Mardi Gras

Hello (again).  You're (back) looking at the food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk and His Missus are enjoying their vacation in Portugal (and other places).  ed(from Yuma) and His Tina are venturing around Yuma and making plans for their next vacation. Today is another post from Cathy and The Mister and their staycation. The other day, we drove West on the 8, drove South, somehow ending up near the Marina. We had passed several restaurants and decided to take a walk. Neighborhood clientele as well as yacht owners hang out near the South end of Rosecrans. The jacaranda trees are in bloom and just beautiful. We decided to stop here.  It's right across the street from The Living Room, which I posted about last year. Let me just say I wish I had stopped here sooner. Grabbing a menu, we sat down and...I smelled fresh-fresh coffee... Slightly confused, because I saw all these pump pots, I ordered a cup of coffee and was told they roast all the beans right here(!)-that's why I smelled fresh coffee.  Organic, free trade and bird free, roasted in small batches coffee.  We ordered and I took a small (1/2 pump) taste of each of the three coffees that interested me (decaf and a vanilla something flavored coffee are not anything I'd choose, ever). Ultimately, I preferred the middle selection-"Mad Red". After ordering from the lunch menu, which had an admonition of "We guarantee 'same day' service. Thank you for your patience in preparing your handcrafted meal.  Delicious not pretentious slow food." I walked around the small, ten table large interior, finally comprehending the theme.  There was also a very nice outdoor seating area in the back. Beads on the ceiling, Mardi Gras masks, skeletons and skulls, voodoo.Combined with some of the French named and Cajun spiced items on the menu...the synapses connected-New Orleans.     Of course, the eclectic condiment selection on every table was also a clue. It did not take too long for our food to be brought out.  I must say that every person working here was helping on all the tables and each one was very friendly. When we ordered, I only slightly mentioned that The Mister and I would be sharing the sandwich and salad we had ordered, and the sandwich was brought out in two baskets. Nice.  This was under the 'grilled cheese' part of the menu- a "Cochon" ($9) Provolone and Swiss cheeses...with pulled pork, ham and artisan pepper bacon, on sliced brioche. It's served with a house made jalapeño strawberry jam. No, not a Monte Cristo, not a Cuban, just a great, wonderful, fresh, tasty sandwich. The menu has pork belly on it and I suspect the bacon comes from the same place; it was not crispy bacon, but thick sliced, lightly peppered and excellent. Toasted seasoned bagel slices as a side was a very nice, different touch. The Paleo salad (large, $10). Mixed super greens (kale and spinach and other lettuces) avocado, tomato, a boiled organic free range egg, walnuts and sunflower seeds and the artisan peppered bacon that was on the Cochon sandwich. This photo does not do it justice, but the salad bowl was HUGE and  more than enough for us to share. When we went to pay, I noticed some very nice looking pastries next to the cash register, probably wonderful also.  I am already planning a return visit.  Reds 1017 Rosecrans Street San Diego 92016 (619) 523-5540 Website open 6 am-11pm  

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Let the good times roll! That’s the motto for the Mardi Gras capital, New Orleans. When you don this festive Mardi-Gras inspired vest, your outfit is going to inspire allsorts of good times! Vest features printed green panels & golden panels adorned with violet diamonds. This vest is a men’s size large. Scary stories by Scare You - Tell us about your favorite Halloween costumes and haunted events. Have you ever seen a mermaid costume? $18.97 | Mens Costumes | Read more...

It was all good just A week ago, Sunday started pretty typically in the Big Easy. Jazz cigarettes were lit in Louis Armstrong Park. Moms across the city were being treated to breakfast in bed or brunch out at their favorite cafe. Somewhere, a dude was puffing an L with The Meters or Mystikal as the soundtrack. In my head, I picture Steve Zahn’s character from Treme waking up to heaping plate of Cajun Benedict, “Shake Ya Ass” and a baseball-bat spliff. The Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club, a local organization that puts on “second-Line” brass parades, was prepping for a Mother’s Day throwdown—a ritual done each year. Nobody thought stray bullets would rain on the parade. A week later, it’s barely a footnote in the never-ending torrent of news. From the NYT: On Thursday, NOPD arrested and charged the second of two street-gang-member brothers suspected of shooting into a New Orleans parade on Mother’s Day and wounding 20 people. Shawn Scott, 24, was arrested on Thursday, a day after cops captured his 19-year-old brother, Akein. Both have been charged with 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder, New Orleans police said. “There is no question we believe the Scott brothers came here with a purpose, with a plan,” city Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said at a press conference at the site of the Sunday shooting. “There are people we are sure they wanted to hurt.” The writing on the wall here is painfully clear, written in bubble letters and underscored twice. Since the targets were fellow hustlers, and no YTs were hit with a stray, it was all too easy to sweep under the rug and keep it moving. This was the 7th Ward, not the Beignet-scented French Quarter. Motherfuckers weren’t sippin’ Chicory-laced coffee. The parade may as well have been in Hamsterdam, a place completely off the map—at least to the mainstream media. A week after the smoke had cleared, I had to dig fairly deep in the crates to track down the article cited above. Why is this story such a blip on people’s radar? To up the ante of ignorance, some people are attributing the shooting to a culture of violence that surrounds the second-line parades. From the Times: When shootings like this happened in the past — and they have, sometimes deadly but almost never as brazenly — they often prompted a debate about street culture and violence, about the rolling crowds that form on such occasions and how much they may be to blame for what goes on in their orbit. That chafes my balls. Luckily, even Mayor Landrieu has shot down those asshats, separating church from state. Like many other folks (and especially fellow YTs who like to nerd the fuck out), I learned about the second-line, Mardi Gras Indians and parade culture via Treme. The music of The Meters also helped. “Hey Pocky Way” is about a non-confrontational parade of peace. Essentially, good vibes between rival gangs. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case last weekend. I just wish more people were talking about it. The 7th Ward isn’t in the 3rd World.

Bay to Breakers has become one of the best parties in San Francisco throughout the years, bringing the zany and eclectic out of the woodwork, whether it is participants in the race or onlookers.The 102nd annual Bay to Breakers Sunday was no different, as many dressed to impress (or horrify). Who needs Halloween when you have this event?Here's a look at some of the most bizarre costumes in the race this year, complete with a breakdown of each. Craig Sager With a SombreroI don't know what this guy was going for, but the, um, colorful assortment radiating from his torso is something I only thought TNT's Craig Sager could come up with.But, oh, was I wrong. It starts with an ordinary plaid shirt and evolves, or regresses, into something out of Alice in Wonderland. Is this man also celebrating St. Patrick's Day with his green bow tie? What is up with those glasses? Is he going skydiving after the event? There are few things in this world that he could have taken a picture of that would have rivaled his outfit Sunday. Leopard Man Needs a RestI don't know how Leopard Man finished the race Sunday, but I can tell you, judging by this picture at Ocean Beach, it didn't end well.Unfortunately, when you don a leopard costume and you've maybe had a bit too much to drink, you think you can run as fast as a leopard. The problem is, when you've had too much to drink, that lasts for about five seconds before you realize it was a very bad idea to run in the first place.This could be a cautionary photo for youngsters. Don't drink and run: You'll end up like this guy. Horsehead Meets Mardi Gras Meets Calvin KleinInterestingly enough, the expression on horsehead's face is how I reacted when seeing this picture.It's not just the terrifying look on horsehead's face, it's also the combination of Mardi Gras beads and a Calvin Klein belt. This is the kind of thing you wake up in when you've had too much to drink and somebody's played a prank on you in your sleep.The man in the middle of this photo seems impressed. The guy on the right? Not so much. Despicable MeImagine if you didn't know this was based on a character from a film. Imagine how much it would confuse you. Think about the impressionable youth, please.My question is, how much does that thing weigh? Did that person have to hold it while running the whole time? I'll tell you one thing: If you fall running the race wearing that, you won't feel a thing. BenderThose familiar with the show Futurama will appreciate this one. I don't know how this individual actually ran in this costume, but it was a great representation of the popular cartoon character. You have to give props for the time it must have taken to create the costume, too. Also, does the material naturally reflect heat? If it does, it was also a smart costume to have on a sunny day. A Tribute to the Great Bob RossBob Ross became one of the most well-known painters of his generation while hosting the PBS show The Joy of Painting. This group took it to another level, paying tribute to the painter in a big way. I count at least seven Bob Rosses in this photo. Jamaican Bobsled TeamRaise your hand if you instantly thought of Cool Runnings when you saw this photo.I would have liked to see a John Candy tribute somewhere, but you cannot deny this was a clever idea. I wonder if they all leaned to one side while making turns. Random Guy With a Cat Perhaps I missed who this was supposed to resemble (I haven't watched every TV show out there), but I just don't see where this guy was going with this.A white cap, dark sunglasses with red rims, powder on his face, a full coat and a stuffed animal. If this was a game of Spot The Differences, I'd be losing my mind. Tarzan With Bright Green GlassesIf Tarzan was to show up at a rave in San Francisco, I'm pretty sure this is what he'd look like. KittensBizarre. Just bizarre. Milkmen (and Milklady)I don't know who is the true star of this show, the milkmen or the milk "lady." I'll tell you this: That picture

Despite three fruitless trips and stinging only a single fish, I’m confident that Shad Fishing Died for Your Angling Sins. A long winter of tying drab and dull, your “light” reading a mix of dusty tomes featuring metatarsals and pronotums, and you’ve exhausted both social venues and social networking and are conspicuously absent any cocktail invitations. Your banter is free of celebrity gossip and your brow furrows over the finalists on American Idol, you’re prone to mumble, and coupled with a fetching hint of mothballs from your only sport coat, you can’t sustain eye contact with a nervous hostess as you can’t tear your gaze from her fish tank. … and after months of isolation with Internet forums and that aging stack of fly tying magazines by the Crapper, you’ve bought their false prophets and notion of the One True Sport. Trout fishing. Replete with its aromatic tobacco, dimutitive flies, expensive tackle and long stemmed glassware, practiced by those strong in the ways of credit card debt. You’re insistent that a large gold bead on your nymph has a parallel in Nature, a pre-emergent pronounced thorax, and while you struggle to pronounce “4mm, slotted, and Gold” in Latin, are just as insistent nymph fishing requires a floatational aid to make it more like Dry Fly fishing, elegant, gentlemanly, eliminating guesswork and a couple centuries of nymph fishing lore in the doing. “Fling and swing” replaced by an upstream presentation, and should some timorous fellow suggest it reminiscent of the Unclean Sport, bait fishing, it’s an “Indee-kay-tor” versus “bobber” and how dare he insinuate otherwise … … and now that darkened basements and the shameless exploitation of furbearers is out, your fascination with the “bug-like” thing is no longer quaint or charming, rather you’re linked with pressure cooker enthusiasts and egghead Chechnyan separatists. Our former, “ill at ease” with joggers and the cyclists suddenly an unpopular legacy now that BB guns and our leftover tins of black powder are under a societal microscope. In contrast, Shad is the festive “Other White Meat” fishery – like Bass and Carp, a landscape where periodicals fear to tred, and its practitioners have firm sweaty handshakes, buy their rods on EBay, fashion their flies of Christmas tinsel, and non-tapered monofilament … … that’s “mono-fila-ment” not “fluoro-carbon” – only asshats and Momma’s boys fish $22 tippet … Empty beer cans line our rapids, castoff underwear festoon the brush and drunken college students holler encouragement as they wallow through our tepid water to throw up somewhere downstream. Shad fishermen embrace society and its many foibles rather than flee to the upper elevations and its gentrified antisocial notion of Pristine. Shad fishing being the Mardi Gras of fly fishing, with brilliant tinsels, florescent, opalescent, and iridescent, mixed with chrome hooks, shiny toilet chain, gleaming gold beads, ALL designed to act like split shot and sink our fly like a leaden sonofabitch. There’s no extended pinkie in our fishing, no privacy, no hushed bank of spectators intent on watching some fellow melt into hysteria when his BB shot and non-biodegradable bobber loop fetchingly around a distant tree branch. Neither do we complain about updrafts when explaining why our fly is imbedded in our arse cheek, or tree branch behind us. Instead we hear the big gaudy SOB whistle towards us and duck while giggling mightily, knowing we’ve cheated Death – and how that interloper wading in behind us won’t be so lucky … A tepid water introduction, compliments of a sharpened treble … Shad fishing is for people that count fish, that club baby seals, that wax eloquent at the prospect of laying waste to hundreds of His creatures, who would rather torture and maim than kill and eat cleanly. Our fishery, as brash and sordid as it may sound, doesn’t require us to tiptoe around concerned about we brought with us, what may have hitched a ride from our garage unbidden … we’

I’ve had the privilege of living in Mandeville for more than 10 years. Although I graduated from St. Scholastica Academy in Covington, my husband and I did not return to the area until our first child was born.Little Free Library...

It’s hard to believe but this weekend marks the 7th edition of the annual three-day music festival and celebration of Mid City. As usual, the organizers have some great music in store for you. Here are my picks. The full schedule is here. You can’t go wrong with the whole lineup on Friday afternoon and evening. Corey Henry and the Tremé Funktet get things started on the National Endowment for the Arts stage. The band features Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill on his namesake instrument. Since reemerging on the scene just over a year ago, he has been tearing it with a wide range of performers. The rest of the members of the band are no slouches either. After the festival, Dave Jordan will be having post-Boogaloo party at the Bayou Beer Garden on Friday night. He will perform with his band and entertain any revelers who straggle over to the bar, which is located on Jeff Davis Parkway on the edge of the festival site. Saturday, I am very pumped up for another “reunion” performance by Iris May Tango. If they keep this up, we may be writing that the band is back together permanently. For those you that aren’t keeping up, this New Orleans band set the city ablaze back in the 1990s with a high-energy rock/hip hop sound that was way ahead of its time. Though the members are older and have mostly gone their separate ways musically, this will be one fun show. And speaking of bands that are a blast from yesteryear, Bas Clas is also playing on Saturday. They tore up south Louisiana with a unique blend of rock and Cajun influences that was also ahead of its time. Now they are back and sounding better than ever. Regular readers of this space will recall that I had high praise for Big Chief Victor Harris and his performance with his Mardi Gras Indian tribe at Jazz Fest. They return here on Sunday with a set that is bound to invigorate the crowd. He had an A-list of jazz musicians on board including trumpeter Irvin Mayfield to add depth and texture to the age-old Mardi Gras Indian chants. Finally, in keeping with the old school focus of this post, don’t miss Ironing Board Sam on Sunday. This guy takes the cake as a musician who is willing to try anything in order to get his music out there. Back in the day, he played in an aquarium at Jazz Fest and even tried to play in a hot air balloon. Who knows what he has in store at the Boogaloo. See you there! Advertise here with BSA

Prom season is upon us, and we've been reminiscing about our own prom themes - the good, the bad, and the cheesy. Some were pretty timeless, like Under the Sea, Arabian Nights, and Mardi Gras. But some, especially those influenced by song titles, definitely date us. Theme songs like "More Than a Feeling" (1976), "Everything I Do" (1991), "Make It Last Forever" (1987), "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" (1998), "The Dance" (1990), and "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" (1987) will always take us back to those days of crimped hair, puffy sleeves, and corsages as if it was yesterday. Alas, it wasn't yesterday. And this year's prom themes make it incredibly obvious that high school was a long damn time ago. So in honor of the nostalgic season, here are some of the 2013 prom themes that make us feel 100 years old. Source: Fox Searchlight View Slideshow ›

When Jonathan Mayers started interning at Jazzfest he didn't exactly know he would one day helm a company responsible for putting on some of the biggest and best music festivals in the United States. But that is exactly what happened. While living in New Orleans, in addition to interning he was booking a club called Tipitina's where he met Rick Farman and through him Kerry Black. The three of them started thinking about doing their own events and Mayers brought in Richard Goodstone, a friend from high school who moved down to New Orleans. And Superfly was born. They started with concerts and concert series around special events like Jazzfest and Mardi Gras. The four focused on creating unique one off events, "thinking about it almost like an art project," as Mayers told Business Insider, putting extra effort into getting cool art for the posters and creating engaging environments at the concerts. With their expertise growing the four decided to launch Bonnaroo in 2002 and it quickly blossomed into one of the

It's Tuesday. It's a big POMO day. And sure enough, equities are in full-tilt melt-up mode. In the face of a stronger USD, rallying bond market, higher VIX, and widening credit spreads, the S&P 500 has smahed through yet another set of stops, squeezed shorts wherever you can see, and made new all-time highs. Mardi Gras indeed... though one wonders what happens when Europe closes and POMO is over. Will USDJPY 102 mark the 'top' in stocks today? Equities on their own again... VIX futures are rolling but Spot VIX is entrely ignoring this rally melt-up... Tuesday... Tuesday... Charts: Bloomberg