Fancy Restaurant|رستوران مجلل

I couldn’t resist sharing this one…

A Voice from Iran

A rich man walked into a fancy restaurant and asked for the best table.

When he sat down, he saw a black woman sitting at the bar.

He didn’t like what he saw. He didn’t like to eat in a beautiful luxury restaurant and see a black woman enjoying the same place that he was. He decided to show her; where her place was and prove to her that she didn’t belong there.

He called the waiter and said: “Everyone will be my guest for dessert, except that black woman.”

The waiter brought the restaurants famous chocolate cake to every single person except the black woman.

The black woman walked to the rich man and with a kind smile, said: “Thank you.”

The rich man got angry and called the waiter and said: “Give everyone a glass of wine under my bill except the black woman.”

The waiter did what…

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Not guilty

Originally posted March 2012

“No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.”
—George Bernard Shaw

“Never eat more than you can lift.”
—Miss Piggy

*

Not guilty

Today I ordered rhubarb pie

With my iced coffee

As its tartness exploded

Into my mouth sending lazy taste buds

Waves of pleasure

I noted that this pie

Was not accompanied

By the usual helping

Of guilt

Guilt for indulging

In this orgy of calories

Guilt that I will not be very hungry

When my son takes me out for dinner

In four hours – guilt

That the needle -on the bathroom scale

May have to climb a little higher

As my fingers traced

A path of flakey golden crumbs

And sticky red juice

I realized that this time

There was no attempt

To justify the decision

To indulge, to rationalize

Because it’s my birthday I’m entitled

No bargaining of what I

Would forgo?

To atone

I simply enjoyed every last bite

And if I weren’t’ so full

I would get another piece -perhaps

Or – make that to go

*

Bisous,

Léa

When the eagle lands: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

“History with all her volumes vast, hath but one page.”   – Lord Byron

 

“Is it only in the army in the Philippines that Americans sometimes commit deeds that cause all other Americans to regret?” – Theodore Roosevelt

 

“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” – Clarence Darrow

 

Da Nang March 2002

 

When the eagle lands: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

 

Despite luggage filled

With packages of raisins

Jars of peanut butter

And other edibles as

Directed by Huyen

I felt as the guest who

Shows up for the feast

Empty handed – on arrival

In Da Nang

Despite numerous trips to

Tijuana in my youth

This traveler was not

Prepared for the depth

Of poverty – starvation,

Suffering at every turn

It was easy to spot

Hidden behind toothless grins

The kind gentle hands

Welcoming this foreigner

Whose generous form was

Warmly and securely enveloped in

Skeletal arms – for those still able

Fragile, contorted bodies in

Wheel chairs or makeshift

Gurneys – smile with what is

Left to them – perhaps the light

Radiating from their eyes

Their parents exposed to

Agent orange – a gift

In their own best interest

Bestowed by America,

Monsanto and Dow Chemical

The same Monsanto producing

Between 70% – 100% of all

Genetically Modified seeds

Declare war on life itself

Flashbacks of mutilated bodies

Float into my periphery

As the chemical giants

Tally ill gotten gains – where

Will they strike next?

MARS, GENERAL MILLS,

KRAFT, NESTLE, PEPSICO,

KELLOGG’S, COCA COLA

UNILEVER – make up to

90% of food at your

Neighborhood grocery retailer

Under the auspices of your

Elected officials – whose pockets

Deeply lined from corporate coffers

Sociopath ideology; no empathy, no remorse, no guilt, no shame

The masses complain and complain

Yet fail to alter consumptive practices

One month, we walked the streets

Of Da Nang – handing out sacks of

Rice and other foodstuff

Twelve years later

Yet I still feel like screaming

Alone into my pillow

“Out, damned spot! Out, I say

*

Peace

Léa

A joyful tongue

“The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”   –   Molière

 

*** 

 

A joyful tongue

Goat’s cheese fat pillow

Heart of first ripe fig

Wild honey dripping

Lapped with pleasure

Treasures of the

Season

I devour each morsel greedily

With glee

***

Bisous,

Léa

Luscious

 “I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”   –  Mae West

“If I can’t have too many truffles, I’ll do without truffles.”  

– Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”   –  Mae West

***

Luscious

First there is the amazing softness

 Tantalizing flesh

Speculation – the juicy sweetness

As the surface yields to my attention

I sing delirious odes to freshness

Ecstatic sensation tantalizing each tastebud

Anticipation – you tease

Perpetual temptation

Ripening in the sun

I remain

Lusting after fruits

Not yet in season

***

Bisous,

Léa

Caring for your muse

“To draw you must close your eyes and sing.”  –  Pablo Picasso

“I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.”  –  Gilda Radner

“I do not seek. I find.”  – Pablo Picasso

***

 

caring for your muse

one cannot expect the muse

to subsist on a diet of only

white bread, salad and chicken

the muse requires dark chocolate

black cherries, truffes (truffles)

washed down with champagne or

premium vin rouge

–

a muse will not be confined

to numbers on a clock

nor the position of the sun

on the horizon

she sets her own time

and will be obeyed

her candle burns at both ends

–

muse requires a steady supply        

of sensory stimulation

the smoothness of a stone

plucked from the icy riverbed

burning sand between her toes

excesses of silk

a kitten’s fur

caramel stuck to teeth

sexual tension and a lover’s touch

the rhythms of heat

sunlight on her back

                                                                      –                                                                        

the rustling of leaves

the crack in a glacier

before tumbling to sea

waves crashing ashore

screaming sirens

60’s rock

hard rock

bolero

mozart

–

hot tar on the newly

paved road

          a wet dog            

lilac, thyme, rosemary

pine, rose

the damp sweetness

of the chestnut tree

in the rain

–

all food to whet

artistic revelation

if denied

starvation will be

fatal

–

nourishment

is in your hands

will you give her

smorgasbord

or do you only offer

fast food

***

Bisous,

Léa

La pomme

“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple is connected with that of man.”   –  Henry David Thoreau

“With an apple I will astonish Paris.”   –  Paul Cèzanne

“And there never was an apple, in Adam’s opinion, that wasn’t worth the trouble you got into for eating it.”   – Neil Gaiman

 

*** 

La pomme

Being the

Brains in

Le jardin

Eve picked

La pomme

Hunger can

Do that to a

Woman

Being that there

Was no health care

Available

She took care of

Herself

Leaving

Adam

To his violent

Abattage

des oiseaux,

Cerf

And all that was

Wild and free

L’ homme

Blâme

Ève

Pourtant le

Sang est sur

Ses mains

Et la femme

Est un avec

La nature

***

Bisous,

Léa

Salon de thé à Narbonne

“So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all the questions for the time being.”  –  Franz Kafka

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.   –  J.R.R. Tolkien

“Too many people just eat to consume calories. Try dining for a change.”  –  John Walters

 

*** 

 

Salon de thé à Narbonne

The tourists

Have arrived

Les cafés with shade

Draw the largest crowd

Salade Garesh

Poulet au curry

Mango – yaourt (yogurt)

Cucumber sauce

Trois tables

Occupied by the

French

Close by

English and

Dutch

Tongues flutter

Le menu ten euros

Tarte sallée

Ou  Salade Garesh

Verre de vin

Café

You finally comprehend

A shorter lunch

Would be barbaric

Bisous,

Léa

Moisson: Chasse pour la survie (Harvest: Hunt for survival)

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”   –  William Blake

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”  –  William Blake

 

Moisson: Chasse pour la survie (Harvest: Hunt for survival)

Winding through the hills

And vineyards

Durban Corbières to

Embres et Castlemaure

A thin mist

Hovers above

Vineyard flames

Reds, gold, brown

They will go out

In a blaze

Soon vines

Bared

Hibernating

Do they dream

Of the glorious nectar

They have given us?

Or is their reverie

Focused on tomorrow’s

Fruits?

I taste new wine

Woodsmoke

Rising from chimneys

On a slope

A restored

Bergerie rests

Above the vines

At its apex

Le sanglier (stuffed)

Rêves  of

Autumn fruits

Reminding us

Of their presence

Not that the

Chasseurs could forget

Fattened on the vine

Revenge extracted

At the crack of the gun

Parceled off to the tables

Of each hunter who took part in

La chasse

Man and nature

Co-existence

A fragile line

We each dare

Cross

***

Bisous,

Léa