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Mardi Gras Recipes For a Fat (and Happy) Tuesday

YumSugar — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:50:07 -0800

With the 2010 Olympics, Valentine's Day, the NBA all-star games, Chinese New Year, and President's Day all lumped together in one long weekend, this week has been pretty much the longest string of celebratory events ever. On top of it all, Fat Tuesday - aka Mardi Gras - happens to be today, which is a surefire way to end the festivities with a bang. If you can't make it to the French Quarter to celebrate with beads and beers, bring the occasion to your own home with a few Cajun and Creole classics. Here are some of our favorites.

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King Cake - Happy Mardi Gras Y'all!

Yum Community — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:50:15 -0800

This story was written by member syako and comes from the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community.Mardi Gras is a couple weeks away, and this New Orleanian gal - who's been transplanted to Maryland - misses this holiday the most! Even more, I miss the yummy gooey king cake that goes with it. So I made one myself this weekend and the result was fabulous! It's definitely worth trying. Hope you enjoy.

To get her recipe, keep reading.

Seafood Gumbo Two Ways - Beginner and Expert

YumSugar — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:50:32 -0800

The Saints' first Super Bowl victory and Mardi Gras in less than a week gives Southerners and Northerners an excuse to celebrate the eclectic Creole culture that is so unique to New Orleans. Want to get crazy? Simmer up a steaming pot of seafood gumbo. Keep things basic with canned chicken broth, frozen okra, and two simple shellfish elements - crab and shrimp. Or, if you're feeling more elaborate, peel your own shrimp, saving the shells for a flavorful stock, and throw in the works, from andouille sausage to fresh oysters. Either way, you'll wind up with a gumbo worth getting jazzed up about. For the recipes, read more.

Convicted Sex Workers Must Register as Sex Offenders in LA

TresSugar — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:00:24 -0800

Adding to the long list of weird American sex laws, Louisiana - along with eight other states - has a crime-against-nature law. It's an unused, archaic law in most places, but New Orleans has been reinterpreting the 200-year-old law for its own purposes. The city now defines "unnatural copulation" as anal or oral sex and uses it to brand convicted sex workers with the title "sex offender."

Of the 861 registered sex offenders in New Orleans, 483 were convicted of crimes against nature, and 78 percent of those are black and almost all are women. What's that mean for them? There's a stamp printed on their driver's licenses, labeling them as sex offenders. They can't get food stamps or public assistance, much less jobs, and if there's a hurricane they need to go to special shelters reserved for sex offenders. They can't even dress up for Mardi Gras!

And guess what happens when a person can't get a job or public assistance, New Orleans? Probably something illegal like prostitution!

Red Beans and Rice Two Ways - Beginner and Expert

YumSugar — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:50:02 -0800

For true mid-Winter comfort food, look no further than the wallet-friendly pairing of red beans and rice. The Louisiana specialty starts with "the holy trinity" of chopped celery, bell pepper, and onions then combines the veggie medley with red kidney beans and pork to be served over steaming hot rice.

You can follow a recipe that calls for canned beans and is easy on the time, number of kitchen steps, and ingredients. Or stick to the classic version, simmered low and slow with ham, sausage, and bay leaves for added flavor and body. Decide which one when you keep reading.

10 Haunted Houses in New Orleans

CasaSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:00:46 -0700

Are you ready to see more haunted houses? If my slideshow on California haunted houses wasn't spooky enough, I've just got the thing. New Orleans is perhaps America's most haunted city, so it's no surprise the place is full of ghosts and floating entities. Come take a look.

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House Tour: Black White Yellow's Cheerful New Orleans Apartment

CasaSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:00:43 -0700

While reading the design blog Black White Yellow, I was really impressed by the author's cheerful and stylish home, so I asked if she'd be willing to give us a photographic tour of her home. She lives in New Orleans, where she works as an architect, so it's no surprise that she has a keen eye for design. But what's truly inspiring about her happy, chic home is that she's created it on small budget. "My goal was to create a space on a shoestring budget that screams happy," she says. "It is a work in progress, of course, but I am happy with how much I have gotten done so far." Not surprisingly, the base of her coveted crib is black and white, with a lot of playful yellow accents and patterned textiles. Ready for the tour?

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Burning Question: Are Cajun and Creole Cooking the Same?

YumSugar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:50:18 -0700

It's an age-old question: is there a distinction between Cajun and Creole cooking - or are they really just the same thing?

The answer is somewhere in between. Creole cooking evolved out of the cosmopolitan culture of New Orleans, a city affected by the influx of international colonists who settled there after the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans's denizens adopted spices from Africa and the Caribbean, butter and cream from France, tomatoes from Italy, and peppers from Spain and took advantage of the abundance of oysters, shrimp, and crab abundantly available in the Gulf.

Cajun cooking developed in Louisiana's rural backcountry. Acadians drew from their French and Southern roots, cooking whatever could be farmed and trapped locally, along with other inexpensive ingredients such as crawfish, rice, beans, and pork fat. Some of Louisiana's dishes are distinctly Creole, like shrimp rémoulade. Others - take crawfish étouffée, for instance - are credited to the Cajuns. But certain dishes shared by both cuisines, such as jambalaya, possess subtler differences: the Creole version typically contains tomatoes, while its Cajun counterpart employs a roux.

Over time, as the two terms have been used more generically and interchangeably, the differences between Cajun and Creole cooking have become blurred, and food historians have taken to focusing on regional differences within the state. What's your take on Cajun versus Creole? Which do you like more?

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James Buy a Historic New Orleans Victorian

CasaSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:00:25 -0700

From Angelina and Brad Pitt to Nicolas Cage, New Orleans is becoming a popular place for celebs to settle, the latest transfers being Sandra Bullock and Jesse James. The pair quietly snatched up a historic Victorian home in New Orleans's Garden District for $2.25 million back in June. The 6,615-square-foot, five-bedroom, 4.5-bath home, known as the Koch-Mays house, was built sometime between 1860 and 1870. It retains many original Victorian design details, including ornately carved marble mantels, carved columns, large plaster medallions, shadow molding, and beautiful ornamental cast ironwork on its exterior. It's no surprise Bullock looked for historical details when doing her real estate shopping: the French Southern bistro she owns and designed in Austin, Bess Bistro, is in a historic building with tin ceilings and hand-painted floors. And although Austin won't be a far trip for the couple, they're guaranteed to find a good Creole shrimp meal in NOLA. See interior photos when you read more.

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Source: Flickr User alykat

Do You Ever Feel Like a "Closet" Democrat or Republican?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:30:17 -0800

Republican Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao represents a very Democratic district in Louisiana. Last night, he joked that he might be a "closet Democrat" despite his official party affiliation. He also said that parties shouldn't define lawmakers since "we are basically servants of the citizens of the United States."

Cao's statement about being a secret member of the opposition party got me thinking - how often do people's party identification and actual political views clash?

Living in San Francisco many people I know identify as Democrats, since "Republican" has been a bad word here, especially over the last eight years. Still, I have some "democratic" friends who hold pretty conservative views. Maybe they're just to afraid to admit they're actually Republicans. On the other hand, I know some "liberal" adverse individuals who actually support gay marriage, abortion rights, and maybe even some government action to help the economy.

Do you ever feel like if you followed your head, and not your heart, you'd probably switch party affiliation?

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