As part of our dinner conversation last night: off the beaten path spots for the M&M road trip. Tips from around the table:

1) Middendorf’s in Pass Manchac, Louisiana. You’ll never get a better fried seafood platter and its thin-filleted fried catfish — made with the same recipe since 1934 — is famous. I just read that its under new management since 2007, but the old-line staff is still in place and it seems like the new owner respects the menu and the history of the restaurant, so you should still be able to get the good stuff there.

2) UCM Museum in Abita Springs, Louisiana. A walk-in art installation where you can see the Bassigator among many other oddities. Exceptional place to stop for souvenirs. But since the whole place is a description-defying work of art, you’ll just have to go experience it to see what we mean. (Handily, Abita Springs is the home of the Abita Brewery — and my favorite beer is served up right there at the Abita Brew Pub. And, it’s just down the street from my mom’s house, where — if you are Mark and Michelle — she might hook you up with a shrimp po-boy from her favorite place (not on any map) Frabielli’s — the real deal with buttered french bread toasted just right.

3) If you happen to be on the long long Texas route and anywhere near Bourne, TX, don’t miss the Bear Moon Bakery and Cafe. I always stop here on my LA to New Orleans trips. When Laur and I were there in February of 2006, a baker displaced by Katrina was making killer king cake (in Texas?! who figured?) and lots of delicious goods are baked on-site, real espresso and yummy food made from fresh ingredients. Great breakfast. Reasonably-priced and cute.

Click here or on the map above to get a google map with links!

A carpaccio of beef with a selection of olive oils Roasted artichokes Walnuts and dates with Parmigiano Reggiano olives and pickles Cocktails and champagne

Steak Frites with a variety of sauces Val’s glazed farmers market carrots A salad of arugula with beets, oranges and goat cheese Brunello di Montalcino

Spring berries with bay leaf custard Coffee, port and champagne

A dinner with dearest friends — a beautiful start to a summer under the vine!

Closed circle brushing. Did you know that tossed out toothbrushes add about about 50 million pounds of waste to American landfills each year? And, that most toothbrshes have grips and other components that make them un-recyclable? We can do better, and someone is. Last year I found the Preserve Toothbrush at Trader Joe’s. The Preserve Toothbrush — a nice, simple, smallish toothbrush made in the USA — is a completely recyclable brush made primarily from recycled Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. Use it until it’s time to replace it (dentists recommend every 3 months), then put it in its postage-paid return envelope and send it back to its makers who grind it up to be made into plastic lumber — used for things like picnic tables. Ah, that satisfying click of the closed recycling circle! Try it. The brushes are available at Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s and online, where you can order a subscription like mine. The cost: about the same as an Oral-B.

Some mindful-living serendipity. Last week, I internet-met (hah! intermet!) artist Todd Davis when I emailed him to ask permission use an image in a post about his very nice painting. During our e-mail exchange, he internetroduced me to his wife Danielle’s smart/useful/cool website, lessismorebalanced.com. Danielle points us to all kinds of goodness from organic tequila and chocolate, to news on alternative energy like algae ranching in Texas, to truth-about-food links like the one to Bill Moyers’ coverage of farm subsidies, to where to find a good 100 percent post-consumer notebook. Nice and newsy; do visit!

The vine is going to town! And …

Ajax is getting into his daily summer sunbath routine.

I know I said the curation of the recent portrait exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art fell flat, but the paintings themselves left an impression on me. I found myself thinking a lot about the high level of technical performance required to create the hyper-real portraits in the the show. So when — while checking The Night Note’s clustermaps stats — I saw a little hyper-real portrait of a girl staring out at me from the Google Ad stack, I took a second look. The text said: How to Oil Paint DVD. Top world realist teaches simple method. ANYONE can learn.

ANYONE? I clicked through and landed at thecardermethod.com. There was a lovely realist still life, one that I would certainly be proud to paint. I hit the play button. The video pitch was aimed at encouraging prospective buyers who had never made a painting before; the salesman extolled the method as requiring “no talent.” Hm.

But it also talked about some cool tools that painter/teacher Mark Carder had developed: a little color checking tool that helps your eye focus on specific colors and a proportion-measuring tool used for sketching. These reminded be of Old Masters tools like framed-grids. He’s also developed his own slow-drying medium. I thought I might be able to make some use of these tools, even if I did have a little talent. I clicked around the site and saw some clips from the DVD. Carder was teaching the basic method of training realist artists to paint what they actually see not what they think they are seeing. I started to think that working though the program might be a great exercise for the “back to basics” work I’ve been doing. So I bought the package.

It turned out to be full of good old-school practical advice about studio lighting, still life set up, paint mixing, canvas stretching and toning and other basics. It also detailed a painstakingly exact process of color mixing and painting, one that requires patience, because it is a tedious way to work. But the process is about slowing down and remembering (or learning) how to see and — while I am going to do a few still life paintings using the method — the real payoff will be in how such intense “seeing practice” plays out in my work to come.

In the meantime, I’ve set up the studio with a simple still life in a light-control box and I’m beginning work on my first Carder Method still life. The configuration of the lights, the box, the easel and the chair — which must stay in exactly the same positions during the one to two weeks I’m working on the painting — have swallowed my studio space and that has us living in a little corner of the room with our big TV. [pix above] So I am very dedicated to getting this done and re-configuring the studio back to its old sunny self. I’ll let you know how the school work goes.

Below, the first canvas with pencil work.

For a post script, click

PS#1: There are people who say using tools and processes like the Carder Method is “cheating.” To them I say, working artists know better. Go learn more about art and artists — who have and always will be technologists at heart. Then come back and we’ll talk.

PS#2: If you click around Carder’s bio stuff, you will see that he painted an official portrait of George H.W. and Barbara Bush — eeeeyew! I’m trying to get over that, though, I mean an artist needs work, right? And, besides, what business is it of mine? (But, eeyew)

We have found the first sign that the vine has restarted its annual journey! The first growth of the vine means happy Spring! Here’s to the grapes of Fall, 2008.

To see another picture of the vine, click

My test/procedure at the audiologist went well and I am cleared to resume my normal activities tomorrow, including driving. It’s funny how news like that can make everything beautiful. The California sky was California blue. The sunlight caught in my Parisian perfume bottle, made a light show in my cozy bedroom. Val took photographs. The birds sang and Ajax sighed on his pillow.