Nov 18th, 2011 at 12:30PM:
"New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin". -Mark Twain-
Over an afternoon sampling of beignets and cafe au lait, the New Orleans people watching is starting to hit its peak. A horse and carriage streaks past a tap dancing street performer, though the mobs of pedestrians pay little attention to either. A liquored up couple toting hand-grenade drink holders ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
NewOrleans posts
10 days, 10 states: Going French in New Orleans
Nov 18th, 2011 at 12:30PM:
"New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin". -Mark Twain-
Over an afternoon sampling of beignets and cafe au lait, the New Orleans people watching is starting to hit its peak. A horse and carriage streaks past a tap dancing street performer, though the mobs of pedestrians pay little attention to either. A liquored up couple toting hand-grenade drink holders ...Halloween on 6th Street in Austin: the sounds and lights
Nov 2nd, 2011 at 10:00AM:
If New Orleans' Bourbon Street has a little sister, it is, at least sometimes, 6th Street in Austin. Both streets are main attractions, teeming with boisterous activity. Both streets are usually embraced by tourists and, perhaps just as usually, eschewed by locals. And both streets are worth walking, no matter who you are or where you are from, on certain days of the year, namely, costumed days. ...Photo of the day: New Orleans after Katrina
Oct 26th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
People have been talking about New Orleans differently since Hurricane Katrina. No matter how the city's name slips into conversation, the disaster named Katrina is typically addressed and typically, it must be. Anyone who knows NOLA will vouch for the tremendous damage caused by this storm and the circumstances surrounding it. But many people who know NOLA will also confess: the city still has ...LivingSocial offers first volunteer vacation to New Orleans
Aug 25th, 2011 at 12:00PM: LivingSocial, the site that brings you discount deals on everything from microdermabrasions to movie tickets, has been offering travel deals as part of its LivingSocial Escapes branch since Fall 2010. Today, the company announced its first volunteer vacation opportunity - a curated trip to help Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans.
For $265, travelers who want to do a little good while they ...The Flood's Been Over: Exploring the New New Orleans
Aug 8th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
Driving to the best breakfast spot in New Orleans, a somewhat dingy beignet shop in suburban Metairie called Morning Call, where cops and bounty hunters converse at the corner table, I turned on the local radio. The set picked up AM 690, and a program called Inside New Orleans. The host, Eric Asher, started talking about Tales of the Cocktail, an annual drinking convention for bartenders ...Cuba: Nine US cities cleared for charter flights
Aug 1st, 2011 at 1:30PM:
Nine US airports have been approved for charter flights to Cuba, Reuters reported this morning. The Cuban travel agency Havanatur Celimar made the announcement on Friday.
The US government forbids commercial flights between the United States and Cuba, so all air travel between the two countries has to proceed on charter planes. The Obama Administration has already removed all restrictions ...Pop-up restaurants: dining for a new decade
Apr 28th, 2011 at 1:30PM: First, it was underground supper clubs. Now, everything's coming up pop-ups. As with food trucks, this form of guerrilla cheffing borne of economic need has become a global phenomenon. Equal parts dinner party and dinner theater, a pop-up refers to a dining establishment that is open anywhere from one to several nights, usually in an existing restaurant or other commercial food establishment.
...A first-timer's guide to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Apr 20th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
The annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, or simply Jazz Fest, is a massive springtime music and cultural festival that takes place over two consecutive weekends in late April and early May. Many music lovers of all ilk consider it the country's premier music festival and return year after year. Others have called it the best party in America.
The name Jazz Fest is somewhat ...4 U.S. cities that need a major theme park
Apr 14th, 2011 at 8:00AM: A glance at a map of the United States makes my theme park-addicted mind flag the states and cities with theme parks. To me, the states without theme parks look like big holes in the map. I figured I'd list the cities that I feel could use a major theme park. I'm going to preface this list by admitting that I have a completely outsider's view of these cities. I'm going mainly on the population, so ...Five great upcoming food and wine festivals
Apr 5th, 2011 at 12:00PM: Food and travel often go hand in hand - after all, the best meals are often found away from home, and some of the best memories can be made over a meal. Want to really get away for a gourmet feast? Check out these five great upcoming food and wine festivals.
Pebble Beach Food & Wine
This grand tasting is held from April 28th – May 1st and includes 200 wineries plus 25 chefs, ...Fat Tuesday - top 5 places to party for Carnival
Mar 8th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
Fat Tuesday is the culmination of Mardi Gras, Carnival, Carnevale, and like minded celebrations that take place across the world today. From Guatemala to Greece, Fat Tuesday represents the last bastion of excess in Christian culture before the Lent fasting season begins. The streets pulse with energy and revelers don costumes, throw beads, shout sheenisms, and generally have a booze-fueled ...Mardi Gras in New Orleans 2011, let the good times roll!
Mar 8th, 2011 at 2:30PM:
Today ends Carnival season in New Orleans, a two-week festival of parades and partying in leading up to the Christian Lenten period of sacrifice, and culminating in Shrove (or Fat) Tuesday and known to New Orleans residents as Mardi Gras. There are other Fat Tuesday celebrations throughout the world such as Rio's Carnival, it's most famous in America as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where around 1 ...Update from the shores of Louisiana
Feb 17th, 2011 at 10:00AM: A trio of events happening simultaneously this week along the Gulf coast is stirring debate:
The team responsible for paying out damages to Gulf spill victims is about to start writing checks to those who've proved they deserve it;
NOAA has given its blessing to reopening a 4,200-square-mile area of the Gulf of Meico to fishing, near where the BP well exploded;
and chemical ...5 tips for actually enjoying Mardi Gras
Jan 30th, 2011 at 6:00PM:
While New Orleans seems to celebrate Mardi Gras all year round, it is at this time of the year--the weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday (in French: Mardi Gras) and the beginning of Lent--that the city earns its hard partying reputation.
It happens ...New Orleans Band Better Than Ezra Welcomes us to Mardi Gras
Jan 28th, 2011 at 12:00PM: Ever thought about going to Mardi Gras, only to quickly reconsider? Daunted by the idea of drunken crowds and inadvertently turning up on an episode of Cops? Well New Orleans-based rock band Better Than Ezra is inviting newbies and veterans alike to a Mardi Gras experience that promises much more than the balcony-hanging, bead-throwing debauchery one might expect.
The event is called Krewe of ...Biking is easier in the Big Easy
Jan 21st, 2011 at 12:00PM:
New Orleans is a magnificent city by bicycle. It's flat, temperate for much of the year, has lots of streets with slow or no traffic, and, as reported in the Times-Picayune, a growing number of bike lanes (about 30 miles and counting). To tap into the local biking scene, start with the Metro Bicycle Coalition. From there you might check out the monthly New Orleans Critical Mass ride, and the ...Top 10 travel spots in the United States
Jan 17th, 2011 at 1:30PM: So, Orbitz noted when we like to travel ... but where do we go? The top 10 destinations in the country were mostly predictable, with big tourist-magnet cities dominating the list. There were a few surprises, according to the information supplied by Orbitz: Boston, for example, didn't make the list, after having ranked ninth in 2009. Los Angeles, fifth in 2009, also fell off in 2010. New Orleans ...Bowermaster's Adventures: Checking in on the BP spill cleanup
Dec 10th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Reports last week from the beaches of Alabama and Mississippi suggest that the post-BP gusher cleanup continues, with varying degrees of success, and that new oil continues to show up.
Near the Alabama-Florida border, a placed called Perdido (Lost) Key, BP-contracted crews have been sifting sand for more than six months to try and get rid of tar mats buried nearly three feet beneath the sand.
...Bowermaster's Adventures - Measuring the extent of oil spillage
Nov 29th, 2010 at 11:30AM:
With the six-month anniversary of the BP spill now in the rear view mirror the company as well as a variety of officials both federal and state would like the world to believe the oil is gone.
But photos and first-hand accounts from Barataria Bay recently show the opposite – oil still reaching high into the marshy grasslands, baby crabs and adult shrimp covered by crude, slicks on the ...Best college restaurant: Good Morning America wants your vote
Nov 19th, 2010 at 11:30AM: For most of us, college was a low period in our culinary lives. Ramen, macaroni and cheese, beer for breakfast. . .ah, the memories!
When we got tired of contributing to our freshman fifteen with junk food, there was always that one place that served up something a little better, a little special. If you've been to college, or even if you haven't, I bet you just thought of that place right now. ...
