Call it a chayote, an alligator pear, a chow-chow or a mirliton, I didn’t even know this delicious fruit existed until I moved to New Orleans. It is an excellent source of amino acids and Vitamin C as well as being amazingly versatile as the base for both sweet and savory recipes.  There are hundreds of culinary concoctions that can be made from the mirliton and, luckily, I was able to try a few at the 2009 Mirliton Festival in Markey Park this weekend. Many attend the festival to hear the great local bands, visit with neighbors, browse local craft tables, but me?  I go for the food.  I knew I had to really cheat to experience the bounty at the festival, but it was well worth it.

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I’m not sure if it’s because I’m preparing to hibernate for the winter or a lack of iron, but I have been craving a nice, juicy steak lately.  Images of a thick, medium-rare filet that yields easily to a knife have been pervading my dreams and even my waking thoughts and I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer.  Although I know of many different steakhouses in the city, I asked around for a casual establishment where I could get a really incredible steak and one of my co-workers mentioned The Beef Connection in Gretna.  She had never been there herself, but her friend had raved how the filets were “like buttah” and I decided to give it a try.  This is my 15th week and my 15th cheat and I am down 43 pounds.

Released in October 2005, the long-awaited Knife of Dreams was the last Wheel of Time book published before Robert Jordan’s unfortunate death in September 2007.  I thought this novel was a big upgrade from the one before it as things actually come to a head in Knife of Dreams.

One of my favorite scenes in this book is when Mat finally asks Thom about the letter he has been reading over and over.  Mat discovers that Moiraine sent the letter to Thom before she attacks Lanfear and dies quite a few books ago in The Fires of Heaven.  The letter states that she might be alive and Mat and Thom are the only ones who can rescue her from the Aelfinn and Eelfinn by seeking out the Tower of Ghenji.

Everyone in New Orleans has a favorite burger joint.  A friend of mine loves the hand-formed burgers and sweet potato fries at Beachcorner Bar & Grill on Canal Street and another touts the overstuffed baked potatoes and heady Monsoons at Port of Call in the Quarter, but my burger of choice is lovingly made at GB’s Patio Bar & Grill.  Located on Maple Street on the river-side of Carrollton Avenue in the Riverbend, GB’s is an unassuming, neighborhood restaurant with a welcoming patio dining area replete with fans or space heaters, as the weather dictates and a small staff that remembers your face and treats everyone like an old friend.  John and I were in the mood for a leisurely burger in a comfortable atmosphere and GB’s always fits the bill.  I’ve been on this diet for 3 1/2 months now, I am down a grand total of 42 pounds and this is my 14th cheat.

Have you ever wished that boring parts of your life like sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room or waiting in line could pass like a montage?  You would only experience brief clips of events and thus, time would pass quickly.  I know it took Robert Jordan more than two years to write Crossroads of Twilight, but to me it could have been a montage.  It seemed like Jordan had to show what was happening every second of the seemingly drab period between Winter’s Heart and Knife of Dreams.  Like the faithful fan I am, I dragged myself through this novel, but I was disappointed.

Winter’s Heart was released in November 2000, a little more than two years after A Path of Daggers.  I remember how anxious I was for the ninth book in the Wheel of Time series to be released because I wanted to know what was happening with Mat Cauthon.  Was he alive?  Wounded? Captured by the Seanchan? Hopelessly wrapped around Queen Tylin’s pinky finger?  The answer was all of the above…

Winter’s Heart begins with Perrin’s hunt for Faile after she was captured by the Shaido Aiel along with Morgase (no longer Queen of Andor and hiding as a serving woman) and the Queen of Gheldean who just swore fealty to Perrin Aybarra seeking the protection of the Dragon Reborn from the Prophet.  Perrin is determined to rescue his wife from almost insurmountable odds considering the Aiel that captured Faile number in the tens of thousands.  But, as we have already discovered about Perrin, he is not one to give up easily, if at all.

Seventeen months after the release of the seventh book, Jordan released The Path of Daggers in October of 1998.  This is the only book in the series I really didn’t like that much.  The plot tends to drag and my favorite character, Mat Cauthon, is AWOL for the entire novel. Leaving Mat, who is very likely severely injured, in Ebou Dar after the Seanchan invasion seemed like an unfair abandonment, but I still pushed on through.

Compared to the fast track he was on for the first six books, Jordan slowed down considerably after publishing Lord of Chaos.  It took him 19 months to release book seven in the Wheel of Time series, A Crown of Swords, and with so many complicated plot lines and tons of additional characters, it is not hard to see why.  Jordan had created such a detailed world in the first six books that pulling the series down the far side of the story’s curve seems to be proving a daunting task indeed.  Although A Crown of Swords was certainly far from my favorite novel in the series, many fascinating events take place which help pull the whole epic in the right direction within a surprisingly short number of pages.

The sixth book, Lord of Chaos, was published in October 1994, exactly one year from the release of The Fires of Heaven.  Although there are parts of this novel that tend to drag (we all know, love and tolerate Jordan’s tendency to describe what EVERYONE is wearing), this is the first novel where Rand Al’Thor comes head-to-head with Aes Sedai emissaries.  He is caught between the two sides, the rebel Aes Sedai from Salidar and those from the White Tower under the iron hand of Elaida.  This conflict between Rand and the two opposing emissaries is what drives the plot and creates a gritty, heart palpitating tension making this particular novel a definite page-turner.

Coming all the way from Transsexual Transylvania, Frank ‘N Furter and all his friends will be rocking the Westwego Performing Arts Theater in Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 British musical comedy that gained notoriety as a midnight movie in 1977 when audiences began participating with the film in theaters across the United States. Back in 1988, I was called out as a virgin at my first Rocky Horror Picture Show and was forced by friends and strangers to do the Time Warp on stage.  I will never forget how long it took me to get the champagne laden toast out of my hair, but it was the most fun I had ever experienced at a movie theater.