House of Cards, the best political thriller ever on BBC.

  Forget the USA version with Keven Spacey, it could not hold a candle to it 

"You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment"

If David Niven could sing, he'd be Matt Monro

In the later part of the 20th Century and certainly into the 21st, in music, rhythm has over taken melody and that is a sad loss.
For me, I was fortunate to have lived in a bygone age of great singers, great songwriters, great arrangers and of course, the best were  Nat Cole, Frank Sinatra and Matt Monro.
This morning I am remembering Matt ( who died far too young) and his purity of voice and no imperfection in his singing. He was, ( to put it in the language of the early 1960's) like Sinatra; the James Bond of easy listening. 

Legendary fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, whose beautifully made evening wear was beloved by the fashion world died last night

When you talk about style and grace  in today's coarse and vulgar world, certainly one of the great stars not only in fashion, but in humanity, the name Oscar de la Renta will always come up.
His death leaves the world a bit less stylish today and I am only going to say, what another great and stylish designer once remarked when asked about his designing for women. 
He said "If you look at the women who wears my dress and you only see the dress and not her, then I have failed as a designer"
Mr. de la Renta certainly made you see the women who wore his dresses.

Who’s killing the great sauces of France? The answer is simple..Today’s Chefs.

It seems to me that chefs today; even in France, don't use rouxs or a lot of the classic sauces anymore ( if at all). The question to me then becomes “Are we better off or are we worse off?”                            Worse, oh so much worse. 

Today we have a cult of (so-called) culinary stars, but I bet, if I went to them and asked them to make a classic consommé or classic velouté or hollandaise-based sauce, and God forbid to ask them to create, an Nantua, Chasseur or Espagnole sauce, could any of them do it? NO!! Most of these are culinary school graduates, whether it's Johnson & Wales or CIA or another school, but I'm sad to say that a lot of them (maybe most of them) probably couldn't without being shown how. That's kind of sad. For a great classic sauce does not conceal, ……………………but revels a dish.

 So, I always judge a chef on how he cooks a roast chicken and how he can make at least 5 classic sauces, if he can’t, no matter how famous he is, to me, it is not worth sampling his food. As a teenager, my bothers and I would cook up a large pot of Béarnaise sauce and sit in front the TV and devour it. My sauce training started early and has continued for over 60 years. Chefs that I see today are a fussy lot and their tasteless food shows it. Its all show and no taste. In this age of I can’t eat this or that, I say Phoew!

 I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward. 

 Oh! Mr. Escoffier, where are you today?

Too Late Blues - A Requiem for the 1960's and the loss of elegance and glamour in our lives

When I hear the recording of Percy Faith and especially this song, I am transported back to the early 1960’s, the last era in the United States that embodied glamour and charm. And Percy Faith for me defined that era with his lush and romantic music. How lucky I was to be alive then.

His recordings were a distinct counterpoint to the gritty blues and edgier and uglier rock music of the mid 60's, which reflected the turbulent social shift of the era. His orchestral music was a reflection on what we wanted the world to be--beautiful, ordered, no notes out of place. Alas, it was not meant to be and romance was thrown out with other outmoded ideas like respect, civility, and action rather than protest. Sometimes, my memories embellish the memory far more than it originally was! But, its my thoughts, so who cares, except me. 

This recording has been on CD player for the last 4 hours and it is as lush and perfect as I remembered. it is music for a grand, sweeping romance. It reminds me that a woman looks ever so much more seductive in a form-fitting black dress and elbow-length white gloves than she does in a midriff shirt, jeans with a 3" rise, and be-jeweled flip-flops. It is music that never scored a divorce, break-up of family, hate or dissent. It scored looking into someone's eyes and feeling that spark of chemistry, that jolt of sexual energy, all while having the grace and style to wait until the time and mood was just right. This music might move you to tears if you're of a certain age  or it might move you to dance with your darling. It will move you nonetheless, with its deceptively lush strings and horns that belie musicianship far deeper than cotillion dresses and white dinner jackets. If you love romantic and elegant, superbly crafted orchestral music, you will love this music. Thank you, Percy Faith.

The MGM Musical Sound and its Genius - Connie Salinger

The overwhelming resurgence of interest in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie musicals, as spearheaded by young British conductor John Wilson and his Orchestra, is one of the great success stories of recent years. 
With sell-out UK tours, huge record sales, and an annual televised showcase during the BBC Proms season, Wilson’s achievements have led to an increased awareness and appreciation of the talented craftsmen that originally created this timeless music back in the 1940s and ‘50s in Hollywood musicals. 
Chief among these talents was M-G-M’s resident musical genius – master arranger and orchestrator, Conrad Salinger. 
Regarded by his esteemed colleague Sir Andre Previn as being “the greatest arranger who ever worked in the movies,” Salinger’s signature style of orchestration helped establish the classic, lush M-G-M sound, which is still wowing the crowds over 60 years later. “He made those musicals sound his way, no matter who the songwriter was,” acknowledged Sir Andre Listen to the Salinger sound at its best with the Broadway Melody performed by John Wilson and the orchestra.

(excuse the commercial insert - Jeez) 

Hail to the Cigar and Cigar Smoker - How rare we are these days

The best adventure stories used to start in the smoking-room after dinner. The hero, would throw another log on the fire, settle back in a deep arm-chair and light up his favorite cigar. There would be a long pause while he lit up and then he'd say to his companion: 'Did I ever tell you how we caught up with that German spy, Richter?' 

 There was something ritualistic and reassuring about that pause while he lit up. Whatever the thrills and spills along the way he was still alive to tell the tale – and to take a deep puff before he did so. The cigar has survived as a potent symbol. Its aroma still lingers in men’s clubs; men still draw comfort from the ritual of selecting, storing, cutting and smoking it. 

The Oldest established of all in London (and my go to place for great cigars for many many years) is Robert Lewis of 19 St James's Street, SW1, established in 1787. With a regular stock of over £500,000 worth of cigars in their basement, Robert Lewis can justifiably claim to carry one of the largest and widest ranges of cigars anywhere. 

Here you will find Cuban Havana cigars are the best-sellers, but also supply cigars made in Jamaica, the Canary Islands, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.

Three customers who must have been particularly well-recognized were Edward VII, Sir Winston Churchill and Groucho Marx. Churchill bought most of his cigars there from 1900 to 1964, while Napoleon III presented the firm with a plaque, and Edward Vlll bequeathed them his own cigar box. 

 The most important aspect of cigar appeal is ritual. Like food, religion, marriage, death or politics, man quickly clothes most of his activities in ritual if he possibly can.

 Another crucial factor in the allure of cigar smoking must be romance: and nowhere can there be a more romantic name for a cigar than the best-known of all, Romeo y Julieta. The name is magical!!!

No doubt Freud could have expounded at length on what that precise need really is. Meanwhile, the cigar smokers will tell you that it's all quite simply a matter of taste and enjoyment. Cigar smokers really do enjoy puffing away and because their cigars clearly offer a familiar, reassuring pleasure all wrapped up in mystique, ritual, romance and filled, perhaps, with a little adventurous exploration along the way.