6313 Wooldridge @ Cimarron, Corpus Christi, TX | 361-334-3942

From their website … Speciality foods from white chocolate macadamia pancakes, omelettes, burgers, gumbo, pastas, salads, steaks, sandwiches and blueberry key lime pie! Daily specials like Blackened Drum with Crawfish Etouffee. All made from scratch daily.

Blackened Drum w/ Crawfish Etouffee, Andouille Rice & Zucchini Squash Medley at the Atomic Omelette & Grill. Photos by Gulfscapes Magazine, copyright 2012 Victoria and Craig Rogers

We strive to find things that make us smile – that said, Atomic Omelette and Grill made us smile! First up, making us smile (and making our lips burn!), was the Blackened Drum with Crawfish Etouffee with an Andouille Sausage rice – wonderful!!! The cajun spices on the drum were spot on, and the spices in the etouffee were smokin’. In a good way. Actually, in the best way. The chef nailed the amount of heat. Hot enough to get your attention, but not enough to detract from the the flavors. Nose-running good heat.

Andouille Rice served with the Blackened Drum from the Atomic Omelette and Grill in Corpus Christi, TX. Photos by Gulfscapes Magazine, copyright 2012 Victoria and Craig Rogers

We also tried the Mini Hawaiian Sliders with crunchy potato chips. The sliders are served with American Cheese, Dijon Mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion and yummy crunchy chips. The sliders also had bacon. Crunchy bacon. Wonderful bacon. Not wimpy limp bacon. It made a huge taste difference and put a smile on our face.

Dessert is what actually brought us to Atomic. We saw the blueberry key lime pie on their Facebook page and we were enticed. We’re easily lured anyway, but this sounded too good to pass up. And we were right. It looks like key lime pie, except for the large, round, juicily sweet blueberries on top. There were more blueberries inside, which we fought over. The sweetness of the blueberries (and I’m guessing blueberry juice was also blended into the mix) was a perfect compliment to the tart tanginess of the limes. Not a flavor mixture we’d had before, but one we will definitely have again. Soon. Good job, Atomic. We’re smiling.

Mini Hawaiian Sliders with crunchy potato chips from the Atomic Omelette and Grill in Corpus Christi, TX. Photos by Gulfscapes Magazine, copyright 2012 Victoria and Craig Rogers

Crunchy Potato Chips from the Atomic Omelette and Grill. Photos by Gulfscapes Magazine, copyright 2012 Victoria and Craig Rogers

Blueberry Key Lime Pie from the Atomic Omelette and Grill in Corpus Christi, TX. Photos by Gulfscapes Magazine, copyright 2012 Victoria and Craig Rogers

James Greer co/owner of “Atomic Omelette and Grill” not only created the menu at the restaurant, but he also creates some of the best Surf Art in the region. James’ mural sized paintings are on display, along with other local artists on the wall at the restaurant. James combines acrylic paints w/plaster on canvas for some of the best abstract surf murals out there. Please stop by the restaurant and view some of these works of art while you have some of James’s creations off the grill…

Let us know what you think if you stop by the Atomic Omelette and Grill. www.gulfscapes.com Photos by Gulfscapes Magazine, copyright 2012 Victoria and Craig Rogers

Thus, the City of Gautier is sponsoring the Gautier Antique Festival to be held at La Maison Gautier on March 11, 2012, from 9:45AM until 6:00 PM.  The television crew will be on site for three hours or more!  100+ vendors are expected for the inaugural event. Free shuttle service will be provided from Singing River Mall to the venue for attendees.   Antiques, food, children’s area, music, and entertainment ensure fun for everyone.

Further info is available at www.gautier-ms.gov and on Facebook at Gautier Antique Fair.

Volunteers are asked to participate in a one-time, one-hour survey conducted in person in the Sarasota, FL area. 

Who may participate?

Individuals 18 years or older

Asthmatics who are full or part-time Sarasota or Manatee residents. MUST have a physician’s diagnosis of asthma.

Participants must have their own transportation to and from the interview, which takes place at Mote’s Sarasota campus. (1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, Fla., 34236)

Participants will receive $50 reimbursement for time, effort and travel expenses.

For pre-screening, e-mail decisionmaking@mote.org.

The Annual Shrimp Festival Poster Competition is back! Last year, the annual poster artwork was commissioned as a special way to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the National Shrimp Festival. (This beautiful poster, along with all previous posters, is a collector’s item and like many others in the collection, is on sale at the Chamber’s website).

Due to popular request, Shrimp Fest is resuming the traditional practice of putting out its annual call for entries, and the contest is back! Deadline for submission is March 9, 2012. Poster contest information and rules are now available on the Shrimp Festival website, www.alagulfcoastchamber.com/pages/ShrimpFestival.

“Williams’ work and life continue to intrigue audiences around the globe,” said Executive Director Paul Willis. “Mix in the myriad programs we’ve planned on a variety of other topics and you have an event that will stimulate and entertain on many levels.”

Illustrious participants on tap to share their diverse talents are, among many others:

Piper Laurie, stage and screen luminary who played Laura Wingfield in the 1965 Broadway revival of Williams’ iconic play, The Glass Menagerie; was an Academy Award nominee for her roles in The Hustler, Carrie and Children of a Lesser God; and who now adds author to her list of accomplishments with her new memoir Learning to Live Out Loud;

Amanda Plummer, who portrayed Laura Wingfield on Broadway in 1983, won a Tony Award for her role in Agnes of God, and is also known for her film work (Pulp Fiction and The Fisher King) and Emmy-winning turns on television;

• John Guare, 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his play A Free Man of Color and author of Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves and many other celebrated works;
• Nigel Hamilton, award-winning biographer known for his work JFK: Reckless Youth, which was made into an ABC mini-series;
• Victor Navasky, former editor and current publisher emeritus of The Nation, whose 1980 book Naming Names is considered a definitive take on the Hollywood blacklist;
• Laura Lippman, masterful and prolific mystery writer, whom The Washington Post dubbed “one of the best novelists around, period”;
• Amy Dickinson, syndicated advice columnist and author of The New York Times bestselling memoir The Mighty Queens of Freeville, who delighted audiences at the 2011 Festival;
• Amy Hempel (Collected Stories) and Julie Kane, Louisiana’s 2012 poet laureate, who will judge the Festival’s annual short fiction and poetry contests, respectively;
• Ace Atkins, mystery writer and former crime reporter, who was recently deemed the new author for the continued installments of the late Robert B. Parker’s famed Spenser series;
• Nick Spitzer, folklorist and producer/host of American Routes, a syndicated radio program specializing in music and cultures of the Gulf South; and
• Jesmyn Ward, whose Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book Award for fiction.

The Festival kicks off Wednesday night, March 21, with a unique multimedia, theatrical adaptation of Tom Sancton’s award winning childhood memoir, SONG FOR MY FATHERS: A New Orleans Story in Black and White, featuring Sancton on clarinet and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Hailed as a “newly minted classic” by The Times-Picayune, this heartwarming story about a boy growing up in the ‘60s and learning to play jazz from the veteran musicians at Preservation Hall comes to life in the form of Sancton’s narrations, audio-visual projections, dramatizations and musical interludes provided by the onstage band.

Literary highlights comprise more than two dozen literary panel discussions on topics ranging from the political oppression of the 1950s and the ensuing Hollywood blacklist to New Orleans Free People of Color; from crafting memoirs to penning presidential biographies; from writing the American city in fact and fiction to writing for the radio.  Win Riley’s documentary on celebrated Southern writer Walker Percy will also captivate.

Two events for the literary late night crowd include a poetry slam, hosted by spoken word maestro Chuck Perkins, and a multimedia tribute to Lafcadio Hearn, the famed 19th Century author of eloquent impressions of life in New Orleans, presented by the People Say Project.

The Festival’s eight Master Classes feature sessions with authors, agents and editors who share literary tips, techniques, and current industry trends with aspiring writers and interested bibliophiles. The 2012 line-up includes interactive discussions on e-publishing; social media; what to expect from an agent; along with sessions on writing memoirs, children’s books, and biography.

Williams-related programs include Southern Rep Theatre’s full production of A Streetcar Named Desire.  On a lighter note, The Glass Mendacity, a comic send-up of the colorful characters in Williams’ most iconic plays – Streetcar, The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – perfectly blends decadence and hilarity in a cocktail best served both shaken and stirred. “Hiding in Plain Sight,” a special evening event focusing on Williams’ lesser known works, features luminaries of the page and stage who will offer tributes and share excerpts from some of the playwright’s unsung treasures.

Audiences will be spellbound by a conversation with Piper Laurie and Amanda Plummer, who will reminisce about bringing to life one of Tennessee Williams’ most iconic and beloved characters, Laura Wingfield; Williams and his work are also the topic of a variety of panels, the Festival’s annual Scholars Conference, and the popular Breakfast Book Club, which will focus on Tales of Desire, his collection of short stories.  Film lovers won’t want to miss a screening of The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, a 2009 film directed by Jodie Markell and based on a rediscovered 1957 original screenplay written by Williams, as well as a video presentation by Williams biographer John DiLeo showing clips of actors that inspired Tennessee and films that shamelessly copied his work.

Other theater offerings include a staged reading of Broomstick, award-winning author/playwright John Biguenet’s new work, featuring Cristine McMurdo-Wallis as a witch who confesses all. And back by popular demand is Festival favorite Ignatius on Stage, adapted from John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, and starring John “Spud” McConnell as the hapless Ignatius Reilly. In addition, the University of New Orleans will mount a production of Justin Kuritzkes’ An Autobiography about My Brother, the Festival’s 2011 One-Act Play Competition winner; the 2012 prize-winner will receive a staged reading.

Food, Glorious Food events will certainly stimulate appetites:  Noted food/wine connoisseur, author and columnist John Mariani offers the latest restaurant scoop to accompany wine, wit and hors d’oeuvres; acclaimed chef John Besh shares stories and recipe tastings from his new book, My Family Table; and “Food Memories,” features tastes and tales about New Orleans’ legendary culinary scene recounted by noted foodies.

Music events add another octave to the Festival program. Sunday’s “Drummer and Smoke” series at the Palm Court Jazz Café includes “Between the Lionels,” a discussion and musical performance with jazz musicians “Uncle” Lionel Batiste of the Treme Brass Band and Lionel Ferbos, who, at 100, is the oldest still-active jazz musician in New Orleans.

All things must come to an end, but the Festival’s riotous closing ceremony — the Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest, a playful homage to the bellowing mates in A Streetcar Named Desire — will certainly leave a lasting impression.

Most of the events take place in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter.  Venues include Hotel Monteleone, the Festival’s host hotel, which has garnered a rich literary history throughout its 125 years; The Historic New Orleans Collection; Williams Research Center; Southern Rep Theatre; Old U.S. Mint; Muriel’s Jackson Square Restaurant; Palm Court Jazz Café; Windsor Court Hotel; Café Istanbul at the New Orleans Healing Center; The Pelican Club Restaurant; and Besh Steak, Harrah’s Casino.

A Festival Panel Pass is $75 ($60 for students); a One-Day Pass is $30; theater/special events range from $5-$100; master classes are $25; the Scholars Conference is $20; walking tours are $25.  Group rates on request. Group rates are 20% off for groups of five or more.

For more information, call 504-581-1144 or 800-990-3378 (FEST). For ticket purchase, regular updates and information on how to become a “Friend of Tennessee,” visit www.tennesseewilliams.net.

Major funding for the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival [TW/NOLF] is made possible through a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Festival is also supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.

In addition, the program is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans. The TW/NOLF is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts through an Access to Artistic Excellence literature grant.  The University of New Orleans administers the Festival’s one-act play competition and provides a graduate assistant for the program.

Generous support has also been provided by The Historic New Orleans Collection; Cenac Towing Co., LLC; The Bollinger Family Foundation; The Zemurray Foundation; The Joe W. & Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation; The Louisiana Museum Foundation; Reily Foods Company/French Market Coffee; LSU Press; Southern Repertory Theatre; Hotel Monteleone; Muriel’s Jackson Square Restaurant; Brennan’s Restaurant; Chateau Bourbon Hotel; New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park; The Pelican Club Restaurant; Palm Court Jazz Café; and Windsor Court Hotel.

26th Annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, March 21-25, 2012, New Orleans, LA www.tennesseewilliams.net

Lakewood Yacht Club Race Committee Chair Gerhard Wittich has announced that the 2012 Bay Cup I will be held on Sat., March 3.

This race is open to the public and race registration can be handled on line at Lakewood’s web-site:  www.lakewoodyachtclub.com under the racing button.

“This is the first of a two race series which features long distance racing in Galveston and Trinity Bays,” explained Wittich.  Bay Cup II will be held on Sat., Aug. 11 with both races having multiple legs which total about 8 to 20 nautical miles.  Overall trophies will be presented for the two race series at the conclusion of the Bay Cup II in Aug.

Wittich related that the club will continue the Cruising Non-Spinnaker (Classic Canvas) and Cruising Poleless Spinnaker Classes as they were popular with racers last year.  Other classes will include PHRF Spinnaker and Non Spinnaker, Short-handed Offshore Sailors (SOS), Multihull and possibly One-Design.  A minimum of four boats constitutes a class.

In addition to the long legs which will take boats into Trinity Bay, the course will present a navigational challenge.

The entry fee of $70 will include post-race activities the evening of Sat., Mar. 3, with a dinner by the pool and musical entertainment in the club’s lounge.  Photos of the day’s race will be shown on the lounge’s plasma television for all to enjoy.

The entry deadline for Bay Cup I is Wed., Feb. 29, 5 pm.  There will be a Skippers’ Meeting in the Lakewood Yacht Club Ballroom, 2425 NASA Parkway, Seabrook, on Friday, March 2, 7:30 pm where all skippers are urged to attend for last minute regatta updates.

Wittich would like to remind racers that Bay Cup I is made possible by the support of its Silver Sponsors:  Bay Access and DonQ Rum.

The second regatta takes place a week later. J/105 Fleet Captain and Lakewood Yacht Club racer Bill Lakenmacher has announced that Lakewood will host the national J/105 Mid-Winter Championship Regatta on March 9 – 11, 2012 on Galveston Bay.

“We are very excited to have this regatta come to the Houston area for the first time,” related Lakenmacher.  “In the past, the J/105 Class Association held the Mid-Winter Regatta in Key West.”

Hoping for 15-20 J/105 participants from around the country, race organizers are looking forward to three days of “as much racing as possible” said J/105 racer Bee Bednar.  It will be a windward/leeward course with the first gun at 10 am all three days.

Cost for the J/105 regatta will be $300 which entitles racers to a free crane to splash their boats into the water, a Saturday night dinner and party along with the Sun. Awards Ceremony following the last race.

For questions, please e-mail Lakewood Yacht Club at lyc@lakewoodyachtclub.com.

Yacht Racing in Texas, Bay Cup I and , Lakewood Yacht Club, 2425 NASA Parkway, Seabrook, TX, www.lakewoodyachtclub.com

The premier of Tornado Alley 3D will even feature a special guest Sean Casey, Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers star. Moody Gardens will also host the TIV-2, Casey’s 7-ton, 650 HP tornado intercept vehicle.

There’s no place like Wizard of Oz 4D Experience, which takes families on their favorite childhood journey with Dorothy down the yellow brick road, except Moody Gardens has added wind, water splashes, and fun effects that bring Oz to life.

Bodies Revealed, featuring real human specimens preserved in a revolutionary process, will also be on exhibit in the Discovery Museum during spring break. This gives guests–young and old alike–a unique perspective on the human body and the importance of physical wellness.

New Films ‘Storm’ into Moody Gardens for Spring Break, Begins March 10, 2012, Galveston, TX, 800-582-4673 or visit www.moodygardens.org

Now a nationally recognized event, the open-air art show is still presented by the Key West Art Center in the historic Old Town district. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, and admission is free.

Each year, the festival features pieces in media such as watercolor, oil paint, acrylic, sculpture, collage, photography and other fine arts. The show is juried to ensure high-quality offerings.

Key West’s Whitehead Street is to be closed to vehicular traffic from Greene to Eaton streets, creating a lively outdoor marketplace where attendees can enjoy exhibitors’ offerings in the typically balmy February weather.

Booths also are to be placed on Caroline Street within Truman Annex, a gracious enclave that includes the Harry S. Truman Little White House where the late president spent 175 days during his 1945-1953 tenure in office.

Proceeds from the show support the Key West Art Center’s programs and maintain the historic 301 Front St. building that houses its gallery.

47th annual Old Island Days Art Festival, Feb. 25-26, 2012, Key West, FL keywestartcenter.com or 305-294-1243

Hosted by Jimmy Johnson, two-time Super Bowl winning coach and former head coach at the University of Miami, the Florida Keys celebrity fishing tournament is to benefit the university’s Sports Hall of Fame as well as other charitable foundations. Entry fee for the all-release team tournament is $5,000, and includes gift bags and tickets for all social functions for up to six team members.

Along with some of the sports toughest billfish competitors, the event will attract notable NFL players and University of Miami college greats, who will join together to raise money for causes near and dear to their hearts. Winners will compete for Cash Prizes and the Champions will receive authentic custom designed Jimmy Johnson’s NBC Championship Rings.

Upon arrival, each participant will register and enter the Event Gifting Suite to receive a wide variety of apparel, fishing merchandise, equipment, and much more, along with a full access pass for entrance into the nightly parties. Each evening will be filled with food, drinks, and great entertainment whether it is the initial Captains meeting and Kick- off party on March 1st, the poker tournament on the second night, or the Closing Party Award presentation, which will include live auction items not to be missed.

Jimmy Johnson’s Billfish Bowl, March 1-3, 2012, Key Largo, www.jimmyjohnsonbillfishchampionship.com