Fashion Week Observations - Feb 2009

Observations on Februrary 2009 Fashion Week, so far:

~Black, black, white, beige, taupe, brown, gold, silver, gray.

~Add a dash of one jewel tone or another - tourmaline, yellow topaz (orange), citrine, rose quartz, sapphire, jade, light amythest, aquamarine, bright pink ruby, etc. (see photo)

~Skip the prints, mostly.

~Silk and leather. Poor worms. Poor cows.

~1992, 3, & 4 - think Pretty Woman, 90210 (OLD one not the ridiculous new one, bien sur), Sleepless in Seattle - WITHOUT the boxy shoulder pads, thank goodness.

~Very long hemlines or very very short ones.

~The leggings are still lounging around the runways. (Ha!)

~And now there are more black models because we have a black president. According to this.

~I think Jason Wu's collection is the one that represents what I've seen from all the shows (covered in the NYT thus far).

That's what we have to look forward to next fall. It's a recession or depression, folks. We ain't got no room for prints. We've gotta get practical and have mostly neutral tones that we can mix and match easily (& manufacture at less cost because it's costs less than prints and colors?!)

If you ask me - and absolutely no one is, of course - when I'm feeling blue, the LAST thing I want to do is where a poopy bland color like effing taupe. I want frills, lace, prints, red, glitz. A self-fulfilling fashion prophecy of brighter days; a way to psych myself up and out of the funk. Alas, that shall not be the message from this year's runways, though. Everyone, it seems, is settling into the economic funk and reflecting it in their funk-less minimalist fashion. Bummer.

At least there's always re-runs of "Sex and the City" when the imagination of Pat Field knew no budgetary bounds. =sigh=

Recipe: Puttanesca Sauce

"I like your puttan...esca sauce," said Rene-the-roommate. Making a dirty joke to the dirty origins of this tasty sauce. She came home just as it was coming off the stove.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
10 grape tomatoes, halved
2 tbs chopped Spanish olives
2 tbs chopped marinated roasted red peppers
1/4 feta cheese
1/2 can of chopped tomatoes -or- 1 cup of jarred marinara sauce
1/4 c. red wine
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (if you are a wussy, you can use less)
1/2 tsp dried onion
salt and pepper
AND
half a box of that good for you pasta

Start your pasta water first then...

Heat the butter and evoo to med high. Add tomatoes, olives, red pepper and garlic. Sautee a few minutes, until the skin start to come off the tomatoes.

Right about now your pasta water's probably at the rolling boil so add the pasta to it...

Next, add the canned chopped tomatoes/ jarred tomato sauce, the cheese and all the spices. Stir well, until well mixed. Turn heat up a little more, add the wine and stir well. Let it cook off for about a minute, then turn down to low, cover and simmer as pasta cooks. Stir occasionally.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to saute pan. Stir and mix well. Cover again and let sit for one minute so the flavor hang out with each other and get to know each other well. Remove and serve.

The Four Things Forward - another survey!!!! It's a slow Friday.

Four things about me that you may or may not have known, in no particular order.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. English teacher
2. Old Navy - clothes folder, fitting room attendant, drone
3. Librarian but actually officially "library assistant"
4. Camp Counselor

Four places that I have lived:
1. Weymouth, MA
2. West Roxbury, MA
3. Lewiston Effin Maine!!!!
4. Kennebunk, ME

Four places that I have been:
1. Bermuda
2. Quebec
3. Dublin
4. Chicago

People who e-mail me regularly:
1. Kara
2. Rene, even though she lives with me
3. Susan
4. Alicia

Four of my favorite foods:
1. sushi
2. fancy cheese
3. lentils
4. chocolate

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Paris
2. San Fran
3. the woods
4. Key West

Four people I think will respond:
1. Kara
2. Rene
3. Sandy
4. Julie S.

Four things that I am looking forward to this year (2009):
1. Finding a job
2. Makine money
3. Not being on unemployment
4. Whatever the Obama Administration has in store for us

Four TV shows that I watch:
1. Psych
2. The Daily Show
3. The Colbert Report
4. The Rachel Maddow Show

Four things I have always wanted to do:
1. Go to Europe
2. Start a small press
3. Have a camp [as in cabin in Maine] on a lake/pond
4. Have a surprise party

Middle of a Million Books - A Resolution to Myself

I'm in the middle of a million books right now. I've got to cut the crap and buckle down and finish these suckers. Honestly. Here's the list:

• Little Birds, Anais Nin - short stories about hanky panky en francais
• Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara, Joe LaSueur - memoir about the New York School poet and his friends and morethanfriends and stuff like that
• Robin Hood, Howard Pyle - the old myth, in detail
• Lunch Poems, Frank O'Hara - a collection of poems
• Short Stories, Edith Wharton - a collection of short stories. This is my first foray into non-Jane Austen/J. K. Rowling fiction since before grad school. Ha!
• Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose - a craft book which I've read lots of but skipped around a bit
• The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, trans with commentary by Jean Yves Le Loup - the "apocryphal" text focusing the gnostic side of Christian faith
• The Diary of Anais Nin 1934-39, Anais Nin - the title says it all. This one I started before grad school but have only been able to dabble with
• Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller - two side of the same coin to the Nin diary, actually. Only he tells the story from his macho man perspective and fictionalizes everyone.

Listen, me. I don't care if the bulk of my television watching consists of the news & PBS. It's time to turn off the tele and finish these books. You have until the end of the week to finish Lunch Poems, since you're almost done with that. Same goes for it's companion, the very overdue to the BPL, Digressions. After that, Robin Hood, for fun. Then switch it up and over to Magdalene. Next is another Edith Wharton story, or two if you prefer. Then over to Reading Like a Writer (Francine would probably approve of this). Do the Anais Nin short smut stories at your leisure, like when the bf has a busy week, or has to go up to Maine for the firefighting jobby thing and yer lonesome. Ha! Then go back to the Diary and Tropic, reading both at the same time for a total mind warp, like you were before. This should take until the end of April.

You are allowed to watch "Psych", that show with that guy from high school, The Daily Show and Colbert Report and Great Expectations, when the miniseries come on Masterpiece and THAT IS IT. Otherwise, it's TV time. It's time to reward yourself from all that poetry reading and get some other genres back into your diet. Do this for yourself. You'll feel good about it.

Now stop blogging and go read.

Of Course, This Was the Best Part of My Day