Food glorious food

Maison Prunier, the one in London and the one in Paris. Fouquets, the place mentioned in “Grand Illusion”, La Closerie de Lilas, Hemingway's Left Bank favorite, Le Petit Zinc, which my wife and daughter and I closed for good one mad cap memorable night. Such, such were the joys of our days in Europe before the dubious Euro zone decided to shutter the good life. I live in Vegas now. There are plenty of Michelin star restaurants here and I've been to most of them, including the marvelous Wing Lei in the Wynn. Still you have to agree with Bugs Bunny when he and Daffy Duck went to Las Vegas and Daffy enthused: “excitement, sex, adventure” and Bugs reminded him, “ also a hot spot for the elderly”. Yes, it's now 2 for 1's at the buffets and even Denny's (20% off after 4 pm). What can you do, that's what dining out is in America now. We have found a small French bistro but you have to look hard. I saw this week that Olive Garden and Red Lobster are experiencing big sales slumps. It's about time. Joe Queenan, the NY critic says that they are two of the most deadly places in American culture, along with “Cats”, “Phantom of the Opera” and “Walker Texas Ranger”. I would add Barbra Streisand to that list. C'est La Vie. Proust had his taste buds to jog his memory. I have my memories to jog my taste buds. Hemingway said that Paris was a moveable feast. C'est vrai, toujours vrai.

SHOULD YOU GIVE YOUR KIDS A COLLEGE EDUCATION OR A GUITAR? Or boxing gloves? Or dancing lessons? Or a football? You want to avoid crushing tuition debt because it is not “dischargable”, thanks to a neat double-cross by Congress. And since most degrees now are in business and accounting you're not going to get much bang for the buck from an English degree or teaching credential or, heaven forbid, a theology or Classics BA. Politicians can't help you because they only represent themselves. I saw that famous shauspieler Bill Clinton intone that kids have to buckle down and study math and science. Of course when he took physics and the assignment was to “dress the electron” he tried to “undress the electron”, failed and gave up. At Stanford an undergraduate degree can cost up to $200,000. No wonder Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college and Elon Musk left Stanford after two days. My extremely well-read son Tony dropped out of a swank private college to get to New York and get a job at The New Yorker. Later, he did get a degree from NYU but he said astutely, “Why are we paying thousands of dollars to read books I can do on my own?” Of course you can always get a football scholarship while you're taking remedial reading and waiting for the NFL Draft. But that's for schools like the University of Memphis and East Louisiana State A&M. I didn't need college to be smart or to have a career but my father, who never finished high school, insisted, and he was writing the checks. So I was sent off to UCLA . The first thing I did was join a fraternity since I was 1500 miles from home. I wasn't a scholar but I got my A's in Russian and English and earned 5 athletic letters (in minor sports of course). John Dewey points out that “education is a mode of social life in which we learn the most by working with others”. I left Berkeley with my gentleman's C average and the biggest prize of all, my wife Peggy. In the 1971 film “Taking Off” Milos Forman spoofs the middle class by having the young daughter run away from home. She returns with her goofy-looking boyfriend. The smug father, who has never made more than $19,000 in his life, baits the young man, who is a rock musician, by asking how much money he made that year, and got the answer, “only $237,000”. If you want to make real money don't let college stop you. Today's university has pledged itself to a Holy Trinity of: football for the alumni, sex for the undergraduates, and parking for the faculty. However, if you change your mind (and actually care for it) you can harken to William James who said, “Learning of all kinds opens us up to the fruits of life. The American college is too important to be permitted to give up on its own ideals.”

Peggy gives her notice on "Mad Men"

Who can blame her? She won't be allowed to work on the glamor account. She doesn't get to share the lobster dinner with the rest of the creative staff. She does a brilliant impromptu save on an account and when she and the team report to Don, the creative director, he sneers and throws a wad of bills at her. I often yell at the program since I had many similar experiences in my own Mad Man career and so last Sunday I shouted to Peggy: “Leave, leave, it's over “. She's going, and for more money, the best revenge. When you're not valued go where you will be. The final insult, and a grave new turn in the plot, is when a prospective client asks the boys if he can sleep with Joan. She agrees, providing she gets a partnership, more money, etc. Only the conflicted Don tries to stop her. But she goes ahead and they get the account. These things happen but I have lost all respect for that ad agency. All they care about is the sale. No philosophy there and no loyalty either. I've worked at a few shops like that and it's no place to be anybody.