Great Christmas Gifts for People Who Love New Orleans
If you happen to be someone who loves New Orleans, just in time for Christmas, here are some great suggestions.
read moreA Visit with Martin Reed of I Love Blue Sea
On a recent trip to San Francisco, I stopped in to visit and chat with Martin Reed at I Love Blue Sea. Martin was one of the generous sponsors of the LA Helps LA event, supporting Gulf Restoration Network.
read moreLunch at The Enchantment Resort- an enchanting experience indeed
A sumptuous late lunch at the aptly named The Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona and recipe for Slow Braised Short Ribs.
read moreArizona Wine Country- Who Knew?
After our Botanical Garden tour, it's back on the van for us, and we're headed to (yes, from the "who knew?" department!) the Arizona wine country, with a stop at a resort in Sedona for lunch. Some of our group is missing this morning- it was a very long day yesterday, and a very early morning. The Gardens were pleasant- quiet and densely packed with beautiful and exotic plants, although our guide, Emi, was a bit too perky for me so early in the morning. Okay, honestly- it's probably better if I'm left alone early in the morning, and maybe others should be warned to stay away. Emi told us that at a certain point, we'd stop seeing the saguaros, and we'd know we had passed the frost line. Frost line- that's right. Our guides through the wine country told us that, generally, the first thought people have about growing wine grapes in Arizona is that it's too hot, but the truth is, it's frost that poses potential problems. We're headed onto Highway 17 towards Flagstaff, and the high desert area. I keep an eye on the scene passing us, watching for the change in topography. So far, it's a pretty uninteresting landscape on the highway outside the van's window-fast food outlets, cheap motels, industrial parks. So I turn to poring over the wineries' press kits. About half an hour later, I look up to see that the landscape has changed somewhat. It's no longer the suburban, industrial scene- now we are on a two lane highway, a slightly mountainous road, but still lined with rocks and saguaros. 9:25 A.M.-another 40 minutes are so, and there are no more saguaros. It looks like an inland California highway now, with scrubby, mountainous brush. I estimate that we are about halfway there. By 9:45 the roads are beginning to take on a reddish tinge here and there, and we're approaching Fort Verde State Park. After a little initial confusion on the part of our driver, we exit on to a blue highway towards Cottonville, AZ, ending at our first stop, Page Springs Cellars in Cornville, AZ. Corey Turnbull, Page Springs Cellars' assistant winemaker, leads us from the tasting room, into the vineyards, and barrel cellars. The grapes are grown using sustainable and biodynamic practices, although not certified organic because of the burdensome process of being certified- something I hear a lot- on this trip, and back home from local farmers with whom I shop. The vineyards are situated along Oak Creek, a fact I learned when I returned home. I had been told to be sure to see Oak Creek when I made it to Sedona, but The Enchantment Resort where we had lunch in Sedona was situated in Boynton Canyon, not Oak Creek Canyon, so I was happy to learn I had, in fact, seen a part of it. The Page Springs Cellars wines all strive to express Arizona terroir, we're told, and use Rhone varietal grapes grown in Arizona- Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Petit Syrah– to produce food friendly wines. Corey Turnbull leading us through the vineyards Deck outside the tasting room with Oak Creek in the background Craig, the winery's PR rep, tells us more than once that these next two wineries on our tour, are the brainchild...
read moreStarting off with an Early Morning Tour of the Desert Botanical Garden
An early morning visit to Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden
read moreDinner at The Phoenician and Jean-Georges Tuna Tartare Recipe
A progressive dinner at The Phoenician in Phoenix, Arizona and and the recipe for Jean Georges Vongerichten’s mouth watering Tuna Tartare served at the J & G Steakhouse there.
read moreWelcome to Phoenix
Everyone needs a little getaway every once in a while. A change of scenery, even for a few days, does wonders to rejuvenate the spirits, so off I went to Phoenix (only an hour and 15 minute plane ride away) last week for a little R &R. In discussing the trip afterwards with my Uncle, he said Phoenix feels like the Los Angeles of 40 years ago, and that describes it perfectly. While it’s spread over a very large area, there’s a slower, more relaxed pace- no traffic jammed streets, or parking lots masquerading as freeways. “Is this typical for rush hour? ” I incredulously asked our tour guide as she took through the downtown area at around 4:45 or so in the afternoon. Her response-the citizens there have readily adopted public transit with the launching of the Metro light rail system unveiled only a year and a half ago. The response by locals greatly exceeded expectations- the Metro carried as many riders in their first month, as they were projected to carry in their first year, our tour guide told us. Are you listening L.A.? Anglo American, Native American (there are over 21 federally recognized tribes) and Mexican cultures coexist peacefully mostly (that’s despite some controversial political issues you may have heard about recently), and it’s reflected in the life of the city. I stayed at a couple of Phoenix’s best resorts. When I told my cousin Adele I’d be staying at The Phoenician, she asked excitedly “You’re staying at the Phoenician?” Yep (didn’t I just say that…)- and yes, Adele would be all excited about the Phoenician. She’s the type who loves being in the water and lying around the pool, and The Phoenician has quite a spectacular network of pools. I’m not that type, so I fell in love with the other great resort -The Arizona Biltmore. When I walked into my room at Ocatilla at The Arizona Biltmore (the little resort within the resort), I just felt like crying with joy. The Frank Lloyd Wright inspired decor, the Mission style furnishings upholstered in rust colored leather, that little vignette of a truffle filled chocolate box (complete with the imprint of the blocks used to build the Biltmore), fresh fruit on a rectangular glass platter, and a folded linen napkin on the glass topped, iron legged round coffee table- well, I was ready to exhale, if you know what I mean. I haven’t seen a chocolate box since the days right after my graduation from pastry school when I was ambitious, and made a few of them. BTW, the truffles were yummy, too, although there was so much great food on the trip, I didn’t even get to them until I returned home. Check back over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be sharing more about the Biltmore, and some of the great restaurants I dined at (sort of a eating tour of Phoenix- isn’t that a great way to get to know a city?), along with a couple other great places worth a mention. Okay-this is my not so good shot of the chocolate and fruit vignette in my room at Ocatilla, but trust me, it was a beautiful thing. There'll be more about the Biltmore in later posts. The beautiful little desk area in...
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 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,...
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