This hike is 2.5 hours from New Orleans has 8 waterfalls!

If you live in Louisiana and even somewhat enjoy hiking for fun, then you’ve likely heard of a spot not too far from Baton Rouge in Mississippi where lots of waterfalls can be discovered. Upon further investigation though, you’ll find that the exact location gets a bit confusing. Where exactly are these and what are they called? The answer is Clarke Creek and the best place to download the route is via AllTrails whether on the website or App. It gets confusing because people call them Tunica Falls. There are hikes in St. Francisville called “Tunica” this and that in Louisiana, but those are different, and they don’t have waterfalls (to my knowledge). So if you want to see these falls search for “Clarke Creek”.

When I say waterfalls, I mean up to 8 of them! We did a 3.7 mile hike and saw four of the waterfalls. Here are my top five things that people don’t tell you about these hikes that you should know.

1.   Pretty sure the water flows year-round because it’s rainwater rather than snow melt. This feature is pretty badass because waterfalls and their flow elsewhere are hit or miss.

2.   There are a variety of ways to approach this hike. If you want a pretty easy version you can see two of the falls.

3.   This would be a great activity even in the hot summer months. We did this hike in early September during a heat wave and enjoyed it thoroughly. The key is to start early. We arrived at the trailhead at 6:30am and left around 10:30am. The whole route was pretty shaded.

4.   Trail is not well marked. Since there are so many different ways to do this trail, I recommend going with someone that has the All Trails Pro app.

5.    I personally would never do this hike right after a big storm or in a heavy rain. I don’t like to get my boots too wet or muddy and this trail would definitely be a mud pit in the rain.

As always when you hike, stay hydrated and bring extra water. I had a 1L bladder pack and drank about half.

The parts of the trail that actually lead to most of the waterfalls is not really a trail it’s a creek with big boulders. So the majority of the waterfalls are accessible with moderate hiking rather than easy. 

Here's the route that we took in red:

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what's in store. 

My Love Story

Someone finally wrote my love story...

Here's how it starts:

"It’s hard to say if 

The Courtyard Brewery

is a love story 

about beer 

or a beer story

 about love. 

Either way, it began 

on Frenchmen Street." 

Read the rest here: NOLA DEFENDER.

Have You Heard the News???

We are opening a brewery! 

Read all about it in these fine articles and connect @courtyardbrew for the latest.

Jan 14 2013 Nora's Beer Blog

Favorite Quote: 

"I fell in love with their "Baby IPA," a session IPA."

Mar 5 2013 The Gambit

 Favorite Quote: 

"When San Diego transplant Scott Wood met Louisiana native Lindsay Hellwig in New Orleans, not only did they begin a family, but also a craft beer partnership called The Courtyard Brewery that would merge West Coast craft beer sensibilities with the rich culture of Louisiana and New Orleans."

 Sept 10 2013 The Gambit 

 Favorite Quote:
"Can you boil water and cool it? Yes. Can you clean up after yourself? Yes. Can you wait a week or a couple weeks? Yes. OK, then brew beer."

 Oct 21 2013 Uptown Messenger

 Favorite Quote:

“It’s similar to going to a winery,” Leblanc said. “It’s not about the consumption of beer; it’s about tasting beer.”

 Oct 23 2013 Curbed

 

Favorite Quote: 

"the Coliseum Square Association is cool with The Courtyard Brewery setting up shop in an Erato Street warehouse"

Oct 25 2013 The Times Picayune

Favorite Quote:

"The nano brewery model lets Courtyard be nimble. Because they will make small batches, they can change the recipes frequently."

Oct 30 2013 City Business 

Favorite Quote:

"self distribution laws, which are in place in 16 states, would foster growth of microbreweries and brewpubs by allowing them to sell directly to bars and retailers. 'It gives the smaller guy more exposure,' Coco said. 'No one brewery is going to dominate in the city. We should be a city with several operations and tremendous variety.'"

  

Trying to Keep Up

One post every six months is about all I can spare. I've become one of those busy people. I'm busy chasing a pay check, a dream and this little human. He's getting so big and gregarious and curious. 

Here is Jules trying to fill in his dad's shirt. 

The one he wore the night we met. 

The shirt that made me make this face...

And caused him to take the photos 

and get my number and you know the rest. :)

 

Kingcake Monsoon

 I'm a fan of kingcake season and have been to enough kingcake parties to be ready to host my own. So three weeks before Mardi Gras we threw a kingcake bake-off/tasting in our courtyard. I've been so busy lately that this was the only window of opportunity that I could find to host such an event and knew that it would be a hit to host before the Krewe de Vieux parade began to role. Because of this tight schedule, I had no choice but to keep the scheduled date despite the weather forecast warning of a 50% chance of thunderstorm.

Needless to say we had a downpour, but everyone had a good laugh while we moved 20 kingcakes under cover. The rain only lasted about 30 minutes so we continued on to eat, drink and parade.

These are the categories that were judged:

Best Gourmet Kingcake  

– flavors other than cream cheese, strawberry, and apple  

Best Traditional Kingcake  

– plain/cinnamon, cream cheese, strawberry or apple 

Best Homemade Creation  

– king of cakes….anything goes 

Most Creative Costume 

– get out your glue gun

Our neighbor, Angela, won two categories 

(Best Gourmet and Best Homemade) 

with her Bacon Maple Kingcake.

 It was a clear favorite!

Eve and I tied for best costume because 

she dressed as a kingcake baby, and I have one in my belly.

Courtyard Chili Cookoff

We haven't had a party at our apartment complex since July 4th for the crawfish boil. My husband and the neighbors decided the next event should be a chili and cornbread cookoff. It turned out to be a great idea. The French Quarter was very busy and the streets were filled with Alabama and LSU fans for the National Championship game. We were lucky enough to have friends willing to brave the crowds with their entries. We had eight total including a white chili, veggie chili, pork chili, steak chili and beef bouillon chili. The only thing that was missing was a seafood chili. My chili and cornbread came in second place. It had beans, plenty of peppers, ground meat and sausage. The cornbread came out really moist and flavorful, like a casserole. I got the recipe from my boss. It had corn, onions and jalapenos too. 

The winner was my husband for his steak chili. He used chilies imported from New Mexico because he's so fancy. He also won best cornbread by using his Grandmother's West Virginian recipe. Some of her secrets are whipped cream and honey. Amanda brought a veggie chili and won first place in the spicy category.

Lindsay’s Second Place Pepper Chili 

(aka My Bean Beef Sausage Chile Chili)

• 1.5 pounds ground beef chuck
• .75 pound Italian sausage
• 5 strips bacon
• 1 (15 ounce) can light kidney beans, drained
• 2 (15 ounce) cans chili beans in spicy sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomatoes sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (from can)
• ½ packet taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup beer
• ½ cup salsa
• ½ tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towels. Cook crumbled beef and sausage in bacon drippings just until brown; drain. Stir taco seasoning into meat.
2. Pour meat into large crock pot. Add all chili beans, all tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chipotle peppers, chile peppers, crumbled bacon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, salsa, salt, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. Simmer on low as desired. If the chili is too watery. Cook without lid for an hour or two. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and refrigerate to serve the next day. Top with fresh parsley or cilantro and cheese as desired.

Criminal Characters

Crime isn't funny, 

but computer generated sketches are. 

 Sketches released during the week of October 10, 2011 by the New Orleans Police Department for wanted criminals. If you recognize these people call CrimeStoppers at 504-822-1111.

How to Make the Most of Crawfish Boil Leftovers

My boyfriend is from California, and being the ambitious soul that he is, he wanted to tackle a task that most life-long Louisiana residents don't even attempt. He threw a crawfish boil AND boiled everything HIMSELF. Daring - I know. If you follow only this blog and don't know me in real life, which is probably not the case, you may be thinking "BOYFRIEND? You never told us about a boyfriend." Well, I didn't because I didn't want to jinx, and I still don't. It's actually quite a magical story, but like I said, not going to jinx it. Let's just call him "some guy I know". Anyway, some guy I know threw a wildly successful crawfish boil. He had lots of friends there as did I.

 

Everyone enjoyed the Star-spangled Jello Shots, most claiming that they were the best ever. Hooray for a whipped cream center. Recipe Here

Everyone also enjoyed the music. The neighbors opened their windows, turned up their speakers and their computer to play a Pandora station. The station they played was based on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and surprisingly made for a very good party mix. If you haven’t heard of the website Pandora. Check it out at www.Pandora.com. Users type in a band that they like and the site creates a playlist of artists that have the same sound.

Back to the food...We boiled lots of veggies including onions, bell peppers, corn-on-the-cob,  artichoke, potatoes (red, white and blue), and garlic. 

Not wanting anyone to leave hungry, "some guy I know" ordered 100 lbs. of crawfish so we had lots to spare. Two of my friends sat there and peeled over two pounds with the agreement that I'd make something good with the leftovers. So I made crawfish enchiladas. This recipe is similar to the one that my family uses.

We had two big bowls of vegetables left over as well, and I wasn't about to let them go to waste because they had so much spicy flavor. I bought some shrimp and canned tomatoes and threw together a lovely spicy soup. Louisianans never throw anything edible away. We just add butter.

Lindsay's Leftover Crawfish Boil Shrimp Soup

Leftover Crawfish Boil Veggies:

 5-10 ears of Corn-on-the-Cob (decobbed)

1 or 2 Bell Peppers (chopped)

2 or 3 Onions (chopped)

5-10 Cloves of Garlic (chopped)

Fresh Veggies:

1 Onion (diced)

3 Ribs of Celery (diced)

4 Stalks of Green Onions (diced)

1 cans Diced Tomatoes

1 small can Tomato Sauce

1 Can Tomato Paste

2 cans Seafood Stock

Equal Part Flour 

Equal Part Oil or Butter

1. Make roux with Flour and Oil or Butter.
2. Saute fresh onions, celery, green onions in roux until soft.
3. Add tomato paste, stir.
4. Add crawfish boil veggies and seafood stock to bring to desired consistency. Simmer 30 minutes
5. Stir in shrimp and cook until shrimp cooked.