Orangecello // Louisiana Mandarin Style

Mandarin Orangecello Prep Time10 min Cook Time5 min Total Time15 min Ready in7-10 days Yield1 bottle INGREDIENTS 12 mandarin oranges 750 ml Everclear (a fifth/one bottle) 2 cups sugar Instructions 1 Wash and dry the mandarin oranges. Remove the rinds and place them in a pitcher. Pour the Everclear into the pitcher with the rinds and let them soak for 7-10 days before bottling. Before bottling, make a simple syrup by mixing 2 cups of sugar with 3 ¾ cups of hot water. Pour the simple syrup into a separate pitcher and let it sit in the refrigerator until cool. Strain the rind/Everclear mixture and mix it with the simple syrup once it has cooled. Bottle and enjoy!

Festival // Faves and Fails

by Melanie Cowan, Special Sections Editor WHILE ADVENTURING ACROSS SOUTH LOUISIANA AND COVERING THESE FESTIVALS, we have come across some amazing and not so amazing events that the staff would like to share. These are a compilation of our personal experiences at each festival and are our opinions alone. We rated these festivals on a 0-5 scale with five being the best and zero being the worst for four individual categories: vendors, food, crowds and music. Those scores were then added up for a total overall experience score out of 20 possible points. For each festival scoring a 10 or lower, they were given a “FAIL” label, if the festival scored a total of 11-20, they were given a “FAVE” label. Thibodauxville Thibodaux, LAIn the heartland of “Bayou Country” there lies the city of Thibodaux. The city is small perhaps, but nothing short of cultural and rooted in history. In the center of Thibodaux is downtown, the hub of sorts for larger events. This is where Thibodauxville really shines. The festival kicks off with the Big Boy’s Cook-off where locals can put their best and cherished recipes to the test. Visitors can pay just $5 for all you can enjoy tastes of the contestants’ dishes. They are judged and a winner is chosen at the end of the night. The following day is where the real fun begins. Multiple local bands perform throughout the day and food vendors line the closed-off streets to showcase their southern dishes as well as local businesses who sell their crafts under the shade of a tent for visitors to buy something truly special that they cannot get anywhere else. This year’s Thibodauxville festival had a record breaking weekend with their visitors nearly doubling from 2015. Although the crowds were rather large, the lines leading to food vendors were not as long as was expected. The lines were eliminated pretty quickly and it ran very efficient and smooth. The duck races topped the charts with over 500 entries separated by age group. Over 500 rubber ducks floated along the bayou which was truly a site to see. I will surely be returning to this festival next year, where they plan to make this event an all weekend long affair due to the large turn out this year. Thibodauxville truly captured the culture of the bayou region as well as brought visitors and locals together to celebrate everything and anything at all, just like we Louisianaians are known to do. Voice of the Wetlands Festival Houma, LAThis festival is often easily overlooked, but the Voice of the Wetlands festival is a fun and exciting event that brings to light a really big issue directly effecting south Louisiana. That issue is the disappearing of the state’s wetland ecosystems due to coastal erosion. The festival’s purpose is to educate residents on how they themselves can take small steps to saving Louisiana’s wetlands. It also helps that all of the festival’s proceeds go to the Voice of the Wetlands organization—a non-profit dedicated to the education and fund-raising to benefit the preservation of the wetlands. Although it was a great weekend festival, full of great cultural influence and impressive eats, some visitors criticized the location of the festival and how dark the area was once the sun set. There were not that many street lights or extra lighting whatsoever causing the crowds to get sparse as the night went on. However, the “vowenteers” were very upbeat and made the entire festival run amazingly smooth. From running the silent auction to serving food to directing parking, they were an essential part of why this festival is able to keep running year after year. The highlight of the VOW festival was truly the music acts. They booked over five acts per day which really kept everyone on their feet dancing. This festival is bursting with culture and purpose and, although it’s new location was less than perfect, it truly was an enjoyable experience for all ages and this festival is a true testament to the phrase “it takes a village…” because when a community comes together for a worthy cause, they can accomplish amazing things. Fried Chicken Festival New Orleans, LA The first annual Fried Chicken Festival held in the center of New Orleans, was one of the many events that emerged this year held in Lafayette Square. The parking was not as expensive as the French Quarter which was a personal victory for me personally. Spending over $30 to park in New Orleans on any given day makes my heart fall to my feet. On this particular day, however, I only paid $5 to park all afternoon and a short 5-minute walk to Lafayette Square. The music that was playing at this festival was very animated and got everyone on their feet. The music was heavily jazz influenced which is to be expected in this city and fit this festival to a T. There were over 50 vendors all with different methods and dishes with one common denominator—fried chicken, a holy grail in the south region of the United States. White meat, dark meat, tenders, sandwiches, tacos, you name it were at this popular event. The crowds were tremendous. I visited later in the day hoping the crowds would die down but that was extremely far from the truth. The lines to get fried chicken were so long that I did not even get to eat fried chicken at this festival. Not to mention, that booths that had no line were because they ran out of chicken, which was the case for many vendors. To go along with that, the beverage tent was a one-stop-shop of sorts and was the only place to get any kind of beverage on a hot Louisiana day. Alcoholic and soft drinks as well as water were served under the same tent, in the same line. This caused a long line to wait for a beverage as well. However, once you get up there, the

Festival Royalty // A Louisiana Must

by Melanie Cowan, Special Sections Editor There is a little something special in common with all the festivals in Louisiana which has become a subculture within itself. FESTIVAL PAGEANTRY is truly something to behold because it puts a face to the festival itself. The contestants all have ties to the festival or the region in some way to make them want to compete to represent the place that they hold so dear. The competition is fierce, but at the end of it all, one woman stands tall among the rest. In Louisiana alone, 93 of the 123 fairs and festivals under the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals have queens. Although taking the crown seems like a glamorous job, it comes with a lot of responsibility. It is very common for festival queens to travel around the state all year to promote their festival. That means attending other local festivals and and learn about the region. Although most queens are from the area they represent, it is not necessary. This is the case for Caroline Marcello, a senior at Nicholls State University from Thibodaux and this year’s Sugar Cane Festival Queen 75. This may seem confusing to some, being that Marcello is from Thibodaux but she represents New Iberia at their Sugar Cane Festival but she says it is not about the city itself, but the sugar cane farmers she represents. “In July of this year after an interview process I was asked to serve as Miss Lafourche and represent the sugar cane farmers of the parish at the 75th annual Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival held in New Iberia every September,” Marcello said, “I was completely thrilled when I found out I was going to be representing our great parish and our hard working farmers as well as carrying on a special tradition in my family.” According to Marcello, it was especially important for her to take home the crown because her grandmother served as Queen Sugar 5 many years ago. She wanted to carry on the tradition because pageantry runs in her blood. As Queen Sugar, Marcello has a duty to travel to other festivals and experience what that specific city has to offer. “As a festival queen I get the opportunity to travel across the state of Louisiana and experience the variety of festivals. In my short time of being queen I have already learned so much about the diversity of our state. I’ve tasted gumbo in Bridge city for the Gumbo Festival, pet a cow in Abbeville at the Cattle Festival, and learned how to build a bonfire on the levee in Gramercy at the Festival of the Bonfires. It’s pretty safe to say I wouldn’t have experienced any of these things if I wouldn’t be a festival queen,” Marcello said. The pageant process is a stressful one, some girls have to go through the process year after year to finally get the title. This is the case for Bridge City native, Lyndsey Davis, who currently reigns as Queen Gumbo. Davis went competed in the Miss Gumbo pageant four times before finally winning the title this past September. “I don’t really do pageants, this was the only title I really wanted to compete for because the Gumbo Festival holds such a special place in my heart,” Davis said. Davis’ grandmother founded the Gumbo Festival in 1973 so the festival is a family affair for her. Her grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins have all won the crown and this year it is her turn. According to Davis, her reign thus far has been one to remember. “I get to meet so many girls all throughout the state of Louisiana. The duties a queen must uphold is to simply promote her festival with a positive attitude.” Davis says she will most likely not compete for another pageant in the near future because for her, it just would not be the same. “I love what I love and I just stick to it,” Davis said. Although the year is a year full of traveling and memories, it has to come to an end. Each year a festival crowns a new queen, and the queen from the previous year crowns a new successor who will follow in her footsteps. This is what Sydney Poche had to do this year at the Festival of the Bonfires. Her reign ended in November 2016, where she had to crown the new queen. According to Poche, it is just as exciting as her year as queen. “I’m connected to the festival because my parents are on the festival committee. I’ve been building bonfires with my family since I was a baby,” Poche said. She said her reign was a dream come true, but it was time to pass the torch for the next girl. “I’m always going to be there to give advice my successor needs and I will always be Miss Festival of the Bonfires to be there when the festival needs me.” No matter the festival, one thing remains the same, nothing beats the passion and dedication these queens bring to their festivals. Their legacy will live on like the queens before them and will forever be apart of festival culture and history.

First // You Make a Roux…

by Melanie Cowan, Special Sections Editor The start to any good gumbo or bisque is a ROUX— it is sac religious to think otherwise in South Louisiana. A roux is the foundation used to thicken stocks and is most commonly used to make gumbo. Most rouxs start by continuously stirring flour and a type of fat (either butter or oil) to get a desired color. It is, in fact, a labor of love that shines through Cajun dishes and has been an art form of sorts for decades. There are a few ways to make a good roux and most Cajuns will claim their method is better than the next. THE FIRST METHOD is an oil-less way of making a roux in the oven. All that is needed is two cups of all purpose flour. Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit, then spread the flour evenly along the bottom of a cast iron skillet. Bake, stirring the mixture occasionally for about an hour until the desired color is reached. When the color is reached, let cool on a cookie sheet until needed. ANOTHER TRADITIONAL METHOD of making a roux is the Brown Roux method of mixing ½ cup of flour to ½ cup of butter together in a sauté pan. First melt the butter over medium-high heat. Slowly add flour stirring constantly until flour becomes light brown. The key here is stirring constantly because flour can become easily scorched and the roux will be unusable. If black specks show up in the roux, it is scorched and cannot be used. THE LAST COMMONLY USED METHOD of making a roux is the Oil Base Roux. This recipe calls for 1 cup of vegetable oil to 1 cup of flour. It is prepared the same way as a Brown roux, however, it will taste different. The color of a roux varies greatly as well and it is dependent on what the roux will be used for. A Blonde Butter Roux is cooked to a golden color, a White Butter Roux is cooked to a barley beige color, a Light Brown Cajun Roux which is light brown in color, and a Dark Brown Cajun Roux. A dark brown roux is usually used for gumbo. No matter the color, they are all helpful in the thickening of any Cajun dish that uses stock. Take a look at the video above to learn more on how to make a proper Cajun roux. https://youtu.be/65eKEIAdd1E