Dreaming by the waters in the Bywater

I came down to New Orleans last week and have been staying in the Bywater,an up and coming BoBo (Bourgeois/Bohemian) neighborhood with a hint of ghetto style,a splash of historical buildings,sprinkled with a dash of speak easy pizzas and local satsuma juices. New Orleans is sprouting with local mini urban gardens and its occupants try to be green and sustainable all the while dealing with the leftovers of Katrina.
So far it's been good and welcoming even though the town is overwhelming at times (biking around drunk tourists in the French quarter or meeting so many people that you forget what you were doing in the first place!). This is New Orleans,the most welcoming place I've been to so far but the feeling of unease persists yet we don't know why. Is it the fact that I get to go out in a shady neighborhood to a secret backyard pizza spot where I can enjoy smooth jazz while the neighbors are dealing with drug and insecurity? Is it the fact that I get to ride my bike for fun while taking pictures of the pretty houses while the next house is still marked by the stories you would only find in a sad country song sang to the tourist in the French Quarter? Is it me thinking too hard where everyone's just trying to forget that anything is possible even the worst in a place that would just like to see the best. So instead of raging religious battles on the other side of the planet, may be we should use our money to make levees and not war in fact so we can get back to making love.

Tuiles,riz and Social beasts...

"Le jardin des Tuileries" is the old royal garden in front of the Louvre,right before the Champs Elysées. I crossed the Louvre's court yesterday thinking of how unbelievable it is to build such a big "house"for just one family,even if it is a royal one.
I was happy to see though that nowadays this kind of structure is used by the public who can walk their dog through the "cour carrée"but was forced to ask myself have times really changed? Are we allowed the same privileges our Presidents,our ministers and other heads of state enjoy,or is it an illusion? I would say it is a lure,a decoy, "un leurre",that our socialists dreams make us mistake for the truth. We are led to believe times have changed since we are able to walk the old royal appartments,yet we still cannot choose whether we will feed our pigs GMO's or whether I can build a yurt in the midlle of my field. I still have to abide by the rules made by those "social" east thinkers who come out of Ivy league schools and have never compared the price of two butters at 2 different grocery stores because they live on a tight budget. Although they surely have compared the price of their Rolex's with their old college roomates!
Ask yourself next time you walk along our old Monarch's castles if times have really changed since we cut their heads or if we need to cut our losses,and run for the hills...

la chandeleur! Mardi gras! fat Tuesday?

Today in France it's la chandeleur,the day we all have crepes made out of buckwheat and regular white flour. The legend also wants us to think that if we throw a crepe in the air and catch it back in the pan with a penny in our hand we will be rich this year...I've done it before and my bank account has not grow since but we can say I have grown richer in other ways! Another tradition today is to make two kinds of crepes,one is with white flour and the other one with buckwheat flour.I know most of you probably never have had buckwheat crepes but it's never too late to make it right! It's even better with a glass of cider!Du cidre en fait!
I hope you enjoy some crepes and some "beignets aux pommes" today, like I did! Note that bakeries in the city are selling crepes for 1 euro a piece which is absolutely crazy since to make them you need about 2 cups of flour,2 eggs and some milk which might just cost you ,well.. 1 euro!
If you know how to make pancakes from scratch,just leave out the rising ingredients and you will probably end up with crepes! But please make them,don't buy them !

manège...et lumieres

Premier dejeuner mais pas sur l'herbe! First lunch but not on the grass...

Hey all,as most of you know,I left for Paris last week,have been sleeping in a lot,walking in the city but mainly enjoying some good cheese,and wine! Here is a sample of my first lunch,nice salad with homemade dressing,beet salad,camembert(thank god,i've been missing that one the most!),Cantal and Morbier,yes the blue in the middle is kind of like mold but things aren't pasteurized to death here, which in turn makes us healthier,he oui c'est comme ca!
I think there is something to learn here for the FDA since "clean"things aren't always what they seem. So raise your glass of "rouge"to unpasteurized cheese,it could save your life!