Fat Tuesday 2023 – Costumes!!!

Everywhere else it’s just Tuesday, but in New Orleans it’s the explosive fireworks finale of over a month of festivities ending in 7 straight days of parades. There are plenty of Uptown parades on Fat Tuesday – the Krewe of Zulu and Krewe of Rex are 2 of the city’s oldest, but after attending dozens of parades (and me dancing with the Pussyfooters in 2 of them), for us – Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French) is for wandering the French Quarter and Marigny taking in all the silly, imaginative and/or beautiful costumes people create. For my husband, it’s his favorite day of the year and he can spend weeks conceiving and preparing his ideas. This year was his most spectacular creation – the St. Louis Cathedral.

Brothels, Bordellos and Ladies of the Night Walking Tour

Other than hitting Bourbon Street, I believe the city’s many walking tours and carriage rides must be the most popular tourist activity in New Orleans. Throughout the French Quarter and Garden District, people gather around stringently-licensed tour guides enlivening historical facts (and stories) about everything from architecture and colorful characters to above-ground cemeteries and Voodoo. At night, the Quarter is cluttered with criss-crossing groups of people wanting to learn more about the “most haunted city in America” from one of the city’s many spirit tours (Scary Mary is regarded as the most fact-based fun). But there are many stories locals tell each other that tourists seldom hear. The stories of the city’s brothels and the women who worked them are the subject covered by Two Chicks Walking Tours‘ unique Brothels, Bordellos and Ladies of the Night walking tour. 

Super Bowl – NOLA Style

As the lights went out in the Superdome and our city’s slip was showing, I had a moment to think of the last time the Dome lost power and how far this city has come from the devastation it faced over 7 years ago. New Orleans is a small city with a big heart. Sometimes traffic is held up for a parade or our cell towers go down from overuse (not anymore – thank you NFL) or our power goes out. I can’t help but think if it had been the Who Dat nation in the Dome tonight, we would have used the time to do some rounds of “Who Dats!” or sing When the Saints Go Marching In. After all, we’re only taking a short break from the marathon party of Mardi Gras to hold this extraordinary event, our 10th time hosting the Super Bowl – not bad for a small city with a big heart.

Oyster Fest 2012

Thank you New Orleans Oyster Fest for moving from that aggressively hot blacktop parking lot to the breezy, grassy Woldenberg Park! The festival, including the artists booths and many wonderful food selections, was much more spread out this year and the crowd for the stage was manageable, like the very-local Thursday crowd at French Quarter rather than the jam-packed Saturdays and Sundays. It almost made me nostalgic for the times before the Saints Superbowl win and HBO’s Treme helped remake the city’s image. 

Christmas in NOLA

Due to technical difficulties, I’ve been unable to write about the many NOLA Christmas festivities I’ve been enjoying. I will attempt a Reader’s Digest version. First up, the Newcomers Club of New Orleans annual gift-giving at Raintree Children and Family Services. Raintree has been providing services to foster children and the families who care for them as well as the homebound of all ages for 85 years. The Newcomers Club offers activities to women moving to the area including a book club, a gourmet group and, of course, participation in non-profit organizations like Raintree.

St. Joseph’s Day and Italian Parade

After parading ourselves silly through Carnival season then St. Patrick’s week, St. Joseph’s Day was the next citywide celebration in New Orleans. Celebrated predominantly in parts of Sicily, St. Joseph (of Mary and Joseph fame) is credited with ending a famine during the Middle Ages by answering the city’s prayers for rain. Since then, the people of Sicily and their New Orleanian ancestors have been preparing an annual feast on elaborate altars, turning no one away from the bounty and giving the leftovers to the indigent. Like with St. Patrick and his festivities, the vast majority of New Orleanians are neither Irish nor Italian, but they know a good party when they see it.

Caroling and great food

With Christmas approaching, there are fewer tourists and conventions, New Orleans is quieter. I thought I’d take advantage of being able to get a seat at a new popular bar/restaurant, Three Muses.

http://www.thethreemuses.com/

Roots

Day 4 of Mom and my niece’s visit started with a fried brie salad at Gott’s. Panco breaded and fried cubes of brie, strawberries, blueberries, candied pecans and mixed greens in a raspberry vinaigrette. We all 3 ordered it so there was no tasting going on, just a lot of agreement on what’s yummy.