For He' is An Englishman" - One of the great TV dramas to come out of England and one of my all time favorites!!

An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama film, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess (Alan Bates), a member of the Cambridge spy ring who spied for the Soviet Union while an officer at MI6. The production was written by Alan Bennett and directed by John Schlesinger; Browne stars as herself.

Jack Buchanan - An Englishman I adore............

Hollywood had Fred Astaire, and England had Jack Buchanan. They both made their name in the musical theatre of the 20s, and between them they cornered the market in the top-hat-and-tails style of film musical. Buchanan couldn't dance as well as Astaire (who could?) and his style was more brittle; but if his films are revived less often than those of Astaire, it's certainly not Buchanan's fault. 
I grew up listening on Sunday afternoons at my grandparents home to a number of his recordings, my favorite was and is always, Jerome Kerns ‘who”
As a teenager, I always wanted to be Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall, Ronald Coleman , Clifton Webb and Jack Buchanan.

My “Cosmo” test, not how good you are in the bedroom, but how good you are in the dining room.

OK, maybe I have a bit harsh on today’s “Foodies”, so I have devised a test to really see if you are one or a fake. So...................................., 
Question: 
1) Foam is best left on an ocean wave, not on my food – Yes or No 
2) If you have a well aged steak – how do you like it cooked? Medium rare, medium rare or medium rare? 
3) Given the choice between a piece of pork or piece of chicken, which would you choose? 
 4) If you order a Cobb or Chicken salad – how should the chicken be cooked?.. 
5) Do you agree with the following statements? 
6) To put it bluntly, Peanut butter is one of the greatest foods ever created, invented, devised or developed by man and one of America’s most important contributions to civilization. Yes or No. 
7) Canned tuna is one of the worlds great delicacies Yes or No 
8) The quintessential American dish – the one that combines old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity and a striking economy of means is the classic, handsome, delectable, nutritious, forever-comforting creation called the Club sandwich. Yes or No. Would you have an ice-cold martini along with the sandwich? Yes or no 
9) Today’s unruly chefs have been gradually transforming classic items like Caesar Salad and Salad Nicoise into one calamity after another. Bastardizing it, and making it contemporary, eminently healthy and utterly tasteless and absurd. 
10) When you dine (especially in Southern California restaurants) these days, do you feel like you have to have your dinner selections cleared with your HMO? Do you agree with chef Paul Bocuse, when he yelled at a dinner who asked why his cooking was not more healthy. The chef replied “I’m running a restaurant, not a hospital’. Yes or no. 
11) Finally and if you are a ‘said’ Foodie and can’t answer this question, you are not! What Scandinavian dish (I am giving you too much of a hint, I think) when preparing this dish, it should only be prepared’      'in silence, in coolness and in shadow”? 
                                       Check back for your answers……………..

Today’s Foodie – A Sheep in Sheep’s Clothing

 In my day, the term for someone who loved food, all types of food and took great pleasure in all food (Please remember that last few words – pleasure in all foods), maybe to excess was the term – Gourmand. Today, the term used the most is Foodie. One dictionary defines it as someone who enjoys and cares about food very much. Another defines it as someone having an avid interest in the latest food fads. Since I was a child ( some 70 years plus) I have always enjoyed food and dining and when I say food, I mean all types. Today’s ‘foodie’ it seems to me, has to have an asterisks, attached to that word, because they say “Yes’, I’m a foodie and love food, but I don’t like or can’t eat……”…………… This is NOT, let me say it again, this is not a ‘foodie’ or Gourmand. So don’t kid yourself……….it is not. I like the food critic and superb writer, James Villas and agree with him and he (although he may not know it) agrees with me, when he and I say I don’t get along with superficial foodies, who spend endless time talking about (and taking photos ..a big no no!) bogus gastronomic trends, offbeat ingredients, superstar restaurant chefs and diets rather than, like ourselves, simply eating and drinking with wanton abandon. To put it more bluntly, in the age of instant expert, there now seems to be a disproportionate number of people who fancy themselves authorities on food and restaurants and all we can say is pity the poor souls who have to sit next to one of them and/or see on line ( facebook, blogs etc) their running commentary is dishes eaten or on some new hot restaurant or a long discourse on wine ( the faults and merits), I say to them..’Just shut and eat!. .and don’t get me started on today’s restaurants which are playpens for adults……………..but that’s another story.. Check back in a bit for my ‘Cosmos’ test to see if you are a real foodie or fake………………

I say, based on this cartoon...Enough already!!

Robert Morley was asked years ago, why he was so fat and he smiled and said, "My dear, because I eat well' - Bravo Mr. Morley

The appeal of a kinder, gentler, and slower pace of life from previous eras is timeless - especially my having the chance to be around my Edwardian grandparents for my formative years,( who until their deaths at the age of 90 plus) lived a measure life, a slow life and a life filled with the mores and ideas of the Edwardian age, it made a lasting impression on how I live - eat, drink and other vices. I say Vice, because by today's standards those things have become evils. 
And yet, look at the popularity of programs like  Downton Abbey?
 I believe on wearing good clothing, having impeccable manners, conversation laced with wit, food contrarianism, humor and the merits of not exercising.

This weekend I shall have scrambled eggs with mixed with heavy cream, homemade sausage ( pork of course) and buttered toast and English jam (the real stuff), then make for the week some gravlax ( so that I have at a moment notice) slices of cured salmon. and what else? let me think for a moment, but all done in a slower, more mannered pace. As it should be......................

Dreamin'...of Smoked Salmon in all its Various Glories...

Man has been smoking salmon since before the written record; but now that there is a written record, the variety of terms that are tossed out can be confusing to me. Folks from the Atlantic smoke Atlantic salmon and North Atlantic Salmon, but many of them confuse the issue by appending their nationalities to the salmon: Scottish, Nova Scotia, Irish, etc. What’s the difference? Folks from the Pacific get species-happy: they smoke Chinook Salmon, Coho Samon and King Salmon, with an occasional generic Pacific Salmon and some geographical offerings of Copper River (Alaska) Sockeye, Chilean Salmon and Wild Alaskan Salmon. And then there is of course… gravlax and we can’t forget LOX! But anyway you smoke it and serve it.., it is one of my favorite things to eat – whatever you call it . Not served on a bagel (although that is nice) but served on a plate (of fine bone China, of course, ..my grandmother taught me well....) with some virgin olive oil, fresh cracked pepper, chopped egg and onion and capers. When abroad in Europe, when offered it, I always partake as my appetizer. If I had to name my favorite meal, this would always, be at the head of the list. ALWAYS………………

The Most stylish Western of the 1950’s and the Man who Influenced My love of Education (albeit non school education)

My favorite TV western ( and there was lots of them in the 1950's) had to be Richard Boone's 'Have Gun, Will Travel' and to be honest with you, I really watched it not for the gunfights and such, no, it was because of the man, the character who was everything I was not and wanted to be - he was Well-schooled and highly cultured, Paladin was a world traveler and polyglot, conversant, if not fluent, in any foreign tongue required by the plot, including Morse code. He had a thorough knowledge of ancient history and classical literature. 
Almost every episode had Paladin dropping a line from such diverse sources as Plato, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, St Paul, Omar Kayyam, John Milton, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Miguel de Cervantes, and even Oscar Wilde, There are also several instances of Paladin recalling lengthy Shakespearean passages. Paladin was a recognized San Francisco wine authority and epicure—so much of both that he is called upon to judge wines in competition. 
He happily partook in and appreciated gourmet meals, often served in his rooms at the Carlton. He received a yearly crate of award-winning Riesling from the California winery of Renato Donatello,in return for the aid he gave Signore Donatello in a land dispute
He was always a gentleman,who even in a gun fight to the death, before dispatching the villain ,he would quote a line from Shakespeare or Milton and then shoot the brigand dead. What style, what finesse. This is who I wanted to be and so all my life I have endeavored to learn and study so many subjects and disciplines  and hoped to be like him and I can say; although I am still learning, I have, I think, become that gentleman. His style was, ..............Just before he shoots a gunman, he would say:
"The good die young, so they may not be corrupted and the wicked live on so they may have a chance to repent".
..so I say, in modern TV or movies, where are the learned heroes of today?

Shoes That Never Go Out of Fashion

In the 1950s, it didn't matter if you were a bobby-soxer in a long skirt or Elvis Presley onstage in shiny black trousers—you owned a pair of saddle shoes. They were the footwear of choice for good girls and bad boys alike. I understand they are coming back in fashion theses days, but for hide-bound traditionalists like myself, they have never gone out of fashion and I have 4 pairs, I wear often. You see, classic styles never, ever go out of fashion.

PS: Cole-Hahn makes the best one around!

Bossa Nova Saved My Life

As a teenager in the 1950’s (and to be honest today) I was always a bit out of step with my contemporaries and it was most noticeable in my choice of music. I never liked the music of my generation or succeeding ones, in fact. Rock and Roll, the English invasion of the 1960’s and the music beyond I have always found laughable, uninspired, coarse, boorish..shall I go on? . I listened, have always listened and shall listen to the music of the American songbook of the 1920’s to late 19450’s. The artistry of Sinatra, Mancini, Riddle, Nat ‘king’ Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Matt Monroe, Sue Raney and the list goes on and on. I love music, romantic music, of strings, and long melodic lines. Wit and complex lyrics – no dumbing down of the English language as is the norm today. The 1950’s pushed aside many of the great songwriters and artists of the early 20th century and towards the end of that decade, I found myself more than a bit depressed as the music being tossed out to me was awful; just awful – Rock and Roll, hard rock, soul music , folk music and such. One of my best friend's father was a concert pianist and one evening on his return for South America, he played some tapes he made of a new style of music coming from Brazil. It was called Bossa Nova and its leader was a young man named Antonio Carlos Jobim. I listened to those tapes and was taken away with the music. That night was one of the greatest in my life of musical tastes; It transformed my life and gave me hope that there was some great music out there still. Rock and Roll was music that gained popularity by being reductive and primal (as is the silly, boorish music today, the worse offender is of course -Hip hop!) by stripping out the complexity. Bossa Nova did the opposite. It took the samba (basic Brazilian beat) and it added harmonic (harmony, do you hear that today in music? harmony) sophistication – extended chords and so on and added to it a degree of lyrical complexity. Tom Jobim save my life, my musical life……..Although I miss the two artists below, I was lucky to be around when they were and to be able to hear their music..live!!!. It is as fresh today as it was some 50 years ago.

James Garner - A Class Act and a Gentleman

In an era of craggy, sardonic, dangerous and downright scrawny movie stars and actors ( you know who you are and I won't name names, I'm, too much a gentleman )-actors that did not appeal to me ever! (even today) and then came along a natural, good looking, affable, charming actor, in fact to a youngster like myself, in the 1950's and into the early 1960's, he was, even by today's standards, a little out of fashion and yet someone I admired not only for his screen appeal, but as a person, he was a gift to me and many others - for he had a gentle gallantry. I had the chance to work with him on the MGM' movie epic 'Grand Prix' and even off the screen, he was always a gentleman to the max.
Thank you Mr. Gardner, for being there for me, if only being on the screen. 
and One, if not my favorite pictures and soundtrack was  (I think his favorite movie also)  was 'The Americanization of Emily".'

Why Do I Want To Eat Like An Edwardian?

To answer the question - perhaps it is a way in which to be an Anglophile/Francophile and of course I am an incurable nostalgist.
It is also likely a function of my contrarian nature, a wish to rebel against the terribly tiresome contemporary obsession and religion of health and wellness. A desire to be unashamed of good food, including cream, butter and 5-egg yolk custards. Perhaps I cannot countenance the idea of any more 'fusion cuisine' or restaurants with 'concept' that need condescending explanation by the waiters. 
My grandparents were Edwardian's and taught me how to enjoy food, real food ( and lots of it) white starched table cloths and proper dining with proper flatware and the joys of hours spending time with fine cigars/port/whiskey/music and a good book and the emance enjoyment of savories after a meal. Of the joys of dressing properly, of manners and etiquette - those things are long gone today, in my opinion.
Shopping for my clothes and spending glorious hours talking to haberdasher's about what one should wear and how.  Don't get me started, that world has gone, but in my own, I keep the flame going and always will.

In Praise of Steamer Trunks.......... Remembrance of Things Past...

My Edwardian grand parents traveled during the 1920's up to the early 1960's, via steamship ( Transatlantic steamer) between Boston and London and points east.
Before the supremacy of air travel ( which  today is a nothing more than  a cattle car - even first class)  and is no way the proper way to travel as in those early years.
My great-grandfather died ( in first class, of course ) on a Cunard Steamer in Havana Harbor in the early 1920's and his family passed on his Louis Vuitton steamer trunks to my grand parents and they used them up until their death in the 1960's. The pieces were not only beautiful, but so functional and so civilized. So many clever arrays of drawers and hooks to keep your clothing neat and pressed. Their trunks were timeless, sophisticated, that as a young boy, I was taken by their beauty. 

Hotels in Europe were geared for the large trunks, but of course today that is all gone.As is the joy of getting from one place to another.  
Travel isn't what it used to be, and that is sad. Of course today, there are only tourists, not travelers as there were in the 1920's and 30'. BUT Don't get me started.............

Coq Au Vin - One of the great dishes of France and I don't mean chicken here! Mom!...................

As a youngster, at least once a week at home we had Coq au Vin ( made with a stewing chicken) and although I learned to like it and look forward to it, it was not until I got to France many years later and had the real thing that I really fell in love with this classic dish, which one hardly sees on the menu anymore; except in far away  places in Burgundy, in small family run restaurants.

This old country dish from France, the word Coq is the French word for cock or rooster. In traditional stock farming, cocks which were good breeders were kept as long as they could fulfill their function, They would be several years old before they were killed and therefore needed long and slow braising in a casserole. Of course these days, chefs world wide use chickens, but it ain't the same.
The dish when it comes to your table must look almost red/black in color and have a pungent wine aroma and flavor. Use the best burgundy wine to make it...
Its a hearty dish and well worth trying to find.
I found such at a small restaurant that specializes in that type of preparation along one of the tiny off shoots of the Burgundy canals and go back to it year after year. It's an acquired taste, but oh! what a dish!!

What Fools These Mortals ( aka the majority of American's) be...The Perfect Hot Dog

I saw a disturbing poll taken this month that asked average American which they would prefer - a Hamburger or Hot Dog or none...the poll revealed that 85 % preferred a Hamburger, 10% a Hot Dog and the rest had no opinion. 
Ms. Katherine Mayhew, a fine writer, a BBQ friend of long standing, and one of the best people you'll ever meet, recently talked about the perfect Hot Dog and it was as she read my mind.

For those 85% that don't prefer a Hot Dog, read no further, for you'll never know or begin to understand one of man's  greatest creations. 
Here is what Ms. Mayhew said and to me, its the gospel.
~ What makes a perfect hot dog? it involves these things and they are non-negotiable
*** Hot dogs with casings. There is no snap to a hot dog without casing and without a snap there is no point.

*** Chili out of a can. Yes! you heard me, Chili out of a can and please..NO BEANS!

*** Plain yellow mustard. No Dijon, No Deli mustard, No Honey Mustard, plain and yellow, just as providence directed us to use.

*** Diced yellow onions. Enough said!

*** A buttered bun. Yes, add butter top a hot dog and chili. Why not? You're not eating these every day, well, Ms. Mayhew, I have to admit, some of us are !

*** Grilling. No boiling of the hot dogs. Can't you hear them screaming?
H.E Lewis - my heart and stomach goes back to the 1959's and the Hot Dog Show in the San Fernando Valley - the Mutt, the dachshund, the beagle, the husky, the Boston Bull, The southern hound and so many more........some of the greatest hot dogs every served,.