Why I love Baton Rouge

Wow -- all the time I have new reasons to LOVE Baton Rouge.

For one, the food here is unbelieveable. I have not had a bad meal yet. We especially loved Boutin's, a cajun place with a dance floor and a live band; Sno's, which quite possibly has the best catfish I have EVER tasted (which is saying a lot from a girl from Kentucky!) and killer onion rings, gumbo, and some awesome potatoes (sorry Dr. Atkins!); The Cheescake Bistro, which had some killer cheescake desserts; and we have even found a little Chinese place we've taken a shine to for our obligatory Chinese-after-church outings. (The Hong Kong Restaurant in Murray is still the best -- no one makes won ton soup or chicken karba like Angela -- but Dynasty fills the void to a satisfying degree.)

For another, we found a church we really like right away. Lots of young families, like the preacher, good size...we're really comfortable there.

Also, the people here just cannot be beat. Seriously. Just today, I met the owner of the "Cheeburger Cheeburger" who happens to live in the same area south of BR that we do. She and I talked for like 30 minutes about pediatricians, gyms, preschools, and just about everything else a newcomer like me would want to know about. She was awesome and just so nice. THEN Will and I went to the mall. I was kind of beat, so I went to the Cafe Du Monde store and ordered a cafe au lait in a to-go travel cup. So I get ready to pay, and oops, they only take cash, and I had none. So I tell him to just forget it, that I'm sorry and I get ready to leave when the woman behind me in line says "I'll get it for you!" I was like "no, seriously, you don't have to do that!" and she was like, "yes I do. Jesus told me to! You're a tired mom, you wanted that coffee, now you take it!" I could have cried. I thanked her profusely and came away just feeling SO blessed!!! That is just the way people are here, though! It's a community that is generally quite educated and has lots of life. Lots of young families, and let me tell you, you get killer service at the restaurants here because they're college students, who I always find make the best waiters and waitresses, IMHO.

And today, Ben had a shrimp boil at work. That in and of itself is a reason to love it here. But wait. After he was done, he went up and asked the guys wh were dishin' it out if they had a box so he could bring home what he didn't finish to me. He said it was about six good-sized shrimp. The guys were like, "No! You ain't takin' those little thangs home to your wife! Here you go!" And the filled up an entire big to-go box with the little suckers. So today I ate shrimp that had been boiled, with the heads still on, in some sort of hot sauce concoction. It took some coaxing from Ben, but after he peeled the first few for me and I ate them, mmmmmhhmmmm, there was no going back! I was breakin' the heads off and peelin' 'em like a pro pretty soon! They were freaky looking, yes, but you sure can't see them once they're in you're mouth and they are GOOOOOOOOD!

I think this weekend we're gonna check out New Orleans, maybe the zoo, Children's museum, etc. Will said he wants to see elephants and turtles. I told him I thought that could be arranged.

Hopefully we'll have some pictures to post of it soon! Keep on the lookout and check back!