We drove through the state of Mississippi passing the extensive river! It’s filled with alligators which are a delicacy in New Orleans and available at almost every restaurant. I didn’t taste them, but my friend said it’s really chewy and similar to chicken. We stopped in Madison, for traditional southern cuisine which was a lunchtime buffet. It was my first experience of an American Buffet, lots and lots of meat especially chicken, cornbread, mash potato and salads.

When we arrived into New Orleans we got settled into our hotel, which was multicoloured. All the houses are very pretty, with bright and vibrant colours. Their structure is influenced by the French and Spanish ruling, before it was sold to the USA. The French heritage can be experienced abundantly in the French Quarter, which is where we had dinner. I wanted to try local and authentic cuisine from New Orleans, so I tried gumbo and crawfish étouffée. It was delicious, the gumbo was rich in flavour!

We went out on Bourbon Street, which is full of bars and live music. The street is also lurking with urine smells, which was a bit unpleasant but still a cool street to visit. New Orleans is the Birth place of Jazz and the renowned jazz festival was taking place while we were staying there. We went into the piano bar, just off Bourbon Street. People were getting drunk on Hurricane cocktails, singing their hearts out. It was a great atmosphere. You could put in a request for the pianist to sing and play a track. One song, which has been overplayed on our trip is ‘walking in Memphis’. It’s become our group’s song, we got it played and the room went wild. It was around 2am, by the time we headed back to the hotel. Bourbon street still lively as ever!

For the rest of my time in New Orleans, I went to a cookery class which was all on Creole food. I really enjoyed learning about the mixture of cultures that make up the Creole cuisine. There are two styles of Gumbo in Louisiana depending on the season. The Gumbo we made, had a fine green powder of young dried ground sassafras leaves called File. This gives Gumbo its strong flavour and is also used for thickening. We also made Jambalaya, which is my favourite creole dish.

For dessert it was bread pudding, but more exotic in style with Pina colada and coconut flakes.

In addition to this, one of the most popular confectioneries is the Praline. When Louisiana was settled by French Colonists, native pecans were substituted for almonds. Recipes have been handed down from generation to generation leading to a variety of pralines. I can’t wait to cook creole food for family and friends when I am back at home!

I visited Jackson Square with St Louis Cathedral in front. A very beautiful and peaceful place. Outside there were live jazz bands surrounding the square. I also tried the world famous beignets (tastes like powdered doughnuts) from Cafe Du Mont while watching spectacular fireworks from the New Orleans Jazz festival.