snow drops & cherry blossoms

Last night was Valentine’s Day. Col and I had reservations at the Kitchen Table, but with the blizzard of the century brewing outside, we decided to stay in town and were able to snag—last minute—a fabulous table in a tiny nook with my sister and her husband at Trattoria Delia, my absolute favorite Italian restaurant. Dinner was divine. And so was the wine. Afterward, feeling stuffed and giddy, we walked home in the street (the snow on the sidewalks was up to our knees!) and took breaks rolling around in the snow-banks, climbing trees, and waving to the people whizzing by on their cross-country skis.

I must have been slightly romanced at that point, because once we got home to our warm, little apartment around midnight, instead of going to bed, I decided to go online and buy some plates from Mrs. Lin’s Kitchen. Not just any plates, but a beautiful Japanese cherry-blossom pattern. For all of the nice dinners and potlucks we have, it’s about time we have pretty dishes for our guests. I think I’ll start collecting the whole bunch. Isn’t it gorgeous?

a thing for good soap

I just realized that I have thing for good soap. I realized this just now after I walked into a shop and paid $8 for a bar of everyday soap. And I certainly would have paid a much higher price in the city, to be sure. Nice, French, fragrant, good soap, but everyday, regular-sized soap nonetheless.

I say I realized this just now, but in fact, the realization began last week when I was in the shower. I found myself standing there dripping wet, staring at an empty soap tray and wondering how on earth I forgot to buy more before it ran out. I ALWAYS have a stash of soap somewhere in the loo. But this time, the only stash I could think of was my emergency travel soap—a collection I’d accumulated from stockings, hotels, and Christmas gift bags—soaps which I never thought I’d actually use.

You should never keep soaps that you don’t like in your emergency travel soap stash, because you may end up eventually being forced to use them. In fact, you should only keep very luxurious soaps in your emergency travel soap stash, because when you’re in a bland hotel and feeling homesick, there is nothing like a nice bar of soap to make you feel like a princess (or a prince). Plus, if you run out of soap like I did the other day, you’re probably already feeling traumatized and stressed, and the perfect antidote is finding a gorgeous bar of olive oil-enriched, smells-nice-in-your-skin, and makes-you-feel-oh-so-soft SOAP hidden somewhere amongst the towels.

As it turned out, I ran from my shower and grabbed a bar from my emergency stash blindly. As I started to rub it across my skin, I thought to myself, this is not soap. And in fact, it wasn’t. It was oily. It smelled very nice. But it did not lather. I realized later that it was a luxurious, oil bar that Col picked up for me on a recent trip abroad. It’s meant to renew your skin’s moisture. Luxurious and it smells nice. But it’s not soap.

The second soap I grabbed, I opened quickly while jumping back under the shower. One sniff and I threw that thing half-way across the backroom floor into the bin. Ick. I think it might have been artificial cinnamon scented.

Back to the stash again. Oh god, please don’t make my last option be Col’s slimy old bar of Irish Spring! This black thing looked like soap, but it had sand in it for exfoliation. That hotel soap over there, I thought, might just burn my skin off. Just at that moment, I found a lovely jar of luxurious Figue bath gel. It was luxurious, lathery, clean, and smelled like an aphrodisiac. That did the trick for the dire moment. But it wasn’t soap.

So later that very day I stocked up on good soap. Good soap that’s real, that’s natural, that’s gentle and fragrant. Good soap that makes me feel good. And I’m still stocking. Hence the $8 soap. Am I completely mad?

andy's well-dressed philosphy

"A person has to be very careful about what he's buying these days or else he'll wind up buying junk. And paying a lot for it too. So this means that if you see a well-dressed person today, you know that they've thought a lot about their clothes and how they look. And then that ruins it because you shouldn't really be thinking about how you look so much. The same applies to girls but not as much—they can care a little more about themselves without being unattractively self-interested, because they're naturally prettier. But a man caring about about how he looks is usually trying very hard to be attractive, and that's very unattractive in a man." Andy Warhol from The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and Back Again)

I agree with you Andy, except for this: girls, er women, must try just as hard as men to be attractive. The ones who are successful are the ones who embrace their look with confidence. Confidence is the key. Confidence and intuition. For if a woman, who has the means to purchase a well-tailored, high-quality look, feels ill in her own skin, then she might as well have bought some sweatpants for five bucks. Or better yet, just stayed home. However, that scenario is rare, because women are naturally more intuitive than men. They are much less likely than men to wear a look that makes them feel like they're trying too hard in the first place. Because it just doesn't feel right. This statement might sound sexist, Andy. Possibly even feminist. I assure you that it is.

just one reason why I love potlucks

I love the idea that food can be the eye into a person's inner culture. Your stew says a lot about you, you know.

sparkle tower

Here's a little clip from our recent trip to Paris. At nighttime, every hour on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkle—albeit sideways—just like fairy dust...