food and drink

Barrel Proof is hosting Miracle on Magazine Street

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Barrel Proof is hosting its Miracle Pop-up, a Christmas cocktail bar, for the fourth year. Through Dec. 28, Barrel Proof’s proverbial halls will be decked from top to bottom in glittering wrapping, tinsel, trees and lights. Miracle is an immersive experience in which bars are transformed into holiday wonderlands to serve high-end Christmas cocktails in festive mugs. 

Miracle Pop-up is the brainchild of New York City bar owners Greg Boehm and Jeannette Kaczorowski. In 2013, their bar Mace was set to open on East Ninth Street in Manhattan, but with the holidays looming, the business wasn’t quite patron-ready.

events

Mart for art’s sake: Wax print creations featured at holiday Arts Market

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Uptown resident Adriane Butler was first introduced to the Arts Market as a customer. “I attended one of the Arts Markets and thought it was a excellent way to support local creators,” Butler said. She began making her own fabric creations about three years ago and, early on in the pandemic, she became a participant in the Arts Market. “I got great feedback about my design work, and have been doing it ever since,” she said. The Arts Markets, produced by Arts New Orleans, take place two Saturdays a month, once on City Park’s Great Lawn and once in Marsalis Harmony Park (formerly Palmer Park).

coastal preservation

How and why to recycle your Christmas tree for coastal restoration

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When you take down your Christmas tree on Jan. 6 — the day we transition from red and green to purple, green and gold — set it aside. It can be turned into a gift to Louisiana’s fragile coastline. The city’s solid waste contractors will be collecting the trees for recycling between Jan. 10 and Jan.

food and drink

Merry, merry New Orleans holiday cocktails

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Sugar cookie and candy cane martinis top the drinks menu at The Roosevelt. Hot toddies and mulled wine are the beverages of choice in holiday movies. And polls place good old-fashioned egg nog as the most popular drink of the holiday season. I concur that homemade egg nog — spiked with a good whiskey, topped with meringue, and dusted with freshly grated nutmeg — is Christmas personified. That said, I’ve recently spiked gallons of the store-bought variety. However, no matter the amount of Woodford’s, Maker’s Mark or Basil Hayden consumed via la nog, sometimes this gal needs a real cocktail, minus the cream.

food and drink

Creole Bread Pudding and Whiskey Sauce, the classic dessert for Christmas dinner in New Orleans

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Family recipes that date back several generations are being pulled from well-worn recipe files and put back into play for the holidays. One of the favorites is  New Orleans Creole bread pudding and whiskey sauce. 

We’re a city that holds an unflinchingly tight grip on our family traditions and history. With Louisiana’s unique food culture and some family roots going back 300 years, that history includes old Creole recipes that have been passed down for well over a century. We already know that our tablescape differs from the other 49 states on any given day. But on the holidays, our fare is markedly different from the rest of the nation.

food and drink

Uptown’s modern Réveillon chefs take on a classic New Orleans feast

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New Orleans’ decadent holiday feast, le Réveillon, is traditionally served on both Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Now it has expanded to include the entire month of December. The Réveillon tradition descends from the French Catholics of the colonial New Orleans period under France’s rule. There were once two Réveillons: le Réveillon de Noël, enjoyed before sunrise on Christmas Day, and le Réveillon du premier de l’an’s, enjoyed early on New Year’s Day. After Creole families strolled home from Midnight Mass or “la Messe de Minuit” at the St.

events

Holiday markets and events make the yuletide bright across Uptown neighborhoods

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A wide variety of markets in Uptown neighborhoods give you the chance to find the perfect Christmas gift for family and friends while supporting local artists and businesses. Plus, browsing a market is more fun than shopping online or in the big-box stores. If you want to forget about the shopping and just sit back and enjoy the festive spirit, you can take in a concert inside one of Uptown’s resplendent churches. A list of markets and other holiday events is below. Christmas markets

Nov.

Shop local on Small Business Satuday

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Making shopping local your holiday tradition, beginning with Small Business Saturday on Nov. 27. Shopping small can be a big deal, and not only because you avoid the crowds and frenzy. When consumers make the choice to shop small and support local businesses, purchases have thee times the impact, according to StayLocal.org.  That’s because funds recirculate in the local economy longer. Here’s some deals you can find local businesses.

Christmas

Need some Christmas cheer? See the lighted oaks on St. Charles Avenue

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If you drive on St. Charles Avenue any evening between Thanksgiving and Twelfth Night, you are bound to see a small traffic jam in the 4500 block, across from Academy of the Sacred Heart. The reason? An extravagant light display on the majestic live oak trees and the fence at 4534 St. Charles Ave.

Christmas

City releases information on holiday trash collection, Christmas tree recycling

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There will be no curbside trash collection on Friday, Dec. 25, in honor of Christmas Day, or the following Friday, Jan. 1, in honor of the New Year’s holiday. Curbside trash collection will resume on the next regularly scheduled collection day. For areas with Friday recycling collection, Metro Service Group and Richard’s Disposal will conduct special collection days.