What I'd Like to Do and Grown Up Sugar Plums

I would like to go to New Orleans for three days before Christmas, shop, eat a Reveillon dinner and visit the big St. Louis Cathedral. I would like a horse and carriage ride with my sweetheart and stay at the hotel with the big chandeliers in the French Quarter. I want to drink champagne, wear a fabulous cocktail dress, with a nice coat (yeah a coat!) and then have a night of mad passionate love before coming home to have a nice traditional family Christmas. Ho ho ho. Naughty I are feeling, but wouldn't it be fun?

A mere sampling of Reveillon menus:
Hunt Room Grill at the Monteleone Hotel:
At 214 Royal Street, the Hunt Room serves a choice of Warm Foie Gras and Poached Asian Pear Merlot Gastrique and Mission Fig Sabayon or House Cured Gravlax with White Asparagus, and Dill Mustard Sauce Your next selection is between Lobster Bisque with Cognac and cream, or Salad Saint Sylvester. Entrees include Christmas Grille (veal with chanterelles), duck with red currants, and lamb with English mint($53);Salmon En Croute($47), traditional Roasted Goose and Red Cabbage($49), or Petit Filet of Beef with foie gras. Dessert can be either Bread Pudding, Creme Brulee, or Tiramisu.
Upperline Restaurant:
The Upperline at 1413 Upperline, in the uptown area, has an detailed Reveillon menu, including Turtle Soup and Creole Gumbo, Fried Green Tomato with Shrimp Remoulade, or Spicy Crispy Oysters,Duck Andouille Etouffe. Entrees are Cane River Shrimp Saute', Sautéed Speckled Trout Meunière, Grilled Salmon with Oysters, Veal Grillades and Cheddar Grits, Roasted Duckling, Lamb Rack, Filet Mignon, Béarnaise. For dessert, choose Profiteroles with ice cream, Honey-Pecan Bread Pudding, or creme brulee.
Muriels at Jackson Square:
Muriel'sstarts with Fried Oyster Chowder or caramelized Onion and Leek Tart. Then choose Satsuma Salad with Roasted Yellow Bell Pepper Vinaigrette or Duck Confit Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette. Entrees give a Choice of Dijon Mustard-crusted Salmon with Cucumber and Herbsaint-Dill Cream Sauce; Wood-grilled semi-boneless Mississippi Quail, served with a Creole Corn Maque Choux; or Roast Loin of North American Elk with a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Reduction Sauce. For dessert: Warm Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée, or Pain Perdu Bread Pudding with a Butter-rum Sauce.
Rib Room at the Royal Orleans:
For appetizers, the Rib Room offers a choice of Trio of Shrimp Rémoulade, Ravigote and Cocktail or Sweet Potato Bisque with Sage Brown Butter and Toasted Pecans. Then the hearty Rib Room Salad– Crisp Garden Greens Tossed with its famous Rib Room Blue Cheese Dressing and Homemade Garlic Croutons. Entrees are Grilled Yellowfin Tuna Steak with Gulf Shrimp and Artichoke Ragout and Charred Tomato Vinaigrette or the Rib Room Rotisserie Duck with Red Cabbage and Natural Jus. Dessert is Angel Food Cake with Fresh Strawberries and Vanilla Cream.
Get the Menus:

Add this to a night of fine Blues and Jazz.....sigh......

I love Christmas season and wishing for things best kept to myself - unless - some figment of my imagination would produce a companion maybe wafting out from a container on a whiff of smoke, genie like, carrying three wishes in his muscular arms....hahahahahahahah - uh oh, another late night post, giddy with tiredness....night all, and....happy dreams of sugar plums and all that....sometimes I miss my wild, crazy, handsome Irishman who had matching ideas of romance.....