthe found quite a following here in New Orleans ... the little Paris of the New World.  Of course, when in New Orleans, the Absinthe House was the favorite spot for those who wished to imbibe the spirit.

Absinthe was a favorite drink of many, many famous people, particularly artists and writers who found inspiration in their Absinthe-induced stupor.

  It is said that Edgar Allen Poe's writings were essentially under the influence of nearly fatal mixtures of absinthe and brandy.  It was said that Poe transformed himself into the "enchanted spaces of the unreal." 

As it turns out, Absinthe was indeed a dangerous substance, as the wormwood used for making it had narcotic properties.  The consumption of Absinthe was associated with hallucinations, delirium, madness and even death.  It is further rumored that Jack the Ripper, an unknown killer of a number of prostitutes in 1888, went mad through his addiction of Absinthe.  Consequently, it was outlawed in the United States in 1912.

Since Absinthe is no longer legally manufactured in the United States, there are several legal substitutes for it.

Walt and friend

  Some of these are Ojen, Pernod Fils, Anisette and Herbsaint.  Herbsaint, which is produced by a company here in New Orleans, features a picture of the Old Absinthe House building on their label. Naturally, it is the Absinthe substitute that we use most often. "

Later, the rest of the group gets into town, more drinks, and we head out for lunch.  Now, at this point I would write where we went, but it seems that I've lost the memory of that restaurant.  We were drinking Pimms (I believe) or they could have been Sazerac's.... again, fuzzy.

After much food and imbibing, we head on down to Lafitte's Blacksmith bar "Historic building by day, candle lit piano bar by night -- Lafitte's has always had a split personality. Built before 1772, it is one of the oldest if not the oldest building in the Mississippi valley. It survived the devastating New Orleans fires of 1788 and 1794 and shows the architecture common in the original French trading post before the Spanish rebuilt the city in Creole style. The infamous Jean Lafitte and his brother operated the blacksmith shop as a front for their various illegitmate enterprises."   Great drinks, much cheaper prices and in a nice, off the beaten path location.