Our friend, Satyajit Dixit, has started a Meetup group that’s perfect for meeting other newbies. Meetup is an online community that helps people “meetup” in real life. Some groups are general interest, while others are grouped around specific interests.
Meet Sat (he’s the guy in the middle). He organizes the “Exploring New Orleans” Meetup group.
Satyajit “Sat” Dixit, pictured in the middle, organizes a wonderful New Orleans Meetup group. (image via Meetup)
The French Market held its 28th annual Creole Tomato Festival last weekend in New Orleans. We tried the famous tomatoes, watched a Creole tomato-eating contest and ate some yummy tomato dishes.
Check out our food photos here.
Creole Tomato Festival at the French Market (photo by Carlie Kollath Wells/New in NOLA)
The Creole Tomato Festival kicks off today (June 7) at the French Market and goes through Sunday night. This is the perfect time to get free samples of the famous creole tomato.
The entrance to the French Market has been transformed for the Creole Tomato Festival. (photo by Carlie Kollath Wells/New in NOLA)
The festival has food vendors, cooking demonstrations and a tomato eating contest. We’re heading out Sunday so we can see the contest at 1. Interesting demo Saturday – creole tomato cupcakes at 4 p.m.
The French Market said each cooking demo has 2-oz samples for the first 100 people. The tomato sample station is at Dumaine Street. The fest also has cute tomato-shaped paper fans it’s giving away at the festival. The people in tomato costumes (photo opp!) have the fans and will give you one if you ask.
Remember, bring cash if you want to buy anything. Plus, if you spend $30 this weekend, you get a free bag of creole tomatoes. Via FrenchMarket.org:
What you need to know about the fest:
We filled our belly June 1 at the New Orleans Oyster Fest (first-timer tips). The food-centric fest was held in downtown New Orleans at Woldenberg Park. Fav part – free admission.
The day started with an oyster-eating contest in the rain was rounded out with sunshine and food.
Check out our Storify post for food pix from the fest.
In a Half Shelf blog also has a spectacular photos and tips. Check them out.
The 2014 New Orleans Oyster Festival is this weekend (May 31 and June 1). The food is the same both days, but the music is different.
Want to see the oyster shucking contest? That’s Saturday at noon. Interested in the oyster eating contest? That’s Sunday at 11:45 a.m.
We’re tagging along with a Meetup group going Sunday at 11 a.m. Join us 🙂
The Oyster Fest serves up all sorts of bivalve goodness. Here are some of eats in 2013. (photos by Carlie Kollath Wells/New in NOLA)
The fest is at Woldenberg Park, which is next to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas (map). We like this festival because it is free admission and there’s parking around the French Quarter. When we take a car, we usually park in the garage above Saks Fifth Avenue. Tip – if you get in before 9 a.m. at most garages, parking is $10 for the entire day.
You can also take a bus or streetcar and not fool with parking at all. It takes a little longer than driving, but it’s cheaper than parking and you don’t have to worry about a designated driver.
We went to the fest last year and had a really good time. See our pix.
Tips we learned about the New Orleans Oyster Festival:
We ventured to the Irish Channel for the St. Patrick’s Day festivities earlier this month. We caught cabbage, kissed strangers for flowers and danced a jig in the streets. Good times.
Thank goodness for these parade-going tips from Kim Smelter of New Girl in NOLA.
Parkway Partners is giving away native trees Saturday (Nov. 8) to Orleans Parish residents. The giveaway is from 9 a.m. to noon. First come, first serve. 
You are limited to one tree per person and a max of two trees per household.
The gardening gurus at Parkway Partners also are teaching a free class at 10 to show you how to properly maintain your trees. The class will go over proper nutrition, fertilizer application, mulching and more.
Parkway Partners is 1137 Baronne Street (map). The nonprofit also has its monthly plant sale Saturday and will have:
The fabulous folks at Chaos Cooking are back in New Orleans and are hosting another dinner party. We’re excited. Chaos Cooking had a New Orleans event earlier this year (pix) and we met all sorts of new people and ate so much good food.
Joe and Margaret started Chaos Cooking in Brooklyn. They made Vietnamese shrimp rolls at the #NOLAmash event in March. (photo via @NewinNOLA on Instagram)
The concept:
Our staple event is where everyone brings the ingredients for one dish and then cooks together in one space. All recipes must be finished and space returned to original condition by the end of the event, while everyone is socializing, enjoying drinks and eating tasty dishes.
The New Orleans event is Saturday (Nov. 2) from 6 to 10 p.m. More info:
Want to do something different than the standard Halloween options (music & other events)? Check out TribeCon, a social technology conference. Pssst – costumes are encouraged.
photo via http://www.strikingly.com/tribecon
Previous speakers include Perry Chen of Kickstarter, Baratunde Thurston of the Onion and Ben Huh, creator of ICanHazCheezburger.
This year, the conference organizers tell us, they are focusing on the intersection of tech and creative fields such as music, film, television, design, painting, etc.
The conference is Oct. 31 (Thursday) in City Park from 1 to 6 p.m. More info:
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Halloween is almost here. Do you have plans? We’re celebrating Saturday night and going to the Krewe of Boo parade in the French Quarter. Hope you’ll join us.
Krewe of Boo (photo via KreweofBoo.com)
The parade rolls at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and audience costumes are encouraged. Riders throw Louisiana-specific items like pralines and voodoo doll pins. The riders don’t throw beads, but they do throw:
New in NOLA 