Long associated with delectable food and drink, New Orleans is a place where millions return so they can get their crawfish etouffee fix, purchase hot sauces not available anywhere else, or enjoy beignets and café au lait.

While there are more fantastic restaurants than I can possibly list, below are some of my favorites. Each one is a different price range, so you can budget your trip and dining excursions accordingly.

Casual and Affordable:

Café du Monde – popular place for beignets and coffee in the French Quarter. This is a tourist must-see. Go early, there are often long lines. Tip: You can get your order to go and it’s quicker.
Morning Call – less crowded than Café du Monde with the same menu. This is where the locals go, whereas tourists go to Café du Monde. There are several locations around the city.

Zea’s Rotisserie & Grill – Great place for lunch or dinner, at less than $15 per person. Best Red Beans & Rice on the planet!! Be sure to order sides of Red Beans & Rice and the Corn Roasted Grits. Both are heavenly! Zea’s also serves gourmet salads, rotisserie dishes, and seafood. Anything you could possibly want, all for a reasonable price. There are locations throughout the city.

On the Pricier Side:

Crescent City Brewhouse – located right near Jackson Square. This is an ideal seafood, hamburger, salad, whatever you want restaurant that also serves homemade brews. It’s close proximity to many sightseeing things in the French Quarter, and the atmosphere is nice and laid back. Website is http://www.crescentcitybrewhouse.com/

Tujague’s – located near Jackson Square in the French Quarter. On the pricier side, but one of my favorite restaurants. Great for special occasion dinners, not to mention the place is the 2nd oldest restaurant in New Orleans. Seafood, cocktails, crawfish etouffee to die for. Website is http://www.tujaguesrestaurant.com/

Tujaque’s marquee Crawfish Etouffee

Elaine Calloway grew up in New Orleans and can still do a decent  Cajun accent on request. She writes paranormal romance and fantasy,  setting these stories in iconic cities such as New Orleans. Book One of  her Elemental Series will be out on 2/1/2013. Visit her website, www.elainecalloway.com, for more information.

Time Square is located in Midtown Manhattan. The heart of the square named after the New York Times newspaper is a few blocks where only walking traffic’s allowed. A bronze statue of George M. Cohen stands sentry in the shadow of the New York Times building. Cute iron tables painted red are scattered about for you to sit and soak up the energy while people watching. A set of bleachers behind the tables is the perfect spot to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. When we were there a Japanese choir stood in the stands singing “How Great Thou Art” in Japanese. It took me a minute to hum the melody and translate the words to English.

There you are surrounded by entertainment, restaurants and stores galore. Anything you wish to eat from Applebee’s, TGIF Fridays, Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock café, Mars 2112 to McDonald’s. Stores include Toys ‘R Us, Disney, American Eagle, Aeropostle and Levis, all two to three stories tall. My favorite was Hershey’s World of Chocolate right across the street from M&M World. The smell of chocolate wafting in the air was irresistible. There’s entertainment from Dave & Buster’s, Bowlmor Lanes, AMC Theaters to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Discovery Exposition. Of course the Theatre District is where some of the world’s best plays are performed. On 47th Street between Broadway & 7th Ave is the TKTS booth where you can buy discounted tickets (40% to 50%) to many of the shows. The catch, the tickets are for that day’s performance only. So for the more popular shows there may not be any seats left. They’ll sell tickets that are available for the matinees from 10-2 and evening shows from 3-8.

If it’s your first time to Times Square, I suggest you drop in to the Times Square Visitor’s Center (www.timessquarenyc.org). It’s next to McDonalds. They are a mini-museum and information center rolled into one. You can see costumes from Broadway shows and the Centennial Ball that was dropped in 2007. The coolest thing was the Wishing Wall, a wall of Hopes & Dreams. The visitor’s center provides tissue paper cut in shapes and you write your wish or dream on it. It becomes a part of the two tons of confetti that will fall at midnight on New Year’s Eve and release your dream. I wrote my dream and wishes for each member of my family. So this year when the ball drops in Times Square, I’ll have extra reason to smile while I ring in the New Year.

Wishing you and your family a joyous holiday season.