Wednesday's Wordle: Winslet accepts

Wordle

Shuesday: Fat Tuesday

I've decided I need a pair of nude heels, to go with everything, and these are the Kimora version.

(I'm almost done with my patent leather peep toe fetish, I swear!)

Oscar Fashion 2009

Briefly:

I hated Miley's dress, and what is she doing at the Oscars anyway, ABC/Disney? I didn't love Kate, nor Beyonce. Penelope was fine, SJP was good, until the camera angle changed, and then it was just too much. I thought Natalie Portman was channeling Barbie, Freida Pinto's dress would have been better without the lifeline across her right shoulder, and Viola Davis was just too much. Tilda Swinton was dramatic, but awful. Angelina, Robin Wright Penn were beautiful, but boring. And can we discuss the usually age appropriate and elegant Sophia Loren, who was not a peach, although swathed in the colour?

I wanted to like Jessica Biel, but the dress part of the dress didn't fit.

Good dresses included those worn by Marissa Tomei, Taraji Henson, and Jennifer Aniston (who was California Barbie to AJ's Elvira). Anne Hathaway's dress was good, but it did not fit. Amy Adams' dress was fine, but the marble necklace was too much.

(Links fixed!)

Getting knitty with it: Coraline sweater

I have yet to make it to Coraline - too busy being fabulous and seeing the Oscar nominees before Sunday - but now you can knit her sweater! Child and adult sizes available.

(I'm not expert, but this pattern looks complicated to me. It's not intarsia - the felt stars are applied later - but there's crocheting - which I have yet to learn - as well as knitting. Also, if the stars are applied later, couldn't you just knit a standard blue t-neck sweater and add stars?)

There are several little ones on the way, and I have another sweater pattern in mind for them, but if this is a must have for your little one, I could be persuaded ...

Jezebel

Salman the Clown

I know I've been hard on Padma lately, but compared to Pia, she's a home run. What is he thinking?

And really? Boiled egg whites? I'd rather not eat. Although she doesn't really seem to eat either. Hmmm.

NY Mag: Grub Street

Wednesday's Wordle: The Bitter Heiress

Because sometimes, you just need a cocktail.

Shuesday: Calling Russell Crowe

Gladiator, anyone? I mean, in the opinion of this FG, summer shoes should reveal the foot, not truss it ...

Actually, these aren't bad ...

Previously: Ick, Dental Floss.

Mac of the Month Club

When I was a little girl (and I think to this day, actually), my mother traded books with a group of 12 women over the course of each year. They met in December to choose books for the next year, and then, during the first week of the month, a new book would arrive in her mailbox. I may also recall this distinctly because I was often the one popping out of the car to drop her finished book into someone else's mailbox - somehow it was always mid-winter when I had to make my way up the snow-covered walkways. But I digress.

There areall kinds of "of the month" clubs - wine, pie, hot sauce, microbrew beer, even bacon (yes, bacon) - but the one I want is mac and cheese of the month. I'm not sure about the pumpkin and turkey sausage version, but different strokes. Plus, the groundhog saw his shadow, so I'm sure winter's coming back with a vengeance.

Of course, it won't be as good as mine ... but I also won't have to make it.

Praise for Graffiti

I've been eating at Jehangir Mehta's Graffiti for eight months now. I've given the cookbook, Mantra, to my friends for birthdays and Christmas. And /now/ Jeffrey Steingarten (for Vogue) and The New Yorker have both written it up.

Jeffrey (my fav guest judge on Iron Chef America) says:

Everybody loves this tiny, wonderful place, unless you insist on an ample, airy interior. Like Iacopo Falai, pastry chef Jehangir Mehta (who has worked at Jean-Georges and beyond) wanted to venture into savories; the restaurant’s title implies haphazard self-expression, but the boldly flavored dishes are nearly all very well thought out and yummy: chili pork dumplings with grapefruit confit; an admirable burger with chipotle mayonnaise and excellent potatoes; braised pork bun; eggplant wrap. All the wines cost $25 a bottle (or $8 a glass); the entire menu and wine list fit easily on one page. Smaller plates cost $12, meatier main courses $15. At those prices, Mr. Mehta must be getting a federal subsidy.

The New Yorker's reviewer is less enthusiastic, but what does she know? Anyone who disses warm truffled strawberries with black pepper ice cream isn't welcome at my table. I just hope I can still get in ...

Top Chef Fashion Police

Really Padma? You're gorgeous. We adore you, and we know you were in Glitter. But who is styling you on this season of Top Chef? You look awful in all those high waisted, button front jeans. And don't get me started on the high waisted denim skirt. This is Top Chef New York, for crying out loud.

Why can't you dress like this anymore? It's not as though you're actually cooking anything ...

Wednesday's Wordle:Take a bow

Shuesday: Candy apple red

For your Valentine, Louboutin.

What were they thinking? The worst of the Grammys

There was an absolute earth of good clothing this year at the Grammys. I mean, when we're looking to Carrie Underwood for Best dressed? Who hates Paula Abdul enough to let her out of the house looking like that?



Yes, I know, she's darling, she has a hit song, and she performed 9 months pregnant. Still, wtf?

Girls with guns

"Ms. Anwar’s refined angularity leaves her more beautiful at almost 40 than she was at 22. And of course her beauty is half the gag. She could make Julia Roberts look like a cashier, but she performs the ritual abjections of someone who seems to believe she is living inside the body of Shirley Booth. Ms. Anwar gamely carries herself as a goofball who has never passed a mirror and had a look. And she locks right into the real source of Fiona’s masculinity, which has less to do with her Glock fetish, than her refusal to regard her romantic pursuit as a pitiable behavior in need of reform."

It's a good show, check it out.

Lusting After Guns, and the Affections of an Ex-Boyfriend

Picking on Gwyneth

People generally love her or they hate her - I'm generally a fan, although I have my moments. But do we really need to list 12 reasons to hate?

(although this is a funny one ...

10. She is close friends with Madonna, and therefore seems untrustworthy, since anyone who is close with Madonna is also possibly not a human being but made of Quorn.

Remember the Quorn debate of 2006?

and this is a possibly true one, or at least an alternate perspective to the norm ...

12. Oh and there's this: "I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. People don't talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner. I like living here because I don't fit into the bad side of American psychology. The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans.")

The list isn't wrong. And launching a lifestyle website that suggests you work, have a happy marriage, take care of your kids, cook, work out, and have time to read, all while looking like this, is bound to result in a little negative feedback. I just have better things to do than hate. This week.

I LEGO NY

I'm sure you've already seen this, but it is too good not to share again.

My fav:

If only we could explain this to the tourists ahead of time ...

Icons we mourn: Joe Ades

Joe Ades sold vegetable peelers, and spent many a weekend peeling carrots in Union Square. He will be missed. If you're in the area Saturday, take a moment.

"We will gather at the statue on the south side of Union Square park on Saturday, February 7th, at 1 p.m; and invite everyone to bring memories, anecdotes, and of course, a peeler and carrots or potatoes. As we join together to peel, we will create a temporary vegetable memorial that will incorporate stories and photos that the community brings to share."

Gothamist

Shopaholic Part Four: More for V-Day

Fear not, there's more where that came from.

The FG detests heart shaped jewelry, unless it's from WendyB (here, here and here), but a key, now that's clever. (Undies featuring keyholes are a little obvious, don't you think?)

This necklace is also darling, and a little more in the right price range (ssh, it's on sale!). Plus, Anthropologie is everywhere ... in a good way. At least for the moment ...

One gets the sense that this spring/summer will feature a plethora of tunics, but 'tis to early, imho (unless you're resorting ... are people still resorting this year?).

Apparently Saks thinks people are still buying $135 dollar candles, designed to "Perfume the air with the tiny pink blossoms of an evergreen shrub native to Australia, filled with the scents of rasberries, apricots, violets and wet moss." Really?

Wednesday's Wordle: Tax man

To: Anyone who sent his or her resume to my transition team

From: The President of the United States

Please pay your taxes. We kinda need them, what with the financial crisis and the massive stimulus spending and whatnot. Thanks.

Wordle
Daily Kos

Shuesday: Ick

Really Proenza Schoeler? Do you hate women? Am I really going to see the likes of these on the streets of Manhattan this spring?

Maybe I'll just stay home. I'm sure I can order in unlimited champagne cocktail brunch.

Shopaholic Part Three: V-day approacheth

First of all, it's clear (or it should be) that we're all scaling back this year. (And aren't we all glad we didn't spend a year of our lives filming Confessions of a Shopaholic, coming soon to a theatre near you.) That said, one can't exactly ignore the fourteenth of February, so here are some do's and don'ts ... unless you're trying to make other people feel bad.

Don't buy me a $3,000 Chanel hair comb which I will never wear. (Besides, what if she sold her hair to buy you a platinum watch fob chain?) Practicality should be, at a minimum, a guideline. It still doesn't quite justify an $800 Marc Jacobs clutch, but at least that's something I could use (and it's darling).

Remember that flowers cost more in the next two weeks than they do any other time of year except Mother's Day week. Save them for non-holiday moments. Set a five week reminder in your Google calendar, if you must, but they're really not necessary on V-Day.

Along the same lines of the impractical comes the frog prince. First of all, do men really like dresser-top do-dads? And if they do, what message does this send? You were an ugly reptile until I came along and made you the man you are today? (Even if all your friends are nodding their heads at the moment, that's less than kind.) And also, for $65, I suspect he'd prefer a nice bottle of scotch. Throw in a set of the right glasses and you're set.


Tasteful lingerie/sleepwear is always appropriate - this is not really the time to purchase anything resembling a Halloween costume. Remember, practical, as in, she'll wear it more than once. Unless you're all about that, in which case, you're probably in the wrong boudoir at the moment. Not that there's anything wrong with that

Crate and Barrel has an affordable selection of heart shaped kitchen items - I suggest baking your beloved a cake and presenting it in the pan. Two gifts in one, and you clearly made an effort. (I know the Pastry Chef's going to like this one.) And if you're culinarily challenged, there are decent enough pre-measured mixes out there.

If he's fortunate enough to have kept a job that requires a suit, and has a sartorial bone in his body, you might get away with hidden message collar stays, but that's stretching the practical once more.

Frankly, as J-Lo once sang, my love don't cost a thing. Turn off the blackberry/cellphone/TV set, picnic on the living room carpet, laugh, relax, play "remember the time we ...", and spend the time together.