BEHOLD: After a more than year long hiatus, the Great Muffuletta Hunt makes a rare appearance.

This little Italian deli by I-10 and Clearview made what is in all likelihood the largest muffuletta, i've ever seen. This isn't one of the bakeries with the same name; this is a sandwich shop. I'll start from the top and work downward:

Bread - too light and fluffy.

Olive Salad - I barely tasted the olive salad at all. This might have to do with the fact that it was bland; it may be because it contained very few olives, or it may be because it was used extremely sparingly.

Cheese - This was not a hot muffuletta, but they had done something to melt the cheese. For this extra care I applaud them.

Meat - The Ham was good, but that was the only type of meat they used. no mortadella. no salami. Lots of ham. tons of ham. As much ham as on 3 Central Grocery muffulettas.

Overall, I give it a C or a C-, i.e., I wouldn't get it unless I was right there already and really craving a muff.

When our fine city was founded in 1718, plaster had already been well established as the predominant interior wall covering for most structures. Only occasionally were walls covered instead in wood paneling.  Until the 1940's when drywall/sheet-rock became a viable alternative, plaster reigned as high king.Thus, when one buys a house in the City of New Orleans, or in a couple of areas in nearby suburbs, chances are that the house will have at least some plaster walls in it. 

Plaster and drywall, have much in common, but they also have many more differences. In some ways plaster is better, in other ways drywall is far superior. I've hear from violinists that the instrument sounds far superior when played in a room with the ticker, denser, heavier plaster walls; to them the walls might was well be covered in carpet as be made of the porous, thin, soft sheet-rock. Plaster is much harder, and thus it is a substantial task to to inflict damage to it. Nevertheless, driving a nail or a screw into plaster to hang or attach something can be difficult if it is at all possible. Plaster is also much more difficult to install or repair than drywall.

As most of you know, I am closing in on one year of ownership of a 100 year old house. When we bought the house, the walls were almost 100% plaster. The parts that weren't plaster were a few small drywall patches, or simply missing plaster. The three largest rooms, had particularly bad plaster. It had larger cavernous cracks, it was crumbling, and in many places it was not falling from the lathe only because many layers of paint and painted wallpaper were keeping it [sort of] in place. It would have been more expensive to repair it, than to remove it and re-plaster it. Either option was well beyond our budget, so we removed it and replaced it with drywall.

Our stairwell, foyer, and hallway on the other hand, had few cracks, and the ones that did exist had not caused the plaster to shift. The problem that did exist in this area was that the wall paper adhesive was causing the finish-coat of the plaster to come off with the wall paper. Because the bottom coats of plaster are in good condition, and because I ended up with an excess of joint compound from the installation of drywall in the other rooms, I decided to engage on the journey of fixing the plaster myself. I will simply be skimming the better part of each wall with the joint compound filling in hole and uneven surfaces along the way.

Alas, It won't have all of the benefits of plaster, and it will actually be missing a few of the benefits of drywall also. Nevertheless, this is an inexpensive, non-destructive solution.

Most people in the U.S. today, know very little, if any thing at all about plaster, but in New Orleans, a healthy understanding of plaster is almost requisite knowledge for a homeowner. It is also important, for a New Orleanian homeowner, to appreciate it, and the time, effort, and care that was once a part of the homebuilding trade, as evidenced by large flat walls of plaster.

I am sick and tired of the things that men’s magazines and websites babble on about. This recent article from valet. gave me that moment of clarity in which my pet peeve was revealed to me. These magazines and website (with a few exceptions – AofM being the primary exception) do not aim to make men better. All they do is tell men what they want to hear (They may also tell them that which will sell products for the sponsors of the publication).

Take a look at that article from valet., and I will break down each enumeration and show how it is disobliging drivel.

1. In general, do you think the average man dresses well?
This is a website focused on men’s style. Of course, every man who visits this website thinks of himself as well dressed. This pie chart is there to tell the reader, “Good job y’all; you men are among the 10% of men who actually dress well. You are so much better than the 90% of me who are poorly dressed [because they don’t read this website, which of course is the main element if the strive for style]”

2. What kind of style do you look for in a guy?
CASUAL AMERICAN!?!?!?!?!?! What sort of friggin rhetorical drivel is that? That sounds like jeans and a T-Shirt, which is, I imagine, the exact crap that would make a man not well dressed. What women did they poll for this? Did they poll the same women that don’t think that men are well dressed. Are the women they polled even the women we want them getting style advice from? (Many women don't exactly have good taste, either). I personally want the questions answered by a pool of women that would result in this question being answered with 100% for preppy; but that’s just me. Frankly, most men don’t try to hard, and question numero dos here tells them that women don’t want them to try hard either, because that is what they want to hear.

3. A guy's jeans look best when they're ...
…hung in his closet, and rarely removed. Oh, I’m sorry that wasn’t what you wanted to hear? OH, you wanted to hear “a little faded and worn” because that is what most of your jeans are? I see. Moving on, now…

4. The first date spectrum: How should he dress?
Ladies, why wouldn’t you want him to wear a jacket on a first date? Would that jacket imply that he is too likely to be an attorney, banker, broker, executive, or otherwise successful, or maybe even just respectful? Is it really the case that women don’t want men to be successful and/or respectful? Or is that most men are neither, and just don’t want to hear it.

5. How can guys look better at the office?
Do that many men wear clothes too large to the office? The answers to this question puzzle me a bit. Especially since it is the most legitimate question of the bunch? And what’s wrong with that French Blue Shirt worn in rotation with other shirts?

6. How can guys look better at the office?
I must say, Thank You Ladies. I agree with you – Pro on the Bowtie. Now my complaint here lies with the little quote on the side of the results. This website is trying to distract the men from the news that they didn’t want to get from the poll. The average man probably didn’t want to hear that women like bow ties, so what do they do, they counter their own result with a quote against bow ties… a quote by a man. Face the facts valet., the bow tie is a nice choice for the right occasions.

7. Most acceptable jewelry on a man:
WHAT ABOUT CUFFLINKS?

8. A man should be carrying:
It pisses me off that they have “a brief case style bag” but they don’t actually include a briefcase. Oh yeah, Messenger bags are for hipsters, and not all men are hipsters.

9. The trend of going sockless ... pro or con?
Trend? Some shoes should be worn with socks, others without. Tevas and topsiders should be sockless. Dress shoes, athletic shoes, and many others should be worn with socks. If you cross the line in either direction, you’re dumb.

10. The fashion deal-breaker:
This is a list of things that damned near every guy knows. We all know the rules, but some time you break them anyway. Sometimes you find your self running with scissors in hand. Sometimes you jump in the pool moments after downing 6 hot dogs. Sometimes you engage in unarmed combat with a hungry lioness protecting her young. And sometimes a guy throws his football jersey on with his baggy jeans and flip flops because they are the only things clean and he is just going to Taco Bell. I neither condone any of those things nor would I ever commit any of these “deal-breakers” (to use the same trite overused term as the article), and although many men do, I think they know they are breaking the rules. This is exactly why they mentioned these items. They wanted to let the hapless reader affirm himself that he know what bad decisions he’s making, and that he should feel camaraderie with the other men that break these rules. How about some rules men didn't know they were breaking?

Tell the reader what he wants to hear and he’ll keep coming back, that’s the motto of modern men’s media. Oh yeah, for agreeing with the average men’s magazine, the publishers will reward their faithful reader with pictures scantily clad women he’ll never have a shot at.

Note: I fixed some spelling and grammar mistakes in the article. These typos are inexcusable, thus evidence one should not both compose and publish work while fired up. It should now be an easier, less-nonsensical read. Again, my apologies.

I'm sure that someone out there has drawn a mental picture that could be strikingly similar to me, when trying to conjure up a mental image of the "Old South." I certainly have dreamed of this romanticized time and place. If such a thing existed as the Old South, then One must wonder what the New South is. The following is a guest post, addressing this tricky concept, by my friend, Erin Z. Bass, editor of online magazine Deep South.

The term “New South” isn’t all that new. It’s been used since the Civil War to describe the region’s attempt to put forth a new face to the rest of the world. As the “old South” system of plantations and slavery gave way to diversification toward factories and technology, several people helped to coin the term and shape its meaning. Henry Grady was a journalist for the Atlanta-Constitution who proclaimed in an 1886 speech: “There was a South of slavery and secession—that South is dead. There is now a South of union and freedom—that South, thank God, is living, breathing, and growing every hour.” Booker T. Washington also spoke out for a different kind of South. As the first leader of Tuskegee Institute, he enlisted the support of wealthy white philanthropists to aid in the construction of schools and colleges to educate African Americans.

During the Civil Rights Movement, “New South” once again applied to the times, as the region struggled with desegregation and voting rights. But after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, the South was forced to renew itself and try to convince the rest of the country it wasn’t just a backwards, racial place.

As lingerings of the Ku Klux Klan and candidates like David Duke still exist, so do big business, a move toward cultural tourism and Civil Rights sites now viewed as destinations in the current “New South.” Atlanta is home to world headquarters of Coca-Cola, Turner Broadcasting and AT&T; Birmingham remains a manufacturing hub and is also home to the world-class Civil Rights Institute; and Louisiana, especially the cities of New Orleans and Shreveport, has been dubbed “Hollywood South” because of its booming movie business.

The Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a great example of how cities can marry their pasts with current conditions. An interactive museum that explores the diverse history of the South, the Levine’s award-winning permanent exhibit, “Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers: Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont in the New South” is the most comprehensive interpretation of post-Civil War Southern history in the nation. Six different environments within the exhibit take visitors from a one-room tenant farmers house to sitting at a lunch counter during a sit-in.

Showing at the museum through November is “Changing Places: From Black and White to Technicolor,” which explores the continuing evolution of the region. Wall text reads: “For most of its history, the South was America’s poorest region. People left the South to seek opportunity. But since the 1970s, that’s changed.” Charlotte is now a culturally diverse place with more newcomers arriving daily, so the exhibit explores communication barriers, stereotypes and cultural traditions of multicultural residents.

Charlotte’s Levine presents exhibits that are relevant throughout the South and issues that affect all of us living here today. It seeks to bring these issues to the forefront, thus jumpstarting conversation, discussion and new ways of thinking about what the South has become. The term “New South” may seem overused at this point, but it’s still popping up in conversation, business names and popular culture. Georgia State University’s Journal of Art & Literature is called new south. New South, Inc. is an Alabama-based book publishing company, specializing in books on Southern history and culture. And the New Southern View Ezine claims to be Mississippi’s first online magazine.

In a recent Deep South interview with Georgia author Joshilyn Jackson, she also used the term when asked what it means to be a Southern writer. “I love the idea of the New South, but I worry about what babies we are throwing out with the abominable bathwater,” she said. “The culture, for good and ill, is being washed away and homogenized … I want to catalog this place, these people, truthfully, with all our glory and grace and all our awfulness intact before it’s gone.”

Jackson brings up an interesting point about whether or not sprucing up our old ways of doing things means we’ll no longer be described as unique, quaint or eccentric. We certainly don’t want to lose the designation of being eccentric. There are a lot of people in a lot of states working hard to ensure that we maintain, and promote, our history—good or bad—foodways and cultural traditions. But it’s up to us, the people who live here, to tell the rest of the world about “our South” and why they should see it for themselves.

Online magazine Deep South aims to capture current life in the South while also harking back to the history and traditions of an area known for its culture, color and style. Deep South is a product of the "New South," bringing readers news, stories, literature, travel opportunities and events from several Southern states in a format that is completely digital and uses social media to connect with readers. Editor Erin Z. Bass lives in her home state of Louisiana and enjoys taking day and weekend road trips to neighboring states and cultural destinations around the South.

I still recall the incident quite clearly. Two and a half years ago, after My Lovely Wife’s close friend began working at a local women’s shoe boutique – Feet First, My Wonderful, Darling, Lovely Wife dragged me into the store for her to spend what I knew would be a long time shopping; my wife ended up having to drag me out of the ladies shoe store.

Why?

NOLA Couture Ties.

To say that I was instantly enamored by these ties would be to understate the strength of my feelings for them, and to overstate the length of time it took for me to feel that way. The variety of things important to me that are depicted on these high quality ties in a great style (I can’t think of a one of their ties that wouldn’t look great with a seersucker suit) is mind blowing. Wetlands, Speckled Trout, Streetcars, Mardi Gras Floats, and Hurricanes are among many, many more of the items depicted in reoccurring patterns on these ties.

I would later come to discover that they do make more than ties, but that is the company’s flagship product. I like the ties so much that I developed quite a collection of them. Once I had a large supply for myself, I bought them for other people. I gave each of these to the groomsmen in my wedding as a gift. The variety of these ties is so extensive, that I had no problem find a tie to match each groomsman’s personality.

I decided to contact the NOLA Couture to express my appreciation of their products, and I ended up discovering that not only does this company, lead by the wonderful Cecile Hardy make great ties, but it also supports some great causes, including oil spill recovery.

Cecile Hardy, a New Orleans native who returned home to help rebuild her city after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, founded NOLA Couture in August 2006. Cecile worked as a Merchandiser for Gap, Inc in San Francisco for five years, working in their Global (US, Europe, Asia and Canada) Women's Outerwear and Items department and then their Girls Department (knits, wovens and denim) for the European Market. After Gap, Cecile accepted a position with Williams-Sonoma home doing buying and product development for their Textile, Upholstered Furniture and Lighting departments. After Katrina devastated Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region, Cecile put her career on hold to help her city recover from Katrina.

This is when she came up with the concept of NOLA Couture, a clothing line that is inspired by the New Orleans culture and the Gulf Coast region. It is also a company that cares very deeply about its community and is dedicated to helping rebuild southern Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. NOLA Couture donates a portion of all sales to local charities that are contributing to the rebuilding of New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. Since its inception, NOLA Couture has helped over ten local charities and foundations, recently teaming up with the Greater New Orleans Foundation to help in their Gulf Coast Oil Spill Cleanup effort. Since the news of the oil spill, NOLA Couture began donating $5 of each sale of its Shrimp Cocktail and Gulf Oyster ties to the Cleanup Fund.

NOLA Couture designs and produces a line of men's and women's clothing and accessories. Items currently in the line are men's silk ties (all with small motifs that are inspired by New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (such as “Gulf Oysters”, “Louisiana Redfish”, “Alligators”, “Fleur De Lis”, “Shrimp”, “Streetcars”, “Jazz/Trumpets” among a few), T-Shirts, Club Belts, D-Ring Belts, Dog Collars and Key Fobs. NOLA Couture is currently in the process of launching and expanded Women’s Accessories line to include tote bags, makeup bags, and beach hats, headbands, wallets and purses

Also, I hear they will now be donating 20% of the sales of the pelican tie back to the Oil Spill Recovery (likely to the Audubon Society). So, please check out NOLA Couture, and remember that buying one of their products is a great way to improve your style and to support a great cause. It’s also a great idea for the impending Father’s Day.