Darlings! There’s nothing like being laid up in bed during a devastating heat wave to make you turn the air conditioning down to 50 degrees, order in lots of great treats, and get caught up on your cooking shows!!! First of all, the bad news!! Why is Paula Dean’s accent getting heavier and heavier??? She now pronounces her own last name with 3 syllables….”Day-a-ahn”!!! And why does she have to cross her eyes like a conked-out Wiley Coyote whenever she tastes her own “stick-abutta” recipes?? I’m interested to know if the Food Network empire is just going to dig Mel Blanc back up and do her show as a full-out cartoon! With Daffy Duck and Tweety Bird as either her guests..or her Southern Fraaahed entrees! Thhhuffferin Thuckotash……and SPEAKING of lisps! Is Michael Chiarello ever going to get that fixed??…or just come out of the closet! He seems cute and sweet enough, but cute ‘n’ sweet like your favorite hairdresser….or a man who throws birthday parties for other people’s children! And he’s Italian, right? What’s with the odd pronunciations of Italian dishes? The proper pronunciation for bruschetta is “broo-SKEH-tah”, (I actually dated a Bruce Sketta in college! He was a Yale man!), or the Americanized pronunciation is “broo-SHEH-tah.” But Michael wants it BOTH ways!!! “broo-SHketta”….it sounds like some drag queen from Boca Raton!!!….And speaking of wild pronunciations!!! Can Giada exaggerate her versions of Italian words any more than she already does?…or open her mouth any wider???? We get it!!! We GET IT!!! You have 88 teeth, your grandfather was a famous film producer, and you’re Italian!! But do you really have to stop every sentence dead in its tracks so you can turn the word “spaghetti” into a five-act opera projected through your nose? You have won the official Alex-Trebek-Accent-Excellence Award of the Food Network! But if you’re going to go that far every time, you better start calling Paris “Pah-REE” and Rome “RRRO-mah”! Now for some good news: Laura Calder on FRENCH FOOD AT HOME is so natural and easy. Slightly naughty (without being lurid like Nigella skulking around the house in the middle of the night!), learned (without being condescending like Alton Brown!…..so smarmy and snarky, especially with THAT HAIR!!), and charming (without being Stepford-y like Ree Drummond in The Pioneer Woman!!). Try making her dishes! They’re terrific! And that little hint of Eastern Canadian accent is just enough to flavor the food and the 1/2 hour visit! Bon Appetit!!….(oh Julia! Where are you when we need you???)

Darlings!!!! I had the most “loverley” late night snack at Cherry Grove’s TOP OF THE BAY Restaurant last night!!! A certain famous ex-Empress (oops! We don’t say ‘EX’…we say ‘FORMER’ Empress!), the wonderfully talented and radiant Philomena has become the Empress of Delectable Delights on Fire Island! Her reputation in the sweets department has spread far and wide…even the muscle-boys-on-strict-diets in the Pines swoon for her chocolate cake!!! Well, we got a chance to sample her cheese cake, and let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than having Bill Ottignon and Fabio Gorgissimo INHALE the entire dessert before I even lifted my fork!!! Tables 6 and 8 on either side of us even tried to get into the act! It seems it was the last piece! Light, but densely flavorful, rich, but somehow refreshing, it was without doubt one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever tasted!!….well, the ONE bite I managed to wrestle free from the marauders….and of course, what I was able to lick off the plate!!)….and then who comes over to my table to console me, but the Delicious Doreen Katen!!! We dished and dissed the menfolk, and discussed our mutual ventures for the 2012 season in our neighboring kingdoms, and we decided there should be much more cross-pollination between the PINES and CHERRY GROVE. I was reminded of the Katharine Hepburn quote about Astaire and Rogers, “He gives her class, and she gives him sex appeal.”…it’s kind of that way about the Grove and the Pines, isn’t it??…..but of course you’ll never catch me saying which is which!!!!

Well, Darlings…with all the fussing about how the the world is falling apart, and NYC isn’t what it was, and even Greenwich Village is disappearing…..I decided to get out and look for some GOOD NEWS!!!…and I found it! The Village has some restaurants that have atmosphere, a lovely staff, and terrific food!!! Mummy’s off right now on Sunday morning to WALLSE at 344 West 11th Street on the corner of Washington Street. Situated in a landmark building just a block from the Hudson River Promenade, it was the first restaurant opened by Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner and features a modern take on traditional Viennese cuisine!! I’m heading out for the brilliant Wiener Schnitzel….with lingonberry preserves. Here’s their link: http://kg-ny.com/wallse. See you there, mon cher!!! xoxoxo, Sybil.

FABULOUS!!! Just spent a hysterical evening at the Laurie Beechman Theatre under the delectable Westbank Cafe on West 42nd Street in the heart of NYC!!!! As if the food there isn’t wonderful enough, the show COMIC DIVERSITY dazzled!!! The comedians included the brilliant host, Jimmy Failla, and Dom Sileo, Danielle Beckmann, Amin Makhani, Mark Normand, Emil Kim, Emma Willman, Mike Brown, Leah Bonnema, & Special Guest Headliner, Carmen Lynch. What a big dose of Holiday Hilarity to get in your stocking…and anywhere else you might keep that sort of thing!!! Watch for their next one, and be sure not to miss it!!!!! The perfect antidote to those awful Mid-Winter Blues!!!! Here’s their website….run! Don’t walk!!! And tell ‘em Sybil sent you!!!  WWW.COMICDIVERSITY.COM

Darlings, Mummy is just as beaten down as anyone else with all the bad news and negativity and pessimism!!! We are surrounded by people, (some of whom we actually elect!) who tell us everything we can’t do, can’t accomplish, can’t BE!!! Well, I’m taking all the time and energy I have left and spending it celebrating the things in life that I love! I am using this page to promote people whose talent I respect, whose ideas give me joy, whose humor makes me laugh, whose food makes me fat…well…uh…you get the idea!!!!! This is a page dedicated to GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION!!!!.…I’m sharing the things I love with my friends!!! Welcome! And stay tuned!!!! xoxo, S.

Well, my Dears, here’s the latest evidence that Mummy CAN join the 21st Century ( a whole decade into it, unfortunately!!). Please check out all the different tabs under the scrolling film…or just click on the film frames as they go by. You’ll find links to Youtube, my Blog, Twitter, Facebook (even if you’re NOT a Facebook member, you can still see MY page!), and all sorts of other treats. A monthly recipe from my personal collection will be posted in WHAT’S COOKIN’…and all sorts of advice in MRS. BUTTINSKI…..that’ll be coming too. The calendar in NITE’N'DAY will allow you to link right through to the websites of event producers…just click on the highlighted day, and “off you go”…and you can always come right back to our site when you’re done! If it’s all easy enough for Mummy, you’ll have NO trouble….after all, Mummy’s as dumb as a post!….so to speak……xoxoxo!