hmm, beignet.

yum. Delicious. Mel and I went to New Orleans to visit Mardi Gras & most of my relatives from my dad's side. Click the picture and you'll see some highlights from Mardi Gras / New Orleans. I haven't post up everything yet because my digi-cam died out on the 3rd day of my trip, and I had to buy one of those disposable camera. Yuk. Well, you'll get the idea. I should have bring my battery charger.

Anyway, before Mardi Gras - there was valentine's day -- aka my birthday. yay. - another year older. My gosh, time really flew. My friend, B., celebrated my age over dinner at Buca Di Beppo - the southern italian style. It was fun that we had a grand tour of their restaurant before we get to our seats. Saw the kitchen, the pope table (i'm serious- there's a pope on the lazy susan table), cardinal room, and so forth. The food was great (huge amount of food) with Chanti drink. hmm. It doesn't get any better than that. Thanks, B.!

Ok, back to New Orleans, we had a great time. The weather was warm (high 70s while DC suffered to low 20s). We stayed at my cousin's place, which is not too far from the airport. We met my cousin's kids. I can't believe how they grew. Great kids though. Anyway, we spent the next few days hanging out in French Quarters, riding steamboat, eating new orleans food, drinking frozen drinks (delicious!), and so forth. At nights, we met aunts, uncles, and cousins, and we had meals with them. Overwhelming, but I'm glad it turns out great. I enjoyed catching up news with them and how they're doing since hurricane katrina. We're not done yet meeting all. There's one family in Florida. We met one cousin whose from florida when she visited in DC long ago. Just when we're leaving back to DC, I got meself a stomach virus. Man, it wasn't a pretty ride. Thankfully, I had aunts who helped me, even took me to my uncle's office for little check up. I was embarrassed that I was sick and I made everyone worried about me. 2 days laster, I got better - fully recovered.

I want to mention to all of my family on my blog - "a huge thanks and hugs." I'm really happy that my partner gets to meet most of them.

Lemme tell ya - New Orleans is great place to visit. The Big Easy is growing. Can't wait for February 4, 2008 - the next mardi gras.