Les Bon Temps!

Newfound Joy

Heaven in a bowl

One of life's sublime pleasures is discovering a new place to dine out, especially one that is close to where I live.

Yesterday I finally got around to visiting Simply Nola, a new restaurant that opened about a month ago at Mall of the Bluffs, just a couple of minutes from my apartment.


It offers authentic Cajun cuisine, not the easiest thing to find in southwest Iowa. Last night I had their marvelous chicken étouffée, and I can't wait for my next visit (might even be tonight)...

"Laissez les bon temps roulez!"

Vous avez ce droit!

Cruise Update

Today my best friend Skip and his wife Elaine spent the day ashore in Pont-Aven, France. It is a small artist's colony in the Brittany region.

"It looks positively charming. Didn't Gauguin spend some time painting there?"

Yes, he did...you're awfully erudite for a quadruped, you know that?

Turnabout

Last night my beloved Kansas City Royals bounced back from an ugly 10-4 shellacking Thursday night by visiting Detroit with a most satisfying 10-3 hammering of the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.

Now 6-4, 4.54 ERA

Royals starter Yordano Ventura was dominant for the third time in his last four starts, holding the Tigers scoreless in his 6 1/3 innings. Yordano only allowed six hits (all singles), and struck out five without walking a batter.

All-Star reliever Kelvin Herrera added another 1 2/3 perfect innings. Dillon Gee gave up two home runs and three runs in the top of the 9th, but the outcome of the game was never in doubt.

"BOOM!"

DH Kendrys Morales had a perfect night, going 2-for-2 with three walks. His three-run home run in the 8th inning was the final nail in the Tigers' coffin.

All-Star C Salvador Perez broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 6th with a solo home run, and wound up 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. 1B Eric Hosmer was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs, and also scored twice.

"Say, didn't you predict yesterday that the Royals wouldn't score at all in this game?"

I don't really recall, but it doesn't sound like something I would say...

Know Your Enemy

From the pen on Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

On June 18, 1967 some of the biggest names in popular music appeared on the final day of the seminal Monterey Pop Festival, including future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame groups Buffalo Springfield, The Grateful Dead, The Who, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. As I noted on Thursday, The Who and Hendrix both put on shows that became the stuff of legend.

Original 1970 album release

At the time the festival took place, though, folk-rock group The Mamas & The Papas were the best-known and biggest-selling artists on the bill.

Because group member John Phillips had been one of the producers of the festival, it was natural that The Mamas & The Papas would close the festival on Sunday evening.

Their performance that night perfectly captured the essence of the festival, and a live recording of it released in 1970 was popular with fans of the group like me.

Today's send-off is their Monterey performance of "California Dreamin'," the group's biggest hit and one of the most iconic songs on the late 1960s. Enjoy...