New Orleans, LA

Some of my favourite foods are simple affairs. Done right, and I'll want to devour it until my dying days. Done wrong and my quest to find the perfect morsel merely continues. The doughnut is one of these trysts. How difficult is it to eff up what is essentially fried dough covered in sugar? Surprisingly, very easy. Especially if one of the ingredients is "defatted soy flour*" (??) à la Dunkin' Donuts. This is why I eyed the Everest of powdered sugar on my beignet skeptically, It can't be as good as everyone says it is. All that sugar must be compensating for something...

My senses must have been in a maelstrom thanks to the Hurricane we had earlier because I was forgetting one important fact -- we were in New Orleans. The only American city famous for its Mardi Gras festival. The beignet was transcendental, and the excess, perfect sense. 

I always found it strange that in a country where three-quarters of the population identify themselves as being Christian, only New Orleans puts out all the stops for Mardi Gras. Yet after our night ending with that beignet, I can't imagine another city doing the same. New Orleans is and feels entirely different that rest of our puritan nation. The architecture, the music, the food, even the booze (public drinking is permissible -- pack your bar hoppin' shoes). It's more open, more relaxed. Like every hour is perpetually late for the next, in other words, island time. No doubt due to its unique and heady mix of cultures. You read that right, we, us, Americans have a place celebrated for its culture! Now do your country proud and revel in it -- godspeed!**

On a side note, you may be wondering if we went to New Orleans after Katrina, if so, did we venture to the Lower Ninth Ward. Yes and yes, and one more yes to the question you're thinking of right now. A visit is necessary, if anything it reminds you that people disappoint us; often though, they uplift us. The district will be revived.

* Because I'm crazy, instead of writing last night (a Saturday night mind you), I spent a good portion of it researching defatted soy flour. For all the inquisitive minds out there, "...soybeans are cracked to remove the hull and then rolled into full-fat flakes. The rolling process disrupts the oil cells, facilitating solvent extraction of the oil. After the oil has been extracted, the solvent is removed, and the flakes are dried, creating defatted soy flakes." (source)

Of course this led me to question the oil extraction process, but I had to control myself. However, it was naturally after another hour of researching why Dunkin' Donuts would use defatted soy flour in the first place. USAid provides a noble humanitarian reason, " Soy flour is a good source of plant-based protein that is highly digestible,. It can be fortified with variety of vitamins and minerals. It is used to fortify cereal products such as whites, corn, and rice, and is used in corn-soy blend (CSB) and wheat soy blend (WSB)." (source)

They have yet to tout the protein content of their confections, so it's definitely not that. And the research (ahem, obsession) continued for another hour until, success! "Cooking times may need to be reduced when using soy flour because of its tendency to brown more quickly than other types of flour. Baked goods should be watched to ensure they are not overcooked. Lowering he cooking temperature may also help prevent overcooking." (source) No wonder their doughnuts taste like an oil soaked sponge or something from an exhaust pipe. I guess they had to speed things up if they're going to "Keep America Running".

Moral of this long ass footnote? Did I feel like I got anything done yesterday? Nope. Don't be like me.

** Is it sad I've been pining to use this word since I started this blog? Hands down one my favourites.

Length of Stay

Two or three nights (I'm sure you can figure out why I can't recall precisely...)

Docking Index

      

Seven anchors, only because I'm not certain if the laissez-faire way of life would turn me into mush in more ways than one (it's a given that I would be feasting on beignets often). Also, I would either be bald or sport a pixie cut here. The humidity made my hair look and feel like a bird's nest, no. joke. This may or may not be a detriment with respects to dating and the southern gentleman.