A Food Tour of New Orleans

New Orleans is famous for its food, and this foodie tried almost everything on her short stay in the city.  From oyster shooters to jambalaya to gumbo to creole, I took in all the food I could in the historic city.

First, an aside that takes place in Biloxi, Mississippi.  This place is called The Shed, and it is one of the most run-down places I've been to, and I've been to some rough places.  These are the places I love the most, they just have so much character.  If you're on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, definitely check this BBQ place out!  They've been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and they are phenomenal.  Definitely get the Mac Salad as a side, but don't be fussy about the meats because everything's great!  Look at this place!

Once in New Orleans, staying in the city for a few days after my Habitat for Humanity trip, the amazing food tour began.  It of course had to start with Cafe du Monde, when we waited for forever just to eat some beignets and drink some coffee, but it's a fun experience in New Orleans.  The place is so obvious by its huge line and green and white striped design.  

Lunch took us to the Garden District, a rickety trolley ride from Canal Street.  We ate at the best taco place (yes, taco place) I've ever been to.  The name is the Rum House, and it is a Caribbean taqueria, if that seems to make any sense, but it is a great combination at this place.  They have an entire flap of their menu dedicated to different tacos filled with everything imaginable.  To start off, we ordered guacamole with a spicy mango salsa on top with homemade chips.  I had a beautiful combination of three different meats in my tacos: a jerk chicken taco with mango salsa, a flank steak taco with homemade guacamole, and a Carolina pork taco with a spicy salsa.  And no matter what you get for your meal, make sure to get their mac and cheese, it's some of the best I've had!  Not exactly traditional New Orleans food, but fantastic nonetheless!

Here are some pics from walking around the Garden District and then around Jackson Square:

Dinner: Gumbo at the Gumbo Shop.  What else?

New Orleans: A city with fantastic food, expensive and sweet drinks, and hundreds of years of history.  Thanks for reading!

Kim

Down in Mississippi & Up to Some Good

Haven't posted in a while because I've been way down south.  I spent the last week in Gulfport, Mississippi working with Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  The trip was run by the University of Denver Greek Life, so girls representing every sorority on campus, and one fraternity went on this trip for some panhellenic philanthropy!  This wasn't my first time working with Habitat, I've worked with the organization twice before in Slidell, Louisiana and Franklin, WV, as well as a few days working with Habitat of Metro Denver.  Probably one of the best things about this trip was the view from the dorms we stayed in.  Check it out!

Yup, that's the ocean behind those trees!  An absolutely beautiful part of the country!  My work site was about 20 minutes from our dorms, where we were meant to rehabilitate a home that was previously owned by a family through Habitat.  We were told that the family had lived there for a few years until a lost job and just the recession in general forced them to move out, and it was our job to restore the home to good-as-new condition so a new family could move in.  The house wasn't exactly in bad condition, it just needed some TLC to get it back up.  Most of our work was painting, putting up baseboards, and caulking (yes, I know how that sounds, the caulk jokes never ceased).  Here are some pics from our first house!

Our second home we worked on was a few blocks away from our first, and in much worse condition.  Just by stepping into the home, it was easy to tell that it was not taken care of.  We were told that some sketchy stuff happened in that home, and we found some evidence that supported that hypothesis.  Door frames and cabinets were lined with packing tape so a smell couldn't get through.  In the back bedroom, there were very obvious places on the ceiling where there would have been an array of lights:

^I'll let you come to your own conclusions about this one.

But being serious, it was really sad to see this house in this condition.  Habitat volunteers, employees, and future homeowners put hundreds of hours into this home, only to have it taken over by what we can only assume was a drug business considering the state of the home.  In the past, I've worked constructing homes and doing finishing work on homes with Habitat, and to see something like this in a home is just heartbreaking.  The owners put sweat equity hours into a home, took classes on financing and maintaining a home, and bought an inexpensive home from Habitat only to turn it into something awful.  This kind of thing does not happen often, but it definitely makes an impact when it does.

Also, on our second to last day, we were interviewed by the local news!  After the opening credits, you can skip to about 8 minutes in to see our interviews.

See the interviews here

Overall, this trip was a phenomenal way to really get to know other members of the Greek community at DU and really do some good in a community still recovering from Hurricane Katrina eight years later.  All the homes along the coast were new, and trees 50 feet high were pointed out to us as being completely submerged after Katrina hit.  Traveling and doing these kinds of trips are real eye-openers into a part of the US I don't really get to see.  I worked for a few hours on the last day of this trip with two future Habitat homeowners, and they were so much fun to work with, always with great attitudes and willing to work hard.  This is why Habitat is such a great organization and why I love working for them.

I realized that a lot of people have misconceptions about Habitat, so to clear a few things up:

• Homeowners do not receive Habitat houses for free.  The homes are very simple and since they are built mostly by volunteers, the cost of the home is greatly discounted since the homeowners are mostly just paying for the materials.  
• Homeowners must take classes on maintaining a home physically and financially, as well as put in at least 150 hours of sweat equity into construction of their home or another Habitat home.  

Here are some more pictures from the trip!

Thanks for reading this super long week wrap-up!

Kim

Beach Day!

^Look at this dog.  He is 10 years old, and he runs around on the beach as if he were two.  This is one of the reasons why I love the beach so much, especially in December.  Why December, you ask?  When you live in a popular summer tourist destination like Pawley's Island, South Carolina, you don't go to the beach in the summer unless you want to be swamped by a noisy bunch of tourists with their umbrellas, radios, and large quantities of alcohol.

I take this little guy to the beach almost every day when I'm home for winter break (from Thanksgiving to the New Year, yay for the quarter system!).  When I'm having a bad day, like yesterday when I found out that I wasn't offered a position for the extremely competitive internship I had been working for all quarter, I took Max to the beach, and for about an hour, I completely forgot about how upset I was and only focused on watching him chase the birds, play with crabs, and try to catch his frisbee (which he really isn't good at).

This is the power of the beach.  The water, the sand, the dunes, and this dog help me to stop worrying about things that are out of my control and just appreciate the beautiful and fun place in which I live.  I am so grateful for the beach, especially in December.

Thanks for reading, and if you're near a beach, go and walk!

Kim

First Post! And End-of-Quarter Wrap-Up.

Hello readers!

So I have decided to try a new venture: blogging!  I love to read blogs, especially those of my friends who have studied abroad, and I thought, "why shouldn't I blog?" and couldn't think of a good reason, so here I am!  And I wanted to start something before I go abroad (Fall 2014!) so I can get in the hang of it!

So, some background info about me:  I am a sophomore at the University of Denver (DU), studying Biology with minors in Chemistry and possibly a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience.  I am on track to go to medical school, and after, hopefully become a cardiothoracic surgeon.  I love to be involved in my school community, and I think I do just that.  I am a member of DU's Greek Life, on the executive board of the DU Grilling Society (DUGS, and yes, you read that right, it says "grilling"), an officer of the Club Kayaking Team, and I do sports photography for the Clarion, the school newspaper.  So I'm kind of all over the place!

This fall, I learned a lot about what it means to be in a sorority.  I survived my first recruitment (or "rush") from the recruiting side, and we got some absolutely incredible new members.  I'm so excited to get to know them better!  Some things I took away from this fall recruitment and sorority life in general:

• Things won't always go your way.  And you just have to accept that.  Sometimes, people just don't want to listen to your opinion, but they are your superiors and you just need to trust their judgement.  
• Mistakes happen.  As much as I hate to make mistakes, especially in front of my sisters, but thinking about it all the time will only make it worse.  You just have to move on.
• Looks do matter.  No matter what anyone else says, when you put your best foot forward and you look the part, you make an impression.  

Hope you enjoyed my first blog post!  Thanks for reading!

Kim