craving

i am going home to new orleans next week and i can't wait because i've been dying for some things that they just don't have up here in new england. lots of stuff i don't miss, but not included:

snow balls!!! and i do not mean snow cones, they are so different that they can't even be placed in the same category. i mean a wild strawberry snowball with condensed milk and whipped cream from pandora's. ooh, i wonder if it's even open... god, that would be horrible i have been craving this for so long! (long enough to use all these explanation points even though i utterly detest that.) i've eaten so many snowballs in my life that i just took them for granted. i'd never thought of taking a picture of a snowball, or having to explain it to someone. i mean, who doesn't know what a snow ball is? same for a muffaletta? aparently, most of the world doesn't. to think we lived a block from pandora's in new orleans. we just didn't know how lucky we were...

muffalettas! i am living downtown in one of the oldest italian fishing communities in the u.s. so i assumed the muffalettas here would be outrageous, right? Nope, they don't even have them. not one. apparently, it's a new orleans thing. i'm considering even buying some premade olive salad to try to bring back on the plane with me. i'm also considering introducing myself around the self-titled best italian sandwich shop down the street and begging them to add it to their menu. i'm sure it would be a hit.

raw oysters. they have oysters on the halfshell here, however eating them is reminiscent of accidentally gulping a mouthful of ocean water. and they don't include the saltines. i'm sure my dad would love to take me to acme anyway, and i may have some even though i kinda think it's still too early in the season for good ones. any will be better than the ones here.

that being said, it's so gorgeous here it's not even comparable to new orleans. and everywhere has a smell (and i don't mean like sulfur crossing the green bridge, or rotten seafood on canal, or vomit and piss on bourbon street), like lavender and really good food and the sea. and you can't get richie's cotton candy italian ice back home or farnham's clam chowder or lobster on a paper plate for that matter. oh my god, i just realized crawfish is out too.