Author: Rachel

Tomorrow night, I fly back to Seattle. Today, I reconnected with two old friends. One, I hadn’t seen in 15 years since I moved to Provo, UT. C & I met in the afternoon. The other I’d seen sooner, maybe 7 years ago. I spent Saturday evening with Jean and her friends. Both have so much meaning in my past, I could tell stories for hours. I didn’t take their pictures though. Maybe next time. It didn’t feel necessary in the moment; I’m not sure why.

Before I saw them, we started the day at Another Broken Egg. This is the 2nd outpost of a place east of Baton Rouge, in Mandeville. My mom’s talked up this place for the last year and now I know why. The Redfish Benedict is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in Baton Rouge; maybe one of the best things I’ve eaten for breakfast. The dish incorporated pan-seared redfish on french toast, with two poached eggs covered in andouille hollandaise sauce. I hesitated on ordering — wasn’t I trying to avoid heavy sauces after a Summer of gastronomic excess?

Well, after consulting with the waiter and even considering their Crabcakes Cavallo, I went for the redfish over the crab (seemingly similar, but replace the redfish with shrimp and crab cakes). It’s one of the most rewarding decisions I made all trip. This is another place I’m taking Mr. T the next time we visit. Address info at the bottom of this entry.

Then I was at the Capitol again while my mom had really, truly, finally tied up all the loose ends. I spent some time wandering the halls at the Capitol, taking pictures of the art deco lanterns in the Senate, House, and back hallways.

In the evening with Jean, we helped her friends organize their grandmother’s recipes to make a cookbook for Christmas. Since I love vintage, community-driven cookbooks like a fat kid loves cake (& uh, me too!), I was thrilled to participate. We deciphered the recipes — many didn’t have titles. We sorted. And finally, we designed layouts to preserve recipe scraps and the handwriting. I hope I see the final product someday, in some form.

one of the retro recipes

Today was my mom’s last official day of work, ever. Before I went to visit pick her up at the end of the day, I went to lunch at Roberto’s River Road which is surprise! on River Road, along the Mississippi, southeast of Baton Rouge. It’s officially in St. Gabriel, but Sunshine and Plaquemine both seem to like to make claim on it.

I had stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon, deep-fried. It was awesome, but what caught my attention was the side of corn. I’m recreating that at home. Also, I finally had “Sensation Salad.” I say finally as I’ve since learned that it’s a Baton Rouge classic but you could’ve fooled me as I never heard of it. (A twist on a Caesar. I’d share a pic, but it ain’t purdy.) I’m bringing Mr. T back at Christmas the holidays. I’ve already got a few dishes lined up. They’re open for lunchtime and dinnertime, but closed every Sunday and Monday.

Near Roberto’s — I’ve wanted to stop to take pictures of this decommissioned General Store for years

I went back downtown. While I waited for my mom again, I walked around some more. The capitol guards struck up conversations about digital cameras. I was impressed how they seemed to know more about my camera than I did.

Washington’s step at the capitol

Then I found Strands Café, thanks to a tip from Eliza. I ordered a prosciutto & provolone croissant, a chocolate croissant, and a lemon meringue tart to try over the weekend. (All were classically great.) I ordered an Iced Orinoco Mocha for the moment. Strands is a gem, a coffeeshop with great pastries and exquisite chocolates. I got to talking with the owner as they were winding down. She grew up in Baton Rouge, graduated from my high school, moved away, spent time at Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney, and came back last year to open her place. If I lived here, I’d visit all the time.

Once my mom was ready, we headed home to get ready for her final dinner with her colleagues. We went to a hibachi grill (akin to Benihana) and I gotta say, I had a great time.

Sidebar: I kept hearing radio commercials for this haunted house and saw it on our way. I wish it fit into my schedule this trip.

(I kept the underexposed image for the creepier effect.)

I went with my mom in the afternoon to attend a colleague’s retirement party. (My mom is also retiring this week.) Wandered the grounds around her work a bit.

My mom kept all the postcards I sent her from trips I’ve taken in the last five years on her office wall. If you click through to Flickr, I labeled each card’s location.

Early this morning, I flew out of Seattle to get to New Orleans via Minneapolis. My first time in the land of ten thousand lakes, long overdue.

It was my favorite kind of flight: uneventful. I worried heading to the airport since I couldn’t figure out which airline would actually be my carrier. The Alaska/NWA/Delta info was ambiguous. I couldn’t get pre-assigned seats. Turned out flights weren’t full and I scored aisles and half empty rows.

After I arrived, we stopped for dinner in Ascension Parish at Sno’s. I went for the stuffed softshell crab.