Where I've Lived (2) : New Orleans

New Orleans. It's a great place to live. Even though I was there right after Katrina, it still had heart. The people still had joy and food! And music! If you ever get a chance to go, do it. Go eat all the delicious food and go to a small hole in the wall bar and watch a live show. It's totally worth it.

I not only lived in NOLA for several years, but I also started my 365 Project in NOLA and so I have a lot of photos of everyday life, which is what a 365 project is all about! I am glad that I tried it while I was there, because there are so many fun and interesting things to take photos of! You can see other photos of New Orleans HERE. 

It's almost time for Mardi Gras again! Soon people will be partying in the streets! I know the King Cakes are already being eaten. And the babies are being discovered!

9th Ward : 2009

King Cake Babies

French Quarter Doors

St Bernard Parish

St Louis Cemetery

Mardi Gras Beads (Lower Garden District)

City Park

For my previous Where I've Lived: New Orleans, go HERE. Don't worry; there are other places on the way!

Have you ever been somewhere where they celebrate Carnival / Mardi Gras (or another big event)? Did you like it or would you rather visit a place when it is less crowded?

Where I've Lived

You have already seen my Where I Live series. You may or may not know that I travel a lot for work and so therefore have lived in some interesting places. I lived in New Orleans on and off for about 5 years. It is a great city and I can't wait to go back there someday. (You can see more photos of New Orleans on Photography Blog )

The theme today is BLUE, since I am hoping for the quick return of blue skies for my folks back East!  Fill up your bathtubs, buy batteries and don't forget to get money out of the ATM before the power goes out!

Earhart Ave

City Park

St Bernard Parish

Jackson Square

St Louis Cemetery

Rusty Pipes

Arabi

Where are some of the most interesting places you have lived? Do you live in the path of Irene? Do you have plenty of candles?

Eat It: 10 Places to Eat in New Orleans

If you ever go to New Orleans, I suggest straying away from the beaten (aka BOURBON St) path and going to see some of the better parts of the city. Of course, if it's your first time, you may want to go to Bourbon St, buy a 3 for 1 beer, eat a Po-Boy and some gumbo and see if you can see what all the fuss is about. By all means, do it.

However, when I tell people that one of the main things I miss about New Orleans is the food, I am NOT talking about Bourbon St. In fact, I am not even usually talking about the French Quarter, although there are some good restaurants there as well. I am talking about the REST of New Orleans. Both the every day stuff and the extravagant stuff. 

Here is, in my first ever episode of "Eat It", my list of food you should not miss if you are in...New Orleans, Louisiana.

1. Rio Mar: In the Warehouse District: This place is a seafood heaven. Eat it: five hour roast pork (I know, it's not a fish) and the bacon wrapped tuna. All the dishes are delicious. There are tapa style appetizers which are fun to share and are all great (I recommend especially the grilled octopus and the mussels with chorizo) The owner and head chef Adolfo, has a couple other restaurants (La Boca and A Mano) in the area, both which are also good. **NOTE: If you are a fan of OpenTable, you can book your reservation through them. (Menu HERE) 

2.  Surrey's: On Magazine Street, Lower Garden District: Great breakfast, brunch or lunch place (closes at 3). My advice to you is GET THERE EARLY as they have a line if you get there after about 9:30 or 10. Eat it: yummy crab omelet, great salmon scramble and super good grits! Also, the Costa Rican is good as well. The best part is all of the homemade tables, which are old magazine clippings, beads and other things like that surrounded by resin. You are definitely entertained while you are eating! Drink it: Fresh, homemade juices! (Menu HERE)

3. A Crab or Crayfish (pronounced "Craw-fish") Boil on the Fly (map): Down at the end of Audubon Park is an area near the river called The Fly. First you go to the Big Fisherman and buy yourself some boiled crabs or crayfish. They are already pre-seasoned and boiled and ready to eat. Next, you buy a lot of napkins and beer. Then you find a friend or two or twenty seven and you go down to the fly and you peel and eat until your fingers are sore. If you need a lesson on how to eat a crayfish, I could explain it to you. Or you can go HERE OR you can watch this video (this guy doesn't remove the vein though). Come to find out, there are A LOT of "how to eat a crayfish" tutorials online! Drink it: Budweiser. Or Miller Light. Take your pick.

4. Herbsaint - Warehouse District (St. Charles Ave) - A French inspired restaurant which is a tad pricey but has an excellent menu. Eat it: fried frog legs, pork belly or the duck leg confit. (MENU) Drink it: Sazerac - a NOLA classic!


5. Dick and Jennys - On Tchoupitoulas St (read my post about that weird name HERE). Eat it: duck confit salad, roasted pork tenderoin, Mary's Flourless Chocolate Cake . (MENU)

6. GW Finns - French Quarter - This place has awesome seafood. Eat it: smoked sizzling oysters, New Bedford Sea Scallops and white chocolate and caramel bread pudding. (MENU)

7. Camillia Grill - Carrollton Ave - Eat it: Hamburgers! Supposedly the best in town, and if the line has anything to do with it, they may be right! Drink it: Milkshake.

8. Lebanon's Cafe - Carrollton Ave - Eat it: hummus, lamb chops and vegetarian dolmas! Drink it: BYO--whatever. 

9. Slice Pizzeria - St Charles Ave, Lower Garden District - This place has good pizza and even better, they have a great Portuguese wine, Famega Vinho Verde. Drink it! Eat it: spinach, sun-dried tomato and artichoke OR The Bacon, Basil and Garlic. (MENU)

10. Slim Goodies:  I have written about them before. We used to go here almost every Sunday. It is run by a really down home lady named Kappa who makes you wait out on the sidewalk (and you almost always have to on the weekend!) for your name to be called. Eat it: The Little Goat, the fancy pants or the guatemalan. Drink it: BYO champagne and make your own mimosas! 

NOTE: There are about 400 other places I could recommend, but this is a good sampling of some of my favorite places.  

My idea is to make "Eat It" a regular feature. I know I am always looking for great places to eat in every city! If you have a city that you think I may have been to that you want recommendations for, let me know!  

Have you tried any of these places? What is your favorite place to eat in New Orleans? Do you have an recommendations for me? Where is your favorite place to eat in your city?

Come Back

I took a photo drive around the 9th ward the other day. I know most people think that New Orleans is "back to normal", but it is not. Sometimes it is things such as the fact that many schools are not up and running, nor will they ever be, at least not in the same way they were before. Sometimes you still see trailers, sometimes roads are closed. And...the fate of the 9th ward is still up in the air. Brad Pitt is there with his green architects, building houses that look like they belong in a different city. But that is not what I am talking about.

Some people have renovated, if their house was still standing. Some houses have been torn down and only the slabs remain. And many are still standing, empty and sad. Here is a photo collage of some of them.

Here is one of the Pitt Green Houses.

Do you think New Orleans will come back? Will it be better than before or will it have lost something along the way? Do you think the 9th ward will come back?

Five Star Stay!

The Waldorf Astoria opened a new hotel in New Orleans this month. The Roosevelt Hotel, "Originally one of the South’s first grand hotels” underwent a $145 million restoration, which “has returned The Roosevelt to its place as the premier luxury hotel in New Orleans".

I didn’t really know the history of this hotel, so I decided to do a little research. Apparently, the hotel was built by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, and it opened as The Grunewald in 1893. In 1908, 400 rooms were added, and in 1923 it changed to the Roosevelt in honor of former president Theodore Roosevelt. It was the Roosevelt for 40 years before it was acquired by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in 1965. It remained The Fairmont until 2005, when it was damaged by the storm. And today, the Roosevelt returns. It just re-opened July 1st and as it is (re)new, they are having marvelous summer deals. And, thankfully for me, it is a Hilton partner, which means not only do I get to enjoy a beautiful hotel, but I get points for staying there! Double score. So I decided to go and check it out.

It’s very nice, all done up in gilt and brocade with wide hallways and high ceilings. The staff is nice but not snooty; the rooms are tastefully done and the towels are the softest I have ever used. There are a few kinks that they need to work out as a new hotel – there were still tags on some of the furnishings; the refrigerator still had it’s EnergyStar sticker on it; There is only one trash can and it was not in the bathroom. But the soap leaves you smelling like lemon all day long and the sheets make you want to skip work and sleep all day.

A few more interesting facts: A suite on the 12th floor of The Roosevelt was (corrupt?) Governor Huey P. Long’s residence when he was in Louisiana. When the hotel was The Grunewald, it was home to The Cave, which is considered by some to be the first nightclub in the United States. The Fairmont was known for the Sazerac Bar and the Sazerac Room for the finest dining. So yesterday, we went to find out if it lived up to its fame.

Firstly, Sazerac is a cocktail made from whisky, bitters and absinthe. It is purported to be the first cocktail in the United States (a lot of firsts here today!) We had to have one, since we were in the Sazerac Room. It tasted to me like slightly licorice-tasting whisky. Not too bad though. See below (taken from Wikipedia)

TypeCocktail
ServedStraight up; without ice
Standard garnishLemon peel
Standard drinkware
Old fashioned glass
Commonly used ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Sazerac Rye whiskey
Three dashes Peychaud's Bitters
One sugar cube or simple syrup
1/4 ounce Absinthe
Preparation
One old fashioned glass is packed with ice. In a second old fashioned glass, a sugar cube and 3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters are muddled. The Rye Whiskey is then added to the sugar/Bitters mixture. The ice is emptied from the first old fashioned glass and the Absinthe is poured into the glass and swirled to coat the sides of the glass. Any excess Absinthe is discarded. The Rye-Sugar-Bitters mixture is then poured into the Absinthe coated glass and the glass is garnished with a lemon peel.
Notes
Originally, the Sazerac was made and served in an egg cup called a coquetier.

Next was dinner – we came for the Foie Gras and it did not disappoint. My second favorite was the surf and turf, which was cooked to perfection and flavored just enough. Dessert was bread pudding, which had fresh fruit and a little bit of vanilla ice cream. All in all, it was a wonderful dinner. The waiter was nice, not in your face, but there when you needed him. There was a live “band” (one man) which was pleasant and not too loud.

So, overall, the Roosevelt has it all – class, charm, history, nice sheets and great dessert to boot! Five stars really does mean five stars!

All Work and No Play...

...makes Jack a dull boy, right? It also makes me a sleep deprived grandmother. Yeah, I have always been kind of a grandma; I am the one who goes to bed early and gets up early, who turns down happy hour to go home and knit (no, I am NOT kidding) or read, who spends one’s free time writing Christmas cards and thank you cards and journals...boring, right? Yup. That’s me.

Anyway, if you thought I was bad before, you should see me now. I recently moved to Baton Rouge, but am still required to come to New Orleans from time to time to attend meetings or do site visits. So, I am frequently driving back and forth from one office to the other (about 70 miles one way). This, along with 10 hours of work a day, does not leave much room for anything else. My routine is becoming very tiring. I get up around 4:30 a.m. and go to bed around 9. I run approximately an hour to an hour and a half a day. I eat fruit and sandwich for lunch while in the car on the way to a meeting. Phew. I don’t see how people do it for such long periods of time.

I used to go to school and work at the same time and it was similar to this. I got up at 5:30 to make it to a 7 o’clock class on time, then went straight from school to work and worked until 10 at night, so didn’t get home until 11 p.m. However, I have definitely gotten out of the habit of doing that! I have gotten spoiled by my free time. I have started to take it for granted. I guess this is a wake up call (fitting – since it seems like I am getting less sleep). Wake up and smell the...

Luckily I only have to stay in Baton Rouge for a few more weeks. I will be so happy when I am back living in New Orleans, where it only takes me 10 minutes to get to the office, where I can walk to the restaurants and bars downtown, where I can pop home for lunch, where I can visit with my friends... I will try not to take all of that for granted the next time around.

Practice Makes Perfect

Tomorrow, Saturday May 12th, at 8:30 a.m. I will be standing in a group of people, getting ready to run. This is a small run; we can't run very far in New Orleans in the summer without falling down from heat stroke or dehydration. It is only 3 miles, which is roughly 5K, which is a good distance for a practice run. Ha - a 15 dollar practice run, where I will get another "free" shirt (I love it - pay 15 dollars and get a free shirt! Or sometimes it is more like - pay 50 dollars and get a free shirt!)

I have started training again. I dont know if I am going to get into the NYC Half or not, but if I do get in, I plan to have at least 12 weeks of training, which is what I had for the Mardi Gras Marathon. This way I am keeping up a steady schedule of running, keeping in shape and training all at the same time. If this week were week 1, I would have a 13 week training schedule.

Luckily this week I only have to run...lemme check my schedule...16 miles! What?!

So. It has begun. Again.

Parti Gras!

Parades! Beads! Booze! Boobs! Costumes! Birthday Suits! Kids! Toys! Boys!

Yes there is a little bit of everything here in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. And this year, we were all a part of it. My brother came to visit, along with Lil John (from Costa Mesa), Big Jon (from Beantown) and Rachel (Nashville), who is a permanent "guest" of ours.

What did we do? We saw a lot of parades, each very cool, with great floats, marching bands and lots of loot. Our favorites: Muses, Baccus and Zulu. We drank a lot of booze, but that just can't be helped..it is Mardi Gras! We showed our boobs to everone passing by...Just kidding! Only Doyle did that... We got TONS of beads...what do you do with them all when it is all over? I have enough beads to kill a small horse. Or should I say "FILL" a small horse. We went to the Maringy, the French Quarter, Uptown, Downtown and all around...

Day 73: I am Not Dead Yet!

…And it keeps getting easier. Last Friday, we ran 11 miles. The week before that, we ran 10 miles. After that 13 is just another drop in the bucket.

We began to do this after looking at a map and realizing that from the office to our hotel was roughly 10 miles. We have since switched hotels and now it is 11 miles to our new destination, which is even better. It is a nice run too – from the office, we run along the levee for about 5 miles, then cut over to the park, run along the park for about half a mile, then cut over to the street and run up St. Charles Ave the rest of the way. St. Charles Ave is where the streetcar used to run along before the hurricane and so now there is a nice area right in the middle that is not being used and is a perfect running trail.

Last Friday, everyone was getting ready for the Mardi Gras parades, so it was quite an adventure. People with BBQs, kids, booze, food, chairs, tents and dogs were setting up all over the place. There were cops everywhere; in fact I think the average was about 5 cops for one block. I did not know that there were that many cops in New Orleans! I think they must bus them in from Disneyland or something.

We arrived at the hotel in about 1 hour and 50 minutes, which is consistent with our 10 minute per mile pace. I think we are ready for a full 13 miles!

Jackson Day Race

I ran and I ran and I ran and about an hour later I ended up red faced, sweaty and 9 kilometers from where I began. It was wonderful and terrible all at the same time.

The Jackson Day Race is my longest race run so far - 9 K (5.6 miles) of relatively flat road on a relatively cool morning in New Orleans. This race is run to commemorate the Battle of New Orleans on January 8th 1915, when the British invaded the city and the brave American soldiers ran the exact same route in order to defend their city and fight off their attackers.

I ran with Noel and Mira; Lea and Rachel were our loyal supporters. We finished in about 55 minutes, which is a consistent 10 minute mile. This may not be extremely fast, but our goal was to finish and finish we did!

Next up: 10 K race - "The Wall" on January 28th.

Stranded!

I am still here. Stuck in New Orleans. Not that I don't like this place, but I really had my heart set on going home today, hanging out with my buddy K and seeing the roommates at the house. I had a flight out for today at 2 pm. But I don't anymore. This is a classic example of "do as I say, not as I do". I told L when she was buying her ticket - DO NOT go through Denver!!! She listened to me. But somehow, when I went to buy my ticket, I was caught up in the greed of finding the shortest flight, the flight that arrived just when someone could pick me up and the flight that allowed me to get some work done in the morning and see my friends in the evening. And guess where that flight connected at? DENVER! I have been banging my head against the wall all morning just thinking about what a hypocrite (and see where it got me!) I am.

Actually, I have not been banging my head against the wall all morning. I have been running around like a mad woman. After sitting on the phone yesterday for hours wading through the monotonous automated voice that is the United "help" line and finally getting put through to an agent only to get the busy signal (about 487 times!), I finally decided that the way to figure this out was to go to the airport. So this morning at 4:45, I went to the airport and stood in the premier line (which is supposedly faster) behind (of course!) a lady with about 400 large bags which all had to be weighed and checked (hello santa!), a relative in a wheelchair and then, lo and behold, about 4 other relatives who cut in line with her at the last minute.

I finally got to the counter only to be told by the lady that there are "abosolutely NO flights today or tomorrow". Tears sprung from my eyes for a second before I swallowed them back and asked her again about getting to San Francisco. "Oh...San Francisco. I thought you meant Denver." WHEW! But still, there were no flights even to San Francisco unless I wanted to wait standby all day. Luckily, after about 20 minutes of searching, she found a flight early tomorrow morning (thank you lady!), and after being ticketed, I turned around and walked out. As I was walking out, a lady in the premier line cheered. I thought that it was pretty weird that she cheered, until I realized I didn't care why she was cheering. I felt like cheering too... I am going home! Come hell or high water or a crazy winter blizzard... I am going home!

What exactly is a "Tchoupitoulas" anyway?

One of the things in New Orleans that is really strange to me is the spelling and pronounciation of Street, City and Parish (county) names. There are several names that I could never figure out how to pronounce if not for a little help from some of the locals. I decided to find out a little bit more about what these words meant. Below are a few examples.

Plaquemine (Plack a min), a parish and bayou. From the Mobilian (Indian) word "piakimin", which means persimmon.Tchoupitoulas (chop a too les), a street in New Orleans and a French settlement outside of N.O. at one time. The name of an extinct Indian tribe. Also means "River People".

Calliope Street (Cal' i ope) (The "ope" said like nope--no "e" heard) Don't ask where "Cal-lie-o-pea" is, nobody will understand what street you're looking for!
Carondelet St.- not pronounced like the French (cor on do ley), but instead the T is pronounced.
Burgundy St.- seems easy right? We all know how to pronounce this. But wait - there is a stress on the UN, so intead of "burg andy" it is "burg UN dy". I wonder how they say caramel.Marigny (mar in knee)- Got its name from Frenchman, Bernard Marigny who introduced craps to the US. Faubourg Marigny is considered the first suburb of New Orleans. The Marigny neighborhood is a maze of angular streets that form triangles, pentagons and squares. Numbers jump their sequence mid-block and so do street names. Spanish, French Creoles, Italians, Germans, Irish and many free persons of color were among the first ethnic inhabitants to live in this section of the city.
Pontchatrain- the lake was named after Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, the French Minister of the Marine, chancellor of France and minister of finance during the reign of France's "Sun King," Louis XIV, for whom Louisiana is named.

For more info, go to: http://www.experienceneworleans.com/glossary.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_orleans

The Story of Slim Goodies

We go there every Sunday without fail. We are greeted at the door by the owner, who's name is Kappa. The waitresses wear striped tights like the Wicked Witch of the West. The seats are red pleather and the menus are handwritten. You can get breakfast at any time for under 7 dollars. You can bring your own champagne and make mimosas. It feels like home.

The first time I went to Slim Goodies was about one month after Katrina. We sat in the backyard; the fence was knocked over, the trees were all broken and torn and limbs were strewn across the yard. We did not get a menu; instead the waitress, who's name was Katie, came up to us and asked, "vegetarian or not?" We told her which we were and she brought us out an array of goodies served on paper plates. I think I had pancakes and a biscuit. And coffee, also served in a paper cup. And water served in a bottle. I think my meal cost about 3.50 or 4 dollars.

Slim's has come a long way since the first time I ate there. They do have a menu now, but it is handwritten and you can order things such as "the little goat" (one of my favorites), "the guatemalan", "the jewish coon ass" (dont get me wrong, this is a really good sandwich - 2 potato latkes topped w/fresh spinach, 2 eggs, crawfish etouffee, biscuit) and the "fancy pants" (Chris' favorite and the first time he ordered it, I thought he was calling the waitress names). They have real plates and cups. Katie is gone; she went to Denver.

It may have changed a lot, but it is still the best breakfast place in New Orleans and maybe even anywhere. So every Sunday, we buy a bottle of champagne, round up the troops and head to Slim's for breakfast/brunch/lunch, where we gorge ourselves on fancy pants and joe.

Third Time's a Charm?

Yes, I'm back. Back again....

I have returned again to Louisiana (for the third time in a year) to continue working with the Education systems that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. I am working in the same office (New Orleans) as I was before, doing the same job with the same clients. However, the dynamic of the group in the office has changed very much. When I was here before, there was a very large group (about 20-30 at any given time) that would all hang out together on the weekends, on the weekdays and at lunch. I arrived back expecting the same thing, even though I knew that everyone had gone home months ago.

Well, it is not the same. There are only about 3 of the original group of 30 left (including me). Having said that, the three that are left have had a great time, but it is very strange not having the rest here...it always feels like we are missing someone. We always go to breakfast on Sunday morning at Slim Goodies (we do this religiously every Sunday, rain or shine). It used to work like this: whoever woke up first and had a rumbly tummy would call everyone else and set the time to all meet. This used to take a long time, so long in fact that sometimes we had to split it with another, like a phone tree. Also, so long that sometimes breakfast became lunch. Last Sunday it went something like this: I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. It was Lea. She said, "ready for breakfast?" I said, "yes". And then we went to breakfast. It was like culture shock. I was picking up my phone and scrolling through all the names looking for someone to call.

Yesterday, another member of the extended group came back. In the next few weeks, a few more are expected back. And we are making new friends and adding to the group every day. Soon, we will be whole again. Soon, going to Slim Goodies will once again be an all day affair, if only becuase of the dozens of phone calls one has to make each Sunday morning.

Farewell Louisiana!

Well, the end is near.... I will leave Louisiana in about a week and never look back. Okay so maybe I will come back and visit the few locals that I have met while I was here.... And I will definitely remember the fun times that I had and great friends that I have met while I was here. And there were so many!

The first day I got here in October '05, I took the infamous "9th Ward Tour" where I saw devistation like I had never seen before. It was like New Olreans had gone to war and lost very, very badly. In the 9 months since then, there has been so much progress; I can almost imagine that the city may someday be the same (well, at least similar) to what it was before. But to the casual observer, who never saw the level of devistation in the beginning, it looks as if barely any work has been done at all. There are still abandoned cars, boats in the street, traffic lights and power that doesn't work, huge abandoned malls, restaraunts and neighborhoods. There are still so many people living in trailers....

It has been such a cool thing to be a part of this; through all of the politics, the grief and the finger pointing, through the corruption, the deceit and the lies, through the good times and the bad... we have been face to face with a total disaster and lived! There is still a long way to go for New Orleans, but I am moving on. I am done here; I have said my piece, I have done my bit and I have been a part of history. It's not over yet, but I will leave it for others to finish.

Katrina came, she saw, she conquered! But we shall overcome! New Orleans will rise again!

I will miss this place...

What actually goes on in New Orleans

Whaaat(?) really does go on in New Orleans these days? Well first of all, like they say, "what happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans." Or is that Vegas? I can never remember. You can look at that statement a couple of different ways.

First of all, I think that many people who are not in Lousiana think that sure, the Hurricane came through and messed everything up, but that people should be over it by now! For goodness sakes, it has already been almost a year since it happened. That is plenty of time to get everything back to normal, right? Well, the people who say this...have never been to Louisiana! So, what is happening here...is staying here. The real news doesn't get out to the public. Well, if you count the crap the media spews out, I guess there is news, but not very real. The city has not been rebuilt. The city is not back to normal. "Le Bon Temps" are "roulez" but not as hard as they used to.

Of course the people of this city want to rebuild, to forget... but many of them are not coming back. What will happen to the spirit of New Orleans? Did you know that before the storm, in a city of roughly 600,000 people, there was an average of 1 murder per day here? Do you know that 1 year later, with a rough population of about 200,000 (many of these being contractors or relief workers) there is STILL 1 murder per day!? Public Schools with overall enrollments of 12,000 in 2004-05 have a total enrollment of 1,200 for 2005-06. One tenth of the student population has returned. How long will it take for the other 9/10 to come back? Will they come back? I have talked to many people that, especially because of their children and the importance of having them in a good school, have moved away for good..

You can also look at the opening statement in a good light. The things that used to happen before the storm, the life that New Orleans had, the jive, the vibe, it has stayed. People are broke, they are fighting over insurance settlements, they are trying to start their business back up, to raise their kids, to fix their houses... But this city still has life. It will never lose the glow, the allure, the fun that it has.

uptown pub golf extravaganza!

PUB GOLF IN NEW ORLEANS:

For those of you who have never played a round of pub golf, I recommend it! A couple weekends ago, we got about 20 people together to make up 10 teams of two, each with a caddie and a golfer (we switched at each bar). It all started at my house (the clubhouse) where we got the teams together by picking not numbers but golf terms (I was one half of the "divot" team). Then we began the game. There were 9 holes (bars) on the course.

The terms: at each hole, the golfer has to drink. However many drinks it takes to finish the drink is your score for that hole. So... down it in one - hole in one... If the golfer cannot finish, the caddie may finish for them. At each hole, the caddie and the golfer swap roles.
By the end of the route, the scores were pretty much even, but by then nobody was counting anyway!

Kudos to Brenda - she can down a beer in about 2.54 seconds! Also congrats to Noel - this time he was both the first to pass out AND to puke!