Commander’s Palace: An Oldie But Goodie
New Orleans is one of my favorite cities to visit. I traveled there the first time 20 years ago when I was doing consulting work for a major chain restaurant located in the Big Easy. The advantage of visiting New Orleans with locals as your host is that they truly know all of the best restaurants. To state that more vehemently, I enjoyed the best-of-the-best. The favorite one of the three I visited on that trip was Commander’s Palace, a well-known restaurant located in the garden district.
After my first trip to New Orleans, I enjoyed Commanders Palace three more times within five years of the first visit but the last few times I went to New Orleans I didn’t have a chance to go to my favorite restaurant.
This all changed a few days ago when I went to New Orleans to celebrate my 50th birthday. I knew this celebration required a visit to my old-time favorite so I went online to see how the reviews looked. Now, this was something I couldn’t do 15 or 20 years ago, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it looked like the restaurant had maintained it’s standard of quality.
I made my reservation a couple of months before my trip and arrived for a 6:30 meal. One of the benefits of dining at that time is the servers line up in military fashion with their serving napkin draped over their arm as you walk past the hostess stand. It’s a lot like being an officer walking by a line of troops. Yes, the others in my party were impressed too.
The good news was that was not the most impressive part of the dining experience. Of course, it was the food! In the past, I had enjoyed a leisurely nine-course-dinner but that night I opted for one of the fixed-prix-entrees since Bourbon Street awaited. I had an exquisite fish dinner with the best presentation ever of a whole redfish which looked like it was swimming. Not only was the presentation impressive but the texture and taste was perfect!
While I was the birthday girl that evening, it was a friend of mine who actually had the winning entree of the night. It was soft shell crab with southern greens. Needless to say it was delightful as my friend was nice enough to offer a few bites since it was my birthday.
Probably, the only downside of the evening was the service. It didn’t measure up to the servers line upon entry into the restaurant. Bread was slow to arrive and we had the menus reviewed multiple times before our orders were taken. I know part of the lure of Commander’s Palace is the dining experience but we were clearly ready to eat!
All in all, Commander’s Palace has not lost any of its luster…even if I have over the last 20 years.
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Vintage Vinyl in New Record Shop Opening
When was the last time you saw a record store opening? In fact, a good portion of the population may not have ever seen a record. I have, but I am old! The idea, however, of a piece of vinyl is very nostalgic in my mind since I no longer own any records. I threw them out years ago as not even the local Good Will wanted them.
It looks like Record Lady in Philadelphia has definitely found a gap in the market and today is the grand opening at 557 Amber St., Philadelphia, PA. If you are not sure where that is, give her a call at (267) 639-9752. The party starts at noon today and lasts until 6 p.m. Be sure to stick around for awhile to hear the free music and enjoy the beer (if you are of age).
The grand opening is in conjunction with the Trenton Ave Arts Fest. The Record Lady is billed as an after party of the festival which includes artists, musicians, and eateries. The festival typically attracts more than 10,000 people in its East Kensington location and proceeds go to neighborhood revitalization efforts. Trenton Ave Arts Fest is located on the cobblestones of Trenton Avenue.
Record Lady started as an online site in March 2010. The Philadelphia location is the first brick and mortar store for Record Lady and is a family-owned endeavor. The store includes not only vinyl records but other vintage items such as posters, cd’s and other treasures. Record Lady, aka Cindy Hunt, previously owned another brick and mortar record store in Coatsville.
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Best Investments in Real Estate
Investments in real estate are picking up as most countries try to get out of the global recession that caused serious devestation to real estate markets worldwide. As a first time investor, experts suggest that residential properties will be the best for you to invest in, as a matter of fact, investment in rental properties will be the best option for new comers in the real estate sector.
Single family homes are one of the best investments in real estate as homes tend to attract long term renters like families. Couples tend to be more financially stable to pay their rent when due than single persons, therefore, as a property investor, you should look for neighborhoods and properties that will attract these groups of renters. Condominiums are good investments for first-time investors in real estate because of their low maintenance costs. But condos tend to attract lower rental fees and appreciate slower when compared to single family houses.
According to a recently published report from the Association of National Realtors, the sale of single family homes worldwide has continued to rise steadily in the past 3-5 years. As a potential investor, the best homes for investment in real estate can be resold for between the $150,000 and $300,000 price range. You will likely find most qualified buyers ready to buy your single family home within this range. Luxury homes though are huge investments in real estate but the buyer pools are very small and you may not get back your investment for a long time. One other benefit of investing in a single family home is that it is easier to get a secured loan to finance it , and the costs of renovations are often cheaper than commercial or luxury properties.
Commercial properties are also good investments in real estate. The financial returns on investing in a commercial property is more than what you get from smaller residential properties but you will have to spend more on maintaining these properties. Those who make it big in the real estate sector worldwide are those who took some risks in acquiring commercial properties in different cities of the world. You need to think about the legal implications as well as costs of running a huge commercial property. For instance, you need to pay your insurance premium and large property tax bills.
Expert realtors advise you have to weigh your options before investing in the real estate sector. Do you want to be an outright landlord or are you interested in restoring and selling properties? Since not all investment opportunities in the real estate sector are the same, experts suggest that you first determine the type of property that fits perfectly with your strategy. You can invest in apartment buildings or even buy land and develop them through the help of your real estate agent. Experts also advise that you keep in mind the fact that commercial real estate and land development opportunities are still facing tougher market conditions.
While Sam Holden is not researching the market to invest in single family homes, he runs GuestAuthor.org.
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Recent news on Online gambling in the US
In recent online gambling news, the internet gambling business in the United States is growing at an alarming rate and most people now prefer to gamble from the comfort of their homes without visiting the traditional casinos. With the growing online gambling business, there has been a call from some advocates to create new legislation that will regulate this growing trend and protect the interests of casinos.
Some states like Hawaii and Iowa introduced new online gambling legislation a couple of years back, and the gaming acts or legislation was reviewed in January 2013. One of the new laws on online gambling covers the issue of tax. Pennsylvania for instance taxes offline casinos and gambling houses more than any other state while the state of Nevada taxes them the least (Pennsylvania 55% , Nevada 6.7%). The Pennsylvania legislators are expected to review casino licensing and taxes for both online and offline gambling businesses in 2013. While the regular offline gambling businesses will spend $16.7 million to obtain a license in Pennsylvania, licensing for internet gambling is still fixed.
Hawaii on the other hand was one of the newest states to introduce online gambling legislation in January 2012, but due to lack of interest and neglect, the legislation did not go into effect. Hawaii and Utah are two states in the United States that do not permit any gambling of any sort. There are growing calls for the establishment of online lottery gaming in some states. In Hawaii for instance, this corporation will select a service provider that will operate the gambling site, and any other operator who tries to do this will be shut down immediately. Only a percentage of these dealings will go to the service provider and the rest goes to the state.
Online gambling companies provide Valentine promotions
In other recent news from online gambling companies in the United States, it looks like the casino industry is catching the Valentine bug. These seasonal promotions will run from February the 13th to the 17th and they come in different forms ; cash bonus of 14% or more, and these cash bonus will definitely attract visitors. Aside from free cash bonus on cash deposits, some online casinos are giving some lucky gamblers trips to some fascinating cities such as Paris, New York, and the Caribbean. Each trip is worth several thousand dollars. You may even get the cash value of the trip if you want to spend some of it to play more games online.
Some online casinos are also offering something different this season. In some cases, each player gets to enter a raffle drawing when he or she makes a deposit of 50$ or more, and each player gets more entries per multiples of $50 deposited. Forr instance, 100$ means two prize drawing entries. According to the recent news , Valentine promotions available on internet gambling sites won’t last for long , therefore you must enter as soon as possible to enjoy these benefits.
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U.S. Housing Price Rebound
No doubt, since last year till now, there has been speculation of a forthcoming rebound in the US housing industry. Some people have taken the view that no matter how inevitable the “rebound” may look, its dividends will not last long. In other words, they think that the best way to reap the profit of the “housing price rebound” in the US housing industry is by applying cautiousness. Of course, their view might not really be wrong, because they speak from their past experiences.
However, one thing is certain. Guess what that could be. In this euphoria of price rebound, the US economy benefits. Sure! It will add more credit to Barack Obama’s administration and will prove his sincere effort to work hard on the US economy. But I must quickly remark here, I do not intend to use this article to portray myself as pro-Obama or anti-Obama. No! That is not the essence of this brief article. Instead, the main objective is to see things the way they really are.
Statistically, according to information from S&P/Case-Shiller, some cities advanced more in value than others when it comes to the housing price rebound in the US. These favored cities are twenty in number. Among all of them, Phoenix is said to be highest. In Phoenix, the price skyrocketed almost 22.8%. Phoenix is followed by San Francisco which experienced an increase in housing prices to nearly 12.7%. Of course, the other eighteen cities are not out of the show. For instance, Detroit got its own percentage rise which is 11.9. Las Vegas and Minneapolis are also among the champion cities. But when you think of monthly rise in the housing price, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Phoenix are at the peak.
So what could be the cause of this current rebound in the US housing industry?
It seems to be last year’s record of employment in the US and low finance rates really seemed to prompt people to purchase new and old houses. This eally motivated people and added good money into personal bank accounts. But for this price rebound to reoccur and for the US economy to benefit, steady employment and low mortgage rates should be encouraged within the country.
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