| Festive tea party puts girls' talent on display
Cucumber and basil finger sandwiches, curried egg salad, blueberry scones, miniature fresh fruit tarts, chocolate mint madeleines, sugar cookies, raspberry cream cheese candies, sponge cake hearts and Earl Grey tea. That was the menu whipped up by elementary school-age children and served at an invitation-only celebration Aug. 17. Guests at the festive tea party consisted of mothers and grandmothers of participants who had attended Summer Cottage Experiences camp at the Mandarin home of Jessica McMullen Bright, better known to Jacksonville residents as Chef Jessica Bright. This was Bright's fourth year to offer her Christian-based program, which included crafts and activities about cooking, gardening, sewing, etiquette and art. "I thought it was excellent," said Ashley Cooke, who ushered tea party guests to seats at a colorfully decorated table containing campers' hand-made name cards, painted tea cups and a mountain of tasty treats.
COOKING UP TROUBLE
Every year high school football coaches and players complain about the heat during August practices. But they say they've never had to face anything like this. The National Weather Service agrees. Since Aug. 1, the average high temperature in the area has been 98 degrees. Practice began Aug. 6 right about the time a high pressure system began to sit on the South. The heat and humidity is beyond oppressive. It's dangerous, especially for players wearing helmets, dark jerseys and practicing in the oven that is the New Orleans metro area right now, experts said. Tuesday, for the fourth consecutive day, the National Weather Service issued a heat warning for most of the parishes in southeast Louisiana. Football teams have always had to deal with heat and humidity, but the recent days have been record-setting.
Java B Good makes most of menu, location
Since the time he was a teenager working at the Hyperion Field Club, Bryan Marker has loved the food-service industry.
Over the decades, he's worked at a host of Des Moines dining establishments: the Hotel Fort Des Moines, Perkins, the Des Moines Art Center and Grounds for Celebration - where he was a partner in the business.
His latest restaurant venture is Java B Good, a coffee shop and cafe he opened last summer with partner Chris Erickson in the Boesen florist shop at 3801 Ingersoll Ave.
"First and foremost, I enjoy customer service," Marker said, explaining why he opened Java B Good. "I'm like a bartender - without booze here - I really am. And I've got great employees. I respect them and in turn, they respect me. We have fun, and we have fun with our customers."
Boesen has long housed a coffee shop in its Ingersoll location.
'I really believe in it'
On her kitchen table, Jacki Walter spread out the photos dated June 9, 2005. Flipping through them, she laughed -- not arrogantly, but as if she were part of the joke -- at the tacky splatter paint on the walls and the dingy carpet. When Walter first saw the 95-year-old house on the East Side of Aurora, it had sat vacant for at least a year, and from the look of things, it was painfully clear that few had bothered to take notice. .
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