Casa de Charlotte Della Luna

Last night I attended a Twitter/Blogger meet-up and dinner at Mandina’s, courtesy of the Ford Motor Company. Thanks to Greta of Kiss My Gumbo for inviting me! She and Chris Schultz of Voodoo Ventures were the local co-chairs for the tweet-up hosted by Ford Executive Noah Mass, Manager of Systems Architecture and organized by Karen Untereker, Digital Strategist for Ogilvy Public Relations. Ford execs are in town to show the new 2010 Taurus and will be at Lamarque Ford today so go by and take a test drive!

This was my first visit to Mandina’s since it reopened and I have to say it is just beautiful. The dinner was delicious and it was great to see my fellow bloggers and friends, YatPundit and Nola Notes. I finally met Justin of Curious Tribe which tickled me because I’ve been reading the blog for quite a while and I just love the fresh, young, current content. I met Jeff Crouere of Ringside Politics whom I discovered is almost as tech-challenged as I am. Yes! Also there were Brian Bordainick of of 9th Ward Field of Dreams, Jeff Madison of Cool Hand Nuke, Christopher Johnston of TechChris, Tiffany Starnes of My Not So Doris Days, Erika Lehmann of Chic Shopper Chick.

After dinner Nola Notes, Justin and I took a ride in the beautiful jet black 2010 Taurus. First, let me say I’m not really into cars – all I require is one that is reliable and looks relatively nice. I was very impressed with the smooth ride over our notoriously pot-holed streets and how quiet it was. I felt like I was in a cocoon of cotton. The seats are very comfy, it has awesome floor lights in almost any color of the rainbow you might want (I liked the purple!), and all kinds of techy thingies on the dash like USB ports and iPhone sync for hands free calls. There are two main things I really like. One is that the Taurus has side curtains, in addition to side airbags, that will engage to protect your head in an accident. The other is the radar. Yeah, radar. When you’re set on cruise control a radar will sense when you’re approaching a car going slower and will automatically adjust your speed to match it. Isn’t that cool?!

Altogether it was a fun evening with good food, good company and a great ride! Be sure to visit the chatter on Twitter at #fordtaurus.