MrKurtNielsen.com

What a time! What a week! Listen and learn, my friends.

A lot of people have been wondering where I have been lately, and why the site has slipped a tad. It’s nothing serious, folks — just going through a little shift in my life. It’s all positive, though… as my latest video will attest to!

The books I will suggest to you, in order to give you inspiration and encouragement during these bumpy times:
The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol (also on audio book)
Too Much is Not Enough by Orson Bean
The Artist’s Way (and ensuing books in the series) by Julia Cameron
The Art of Eating by M.F.K Fisher

Be happy! Be well!

Back from my trip to Mobile, Alabama, I’m in quite a silly mood.

And while we are on the subject of my upcoming Mobile trip (now just hours away), here’s a film I did featuring several friends that I will get to see down there: Percy, Les Thatcher and Charlie Smith.

I finally got around to having the sound re-mixed — makes all the difference in the world! I hope you all like it. Please let me know what you think, too!

As many of you know, one of my closest friends in the wrestling business is Percy Pringle, a.k.a. Paul Bearer. For the fifth year in a row, I will be staying with him at his lovely home in Mobile, Alabama as we attend the Gulf Coast Wrestlers Reunion. It is always a highlight of my year. The event is for people involved in the wrestling business only. As a professional wrestling fan for over 30 years, I’m thrilled to be welcome, as I am rubbing elbows with true giants of the business.

Sadly, Percy lost his dear wife, Dianna, one month ago. I was lucky enough to get to know her. What a grand lady she was! I spent countless hours talking to her, eating her wonderful home cooking, and getting treated to her true southern hospitality. Being from the West Coast, I never had the opportunity to have homemade fried chicken — it’s not something a lot of people out here make themselves. Dianna was kind enough to make me her special fried chicken a few years back, and I will never forget how terrific it was.

So, it will be bittersweet going to Mobile this year. Dianna will be on my mind all the time, as you might imagine. But there’s so many good memories, and so many good friends out there for me to visit, I won’t be able to stay down for too long. And don’t forget all that wonderful food! I’m going to eat like a horse. Diet be damned! I will stick my head in a trough full of banana pudding and won’t come up for hours!

And, of course, I will do my annual visit to the grave of Stan “Plowboy” Frazier in Biloxi, Mississippi. Yes, I might just wear overalls (just like I did last year). I pick up all my overalls in Pascagoula, MS, where Frazier lived most of his life. He’s a strange role model, I won’t deny… but he’s mine!

Now, those of you who want a letter from me, you better raise your hand now cuz I’m going to be out for a short while. But if you do request it, I will gladly mail you from somewhere along the Gulf Coast… I swear!

Okay, I had best pack. We’ll be back next week!

In honor of my upcoming trip to Mobile, where the food is abundant and glorious, here’s one of the finest eating stops on the West Coast: the world famous Farmers Market on 3rd and Fairfax.

If you ever come down here for a visit, please be sure to stop by. Heck, give me a call and I’ll show you where to go!

www.farmersmarketla.com

It’s the simple pleasures of life that really do it for me. But sometimes I’m a bit naughty…

I would have to say that New Orleans Square might very well be my favorite section in all of Disneyland. From the eerie grandeur of the Haunted Mansion to the minute details throughout that evoke the jewel of the Gulf Coast, there’s real life, drama and class in every corner. All the space is perfectly proportioned, too, without an ounce of fat. Everything makes sense. Here, it seems, no corners are ever cut. Magnificent!

Happily, all of the food establishments in New Orleans Square are just as quality-driven. I can’t list one place there that is even average, not even the food carts. What brings out this special magic? It’s hard to say. Maybe because people associate New Orleans with food excellence, the park felt morally obligated to step up their game. It does not make sense that a section only a few feet away (like Frontierland) can produce food of such a different quality, but I swear it’s true, folks.

I don’t think you can do better in the park, for price, value and overall appeal, than the French Market Restaurant. Located attractively by the train station, facing the Rivers of America, this is a wonderful establishment that is considered casual dining, moves like quick service, and gives you the feeling that you are truly somewhere special. The Blue Bayou has all the reputation (and prices to match!), but I honestly feel this is the gastronomic heart of New Orleans Square.

In the open-air dining area, you can watch people casually strolling by as you listen to live jazz and sip a (non-alcoholic) Mint Julep. No matter how harried things can be, this festive environment has a way of soothing the mind, even in the dead heat of summer. All of the elements that make the park so great meld here in this one spot: the trees, the architecture, the smatterings of kitsch, the whimsy, the charm. You could ask for no better backdrop for a meal, I can assure you!

The food is just great. Given the constraints of food service in this capacity, they do some really amazing things. The jambalaya is not your typical Cajun style (this is Disneyland, after all, so they don’t really over-spice), but I really love it. They spoon a large ladle of tomatoey rice with vegetables, make a deep well and top it with a generous portion of shrimp and chicken. Flanked by cheddar cornbread and perfectly cooked tender-crisp vegetables, it’s a marvel. I had this very meal outside in the pouring rain, underneath a small cloth cover, and had one of the most pleasant eating experiences in my life.

Every time I have come here, either with a group or by myself, I have been nothing but satisfied. Some of the food isn’t always tip-top — it can happen, and it’s understandable. On one visit my Roast Beef Royale’ had somewhat gummy potatoes, and the beef seemed a bit over-tender (if that even seems possible), but it was all still highly edible. The consistency of the French Market still tops that of the other restaurants in the park by a wide mile.

They also have lovely desserts. I had a mini cheesecake with raspberries and a Jack Skellington head perched atop — it was something you would expect to see at only the fanciest of cafes, and was available here for a modest fee. Again, just magic.

Overall Grade: A
If you really want to put a big exclamation point of your Disneyland experience, I would strongly suggest you eat here. It is everything the park should be, and if I didn’t already vow to eat at every restaurant in the park, it would be the only place I’d ever dine.

Cuisine: American, Cajun-Creole, Healthy Selections
Service Type: Casual Dining
Price Range: $$ ($10-$20 per person) *
Meals Served: Lunch, Dinner, Snack
Location: New Orleans Square

I was at Disneyland the other day, consuming several large cups of the coffee with endless refills, bouncing gleefully over my recent discovery. Once I found out about this treat (available only at the Market House on Main Street U.S.A.), I figured it was time to grind it into the ground and drink all I could. On a regular visit, I can easily consume six of the 16-ounce cups over the course of a day. They say it’s not great for your nerves, causes acid stomach and will discolor your teeth, but I never cared.

Everything sort of changed this last weekend. I don’t know if it was the madness of Midway Mania (the ride I just stepped off of) or the 3 cups of coffee that I had within a small window of time that caused it, but my hands started to shake. I tried to hold my hands still. I could not. My friends all surveyed the situation, with great glee, and came to the same conclusion: I had overdosed on coffee.

I realized that if I ever hope to maintain steady hands and not come off like a knock-off version of Kate Hepburn, trembling like a feather in a breeze, I had best put on the breaks. So, for a time, I will stick with Sanka and ride that train around the park until I feel it’s time to step off.

I’ve long kept non-caffeinated products in my larder. I have several jars of Postum hoarded, of course, but I will only partake on special occasions since it’s no longer in production and as precious as gold. Pero is quite good, though not the same as Postum and does not feel like a coffee substitute — it is it is its own thing. The only legitimate solution is to swim in Sanka, my faithful instant friend.

A part of the Maxwell House family, Sanka is America’s first brand of instant coffee, dating back to the early 1900s. The younger ones won’t recall this, but for many years Sanka (and Postum for those of the Mormon persuasion) were regularly served at major restaurants. You didn’t ask for a cup of decaf: you asked for a pot of Sanka. Its impact is still felt — though most establishments no longer serve Sanka, the orange color of the product’s label is the main reason why they use orange to identify decaffeinated coffee in restaurants to this very day.

I won’t say it tastes as good as regular coffee, because it doesn’t. The slogan “Sanka… Everything You Love About Coffee” is somewhat misleading. Like other substitutes, it has its own character and drawbacks. I’d say it’s slightly bitter, and doesn’t even smell like regular coffee. But if you like the taste of instant coffee (and I do once in a while), you learn to live with it.

Naturally, my love for Sanka goes deeper than just my want to calm my jangled nerves. Sanka was a sponsor of The Andy Griffith Show. Back in the day, many of the key products were worked into little commercial skits featuring the characters. If you were not paying full attention, you would swear these spots were part of the actual episodes. Andy and company really sold the Sanka well — to this day, the spots make you want to run out and buy the stuff. And when you sip it, you feel like you’re in the sheriff’s office, gnawing on one of Aunt Bee’s fried chicken drumsticks and discussing American history with ol’ Barn.

Don’t believe me? Take a gander yourself and see if you’re not swept away…

I think it’s now time for me to fetch some boiling water and make myself a cup. Would you care to join me?