Food New Orleans style (elective)

I feel that it is very important to begin explaining to anyone that does not know me how much of a foodie I am. I love food. Those of you that know me can attest to the fact that I do not miss a meal. While planning for this trip, I have to admit I was quite a bit nervous about the food that was offered. I have a very "sensitive" palate and have often described table pepper as being too spicy. While this amuses most people, it really is not a laughing matter. I just do not like the taste of spicy foods.
The first night we arrived in New Orleans, our instructor made reservations at The Original Pierre Maspero's. It was a nice restaurant, but it was not enough space reserved for our party of 22. The food was amazing. I had the shrimp and grits, and loved it.
We took a cuisine tour that took us to some local restaurants in the French Quarter. We started out at Antoine's and sampled gumbo and learned about how the roux is made and the importance of the ingredients. I generally shy away from spicy foods (like gumbo), but this gumbo tasted so good that despite its spiciness, I had to eat it and could not stop. When I finished the sample sized cup my lips were burning and I still wanted more. We then walked across the street to Leahs Pralines where we were treated to a sample of fresh made pralines that melted in my mouth. We also sampled candied pecans that were out of this world.  This store was like a dream straight out of Candy Land. We then travelled to La Davina Café y Gelateria where we sampled muffaletta and gelato. The muffaletta here did not even come close to tasting like the delicious one we had the day before from a vendor inside the French Market. As for the gelato, it was just ok. We also visited Arnaud's and sampled shrimp Arnaud, a shrimp in a Creole Remoulade Sauce. This also smelled a bit too spicy for my liking, but because I love shrimp, I tried it, and again to my surprise loved it. Josette and I also split and order of oysters in the half shell, which we both had had before and loved. The best part of going to Arnaud's was that no one else in our group like the "texture" of shrimp, so Josette and I basically had dinner as we ate everyone else's. After Arnaud's we walked to Tujague's. Here we sampled brisket- beef with Creole horseradish sauce. The brisket had a great flavor. I barely tasted the spices and found it to be a bit dry for my liking. Our last stop was Creole Delicacies where we sampled beans and rice, which was way to spicy for me to continue eating. Here we also smelled samples of vanilla, Creole spices, and Creole mustard. All of these were too spicy for me to indulge in, but they did make great gifts for friends and family at home that like the spicy side of life.
We also visited Crillo between museum tours and I tried turtle soup for the first time. It was interesting to say the least. It was not bad at all and had a good flavor, especially with the Sherry that topped it off.
Another interesting item I wanted to try was alligator. The shop at the French Market did not have gator bites at the time, so I opted for a gator sausage instead. This was also amazing. I loved the flavor, even though it was spicy.
I am so happy that I was able to step out of my comfort zone while in a new location to make the food choices that I did. Already knowing that I loved seafood of all kinds made it a no brainer that this was going to be my choice. I definitely loved the food in New Orleans, and have a great deal of respect for those individuals that are able to dive into the spicy.