Butterfly Cauldron

Everytime I go to New Orleans, I never want to leave.

Yesterday, I went down with some friends for my friend Annette's birthday party. We left around noon and didn't get home until midnight. Ha.

So, we went to this place that you MUST go if you're in New Orleans. Cafe au Clay (they do not appear to have a Web site or I'd link you up). It's just awesome. For $6 plus the price of whatever object you pick, you can paint and have glazed and fired your own pottery. Most of the pieces average around $6 to $10. The most expensive thing I saw was $30, but it was an honest-to-goddess statue that most people aren't gonna want to paint anyway.

So, we got there around 2 p.m. and didn't leave for four hours. It was so. much. fun. I painted a present for Emmy (and no! I will not tell you what it is, Emmy, so no asking), a Christmas ornament for my grandmother and a really cute butterfly dish for ME. Yes. Me. I'm selfish that way.

Seriously, I haven't had so much fun in ages. They bring you all the paint you can want, you just do whatever you want with the colors and the finishes and it's just amazing. The people are really friendly. The proprietor is from Melbourne and at least one of their workers is from Brazil, so you get all kinds of stories and they're very willing to help you with design ideas. There were five of us and we got to play like little kids. We brought a cake and drinks and the staff was really great about all that. So, if you're in New Orleans with an afternoon to kill, you must go. Our pieces will be all fired and glazed by next week, so we'll be going down again to pick them up. If I can, I'll be going down to get them with Annette and we can play again! Yay!

Also, we went to this restaurant -- Jamila's. Oh. My. God. The food was soooo good. It's a Tunisian place, so I wasn't sure about the food. But that was stupid. Because it was SO good. I had baked salmon, in this delicious cheese/wine/cream/mustard sauce that was divine. It came with steamed veggies that were delicious too. We have these philo-dough things stuffed with potato, tuna, shrimp and garlic. Oh. So good. And they give you lots of bread with this garlic and parsley butter. Nommy!

My meal only came to about $20, so really, you can't beat it. Plus, the people who run the place were just so friendly and nice. There was also a bellydancer. I highly recommend it.