My Calender : January 25- February 6

January 25
Wake up at the godforsaken hour of 2:30 a.m. to be out the door by 3:30 a.m. to make it to Toulouse airport by 5 a.m. to board flight to Amsterdam at 6 a.m.
Spend five hours wandering around Amsterdam airport. Lots of shopping and the sushi bar opens at 9:30 a.m.
Board flight for Memphis, land in Memphis and spend 3 ½ hours wandering around Memphis airport. Pulled pork sandwich at Corky's BBQ?
Arrive New Orleans at 9 p.m. Go to my pied-à-terre in New Orleans (Ron and Michael's) and have homemade butternut squash soup that Michael is making. Possible walk to the Quarter to have a drink. Depends upon fatigue level.


January 26
Wake up at 4 a.m. (a normal occurrence after a flight to the States) and sit staring at the computer screen while I wait for the others to wake up so I can go downstairs and make some much needed coffee.
Go help Ron and Jerry pick out tuxedos at the Men's Warehouse for Jerry and Leah's upcoming wedding. Ron is best man so tux's have to match.
See friends in the Quarter.




January 27
Help load throws onto Krewe of King Arthur floats.



Got to the Quarter and watch Krewe of Barkus and wait for call from Michael who is in King Arthur parade to let us know when they're close to Canal Street so we can walk down to see him and several other friends riding on floats and catch some of the throws that we helped to load onto the floats earlier in the day.
Go to King Arthur Post Parade Event.


January 28
Rest. Jet lag should be gone by now.
See friends.
Eat fried shrimp Po' Boy, either at Elizabeth's or Deanie's.



Get Stateside errands done before the city is inundated with visitors.
Possible Scrabble game at Mary's.




January 29
Spend the day with Donna.
Possible trip uptown to the St. James Cheese Company because I'll be needing a cheese fix by then.
See what's new on Magazine Street.
Dinner out with Donna to celebrate our birthdays, which are just 10 days apart.


January 30
Nothing scheduled during the day. How is this possible???
Dinner at Jerry and Leah's.




January 31
Rest, get some work done, rest some more.
Possible lunch at Cochon.
Gather strength for the next five days.
Krewe of Muses parade rolls at 7 p.m.


February 1
Calvin arrives from Rhode Island.
Parades and quality time with Donna and Calvin.



Watch the city fill up with Mardi Gras revelers and Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!




February 2 through 5
Many festivities to attend - too many to list.
Beans and Booze on Bourbon Party.





Societé of St. Anne parade.



Mardi Gras


February 6
Recover.

Today's Specials: Beligum

For all those who, like me, have a sweet tooth! Here are the delicious, incredible, tasty, and rich Belgium Waffles! I love them plain, but the variations are endless!

Enjoy the picture of another Belgium speciality bread, the Greek Bread, wrongly called Greek because of a bad translation into French from its Flemish name, Bruut van de Grecht (bread from the gulf), that goes back to its origins in the 15C... It's absolutely Beligum.

Bon appetit!

A beautifully dressed table!

My friend Martha has incredible taste when it comes to dressing tables or decorating her home. She likes to mix ancient and modern, rustic and sophisticated. Last night, she had dressed a bare table (without a tablecloth) and used mats. The beautiful wooden table comes from her husband's grandparents, whose family is from the region. She has two modern chic chairs on each side of the table. The embroidery mats and napkins were bought in Bruges when she first visited Beligum, after arriving in France. She loves her sharp Lagiole knives. The glasses are hand cut Bohemia crystal.

Photo du Jour - Colors of May

The fields in May are splashed with color. Poppies, irises, lavender, dandelions, wild orchids, and many, many others that I wish I knew the names of.

More wine: St Veran and Rully

We spent the weekend in the Sarthe, near Le Mans (have you heard about the 24 hours of Le Mans car race? Also visit other posts in this blog). The colors of Autumn were spectacular!

As I was telling our friend Jean-Maurice Verbois how enthusiastic I was about learning wine tasting in the oenology course I am taking, he went to the cellar and brought two great wines to go with the fish we were going to have for dinner.
He opened two wonderful white 1997 Burgandy bottles: A Saint Veran Vieilles Vignes (old grapes) and a Rully Grand Cru. The Saint Veran was almost perfect. The Rully, a wine from Puligny Montrachet, was perfect.

Start the year with a good salad!

January's recipe teaches us how to make a good French vinaigrette sauce, so let's use it daring variations on the vinaigrette theme!
Endives are aplenty in winter (you will eat seasonal). They are crisp, light, and delicious and can be eaten raw or cooked, for example in a light veloute with clementine juice.
This is a classic recipe made with raw endives: Apples and Endives Salad.

Take 2 large endives

1 medium apple (I used a Royal Gala).

1/4 cup sultanas

1 tsp sesame seeds

3 tsp virgin walnut oil

1 tsp cider vinegar

sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Clean the outside of the endives, cut every leave in stripes 1 inch wide.Wash the apple thoroughly, cut in small pieces. Prepare your vinaigrette in the salad bowl, add the endives, apples, sesame seeds and sultanas. Toss and serve. .. et voila!

I have omitted the Dijon mustard in the vinaigrette. I love virgin walnut oil and I think it goes very well with endives.

Photo du Jour

Big, juicy oysters from the Étang de Thau.