New Orleans, Day 3

In contrast to yesterday and the day before, today's food report totally stinks.  I spent most of the day indoors, manning the booth.  That translates to convention center food.  Ugh, it was pretty gross.  I had a Papa John's cheese pizza for lunch because options were limited.  That I wolfed down and later regretted.  I texted the picture of the pizza to my boss who was at the booth so that she's get a head's up.  When we switched places, she said that she got the pizza, took two bites, and asked for a refund because it was so dry.  If I knew that I could return the food, I would have done the same thing!  $10 wasted.  Seriously, who messes up pizza?!  I'm going to be prepared with water and granola bars tomorrow for lunch.  No way in hell I'm eating convention food again, unless it's from Starbucks.

One of the vendors nearby was giving away Dippin' Dots.  I wanted to get a cup for myself since I had to watch like a gazillion people walk by with them.  The lady warned me that other people had told her that they were really sweet.  I had about half the cup and tossed the rest.  God awful.  Never again.  If I want ice cream, I'm going to get the real thing.  A vendor next to me got 2 helpings of the vanilla with Oreo one.  For a split second, I was going to try it too just to see if it was just as bad as the fruity one and ultimately decided against it.  One interesting thing from today was that I saw 2 vendors advertising sex toys.  I guess you can file that under "sexual dysfunction equipment" at this health conference.  Even if I had the guts to see what all the fuss was about, my boss is with me.  That'd be the most awkward thing ever!

Dino, the tour guide from yesterday, recommended a hole-in-the-wall place called Hobnobbers.  We didn't see it during the daylight hours, but I'm sure that if we did, we wouldn't have gone there for dinner tonight.  The place was a long bar and then a "restaurant" in the back.  People inside were smoking (can you still smoke indoors?  I thought that was illegal nowadays).  My boss looked at me and I figured we could give it a shot.  It WAS recommended by a local.  I got the crab cakes and my boss got the shrimp po' boy.  The food was a little greasy.  I would have taken a picture of my food but the place was so dark.  After dinner, we walked on Bourbon Street.  I was on a mission to get one of those alcoholic slushies, the Peach Bellini flavor.  The guy encouraged me to get a splash of rum with it for $1 extra (total $10).  We kept walking a few blocks until I had a panic moment where I thought I was going to be sick.  It must have been all the sub-par food that I had today.  Unfortunately, the restrooms were all for "customers" only.  We made a U-turn and started walking back to the hotel.  Fortunately, I didn't have a "moment" and the wave of nausea has passed.  I'm not sure what would be more awkward: throwing up in front of my boss or me talking to her about the sex toy booth in the exhibit hall.  I have one more night here before I got home...I gotta make this right tomorrow by getting a better dinner.