Mardi Gras

FRENCH TEACHER Karen Mentz swished into the first- and second-grade classrooms at Trinity School dressed in a full-length, lavender satin gown with a three-tiered skirt.She sported a matching white lace parasol, and her curly shoulder-length hair was framed by a wide-brimmed white lace hat.For the past two years, Mentz has taught French to grades five through eight at Trinity Middle School in Ellicott City.Teaching French culture is as important as teaching the language, she says.Last week, Trinity pupils learned about Mardi Gras.

NEW ORLEANS -- Getting tough on crime in the Big Easy seems like a contradiction. Swilling beer in public is not only lawful; it's encouraged. There is no such thing as last call at the bars. And a noise complaint on Bourbon Street? Forget it.But crime has dropped in this party town -- where police corruption is as well known as Mardi Gras -- faster than in any other city. The murder rate, the nation's highest per capita in 1994, has been cut by more than half.Baltimore's Democratic nominee for mayor, Martin O'Malley, wants to import the same consultants -- Jack Maple and John Linder -- who helped turn New Orleans around, persuading frightened tourists to return to the land of gumbo, beignets and fried oyster sandwiches.

With its Creole-Cajun-Deep-Southern roots, New Orleans sizzles with creative cuisines and larger-than-life chefs. You may have heard of a guy named Emeril who cooks here or Paul Prudhomme or the Brennan family who runs the famous Commander's Palace restaurant.You may not have heard of Anne Kearney or her French Quarter bistro Peristyle if you live outside Louisiana or even the Big Easy.But in the food world, the 32-year-old chef is making an impact. In the past year, Kearney -- a perky, blond-haired cooking whiz -- joined the ranks of Food & Wine magazine's best new chefs, won a Robert Mondavi Award of Culinary Excellence and was nominated for a prestigious James Beard award.

WASHINGTON -- "Dona Francisquita" is charming and trivial -- or, if you prefer, trivial but charming. It's a fine example of why zarzuela, a folk opera that has flourished in Spain for three centuries, really doesn't translate to a non-Latino market.But I also applaud the Washington Opera for presenting it in the face of conservative audience preferences. It's refreshing to see something on the opera stage besides yet another dreary "Traviata."It's here because of Placido Domingo, the Spanish-born superstar who heads the Washington Opera.

HeartfestEnjoy an evening of heart-healthy gourmet cuisine created by Baltimore area chefs and dance to the music of the Pure Gold Band on Saturday at the 8th Annual Heartfest, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 300 Light St. The event also includes educational information on heart disease prevention and regression. Proceeds benefit the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease. Tickets are $60. Call 410-561-1973. Prepare for Mardi Gras from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Highway.

THERE ARE always interesting people to talk to in Savage Mill.The recycled mill is home to talented artists and crafts people who are delighted to discuss their work.Margaret Vigneulle, the owner of Designed Fibers -- a weaving studio at the mill -- is one of these folks.She's been a spinner and a knitter. In fact, she says she started weaving because she's a slow knitter.Her studio is crammed with looms, bins of yarns and unspun fibers -- and, of course, the things she makes.Among her tapestries, hand-woven jackets and scarves is a small felt Haley's Comet that she made in 1986 for an exhibition at the Maryland Science Center.

Fells Point is the place to be on Tuesday evening starting at 5 p.m., when a Mardi Gras North celebration brings Fat Tuesday fun to local restaurants and bars. The party benefits the Grant-A-Wish Foundation and the Children's House at Johns Hopkins.Special prices on Pete's Mardi Gras Brew and the taste of Cajun specialties will entertain your tummy, while the band Creole Junction at the Cat's Eye and zydeco tunes at the Full Moon Saloon will entertain your ears. Look also for raffles, Mardi Gras beads and souvenir T-shirts for sale.

PARTY ANIMAL alert -- the next couple of months are filled with such a variety of parties that there is something for every taste and purse. Nothing like socializing to beat the winter blues, so take a look and make a reservation. And perhaps I'll see you there!FEBRUARY:7: CARNIVALE, Mardi Gras Bash, Belvedere Hotel, 1 East Chase St.; gaming tables, auctions and dancing with the Paint & Powder Club as host; benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; 8 p.m.; $55; (410) 771-9000.7: First Greater Baltimore Chapter Lacrosse Hall of Fame Induction Celebration, Marriott Hunt Valley Inn, Interstate 83 and Shawan Road; cocktails, dinner ceremony; 7 p.m.; black tie preferred; $65; (410)

You can have Mardi Gras beads and king cakes. The real party here is the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, scheduled April 26 to May 5 this year.What started in 1970 as a small gathering of about 150 music lovers has grown to a 400,000-strong party with entertainment by some of music's biggest names. Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, James Taylor, Los Lobos and Blues Travelers were among the more than 4,000 musicians who serenaded crowds last year on the infield of the Fair Grounds Race Track.

NEW ORLEANS -- After a shocking week in which 21 people were slain, including a police officer allegedly killed by a fellow officer, the mirth and joyful excess of Mardi Gras have quickly dissolved into an uneasy sense of fear and lawlessness."

Half of last Tuesday's Top 10 Places to Celebrate Mardi Gras were bars that had an event on that day. Here are the places on the list where you can still get Cajun- or creole-inspired food. They are, of course, in alphabetical order: 1 Acadiana in Washington. I rarely include D.C. restaurants in our discussions. But there were so few places on today's list that weren't just bars having an event in honor of Mardi Gras, I thought I would mention a restaurant that serves a serious, upscale version of New Orleans food.

HOWARD ZIEFF, 81 Directed 'Private Benjamin' and 'My Girl' Howard Zieff, the film and television commercial director whose works included Private Benjamin and My Girl, died Sunday of Parkinson's disease in Los Angeles. Goldie Hawn, who received an Oscar nomination for best actress for her role in Private Benjamin in 1980, said Mr. Zieff "had a special talent for directing comedies, always a rare gift." Mr. Zieff is also credited with helping to change the face of American commercials in the 1960s with witty slice-of life vignettes, such as his "Spicy Meatball" spot for Alka-Seltzer.

The Ellicott City Restoration Foundation will hold its fourth annual Mardi Gras Magnifique benefit event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 24 in the town's historic district. The event, which will be in the format of a traveling happy hour, will benefit the Ellicott City Restoration Foundation, Emory United Methodist church and the Galveston Historical Foundation. Four restaurants - the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company, La Palapa, the Phoenix and the Rumor Mill - will offer drink specials and snacks.

Val Kilmer to be among Mardi Gras royalty at Bacchus parade Actor Val Kilmer will reign as celebrity king when the Krewe of Bacchus parade rolls through New Orleans on Feb. 22, two days before Mardi Gras. Kilmer will be decked out in royal apparel as he rides through the city on a float in the annual parade. "He's very excited," said Bacchus captain Owen "Pip" Brennan, who has been in contact with Kilmer about the event. Kilmer will visit Children's Hospital, a tradition every reigning Bacchus has participated in for the past three decades, Brennan said.

THE KINGS OF CHESS The University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Retrievers may have been kicked out of the NCAA's "Big Dance" early, but they've made it all the way to the Final Four in chess, a feat that's become old hat to them. The seven-time Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess champion hosts main rival University of Texas, Dallas; New York University; and Miami-Dade College for the 2008 President's Cup. Teams compete in round-robin format to win bragging rights as the nation's college-chess champion.

louisianacookin.com The Web site of Louisiana Cookin' magazine has lots of recipes for Mardi Gras next week, from Blackened Catfish With Crawfish Etouffee to a traditional French king cake.

MAMOU, LA. -- The teenage boy is covered in mud, literally from head to toe. After wading through a flooded rice field to catch a wayward chicken, he wipes mud from his eyes. "I almost had him," he says to a friend with a shake of his head, and shrinks back to his horse. Welcome to the home of the Cajun Mardi Gras, where men dance on horseback, chickens are their prey, and frivolity is the rule. Mamou is a small town plopped in the middle of farming fields in the center of Cajun country, three hours northwest of the state's most famous Mardi Gras reveling town, New Orleans.

The Bush administration has come up with the wrong formula for protecting the country's 15,000 chemical plants from terrorist attacks. Terrorists could kill thousands of people by targeting a plant with toxic chemicals near a populated area. Under proposed rules from the administration, plants that use, store and produce dangerous chemicals would draw up their own security plans to submit for approval to the Department of Homeland Security. Plants that failed to carry out this requirement or take other steps mandated by the department could be fined or shut down.

Beer festival The lowdown -- Diehard beer lovers and milder fans interested in sampling new suds will come together this weekend at the Belgian Beer Festival. Held at Max's Taphouse, the event includes more than 50 drafts and 100 bottled beers. Drafts range from $3 to $9, and bottles are $5-$50. You can also indulge in authentic Belgian food. If you go -- The festival is 11 a.m.-2 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday at Max's Taphouse, 737 S. Broadway. For more information, call 410-675-6297 or go to maxs.

During the years I lived down South, I made an annual pilgrimage to New Orleans during carnival season - the weeks of parades and parties that end on Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. This is the last day before Lent begins - so down in Nawlins and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Venice, Italy, people dress up in costumes, get drunk, dance in the streets and basically do whatever it takes to get the whoopee out of their systems before the Lenten season begins. Though Baltimoreans may be far from the crowds on Bourbon Street, there's a nearby tradition of excess to enjoy.