Parisian Cuisine
“Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.” Charles de Montesquieu A three hour lunch in Paris is not out of the ordinary. Perhaps not every day, but more often than you might expect. No, people don’t eat for hours. They commiserate, laugh, discuss, pontificate, negotiate, argue, teach, reflect, flirt, cajole, tease, write and read. They refresh, restore, renew, and enjoy themselves. Not once in the time I spent in Paris did I see a single individual eating ‘on the go’ as has become the standard practice in the U.S. Even when folks grabbed a croque monsieur and Orangina from a...
Read MoreMenus and Recipes
“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” Ruth Reichl When it comes to food, it appears we’re coming full circle, back to the basics, but with a touch of flair. In the past, succulent home-cooked meals which satisfied both palette and spirit,took hours to prepare, and were eventually replaced with time-saving microwaved fare, minute rice, and take out. Harried income earners working 50-60 hrs. a week often gulped dinner, only to leave the table feeling full, but also empty – of satisfaction. Along came Alice Waters and California Cuisine prepared with...
Read MoreTexas & The West
We’ve traveled through Kansas and Oklahoma in our sojourn west, and I’m sure a few Texans are wondering when we’re going to give a tip of the ten gallon to the Lone Star State where The Stars at Night are Big and Bright. (Sorry, couldn’t resist. Did you know there are 100++ songs devoted to Texas? from Abilene to Amarillo, Big D to Brownsville, Galveston to La Grange, Luckenbach to San Antonio…Texans love to sing about their state!). There’s just so much to see and do there. If ever you find yourself in Texas, I’d strongly recommend a road trip of this fantastic state. Some...
Read MoreNew Orleans
It’s no surprise that a city as diverse in culture, cuisine and citizenry requires multiple monikers to capture is magic. New Orleans is known by turns as “The Big Easy’, The Birthplace of Jazz”, “The Little Paris of the New World”, “Mardi Gras City” and “The City that Care Forgot”. The current favorite sobriquet? – “The Big Easy”. In the early 1900’s New Orleans had a dance hall named The Big Easy, but it wasn’t until 70 years later, when Betty Guillaud, columnist for the Times-Picayune used the term to compare New York (The Big Apple) to New Orleans (The Big Easy) that the name took...
Read MoreRitva Coffron – the Joie de Vivre Artist
A Ritva Coffron handkerchief can’t help but make you smile. Light and playful, cheerful and heartwarming, Coffron designs welcome you with joyful exuberance. Like many staff artists who worked for a corporation, Coffron’s work went unsigned, and we might never have discovered her identity without the help of her niece Marja. Luckily, Marja found this blog, and generously shared her handkerchief collection and stories about her aunt. As we know, some textile designers like Tammis Keefe, Carl Tait, or Tom Lamb, had exclusives for their designs with large retailers – B. Altman, Neiman...
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