Friday, March 25, 2011

La nuit mystérieuse

Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image
Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage,
Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et sonore,
Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par l'aurore;

Tu m'appelais et je quittais la terre
Pour m'enfuir avec toi vers la lumière,
Les cieux pour nous entr'ouvraient leurs nues,
Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines entrevues,

Hélas! Hélas! triste réveil des songes
Je t'appelle, ô nuit, rends moi tes mensonges,
Reviens, reviens radieuse,
Reviens ô nuit mystérieuse!

What grand music and sublime text!  Such art transports one tossed by quotidian brashness to a place of civility. 

Win, but lose...

Friday night in Lafayette: the possibility of trying a new beanery for dinner.  There's a new place that just opened on Kaliste Saloom Road called "Walk-On's".  The parking lot is the size of a postage stamp, and the majority of patrons parallel park on the side street and on the empty lot next door.  It's a sports bar sort of place.  My guy was in work mode when he texted.  It usually goes something like "Dinner in 60. Point. I'll meet."  That's code for "I'm starving.  Pick a place I'll see you in an hour."  I arrived first to put the name in the hat.  Somehow I still managed to get Doris Day parking (front row, that is), despite the tripple parking.   As soon as I opened the car door, I heard the commotion from the restaurant.  Bad sign.  Loud.   The key dinner criterion for us is ease of conversation.  The building has a front patio with garage doors, which were opened wide. The patio was filled to capacity.  but I did notice indoor seating.  The benches in front were emtpy.  I opened the front door to chaos. Milling guests blocking the entry way, the hostess podium was overwhelmed with humanity, boinky waitstaff flitting about.  One hour wait.  That was when I noticed the purgatory court.  The front benches were empty because they were actually overflow seating for the side patio where the majority of patrons waited for their dose of high stress, high decible dinning.  No. Despite its new facade, the ueber-chaos of the introductory experience has placed Walk-On's on the bottom of the "maybe" list.  So what happens when the empty lot next door gets a building plonked onto it?  A three hour stay in the purgatory court?    

Monday, March 21, 2011

Your eyes smile peace




Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, --
The finger-points look through like rosey blooms:
Your eyes smile peace.  The pasture gleams and glooms
'Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, as far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge,
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorne-hedge. 
'Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass. 

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosen'd from the sky: --
So this winged hour is drop't to us from above.
Oh! Clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower, 
This close-companion'd, inarticulate hour
When two-fold silence was the song of love.  

Text by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, music by Vaughan-Williams.  This particular artsong has for many years been one of my favorites, especially from the piano bench.  I've accompanied the work numerous times, mostly for mezzos or sopranos.  Delighted I was to hear this performance by Ian Bostridge.  I realize that the voice itself does not necessarily "genderize" the text, that the singer is, in the larger scheme of things, merely a vehicle to relate musical and textual information.  Yet there are times that the gender of the voice may hinder some personal connection with the text.  The male voice here allows me, the male listener, to relate more easily to the text and to be reminded of similar personal experiences, either physical or emotional.              


Balsamic Goodness

From the same people who bring us the most terrific cran-apple martini in town comes this outstanding culinary surprise: Bruschetta Chicken.  The entree is included on the 2 for $14.99 value menu and is heralded as low calorie, two categories that generally describe flavorless, small-portioned wastes of time.  Wrong and wrong.  O'Charley's Bruschetta Chicken is worth the try.  The balsamic reduction combined with the red onion salsa makes the dish.  I would recommend ordering extra balsamic sauce on the side and to use it sparingly over the veg.      

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

I Need to Visit the Vietnamese

Because I really like the look of these slides from Johnston & Murphy, but before I wear them, there will be a pedicure in my future.  Last season, my summer sandal look was a pair of Rockport flip-flops with the typical toe peg -- good shoes, but time for a switch.   I've never owned a pair of slides, so this could be an adventurous new look for me.  What I really like about J&M is that their styles can go either way: casual or not so casual.  I would feel just as comfortable wearing these to work as I would to wear them to leisurly cocktails on a friend's back patio. 

Fat Pat's Afterhours

Late night working means late night eating, usually no earlier than 8:30pm during the week.  This past Monday, after Men's Knit Club, Blaine and I decided to visit one of our less frequented food joints, Fat Pat's.  It's on the less frequented list simply because we don't always think of it, and getting there from my shop requires a left turn onto Verot School Road.  Fat Pat's is a "bar and grill", a sports themed place with spartan wooden seating and exposed duct work.  Laid back for sure.  By the time we generally arrive, the big testosterone sporties have mostly all cleared out and we get the pick of the booths.  Win win.  If you're at Fat Pat's, you want to eat the burger.  Two choices: the Fat Pat and the Little Boy.  Which one you select depends on whether you're eating just for the moment or planning ahead to take home half of your meal for the next day.  The Little Boy is a "standard" sized burger, the Fat Pat is an enormous ground meat tour de force, the consumption of which in one sitting is nothing short of mortal sin.  We get the Little Boy.  That way we leave sated and happy with our angelic halos still in tact. Of the five or so times we've visited there, Monday night's basket of goodness was the best.  It's always good, but this particular meal was stellar.  And even with a bit of lagniappe: a great attentive server.  You see, I am a mayonaise/fries junkie, and Blaine mixes mayo with ketchup for dipping.  Without fail, our perfect mixture of oil and eggs is always forgotten by servers.  Always.  This time, we got what we needed when we needed it.  More time eating, less time flagging down a server hot to get home to let the dog out.  My recommendation: go late, stay long, leave happy.       

Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit, Abbey Players, and a group of 12 fabulous friends =  recipe for a tremendously enjoyable evening.  If you haven't yet seen the play in Abbeville, a visit is required.  Well acted, well produced. Hat tips to theatre legend Gloria Breaux for her masterful performance as the Medium in this Noel Coward classic.   The theatre visit first included the two of us and another couple, but within 24 hours, we had a three car caravan.  

Friday, March 11, 2011

We lift them up unto the Lord

Sir Hubert Parry's stunning anthem -- this video is the prescription to combat chronic symptoms of High Church Deficiency (HCD) one suffers now and again.  A steady diet of "smells and bells" coupled with the solid text of prayer book Rite I may not be altogether as healthful as a balanced mixture of many good things, but, just as the body leaps for joy at the prospect of a Ruth's Chris steak, so too does the soul rejoice in the uplifting orderliness of tradition.  It is meet and right so to do.      

Martini Thursdays

We've been frequenting a local chain restaurant lately.  It's practicaly equidistant from our respective places of business, so O'Charley's is a convenient meeting point for after-work dinner.  Thursdays feature "2 for 1 martinis".  We've sampled a number of the martini concoctions from their menu, but the Cranberry Apple Martini wins hands down.  It's made with Smirnoff Apple.  Quite often such fruity martinis have much visual appeal, but one sip reveals them as artificially colored vodka shots in trendy glassware.  This particular apple cocktail bashes the stereotype.  After a busy Thursday, it's just what the doctor ordered.    

Saturday, March 5, 2011

For a perfect cup

Among the various items in Blaine's birthday gift basket, I included a bag of ground breakfast blend coffee from Starbucks.  While arranging the goodies for presentation and encasing the whole business in celophane, the aroma of the coffee was intoxicating.  Last Sunday evening, we broke open the bag and tried it out.  A full bodied, flavorful coffee.  Easily my new favorite.  Not only for breakfast. 

Rather nice, I think.

It was time to clean house...or at least to the clean the closet.  The dust rule went into effect: if hangers and/or shoes carry an adequate layer of it, then, they're destined for the donation bin.  Two weeks ago, it was time.  I tackled the job, creating a distinct deficiency of brown shoes suitable for work attire.  Plenty of black in the storehouse -- including a few that require a trip to the cobbler for new soles and heels.  And, with the upcoming season of earthtones and neutrals, brown shoes are a must.  Here's one pair that I found recently.  An interesting shape, these, very out of the norm for the rather conservative styles I would usually select.  Change is good, I suppose.  Of course, you'll need to use your imagination here a bit.  The only photograph I could find of the shoe was in black.  Due to the odd shape of the shoe, my size dropped by half to a petite 11.  So far, I've received favorable comments on the Borelli Miamis.  And, although they appear they might be torturous on the feet, they are quite comfortable. 

Rowan Spring/Summer Collection

Knitwear pattern collections seldom have many designs for men.   Three or so garment offerings is typical, and this season's Rowan Magazine is no exception.  Of the handful of items for men, this open fabric design stands out.  This photograph from the Rowan homepage has truncated the lower half of the model.  The piece features overly long sleeves and a very long torso.  I generally must add to the length of a sweater, but this one seems a bit too long, even for my tall frame.  The same is true for sleeves.  I almost always lengthen the arm before launching into the sleeve cap shaping, but here, the long sleeves are sure to get dragged through the salsa.  After a few minor alterations, it's certainly a garment that's on my list. 

A Chloris


Precisely to the point. The music of Reynaldo Hahn, text by Theophile de Viau.  Performed immaculately by Phillipe Jaroussky.

S'il est vrai, Chloris, que tu m'aimes,
Mais j'entends, que tu m'aimes bien,
Je ne crois point que les rois mêmes
Aient un bonheur pareil au mien.
Que la mort serait importune
De venir changer ma fortune
A la félicité des cieux!
Tout ce qu'on dit de l'ambroisie
Ne touche point ma fantaisie
Au prix des grâces de tes yeux.