Healthy duck? Try this Mardi Gras recipe | The Advocate

This recipe delivers big flavor without the usual complement of fat and calories.

Associated Press photo by Matthew Mead

The star of this show is the breast of duck, a well-known fount of flavor that — depending on how you cook it — doesn’t have to be terribly heavy. I recommend you saute it with the skin on to maximize its deliciousness and moistness. The duck and its sauce are brightened with homemade Creole seasoning. My version is modeled on the spice mixes of Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse.

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Man shoots himself on Bourbon Street | NOLA.com

For Bourbon Heat, a club near the corner of Bourbon Street and Orleans Avenue, the busiest night of the year is the Saturday before Mardi Gras, said club owner Angelo Farrell. And like clockwork, as Saturday (March 1) became Sunday (March 2), the dance floor was packed at 2 a.m.

A server spotted the weapon, security pounced, and in the scuffle, Belvin lost control of the gun. It discharged -- shooting him, quite literally, in the foot.

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Mardi Gras Day - Live Parade Coverage | WDSU news

Live Mardi Gras Coverage on WDSU

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Voices: New Orleans ready to kick up its Carnival heels | USA Today

Across New Orleans, residents are stitching final touches onto costumes, formulating parade-watching plans and gearing up for the biggest free party in the nation.

Mardi Gras is set to erupt again Tuesday, an annual city ritual rooted in nearly 300 years of tradition.

For the uninitiated, the citywide party may seem like a single-day booze-and-bare-breast bacchanal. But there's much more to the revelry. It's a crucial force in bringing together residents of a special city that has endured so much.

Carnival is not just the one day. It's a two-week event that kicks off each year with the satirical Krewe du Vieux parade and culminates on Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras...

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Mardi Gras Indian Queens stake their claim to an essential role in a singular New Orleans tradition | NOLA.com

For more than 100 years, black New Orleanians have "masked Indian," walking through the city's streets dressed in feathers and beads, shouting chants and rattling tambourines. Their hand-sewn suits are massive creations of elaborate beadwork, feathered headdresses and intricate inlays of jewels crafted in tribute to Native American and African aesthetics, that take up to a full year to make.

The Guardians of the Flame are one of dozens of gangs, or tribes, of Mardi Gras Indians. Led by the Big Chief, groups like the Yellow Pocahontas, the Mohawk Hunters and the Creole Wild West parade on holidays, such as Mardi Gras, St. Joseph's night and Super Sunday in mid-March.

Honey & Littdell Bannister at the funeral of Big Queen Barbara Sparks of the Yellow Jackets Mardi Gras Indians at Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home in New Orleans, LA, July 26, 2008.
Erika Goldring

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The 7 Top Hotels in New Orleans for Mardi Gras Madness | ABC News

The Big Easy is already well into the throes of Mardi Gras madness: beads are flying and parades are marching in our favorite southern city. But the final crescendo comes next week on Fat Tuesday, with revelers planning to go all out one more time. Some of our favorite hotels in NOLA are conveniently situated for those looking to join the debauchery—so choose your favorite and then, as they say in New Orleans, let the good times roll.

oyster.com

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Celebrate The Perfect Day In New Orleans | Forbes

The best day ever starts with a green drink in the courtyard of Satsuma in the Bywater, a juice bar and vegetarian breakfast/lunch spot (they’re just now starting to serve dinner a few nights a week); its cavernous interior is a mellow but social place to spend the morning.

I’d follow that with a yoga class at Swan River Yoga in the Marigny, a light-filled room above a beautiful courtyard. Then I’d ride my bike back through the colorful cottages of the Marigny and up Esplanade Avenue towards City Park, where I’d gulp down a killer bowl of gumbo from Liuzza’s by the Track for lunch.

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BP loses effort to see documents in claims probe | WWL

A federal judge has ruled that BP is not entitled to see confidential documents used by a court-appointed investigator who has alleged that some attorneys acted improperly in the claims process arising from the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

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