Happy to Share

Here, photographed on our cheapo but unbreakable Corelle dishware, is the first 6 dishes I concocted via BlueApron.com. 

Had to change our diet recently to include more veggies/less red meat and BlueApron is helping by introducing us to 3 new recipes each week, sending just the right amount of refrigerated fresh ingredients for each recipe, down to a pat of butter, a bulb of garlic, and tiny vials of condiments (no leftover bottles of rice wine in the pantry!). I am not a chef and barely know what I’m doing and everything takes twice as long as the recipe card claims (lots & lots of chopping), yet somehow I’ve managed to make 3 nearly restaurant-worthy dishes (serving 2 people) each week. 

Won’t be making the Cod Kedgeree again, though. Not enough limes in the world to give THAT flavor.

NYC art exhibits (1/1/16) 

Evolution of the Desk (gif)   I haven’t gotten all that stuff on my desk into my computer yet, but I can see it coming....

Ah, the Romance, the Drama of Pink Sansabelt Pants

Another Fashion Week ended in New York last night, and it falls to me once more to reveal my total dislike (read: ignorance) of fashion, by picking on one lucky fashion ad, as I have in past years. 

Above is this year's "winner," as seen on the expensive back page of "T," the Sept. 13 NYTimes Men's Style Magazine. After staring at this photo for a full minute, trying to figure out why I hated it so much, I showed it to my husband with the admonition, "Now why can't YOU look like this guy?" Whether it's the (inadvertent) upside-down yellow turban on his head, the hank of hair artfully arranged between his glaring eyes or the ungainly black crocodile bag covering his pink-panted knee, this guy has it going on. 

I'll let you define "it."

This is just one part of a fall 2015 ad campaign for Italian design shop Bottega Veneta. Turns out the guy in the baggy pink pants is a "name" model called Freddy Drabble. Sounds (and looks?) like a character from Harry Potter, doesn't he? Or maybe a Patricia Highsmith novel.  

I didn't know why Freddy Drabble was standing spread-eagled on a silver satin bed, with a woman's purse in hand. But it becomes clearer when you learn that the famous fashion photographer Juergen Teller (whom I now see I hated on in 2013; I’m consistent at least) was tasked with photographing his two famous models while they wandered around the opulent Turin villa of long-dead famous designer Carlo Mollino. Silver beds are no doubt rampant in this famous villa. (Despite my liberal use of the word "famous" above, I have to admit I was ignorant of most of these things previously. They are what I call "dog-whistle famous.") If you want to learn more about this famous villa, read this brief Architectural Digest article.

Is this ad the height of pretentiousness? No, this audition tape for "Project Greenlight" this Juergen Teller short film of the photoshoot by photographer Juergen Teller is.   Enjoy!

For the Age of Distraction: