La Americana: Two cultures. Two languages. One home.

THE PERFECT STORM

8:55 AM La Americana 0 Comments Category : Cuba policy , Dec 17 , Havana , Pope Francis , US embassy

THE SKIN WE'RE IN

11:45 AM La Americana 0 Comments Category : coconut oil , Jules de Jesus Fritz , Multicultural skincare

Photo provided by Dollface by Jules

A few months ago I had an interview with a well-known, West Coast aesthetician to the stars all lined up to talk multicultural skincare with me. In preparation, I welcomed questions on my Facebook pages and the response was huge. Curiosity came from working mothers hovering in and around 40 who are interested in simple, natural regimens that won't break the bank.

Unfortunately, the skin guru went MIA on me and reluctantly, I put the discussion at bay. That is, until recently, as I had the great fortune to meet Jules de Jesus Fritz, who co-owns Dollface by Jules with her husband, Josh, and is currently fundraising for her own cosmetic line, Jules - More Than MakeUp. She is also a makeup artist to Paula Deen and has created looks for HBO, Lifetime Channel, Travel Channel and Bravo, as well as countless other models and brides.

Jules de Jesus Fritz. Photo by Josh Fritz.

According to Jules, most of us in the U.S. have it all wrong when it comes to skincare.

A staggering concept when you consider that Americans spend more money than any other nation on beauty products, doling out nearly $40 billion of the $426 billion spent around the world in 2013 alone. And guys, before you go anywhere, you spent roughly $5 billion of that, with more than half of it on skincare. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons also notes that Americans cashed out another $12 billion on anti-aging procedures, such as Botox, chemical peels, liposuction, eyelid surgery and facelifts in 2012.

As a beauty educator, Jules sits with women day in and day out who share their insecurities and through mini consults it is her goal to connect clients with who they see in the mirror. Sadly, she sees way too many, a lot of whom are young, who go to extremes to dry their skin to imitate trending matte looks, thinking that is what looks clean.

To our detriment, “we do not like oil in the U.S.,” Jules notes. “Moisturizing is the step that most (women and men) skip, especially in our culture. Well, guess what? Our skin is super smart. If we don't apply moisturizer our skin cells scream that we're dry and overproduce oil to compensate. We need a certain amount of moisturizer on our skin to keep oil reserves at bay.”

While darker complexions harbor oil naturally and often look youthful longer, Jules stresses that race and ethnicity aside, the fundamentals 0f skin are all the same. We all need to be cleansing and moisturizing daily and for those with naturally oily skin then find an oil-free moisturizer. But she's adamant: don't skip it.

Jules' preferred weapon of choice is coconut oil.

Coconut oil is made of medium-chain-length fatty acids and acts as a natural antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial agent. It can also boost your body's metabolism and in various parts of the world like Asia and Latin America, the use of coconut oil for hair and skin is a valued, ancient practice.

I am a huge advocate of coconut oil, discovering it years ago when I revamped my diet in response to health issues I was experiencing. Working my way through various cleansing diets, every single one of them listed coconut oil as a core ingredient. I used it not only in cooking, but also on my skin one day when I ran out of eye makeup remover.

Hooked ever since, coconut oil is very gentle, not greasy, won't clog your pores and swipes daily goop off while leaving your skin moisturized. It's best to buy virgin and unrefined, available in just about any grocery store with a health food section. Yes, you may briefly smell a little like a Mounds bar, but in my book that's not all that bad.

“I keep it in my kitchen, my bathroom and in my baby's room,” Jules says of the oil.

She suggests first using it on your eyes to remove makeup in order to see how your skin reacts. If OK, then move to your face, neck and chest areas. Note that only a small amount is needed, as a little bit goes a long way.

Following a trial run, Jules breaks down an everyday routine that is simple, inexpensive and effective:

1. Both morning and night, cleanse with coconut oil on a cotton ball. Two points here:

*At night baby skin cells regenerate so it's important to include the morning sweep.

*For you moms out there, you can use a baby wipe in a pinch, but this isn't something you should do all of the time. And if you aren't down with the coconut oil, she recommends the drugstore brand, Cetaphil, for makeup remover and cleanser.

2. With a clean slate, your skin is prepped for exfoliation, which is very important. This will remove dead cells hanging around in pores and in effect, prevents acne. Daily you can use a Clarisonic brush or even a warm wash cloth in circular motion. If you prefer a scrub her pick is the St. Ives Apricot variety, but this is to be done only every other day.

3. Moisturize with SPF.

The coconut oil does part of the work, but Jules emphasizes the importance of a moisturizer with SPF 30 at minimum, though she prefers a higher range like 50. Sun hits the skin driving and in offices with lots of windows. Outdoors, she tops all off with a hat from Bass Pro, laced with with SPF 50 in the fibers, and sunglasses. Aptly noted: “Skin cancer doesn't play a race card. It only likes skin.”

According to Jules, you should start to notice that fine lines will start to plump, as moisture is added with the everyday routine.

Photo provided by Dollface by Jules
__________________________________________

Help Jules reach her fundraising goal - today is the last day!

Go to Julesmorethanmakeup.com to purchase one of her super simple makeup systems. Her goal is to help women feel more confident by pulling quick looks together with the use of her paint-by-number makeup kits, color pairings and video tutorials.

SAVANNAH

10:06 AM La Americana 0 Comments Category : Chia Chong , East St. Julian , historic , Kid & Co. , Savannah

JOURNEY

11:49 AM La Americana 0 Comments Category : American , flag , Lost Mural of Ellis Island , Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences , naturalization

STRATTON LEOPOLD DISHES ICE CREAM, HOLLYWOOD AND GROWING UP GREEK AMERICAN

7:11 PM La Americana 2 Comments Category : Greek , I Pledge Project , Ice Cream , National Ice Cream Month , Savannah , Stratton Leopold , Tom Cruise

A couple of weeks ago I met up with Stratton Leopold, a Paramount movie executive and owner of Leopold's Ice Cream, a local family business he and his wife Mary revived 10 years ago.

Our talk hopscotched, bouncing from his rise in Hollywood to his love of football, civics and community giving, as well as ice cream and growing up Greek American. The thread throughout most of the conversation was his father Peter, who immigrated to the U.S. from Greece at the turn of the 20th century.

We were settled at a table mid-parlor, surrounded by props and photos from many of the films he has produced, including “The Sum of All Fears,” "Mission Impossible III," “Captain America” and “The Wolfman,” but Stratton made little fanfare about them. He mentioned a couple of small film projects on simmer, which may or may not happen, and a brief bit about his longtime friends, actress Helen Mirren and her husband, Taylor Hackford, who directed Stratton's 2013 crime thriller, “Parker,” discussing how wonderful and accessible they are.

I did ask him about climbing the industry ladder and he credited coming up at a time in which it was much easier to move around and meet people. He lived in New York and then Atlanta, where he “networked like crazy” so that he was prepped and ready to go when he landed in L.A.

The rest, as they say, is history. But it is clearly Stratton's personal family history, inextricably linked to ice cream, hard work and civic duty that moves him.

With a wave of his hand, he was up.

“Let me show you something,” he said and walked towards the rear corridor of his downtown shop and Savannah staple where dozens of photos of Stratton with actors like Tom Cruise, Anthony Hopkins, Melanie Griffith, Morgan Freeman, Ben Affleck, Benicio del Toro and many others, with whom he has worked, line the wall.

Tom Cruise and Stratton Leopold. Photo courtesy of Leopold's Ice Cream.

I couldn't help but point to the image of one of my favorite actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who hovered oddly over an ice cream cone Stratton held on the set of Mission Impossible III.

“Did you know him well?” I asked. He nodded yes and we both mumbled over one another about what a terrible loss. And “to see him perform in front of the camera,” Stratton said, his eyes widening at the power of it.

But celebrities of the usual sort were not why he led me there and he was quick to change subjects.

“This guy,” he said, smiling broadly, like a kid, pointing to former NFL referee Jerry Markbreit, whom he called on to work as a consultant for football sequences in “The Sum of All Fears,” dominated the next few stories he told. Stratton, I learned, was a high school and college football referee for 17 years.

Though, not to be confused, he skipped again quickly. “Let's go where the important stuff is,” he said, moving towards the parlor's entrance and past the growing flurry of customers, as the doors had just opened on a hot, summer morning. With flashes of creamy Huckleberry, Honey and Almond, Tutti Frutti, Peanut Butter Chippy and Mint Chocolate Chip to our left, the troves of all-natural ice cream that have been ranked best in the country by the women of “The View,” we stopped in front of black-and-white images stationed above the store's green-and-white marble tables.

Stratton pointed to a photo of him as a young boy with his father, who immigrated to Indiana in 1901, at the age of 11, and later moved to Savannah sometime between 1905 and 1910.

Stratton with his father, Peter. Photo courtesy of Leopold's Ice Cream.

Locals know the story well: Peter and his two brothers, George and Basil, opened the original Leopold's Ice Cream in 1919 after learning the art of ice cream and candy making from an uncle already settled in America.

The Leopold brothers were part of a massive wave of Greek immigration that started in the late 1800s, but escalated at the turn of the 20th century. An estimated 350,000-450,000 flooded the U.S. from 1900 to 1920, 95 percent of which were male, as the Greek government urged its young men to move abroad to earn dowry money and aid an ailing Greek economy. The intent was always for them to return home.

However, many didn't with ongoing instability in their country. As a result, Hellenic communities were set up across America. Many began their own businesses in the form of shoe shine parlors, candy shops and notably, restaurants. By 1919, 1 in every 3 restaurants in Chicago, for example, was run by a Greek proprietor and like the Leopolds, families came together to make it work.

“I love washing things,” Stratton told me with a big, genuine smile. “I was maybe 11 or 12 when I started.”

Stratton worked at the original Leopold's, which sat at the streetcar intersection of Gwinnett and Habersham and his first job was washing 5-gallon iron metal churns with long-brush handles, as well as 5 and 10-ounce bell glasses popular at the time.

Young Stratton pulled his weight, but forever in awe of his father's work ethic, he was sure it was one he could never match. And when his father talked of enlisting with U.S. services to fight in World War I, instead of joining cousins who returned to fight in the Greek War, that made an impression, too.

"I'm an American," Peter told Stratton, who was dually raised by his mother, Marika, who, to the contrary, was all Greek all of the time. Stratton grew up eating traditional Greek food, speaking the language and watching his mother, also from Sparta, return home frequently. His father indicated he would visit, but never did.

After the war, Peter honored his time in the military by giving business to fellow soldiers also back home in Savannah and anytime anyone in uniform walked into his shop, a chair was pulled out and ice cream was on the table.

Leopold's doors closed in 1969, following the deaths of Peter and his brother, George, just as Stratton, a science whiz and by then a pre-med biology major at Vanderbilt University, changed course to follow a dream in film.

Stratton moved away for more than four decades, traveling the world on location shoots, but still made it to Savannah almost monthly. And he had always held on to his family's history, storing many of the original shop's fixtures, including the soda fountain, Philco radio, wooden phone booth and cabinets, all of which are either used or set out on display in Leopold's today.

Ana 'calls' her grandmother, Abuela Ana, from Leopold's booth

He and Mary continue Peter's tradition of working with military men and women, especially during family deployments, and offer military discounts year-round, dishing up ice cream in the same sundae holders and banana split boats his father loyally used.

Also a longtime board member of the 200 Club of The Coastal Empire, which offers financial assistance to firefighters, police officers and their families in the event of tragedy, Stratton is passionate about “helping those who help us.”

As well, Leopold's fosters civics boosters with writing programs for children with the local library system, throwing ice cream parties hosted by the mayor at City Hall. In addition, Stratton and Mary spearheaded the 'I Pledge' project a few years ago, offering a free cone to children 12 and under who recite The Pledge of Allegiance from memory during the month of July, which is National Ice Cream Month, as established by our former sweet-toothed president, Ronald Reagan, in 1984.

Flag set at Leopold's Ice Cream for 'I Pledge' project

Marcos and his buddy, Luke, took the pledge in July while Ana looked on

There was a good showing the first year, but when the National Ice Cream Retailers Association gave Leopold's an award for its efforts in 2010, “I became inflamed by the idea,” Stratton said, and took the program nationwide, encouraging other ice cream and frozen yogurt retailers to join in the patriotism. He and Mary set up a website with information and promotional tools for use, all free of charge. Last month, 40 states participated.

Mary asks Stratton if he'll ever slow down, but all of the signs point to no.

The creamery business, “jazzes me up,” he told me and plans for expansion are underway. Currently, concrete for an ice cream production facility on 37th street in Savannah has already been poured and restoration of the original soda pop shop, which will serve as a general store and host to Stratton's football letter jacket, as well as other local high school memorabilia, circa 1940s and '50s, is another few months out.

“It's an homage really,” Stratton said, though the additional storefront will help with logistics, as Leopold's frequently gets calls to host parties, but does not currently have enough space to do so.

“I have become my father,” Stratton noted, reverence in his tone.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S PAPA DOBLE

12:15 PM La Americana 0 Comments Category : El Floridita , Ernest Hemingway , Finca Vigia , Old Man and the Sea , Papa Doble

Photo credit: Life Magazine

I'm a day late to the party.

Yesterday, Ernest Hemingway would have been 115. I can not pass on an homage to one of the greats and will do so in the form of one his favorites, the Papa Doble, a double frozen daiquiri he and famed bartender, Constante, crafted and made famous at El Floridita, his preferred haunt, in Old Havana.

Hemingway owned and spent much time on a sprawling palm and vine-covered ranch, Finca Vigía, just outside of Havana. It's a rugged, masculine, seductive and fascinating spot to wander as I did many years ago.

Ernest snuggled up to many of Havana's bars, but El Floridita was the first place he often took his famous friends who visited the island. The bar is still a pilgrimage for people from all over the world and the handwriting's on the wall, flooded in wild and loving scribbles to Papa, who died in 1961.

Not one to be shy about his consumption, or overconsumption, of the icy cocktail, the Papa Doble is sweetened only with natural fruit juice and a touch of maraschino liqueur. Hemingway wouldn't allow sugar in his drinks because it would put a damper on his ability to throw them back. To that, he wrote, as only he could, that the frozen doubles "had no taste of alcohol,” and “felt, as you drank them, the way downhill glacier skiing feels running through powder snow."

Whirled in an electric mixer with shaved ice and served foaming in large goblets, a properly beaten daiquiri looks, Hemingway said, "like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots."

Happy Birthday, Big Guy.

Papa Doble
2 oz white rum (Hemingway most likely drank Bacardi, but any will do)
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
2 cups shaved ice

Combine in a blender and frappé until the drink is foaming. Serve in a large cocktail glass, champagne saucer or goblet. Note: maraschino liqueur is NOT the same thing as syrup from a cherry jar. Run from any liquor store that tells you otherwise.

Wise, witty Hemingway:

"The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice."

"Never confuse movement with action."

"We're stronger in the places that we've been broken."

"Let him think that I am more man than I am and I will be so." The Old Man and the Sea

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

"Courage is grace under pressure."

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime."

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."

“Write drunk. Edit sober.”

BECOMING AN AMERICANO

2:54 PM La Americana 3 Comments Category : 4th of July , American , naturalization , US citizenship

Today my husband received phone and text messages wishing him a Happy 4th of July. We all get these, but his are especially meaningful as this is his first as an American citizen.

I got the call from Luis in Atlanta almost three weeks ago late on a Monday morning: “Your husband is an American citizen,” he told me.

“Ya? Already? That's it?”

I'm not sure why I said that, as if it had a been a quick, casual sort of thing. Married to me, an American, Luis was allowed to apply for naturalization three years after becoming a permanent resident in 2006 (if not married to a citizen, it's a five-year wait period), but time slipped as it does and we hadn't done anything about it.

With a Greencard set to expire in 2016, it was time. We filed paperwork a few months ago and with a set date for an appointment, Luis had his nose buried in a study guide given to him by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) most of the week prior. The naturalization process includes an interview and exam made of three components: reading, writing and speaking. There are 100 civics questions to study, covering U.S. government and history topics, and applicants are required to answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly to be eligible for citizenship. They also have to be at least 18 years old, in good, legal standing and swear to take an Oath of Allegiance to this country.

The U.S. continues as the top destination for immigrants in the world and is home to about 20 percent of all, according to the Migration Policy Institute. As of 2012, the total U.S. population was 313.9 million and immigrants made up almost 13 percent of the figure, hitting a historical record of 41 million individuals. Of the immigrant pie piece, 46 percent reported to be of Hispanic or Latino heritage.

Naturalization numbers continue to grow with roughly 700,000 inducted yearly, but not everyone makes it the first go round.

As Luis waited his turn, a fellow Cuban left the exam room crying. The tall, stern man who had just completed her interview stepped out and called for Luis.

He stood and followed the officer down a hallway and into a room with a desk, behind which sat the man and an immigration officer-in-training. Luis was asked to sit in the chair just opposite them.

It was pin-drop kind of tense.

The pressure of passing or failing is quiet, but fierce. It's not something you even want to talk about. There was no reason to think Luis wouldn't pass, or at worst, renew his permanent residency, but somewhere deep within both of us, hiding behind three children, a home, a business, our entire life together, is the fear of what if? It's illogical, but what if, for some crazy, off-the-cuff reason, the U.S. were to deny him? I don't even have space in my mind for that option.

The thin-lipped officer who spoke fast, pursed and decidedly Southern, made small talk with Luis, based on notes in hand, asking about family and work in what was presumably a basic English test.

He moved to study guide questions and unlike other interviews, which ran about 15 minutes, this one pushed 50. And there weren't 10 questions, but 101, in both written and oral formats.

When the test ended the official looked Luis in the eye and smiled.

He'd aced it. The officer told Luis he usually shakes hands with an applicant who passes, but he was giving Luis a hug and came around the desk to do so. It was the first time in 27 years an applicant had answered all of the questions 100 percent correctly.

Chills. I darn near cried a river.

It wasn't a case of simple smarts, as much as it was connection. Luis didn't just study, he absorbed the Constitution and identified with the first round of immigrants who came here to move forward.

Happy 4th of July!

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THE PERFECT STORM

THE SKIN WE'RE IN

SAVANNAH

JOURNEY

STRATTON LEOPOLD DISHES ICE CREAM, HOLLYWOOD AND GROWING UP GREEK AMERICAN

ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S PAPA DOBLE

“Write drunk. Edit sober.”

BECOMING AN AMERICANO

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THE PERFECT STORM

THE SKIN WE'RE IN

SAVANNAH

JOURNEY

STRATTON LEOPOLD DISHES ICE CREAM, HOLLYWOOD AND GROWING UP GREEK AMERICAN

ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S PAPA DOBLE

“Write drunk. Edit sober.”

BECOMING AN AMERICANO

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