Author: Emily Gautreaux

Nicholls Culinary Institute Gains Two Scholarships from Rouses Markets

It was recently announced that the Nicholls’ Chef John Folse Culinary Institute will be receiving two new scholarships from a Louisiana grocery store chain.

Having just celebrated its 60th–anniversary last year, the Louisiana-based grocery brand known as Rouses Markets opened one of its first stores in Houma, so it’s only poetic that the two new scholarships offered to future culinary institute professionals at Nicholls will be named after influential members of the Rouses’ legacy. One scholarship will be named after Anthony Rouse, Sr, who pioneered the first Rouses Market in 1960, and the other will be named after Leroy Theriot who was the innovative butcher and meat manager at the original Rouses Market.

The current CEO of Rouses’, Donny Rouse, said of the two new scholarships, “We’re happy to continue our commitment to Nicholls State University and the next generation of culinary and grocery professionals with the endowment of these two scholarships.”

Both scholarships are categorized as “endowed scholarships,” which are those academic grants that are established for scholarship funds to be awarded for multiple years, depending on the initial donation size. The director of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, Chef John Kozar, told the University that each scholarship would be ideal to cover the sets of fees culinary students will sustain or incur throughout their degree program.

As Anthony J. Rouse, Sr. was and still is a prominent name in the local grocery industry, the Anthony J. Rouse, Sr. Food Entrepreneurship Scholarship will award $1,500 per academic year to any part-time Rouses Markets employee or any dependent of any Rouses employees who are culinary institute majors. The scholarship board for the Rouses Scholarship will be giving preference to applicants who have an interest in food entrepreneurship.

In a similar trend, the Leroy Theriot Meat & Charcuterie Culinary Arts Scholarship will give preference to any applicants with an interest in the art of butchery and butcher crafts. Before he was Rouses’ first meat manager, Theriot was a prominent butcher at Ciro DiMarco’s grocery before DiMarco left the shop to open the initial 7,000-square-foot Rouses in Houma. According to Rouses’, the Theriot scholarship “seeks to develop the next generation of meat science professionals.”

When speaking on the naming and intention of each scholarship, Rouses CEO Donny Rouse said, “Leroy Theriot set the standard for every butcher who has followed him at Rouses. And Pa knew success doesn’t just happen; it is made to happen and requires sacrifice, dedication, and a commitment to quality and service. He was a true entrepreneur.”

Chef John Kozar, who has a valuable stake in both the culinary students at Nicholls and the nearby grocery industry, said of the partnership between university and grocery chain, “Rouses Markets has been a Bayou Region icon for nearly a century. Many of our students and graduates work for the company, and we are thankful for their constant support.”

The sentiment was echoed by the executive director of the Nicholls Foundation, Jeremy Becker, who remarked on the strengthening partnership between Nicholls and Rouses, two titans of the Bayon Region. Becker called the installation of the two new scholarships exciting and also rewarding in that they will “not only benefit Rouses employees but also honor two very important people in the history of Rouses; it is a great example of Rouses investing in their employees, their community and Nicholls.”

The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute is the single post-secondary institution in Louisiana that offers a four-year culinary degree. The sheer impact that the faculty, current students, and graduates have made on the culinary landscape of Louisiana is immeasurable, and that impact will continue to grow thanks to Rouses Markets’ two new endowed scholarships.

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Ideal 2021 Summer Barbecue Menu

The ideal weather conditions found in the summertime often bring along a tendency to attend or host social outings involving the great culinary staple that is the summer barbecue. Whether you find yourself hosting your own backyard BBQ buffet or simply bringing a dish to your local block party, these recipes from Olive Magazine for easy-to-make BBQ dishes are sure to put you at ease this summer.

Preparing the Grill

Before getting into specific recipes for main, side, and dessert dishes, Olive’s article begins with a refresher course on how to best cook your BBQ meats atop the versatile cooking instrument that is a gas or charcoal-based barbecue grill.

  1. Begin preparing your grill early by lighting the coals early (use the contents of a charcoal bag 1/3rd at a time) or getting your gas grill’s temperature up before rushing to get the seasoned meats atop a premature grill. Preparing the barbecue is a game of patience and restraint, as it’s integral to the grilling process to always have your meats heated by an even, unwavering temperature setting.
  2. While you’ll diversify the preparation of your BBQ meat products across your individual recipes, it’s always a good idea to take an account of the cuts of your meats (particularly brisket), as you’ll want to keep any fat attached to your cuts. The fat portions contribute to the moisture of your meat throughout the grilling  process, and they can always be removed later.
  3. Lastly, you should “prepare your battle stations” by ensuring you have your supply of spatulas, grill scrapers, and meat thermometers handy near the grill. The internal temperature of cooked meat is something that should never be left up to guessing, so play it safe and check the temperature of your meats be they brisket, beef, pork, or chicken.

The following are several easy-to-prepare recipes that are sure to please the appetites of any BBQ you’re attending or hosting.

Entrees:

Spicy BBQ Chicken Kebabs w/ Grilled Pineapple

One recipe that’s “out-of-the-ordinary” when it comes to a BBQ menu is this spicy kebab that combines the flavor profiles of spicy, grilled chicken with grilled pineapple. Depending on your situation, these can be played on a serving platter and used as a knockout appetizer, or they can be placed alongside some noodles or rice to be a celebrated main dish. Seriously, the red chilies and hot smoked paprika make this grilled chicken incredibly flavorful and spicy, and once it’s skewered alongside the caramelized, grilled pineapple and topped with mint, you’ll be the talk of the grill.

Whole Chilli and Lemongrass Sea Bream

Try something new and forgo the chicken, beef, and pork that get all the attention and try out this tenderedbarbecue sea bream that packs a powerful punch. This recipe’s marinade has a lemongrass base that is accompanied by ginger, lime, fish sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, shallots, and red chilies; the combination of sweet and sour flavors in the marinade make for an excellently delicious flavor profile. Take a chance by grilling this fish from the Vietnam cooking tradition and truly impress the audience at your next barbecue.

Sides:

BBQ Corn on the Cob

This recipe slightly tweaks a barbecue classic in the best way with a specific combination of seasonings and a Korean gochujang sauce. Using only twenty total minutes of preparation and grilling time, you’ll prepare your sauce with a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, feta cheese, lime, chili paste, smoked paprika, and coriander. Though the sauce is often the star of the show, feel free to separate it from your grilled corn or only dress half of the stalks with the sauce in order to give your guests choice in the matter.

Herb, Watermelon, and Rice Noodle Salad

This refreshing summer salad is the perfect “light” alternative to the heftiness of the summer BBQ, as it is centered around a delicious herbal medley. The salad itself combines the flavors of watermelon, mint, Thai basil, coriander, spring onions, and sesame seeds with the specific textures of both bean sprouts and rice vermicelli noodles for a truly pleasing summer side dish. The dressing, though simple, is also sure to please and not weigh down those who eat it like a BBQ brisket would, as it’s only made of rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, caster sugar, and bird’s-eye chili.

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ULL Awards Jefferson Caffery Research Award

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has recently awarded the 2021 Jefferson Caffery Research Award to a student examining how Cajun and Creole cultural identity is altered when assimilating into American society, according to a press release from the school.

René Champagne, a senior at UL Lafayette double majoring in French and Francophone Studies as well as Anthropology, wrote his award-winning research paper, “Cajuns, Creoles, and the Impact of Americanization on Ethnic Identity in Louisiana,” in an effort to pay tribute to his hometown of Galliano, Louisiana.

Champagne, who plans on graduating in Fall 2021 and pursuing masters and doctoral degrees in anthropology, attributes his award recognition to his lifelong tracking of the diminishing French culture of the small, unincorporated Lafourche Parish town. Located along Bayou Lafourche, Galliano still has a modestly-sized French-speaking community today, but over the past century, it has greatly diminished due to the region’s assimilation into American society.

According to the UL Lafayette Office of Communications and Marketing, Champagne wrote the award-winning paper as a means to “examine the “evolution of race and ethnicity as a result of factors such as assimilation, and the resulting impact on cultural identity.” Since childhood, the senior has had a fascination with “monitoring cultural changes that have been created by outside influences.” This passion for cultural studies is what had inspired the senior to investigate the many ways that culture is exhibited, celebrated, and suppressed, causing his paper to cover a wide range of topics including customs, traditions, languages, dialects, hurricanes, land loss, and even ways in which culturally-specific holidays were celebrated during the pandemic.

Speaking of Galliano’s declining evidence of South Louisiana culture, Champagne told ULL press, that the town’s “culture is still very present, but south Louisiana, in general, is decreasing rapidly in terms of both culture and land – which is so strongly tied to culture – and that’s a huge interest to me.” The research paper utilizes nearly two dozen sources such as The New York Times, U.S. Census Bureau, the Journal of Anthropological Research, and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development.

In order to be considered for this annual award, students must either cite or directly investigate primary source documents found in UL Lafayette’s Edith Garland Dupré Library. Specifically, these documents must be found in the Special Collections department of the library, which includes the Louisiana Room, Rare Book Collection, Ernest J. Gaines Center, Cajun and Creole Music Collection, U.S. Government Information, and the University Archives & Acadiana Manuscripts Collection.

Created in 1967, the Jefferson Caffery Research Award was established by Ambassador Jefferson Caffery and his wife, Mrs. Gertrude Jefferson Caffery, to recognize outstanding scholarly research conducted through materials offered by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The award is accompanied by a $500 prize and is bestowedannually by both the Edith Garland Dupré Library and the University Library Committee.

The award’s namesake, Ambassador Caffery was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and he was an integral part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s early days as an educational institution. Specifically, he was a part of the school’s first graduating class when it was initially established as the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute. Caffery kept his ties with the school over his historic career as an American Diplomat, serving as a United States Ambassador to Egypt, France, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, and El Salvador from 1926-1955. ULL has since honored Caffery not only by annually awarding out the Research Award but by keeping an archival catalog of library holdings in the Jefferson Caffery Reading Room, which is located on the 3rd Floor of Dupré Library.

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Nicholls Professor Awarded Grant to Improve Science Education

Students in the Bayou Region will soon be able to learn first-hand about DNA and molecular structures thanks to a grant awarded to a Nicholls professor, according to a press release from the school.

The Louisiana Board of Regents, the state agency that coordinates all public higher learning institutions in the state, has recently awarded Nicholls assistant professor of teacher education, Dr. Aimee Hollander, $69,056 for a project that will serve to educate local students and faculty about molecular structures through the creation and displaying of models.

In addition to being a Nicholls assistant professor, Dr. Hollander serves as the program director for the Center for Teaching Excellence and science secondary education, making her the perfect liaison to bring this valuable resource to Nicholls’ campus for both university and high school students and faculty to benefit from.

Now that it’s funded, the project aims to house an impressive collection of magnetic 3D molecular models at Nicholls’ Ellender Memorial Library so that it can be used by local biology and chemistry faculty for their courses. The models will be available for checkout to faculty at Nicholls as well as local schools, potentially impacting thousands of students. In addition to the models, the grant is also set to fund professional development for faculty so that the models can be used as effectively as possible.

The professional development will ensure that teachers know the full functionality and set of uses for the models, with the development being aligned to the Louisiana Science Standards. The State Standards require Louisiana educators to incorporate “the developing and use of models” to teach matter structure, chemical reactions, and information processing, so not only will the models available at Nicholls be useful but the professional development will be as well.

When it comes to certain subject matter in Chemistry, many students struggle with imagining abstract subject matter like DNA, due to its minuscule size. The conceptualization can often be a roadblock or a deal-breaker for students majoring in the sciences or those simply taking science courses as part of a general education degree plan. This can often lead to students seeking out videos of digital molecular models on Youtube, which can be helpful for some, but students that identify as tactile learners will have a lot more success with the physical 3D magnetic molecular models soon to be found at Ellender Memorial Library.

Housing the 3D models in the University library follows the long-standing collegiate tradition of the library being the centerpiece of all facets of research, information gathering, and in more recent years: educational resources. The internet is widely known to be a source of information, but with Youtube offering resources as well as uncertified curricula on its platform, many science majors might be tempted to take the “easy way out” and learn about Chemistry concepts from a content creator instead of their professor, which can have systemic problems and detrimental consequences down the line.

Ellender Memorial Library offers a maker space that will be able to be used in conjunction with the models to advance learning and modeling, which might lead to future 3D modeling competitions being brought to the Bayou Region some years in the future. These events are a unique blend of hybrid education and competitive spirit that students with interests in both the sciences and engineering can benefit from.

When asked about the impact of this grant in the coming years, Nicholls professor, Dr. Hollander said, “I have always wanted to provide my students with a more hands-on experience when learning biology and chemistry. These models will be accessible to regional teachers for use anytime during the semester and provide an experience that cannot be provided otherwise.”

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Small Towns To Visit this Summer

Bright lights and big cities get all the press, but the often-overlooked prized jewels that are the small towns of the United States are where many are finding their next summer vacationing spot, according to an article from Country Living.  While the complete list details thirty total provincial villages, towns, and boroughs, the following are two particular hidden gems that you should absolutely consider making your summer getaway in the coming months.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Contemplate spending a week in the summer hiking through the Great Smoky Mountains and staying in the nearby mountain resort city of Gatlinburg, TN. Located southeast of Knoxville, this outdoor adventurer’s paradise is the ideal “home base” for those looking to partake in horseback riding, hiking, fishing, and rafting due to the fact that Gatlinburg is located at the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Take a 340 ft. elevator ride upward and observe the breathtaking majesty of the Smokies from atop theGatlinburg Space Needle or take a leisurely ride above the treetops from one of the gondolas, chairlifts, or aerial tram cars that the area has to offer. Once at the top of the town, you and your travel companions can take in a day observing underwater wonders at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, the arcades, escape rooms, and mini-golf courses of the Gatlin Fun Center.

One key attraction that is essential to the Gatlinburg experience besides the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or the massive amusement park is an area known as the Village Shops. Filled with floral arrangements, gardens, and landscaping marvels, this collection of small businesses, eateries, and lodgings is perfect for those wanting to get a scaled-down version of the commercialization found up the mountain. One bite into a barbecue sandwich at Tennessee Jed’s will have you forgetting about ever wanting to conquer that advanced-level hiking trail you saw earlier that day. Whether you partake in a Gatlinburg experience outdoors or indoors, it’s safe to say that hidden among the expansive range that is the Great Smoky Mountains is a town with plenty to offer travelers of all types.

Nashville, Indiana

Located only 90 minutes away from Louisville, KY, this might not be the Nashville you’re familiar with, but it is certainly the Nashville that will win your heart. This quaint town is the county seat of Brown County, and it’s home to dozens of locally-owned restaurants and small businesses that will win you and your family over. One particular shop, the Brown County Rock Shop, sells fossils and rocks, but it also has a station where you can pan for gems right outside the front doors.

The most notable destination inside the city limits of Nashville, IN is assuredly the Zoo’Opolis Exotic Petting Zoo and Bird Park. The petting zoo element of Zoo’Opolisis one of its biggest draws, as it has three levels of tickets that can be purchased for participants to interact with the animals. At the beginner ($15) and advanced ($45) levels, zoo visitors can feed fawns, goats, ostrich chicks, and zebu calves; pet wallaby, muntjac deer, and tortoises; and interact with leopard Bengal kittens, hedgehogs, chinchillas, snakes, and iguana. It’s the ambassador ticket level ($85) that has tourists visiting this small town from all over the eastern United States, as this level allows for a more interactive approach with participants observing and sometimes entering the animal enclosures of timber wolves, red foxes, raccoons, coatimundi, zebras, and lemurs.

Ideally, this town is visited in the autumn as the changing colors of the leaves is the type of picturesque iconography that’s present across the town’s tourism pamphlets. The scenery can be best observed along Main Street (Van Buren Street) within the courtyard of the Iris Garden Cottage and Suites, or in the forests of Brown County State Park. So, pack up the car and become better acquainted with a town that is one of the more unforgettable treasures of Indiana, the not-as-famous but just-as-musical, Nashville.

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LSU Coaching Legend, Skip Bertman, Honored in SEC Documentary Special

LSU Baseball coaching legend, Skip Bertman, has recently been featured in an hour-long documentary as a part of the SEC Storied Film series, according to a Daily Advertiser Article.

The documentary titled, Hold the Rope premiered on the SEC Network on Monday, May 24th, and for many long-time LSU baseball fans it was a long-time coming. Skip Bertman served as the athletics director of LSU from 2001 to 2008 and before that he had led the Louisiana State University Baseball team to national titles in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 2000. Again, for many Tigers sports fans it wasn’t a question of “why” when it came to a Skip Bertman documentary, it was a question of “what took them so long?”

The documentary, which premiered to great acclaim by both die-hard LSU sports fans and casual viewers alike, gave an hour-long look at how coach Skip Bertman revolutionized the school’s baseball program and turned the Alex Box Stadium into the near-religious landmark it is today. This was made possible by the cooperation of SEC associate commissioner Herb Vincent, who was not only LSU’s sports information director from 1988-2000 but he was also responsible for selling the idea of a documentary to ESPN and the SEC Network three years ago.

For the documentary, a total of 89 people were interviewed by Marc Kinderman, the executive producer of Orange Lion Productions, among those were former athletes who played under Bertman, fellow coaches, friends, family members, and members of the media who covered his historic career over the years. One player who has a special tie to Bertman during his time at LSU was the all-time great Ben McDonald, who spoke to ESPN’s Front Row ahead of the documentary’s premiere to attribute his professional success to Coach Bertman’s immense vision.

McDonald, the legendary LSU Baseball player who is one of only four LSU Tigers to have had his baseball jersey retired by the school, laid a lot of the groundwork for what would eventually become a hallmark of the University. McDonald said of his old coach, “when I think about Skip, I just think of a visionary. Playing for him at the time, nobody knew what was eventually going to happen, that he would become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He changed college baseball forever. I’ve said this before, but I really feel like Skip is probably the most important sports figure to ever be acquainted with LSU. Because you look at what he did as a baseball coach, and then as an athletic director, and I truly feel he’s the most important person in the history of LSU Athletics.”

After his time as coach, Bertman made monumental decisions as athletic director; for instance, he hired four coaches who went on to win LSU five national championships. Those hires were Les Miles winning a national championship in football in 2007, Paul Mainieri in baseball in 2009, Dennis Shaver in women’s track in 2008 and 2012, and Chuck Winstead in men’s golf in 2015. When it comes to selecting players for both the field and sidelines, it cannot be overstated how good Coach Bertman’s eye is. LSU third baseman Wally McMakin said it best when he spoke of Bertmen’s key for finding and cochin talent, saying, “Skip is the most valuable athletic department employee in LSU history.”

The film premiered on the evening ahead of the 2021 SEC Baseball Tournament, and before an event that featured Coach Skip Bertman and his fellow players, the coach hadn’t seen any footage outside of a fifteen-minute reel that premiered at his 83rd birthday party at the L’Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge the previous Sunday.

When interviewed about his decision to not see the film ahead of the public though he was offered the chance, Bertmed said, “I did that intentionally. I wanted to see it for the first time at the party. I hear Marc did a great job. Can’t wait to see it and all the boys.”

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