Ain't We All Mammals Swimming in the Grocery Lot Wishing for a Cantaloupe That Tastes Vine Ripened But Settling for a 6-Pack of Grape Kool-Aid Bursts

In honor of Earth Day 2009, Wednesday, April 22: Sci-Port will release butterflies at 11 am.
Leia Lewis at Sankofa Gardens has been the queen of Earth Day for the last four years. This KTBS video proves it. The fourth annual Sankofa Earth Day Festival is Saturday.

Tasty Local

Fall markets are popping up all over America. Chicago. Austin. Portland. Consumer trends show an increasing demand for fresh locally grown food and hand crafted items.

Shreveport's version opens Saturday at the Festival Plaza in downtown. Up to 60 vendors will be on hand every Saturday from October 18 through November 22 from 8:30 a.m. until noon.

Have you friended the Shreveport Farmers' Market on MySpace yet?

Keep Shreveport Wild!!!!!!!!!!!

Eat local! Eat local! Eat local! The Shreveport Times reports a seafood restaurant is closing in Highland.

Big D's Bar-B-Que at 101 N. Common Street in downtown is alive and well. Dine there today!

Recycling Shreveport Farmers' Market

Think the market can't get any greener? Shreveport Farmers' Market Manager Noma Fowler-Sandlin says tomorrow is "...the annual Cookbook Exchange, this year joined by a Tote Bag Exchange, too. So bring out your tired old cookbooks and tote bags and trade them for new ones you like better."

Also just in are reusable Shreveport Farmers' Market totes. The bright red bags feature the market logo in black. Only $10. The money raised will continue special events like the musicians on Tuesdays. Operating hours: 7 a.m. 'til noon on Saturdays at the Festival Plaza in downtown.

Pictured is the cool tote of Conchita McElwee. Snapped at last year's market.

If Only the Krewe of Highland Parade Floated

Can't wait another half year to get a some of the wackiness that is the Krewe of Highland parade? This Saturday on Cross Lake will help.

It's the 17 annual Cross Lake Floatilla at the American Legion Lowe-McFarlane Post. The decorated boat parade kicks off at 3 but there are activities all day long. On Friday night there's even a fish fry connected to the event. Take your camera and put the pictures on Flickr.com so you can share with the rest of the class.

It's About the Fashion

Shreveport Farmers' Market is not about the food. It's about the fashion. Get togged out and ride to the festival plaza for the happy hour market Tuesday nights.

Have you friended the market on MySpace? Then you got the bulletin and know the blackberries are HUGE and Dr. Cookie and Louisiana Dan will perform from 4 - 7 p.m. tonight.

And remember please leave your polyester at home. Unless it's retro poly. That's Destiny Toro's hiney in a cool skirt.

Subversive and Dark

Where is your secret stash of wild blackberries in SB Land? Along the jogging path on the Clyde FantParkway? Next to the railroad tracks downtown? That park in Highland? Share. We won't tell...maybe just Noma so she can jam it up.

Picture of the Day

Strawn's (18)
Originally uploaded by darebouche.

Thank you to darebouche for the use of his Strawn's (18) for our Picture of the Day.

If you've not seen Darrell Rebouche's blog you'll find it here. It's one of our daily reads around the RRBJ office. We love how he documents family life in SB Land.

For more about the empire that is Strawn's Eat Shop.

Shreveport Stomp

Watch this and you will have to eat at Herby-K's before the end of the month.

A Good Argument for Bringing Back the Red Light District

...back in the day it was a place for folks to run free and have fun. Get their entertainment on. If it worked in 1908 why not 2008? After all, thems were the good old days everybody keeps talking about.

The irony is that the Big D's Bar-b-que mentioned in the film is located near the ol' redlight district.

You'll find the eatery in beautiful downtown Shreveport at the corner of Common and Caddo. Go eat there. Not McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King, Olive Garden, Subway or Wendys. Go now and support a local establishment that is committed to letting your teens have a place to hang out. And if you see a Shreveport Police Officer lurking buy them a Coke and ask them to chill and let the kids be. It's all a part of growing the creative class in SB Land.

Tacomania

Tacomania is a colorful sit down Mexican Restaurant that has been serving up tasty food in Shreveport since 1998. It started out across from the Broadmoor Garage but has now taken over an old Pizza Hut building.

It's like eating your nibbles in a Crayola crayon box in there. A couple of weeks ago RRBJ got to have brunch with Dyxie and she gave us the heads up on the Sangria Fresca. It's a taste we could definitely get addicted to!


These great photos are from a talented photographer who lives in Bossier City. You can see more of Dyxie's fine work here.

Yeero!!! Yeero!!!

The island of Yeero!!! Yeero!!! looks like a white beach with blue water highlights. At least that's what RRBJ thought while standing across the street in the parking lot of Walgreens.

The interior is a dramatic contrast. The compact ten table dining room shimmers with romance. There's even a fireplace. In fact it was so nice we figured there was nothing we could afford on the menu. Wrong. It's the same delicious food as the drive-through menu only it's served up on real plates and the water comes in stemmed goblets. This local Greek restaurant deserves all six of those exclamation points.

One of Trudeau's first posts on his blog was on this restaurant at 4511 Youree Dr. Also - here's an amusing look by Daddy D (Darrell Rebouche) on what kind of reaction you can expect when you recommend on of the finest local eating establishments around.

'Tis the Season to Give Homemade

Noma Fowler-Sandlin is the owner/jam artist of Pan's Pantry.

Her creations are made in the Historic Highland neighborhood.

She'll be vending her goods at the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday November 17. Afraid to buy new flavors? She always offers FREE taste samples.

Jam and jazz. The livin' is good smack dab in the middle of SB Land.

Not the Biggest!

Americans are fatter than ever. Mississippi topped a newly released list with the highest rate of adult obesity in the country for the third year in a row and Colorado was the leanest state again (thank the Goddess Louisiana wasn't number 1). The top three states for obesity? After the Magnolia State comes West Virginia and Alabama. Louisiana is number 4. Texas tied with Missouri for number twelve.

Where are the heaviest kids? D.C. is at the top of the list. Texas is number 6, Mississippi number 8 and Louisiana is number 10. (Yeah! Lone Star State kids are fatter than our kids! It's such a hollow win...)

How does Arkansas stack up? The Natural State kids tie with Georgia for the number twelve spot. Adults are at number 8.

Ten of the fifteen states with the highest rates of adult obesity are located in the South. Please somebody and hep a region out and invent us some healthier cuisine.

Click for your own copy of the fourth annual report F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America. Click for tips on getting healthier in Louisiana.

Organic

RRBJ just realized linking is the lazy way to go. We can avoid wiggling the cordless mouse to cut and paste if you'll just go here and see what that world traveling Trudeau says about Shreveport's Farmers' Market.

We'll be stopping by for some more of Pan's Pantry Drunken Peach Preserves since husband has given up his generic jelly and eaten all of our fancy stuff.

Keep Shreveport Weird

RRBJ is all about supporting small home town businesses. When visitors come to town they are looking for authentic Shreveport and Louisiana experiences. Some cities are organizing to keep up the awareness of the small guy/gal. That's how that Keep Austin Weird slogan came about.

Even movie stars are looking for the best local experience they can have. While in town filming Mad Money Katie Holmes spent plenty of dough at Julie Anne's Bakery and Cafe, located at the corner of Line Avenue and Kings Highway. Her Shreveport snacking habits made it into People magazine and Maggie Martin covered it in her blog.

Just this month SB magazine listed the bakery as the best in town. It also rates high with the folks at the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Medicine Shreveport.

While there's plenty on the menu that's tasty, our current fav is the raspberry lemonade.

Happy Hour at the Tuesday Farmer's Market

"IT'S A PARTY!" said Noma Fowler-Sandlin when RRBJ asked her about the Tuesday evening Farmer's Market. "People walk around with cocktails and listen to a live band while they shop."

Bring a hefty bag so you can stuff it full of fresh fruit and vegetables, bouquets of flowers, honey, jams, jellies, breads, cookies, pasta and even fine art.

You'll find the Shreveport Farmer's Market Saturday mornings from 7 to 11:30 and Tuesday evenings from 4 to 7 under the big shade of Festival Plaza (the same place where the ice skating rink sat during the month of December).

For more information about the Farmer's Market call 424-4000.

Columbia Cafe

Ted Danson lubs him some Columbia Cafe grub. With the new patio finally open maybe we'll be able to spot him or TomKat and Suri since Katie loves eating local foods.

More interesting news from CC: Owner Matthew Linn is running for Caddo Parish Commission, District 4. Linn has operated the Highland neighborhood resturant since 2002. He is also the founder of the Krewe of Highland and the founding sponsor of the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival.

Party Like It's 1885

Back in the day downtown Shreveport was the place to be on a Saturday. It'll be that way again this weekend. West Edge Artists' Co-op is hosting an Artwalk April 28 in the 700 block of Milam from 10 AM - 6 PM.

It's open to all artists to do whatever they want -- demonstrations, art sales, performances, etc. It's free to the public (artists who aren't members have to pony up $25 to participate but for the browsing public it's free). For more information email or call WEACo. Noma Fowler-Sandlin will be there with her tasty jams. Read all about it at her jam blog.

It's too late to register your own Holiday in Dixie block party for Saturday so you might as well park in a central location in downtown so you can visit the HID Carnival, Artbreak and Artwalk. RRBJ is really hoping someone will spray paint themselves in metallic gold paint and be a human statue. We've got the dollars for the tip jar.

Shane's Acadiana Catering on Youree

Last week when we dined at Shane's on Youree Drive it was too cold to eat on the patio but we enjoyed pigging out inside under the mural on the wall. It gave us time to ponder the advertisements running on a TV. The menu was also covered in ads. We were amused by what seemed to be an interesting way for a restaurant to expand its revenue.

When the red beans and rice arrived we were a little concerned. Our group's Louisiana cuisine expert (born and raised in Bunkie, LA) declared them to be pinto beans and not red beans. Of course, this sparked a debate on where to find traditional Louisiana dishes in SB Land. Shane's newest location just opened in Bossier on Texas Street near Barnhill's Buffet and Southern Maid Donut.