proper attire...please!

"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." Oscar Wilde's quote appears on the lunch menu of Commander's Palace. Why wouldn't you want to have a bit of temptation in your life? Lunch is one way to enjoy a long standing tradition of New Orleans. Located in the sultry garden district of the city, this aqua blue establishment is like a very large Tiffany wrapped present you can give to yourself! The service alone will make you feel as if you are royalty...so gracious, you will immediately feel you are some where out of the ordinary. Everyone should have this experience at least once, but once is never enough! If you go for dinner please dress for the occasion. Never ever in shorts or jeans, not even for lunch! Pamper yourself with turtle soup spiked with sherry and order desert first if you choose bread pudding souffle...for it takes awhile to achieve it's perfection...and perfection it is! Commander's is pricey but it should be...for the experience you receive... it is worth it! Go and yield to temptation!!!

SHOP

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde

a good dinner

"Never eat more than you can lift."....Miss Piggy

"After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives." Oscar Wilde

seasoned

There is nothing like starting a roux in a well seasoned cast iron skillet! Years of use only add to memories that last a lifetime. It is something about the even heat that makes a first-timer cook shine. If you are lucky enough to inherit one from a past family kitchen, you know exactly what I am talking....but if not, you can start to season one of your own. Joseph Lodge founded Lodge cookware in 1896. Lodge is the oldest family-owned cookware in America. Try using a cast iron dutch for your next jambalaya.

Some cooking advice from Julia Child..."Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you will need."

"If you are afraid of butter, use cream."

"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces-just good food from fresth ingredients.".....BON APPETITE

a slippery subject

Growing up with oyster dressing on Thanksgiving is a fond memory of many of New Orleanian. Some people are very grateful that they do not have to wait until that thankful Thursday. It is nothing like standing at a raw bar with a skilled shucker as your guide!!! Oh Love! You can be driven into a maddening love for the bivalvia molluscs. The oyster is associated with aphrodisiac powers, so eat oysters and be loved.

Famous words from "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway....."As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy, and to make plans."

sumptuous feast

Lucullus was a Roman general and famous for his extravagant lifestyle and luxurious feast. Cicero and Lucullus was ardent friends. Cicero's finest feast was at Lucullus's table..."Tonight Lucullus dines with Lucullus"....Through the red french door from Lyons France, you too can imagine dining with yourself or with friends in grand style if you step into Lucullus Culinary Antique shop at 610 Chartres in the French Quarter. Passion is without a doubt the spirit of this fabulous culinary shop, owned by Patrick Dunne. I promise you will want to plan your next dinner party as you walk around and gaze upon some of the finest culinary antiques of the world! The passion for life is all around as your eyes feast with delight! You too can be a true Lucullan, which means lavish, luxurious, and gourmet...it is waiting at Lucullus Culinary Antiques. A Lucullus feast is a sumptuous feast!!

"Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast." Epictetus 55AD-135AD

Growing Yourself

Cicero, the Roman statesman and Philosopher, 106BC-43BC, pointed out 6 mistakes of man. This also in today's times spells woman too! We should never stop growing or examining our self. This is a life long task and must be done in order to be fully human and alive.
The mistakes are...The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others. The tendency to worry about things that can not be changed. Insisting a thing is impossible because we can not accomplish it. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences. Neglecting the development and refinement of the mind. And finally, attempting to compel others as we do or think.

"Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body." Cicero

"Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with sure hope and trust in itself." Cicero

WUNDERKAMMER

New Orleans is a cabinet of curiosities....I think of the city as a cupboard of arranged artifacts, just waiting for the world's eye to gaze upon. Just let your mind wander to the oddities, curiosities, and the wonderful whimsical obscure delights. You never know what you will find and guaranteed not to be BORING!!!

"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world." C.S. Lewis

DRAWN BLANK.........

"The human mind is like a t.v. set. When it goes blank, it's a good idea to turn it off." anonymous

BLAST OFF

Atlantis Space Shuttle blasted off yesterday to deliver thousands of spare parts to the international space station. The space station provides a simulated environment for human life to exist. The whole space adventure is sometimes hard to wrap your brain around!! To get a better example and an adventure yourself, go to the Stennis Space Center. Tour buses depart from the Mississippi Welcome Center, just 45 miles east of New Orleans. Enjoy the out of this world space exhibits, have some local cuisine in the Rocketeria and shop The Odyssey Gift Shop. Leave your world behind and seek some space!

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Eliot

"In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors." William Blake

always on my mind

When away from the allure of New Orleans, I see it everywhere. I like to compare and make mental notes of how New Orleans would be in another location! With The Crescent City dominated by water, I must not get to far fetched. New Orleans being a city that knows how to create, could pull it off even in the desert. But the water is life itself! So imagine taking the food, drink and the celebration with you. As I stroll on my favorite beach, I will let the coconuts become Zulu and keep New Orleans always on my mind! It is easy to travel with bits and pieces of memory and always "let the good times roll".

"Memory feeds the imagination." Amy Tan

"The heart that truly loves never forgets." Proverb

missing morgus

The famous New Orleans scientist....Morgus the Magnificent, with assistants Chopsley and E.R.I.C., once upon a time had a laboratory with a full case of ghouls and experiments!!! Now they are lost in time! Oh how I miss them. Come back Morgus...New Orleans needs you. Come Back!!! Saturday nights are not the same without your guided hosting to our favorite frightful movies! Morgus, where are you???? You can find him at...Morgus.com...go for a visit, but remember, you may never come back!!!! The next generation needs his science views...we are a lost city...we need the higher power of his mind to guide us into the new world of intelligence??? I say Morgus for MAYOR...of NEW ORLEANS!!!!

The quote of the day....as Morgus would have said it, but I said it...."Think for yourself"......HAPPY FRIDAY the 13th.....

STACKED UP

What do you do when there is too much to do in one day? That day is here and now! But I remember what Mother Teresa said, "If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."

May I quote Mother Teresa's words again. "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

American Honor

Courage and sacrifice for the common good of American people. New Orleans is proud to embrace the past with honoring the American soldier at The National World War II Museum. Glory and honor still stands proud today!

"The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future." Stephen Ambrose

Stephen Ambrose was sometimes called "America's Uncle History". He has left his family and the nation with a great legacy of words and his long staking efforts with founding The World War II Museum. A portion of Interstate 10 at the Louisiana and Mississippi state line is Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway. A perfect thank-you! I had the great honor of being introduce to him in an local art gallery, and instantly I knew I was in brilliance and grace. Stephen Ambrose said it best as describing himself, "I am an unabashed triumphalist, I believe this is the best and greatest country that ever was." Thank you Dr. Ambrose as you are teaching us all still, just only from a different place.

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom." General George S. Patton, Jr.

"We are not retreating--we are advancing in another direction." General Douglas MacArthur

soul blue

Get in the mood...a blue mood...when the weather is moody it is a perfect time. Send your mind off somewhere in the Delta, feel the heat, the raw, soulful and blue! Listen to a little BB or be a friend of John Lee Hooker. It does not take long and you can be blue all over!

The House of Blues has a mixed bag of reviews. For some "The Thrill is Gone"...but for me a quick fix anytime will do. A beer in the voodoo garden or a quick bit to eat. I have seen some good acts in the Parish Room and have been in a trance sneaking in the Foundation Room. Whatever the cause for me...the thrill is still there. Who cares if it is a franchise sitting in the middle of a cradle of jazz and blues, it maintains a soulful, raw, and delta feel. Just to be surrounded with some of the great outsider artists, is enough for me. The masters are all hanging, Sudduth, Dial, and Tolliver, just to name a few! The art collection is suppose to be one of the largest in the country and very impressive for a blue soul.

The HOB mission statement alone will promote one to eat, drink and be soulful;
"To celebrate the diversity and brotherhood of world culture. To promote racial and spiritual harmony through love, peace, truth, righteousness and non-violence." Who would not want to embrace this kind of soulful living!

I am dishing myself some soul and blues, cause "I'm In The Mood" for a little John Lee Hooker and Bonnie Raitt!

"The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning." John Lee Hooker

"The blues ain't nothing but a good man feelin' bad." Leon Redbone

"Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope." Mahalia Jackson

One of the most important things in life is to be able to touch other people's lives, the blues do that, we are all richer as a result.

PIMM ME

You are always cordially invited to take a seat at The Napoleon House...500 Chartres Street and have a Pimm's Cup. A Pimm's Cup can be a delightful summer drink but with a step outside, one realizes that the date on the calendar and the weather have their clashes, especially in New Orleans.....So a Pimm is good anytime! Most bars have their own thumb print on this London born concoction, but the best place is Napoleon House. This famous landmark was offered to Napoleon in 1821 when he was in exile; he never made it there but his name did and stayed with the building. Today the Napoleon House is a great haunt for artist, writers and just everyday characters! The essence of New Orleans is all around. Pimm's #1 is a gin based drink containing a secret mixture , which only a few people know, sets the base with lemonade, topped off with 7-up and a cucumber for garnish. When making at home you can add your own magic with sliced fruit and bubbly champagne... BAR IS OPENED TILL......

"The best cure for the body is a quite mind." Napoleon

"Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night." Napoleon

Camellia Friday

Do something different today! Cook your Camellia Beans today instead of Monday. Just make the whole day different. Wear something different, do something different, be somebody different....just today...think different! Be a Camellia! In New Orleans you can be whoever! Soak-up some beans and Soak-up some LIFE!
BON APPETITE.... CAMELLIA

"Red Beans and Ricely Yours." Louie Armstrong signed his personal correspondence this way!

"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary." ....Cecil Beaton quote...gotta love him!!

Ignatius of New Orleans

"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head." The first line in the book "A Confederacy of Dunces" by...John Kennedy Toole

Need I say more? Well I think I will!!! The title comes from an essay by Jonathan Swift...."When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

More of Jonathan Swift quotes....."A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying...that he is wiser today than yesterday."

"Books, the children of the brain."

"May you live every day of your life."

If you have not read this book...do so immediately, you will love it! I am really more fascinated with the author...John Kennedy Toole....what a story and a life!!!
So New Orleans!

RUTHIE

New Orleans comforts people who live outside the box! One of those people who received that comfort was Ruthie. Ruthie was a small woman but she was really larger than life and life she lived....smoking, drinking and being one of the most famous character's of the Vieux Carre'. She had a constant smile but in an instant she could curse you straight to hell. She was never interested in reality, only her own created world with her feathered duck friends. Ruthie's youth name was "the duck girl" but I knew her as Ruthie "the duck lady". When she was young she would roller skate through the Quarter in some get-up....she was known to wear a bridal gown or evening wear...always near were the ducks. As she aged the skates rolled away and some of the evening wear but the ducks were her life. I think of all the smiles she gave to tourist and I would spy her going down the street only to engage a smile myself. Ruthie had her people and her ducks....and a life with a permanent smile! On a rainy day in September 2008 she was laid to rest... a perfect rainy day for a duck lover.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss

VooDoo PICASSo

I like to compare Picasso and New Orleans. Think about the process, so creative and colorful! Mask, women, out loud, love, celebrations, bold color, slightly off, alluring and seductive. Picasso has many periods...so does New Orleans. Classic, harlequin, still life, large women, realist, blue and rose, just to name a few....so New Orleans but all Picasso!

Picasso needed to be fully engaged with life. It was very necessary so he could then completely empty himself. This was the way he lived his life. His expression of release gave the world great visual pleasure! New Orleans breathes life into each person with food, music, celebrations and sights...just feel and embrace.

Picasso has many critics....so does New Orleans. When you are out loud, as Picasso and New Orleans, people will notice. When negative creeps up and critics attack...I just think to myself...they do not get it! Life in New Orleans is like living in a wonderful Picasso! Never boring... so see New Orleans with all the colors sprinkled with lots of black and gold!!!

"Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not." Picasso

"The artist is a receptacle for emotion that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider web." Picasso

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." Picasso

Soulful Day

All Souls' Day....this day commemorates the faithful departed, the celebration follows All Saints Day. Prayers are said to help the dead attain sanctification and moral perfection. The skull, which symbolizes death and rebirth, is used as a symbol of All Souls' Day. A reminder of death is aways near but life should be LIVED NOW!!

The Catholic faithful of New Orleans clean and decorate tombs of their deceased loved ones. Only in New Orleans can a party be thrown at a tomb, where families come together to share gumbo, jambalaya and family news.

New Orleans tradition has many rituals for celebrating life over death. All Souls' Day reminds us that life is a precious gift, very fleeting and must be enjoyed to fullest every day. This is a day of joyous celebration in a city filled with Life!

"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin." W.M. Lewis

"Life is just a chance to grow a soul." A. Powell Davis