Damn she's good IV: Miss Blunt

... Blunt—who knew of Victoria only from “a paragraph in a history textbook and the movie Mrs. Brown”—was delighted to find that she’d been given the role of a protofeminist. “Victoria was an absolute person, fiery, rebellious, and passionate.”

When I suggest that her Victoria is perhaps easier on the eye than the original, Blunt shrieks. “How dare you!” Then she laughs. “Maybe in her later years. Victoria started to turn to the food. The food and the drink and the opium. She was definitely known for her appetite.”

How is it possible that Miss Blunt is only 26, btw? So unfair ...

NY Mag
VFair via editorialism

Previously, Queen for Life, Perpendicular Girls. (clearly, I'm a fan.)

Wear your rue with a difference

I understand naming things after women - shoes, pieces of jewelry, wedding dresses, even hats and fascinators.

But really, there's no reason to name a fascinator after Ophelia. Not exactly a role model of wedded bliss.

Although I'm sure it would look lovely floating after you down river ...

Shuesday: If you have to get married ...

Shouldn't Manolo be there?

Surely the FG can register for shoes ...

PS: She wears US 8.5, (38.5 European).

Edinburgh musings 2

It's almost been three weeks, and I have further updates:

• There's a tendency for some women here to dye their hair a drastic shade of blonde not found in nature. Clearly, they remember Madonna in her super blonde phase ... although they're not exactly Madonna. Remember, we look to icons for inspiration, not for replication on ourselves.
• Tights are to Edinburgh as scarves are to NYC - women wear them constantly, regardless of the appropriateness of the occasion or the weather. In the case of EDI, this results in women sporting tights and flats in driving, freezing rain. Not smart, and it looks terrible.
• Gardening is a full contact sport here - I've not seen such exquisitely manicured lawns since Versailles. And then there are those who just pave over their front lawn, or fill it with decorative rocks. No one's quite sure what that's about, but even the BBC is concerned.
  
• Double decker buses are great, except when you're trying to descend the stairs to exit the bus as the driver is coming to a stop. Danger, danger, and no warning signs whatsoever. No wonder all the little elderly people remain on the first level.
• The martinis are served wet unless you ask for them otherwise. What's that about? (Especially when everything else is wet ...)
  
• The wind is worse than the rain. 'Nuff said.
  

Icons we mourn: Jeanne-Claude

Jeanne-Claude, who collaborated with her husband, Christo, on dozens of environmental arts projects, notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with saffron-colored nylon panels in Central Park, died Thursday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 74. (...)

Like all of their projects, these were intended to be temporary, a quality at the heart of the artistic enterprise. Whether executed in oil drum or brightly colored fabric, the art of her and her husband, Jeanne-Claude said, expressed “ the quality of love and tenderness that we human beings have for what does not last.”

One of my few regrets about my time in New York is that I missed seeing The Gates.

NYTimes

Shuesday: Walking around boots

For packing/suitcase size reasons, my cowboy boots went into the Container (still somewhere in New Jersey), so I'm a little limited in appropriate walking around shoes for the varied streets of Edinburgh - paved, cobblestone, little bitty cobblestone, etc.

These would be good - and they're on sale! And who knew Nordstrom delivered to the UK?!?!

Franco Sarto @ Nordstrom

Must haves: I blame MObama

This is just an amazing jacket, and I'd like to thank FLOTUS for bringing it to my attention. Gorgeous.

Maybe an early birthday gift for an FG?

Moschino, courtesy of Net-a-Porter, via NY Mag

Shuesday: Oh the weather outside

is frightful.

Actually, it's not that bad, it's just rainy and damp today (I know, welcome to the UK). I've ensconced myself near the radiator with a warm computer on my lap and Taggart on the tube, and I've arrayed myself in black cashmere and fine wale cordouroy, but I'm missing something ...







What would match my all-black ensemble is this boot from Ralph Lauren, but somehow these Opening Ceremony ankle boots appeal more.

Saks

Long live the cocktail!

The FG hopped Queasy Jet and flew to London this weekend to poke about and attend a lovely birthday party for a school-days friend in Essex. The birthday girl-slash-hostess purchased several sets of glassware, lashing of alcohol, mixers, fruit and herbs and checked out numerous cocktail recipe books from the local library (The FG does not kid about libraries) so as to host the most fabulous cocktail party Essex has ever seen. And it was.

The FG started with a French 75 and kept her champagne glass for the evening, refilling it with pure champagne when necessary. Others were less wise, but all survived the evening. On return to sunny EDI, she found this yummy sounding concoction in the Waitrose magazine, and thought it would have been a lovely addition to the event.

Zatoichi (makes 1)

2 cucumber slices, one 1 cm thick, one paper thin
pinch Wasabi paste (recipe says 1 cm, but really, is there a ruler in your bar kit? I thought not.)
2 tbsp fresh ginger juice (grate fresh ginger, enclose in cheese cloth and squeeze)
2 tbsp lemon juice
Vodka*
2 tsp simple syrup (boil equal amounts sugar and water until sugar is dissolved, cool)

Muddle the thick cucumber slice and the wasabi in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and remaining ingredients, shake, and strain into a chilled martini glass.. Garnish with the thin cucumber slice.

*the recipe says 40 ml, I have no idea how many ml are in a shot glass, nor do I know the size of your martini glasses. Make it work!

Edinburgh musings

Well, now that I've been on the original side of the pond for a full 5 days, I have several items to report;

• If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. I have experienced downpours, violent winds, rainbows, mist, and sunlit blue skies, all in the space of a single day.
• It is, as reputed, somewhat damp and cold, but there are unending pots of tea to consume, which helps.
• Every beer has its own style of pint glass (with the possible exception of the seasonals). Seriously, a Peroni comes in a different glass than a Heineken, comes in a different glass than a Deuchars, comes in a different glass than a Hoegaarden. Amazing. One suspects US bartenders wouldn't put up with that - clearly they're not taking their beer sufficiently seriously.
  
  
  
• Many flats feature a room known as a "box room" - this is not a room in which to store boxes, it is a room without windows. I cannot imagine it, but apparently some people use them for bedrooms. I'm thinking storage, cat litter, etc.
• Most doors seem to open inwards, into the shop from the street (except those that do not). Ages ago, The Scottish Cowgirl told me that doors in the States to rooms holding more than 25 people must open out, in case of fire. Clearly that doesn't apply here.

More to come, I'm sure. Meanwhile, the flat-hunt continues!

Photo from ePints.

Shuesday: Vote with your feet

Doesn't this remind you of Election Day bunting? Or something? Also, might go nicely with the occasional baggage below?

Just a thought.

Have you voted? Polls are still open ...

Moschino at Nordstrom