ALL ABOARD
If you’re looking for a cutting board big enough to hold your Thanksgiving turkey, you’ve come to the right woodshed. New Iberia woodworker Kenny Greig makes small cutting boards as well, but the big boy can host a cheese party, or even serve as a bench, if needed. Greig uses various exotic hard woods to make his Chef Block cutting boards, a process that involves in-grain and long-grain designs. The tight patterning suggests the decorative sensibility of 19th century painter Gustav Klimt, pretty cutting edge for a chopping block. Prices range from $25 to $225 at Sans Souci Fine Crafts Gallery, www.louisianacrafts.org , or call 266-7999 for more info. — Mary Tutwiler
LIKE RUDOLPH, WITH WINGS
I’ll see your Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and raise you a Peli Claus the blue-beaked pelican. It’s the late 19th century, a hurricane has devastated the swamp, and old St. Nick is daunted by the felled trees, high water and the impossible pitch of Cajun roofs, making his Christmas pass impossible. Worse, with the postal service down, the children can’t even get their letters to Papa Noel. That’s where Peli Claus — What else but a pelican? — comes in. The yuletide fowl saves Christmas by bringing Santa the letters and delivering the toys and food. The Legend of Peli Claus: Savior of Christmas recounts the heartwarming tale for les enfants in your family. Written by Nolan “Joey” Pellerin and richly illustrated by Stefan Jolet, The Legend of Peli Clau retails for $19.95 and is available at Sir Speedy Printing & Marketing on Jefferson Street downtown and through www.peliclaus.com . — Walter Pierce
SPICE OF LIFE
We were sorry to see City News go, but hey, life is all about change, right? The new manifestation of the narrow little shop with the wedding cake ceiling on Jefferson Street is Cajun Spice Gallery, which opened Saturday, Nov. 14, with a show titled Spice of Life by the late Lafayette artist Eugene J. Martin. This is a beautiful space for art, and the gallery is displaying both his humourous pencil and pen and ink drawings, as well as the colorful acrylic works on paper filled with whimsical allusions to animal, machine and structural imagery. Following the opening show, owner and artist Melissa Dronet will be selling her silk screened shirts, and there will be several artists filling the shop with hand blown glass vases, silk paintings, fish prints and whatever else draws Dronet’s fancy (think homemade cookies). Cajun Spice Gallery, 535 Jefferson St., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. Call 232-3061 for more info. — MT