Fearless Finds: The Louisiana Market

After 25 years of business in the same location, The Louisiana Market at 2710 Hodges Street in Lake Charles, Louisiana, has become more than a familiar sight among the Cottage Shops; it’s a tradition. The current owner, Lisa Foreman, began working at The Louisiana Market three years ago with plans to buy it, and in July of 2014 that’s what she did. Her only employees are her family, and they show great dedication and support. Lisa was so warm and inviting, and it was obvious she loves what she does. Most of our visit was spent talking about and meeting her local artists (many to be seen on future blog posts!) and exploring the shop.

The Louisiana Market has anything and everything Louisiana! “What I try to do is to promote Southwest Louisiana,” Lisa explained as she showed us the wide variety of products, art, and décor she carries. She has cookbooks, dishware, and gourmet foods including Virgin Pecan Oil. You’ll find unique t-shirts and jewelry, most referencing Louisiana. They even make super cute gift baskets for any occasion. Most recently they filled miniature pirogues with goodies for a local Mardi Gras Krewe.

Lisa works closely with local artists selling their works and helping them reach a broader audience. She even connected one with the flag company she buys from, and now the artist’s designs are featured on flags! There are beautiful works all around the shop including watercolor, acrylic, and oil paintings, local pottery, and recycle art.

Specialty coffee is also available at The Louisiana Market. All the beans are roasted and flavored in Mooringsport, Louisiana, and they are sold by the pound, whole or ground. The flavors are so unique with names like Swamp Gold and King Cake. I actually bought a half pound bag of ground Café Beignet and love it! I can’t wait to go back and try another flavor.

We will definitely be regular customers now and know where to find unique gifts in the future. So whether you need a present for a native Cajun or want to share the Louisiana spirit with a faraway friend, pay a visit to The Louisiana Market to find exactly what you’re looking for!

For more information visit thelouisianamarket.com, like them on Facebook, or call 337-656-2908.

Fearless Finds: Fleur De Lis Candles

Ever wonder what a monkey fart smells like? Well during my drives to work I kept hearing about a candle shop in Lafayette, and what really got my attention were the names of the candles like Monkey Farts and Oilfield Trash. I love candles and thought to myself, “I have to smell a Monkey Fart!!” So that’s the first thing I did upon arriving at Fleur De Lis Candles.

But I didn’t stop there. I smelt Butt Naked and Cajun Hot Flash and King Cake and so many others! The names are so unique and fun, some are even customer-created. But walking around the shop I noticed that most of the candles and wax melts are primarily white in color, and that made me wonder why. We were told that the candles are made with fewer petroleum by-products which is where the color comes from, so for cleaner burning, they opt for fewer colored candles.

This brings us to how it all got started. The owners were searching for an affordable, eco-friendly candle that didn’t skimp on scent, so when they couldn’t find any locally, they did the research and began creating and selling their own out of their snow cone stand. Now they’re located at 3816 West Congress Street, Suite 3 in Lafayette, Louisiana, and all candles are created and hand-poured onsite.

Another unique service they offer is they will pour a candle in whatever container you bring them. The owner told us they’ve seen everything from Ragu to baby food jars, and they’ll cut the price down for your recycling efforts! Most custom candles can be done within 24 hours.

We actually got to have a sneak sniff of their newest scent, Bunny Burps! Everyone is going to love it!

This is a must-stop for all candle lovers. Believe me, you won’t leave empty-handed! We went last week, and I have already been through three cubes of my Mardi Gras wax melts! I am loving the scent! It smells great but isn’t overwhelmingly strong.

As we were checking out, Lexi got a text from her Granny asking if they had a Kettle Corn scent. That’s one scent they don’t have, but they wrote it down and will hopefully be working to create one! Maybe we will even be able to create the name for it!

For more information check out their website fleurdeliscandles.com, like them on Facebook, or call 337-534-8865.

A day at the circus!

It’s a Louisiana snow day! Of course there isn’t any snow anywhere to be seen around us, but all the schools are closed and college classes cancelled! The only problem now is, what do you do with your kids on an unexpected day off during the week? Well we have the perfect adventure for y’all! The Lake Charles Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center is currently showing a FREE exhibit (most all their exhibits are free though) called “Step Right Up: Behind the Scenes of the Circus Big Top.” We loved it! There was no photography allowed inside the building, but we can share a few of our favorite tidbits of history we learned.

The exhibit is on the third floor of the Historic City Hall building located on 1001 Ryan Street across from the courthouse. There are so many colorful posters, many dating back to the late 1800s! There are also several interesting artifacts such as an old elephant headdress and authentic giant clown shoes! The exhibit takes you through the different parts of a circus from the high-flying trapeze artists to the amazing animal performers and their trainers.

Here are our top five favorite circus facts:

1. Large travelling American circuses often had a barbershop, doctor’s office, and schoolhouse to serve the workers and performers.
2. The iconic Ringmaster top hats were hardly ever worn. Instead they were used as an extension of the Ringmaster’s arm to direct the attention of on-lookers here and there.
3. The phrase “Hold your horses!” originated in the circus! Back when spectators arrived on horseback to watch the circus, the horses would sometimes be spooked by the elephants, so before they were brought out the crowd was told to “Hold your horses, here come the elephants.”
4. There are three basic types of clowns: Auguste, Grotesque, and White Face.
5. There was a circus worker called the Twenty-Four-Hour Man who would travel to a location a day ahead of the big top to hang posters and directional arrows leading people to the show.

Along with the amazing exhibits, there were fun activities for the kids to do! There is a booklet that asks interesting, thought-provoking questions about circus life and has areas for kids to draw their own “never-before-seen wonders.” Another activity offered is an art scavenger hunt. Eight thumbnail images are shown, and you must find the poster each was taken from and write down the title and year.

We really enjoyed this exhibit, and we know kids would, too! The exhibit will show through March 14^th, so the next time you have a day or just a few hours to spare, stop by the Lake Charles Historic City Hall to experience real big top life.

"Before I die..." Art in Lake Charles

Have you seen this amazing art installation in downtown Lake Charles?! 

I was so excited when we just happened to drive past it on one of our latest blog adventures, and I had to stop! The “Before I die…” project started in New Orleans when artist Candy Chang obtained permission to paint the wall of an abandoned house with the now iconic black and white interactive installation. Anyone passing by can add their own hopes and aspirations to the wall and see what others around them dream about. This has become a global project with walls in over 70 countries and in over 35 languages. Check out the website and find out about the “Before I die…” book at beforeidie.cc. Our wall is on the west side of 505 Bazaar at 314 Broad Street. We read several incredible bucket list items including hiking Kilimanjaro and going skydiving.

What do you want to do before you die?

                                                

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 Katrina & Lexi

Fearless Finds: Java Joltz

Lately we have been searching for anything Mardi Gras, so when we discovered a local business served a King Cake Latte we had to go try it! Java Joltz is a coffee shop and bookstore in Jennings, Louisiana, (just down the street from the Rocket Drive Inn) that serves soups, sandwiches, and lots of coffee.

We walked in and each ordered a blended King Cake Latte, and my mom and Myron ordered a couple sandwiches. While waiting for our goodies we met the owner, Christy Lepretre, to find out more about this cozy coffee shop.

Originally Java Joltz was called Books ‘n’ Java and opened in 2010 at a different location. But in 2013 coffee sales took off and a drive-thru was needed, so they moved to their current location: 115 E. Shankland Suite E, Mid City Shopping Center in Jennings. They have a drive-thru! If only I worked in Jennings…

Anyway, though you wouldn’t believe it with the extensive and creative menu, soups and sandwiches are a new addition at Java Joltz having been available for about two months. They have such amazing flavor combos, including their best seller the Mayflower which is turkey and Gouda on sourdough with spinach leaves and cranberry pepper jelly (coincidentally the same sandwich my mom and I had been eyeing before ordering!). To order a sandwich, they hand you a list of ingredients that you can check off to make the sandwich uniquely yours. We loved that!

Then we got our coffees. WOW! The King Cake Latte is delicious! It’s perfectly sweet and full of flavor, and they even make it look amazing with purple and green syrup and gold and green sprinkles! Christy told us that after her daughter and an employee created the King Cake Latte last year so many people requested it after Mardi Gras that it’s now available year-round. That’s a problem for me. How am I supposed to try out all the other flavor combinations like Funky Monkey and customer-created Breakfast @ Tiffany’s when this one is always an option!?

After I had already fallen in love with the place, Christy began to tell us where she gets her ingredients from. “I’m all about having fresh ingredients and supporting locals,” she told us. Her coffee beans are locally roasted by Reve Coffee Roasters of Lafayette and sent within 24 hours. This brings me back to my time spent in Austin and their famous “Keep Austin Weird” movement that promotes small, local businesses, and I’m so excited to see something similar taking root in Southwest Louisiana.

Music is also in the air at Java Joltz! Every other Saturday they host a jam session sponsored by Steve Riley and a few others. You can even perform at Java Joltz! The first Friday of every month is open mic night. Songs need to be approved, and the sets are mostly acoustic.

We even got a sneak peek at a few upcoming sandwiches! With Lent starting this week, they will have a buffalo shrimp sandwich on sourdough with guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes. They’re also serving a twist on the grilled cheese sandwich, the Pepper Popper Sandwich, with cheddar cheese, pepperjack cheese, jalapenos, and banana peppers on wheat berry bread.

Christy and her crew were so sweet, and we really enjoyed our drinks, food, and visit with them. Christy also said she was so appreciative of the community of Jennings and their continued support, it was even bringing tears to her eyes. We can’t wait to go back and already have our orders in mind for our next trip.

For more information check out their Facebook page, call 337-246-3700, or visit their website javajoltz.wix.com/javajoltz.

A Shrimp Boat in Cameron

The drive down to Cameron is different than when I was young. Now, after the hurricanes, everything has changed. But one thing the hurricane did not take away is the spirit of the shrimper and their heart and soul, the shrimp boat. One shrimp boat in particular caught my eye as we drove down the main drag on our way to the ferry.  It was run-down and rusty but so beautiful. I love that kind of stuff, and I couldn’t wait to see it through the lens of my camera.

As I was snapping pictures of it, a head popped out of the door and gave a wave, and then the door closed. I took a few more photos then noticed a very small statured older gentleman coming down the boardwalk which led from the boat to the land. He came straight up to the truck, and at first I thought he might tell us we had to leave. But all he wanted to do was visit with us. He talked about his daughter going to college in Florida; that he had been a shrimper all his life; that he was born and raised in Cameron; and that the boat I had fallen in love with was his home. I could tell he felt the same way about it that I did the first time I saw it. It started to rain more, and as he turned to walk away he told us we could come by anytime to fish off his dock.

His warmth and friendliness put us at ease as he embodied true southern hospitality. Hurricanes will come and go, but they will never destroy all the beauty and culture of Cameron or the spirit of the Cameron people.