Monday Handmade Hall of Fame - Brennan's Turtle Parade

A quick post today, because I'm having too much fun in New Orleans to slow down too much to blog! Super Sunday was amazing yesterday, and we had a great stroll down Magazine today.

I wanted to focus mostly on handmade throws, but I think I will occasionally allow myself to veer into non-Carnival territory, as long as it showcases NOLA's unique DIY talents. This week I wanted to post about the mini "floats" for the parade to celebrate the return of the turtles to the Brennan's courtyard, or what the articles have been calling "the Slowest Second Line on Earth."


The turles are named for sauces: the one male is Cocktail (his float featured a big glass full of shrimp cocktail), and the females are divided into "The Mothas" (named for the five French mother sauces: Bechamel, Espagnole, Hollandaise, Tomate and Veloute) and "the Othas" (Remoulade, Ravigote, Bordelaise and Mignonette). On Saturday, led by a police escort and tossing out green and turtle themed throws, the parade rolled down a green carpet to return the turtles to their home in the courtyard at Brennan's.

If you're taking a break from the gorgeous weather and hanging out indoors, go look at some of the articles to see pictures and videos of the decorated "floats" - they were reportedly prepared by families of Brennan's staff (I see a lot of kids in the pictures) and they're aesthetically somewhere between a wagon and a shoe-box float. What I really, really love is that each float reflects the name of its honored turtle rider: Mignonette's was delicate pink with pearls and oyster shells, Ravigote's featured a fresh-chopped-herb-invoking green trim, Tomate's was covered with gorgeous, sparkling glittered red tomatoes (possibly my favorite), Espagnole's had a decorated sombrero and Remoulade rode a golden airboat. So creative and looks like they had so much fun! The humans anyway...the turtles all look pretty nonplussed about the whole thing, though they do have their own Twitter account where they're a bit more effusive about the return home.

Links:

• http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2015/03/turtles_brennans_return_home_p.html
• http://wgno.com/2015/03/12/turtles-on-parade-the-slowest-second-line-at-brennans/
• http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2015/02/27/courtyard-turtles-returning-to-brennans-with-a-celebratory-parade
• https://instagram.com/newinnola/
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/KreweofTurtles?src=hash

Now, if you'll excuse me...I've got to get ready for Happy Hour!