There is probably no city in the United States more associated with celebration than New Orleans. O.K., maybe Las Vegas. I've never been to Las Vegas so I can't compare the two cities. All I know is that during our stay in New Orleans it seemed that there was a festival, a party or a parade going on all of the time. New Orleans is the city that Jack has liked the best during our cross country tour. He would move there in a heartbeat if I would agree to it. For me, Las Vegas is a nice place to visit but not a place that I would choose to live. Too hot and buggy. Since Jack loves New Orleans so much, I wanted to find a restaurant here in Portland with Creole/Cajun food for Jack's birthday celebration yesterday. Luckily, I found the perfect spot only a few blocks away from where we are staying.
Acadia is located on a residential street in a block of buildings that includes a wine bar, an Irish Pub and a coffee shop. It is close enough to our apartment that we could have ridden our bikes there although we took our car last night.
The decor is reminiscent of New Orleans and features Jazz Fest posters and Outsider art, which we both like. The purple and gold color scheme reminded us of the purple and gold drapes in the living room of our former home in Joliet. (I loved those drapes. They were worth every penny of the exorbitant price we paid for them.)
For our main course, Jack had the Pasta Jambalaya
Take a look at the amazing bread pudding that Jack ordered!
When I saw his dessert I almost wished that I had chosen the bread pudding but after one taste of my own banana cream pie with salted caramel sauce I knew that I had made a good choice for my own dessert.
Bad manners, I know, but after two glasses of Pinot Noir it seemed like such a good idea!
Even though no one said, "Who Dat?" or threw beads, I think that Jack really enjoyed his New Orleans style birthday celebration. It seems as if he's aging backwards rather than getting older. The kids always tease Jack that there is a Dorian Gray-type portrait hidden somewhere that ages while he looks younger and younger. Whatever the secret is I'm just glad that Jack was born 59 years ago and that we are spending our lives together. He is such a great guy. I always tell Jack that he is my gift from God.