On Day Two, we met in the hotel lobby and headed to our Demo Class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. It was a fantastic experience that I highly recommend. The Chef, Big Kevin, was 6’9 and 410 lbs! (He told us!) He taught us how to prepare Shrimp and Artichoke Soup, Crawfish Etoufee Rice, and Pralines. And, the best part was we got to eat everything he made. He was very engaging and entertaining, and stayed after to hug us and sign our cookbooks.

After the class, four of us headed to the Atlantis Spa for some pampering. I booked a massage and facial. It was wonderful and relaxing. I only wished I would have booked this on the last full day and not the first! All of the walking we did kind of cancelled out the massage.

We had plans to have a picnic by the river in the early evening, but the rain made other plans. Instead we stopped by Central Grocery so I could get a famous Muffaletta. Yum. The rest of the girls wanted to eat at Jax Brewhouse. I split some brisket cheese fries with Jenny, and they were so good that they made up for the horrible odor in the place. The French Quarter is full of scents, and many of them are not very pleasant!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get gussied up. I made everyone let me take a portrait of them out in the street, and they were super excited about that. From there, we went to the famous Pat O’Brien’s dueling piano bar. Somehow, we scored a front row table! We had a blast singing along and talking with the folks sitting around us. The Hurricanes were nice and strong too! Lori Brown flew in to NOLA that night and joined us around 10pm at the bar. After all of that excitement, we were nicely buzzed and sleepy so we headed back to the hotel. It was a great day from beginning to end.

Stay tuned for Day Three…