Birthday Epilogue

So the birthday was a success. I even managed to suck it up and participate in the evening festivities and had a great time. I've heard a lot of negative talk locally about the Emeril's restaurants (overrated, overpriced) but it turns out that NOLA was nothing short of excellent. I ordered the following items(copying directly from the menu):

Almond-Crusted Plaquemines Parish Oysters with Melting Brie, Bacon-Brown Sugar Tomato Glaze and Rosemary-Fennel Apple Slaw

The sweet smoky taste of the glaze is what really made this go. This was followed by

Pecan-Crusted Gulf Flounder with Creole Meunière Sauce, Caramelized Ruby Grapefruit, Sautéed Asparagus and Tarragon Aioli

Staying with the nut-crusted seafood theme, I suppose. Also sweet and spicy and pretty much perfect.

Afterwards we went to Club 360, which is not exactly my style of bar; more the sort of thing that girls like to do in order to make themselves feel classy or something, but then it wasn't my birthday and I have fun everywhere (usually) so this was certainly no big deal. The drinks cost $6.50, the music is top 40 dance stuff, but the view is really cool. Like a lot of things, it's worth doing once.

All in all a successful way to celebrate. Even the inevitable short exchange between myself and Shehateme was mild and more fun than anything else and, most importantly, did not interfere with Consuela's birthday. And now the girls have taken off to Florida for the weekend which means I have the place to myself. No word yet on when the strippers arrive.

Update: No strippers, but now at least I have something to do.