New Orleans cocktails follow the calendar at Loa

We’re all about cocktails here at Weird South, so when Loa, the unique bar of the boutique International House of New Orleans, sent us a calendar featuring their inspiring and original drinks, we took notice.

The International House exists within a Beaux-Arts historic building in the city’s Central Business District, once home to the nation’s first World Trade Center. But everything about this hotel screams originality. Dreamy, exotic Loa is no different, offering flavors that match the city in which it dwells — whimsical, creative, pushing the limits, even bizarre. Jean Lafitte, one of the cocktails they created for the New Orleans Tricentennial, for instance, incorporated Spanish moss gathered at night from City Park.

Here are seven local New Orleans rituals with Loa cocktails by proprietor Sean Cummings and Loa’s creative director Alan Walter, as provided to us by the hotel’s press release.

Carnival [March] - Inspired by a glorious 19th-century watercolor series by Carlotta Bonnecaze, the first woman and Creole to design Carnival costumes and floats for Mardi Gras, Loa offers Five O’Clock Tea cocktails served by a costume-clad Victorian Jackass. Composed of Aperol, Mate Tea, Ojen, Local Citrus Oleo Saccharum, Prosecco, and Sorrento Lemons, the ritual cocktail provides guests with a more sophisticated take on New Orleans’ most famous holiday.

St. Joseph’s Day [March] - Sourced from Loa’s own Bywater lemon grove, Sorrento Lemons infuse Walter’s Limoncello in honor of the festive Sicilian holiday.

Summer Dress [May through October] - Like all well-bred deep-southern households, International House unwraps and cools down in style for the summer season. At Loa, Walter embraces this changing of season with a refreshing take on a NOLA classic: made with seasonal fruit sourced from lead bartender Nick Inman’s home orchard, a Granita is the adult version of the nostalgic snowball which has rescued New Orleanians from the oppressing heat since the 1930s.

St. John’s Eve [June] - In Vodou, devotees don’t merely pray to the hundreds of vodou spirits, or “Loa,” they literally serve them. So for the holiest day in the Vodou calendar, Walter partners with Sallie Ann Glassman, New Orleans’ most famous Vodou Priestess, to create his annual John’s Way Elixir, in which seven waters maximize the healing properties of ingredients grown by Walter and his select purveyors.

Winter Dress [November through April] - As shadows lengthen and the days become shorter, International House restores its decor from Summer Dress, while Loa honors the changing of season with a fall-focused cocktail, the Chien et Loup, an ode to that time of the day when a dog becomes indistinguishable from a wolf.

All Saints’ All Souls’ Day [November] - In heavily Catholic New Orleans, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day have been observed for centuries through rituals celebrating life over death. At Loa, Walter crafts an ode to the beautiful tradition, pairing Spiced Pecan Milk and Edible Flowers to mimic the whitewashed tombs, yellow chrysanthemums and red coxcombs adorning graveyards across the city, with Mezcal, an ode to the tradition’s Mexican roots. You can read our Weird South post on this here.

Magdalena [December] - To honor the female mysticism and explore the life and legacy of Mary Magdalene, Walter offers a soulful complement to a beautiful art exhibition, serving The Magdalene, a Green Chartreuse-based libation paired with Palestinian and Israeli Almonds, Turmeric, and Dark Chocolate.


Weird, Wild and Wacky South is written by food and travel writer Chere Dastugue Coen, a native of New Orleans who loves an unusual cocktail.

Mardi Gras beads grow on trees

Drive through most South Louisiana towns and look up and you’ll see a plethora of Mardi Gras beads hanging from tree boughs. These unusual growths are especially prominent during the Carnival season, which happens from Jan. 6 until Mardi Gras, which is today (Feb. 13, 2018), the Tuesday before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

These plastic creations grow on trees down here, which is where we get the beads to throw off Mardi Gras floats during the long Carnival season.

You didn’t think we bought them from China, did you? 
      

Mardi Gras beads are particularly fond of our massive live oak trees that spread out over the parade routes. We find all kinds, too, and not just those little cheapy beads we want to throw back at float riders.

Those grow on shrubbery.

What? You’re saying the beads get caught in the trees after being thrown off Mardi Gras floats and stay there all year long?

I don’t think so.

Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by award-winning Louisiana food and travel writer Chere Dastugue Coen, who absolutely adores Mardi Gras.

For Mardi Gras, it's a Dog Day Afternoon — and ball!

In Louisiana, the fun doesn’t stop with New Year’s resolutions. Tonight, Jan. 6, otherwise known as Twelfth Night or the Epiphany, the season of Carnival begins with Mardi Gras balls and other revelries.

This year, all that’s going to the dogs.

For 24 years, the Mardi Paws Parade for canines and their owners took place in Mandeville, just across the causeway from New Orleans, on the Sunday after Mardi Gras Tuesday (this year Feb. 18, 2018). The annual event came at the tail end of the Carnival season (hey, don’t blame us, we borrowed that pun from the organizers).

This year, the Mystic Krewe of Mardi Paws, who put on the annual parade, have decided to take the fun one paw step further with its inaugural Mardi Gras ball. On Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, the krewe will offer its Mutts to Models ball, open to the public with general admission tickets at $125 each, with proceeds going to charity.

The host of the evening is Ian Somerhalder, an actor celebrated for his roles as Damon Salvadore on “The Vampire Diaries” and as Boone Carlyle on “Lost.” An ardent animal lover who grew up in neighboring Covington, Louisiana, Somerhalder worked like a dog to create his namesake foundation (another organization pun). The Ian Somerhalder Foundation (ISF) has purchased 100 acres of land near Mandeville with about 70 of those acres set aside to preserve the bayou and the remaining 30 acres to support pet projects that serve the needs of animals, youth and the community at large. Scott’s Wish, according to organizers, is to provide aid for patients with leukemia and life-threatening illnesses, the other beneficiary of Mardi Paws events.

    

   

The Mutts to Models Ball will take place at the Fleur de Lis event center in Mandeville and feature celebrities, local philanthropists, media personalities, and veterans and other heroes walking the runway with their dogs. Among the models will be Somerhalder escorting a canine representative from one of the organizations that’s been helped by ISF. Another “model” will be Army veteran Erick Scott, who received a black lab named Gumbo from the K9s for Warriors program after serving three tours in Iraq. Gumbo was sponsored by New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, who donated the funds to train the dog and gave him his Louisiana-centric name. 

A highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the 2018 canine court, with the top dogs wearing king and queen robes designed by Mary Viveiros of the House of Privilege Canine Couture. The runway show will be produced by Penelope Francis, a global brand strategist based in Miami and Los Angeles and the cofounder and creative director of her former luxury brand, Fifi & Romeo. Models will be showcasing a private collection from Louisiana legend Raoul Blanco Couture, which dresses a loyal following of society’s “who’s who” around the globe.

 

The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. with a VIP cocktail reception, followed by the runway show and after-party. The event is open to human attendees; canine guests are limited to the model participants.

If you can’t make the ball, don’t forget the Mardi Paws Parade on Feb. 18. This season’s costumes will highlight “Fables, Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes.”

For more information about the ball or tickets, visit www.MuttstoModels.com. To plan ahead for the parade, visit www.MardiPaws.com.

Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by travel writer Chere Coen who loves a strange and unique Southern place or tradition. She's also a big fan of dog parades.

New Orleans art museums have cool hot deal

It's sweltering in the Deep South right now but all that heat comes with a perk – at least one in New Orleans. If temperatures hit 95 degrees or higher, the Helis Foundation and FOX8 will pay for your chance to visit three cool — literally — museums in New Orleans. Called "Art and A/C," the program does have a few requirements:

1. It must be at or above 95 degrees
2. It's open only to Louisiana residents and residents of Hancock and Pearl counties in Mississippi.
3. You must prove residence of those places with an ID.
4. It's available only at the Odgen Museum of Southern Art, the Contemporary Arts Center and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

To gauge the outside temperature to see if this free tickets to cool museums apply, visit the FOX8 Live weather page or visit the New Orleans Museum of Art's Facebook page.

Chere Coen is a food and travel writer who loves weird and unusual things.

Caught on the streets of the French Quarter

Over the years we've spotted some unique people strolling the streets of New Orleans' French Quarter. We thought we would spotlight a few of the street performers today.

 

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana who is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Ace Hotel New Orleans honors city's queens

New Orleans is arguably the queen of the South and yes, I’m biased, because it’s my home town. But let’s look at the facts:

1.    The city has more tiaras, scepters and royal trains (the kind that follow a dress) than any city in America. Just check out the daily newspapers right now. The pages are filled with debutantes, queens and kings of every Carnival krewe imaginable.

2.    The Mississippi River hugs the city in a giant crescent, which could double as a crown.  

3.    And the city’s full of queens — with titles both bestowed upon and self-inflicted — regardless of Mardi Gras.

Ace Hotel New Orleans honors the latter with a “Queens of New Orleans” calendar to be available in every guest room. The 2017 calendar designed by YEP Design Works  is “a colorful walkabout through the city’s secret royalty, complete with portraits of local queens, unique Louisiana holidays and phases of the moon,” according to the hotel. For instance, February honors Irma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” and October “Big Freedia, the Queen Diva.”

Wanna bring one home or order online? They cost $30 and a portion of the proceeds going to New Orleans' Youth Empowerment Project.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana who is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Touchdown Jesus

It's football season and folks in New Orleans love to laugh about Loyola University's "Touchdown Jesus" which graces the front of the school. But my father went to Tulane, which is located next door to Loyola along New Orleans' historic St. Charles Avenue.

His take on the statue was this, Jesus is throwing his arms up in resignation, saying, "Can I help it if a better university is located next door?"

Funny? Sacrilegious? You be the judge.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana. She is also the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.