NATA in NOLA

I recently went to new orleans for the National Athletic Trainer's Association's annual conference; for about 5 days, the city of new orleans probably had the highest athletic trainer per square mile it's ever had and was very well equipped with health care providers for all sorts of potential injuries and emergencies.
The conference was great and I met with a bunch of grad schools, and needless to say the dining and nightlife was awesome, but very very pricey. I've never appreciated Athens so much (although not having an open container law bought some brownie points for nola)

Restaurants visited:
-Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar
had a soft shell crab po boy. the line was out the door here and the prices were kind of steep but it was soooo worth it. The bar, Jester's was conveniently located right next door and boasted the strongest drinks in the french quarter, so I think those libations made the wait seem faster and more enjoyable
-Cafe du Monde
a new orleans staple!! we passed the original restaurant in the french quarter but actually ate at the "stand" because it was closer to our hotel and the convention center. Allison and I split an order of beignets and washed it down with some chicory cafe au lait
-Cafe Maspero
went here twice thanks to their large portions and reasonable prices. I had a fried oyster po boy one night and jambalaya another. The seafood platter was another popular choice which was HUGE and under 12 dollars. yummmm. also served $1 strawberry daiquiris that my friends seemed to enjoy. I personally thought they tasted like sunscreen..
-Howling Wolf
went here for a quick lunch (was definitely sick of subway; it's a bar with a small menu and I had a cuban sandwich to die for. seriously, amazing
-Serio's Po Boy and Deli
this was in a throwdown with bobby flay for mufalettas and won. since i don't like olives, i passed on the winning dish and went with a specialty po boy and split cheese fries with christina. very tasty and very filling. SUPER friendly staff

annnnd of course we had to visit tropical isle (hellO hang grenades) as well as other classy institutions with clever names such as Bourbon Cowboy

if only hugh had been there...

so today my parents came up to celebrate my early birthday at...drum roll please..the five and ten!!!!

token birthday picture of me and ellen. please note the matching squinty eyes and skinny arm pose..further proof that in 36 years, I will be this precious woman (just kidding, she's not that old!!)

so the five and ten is one of Athens' best restaurant owned by Chef Hugh Acheson aka my favorite unibrowed Top Chef Masters contestant. The website says it best actually...

To Athens he is a guy who owns those restaurants, has one eyebrow, a wife far better looking than he is and two young children who are the apple of his eye.

He also owns the National...and has the best sense of humor EVER. needless to say I prayed the entire car ride there that he would just happen to be chilling at his restaurant today. no dice. Before my parents even had a chance to glance at the menu I made them promise there would be absolutely no singing today. For my 18th birthday at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons, they let it slip it was my birthday and a freaking opera singer crooned to me for about 27 hours. hello embarrassing. Annnnd then the hard decisions began; Dad and I decided on the eggs benedict and Mom got coerced into getting the special omelet of the day-somehow I don't think she was too disappointed

this eggs benedict was served on a delicious potato pancake instead of an english muffin!

the omelet was perfectly seasoned and stuffed with thick braised bacon, cheddar cheese, and spicy kim chi. it also came with a little side salad and this great potato pancake (different from the eggs benedict though)

Our meals were delicious and we wolfed them down in record time. Surprisngly we were satisfied but not stuffed, so our interests turned to the dessert special on the board. We decided that instead of drinks (since I don't turn 21 until a week from tomorrow), we surely could split two desserts). At this point the waitress brought us our check, and we had to inform her that we were not done stuffing out face, dessert menu please!! We decided on the Vanilla Creme Brule and the Special of the day: Peach Cobbler with Whipped Cream and Spiced Plum Sorbet

yes, those are cookies accompanying that delicious jar of vanilla creamy goodness, and yes they were equally delicious. that plate was all but licked clean

also all but licked clean. the spicy sweetness of the sorbet cut right through the sugary sweetness of the peaches. even though by the end of this I was pretty full, I definitely could have eaten another one of these

Overall, this was probably the best brunch I've ever had in Athens. Yeah, we have some good ones (The Grit, Mama's Boy, The Last Resort..), but nothing really beats fine dining. It was pricey, but worth it fo sho. But let it be known, I will keep coming back until i catch a glimpse of my beloved chef unibrow

floating the broad? clearly we paddled...

it's pushing 100 degrees in Athens and the pool just isn't cutting it to beat the heat anymore; when my neighbor Patrick told me that he was getting a bunch of people together to float the Broad, clearly I couldn't say no. Why you ask?

1. sun=hot, river=cold
2. something in athens i've never done before
3. new friends yay!!

so we loaded up the car, met/picked up some omni people, and headed to the Broad River Outpost. When we got there, the parking lot of packed and we were worried that there may not be any kayaks left, but luck was on our side and we got the last six (note to self: next time call ahead). We paid our 20, strapped the coolers onto the 'yaks, and put in the river. Apparently there are two parts of the river you can "float", the upper and the lower. According to the website, the upper portion is about 5 miles of moving water and the lower is 6.5 miles of class II beginner white water containing 7 shoals each with individual ledges and sloughs. I don't really know what this means, but in Gabi language it means lots of opportunities for me to get stuck on rocks, scream really loud, and possibly slip (yes, i definitely fell down and went boom, but it only happened once. win). Aside from getting stuck like 8 billion times, and one flip of the kayak, things were pretty uneventful until the end when we realized that Patrick was nowhere to be found. After 20 minutes of freaking out, we see him paddling towards the pick up point. thank god. apparently he hit "30 rapids, lost the beer and sunglasses,....and his dignity". Could be worse. While waiting, I saw one guy that broke his foot, jumping off a rock. Reason #87 why i don't jump off anything but a diving board.

After a good four hours on the river, we were all starving, which leads me to another first in my life: all you can eat pizza. I pass Stevi B's almost everyday but have never EVER had the desire to go and find it a little bit (ok a lotta bit) ironic that I went with a bunch of trainers from the Omni, but seriously BEST IDEA EVER. I probably ate the equivalent of half a large pizza (and had room for a late night fro yo binge later). My OCD food and exercise tracking told me that I burned about 1300 calories kayaking (not to mention the 600 from fight club), so honestly I didn't even care that I ate more for one meal than I usually do in a day.

Operation try new things so far has been a smashing success-hooray!!

a colorful night..

Friday night I killed two birds with one stone and visited Pints and Paints (http://www.pintsandpaints.com). Catch up with an old friend? check! Commence exploring Athens? check!
On their website, Pints and Paints describes its self as "an art bar where friends, families, teams, groups, and individuals can spend time together, enjoy drinks, and create their own mindless masterpieces.". Painting? Knowing me, I was going to get messy, but in true Gabi form, things got messy a little before schedule. I had a couple hours before it was time to go to Pints and Paints, so I decided it was the perfect time to try out a new soup recipe (my logic: beets were a main ingredient and my hands were going to get stained painting anyhow...) and use my brand new food processor (yes, i'm a kitchen nerd). I went to town prepping my ingredients and loading them into the Cuisinart, i started pulsing them all together, enjoying the fun color everything was turning and then BAM

my kitchen went from spotless to possible murder scene is .2 seconds. and this is just a small amount of the explosion; the carnage spanned from the fridge to the sink and everywhere in between. After getting over the shock and wiping beet mush from my eyes, i salvaged what i could, cleaned the beets off the walls, and finished the recipe. yes, it's delicious.
fast forward to pints and paints. I got there a few minutes before Shira and her boyfriend did so I awkwardly walked around and chose a stool and easel to park myself at for the next 3 hours. In front of me was a canvas with with the georgia theater scene sketched out on it, a few brushes, a plate full of paint, and most importantly, a smock! Shortly after Shira showed up, the painting started, and the artist in charge talked us through mixing our colors, the techniques we should use, and where and what to paint. Honestly, I was really hesitant to do this because of my extreme perfectionism, but pints and paints made it pretty fool proof.

my masterpiece
shira's version of the georgia theater

now this is called pints and paints for a reason. they sell beer, wine, and specialty drinks (Shira and her boyfriend split a blood orange mimosa, I believe?) Since I'm about two weeks from being 21, i didn't drink (why tempt fate?), but it's a fun concept! Overall, I'm hooked. This was a great way to forget the world and just be creative for a while. At $45 for a 3 hours session it was a little pricey (i think 15% of the proceeds went to help rebuild the ga theater though-yay!!), so I don't know how many times I'll be able to come back, but I will definitely go back again. With two other places with similar concepts opening in the Athens area, I predict this will be another trendy hit (much like cupcakes and self serve frozen yogurt), but I don't think I'll consider going anywhere else. I know at least one of the other places is a franchise, and I'd rather support local, independent businesses, plus Pints and Paints have lots of athens specific scenes (the ga theater, weaver d's, the arches, etc..) so not only do you come away with a unique canvas, but one that is unique to the athens area and culture. This was a great first "local experience" stay tuned for an athens bucket list :)

going local

so i think it's safe to say i've explored a lot of the world (yeah, i've only blogged about two countries, so you'll have to trust me on this one), but it dawned on me the other day that I really haven't done much exploring in the state of georgia in general, much less the city (is it considered a city?) of athens.
I'm been to 19 states* in the US (not counting airports and states we've just passed through) and various provinces, states, cities, towns, etc... in 6 or 7 other countries.

all of these experiences in my less than 21 years have been amazing to say the least, but I feel like tourists to Georgia have done more things here than I have.
now that i'm no longer taiwandering, and back from dublin, and can't say i have any more international adventures planned in the near future...it's time to get local and explore what's in my backyard!

**going to make it twenty next month-new orleans here i comeee

"stop shaking the bridge!"

Currently Chandler and I are posted up in the lobby of our hostel trying to stay awake until our 4:30 am airport shuttle comes in hopes of beating jet lag. Yes, it sucks, but at least it gives me a chance to catch up on my blogging!
Today started bright and early when we met Dan's dad's bus at 6:30 to drive out to Northern Ireland. Needless to say, I passed out for the majority of the four hour drive, only waking up when we took bathroom and coffee stops. Northern Ireland is what I think we all think of when we think of Ireland. Very very green, smells like sheep and cows, and lots of ruins and castles and such. Our first stop was Dunluce Castle which was absolutely gorgeous. It was about this time that I realized that my memory card was in my laptop and not my camera so I had to rely on other people to take pictures (thanks chandler and erica, you da bestest!!). We explored the castle for a little while, actually a very long while because there were tons of great picture opportunities and lots of cameras to capture them.



At the end of our castle explorations, all of the girls decided they wanted to be princesses, we got on the bus, and headed off to the Giant's Causeway. Giant's Causeway is a magnificent rock formation right on the coast or northern ireland with lots of fun folklore surrounding it. Unfortunately, I was too focused on not slipping and plummeting to my death (or at least further injury) to pay too much attention.

All of that hiking had made us hungry, so we grabbed lunch at a little pub by the causeway called the nook. I did NOT have fish and chips this time (surprised?) I had irish stew, which was delicious and was hot, which was what I needed after been wind whipped around down by the coast.
Back on the bus, we had a short ride to Carrick a Rede, which according to wikipedia is in North Antrim. This fun little attraction is a rope suspension bridge that attatches a small island (Carrick) to the mainland.

It was a nice little walk out to the bridge, where we then all walked across, took pictures on the island, and then walked back. nobody died, but Dr. Ferrara did have a little too much fun shaking the bridge and freaking us out.

It was too late to do the Black Taxi Tour of Belfast, but we drove in anyhow and watched the Ireland vs England Rugby match in a pub called Robinson's. Ireland won! It was a crazy atmosphere, let me tell you. After that we were all tired, grabbed dinner at subway, and headed back to homebase in Dublin. This is where we probably should have just finished packing and went to bed, but when in Ireland.....go out! So yes. After coming back to the hostel at like 2:15,changing, and throwing the rest of our packing together, here I am sitting with Chan in the lobby of the hostel watched the drunken parade, blogging, and trying to not pass out. Back in the states around 1 tomorrow-I think I need a break from spring break before I can go back to school....

what are you having for dinner? fish and chips...again..

today we were super touristy. We woke up, had breakfast, and caught a bus to Kilmainham Gaol which is a very old church that was very important in terms of prison reform and in Dublin's history. It's one of Linda's favorite places in Ireland so she did a great job supplementing our tour guide and pointing out fun facts about the Gaol-she kept referencing the Michael Collins DVD that Ferarra gave us to watch before Ireland in our "free time". uhhhh what free time are you talking about?

From the jail, we started walking to Christ Church, but before we got there stopped into a really beautiful catholic church. Not exactly sure what the significance was, but it sure was pretty. We got to Christ church, walked around, took pictures, blah blah blah we're tourists and then realized how hungry we were and went out in search of lunch. Linda suggested Queen of Tarts where Erica and I split a butternut squash, feta, and spinach tart and fatty over here (that's me) had a DELICIOUS chocolate pear tart. Probably like 8 million calories, but seriously worth it.

Went back to the hostel to grab our stuff and caught a bus to Howth (pronounced hoe-th) where i promptly passed out for about 45 minutes. I woke up when I dreamed I heard someone say "someone wake up Gabi" SURPRISE i wasn't dreaming. Actually asleep. go figure. Once off the bus, we were greeted with the most gorgeous views of green grass and misty coastline. We took a short walk to the top of the mountain? (hill? Cliff? I’m not really sure) and started our cliff walk down. I personally thought the trail we were on was pretty steep, although Dr. Ferrara told me otherwise. Sorry Ferarra, not everyone hiked on everest-it’s a perspective thing. After slipping and sliding down the trail I changed out of my Uggs and into my Nikes and had a slightly better time keeping my footing, although Dan had to hold on to me a little bit when we went down hills. I blame my lack of balance to my bum leg.

After we got to the bottom, we took a short (ish) stroll to the city of Howth where we watched the seals for a while, took about six hundred more pictures, I lost the game (for the first time in 3 days), took more pictures, and then went to the Bloody Stream for dinner. Sounds unappetizing, but I finally had fish and chips that rivaled the Salmon Bake in Alaska annnnd it was wrapped in newspaper. Hooray! We took the bus back and ended up being super cool and playing spoons then calling it a night since the bus was coming at 6:15 to begin our trek to north Ireland!