Thursday, April 23, 2015

I Can Bead a Rainbow



 Rainbow Ostriches Necklace

Top: Material Girl, Macy's
Skirt: Modcloth
Shoes: Ami Clubwear
Bag: Gifted
Sunglasses: Cloud Nine, Ocean City



 Rain-bow Necklace

Tee: Marshalls
Skirt: Marshalls
Shoes: Betseyville, Macy's
Bag: Marshalls
Sunglasses: Cloud Nine, Ocean City 




Tee: Merona, Target
Skirt: H&M
Shoes: Ami Clubwear
Bag: Xhilaration, Target
Belt: Apt. 9, Kohl's
Sunglasses: JCPenney




Top: JCPenney
Jeans: City Streets, JCPenney
Shoes: Guess, DSW
Bag: DSW
Sunglasses: JCPenney

Puns get enough of a bad rap without having to bear the indignity of being explained.  So, I wish I could say that "I can bead a rainbow" comes from "I can read a rainbow" from the well-known and much-loved children's program "Reading Rainbow" instead of from "I can sing a rainbow," which is a song I learned in preschool.  A preschool, incidentally, that was called READ.  But things are seldom that simple.  Nevertheless, my love for jewelry making and staging is so strong that no pun or wordplay is too precious.  Not unlike Lauren Shockey's love of cooking as relayed in her memoir Four Kitchens.  Although maybe minus the precious, professional kitchens being mostly macho.

It's a tale as old as time, really.  Office worker on the fast track to carpal tunnel syndrome (her words, not mine) chucks it all to cook her way around the world as an indentured servant.  But not before horrifying her parents and making a $40,000 pit stop at Soho's French Culinary Institute.  As this is a true story and not a sitcom or rom com, one can't help but wonder: Why?  For the same reason all those made-up heroines do it: to follow her heart (insert retching at the sound of my own schmaltziness.)  Just listen as she waxes poetic about a carrot:

"I wanted to cook because of the calmness that washes over me when I peel the ruddy outer layer of a carrot.  As the blade emits soft grating sounds and then strips of nearly translucent flesh fall into the garbage can, I contemplate the range of possibilities at hand.  I can shred the carrot and transform it into a salad; I can chop it in chunks and boil it in salted water; I can leave it whole, rubbed in Moroccan spices, and grill it until carmelized; I can cut it in pieces, dip it and saute it in a wok with sesame oil; or I can eat it plain and simple.  I can follow any number of carrot recipes, or I can invent my own recipe on the spot.  With cooking, the opportunities for creativity are boundless." (2-3)

Although I'm far from a foodie, I instantly understood what Shockey (so formal, this use of the last name -- we're all friends here, so let's stick with Lauren) meant.  Because it's the same way I feel about fashion.  She's talking about the energy, excitement, and rush that come from infinitely mixing a bunch of cool stuff -- regardless of the medium -- to come up with something even cooler.  So, it was in this spirit that I joined her on her journey.  She became an apprentice (or, to be more accurate, and indeed, more French, "stagiare") at some of the finest restaurants in her native New York City, Hanoi, Tel Aviv, and Paris.  Her experiences in each city are different but universally grueling.  She works fourteen-hour days deshelling crates of crabs and cross-hatching endive and washing floors, all for no pay and often under the watchful and critical eye of a snarky superior.  Although it's something I'd never do, her grit and enthusiasm are infectious, making me (vicariously) care about perfectly plating trout threads and crispy cream cheese (a dish that sounds, if not tasty, then exotically beautiful).  It's one of those stories about (at the risk of more retching) self exploration and discovery.  So, definitely not a romantic comedy.  Although there are a couple of contenders for the role of boyfriend, none ever flourish like her foie gras, a sure marker of nonfiction if ever there was one.  That is, Four Kitchens manipulates no plot lines into contriving a conventional two-by-two happy ending.  No, this time the only love affair is with the food.  Lauren sacrifices more for it than many women would for a lover -- financial security, familiarity, free time, and, to an extent, personal safety.  But, like most affairs, it's destined to come to an end.  

SPOILER ALERT!  

Although I don't flatter myself that this blurb is so good that you simply must order your copy of Four Kitchens from Amazon this very minute, manners are manners.  For those of you soldiering on, Lauren decides not to work in a restaurant after all.  Not because she's soured out on cooking, but because she's lukewarm about preparing food for a living.  She cares about cooking too much to allow it to become compromised by the baser motive of turning a profit.  She wants to savor the culinary experience, not rush through it; she wants to watch people enjoying her meals instead of being tucked away in an anonymous kitchen:  

"Although restaurant cooking is great for learning how to perfect dishes and to maximize speed and efficiency, the repetition of professional cooking can be, well, repetitive.  What I loved about cooking was discovering new ingredients and combining flavors.  Home cooking brings spontaneity and whimsy and the freedom to cook according to your own desires . . . So what if it took going around the world to realize I wanted to end up at home, in my own kitchen?  I discovered what I loved; cooking for my friends and family and sharing the bounty of the table together.  And the friends I made along the way taught me that home can be anywhere, and so can your home kitchen.  It's those you share it with who really matter." (328-331)

Aw.  Now, that does sound like the look-what-I-learned voice-over narrating the final scene of an indie flick.  Which tastes just about right to me.  What can I say?  Pass the popcorn.   

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Raising the Bar




Top: Delia's
Skirt: (a dress!) Kohl's
Shoes: Charles Albert, Alloy
Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's
Belt: Tournier Everything's $10 store
Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's
Scarf: Wet Seal



 Pink Piano Barrettes

Camisole: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney
Dress: Macy's
Shoes: Worthington, JCPenney
Wallet: Betsey Johnson
Sunglasses: Cloud Nine, Ocean City




Dress: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney
Shoes: Dollhouse, Marshalls
Bag: Nine West, Boscov's
Belt: Wet Seal
Sunglasses: JCPenney

Sadly, this post is not about Zack Morris's first foray into TNT legal dramedies.  It's about how I once bought a bunch of French clip barrettes when I couldn't find alligator clips and how at first I thought they were awful.  I mean, you couldn't clip them to your blouse or purse strap or jacket -- only to your hair.  Talk about limiting!  But that was before I started parting my hair in the middle and pinning up each side, necessitating the need for two twin oblong somethings.  Once I got to work, it was hard to believe that I had ever found these bars, well, sub-par.  The long rectangles turned out to be the ideal canvases for all sorts of new designs: piano keys (Frankie Goes to Hollywood, relax!  They're not neckties :), ice cream scoops, raindrops, basically anything best displayed in a row! 


Me wearing my facsimile of the Sundae Sundae Sundae Barrettes.  You didn't think I'd put a for-sale item in my hair, did you?!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Easter on Edge



 Pastel Stripes Gumball Necklace

Top: Self Esteem, JCPenney
Skirt: I Heart Ronson, JCPenney
Shoes: Nine West, DSW
Bag: Princess Vera, Kohl's
Sunglasses: JCPenney



 Canary and Lemon Yellow Gumball Necklace

Top: Self Esteem, JCPenney
Dress: So, Kohl's
Cardigan: Merona, Target
Bag: Journeys
Shoes: BCBG, Macy's
Sunglasses: JCPenney



 Floral Flight Bib Necklace

Top: Self Esteem, JCPenney
Jeans: Candie's, Kohl's
Jacket: Decree, JCPenney
Shoes: Ami Clubwear
Bag: Candie's, Kohl's


Old (i.e. stale) Peeps (i.e. friends) are the best Peeps.  Lucky for me, these plush pals will live forever.

Couldn't help but gild the lily.

This post title makes it sound like I should be showcasing zombie-faced eggs and rabid rabbit barrettes instead of just a few flashy colors.  But I could never get on board with the creepy-cute calling card of Goth chic that is kawaii's darker sub-genre.  I like my sweet cut with salty, not skulls.  Which is why Easter is my second-favorite style holiday (Valentine's Day has my heart at first) and my favorite food holiday.  As I've asserted in many a bunny-themed blog post, any day that celebrates chocolate, cheese, and ham in equal measure is a-okay.

In keeping with this "edgy" Easter, I'm enjoying the small town stylings of Leslie Meier's Easter Bunny Murder.  Despite beginning with the untimely and unnatural demise of everyone's favorite treat-toting rodent, it's one of the tamer cozies I've (ahem) cozied up to.  Consider this line delivered in the midst of a murder investigation:

" ' They say to plant day lilies and daffs together, but I find the day lilies push out the daffs," offered Rachel.  she dropped her voice and added, "Day lilies can be garden thugs, very aggressive." ' (110)

Oh, the horrors of horticulture!  Thugs indeed, Rachel.  It's one of the many reasons why I don't garden.

And with that, I hope you're having an excellent (if not edgy) Easter.  Preferably one filled with all of your favorite Peeps. :)