Author: Emily Gautreaux

A Vermilionville Event Teaches the Community about Courir de Mardi Gras

A recent event held at Vermilionville taught guests and visitors about the tradition, history, and legacy of Louisiana’s Courir de Mardi Gras, as per this article from The Acadiana Advocate.

The event took place earlier in February as Louisiana communities were easing into the Mardi Gras season ahead of Valentine’s Day. On Sunday, February 12, a traditional Mardi Gras Run was held at Vermilionville, and it was open for the public to enjoy and for families to participate in an interactive and educational experience with admission prices going to Vermilionville. The event was presented by Vermilionville and the Basile Mardi Gras Association, and it featured an interactive Courir de Mardi Gras tradition led by Le Capitaine, who sang “ La Chanson de Mardi Gras,” as the costumed riders made their way through the historic village begging for ingredients to make a gumbo, as is the tradition.

Although a traditional Courir is held before or at dawn, this family-friendly event began at 10 am with a screening of Pat Mire’s “Dance for a Chicken,” a Mardi Grad documentary that reveals the historic secrets of the traditional, rural Mardi Gras run, which is also known as Courir de Mardi Gras. After the screening, musician Kevin Rees demonstrated the proper use of the “La Chanson de Mardi Gras” with the event’s attendees before the Basile Association began riding through the historic village, which ultimately ended with the infamous chicken chase. The event ended with attendees grabbing a delicious lunch at Vermillionville’s on-site restaurant and enjoying live music and dancing from Feu Follet.

Traditionally, Courir riders will consist of people disguised in colorful and festive costumes with a cone-shaped “capuchon hat”, a mask made of screen, and a top and pants covered in strips of fringed fabric. These riders would mount horses and go from house to house to ask neighbors and community members for ingredients for a communal gumbo. The gumbo would then be cooked and eaten by everyone in town on Mardi Gras before the start of lent.

This self-contained version of a traditional, albeit  wilder event was designed by the Basile Mardi Gras Association andVermilionville officials to teach a new generation about the humble beginnings of a long-held Mardi Gras tradition. The holiday has become so ubiquitous in Louisiana with businesses, schools, and portions of the city being closed annually for the event, so it stands to believe that the origins of the holiday can sometimes be lost on a new generation. Luckily, the Basile Mardi Gras Association and the historic and educational Vermilionville can help to rectify that lack of knowledge.

The event was a success, thanks to the organizers at the Basile Mardi Gras Association and Vermilionville. Jim “Pecoq” Young, who is a member of the Basile Mardi Gras Association commented by saying, “we love it. We get people from all over Louisiana and even out of state. People come from all over to see the Mardi Gras. We’re thankful to Vermilionville for inviting us over here and letting us help them celebrate.” A full listing of their calendar of events can be found here.

Vermilionvile’s mission is to “increase appreciation for the history, culture, and natural resources of the Native Americans, Acadians, Creoles, and peoples of African descent in the Attakapas region through the end of the 1800s. Through historic interpretation and conservation along the Bayou Vermilion, we strive to educate guests on the interactions of these groups and the connections between past and contemporary folklife, thus empowering guests to apply these lessons from our shared histories.”

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Exploring The Connecticut Coastline: Where To Eat, Stay, and Shop

If you’re looking for a change of scenery this summer and want to explore what the Connecticut coastal towns have to offer, then look no further. In this travel blog article, Country Living takes you throughout the Connecticut coastline and lists all the must-see places in Stonington, Noank, and beyond. From where to eat and stay to the best shops in town, you will have everything covered, so get ready to start planning your perfect mini-vacation on the Connecticut coastline.

Connecticut’s coastline is one of the most beautiful and varied in the country;Connecticutstretching from the Long Island Sound all the way up to Rhode Island, the coastline is a haven for both beach lovers and those looking for a more rural getaway. There are many towns along the Connecticut coastline that are worth exploring, but three stand out as particularly special: Stonington, Noank, and Mystic. Each has its own unique charm and array of activities to enjoy.

Stonington is a lovely seaside town with gorgeous views of the Long Island Sound. It’s home to a number of great restaurants, shops, and art galleries. There’s also a lively downtown area with plenty of nightlife options. If you’re looking for a delicious meal, be sure to check out some of Stonington’s fantastic seafood restaurants.

For a truly unique dining experience, make reservations at The Oyster Club. where you can enjoy fresh oysters right from the coast, or for a more casual meal, stop by Dog Watch Café for some of the best coconut shrimp plates or “dogwiches” in town. Lastly, if you’re looking for a truly unique dining experience, head to Stone Acres Farm in Stonington. This working farm and restaurant offers seasonal menus featuring ingredients grown right on the farm. The setting is rustic and charming, and the food is absolutely delicious. Stonington is also an excellent place to explore in order to get the best out of the Connecticut coastline.

Be sure to check out Stonington Borough to start your exploration of the Connecticut coastline. The borough offers many different activities for visitors to enjoy such as the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, which is a great place to learn about the local flora and fauna. You can also take a stroll along Water Street in Stonington Borough or duBois Beach.

As for accommodations, for those seeking an upscale experience, check into The Inn at Stonington Borough, which offers stunning views of the harbor, but if you’re traveling on a tighter budget, consider staying at one of the town’s many bed & breakfasts – like The Captain Daniel Packer Inne or The Palmer House Inn.

Noank is a quaint fishing village with a charming Main Street lined with cute shops and restaurants. It’s also home to several marinas, making it a great place to stay if you’re interested in doing some boating or fishing while you’re in town. Similarly, Mystic is perhaps best known for its world-famous Mystic Seaport Museum. But there’s much more to this town than just history – there are also plenty of great places to eat, drink, shop, and relax by the water.

When it comes to seafood, Noank is definitely one of the top places to be. The town is home to several seafood markets and restaurants, so you’ll be sure to find something to your liking, so if you’re looking for a casual meal, head to Ford’s Lobster, or The Fisherman’s Restaurant at Long Point for genuine seafood.

Nearby, Mystic is a popular tourist destination for its historic seaport and aquarium. There are plenty of great places to eat and shop in Mystic, as well as lots of fun things to do like taking a riverboat cruise or visiting Downtown Mystic.

Exploring the Connecticut coastline is a great way to experience some of the best that this region has to offer. From Stonington and Noank to Mystic and beyond, there are plenty of places for visitors to explore and enjoy. Whether you’re looking for delicious seafood restaurants, quaint shops selling unique items, or cozy accommodations for your stay in town, the Connecticut coastline has something for everyone—and it’s easy to find no matter what part of the shoreline you may be exploring.

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Three Louisiana Educators Receive Nationally-Acclaimed Milken Award

It was recently announced by the Louisiana Department of Education via this news release that educators from Ascension, West Baton Rouge, and Lafayette Parish have each received a $25,000 Milken Educator Award.

The $25,000 Milken Educator Award was awarded by Milken Educator Awards Founder Lowell Milken and Louisiana Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley to Ascension Public Schools first-grade teacher Elise Frederic, West Baton Rouge Schools fifth-grade teacher Dereka Duncan, and Lafayette Parish third-grade teacher Corrie Campbell. The issuing of these awards is often kept such a close-held secret that recipients do not know that they are in the running for the award until they are visited by the Superintendent and Milken himself.

By design, Milken Educator Awards are bestowed upon early-to-mid career educators for what these teachers have already achieved early on in their careers and “for the promise of what they will accomplish given the resources and opportunities inherent in the Award. In education circles, the Milken Educator Award is known as an immensely high honor, akin to the Academy Awards, as the honor is often referred to as the “Oscars of Teaching.” Being selected for such an award is meant to both “inspire and uplift with the unique stories of educators making a profound difference for students, colleagues, and communities.

Elise Frederic serves as an accomplished first-grade teacher at Lakeside Primary School in Prairieville, Louisiana, and she is described as continually helping “each child set daily goals and pair[ing] students strategically to address their specific needs. Her laser focus on literacy delivers in spades.” In the 2021-2022 School year, more than 90% of Frederic’s students had achieved mastery on district benchmark assessments in English and 70% had achieved mastery in Math.

Lowell Milken commented on Elise Frederic’s success by saying, “virtually all people can name at least one teacher who has had an extraordinary impact on their lives. Elise Frederic is that kind of foundational teacher whose care and compassion have helped shape young learners into future leaders. Equally impressive, Elise is an exceptional instructional role model for her peers in the school, district and broader community.”

Dereka Duncan is a well-regarded fifth-grade science teacher at Cohn Elementary School, and she has reportedly worked on “revamping the fifth grade reading curriculum to align with Louisiana ELA standards.” Because of this commitment, “Cohn has reached an all-time high progress index of 90%, resulting in an A on the growth index score for the first time.”

Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley said the following about Dereka Duncan: “Students do more than learn science in Dereka Duncan’s class, they participate in experiences that allow them to see themselves as scientists, engineers, and researchers. She is the type of transformational educator who will help move our state forward.

Corrie Campbell passionately teaches both English Language Arts and Social Studies at Green T. Lindon Elementary School in Lafayette Parish. According to LDOE, at Campbell’s previous school in New Iberia Parish, “Campbell created a fourth-grade writing challenge based on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Students examined characters’ reactions when their rights were threatened, then shared their work with peers for feedback. The writing unit served as an extended lead-up to the Newberry Award writing contest in fifth grade.”

Dr. Brumley commented by saying, “Corrie Campbell has a hands-on approach to teaching that’s resulted in remarkable student growth and achievement. Not only does she focus on reaching every child, but she also serves as a mentor to her colleagues.”

Nationwide, there were up to 40 elementary educators awarded a Milken Educator Award this season. The Milken Awards Initiative has awarded more than $73 million in individual awards and more than $140 million in funding since 1987.

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Inaugural King Cake Festival in Downtown Thibodaux Had Large Turnout

Thibodaux’s inaugural Bayou King Cake Festival had a large turnout as thousands went out to crown the best king cake, according to this article from HoumaToday.

The inaugural Bayou King Cake Festival was held in Downtown Thibodaux at the beginning of February, serving as a festive beginning to the Mardi Gras season. The event, which was hosted by the Lafourche Education Foundation,served as a way for locals to sample and rank a diverse array of locally baked King Cakes, enjoy the Krewe of King Cake Children’s Parade, and listen to live music from Nonc Nu & the Wild Matous.

In total, 28 bakeries competed in the King Cake contest portion of the festival, where visitors voted Slidell’s Sugar Love Bakery the best-in-show. For the past eight years, Sugar Love Bakery has had a ship along Englewood Drive in Slidell, but before that owner and baker Sierra Zerangue ran the business out of her mother’s kitchen for the initial six years.

Sugar Love Bakery was a popular shop at the festival, as they were offering visitors small portions of their “King Cake on a Stick,” which according to Zerangue is the company’s invention along with “King Cake Charcuterie.” This nontraditional charcuterie offering came in the form of a king cake with cups of all the available fillings for dunking.

After Sugar Love Bakery received 183 votes, they were awarded first prize; to which Zerangue said, “it’s amazing, it means a lot to a bakery or any small business.” Second place went to Cut Off’s Cajun Pecan House with 182 votes, and Spahr’s Restaurant finished in third place.

Deanna Lafont is the Executive Director of the Lafourche Education Foundation, and she estimated that since they sold over 2,000 tickets to festival goers in advance, ticket sales along with preorders and scholarships had generated about $50,000 in funds for the Foundation, which will be going towards teacher grants, some festival overhead, and future events.

She went on to comment, “when we were setting the event up, we sold about 700 tickets almost two days before, so we were hoping to get 1,000 people. I think it was just the right time, the right place, the right event, and the right weather. I’m still in shock about how successful the event was.”

The festival had a larger turnout than initially expected; this was due to the fact that festival organizers occupied a section of downtown Thibodaux that’s usually used by Big Boy’s Main Street Cook-Off. Since that festival usually attracts about 1,000 people, Lafont admitted that they’ll need to try and “emulate the Fraternal Order of Police Mudbug Boil-Off because it is a larger event.” This will mean that next year’s event will occupy a larger section of downtown Thibodaux, centered along LA. 1 and Bayou Lafourche, which initially seemed unnecessary for an inaugural event.

Reportedly hundreds of festival goers had stood in line at the two entrances, filling up over two blocks waiting for their king cake samples. Due to the higher-than-expected turnout, many booths and shops were out of king cakes early on. For instance, the Culinary Department of the Lafourche Career Magnet Center saw Kalena Dehart and her coworkers down to seven king cakes from the dozen they brought to the festival within the first hour.

The event was kicked off officially at 1:30 pm with a parade of 15 children-toting wagons and five marching bands marching from the old Capital One building on West 2nd Street to St. Phillip Street and back. Next year, Lafont hopes to organize more events for the children festival goers outside of the parade, saying: “we had the children’s parade, but we’re really talking about having a kids’ area. I would love to see a kids’ king cake baking contest.”

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Crispy and Spicy Maple Wasabi Wing Recipe

Have you ever wanted to create a unique and delicious dish in the comfort of your own home, but thought it was too difficult or time-consuming? Well, fear not! This maple-wasabi wing recipe from Epicurious is proof that you can make an extraordinary meal with only the ingredients found in your average refrigerator. Get ready for some serious flavor explosions – we’ll be combining sticky, spicy, sweet, and salty flavors together in this incredibly tasty recipe.

Ingredients for wing recipe

Directions for wing recipe

  1. In order to start this recipe for delicious maple-wasabi chicken wings, you’ll want to prepare your oven byplacing racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F and line two large rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil and place a wire rack in each one. You should then spray both wire racks withnonstick vegetable oil spray.
  2. Take your chicken wings, separate the flats from the drumettes, and remove the wing tips. Place them on a stack of paper towels and dry them with an extra layer or two of paper towels. Place the wings into a large bowl.
  3. Sprinkle your baking powder, salt, and freshly ground white paper over the wings evenly and toss them in order to coat them entirely. After your flats and drumettes with an even coat, allow the wings to sit at room temperature for one hour prior to baking. Alternatively, you can let them chill uncovered for up to 12 hours, but you should still let them sit at room temperature for 1 hour prior to baking.
  4. Once your oven is properly preheated, you’ll divide the wings between your two prepared racks while taking care to not overcrowd either rack with too many wings. Bake the wings for 25 minutes in total. Halfway through, turn your wings over and rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back so that the wings cook evenly. You should then continue to bake the wings until they have a golden brown coloration, are crispy, and are cooked through, meaning that an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the wing while avoiding bone should register at 165°F (or 10-15 minutes).
  5. For your wing sauce, you will want to whisk either your peeled and finely grated piece of ginger or your ginger paste, your one-third cup of pure maple syrup, your 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons of sesame chili oil into a small saucepan in order to combine them. Bring this to a simmer over medium-low heat, while whisking occasionally.
  6. Cook the wing sauce, while occasionally whisking until the sauce is reduced by about half and is thick enough to fully coat a submerged spoon. This should take approximately 8-10 minutes. Once finished, remove the sauce from the heat and add your tablespoon of chilled, unsalted butter. Whisk the butter into the sauce until it’s fully incorporated and your sauce is smooth and glossy.
  7. Once you’re ready to drench your wings in sauce, you’ll whisk your 2 teaspoons of wasabi paste into the sauce. At this point, taste the sauce and add up to another teaspoon of wasabi paste until it’s at your desired spice level. Transfer your wings to a large metal bowl, pour your sauce over the wigs, and toss them until they’re all evenly coated.
  8. Arrange the wings on a platter, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds over them, and enjoy!

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Project that will Revitalize Louisiana’s Second-Largest Swamp Moves Forward

A project to revitalize a large portion of Louisiana’s second-largest swamp is moving forward after decades of discussion, according to this detailed article from Nola.com. Maurepas Swamp is the sheer picturesque definition of what the ideal Louisiana swamp looks like. It covers a vast area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and according to project manager Brad Miller, “it’s been dying for almost a century now, and the thing with swamps is, it happens really, really slow.”

Thankfully, the project that will account for the revitalization of Maurepas Swamp is expected to begin in the next few months. The project will reportedly involve the injection of freshwater from the Mississippi River into the swamp for sustainability. The aim of the project is to improve the region, which is expected to benefit approximately 45,000 acres, while also reviving an ecosystem that used to be a bountiful and prime spot for wildlife.

Projects of this type and sort are quite important for Louisiana, as they are capable and able of knocking down storm surges during hurricane season. Gary Shaffer is a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, and he said the following when speaking on the subject: “if you’re interested in hurricane protection, that’s the way to go – to build swamp.” Shaffer has studied the area affected by the project, and he has advocated for the revitalization project for over 20 years.

Essentially, this project is something of a river diversion, but in essence, it differs greatly from the planned large-scale diversions that are aimed at rebuilding coastal land, as this one will be relatively small, capable of channeling 2,000 cubic feet per second. Additionally, a new two-mile channel that will be constructed near Garyville will direct the water into the Hope Canal, then into an outfall area in the swamp located north of Interstate 10. Overall, this construction is expected to take about four years and will be done in conjunction with the nearby levee project,  known as the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection System.

This project is expected to reconnect Maurepas Swamp to the Mississippi River and the nutrients it once provided. Now, the levees hold the river in place instead of allowing its waters to overflow and its course to meander, which is what happened earlier in history. This traditional method was vital to keeping the region from flooding, but it badly damaged the wetlands and coastal marsh. A coastal scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, Alish Renfro said, “this is a huge deal. It’s 20 years in the making to actually get us here.”

Construction on the project is expected to begin in Summer 2023 at a total cost estimate of approximately $300 million, but as Miller and Shaffer can attest, it was tough for the project to move forward for quite some time until intervention by the Army Corps of Engineers.

As it was, last month, the Army Corps of Engineers had announced that they will allow the project to revitalize Maurepas Swamp to move forward if it also serves as mitigation for the environmental damage that has been caused by the construction of a major levee project in the nearby area, otherwise known as the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection System. This also allowed for Louisiana’s 35% share cost of the levee project bill to be lowered.

Additionally, the revitalization project’s momentum was also aided by settlement money related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, as this settlement amount will reportedly pay for about two-thirds of the samp project with the state of Louisiana covering the remainder.

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