Wednesday's Wordle: Boo!

Wordle

Shuesday: I know why the caged bird sings

Wednesday's Wordle: Angst much?

That is the question ...

Wordle

Shuesday: Like butter

These turned up at the door the other day, and I took them in. I know, suede is just silly, but I loooove them ... and I have things to wear them with, really! First, I have to protect them.

Remember when I didn't buy tall boots because I was worried about buying the skirts to show them off? What was I thinking?

Icons we mourn: Mr. Blackwell

Mr. Blackwell, the acerbic designer whose annual worst-dressed list skewered the fashion felonies of celebrities from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Britney Spears, has died. He was 86.

Mr. Blackwell, whose first name was Richard, was a little-known dress designer when he issued his first tongue-in-cheek criticism of Hollywood fashion disasters for 1960 — long before Joan Rivers and others turned such ridicule into a daily affair.

Year after year, he would take Hollywood’s reigning stars and other celebrities to task for failing to dress in what he thought was the way they should.

Being dowdy was bad enough, but the more outrageous clothing a woman wore, the more biting his criticism.

“The list is and was a satirical look at the fashion flops of the year,” he said in 1998. “I merely said out loud what others were whispering. ... It’s not my intention to hurt the feelings of these people. It’s to put down the clothing they’re wearing.”

He told The Los Angeles Times in 1968 that designers were forgetting that their job “is to dress and enhance women. ... Maybe I should have named the 10 worst designers instead of blaming the women who wear their clothes.”

NYTimes

Must haves: An oyster's worst nightmare?

I bought these, and I can't decide about them. And the issue, in case you're wondering is that the largest beads are big. As in, make a circle by touching the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb big. They might be a little much (they are also a little heavy).

The idea was that they'd go with this dress (although they also work with a black shell and a pinstriped grey skirt). I need to take them home to see how they look with the dress, but what do we think?

Comments from colleagues include, "It's like, Jeff Koons, have you met Tiffany?", and "It's definitely a statement."

Wednesday's Wordle: Mac & Cheese

Clearly I'm having a wordle addiction. This is my fav mac and cheese recipe.

Shuesday: So close ...

And yet so far.

I love the look of these on screen and in the box, but on my foot ... they just cut me off at the ankle. But /so/ pretty ...

(and now on sale!)

Four Things

1. Four places that I go to over and over: The Met, Graffiti, Soho, Bar Veloce

2. Four people who e-mail me regularly: Pastry Chef, East Coast Guy, Midwest Medved, The Artist

3. Four places I would rather be right now: Paris, Hawaii, poolside, somewhere I've never been.

4. Four of my favorite places to eat: Graffiti, Smith's, Soba-ya, my parent's house (my dad can /cook/)

5. Four people I'm tagging: Busty Satan, Trivial Kate, Tabula Rasa, Camarooned (ha!).

6. Four TV shows I watch over and over: Buffy, No Reservations, BSG, SATC (just silly, I know, but it's always on when I'm postponing going to sleep ...)

And furthermore ...

Effective today:

1. Clothes Shop: J. Crew/Nordstrom (shoes)
2. Furniture Shop: Antiques
3. Sweet: organic chocolate with chili
4. City: New York
5. Drink: Champagne, dirty Martinis
6. Music: Oscar Peterson
7. TV Series: True Blood
8. Film: The Philadelphia Story
9. Workout: Yoga (I should get back on that, given #10)
10. Pastries: Croissant
11. Coffee: Triple americano, raw sugar, regular milk

WendyB

Occasional Baggage: Part II

So I bought this bag to go with the grey suede boots, and the other grey items in the wardrobe, and it turns out that "mouse" is closer to brown than to grey.

The kind way to put it is to say that it's a warm grey, when what I want is a cool grey. Like this.

Do you think it's "Zoe" as in Zoey? Or Zoe as in Zoebot?

Wednesday's Wordle: Marcella Cucina

And now I'm hungry.

Baked Artichokes

Shuesday: Bruised shoes

Love the shrugging on the heel.

Dusica Dusica

Sweet, sweet po-tay-toe

The colours at the Greenmarket have shifted from plum, grass and pomegranate to rust, gold and forest, there's a crisp to the air, and I wore a puffy vest for the first time today.

To celebrate, here's my classic sweet potato souffle recipe, originally found in Southern Living magazine (but strangely not available online). It's been a tradition at Canadian and American Thanksgivings chez moi for at least 12 years, and next weekend, I'll be making it for my wee blonde cousins in Concord, Mass.

Sweet Potato Souffle - serves 12

(Notes: I peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks before I boil and mash them. I also use a stand mixer, but it's not mandatory.)

For the souffle:

• 1 & 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups mashed sweet potatoes (4-5 med to large sweet potatoes)
• 6 eggs, separated
• 2 tsp each cinnamon & nutmeg
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine the cream, sugar and salt in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until hot. Do not boil (believe me, this is easy to do). Pour over mashed sweet potatoes, and beat on low. Beat yolks, and stir the yolks, spices and pecans into the potatoes. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into the potato mixture. Pour the souffle into two greased, 2 quart casseroles, and set aside.

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup self-rising flour
• 1 tsp rum or maple extract
• (optional 1 cup shredded coconut - I never include it, but it's in the original recipe)
  

Combine butter, whipping cream, sugar, and pecans in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until bubbly. Stir in 1/3 cup flour and the extract of your choice. Spoon over casseroles. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (I pop it in the oven after I pull the turkey out to rest).

I usually cook one casserole immediately, along with whatever additional sides I'm cooking/warming, and place the second casserole in the oven when the meal goes to the table, so it will be ready for seconds. Warning, your guests will compete for the topping.

Requisite celebrity sightings 8

In the last week:

Gloria Steinem, on her way out of the HBO building (I was going in), in her trademark sunglasses and a fantastic orange leather jacket.







At the theatre, watching The Seagull, starring Kristen Scott Thomas and Peter Saarsgaard, Maggie Gyllenhaal.


















And Chelsea Clinton. Seriously.

Wednesday's Wordle: Token Shakespeare

I know, I know. But isn't it amazing how colour and font make something so beautiful almost menacing?