New Orleans

Finally. New Orleans.

It was a whirlwind. I had a bunch of photo shoots, so this was the most low-key trip so far. And since I was working and now have started establishing "a name" for myself in the little acting community out there, I guess I'm officially tri-coastal. Woo!

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I landed. We wine and pizza-ed.






I met up with Katie and Semmes.

We beer and crabclaw-ed and oyster-ed.




(I ate my first raw oyster ever.)



Katie found a pearl.



Oh and they provide ingredients for you to make your own cocktail sauce.

Lemon, ketchup, and horseradish YUM.



We had some beers.



Had some epic pastrami sandwiches.



Bumped into the Real World cast.



Ate some jambalaya.



Went to concerts (it was French Quarter Fest so there was free music and people out everywhere).




Ate a teeny tiny Lobster Cobb Salad. (This picture actually makes it look average-sized, but really it was the size of a cupcake.)



It was just beautiful out the whole time.

Evenings were glorious.








And Abita Strawberry is the tastiest beer in the world.



Oh there was one night where we went to a show featuring that awful drag queen that made Connie look foolish on stage.



I saw my other favorite New Orleanians.





Went to Mahony's Sandwich Shop.



Mmmmmm my favorite two letters in the alphabet...




More music...



3-for-1 drinks...




More music.



More food.







Amazing pot roast sandwich.



Amazing final dinner.



Some Abita Strawberries...



Beautiful sunset...



Artichoke, Sun-Dried Tomato and Roasted Garlic Cheesecake
on a bed of basil and spinach chiffonade and olive tapenade...



Shrimp Bisque...



And a Pistachio Crusted Gulf Tuna Loin with Sauce Chasseur with warm beluga lentils, market vegetables and red wine and mushroom veal demi glaze... (love me some VEAL-covered fish)...



Thanks for hosting K & S! Love you long time.

Celebrity Auction!

Cathleen and Carly are wonderful little Hoochies that work at Chelsea Piers.



They organized a fancy dinner/charity auction a couple of weeks or so ago and their friend who was the auctioneer needed a photographer to capture the event and some of its celebrity attendees, so in I went.



It was a big event.




The food was epic.




There was a musical performance by Bernadette Peters.



Lots of random fun things being auctioned, from Jonas Brothers memorabilia...



To a guitar signed by U2 complete with a pair of front row VIP meet-and-greet tickets...



(I think it sold for like $150,000 or something crazy.)

To other things like trips to Italy, Emmy award tickets, American Idol Finale tickets, etc etc.

They raised a lot of money.

Lots of random celebs were there, like Law & Order's BDWong.



And EdieFalco from Nurse Jackie and The Sopranos...



And U2's The Edge...



Does anyone know what you're supposed to call The Edge?

When I met him I was just like, "SO great to meet you Mister...um....The Edge..."

Super awkies. But I bet it happens to most people.

It was a really fun event!



Nice job organizing guys, and thanks for thinking of me!



I always love being able to partake in the fancy-ness, eat great food, meet celebrities, AND get paid!

NINJA! | Connie's birthday dinner

Felix always says if he was given a couple million to open a restaurant, that restaurant would be just like NINJA in TriBeCa.

Ninja is exactly what you would imagine if you were to create a ninja-themed restaurant. It is super fancy japanese-y fusion food with ninjas. All the waiters are dressed as ninjas and they jump around and pounce on you from the ceilings and threaten you with swords and shirukens and ninja fire arts and you'll be happily eating your meal one minute and the next you'll turn your head and there will be a scary man in black holding a dagger across your throat.



You enter the restaurant and you are forced to walk through "Ninja Pass" which is basically like a mini-haunted house but with ninjas that pop out and try to kill you.




Once seated at our table (all the tables are private tables in little caves or dojos) we had some delicious ninja cocktails.





And delicious ninja apps.



Lots of the courses involved fire and smokey dry ice.




And you'd be in the middle of the conversation and then all of sudden Connie's mom's life would be in danger.




The presentation of everything was SO cool.




This is the baked alaskan king krab / super wagyu steak dish. We ordered three of them because we are crazy.




NINJA ATTACK!!!!



Lots of explosions and flying ninja stars and random shrieking stuff.

I also bumped into Alicia Keys on my way to the bathroom.

Never a dull moment.




Finally Connie was presented with a magical ninja star.



It exploded in her face and almost died.



Happily, she did not.



This was the delicious chocolate bonzai pudding dessert thing. So good.



Connie wasn't the only one who got presents.



I got a pretty new Ralph Lauren sweater and shirt combo too thanks to her wonderful parents.



Happy Birthday Con-Con, you are loved by all!