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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Frugal Fun in New Orleans

People--myself among them--are always moaning about how expensive it is to have fun. I just got a lengthy email from Frugal Son, detailing his weekend in New Orleans celebrating his friend Reggie's birthday.

He drove with his friend Harrison. They stopped at Central Grocery in the French Quarter for a famous muffuletta.

Last time I had one--or actually a third of one--I almost passed out from the ingestion of oil and salt. They are so good. Luckily, Frugal Son and his friend are young men with powerful metabolisms, so they could split one and continue on with their day. Cost $14.00 or $7.00/each.

Then, on to the party. The group gathered at the New Orleans Fairgrounds for some horse races. Entrance is free. Frugal Son noted that "men in suits and women in fancy hats" could pay $7.00 to watch from the grandstand. Frugal Son placed 3 bets and ended up losing $8.00.

Cost of day so far is $15.00.

Then a large group went to the Mona Lisa, an Italian restaurant which has been around for a long time (since 1987, so a bit older than the birthday girl). I don't know how much Frugal Son spent, but I guess that with dessert and (I hope) treating the birthday girl, the meal came to $25.00 or so.

Total of $40.00. Then the group continued with their festivities . . .

That's a lot of fun for $40.00.

Happy Birthday, Reggie, and congratulations on getting in to Boston University Law School.

6 comments:

SLF said...

Hey Mama, nice use of links in your post! Your calculations were just about spot on; good job!

--Frugal Son

Frugal Scholar said...

Sounded like a wonderful day. Thanks for the email and the inspiration.

Shelley said...

That muffuletta sounds delicious & deadly! I loved my visit to New Orleans in 1980. Hope to visit again sometime with Bill, who's never been.

Frugal Scholar said...

@Shelley--New Orleans is soooo much fun. I am so lucky to live near such a wonderful city.

Dmarie said...

oooh, Central Grocery sells jars of its amazing Olive Salad. you should talk him into gifting you with some of that. Live in Kentucky, but pleased to say there's almost always a Central Grocery jar in my fridge. some things are worth splurging on. Enjoying your blog--thx!

Frugal Scholar said...

@Dmarie--Thanks for the compliment. I'm almost afraid to have one of those big jars in the house--too tempting.