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We're proud to be a Louisiana Company and brewing
beer is what we do best. We have created Fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale to raise funds for those whose lives have been torn apart by Hurricane Katrina. Be on the look out for this golden ale which will hit store shelves the week of October 3 and buy a bunch of six packs. $1 from every six-pack will go to the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation.

click here to read more about Fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale

We also have special pins, hats, t-shirts and more to help in the charity effort. 100% of the net proceeds from the merchandise sales will benefit the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. To learn more about the La Disaster Recovery Foundation visit www.louisianahelp.org

Neighbors are helping neighbors, opening their homes and their hearts. The Abita Brewing Company slogan echoes the thoughts and prayers of so many longing to see the Greater New Orleans area rise again…we are Louisiana True.

Despite the name, much of the architecture was built during the Spanish rule over New Orleans rather than the French. A great fire in 1794 destroyed much of the Quarter's old French colonial architecture, leaving the
colony's new Spanish overlords to rebuild it according to more modern tastes -- and strict new fire codes, which mandated that all structures be physically adjacent and close to the curb to create a firewall. The old French peaked roofs were replaced with flat tiled ones, and now-banned wooden siding with fire-resistant stucco, painted in the pastel hues fashionable at the time. As a result, colorful walls and roofs and elaborately decorated ironwork balconies and galleries from both the 18th century and 19th centuries abound. (In southeast Louisiana, a distinction is made between balconies, which have no roof over them, and "galleries," which do.)

Long after the U.S. purchase of Louisiana, descendants of French colonists lived in this part of town, and the French language was often heard there as late as the start of the 20th century.

One can't say the same for the Pecan industry, which is one of the things we prize about the South. Pecans. Fabulous pecans. For more than just pie and pralines, too.

Louisiana Pecan Balls

MAKES: About 28 cookies...can store airtight for up to 3 days

1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped pecans (about 4 oz.)

1. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and the vanilla until smooth.

2. In a medium bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add to butter mixture and beat on low speed to mix, then on medium speed until well blended. Stir in pecans.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place about 1 inch apart on buttered or cooking parchment–lined 12- by 15-inch baking sheets.

4. Bake in a 300° regular or convection oven until cookies are pale golden brown, about 25 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking. Let cookies stand on sheets until cool enough to handle.

5. Place remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Gently turn warm cookies, a few at a time, in powdered sugar to coat. Set cookies on racks to cool completely.

Per cookie: 143 cal., 59% (85 cal.) from fat; 1.3 g protein; 9.4 g fat (4.4 g sat.); 14 g carbo (0.5 g fiber); 73 mg sodium; 18 mg chol.

After having survived a particularly nasty bout with yellow fever, they decided to celebrate, but since party favors were few and far between in the New World, the men opted to paint their faces red and just act crazy for a few hours. They must have had fun because it became an annual event.

Mardi Gras was transformed into a parade event in 1840 by a group known as the Cowbellion de Rakin Society, the first of many of Mobile's so-called mystic organizations who journeyed to New Orleans in 1857 to help a group there set up a Mardi Gras celebration.

New Orleans, one the nation's biggest coffee ports, holds about 8% of the world's supply, and coffee industry experts predicted that the loss of the tens of thousands of tons stored there would take a year to replace. Coffee contracts have risen 11% this week in New York trading.

"The market has decided that all of the 1.6 million bags stored in the New Orleans warehouses is dead meat," said commodities analyst Ann Prendergast of Refco Group.

Procter & Gamble Co., maker of Folgers, said half its supply was unaccounted for. - latimes

Chiquita Brands International Inc., one of the world's largest banana producers, said it suspended shipments because of damage to its facilities at Gulfport.

The company, which normally imports about a quarter of its Central American banana crop through the port, said it would divert those shipments to facilities in South Florida and Texas until its Mississippi facilities were repaired. - latimes

As a boy, Emeril Lagasse began bread and pastry making
at a Portuguese bakery in his Fall River, MA, neighborhood. Turning down a music scholarship to follow his culinary dream, Emeril worked his way through the Johnson and Wales University culinary program to earn a doctorate.

After school, Emeril turned his eye toward the classic cuisine of France. He polished his skills in Paris and Lyons before returning to the US, where he worked in several fine restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Building a
reputation through his use of only the freshest products, he came to the attention of Ella Brennan, the doyenne of New Orleans' culinary community. She persuaded 26-year-old Emeril to move to the Big Easy, where for nearly eight years he presided over Ella and Dick Brennan's legendary restaurant, Commander's
Palace.

Emeril opened his own restaurant in 1990. From the day its doors opened, Emeril's Restaurant and its owner drew ecstatic praise. Congratulations came not only from the local New Orleans gentry and the writers who prowl the region for culinary news, but also from such national magazines as Esquire, Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure, as well as from such noted food critics as John Mariani and Gene Bourg. - FoodNetwork