New Mexico Style spent their Valentine’s Day at Doug Jones new 18|8 Salon in Albuquerque. Take a look: http://www.kasa.com/dpp/nm_style/features/give-your-man-his-own-nm-style

I found this list the other day and I thought I would share it on my column. I believe these are 10 steps every man should follow to become a better man, even perhaps an 18/8 man. Not only do incorporating these pieces of advice make you a better person, but they also make you more attractive to women.

Go over the list and see how many of these you’re already doing, and which ones you could improve on.. 

-Alexa

• 1 Know your stuff. A worldly-wise man knows things, lots of things. Read books, talk to interesting people, and debate a wide variety of topics. Keep up to date with current affairs by reading a daily newspaper. It doesn’t take a lot of these kind of actions for others to notice and listen intently as you display your vast knowledge. Also, the ability to read body language is useful, particularly when analyzing the opposite sexes’ impression of you. Be interesting in, and know enough about Art and Philosophy.

• 2 Be independent. Drive a car, and know how to look after yourself. Be financially secure, and own your own place.

• 3 Travel (Before and after University can be particularly helpful for this). See the world, experience things, other cultures. This is a major step in becoming interesting. Immerse yourself in foreign cultures and come back from travels having ‘seen the world’, having done things. You should be able to show people this in many different ways, for example, in a bar, have a sophisticated alcoholic drink that is known as an acquired taste (e.g. Guinness over lager).

• 4 Be fit. An interesting, intelligent person is almost always relatively fit, it shows you care about your health and can look after yourself. Playing a sport helps. Health and fitness also give you a certain energy, and add to your presence with both the ladies and the guys.

• 5 Play an instrument. This is particularly effective, and yet very accessible. The Piano is a particularly good one. Learn different styles and show them off, this makes for a very interesting person.

• 6 Have presence. This can be achieved in a number of ways: have immaculate manners, be charming, and smell good. Know how to dance, and well. A very important step is to have a decent handshake. This is a classic greeting that when done wrongly sets a bad first impression (Limp handshake = limp personality). Be firm, but not too bone-crushingly aggressive. Know how to counter someone who has a dominant handshake (palm down). Another important step is knowing how to order wine in a restaurant. Basically, the top tip is to match the origin country of the food type you are eating with the origin country of the wine (e.g. French wine for French food).

• 7 Be fashionable and stylish. You don’t have to be a ‘fashionista’ for this. Essentials like knowing how to iron a shirt properly, wear a suit properly, tie a bow-tie properly and having a proper pair of shoes will do. Own an expensive watch. You don’t have to spend loads of money on your fashion sense and clothes, but don’t go cheap.

• 8 Be multilingual. If you aren’t already, become multilingual. This has links with travel, and is very effective for becoming interesting and cultured. English and Spanish are a must. Far East languages like Mandarin are also very good.

• 9 Be Exciting. Drive a fast motorbike, play poker properly (Texas Hold’em) and be good at it. Live dangerously, to some degree. Be an amazing dancer, and a great cook.

• 10 Be organized and fulfill your commitments. Keep your agenda well planned and never over commit or make promises that you can’t deliver. A man of word entices respect and admiration from others.

Men want to be appreciated; women want to be adored, but also adorned. It’s that simple. But what does it mean to adore? And, what does it mean to adorn a woman? Adore may be a term most are more familiar with and an easier subject to understand. Adore is the way your eyes light up when you look at her; the things you do to make her feel special; how you listen; how you hold her hand in public because you are proud of her; how you’re willing to change to show your flexibility. You may think these gestures are old fashioned, even corny.  But women still love it, because all we really want  to know is how much you care. What makes us the happiest is when we know you think about us more than yourself and we feel as if you believe that our happiness is your peace of mind.

‘Adorn’…that’s a little more complicated. So what does it mean to adorn that special person in your life? The definition of adorn is ‘making something more beautiful or attractive’. Maybe you interpret adorn as buying her something expensive. However, although women greatly appreciate nice gifts, that will not win or keep her heart. The true meaning of adorn comes from giving something of yourself that she can keep – because it is a piece of you.  And because it was special for you it will be very special for her. It all comes down to the meaning of things and the value it brings. Some things may have no financial value, but it is the story and heritage that makes it priceless.

For example, a few years ago one of my friends received this piggy bank sculpture from her boyfriend. His brother had made it and it was beautifully decorated with puffy paint in small swirls forming a very intricate pattern; so perfect and precise it was hard to believe it was handmade. Clearly an amazing piece of art, the result of many hours of hard work. When she received this gift she couldn’t have been more appreciative, having described it as the most special gift she had ever received from her significant other. She knew how incredibly important the art piece was to her boyfriend and the fact that he had chosen it as a gift for her. The gesture had more meaning and more value than any expensive present she could’ve received.

So back to you, my 18/8 Man.  Do these things.  Never cease to adore her and give her something special from your heart so she feels adorned. 

I promise that you will feel appreciated and you will have a deep and enduring love.

-Alexa

The daredevil mogul on why he breaks bread with his enemies and wants the necktie abolished

THERE ARE BUSINESS TRAVELERS—and there is Sir Richard Branson. The Virgin Group founder, known as much for his death-defying stunts in balloons and boats as for his ventures, spends much of his very busy life in transit. The entrepreneur zips between continents, projects and the extravagant sorts of leisure pursuits one would expect of the man who owns the grooviest airline in the skies.

Mr. Branson started building his global empire in the early 1970s with Virgin Records, known for launching bands like the Sex Pistols. Since selling the music company in 1992, his portfolio has expanded to include everything from wine to space travel. But he is probably best known for his airlines, which have been shaking up the industry since 1984, when a commercial flight he was on was canceled and he started selling seats on a plane he’d chartered to fellow passengers.

Necker Island

Mr. Branson has been criticized for his readiness to take the spotlight, but his personal style of branding has paid off handsomely. Lately, he has been investing his celebrity (and funds) in a variety of causes, among them saving endangered species and promoting peaceful conflict resolution through an organization called the Elders. We caught up with the British billionaire during a layover at New York’s JFK airport, where he recently launched a new Virgin Atlantic preflight clubhouse.

I keep copious notes. Notebooks have always been a critical part of my life. If I’m on a Virgin plane, I’ll get up and meet staff, meet passengers, get feedback and write things down.

When I’m on Necker Island [in the British Virgin Islands] about all I’ve got on is SPF—Sun Bum and also Island Company sun cream.

Every day is different, absolutely fascinating and a learning experience. In Canada, I’m trying to get legislation passed to save the polar bear. I’m going to Madagascar to try to save the lemur. Yesterday I was on stage with Amnesty International; today I’m doing a bit of business with Virgin Atlantic.

I hate being in hotels with a thousand rooms. And I personally don’t like going into hotels where you’ve got formal check-in desks. I’d much rather come and sit on the couch and be checked in that way, or ideally be checked in before I’ve actually gotten to the hotel.

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At the beginning of May 1883, Monet and his family rented a house and two acres from a local landowner. The house was situated near the main road between the towns of Vernon and Gasny at Giverny. There was a barn that doubled as a painting studio, orchards and a small garden. The house was close enough to the local schools for the children to attend and the surrounding landscape offered many suitable motifs for Monet’s work. Giverny is the spot where Monet painted his famous paintings of the water lilies.

The water lily series are extraordinary. Large canvases, beautiful, soulful, depths, layers of paint.  Music on canvas.  If you listen very closely to these paintings, you can hear God whispering…”Life is Wonderful.”

A couple of photos from our backyard.  Loretta, my wife, and full time gardener (when she is not cooking), has worked over the years to cultivate our pond, with lilies, ferns and waterfall.  Call it ‘Giverny-lite’.  Sitting outside with a book on a warm spring day, a slight ocean breeze, Campari and soda with lemon…nothing could be finer.

The photo with the plants and CD’s is our vegetable garden. This is our second season of planting.  We’ll have a wonderful crop of a variety of tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, Japanese eggplant, and of course…fresh spices.  So why all the CD’s?  Well, we have a problem with the birds in the area, particularly the crows, wanting to enjoy our crop before we do.  CD’s reflect light that frustrates the birds and sends them flying in the opposite direction.   I like to call it ‘Beethoven for the Birds.”o

….because cardiologists need to make a living too!

This is a fabulously simple, hearty, quick, delicious dish that you should feel thoroughly guilty about as you go for your third helping.  It’s got everything to make your taste buds say YES! and your heart to say NO!!!!

The best way to prepare this dish is to take large baked potatoes that were previously cooked, put in the refrigerator so they’re cold.

Take three large baked potatoes, and smash/cut into irregular chunks.  Put into super hot skillet, preferably a black skillet.  The skillet should have been coated with olive oil that is also sizzling hot.

Put the potatoes in, cover, and let fry so they are crispy on bottom.  Every 3-5 minutes, toss so as to crisp in other areas.  Add salt and pepper for seasoning.

Then add a quarter of cube of butter, let melt, as you are flipping the potatoes.

Meanwhile, there’s more fun in your other black skillet.  This one is frying up generous amounts of thick-cut apple smoked bacon.  Cook up 6 - 10 strips.  Let your conscience be your guide as to quantity.  You might just say 10 - Hail Mary’s and make it 12.

Back at the ranch, add a half pound of grated sharp cheddar cheese to the potatoes, cover pan, and reduce heat to low.

Toppings:

• six to eight stalks of scallions
• sour cream - quantity - your choice
• chopped jalapenos - Ole
• hot sauce - go for it
• avocado - why not
• diced tomatoes - two or three whole tomatoes

Be sure to set aside $300 for extra time you’ll need to spend with your private trainer.

Enjoy!!

This time of year, berries abound, and you can only bake so many pies. Luckily the diminutive fruits pack enough pluck and flavor to lend complexity to a main course. If the idea of using berries in savory dishes gives you flashbacks to 1980s-style raspberry vinaigrette, buck up. The recipes offered here, like blackberry pork ribs and halibut with raspberry relish, feature assertive meats and big spicy, salty and tart flavors.

The use of fruit in main dishes goes way back—even further than the ’80s. Paul Freedman, professor of history at Yale University and author of “Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination,” said that the use of fruit, sugar and sweet spices in main dishes was fashionable in Europe during the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, when concoctions like sour cherry pie with cheese and eggs as well as chicken with pomegranate weren’t uncommon. The 18th century saw the rise of a new culinary style that separated the sweet from the savory. The focus of sauces shifted to intensifying the flavor of the meat with onions and broth reductions, rather than layering it with fruits and spices. “The spicy and sweet flavorings were replaced by a greater attention to the ingredients, and a preference for herbs over spices,” Mr. Freedman said.

Yet for those of us who love sweet and savory combinations, berries are a natural way to achieve that sweet-salty twinning. No one knows this better than food writer Janie Hibler, author of “The Berry Bible.” As an Oregonian, she lives in one of the country’s major berry-growing regions. She says that the key to cooking with berries is understanding how a particular berry’s sweetness and acidity will balance with the other ingredients in a dish. “I was very skeptical of fish with berries,” she said. “But you just need to recognize which berries have higher acidity. Acidic berries like gooseberries go best with fatty fish like mackerel. Halibut is not as fatty, so sweeter berries like strawberries or raspberries work really well.”

Ms. Hibler notes you should always taste your berries before starting to cook with them. If they’re super-sweet, just add a little extra lemon juice or vinegar to the dish. Remember, the recipes here are just the beginning—play around with the idea all you want. Nobody’s saying you can’t have berries for dessert, too.

____________

Blueberry and Cucumber Salad With Feta

This salad’s refreshing crunch is perfect in hot weather. Blueberries can be milder and less acidic than other berries, so they mellow the salty feta and sharp-tasting mint.

Total Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4 to 6 as an appetizer

Justin Walker for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Karen Evans, Prop Styling by DSM

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 3 heaping cups blueberries
• 2 hothouse cucumbers, peeled and seeds scraped out, cut into 1-inch pieces on a diagonal
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup crumbled feta
• 1 heart of romaine, chopped
• 2 lightly packed cups mint leaves

What To Do

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, honey and salt and pepper. Combine blueberries, cucumbers, scallions, feta, romaine and mint in a large serving bowl. Toss with dressing. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.

“Air Powered, The Art of the Airbrush” was Scott’s creation and first book.  As a scholarship student at Art Center College of Design (and later an instructor), Scott was an airbrush artist.  “I was absolutely passionate about airbrushing, and just loved the incredible posters and album covers of the time that were produced by airbrush artists.  To me they were rock stars.  Ironically, many of them worked with and hung out with rock stars.  Scott had the idea of a coffee table book on airbrush artists, and formed a company with two other young entrepreneurs to prepare the pitch.  Simon & Shuster, Crown, and Random House all bid on the opportunity with Random House winning.  The book went on to sell more than 250,000 copies, hard-bounded in three printings.