Another neighbor stopped in yesterday and admired the cucuzza on the counter after I had written that entry on this vegetable – said that her family calls it cucuzza (with a k) and since her family knows produce, I’d have to say it’s only some of the Sicilians here in New Orleans that say gugootza and I stand corrected.
I was all over the Ogden today for the family day event and went through a lot of different exhibits from the painting called the Holy Trinity which had Elvis, Jesus and Robert E. Lee in it to large heavy oils of Southern landscapes, one being a street uptown to a room with photographs from Katrina. It’s been five years and after the first photograph I couldn’t turn away and I couldn’t stop from crying.…
I’ve written many times of my rich heritage being the daughter of a Cuban born Sephardic father whose parents haled from Constantinople and a mother who was raised in the pine forests of Washington Parish, Louisiana. The cuisine alone was as rich and varied as the terrain my parents came from – crisp platanos fritos, black bean and rice (aptly named in Cuba moros y cristianos) to kibbe, tabouleh, and baklava and arroz con pollo…
When my mother was living I told her to let me take out a life insurance policy on her so that I could pay her burial costs. That never happened but she did manage to hang onto a small policy that paid about two-thirds of my half of her burial. Now with other costs arising that involve structurally making the grave sound for eternity (my aunt dumped a bunch of sand on it to keep…
Corporate responsibility Odwalla started out with a good program, fresh juice but then it wanted to be huge and next thing you know e coli happens. The eggs from Iowa are being recalled as I write – but investigative reporters like Michael Pollan are exposing the absurdity of buying eggs from far away lands and making shoppers like me smarter. BP’s corporate responsibility flew out the door when the oil spill crisis happened and now…
I used to live below two very talented artists in San Francisco – Kim Frohsin and Randy Sexton – and one day I saw a painting that Randy had done and I fell in love with it because it reminded me of my grandmother and going to visit her in the country. Randy gave it to me. One of many generous gestures from both of these painters that I cherish forever. John Denver sings a…
So Sarkozy is on this kick to kick out the gypsies – that should solve France’s problems, don’t you think? We have someone staying at our house from Paris right now as she is waiting for her sublet to be ready in a few days. She tells me this morning that Sarkozy is also the name of the head of Roma – interestingly enough – meanwhile she also said that Sarkozy was to bring a…
The Causeway is one of the longest bridges over water and Lake Ponchartrain among the largest salt water lakes and driving the 26.5 miles each way gives you plenty of time to think. I lived across the lake when my dad died in 1985 and I had a panic attack driving back across the bridge and decided to move back to New Orleans. Returning from my mom’s funeral on December 2, 2010, I remember the…
Driving to Bogalusa this morning, I passed a sign that looked like a highway sign, which said: REDEFINE LIFE – RETIRE IN LOUISIANA The next four signs said: EVACUATION ROUTE **** I got home this evening and plowed through all my emails – amazing how not even once did I check my crackberry since I left the house. But a friend’s blog had posted some interesting signs – one which I co-opted here: