Mary Reporting. November 1st is All Saints’ Day, a holy day in the Catholic Church. The faithful go to Mass on this day, which is set aside to honor all the saints. There are thousands of named saints, canonized through the centuries after much study and authenticated miracles. But clearly there are millions of unnamed […]
Helen Reporting. Halloween is beloved in New Orleans, probably because it gives us an excuse to dress up. Everyone has a costume closet or trunk overflowing with wigs and bits and pieces of fabric, lace, masks, scarves, hats, concepts from costumes past to reconstruct in the present. A space helmet, a bustier, vampy heels and […]
Nobody has the Monday Blues in New Orleans because everyone knows they’ll enjoy a delicious dinner that night. Monday is still red beans and rice day in many homes and restaurants in the Crescent City. The tradition dates back to the days of washboards, washtubs and clothes lines. Monday was washday, so housewives put a […]
In When a Lady Loves, Maureen Collins attends a Reveillon dinner on Christmas Eve at the Colville home in the French Quarter. It was the custom for Catholic families to fast all day on Christmas Eve, attend Midnight Mass and then celebrate with a meal that often lasted until dawn on Christmas day. Maureen is […]
Ask New Orleanians for a recipe for gumbo, gravy, stew, chicken soup—you name it—they’ll say: “First you make a roux.” Pick up a Southern cookbook and many recipes begin: “To a roux, add…” So how do you actually make a roux? A roux is made of fat and flour, that simple. You can use lard, […]
