A Southern Life: my take on traditions, food, sights and more.
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Throw Me a Cabbage!
We have lots of folks of Irish ancestry in New Orleans. Irish immigrants in the 19th century dug the canals that drain the city, and we will forever be grateful for their backbreaking contributions. It is no surprise that we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with not one, but four parades – Uptown (starting in the…
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Cream Soup a la John Besh
I attended a program last week featuring the noted chef John Besh as speaker. A native son, he is “dedicated to promoting the foodways of Southern Louisiana”. Chef Besh owns nine restaurants and hosts a syndicated TV show, but he gets equal satisfaction from cooking for his wife and four sons. He prepared cream…
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Second Line Brunch
This past Sunday, my husband and I attended a lovely brunch at New Orleans’ Second Line Stages, which is a movie production studio owned by Susan Brennan. The luncheon was a fundraiser for Young Life, which is wonderful Christian organization for young people. The theme for the brunch was a second line. (See this past post…
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Container Veggies
March 2 is the last spring frost date in New Orleans, and I usually try to get my first vegetables planted around then to beat the summer heat. That was my project for a recent cold weekend, with lows in the mid-30’s but no frost. Since yards in the old part of town tend to…
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Supper in the Kitchen
I love my formal dining table and setting it for dinners is always fun, however, sometimes, when we are just entertaining another couple, that table is really just too big. I always think about the old movies where there was long, formal dining table and a couple was sitting at opposite sides, being waited on…
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Meeting Matters
People who know me, know I’m not fond of meetings. In light of that, it is funny how often I find myself attending meetings. However, if you must you must and, when you must, you may as well make it as pleasant as possible, right? On a recent evening, a meeting was held in my…
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A Random Day In New Orleans
Sometimes, there are just things about New Orleans that make me smile. Running errands in New Orleans is unlike running errands in many places. For instance, on the way to the grocery store, this is just one of the sites you might see: Beads hang from tree like this giving them beautiful purple, green, gold…
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Rex Paraphernalia
Rex (or the School of Design as it is officially named) is the big parade on Mardi Gras day. Its monarch serves as the King of Carnival. The organization is quite civic in nature, with its Pro Bono Publico foundation donating over two million dollars to local public school initiatives since its inception. Over the…
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What is Mardi Gras in New Orleans All About?
If you’ve never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, you might find things a bit confusing. Since moving to New Orleans, I know, I have found myself explaining to friends all over the country about Mardi Gras and Carnival and Krewes and parades and well, the whole mystical, magical, crazy, fun season. The Carnival…
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Superbowl Serendipity
Getting around in New Orleans during all of the Superbowl and Mardi Gras festivities can be challenging. My husband and I headed down to the French Quarter yesterday and opted to ride the very busy streetcar. This was a great way to avoid the traffic and parking challenges in the city. Heading back home, we…
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More Carnival Ball!
As promised, here are more pics from the Nyx Myx Masquerade Ball. First, let’s talk food. Did you notice the hot pepper jelly vinaigrette mentioned for the salad. It was incredible, so I had to find a recipe for it. I found this recipe online and it was very good. I made it with…
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Carnival Dinner
Since we are taking a timeout for the Superbowl, I thought I’d take a look back at a Carnival table from the past. Even if you aren’t in New Orleans, you can create Carnival wherever you are! More decorations to come! Thanks Susan for hosting: Today’s Lagniappe: Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice Something warm…
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Walk in the Hood
The weather has been gorgeous lately. The first weekend of Carnival parades was beautiful and now we are getting a brief break before the big Superbowl weekend before resuming with Carnival. Stay tuned for more posts about that. In the meantime, it was nice to just get out in the beautiful weather and enjoy. Here…