Magazine

Oyster Patter

During the year after the 2010 BP oil spill, much of the Gulf of Mexico’s sea life was scarce — including oysters. It wasn’t until the following February that I saw servable raw oysters again. The occasion was a debutante…

Pet Friendly Staycations

We love our furry friends, so why not take them on the road when we travel? Recent polls show that pet owners want to bring their dogs and cats with them when they travel, which is why many accommodations, attractions…

Shelf life

Select Photos by Randy Krause Schmidt   At A Glance Age 32 Location New Orleans, LA Occupation Co-owner/Co-founder, GoodWood Nola Web goodwoodnola.com   Fast currents, rocky obstacles and significant drops are likely. Sudden maneuvers required. Such hazards of entrepreneurship…

Quick and Cool

If ever there was an optimum time to become a vegetarian, it is now. With all the fresh local produce available this month, a person could make the change and not feel at all deprived. A visit to the farmers…

Chill Time

A turtle rests on a perch in Lake Buhlow. Pineville, LA

Drinks, History and Lots of Heart

Lift the Spirits Iconic New Orleans Cocktails Cocktail lovers, artists and libertines, historians and history makers have long been obsessed with The Green Fairy, the colorful name for the licorice-flavored liquor absinthe. Its powerful mind-altering punch has been felt from…

Wine and Dine

photo courtesy delta biscuit; herons on the bayou; landry vineyards We must admit we’re skeptical when people rave about Louisiana red and white varietal wines. Most vineyards in the Deep South produce sweet muscadine or fruit-based wines. But we…

Top Fun

Photos Courtesy: Pensacola Lighthouse and Maritime Museum Hold on, St. Augustine. You may be the oldest town in Florida, but Pensacola has a few bragging rights too. Spanish conquistador Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano landed in the Panhandle in…

Protected Land

At A Glance Location Evangeline Parish Environment Bottomland hardwood forests grow in low-lying areas that surround lakes and rivers. Hickories, oaks and plants provide food for wildlife in these forests that store water, filter pollutants and act as a…

Louisiana Love

A statement by the internationally acclaimed documentary photographer Carol Highsmith sets the tone for Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s recent four-hour TV documentary and Highsmith’s companion book exploring the people, towns, cities, customs and landscape across Louisiana today: "There are a…

Louisiana Vernacular

Vernacular architecture is a traditional form of building reflecting local environmental influences, using locally available building materials and is passed down from generation to generation — exactly what Lauren and Logan Lemoine had in mind when they built “a…

Full of Hot Air

Head to the 2nd annual Bogalusa Balloon Festival (June 2-4) at George R. Carr Memorial Airfield to see hot air balloons flown by pilots from across the region with special events during the week leading up to the festival. Enjoy…

Shell Game

On LA Highway 46 in Violet, headed south to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana headquarters, a student seated at the back of the bus poses a question: “Is restoration important?” It’s simple but not simplistic, a reminder that…

Traveling Around Louisiana

From the Bible Belt’s forested woods to the South’s delectable Creole and Cajun cuisine, Louisiana’s unique blend of Spanish, French, and African American cultures offers a special experience for all travelers! Boasting its vibrant personality, the Pelican State is home…

Not-so-Wild at Heart

Like a lot of picky children, for much of my young life I avoided unfamiliar foods. I was raised on a farm so regional fruits and veggies, beef, chicken and pork were recognizable and safe, while everything else was suspect.…

Bicentenaire de la paroisse Lafayette

On April 27, 1928, at a recording studio in New Orleans performers gathered for what would be an historic session. Joe Falcon and his future wife Cléoma Breaux immortalized a song that would become an anthem for a culture. He…

Call of the Wild

SPRING/SUMMER Spring and summer are the seasons seafood lovers look forward to during the cold, gray winter. Shrimp, crab, red snapper and redfish are some of the most longed for delicacies. Start dinner with crab cakes and then have red…

Charming Details

Architect of addition William Sonner Interior Design Jillian Freiberg Square footage 2,500 Outstanding features Eighteenth-century French hardware in master addition, antique salvaged glass windows, original oak floors, herringbone floors added during a renovation, French doors, abundant natural light, antique…

Raising Cane

Location Pointe Coupée Parish Parish seat New Roads   From Easter until sugarcane harvest, the 19th-century bell in front of the Alma General Store in Lakeland rings twice each day. The first bell, at 7 a.m., signals the start…

Bicentennial Festivities

Lafayette’s year-long bicentennial revelries continue with the Celtic Bayou Festival bicentennial celebration March 17-18 (celticbayoufestival.com) followed by the March 26-30 Festival International de Louisiane bicentennial celebrations (festivalinternational.org). Chartered by the Louisiana Legislature in 1823 two years after its founding, the…

Mountain Time

Asheville, a small city in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina, is known for its quirky charm and beauty. With a thriving culinary and arts scene, a walkable downtown bursting with shops, art galleries and restaurants, and…

Irish for a Day

In 1986, Mabyn Shingleton, her husband, TV personality Pat Shingleton, and her baby son Michael in a stroller, lined up at the Baton Rouge City Park Golf Course and headed toward Perkins Road where the couple owned Zee Zee Gardens…

Abstract Narrative

Commemorative statues are everywhere in Louisiana. We have them for soldiers, explorers, musicians, sports figures, politicians and saintly people. Now, New Orleans has a new monument that celebrates the work of the nationally acclaimed New Orleans artist John Scott…