My Father’s Day Tribute
My father moved us to Los Angeles from New Orleans, when I was young, in search of a better life for himself and his family. He took us back to visit as often as he could, and I have many fond memories of steamy summers spent there.
read moreThere Will Always Be a Need for Parties!
In June of 1969, Stephanie Mills created quite a stir by announcing in her valedictory speech at Mills College’s graduation ceremony, that the future was a cruel hoax, and that she would not be bringing children into this world. I was graduating from high school that same month, and about to go off to Mills College in the fall. My mother wrung her hands, not quite sure what she was sending me off to. I’ve just finished reading a personal perspective by Ms. Mills in my latest alumnae publication, entitled “the brighter side of doom and gloom” where Ms. Mills states that we must begin to distinguish between wants and needs to survive. I’m so glad that she includes conviviality as a need, along with water, food, shelter, clothing and dignity. Indeed, there will always be a need to gather with friends and family to celebrate the special moments in our lives, to share each others’ company and great conversation. Sometimes we’ll need to gather to support each other and reassure ourselves in tough times. And sometimes we’ll just need to kick back. We’ll always need great food and drink, along with great music, entertainment and storytelling to remind ourselves of our humanity. So in spite of what’s going on in our economy, parties, whether casual or more formal, large or small, are still on the...
read moreChoices
I wrote earlier about meeting Misty in the French Quarter at En Vie. She gave me her phone number, so I called her again towards the end of my trip. She asked how I had enjoyed my visit. I shared with her that it had been somewhat difficult for me. She said "New Orleans tests you if you want to live here." Indeed. I say she's a tough mistress. Charming and beautiful, but petulant and demanding. She’s difficult, and entrenched in her ways, but her allure is undeniable. She gets her hooks in you, and doesn’t let go. Misty suggested I just sit back and let things happen when I expressed my frustration to her. How differently people there approach things. Here in Los Angeles everyone is into making things happen, “creating","manifesting” their own reality. They believe in attracting everything to themselves that they need or want. I’ve even heard the suggestion that you can change things in your life in an instant by changing your mind, making a choice. But in New Orleans, people have squarely hit against forces they cannot control. I remember using the phrase “ever since they started trying to tame the river” in the presence of my friend Jerry, a fellow expatriate of NOLA. What exactly I was discussing, I don’t remember, but I was, no doubt, showing off my newly learned knowledge after reading RISING TIDE: THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI FLOOD OF 1927 AND HOW IT CHANGED AMERICA , and learning a great deal about the history of the Army Corps of Engineers’ flawed attempts at flood control in the region. Jerry let out a hearty guffaw. “You can’t control that river.” And so it’s true. The river is mighty- wild and powerful- and a force beyond our control, as it keeps reminding us. I talked to a friend last week who asked about my trip. Once again, I found myself saying to someone, that it was “somewhat difficult.” I started in, relating to her the various moods I’ve encountered in NOLA during my trips since the flood. The celebratory mood at the homecoming to the first Mardi Gras PK, the realization of the hard realities they were hitting a year later, and the entrenched discouragement of this trip, in spite of small and individual successes. “I was reading something about New Orleans the other day” she said. “The article said the city isn’t coming back, that whole neighborhoods are still empty.” “It’s not true. It is coming back” I responded. “Some neighborhoods are back and doing well. Some are not. But it all depends now on the choices they make.” Yes-choices. While choices are important in creating our reality-and when I think about Ray Nagin (hmmm-maybe it would be good if they kept him in China) I realize it’s something the people of New Orleans need to consider very seriously- the rest of us can learn from them that we cannot control every force. We learn that we must live in balance, that we must make good and proper choices to live harmoniously with those forces, and that our good and proper choices must still sometimes inevitably yield to forces beyond our control Okay- I promise we'll get back to food and fun next time. Ciao,...
read moreI Do Radio
Hello All, I just wanted to let you know about a great resource- I Do Radio- with host Rev.Angela Butts Chester of Chester Ministries and Blessings All Around located in Long Beach, CA. Rev. Angela's mission is to celebrate the the stages of our lives in ceremony. Now there's something I can really get behind. I truly believe in the power of celebration. Her show, I Do Radio, features wedding advice from all angles, and this morning she interviewed- me! You can click on the link below to listen in. Rev. Angela Interview BonAppetit!...
read moreTreeless Leeves- The Army Corps Is At It Again
Army Corps orders thousands of trees chopped down Here they go again. The Army Corps of Engineers’ track record when it comes to flood control along the Mississippi has been disastrous. Remember the drowning of New Orleans. Here’s a clue- it wasn’t the natural disaster Hurricane Katrina that devastated the city. Just a couple of months before the post-Katrina flooding of NOLA, I finished reading a book I highly recommend to everyone. RISING TIDE: THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI FLOOD OF 1927 AND HOW IT CHANGED AMERICA by John Barry is, among other things, a history of the flawed policies regarding flood control in the Mississippi Delta. It’s a book that took Mr. Barry 20 years to write, and although it is history, it reads like a novel. I highly recommend it to anyone who ever wondered how it was that New Orleans found itself in the position it did in late August of 2005. In fact, I recommend it to anyone who wants to better understand New Orleans. You’ll also come away learning much about this country, and how things work in the corridors of power, just in case you didn’t know already. And now, I read today the article linked to above on the latest pursuits of the Army Corps. Please read it (and seriously-pick up Rising Tide) and then do whatever you can to get the word out about this, and hopefully stop it. Do we really need, in a world threatened by global warming, to have our government destroy thousands of trees (many old growth) across the country? Please take action now! ...
read moreThe Chinese in New Orleans and Yaka Mein
Yaka Mein – chasing down the origins of a New Orleans favorite with Chinese roots
read moreArriving at Dooky Chase’s and Who’s Your People?
I walked in the door to be greeted by a small man in a baseball cap and slightly rumpled shirt grinning toothlessly at me and family friend Lloyd Gonzalez. Lloyd introduced me to him. "Perez- I know some Perez's" he said. I would never have dreamed that this was Dooky Chase, owner and namesake of this well known restaurant.- a porter maybe, or a dishwasher. Hey, but that's how the Chase's are, so humble, approachable and accesible to everyone. "Emmanuel Perez" Dooky continued. I demurred, not connecting the name to myself. "Yeah- that's your uncle" LLoyd piped in. "Manuel". Oh Manuel, I thought. Now where in the world could you walk in a door, and have someone connect you to, and accept you as one of their own through your father's uncle who has been dead for over 60 years? Emmanuel- until my brother Eric recently sent me biographical material he had unearthed on Uncle Manuel, I had not even known his naem was Emmanuel. Uncle Manuel-Manuel Perez – the legendary New Orleans trumpet player, who I had once heard Louis Armstrong say he followed around as a child. Lloyd dropped another name or two as the conversation continued- Ann DuPlessis (Du PLessis is my mother's maiden name)- currently a New Orleans councilwoman, who I know nothing about. Just a name I'd come across in newspaper articles after Katrina, along with Llopeis, another of my ancestral names. All these " perhaps" relatives I've never met. Even Leah Chase is related to my mother somehow we figured out afer my last visit. As we left Dooky we were still discussing origins, and Dooky was still calling off family names and their connections to each other. That's New Orleans- who's your mama? Ciao,...
read moreDoes Planning a Wedding Really Take a Year?
Here's another one of those "everyone says" things I hear about planning weddings. I once had a bride- to-be call me in January to plan her wedding which was going to be held in January of the following year. She was only having about 15 guests at her wedding. I asked her why she was calling so far ahead. She responded, "well, everyone says you have to plan a wedding a year ahead of time." Oy! Unless you want the hottest new venue in town for hundreds of people, there is no reason a wonderful wedding cannot be put together in a few months. I catered a wedding a few years back for 100 guests. Betty, the bride, called me in January, for her wedding that June- and we all know June is prime wedding season. She had one of the most wonderful weddings I've ever seen, in a lovely venue, with great catering (of course!). She told me 5 years later that people were still talking about how great everything was. And here's another tip- a bride recently told me that when she moved her wedding from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, she was able to have a wedding with the best of everything, in the New York City area, with only a couple of months planning. And here's the flip side. On more than one occasion I have had brides call me a few weeks before their wedding with tales of some mishap with their caterer whom they had booked months and months in advance, and at the last minute they were looking for a new one. There are just too many things that can happen over the course of a year. Tastes change, budgets change (look what's happened in this last year), people change. So relax. Yes, putting together a wedding does take a certain amount of pre-planning, but it doesn't have to take over a year of your life. Here are some pictures of Betty's wonderful wedding. Bon Appetit!, Gisele P.S. If you are plannign a wedding-or any other special event- pick up a copy of my E-book :Help I Need a Caterer– available at www.helpineedacaterer.com. It's full of great tips on the process of hiring and workign with the perfect caterer to create the wedding you've dreamed...
read moreVisiting with Leah Chase
On the last day of my visit a couple of weeks ago, I stopped in to visit with Mrs. Leah Chase of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant. I had visited with Mrs. Chase, in her FEMA trailer, on my last visit, but hadn’t been smart enough to tape it then. This time I wised up and video taped our chat.
read moreBuffet vs. Sit Down Dinner- Which Way to Go if You’re on a Budget?
Every once in a while I browse the Web on the topic of wedding catering to see what people are saying out there. Today I came across a site which reminded me of how many misconceptions there are being tossed around. Here's an old bromide I ran across this morning on a site offering advice on trimming the cost of a wedding reception: "…consider going with a buffet instead of a traditional sit-down dinner. While every catering price list is different, buffet dinners are traditionally cheaper than plated dinners." The common wisdom is that buffet events require less service staff- which admittedly can be expensive- so therefore are less expensive. I've always been suspicious of this bit of "common wisdom", so while I was writing Help I Need a Caterer, I decided to run the question by a couple other caterers and event planners. My suspicions were confirmed, as they agreed with me. While there is a need for more service staff with a formal sit down dinner, a caterer is able to control food portions in a way that is impossible on a buffet. We've all seen guests whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs, and pile their plates with food that ends up getting tossed. While the quantity of each dish needs to be increased on a buffet, I also feel the number of selections need to be increased. For example, clients usually want two main course selections, i.e.like chicken and fish or beef on a buffet, as well as a two or three vegetable selections. As a caterer, I don't know which item will appeal to guests more, so I have to make sure there is enough of each. The fact of the matter is, most people will want to taste both. But here's the real kicker that a colleague pointed out to me. Since guests will undoubtedly return to the buffet more than once, there's a need to rent additional plates and flatware etc., and rentals really do add up. When I'm a guest, I personally favor buffets- I'm more of a casual gal, I like choices, and I like to move around. But which is more economical? I think it's a toss up. The important thing is deciding what's your style, and most important to you. Tune in over the next few days as I look at more of those "common wisdom" assumptions. Bon Appetit, Gisele P.S. If you're planning a wedding, but have question about how to go about putting together your reception,watch for the relaunch of my E-book Help! I Need a Caterer. It 's full of practical tips on planning and hiring a caterer who'll help you create the perfect wedding reception- or any other special party. BTW, the E-book was recently featured in the L.A. Bride section of Valley Magazine....
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