Key Lime Ruffles

Purple and gold. Could say these are number one colors these days...but we won't talk collegiate football here...nah...or about it Not Raining in Tiger Stadium....no that is not what we are about...key lime has nothing to do with tailgating or pom poms. It has more to do with sailing and listening to Buddy D on the radio...nope, not going there. I mean what about the green waves, err blue waves breaking over the bow. The gentle breeze cooling the sun as it falls upon our shoulders. Another beverage, score! No not going there. Tiger Bait, tiger bait...Ohhh, I give up...Geaux LSU!!!! Now I have done it. Equal time will have to be given......to Richmond , Bama, Tulane, Vandy, and this Texas / OU thing, not to mention Michigan and Ohio State. Not to mention Peyton and Eli....how long is this season? I have a boat to catch. Okay. Pass the buffalo wings. When in Rome.....

Bacchus

Bacchus baby. Sunday night before Lundi Gras is when Bacchus rolls. Bacchusauraus, Bacchagator, King Kong, Mama Kong and of course baby Kong amid, marching bands and flambeaux. It is one of the biggest and the best parades, no doubt about it. My sister's first year down. She asked me what's the fuss? Not ten minutes later she's up on someone's shoulders begging beads off a masked stranger from one of the Bacchus floats. Really. It didn't take too long.NEVER reach down with your hand to pick up a doubloon. Just stand on it and wait. And yes it's true, you work for those beads. Each year there's something new. Some light up and flash. Thanks to microchips. I have the honor of designing one year's ball favor. Boy that was fun. Drawing all the parade favorites, research is a blast. It is hard to stand still when St. Aug's starts to play. And tossing some of your hard won beads back into the baby gorilla's mouth is de rigeur. What a show just out my door. I can almost hear the beat. If you ever get a chance , GO. Go hit the street. The night before Lundi Gras.You'll see it is contagious. My sister won her beads. Her triumph was a hoot. And the very next night there we were dancing to Dr. John on Oak street. We get you one at a time you know. Remember this phrase, Throw me something mister. You will find it on your lips. Very therapeutic. Letting go a bit. Now she's the one who throws King Cake parties many miles away. Bacchus is a clever one. He tempts us with a taste. Before you know it, grapes and all,you're second lining like you've done it all your life.

Napoleon Deux

Cream and lots of it. A napoleon straight on. A bit of play in the ruffle, but the cream keeps coming through. Cream rises to the top, cream of the crop...a little word association...it all means the same. Something really good. Luscious cream amid some leaves and icing on the top. It doesn't get much better than this, my pastry picker says. She can hardly pass one up, thanks to La Marquise. Exquisite pastries there on Chartres Street. Here, Chef Pierre does these well. He seems to have a knack for putting rich and fresh together in an artful stack. I hope one day to go and watch. It must be like a dance. To watch him gracefully compose. Cream here a puff and now a glaze, et voila un peu du chocolate for the decoration. I marvel still each time I look at what he does to each and every one of these.It makes me glad to have picked this has my concentration. This little experiment. A world of wonder it has come to be, full of rich and fresh. Lovely collectors, friends from afar and old friends stopping by. I am so glad that in the wee hours while we're all asleep, chef is up dancing, making up our treats.

Paris Brest

Paris Brest. Praline cream and puff pastry, sprinkled with lots of almonds and powdered sugar. I keep thinking Leviathan, but in a nice way. As I was painting, I was thinking sea and beach,shells because of the gentle color. Not the usual round shape or rectangle, it is oblong, but organic in feel. No larger than an eclair, no longer than a Napoleon. Hmm. I had never tasted one either. It sounds like me dissecting some creature I happened upon I guess. Crusty and crisp on the outside. Soft and tender on the inside. Sounds like some people I have known. Worth the trouble if you stick around.I have to tell you this Paris Brest was fun to poke and prod. Delicious to play with the paint. And afterwards, ohh la la. One of the best to eat. Another fine exploration. Ahh. Perhaps the pastry case is a little like the Sea of Cortez. And lucky me, afloat a Steinbeckian vessel. Picking up and looking at all the creatures to be found. Not a bad mission to be on. Willingly I go. Brush and I are at the ready. See what chef is up to next? Oh yes, we're onboard with that.

Trianon Deux

Deep dark chocolates, moist and creamy, a flourish of skirt. Remember Trianon was given to Marie Antoinette for her private place? A friend in Santa Fe last year was telling us about a book he found in England. It was titled something like Men and Sheds. Apparently the British male has found many uses for the ever present garden shed.(Read man cave). It was a point of purchase book, on some counter or another, but Paul said he flipped through it, and saw writers nooks, sitting rooms, and various hidey holes. We were in drawing group, the model was going through her poses. He wondered aloud if this retreat made for longer and happier marriages. In taking stock of the men there in our group, he saw he was one of two with happy love lives. The others, seemed to wince, a twitch or two I saw. I pointed out the Brits might be on to something. Of the two, our other friend has a long lasting love...and in his backyard a real tree house...they all looked at him in awe. I got a laugh or two. But you could almost see the wheels turning, a trip to the local lumber yard on their project list....myself, I think in any future real estate I buy,I will look to see the shed. Who knows? It might do the trick. What do you stock a man cave with? Chocolate, beer a fridge? Tomes of poetry? Accepting suggestions now, a hint or two will do. And if there are Brits out there. a clue please on your sheds...

Cheesecake Kiss

Be sure to click on the photo of this piece. I just took another look to see how I could express the exuberance I felt in making this subtle form come to life. There is a dance of paint and color to be found. And a reminder to me of the floating of my brush. Whether you are making art, or collecting it , or just enjoying a look. This vibration, this rhythm, these colors set up to play, there's the thing. That thing that spreads itself, that ripples out. Destined to repeat. It is a cylinder, on a disk, with a berry on top. Architecturally a snap. But what I saw upon these shapes was tenderness. it called for some lighter notes, some Kandinsky if you please. Look at the disk . Follow it around to clouds of blues and lavender, a whisper here and there, accentuated by bolder bits and varying shapes of strokes. Granted the song is not loud, more a sonnet line or two. But I heard it whisper to me and now I pass it on to you.

Chocolate Nun Quatre

From the Convent of Valrhona, another sister of the chocolate order. Perhaps we should draw up a charter. A mission statement for these blessed ones. I am a devotee of profiterole. Whoever invented puff pastry has my gratitude. This one was lavish in her form and had tons of chocolate. She seemed determined. Perhaps because she was requested. I really have to say once more how clever these chefs are. The case is always filled with a variety of choices. And clever names, some mysterious and in need of explanation. I think we will look into these religieuses some more. But for now it is good enough to know how delicious they are and jaunty too. And that they fill a need. In the case they beckon. What is this fascination? There's a story there. I will explore and ask chef about them too. She was a bit of a fauvist in her youth. I saw a dash of vermillion here and there, a beret upon her head. She spent some time walking the left bank beside the flowing Seine. But now her chocolate is heavenly, her attitude has grace. And chef, there he goes again putting them out for show. Is it irony at work, or a desire for the divine? Nibble by nibble closer to bliss? A communion sanctified? I don't know. It's chocolate, cream, custard,and choux paste..and how can that be bad? So maybe she's a prayer. For all blessings to be counted. And joy to be found in little things as we go along our way.