Summer In the South
Snoballs, sweltering temps, and a mini guide to Jackson (trust me)
Hello!
I cannot believe it’s already August. It’s currently a sweltering 102 degrees with 70% humidity here in Louisiana. You’ve probably heard about the heatwave all over the South. It’s been going on for weeks, and doesn’t look like it’s getting better anytime soon. My coworkers have assured me that this is even hot for them, so…I guess that makes me feel better?
Now that I don’t have a flexible work schedule we’ve been trying to explore the South via weekend trips. We did manage to get up to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Door County in the Midwest July, which was gorgeous (and much cooler!), and where we had plenty of good food. More on that for paid subscribers on Wednesday.
I wrote about whether it’s ethical to visit the South last year, and I feel more strongly about it since moving here. All over New Orleans and Baton Rouge; Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn. Austin, Tex., Gulf Shores; Ala. and elsewhere I’ve seen people working to better the lives of their fellow citizens, fighting for their rights, and educating people about the area’s history and current issues. These people run museums, restaurants, shops, non-profits, etc., and they could use your support. That’s not to say there aren’t horrendous, racist, misogynist, backwards things happening all over the south and in these cities, too. But you can be thoughtful with your tourism dollars. Discounting an entire region of the country doesn’t do anyone any good. That’s how we get harmful stereotypes and ignorant thinking about the South, Midwest, “flyover states” (aargh)…you get the picture.
A few summer in the South highlights so far:
Celebrated my birthday on the beautiful quartz sand beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We camped at the state park, one of the nicest state parks I’ve ever visited.
Had Royal Red shrimp in Biloxi, Mississippi. Royal Reds are known as the crown jewel of shrimp. They’re found in deep, cold water about 60 miles offshore and sweeter and more buttery than other shrimp, almost like lobster. If you ever see them, order them steamed or boiled with butter. Simple is best.
Went to the Fashioning America: From Grit to Glamour exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art. From the exhibit description: “From cowboy boots and bathing suits to Hollywood gowns and streetwear, Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour presents American fashion as a powerful emblem of global visual culture. Highlighting historical garments, ready-to-wear classics, and iconic red carpet fashion moments, Fashioning America demonstrates the widespread impact of media and celebrity culture through fashion. This bilingual Spanish–English presentation includes more than 100 objects—from a rare 19th-century denim frock coat to a zero-waste wedding dress and Savage X Fenty lingerie—and amplifies the voices of Indigenous, Black, immigrant, and women designers who are often left out of dominant narratives of American fashion history.” The exhibit was organized by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and is in New Orleans through Nov. 26. I’m guessing it will go elsewhere after that? Highly recommend if it comes to a city near you!
Why you should visit Jackson, Mississippi
Spent a weekend in Jackson, Mississippi, a city that far exceeded my expectations. The state of Mississippi? Too many issues to list. Abhorrent government. So many places I would not want to go and so many businesses I would not want to support. Jackson? City where 73.4% of people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, with a mayor on a mission to make it “the most radical city on the planet,” with dozens of local businesses and thousands of people who could use your support and money. This NPR article lays out the dichotomy pretty well.
If you go:
Don’t miss the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. (One tickets gets you into this and the Mississippi History Museum). This is an incredible museum. Cannot rave about it enough.
Stop in the State Capitol, a pretty Beaux-Arts building with lots of stained glass and an ornate rotunda.
Visit the Eudora Welty House & Garden. A museum in the Pulitzer-prize winning author’s home, plus beautiful gardens and a gift shop. I’d actually never read any Eudora Welty before visiting, but am now almost done with “Delta Wedding” and excited to read more. (“The Optimist’s Daughter” is probably her most famous book).
Drive or walk around the Belhaven neighborhood to see the gorgeous early 1900-era homes.
If you’re into sports, Nathan liked seeing the Jackson State University campus.
Shop at Lemuria Books, a fabulous bookstore I could have spent a full day inside. (I forgot how many famous authors are from Mississippi: Jesmyn Ward, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Richard Wright, John Grisham, Kiese Laymon, just to name a few!) And shop at Afrikan Art Gallery and Bookstore.
Take a walk through LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, for Cyprus trees, swamp land, and a small nature museum with alligators and snakes. (If you’re coming from Louisiana, this is redundant. If you’re coming from elsewhere in the country, you’ll probably find it cool).
Eat at Hal & Mal’s for Delta dishes with live music. This place is an institution, as you’ll see from all the autographed pictures of visiting musicians along the walls. Martin’s Downtown also has live music most nights.
Eat at Elvie’s, a very cute restaurant where we had one of the best meals of the summer. Chef Hunter Evans was a James Beard Award finalist this year for the Best Chef in the South category. This whole area is cute. There’s a brewery, an outdoor drinks stand called Good Bar (there was live music the night we were there), other restaurants, ice cream, etc.
Have milkshakes at Brent’s Drugs, a diner in a former pharmacy that’s been open since 1946. It’s cute and the food is inexpensive. Breakfast was only ok, but the milkshakes look great. In the back, get cocktails at The Apothecary.
We didn’t have time to eat at Sambu’s African Kitchen, but it looks fantastic and is on my list for next time. Lou’s Full-Serv is also on that list.
Consider supporting Mississippi Today, the amazing Jackson-based local non-profit newspaper. (Everything you know about the governor and Brett Favre’s welfare funds scandal is because of this paper, which won a Pulitzer Prize for that series).
Staying cool with snoballs
I grew up eating snow cones, others grew up calling it shaved ice. But in New Orleans it's called a snoball, and it is so much better than any version I’ve encountered before. A snoball is shaved ice flavored with sweet syrup. Sounds like a snow cone, but the ice is more finely shaved, so it’s smoother, fluffier, almost creamy. More like, well, a snowball than a ball of crushed ice. When you eat a snow cone, often the sweet juice disappears before the ice. Not so with a snoball, because the texture soaks the syrup up more evenly.
Snoballs date back to 1934, when Ernest Hansen invented and patented the first motorized ice shaver. Now, it’s a ubiquitous New Orleans summer treat (I think they’re also common in Baltimore). I like Pandora’s, but no matter where you are in the city there’s probably a snoball stand near you.
Weekend Reading
Why the famed Appalachian Trail keeps getting harder––and longer
I searched hell on Earth for a story. What I found will haunt me forever.
What’s a plant-based diet? Here’s what you need to know to eat less meat.
The last place on Earth any tourist should go
What happened to Diamond Kosher Crystal Salt?
How to make travel easier on your body
Random Recommendations:
Watch: Barbie, duh. I also loved “Jury Duty” (how did they pick such a perfect person??), and watched “Triangle of Sadness” this weekend, which is like “White Lotus” meets “The Menu.”
Do/buy: We bought this composter when we moved to Louisiana and it’s life changing. It has significantly reduced our waste. We have a tiny trash can (like the size of most bathroom trash cans) and it takes us at least a week to fill it now that we compost all our food waste. I always meant to do this in Chicago and don’t know what took me so long. Food waste is a huge issue––about one-third of food produced worldwide ends up as waste. While reducing waste on the front end is the most effective thing you can do, composting is helpful because it lowers greenhouse gas emissions by improving carbon capture sequestration in soil and preventing methane emissions. When food scraps are thrown in a landfill, the nutrients don’t return to the soil and the waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times as potent as CO2, according to the EPA. (Of course, it would be great if all cities implemented composting programs, but until then doing it yourself is easy).
Cook: Work has been hectic so I’ve been making easy dinners, like this sheet-pan salmon and broccoli with sesame and ginger. Great with This Little Goat chili lime crunch spooned over the top.
Hope you’re having a great weekend! And staying cool, if you’re also in a heatwave (so, hundreds of millions of us).
–Rebecca 💛
You paint a lovely picture Rebecca! We haven't been to the South (except Florida - DisneyWorld, pretty sure that might not count) and it's certainly on our list to visit in the US (we are UK-based). We've travelled to a few places lately where I have felt discomfort about whether to visit for political/idealogical reasons - India, Turkey, Morocco, Texas - and the way I am beginning to see it is that a) a country and it's people are not it's government - everywhere has wonderful people and b) often the people need the tourism dollars to support them. We've tried to talk to people and learn about their culture and their lives even more, and to spend our tourist pounds wisely, ethically and thoughtfully? All good. x
A good article. I do have one complaint. The link to the composter doesn’t work! 😀