For more ideas – and a great selection of prepared

foods, try these websites -

Perhaps the most expansive selection for your hunting menu – D’Artagnan – which sells prepared game meats, as well as all the fixin’s…foie gras, truffles and caviar….

www.dartagnan.com

For prepared wild game meats, Cabela’s has everything from a game steak variety pack to their signature “Tur-Duc-Hen” for the daring poultry lover.

www.cabelas.com

Smithfield Marketplace – famous for their hams – also has a huge variety, including hostess gifts and tailgating favorites.  You don’t have to be at the dinner table to exhibit your hunting chic!

www.smithfieldmarketplace.com

To spark your gourmet food imagination…as well as wine, cheese and desserts – check out Gilt Taste.

www.gilttaste.com

For Fleur de Sel, great cooking oils, spices and spreads – try The French Farm, out of Houston.

www.frenchfarm.com

And Blackberry Farm is nestled in the Smokey Blue mountains, but if you can’t make it there be sure to check out Sam Beal’s Blackberry Farm Cookbook for inspiration and recipes – ‘Foothill Cuisine,’ as they call it, and shop their products on Taigan.

www.taigan.com

As the turkeys roast and the dressing and pies bake in the oven, let’s remember the history of Thanksgiving.  Here are some excerpts from Life is Meals by James and Kay Salter.

Happy Halloween! Click on screen above

While I was in New Orleans, I spent time with Jane Scott Hodges of Leontine Linens. Jane has just redone part of her shop there and added charming new signage on Magazine Street.

I have been ordering sheets and towels from Jane Scott for years for my clients. Her monograms are exquisitely embroidered or appliqued, on sheets or towels.  In addition to all beautiful linens for the bed, there are countless combinations for the table. A choice of fabrics, a choice of colors, different monograms and thread colors……the world is your oyster.  And what better way to enjoy an oyster than on beautiful, crisp, embroidered table linens.

As the holidays approach, take a look at the Leontine website for great gift ideas to personalize. See www.leontinelinens.com or stop by 3806 Magazine Street in New Orleans.  Stylish…for the bedroom, the dining room and travel.

Thank goodness for Garden and Gun magazine for keeping all of us Southerners up to date with the latest in Southern cooking and restaurants above the Mason Dixon….

Off to SEERSUCKER for sustenance.  In the form of pimento cheese grits, eggs, collard  greens and coffee.  It was a little too early for an Albuquerque cocktail or a Michelada.  Next time, after a long morning of antiquing in Brooklyn, I will return for the Cayuga Chili.

BTW….that scrawl on the side of the menu is the chef’s signature.  Chef and owner Robert Newton grew up in Arkansas and the ingredient driven “Southern” menu is what drives Seersucker in this eatery.  Check out Seersucker at seersuckerbrooklyn.com.

Seersucker Brooklyn

329 Smith Street (between President & Carroll) Brooklyn, NY 11231.

Lincoln Center has it all – music, ballet and the opera. There is something for everyone and it will all be in full swing soon.

When your psyche has been satisfied after an evening of ballet, opera or chamber music, it is dining late that can present a challenge…

What you need is something equally satisfying, sensuous and enticing.

Here are a few simple tips to help set the mood before leaving home…

- Set the table before you leave.

- Have the candles ready and

- The lighting just right

- Put that bottle of Fume Blanc on ice.

- Have something prepped on a platter in the fridge.

- Create a playlist and have the music poised to play with just a press of a button…

Sounds good, right?

Oh by the way, you do have a date?

So what should we have?

Here are some delicious meals that can be prepared before hand or with little preparation apres….

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts schedule is packed full of incredible performances  - now is a great time to plan your trip or an evening of culture and beauty in whatever city you reside.

For more information on the NYC Ballet go to http://www.nycballet.com

For more information on the New York Philharmonic go to http://nyphil.org/

For more information on the Metropolitan Opera go to http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/

Timing is everything.  My copy of Garden & Gun arrived in the mail this week just in time to head south to Alabama next week and New Orleans the week after to give lectures.  Restaurant recommendations galore only means one thing – I have to return soon.  Trips to Virginia and North Carolina will shortly follow so there will be plenty of opportunities to try more suggestions from Garden & Gun.  Thank you.  They are now a permanent part of my travel file.

Taking a look inside the issue…  Who wouldn’t want to try the Trout Meuniere Amandine from Galatoire’s or the Hot and Hot Tomato Salad from Hot and Hot Fish Club. This issue even provides “must visit places” described by chefs in each state.

So pick up a copy of this month’s Garden & Gun.  Better yet subscribe to the magazine and see what Garden & Gun, the “soul of the South” has to offer.

This month’s issue also includes a Southern Travel Album with 15 southern tunes “we can’t live without.”  Check out the playlist, perfect for those long southern roadtrips.

Visit the Garden & Gun south album playlist at http://gardenandgun.com/tastes-and-tunes

At a market in Paris, I picked up these issues of the French Magazine

“Plaisir de France.”

What struck me were the graphics,

the color,

the combinations of color and

no photos.

Elegance in simplicity – once again.

Divine.

There has to be a color scheme here to inspire someone to do something.

And then, there was a magazine behind those covers.

]]> http://www.charlottemoss.com/2011/09/plaisir-pleasure-piacere/feed/ 0 http://www.charlottemoss.com/2011/08/turn-your-backyard-into-a-resort/ http://www.charlottemoss.com/2011/08/turn-your-backyard-into-a-resort/#comments Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:47:04 +0000 pmyersdavis http://charlottemoss.com/?p=6881 No longer child ’s play, the outdoor tent can be re-imagined to provide the perfect touch to your outdoor space, not to mention creating that summer resort in your own back yard.  The July ‘57 issue of House and Garden published drawings of that private getaway.  From gazebos to pavilions and sundecks, here are some of our favorites.  Well over 50 years later, we’re still going strong.  And STILL kids at heart.

Moroccan Party Tents at www.e-mosaik.com

Handcrafted Patio Umbrellas at www.hedgerowstudio.com

Pup Tents from www.Coleman.com

And the chicest yurts on Earth at www.coloradoyurt.com

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.