Live Well. Live Guilty. Live a Legendary Life......

January 17th came and went last week without raising a glass to the American Hobbit aka Benjamin Franklin. We corrected that oversight with a fine French Bougelet.  One of the Founding members of the Guilty Pleasures was toasted recently in Princeton as we catered a Guilty Pleasures luncheon featuring Filet Mignon soaked in roasted shallot butter. On decree from the secret brain trust of the Guilty Pleasures Club, no calorie counting was allowed in this Central Jersey hamlet for January and February as spicy french fries and beer-battered onion rings provided the perfect accompaniments to our exceptionally tender tenderloin.

Individually prepared by Chef Greg and Chef Jay, the Banana's Foster provided a wickedly delicious dessert. This flambeed Mari Gras favorite is always a GPC attention getter. Second servings are highly-recommended.

This decadent winter luncheon was worthy of a Guilties nomination, Copycating is enthusiastically encouraged. After all, the pursuit of happiness is a groundbreaking inalienable right granted by the U.S. Constitution. It has been long rumored that the esteemed Dr. Benjamin Franklin, looking to hide a secret life, was an original member of the Guilty Pleasures Club. We are still waiting on official confirmation. There is no better way to celebrate the monumental moments in your life than with an event extraordinaire catered by Provence.

To paraphrase the wisdom and visionary words of our most-famous local founding father.......

Raise your glass in tribute.  Live Well. Live Guilty. Live a Legendary life!

Teddy Roosevelt was a Guilty visionary, Ben was a Guilty Inventor and Bardot was a Guilty Prize.

Teddy Roosevelt was a Guilty visionary, Ben was a Guilty Inventor and Bardot was a Guilty Prize.

There has been much rumored-speculation and lively debate that the Guilty Pleasures Club was founded in 1899 by future United States President Theodore Roosevelt after leading a small regiment in Cuba known as the Rough Riders, earning himself the Medal of Honor.

Upon his return from the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt embarked upon an ambitious crusade to establish a national park system and protect our natural resources for coming generations. The visionary conservationist reportedly served as an Ambassador of Guilty Pleasures when Teddy developed the famed "Take Three" as he sipped fine French Cognac , dined on freshly caught rainbow trout and smoked a top secret Cuban blend in the Wyoming wilderness while surveying Yellowstone National Park.  We have no doubt that our youngest American President experienced first hand the mystical rejuvenating powers of Guilty Pleasure pursuits.

His love of Bratwurst, hunting, the outdoors, an occasional decanter of Rum and a desire to "speak softly, but carry a big stick," gave him worldwide credibility and prominence. As as the 26th US President, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War .

Guilty Pleasure historians have long debated whether the GPC was founded in 1899 by this native New Yorker.  However, it's been reported that recently discovered manuscripts found hidden in a wine cellar in the Bordeaux region of France indicate that approximately 110 years earlier, a visiting Dr. Benjamin Franklin and a local Skinny Chick, Elana Bardot, created the Guilty Pleasures Club to celebrate their love of aged French Red Wines, silk pajamas, hot mineral bathes and the epicurean delicacies from the legendary chefs at the Palace of Versailles.

The French passion for rich sauces, duck fat and beautiful women made Paris the perfect location for Dr. Franklin's opulent desires. The Great Statesmen  from Philadelphia understood that the correlation between the French diet and their surprising good health was because they embraced their dicey desires at mealtime and especially at breakfast.  Ben was impressed.  Besides his role in the Continental Congress, Ben was also a Founding Father of the Guilty Pleasures lifestyle.  More than a Statesman, the decadent Dr. Franklin was a great innovator, inventor and Social commentator. 

The Franklin stove was not his only lasting lifestyle invention. Apparently while in France, Franklin's pen name changed from Silence Dogood to Murmur Feelgood. Did the Guilty Pleasures Club bear his signature lust for the good life?

Those skinny Bardot Babes were quite influential when it came to enjoying Guilty Pleasures. There is a reason Dr. Franklin lived such a long and eventful guiltorius life. Who would want leave a young Bardot?