Last Chance London

There's really not much more I can say but that you MUST go see 'Last Chance Harvey.'

It's bittersweetly different than your usual cotton-candy romantic comedy, due to brilliant acting by Hoffman and Thompson.

Pay attention to their nuances. Just perfection.

And I really like how they kept Hoffman shorter than Emma Thompson.
Personally, I can't see myself being with anyone shorter than me, but I always love a confident man who sees a tall girl as a feather in his cap. (i.e. Tom Cruise, etc)

And naturally, it made my heart pine for Londres...

Big Ben turns 150 today!

Photo: Getty Images via NPR

I Love Lucy

Since both of my own grandmothers have passed away, I took the opportunity to adopt Lindsey's grandma last weekend.

Blogosphere, meet Lucy aka Mimi aka "MimZ."

Matching her hair is her zest for life (and car): RED

This is her answering machine message, I kid you not:

"You've reached Lucy.
I'm out enjoying my golden years!
Please leave your name and number.
Love, Lucy"

She takes turns fast, pulling into her garage to a street sign on the wall reading "I Love Lucy Ave"

She keeps up her physical and mental shape by attending "Silver Sneakers" class at her gym and voraciously reading newspapers and books.


She is also a palm reader. Yes. Here were some of my results: I can take on many tasks at once and am detail oriented, I take good care of myself and don't let other people consume me, something traumatic happened in my adolescence (true), I will have 3 kids.


But most importantly, MimZ is super generous and kind.
Took us out to eat, for pedicures, and insisted we use her car all weekend (License plate: RED4RED), saying "You girls go have fun, don't worry about me!"


She is also very funny. Lindsey gave me the heads up when we were heading down there, "Just wait 'til she busts out the stories..."

...and Mimi did not disappoint.


Some MimZ-isms:

"Cops are dirty, aren't they" - warning us about speeding and her theory on how she thinks it's how small towns bring in revenue

"Look, I'm not walking like I'm drunk anymore!" - showing us how she had overcome a recent case of vertigo

"Well...I love going to bed early, and sleeping in!"

"It's a good thing I didn't send you to Paris, Lindsey" - when we were watching Taken...(she had offered to send Lindz to Paris to mend her broken heart)

"I don't have debt!" -barking back at a telemarketer

"You couldn't find anything else to do tonight?" - Mimi, when we turned in at 10 pm
"Well, this is St. George" - us
"True" -Mimi


I was keeling over laughing most of the time.
Thanks MimZ for a great weekend!

Provo Farmers Market

Sure, it's not the Greenmarket, but this is a pretty impressive line-up for this weekend!

Fresh from the farm: tomorrow is the last chance to buy asparagus for the year! Plus Ralph Steele is bringing assorted breeds of baby chicks for your backyard coop! goat cheese and yogurt, all natural Utah lamb, fennel, oregano, bok choy, carrots, rhubarb, spring onions, parsley, arugula, salad mix, swiss chard, eggs, mint, grass fed beef, duck/goose/chicken eggs, honey, spinach, watercress, garlic chives, and beet greens.

Shop: Dresses and skirts, hand made buckets and brooms, hand bound books, jewelry, soaps, lotions.

To eat: Chimney Sweets, Flour Girls and Dough Boys, Papa's Tapas, Big Jake's Donuts, Alex's Belgium Waffles, Navajo Tacos, Asian Market, Italian meatballs, pies, and more

To plant: sego lily bulbs for xeriscaping, native wildflower seeds, thornless blackberries, jerusalem artichokes, lemon cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, raspberry and strawberry starts, ground covers, lambs tongue, aloe vera, herbs, basil, heirloom tomatoes, and more.

Music: The Utah Ramblers


Saturday
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pioneer Park
(100 South, 500 West)

www.provosfarmersmarket.com

Remember - shopping local is not only fresh and delicious, but a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

See you there!

Stand clear of the closing doors please

I was trying to hold off mentioning this, but I chose "Strawberry Swing" as the first song on my blog playlist because it reminds me of my last summer in NYC.
The Viva La Vida album was my subway music of choice.
Those hot, balmy, stinky subways...

I realized this past weekend that this time last year, I was soaking up Fleet Week in the city that Will so hilariously describes as "a bizarre mix between On The Town and Nazi-occupied France."

Oh how I miss the sleepless wonderland of Gotham...


Dear Manhattan,
Just when I thought I was doing so well...

(i.e. forcing myself not to think of you for knowing I would nervously break down if I did)

...you killed it again.



Thanks to Betty's post for helping me re-kindle this currently long-distance romance...

Edelweiss, edelweiss...

I'm letting down my whimpers...I'm taking my curlers out...

Maybe The Sound of Music is my favorite movie, ever.


EVER.

Cliche?


Maybe I felt like watching it the other day...

Maybe I was thinking about an old high school friend who shares a SOM obsession, wondered what she was up to, and behold, she had a new Facebook album up of a recent trip to Austria...

Maybe I want to go to Vienna/Salzburg/etc right now too.

Maybe I just want to be an Austrian fraulein.



Maybe I think Brookie has a telopathic powers because she texted me the other night wanting to watch it with me.

Maybe my sophomore year here Emily, Brookie and I went on a bike ride and belted SOM songs. And some people clapped!

Maybe when I was little I used to sing "So Long, Farewell" and inched my way backwards up the stairs like Gretl.



Also, I would do the "Do Re Mi" dance jumping up and down stairs...I was a budding choreographer, yep.
I would also sing "Confidence" sprinting around the house, charting my abrupt stop.
("...And all those children, heaven bless them, they will look up to ME...")


Maybe I have the 40th Anniversary edition and maybe I've watched watched all 6 hours of the special features. Twice.

That footage of Gretl being carried out of the water after they capsize that canoe?
Totally candid.

The house? Two different ones used for front and back.



Maybe I still have a crush on Freidrich...even though he's old and I suspect he's gay (from watching the special features)...


Maybe I loooove Uncle Max.



Maybe I think the nuns are genius.



Maybe when I was about 5, I loonnnnged to be 16, then 17, then 18...but those years have sinced passed.

My aunt Lisa and Cousins Elizabeth, Lola, and M.E. at THE gazebo...love!


Maybe I'll be eternally jealous of Liesl's rebellious 16-year-old love life.
(Click HERE for a full gallery of her and dreamy-yet-misguided Rolf)


Maybe one of the other reasons why I think Gwen Stefani is hella cool is because of the Wind It Up music VIDEO....



Maybe I've always thought Christopher Plummer was a fox.



Maybe I want to fashion a romper out of drapes and have a picnic in the countryside.

Who else loves SOM? C'mon...

Coco vs. Michelle?

Michelle Obama hit the American Ballet Theater Gala last weekend...

...looking a little Star Trek-y...

(to go along with that latest Spock photo illustration of her husband)

Photos: Style.com

far right, Dr. Jill Biden

far left, Caroline Kennedy- my dad's high school dance partner at one point in time. hah!

But as I, myself, have two ginger sisters...
("Ginga!" as they have recently nicknamed themselves)

...I really liked Coco Rocha's dress.

...and below is her AFTER the gala! Hah!

Photo: Coco's blog


Who wore it best?!

:)

Just a straw, please

Okay, everyone has been writing about the 10 things make them terribly happy...

but too many of mine ended up being food, so I turned them all into food...with accompanying stories.

1. Strawberry rhubarb pie.
My favorite dessert, ever. The only people I know who love it as much as me have an AARP discount.
When I was little, I used to have this in lieu of birthday cake.
Last summer, I had a strawberry rhubarb cupcake from this adorable place called Batch in Greenwich Village and Chantelle called me a grandma. I've never been more proud of a nickname.

Here's me, swooning over said cupcake, sitting on the steps of that old courthouse at 6th Ave and 10th Street, NYC.

2. soy decaf mocha lattes
I switched to soy because I have never liked regular milk, and as I've grown older and read more about it, I get scared of all the literature on all the hormones they pump into conventional milk.

3. French pastry: especially almond croissants & berry tarts
Kinda self explanatory.

4. Cherry tomatoes

5. Stinky cheese
Roquefort, camembert, chevre...I love it all. But usually, rule of thumb is, "The stinkier, the better." The first time I ever went to Paris, I remember ordering a camembert sandwich at a boulangerie. Little did I realize until I bit into that sandwich that it also had slices of butter on it as well. BEST Sandwich EVER.

6. mangoes

7. fresh berries

8. Shellfish: Oysters on the half shell, Soft-shell crab sushi, Lobster
All best when eaten on the East Coast. Lobster is of course best when eaten in the company of family, during the summer, on the patio, with only butter.
And there is this amazing sushi place in Park Slope on 7th Ave where anyone iffy on raw fish could be made into a believer...I forget the name.

Baked lobster with cousin Jennie at Anthony's, Boston. February 2009.
Not as good as the old fashioned 'steamed' with melted butter to dip...
Lobster newbies: claw is the best part.

9. Jamon Serrano/Prosciutto di Parma
I read this great little article on an EasyJet flight about the history of my favorite raw cured meat.
Spaniards like their carne.


10. A really good vinaigrette

I take after my mom on this. Preferably with lots of herbs and dijon. My favorite still remains the vinaigrette at the French restaurant I worked at when I was 16. Because it was made in 10-gallon increments, I can't replicate it exactly. Although I remember it had a lot of dijon mustard and whole sprigs of thyme. Yum.
When I'm with my mom and we've had a really good one on a salad, and waiters ask their routine "Anything else?" query, often we privately joke how we cannot muster our manners but dream of responding,
"Just a straw, please!"

Remember M.A.S.H.?

		I will marry Tom.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in NYC in our fabulous Mansion.
		We will have 11 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a black BMW.
		I will spend my days as a Magazine editor, and live happily ever after.

Oh.
My.
Goodness.

Could the above be any more perfect??
I promise I didn't rig anything!
My first time is a charm!

Magazine editor... the movie 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' is WHY. I. WENT. TO. COLLEGE. (Hi Joanna Goddard!)

Since I don't have any real-life crushes right now...
(I've had about 4 in my life: I'm not a lesbian, I'm just picky),
I did celebs...

so 'Tom' would be Tom Brady. (Bye bye Gisele!)


(not the dashing movie producer...shout out to Alison, who - TRUE STORY- made out with him on the beach in Belize.
LOL. oh wait, was I not supposed to tell?! )


And as for the 11 kiddos, that'll be a Jolie-Pitt style operation...

Raise the roof, I love my life!!!

It's late, and I ache

I have had chronic headaches my entire life.
Right now I have a migraine the size of RUSSIA. Or maybe the pre-20th century Ottoman Empire... One that feels like it is going to overtake the folds above my right eye and explode into a screaming Quasimodo-like tumor.

Bay Area traffic this weekend gave me headaches. Perhaps the heat as well.
Driving home from the wedding Sunday night, both of these factors caused my brother to strip down to his bathing suit, make up silly songs and an elementary "would I rather" game of choosing the superpower of a) laser beams or b) flying to pass over/through the cars.

This from the man who, with his wife, lived in West Hollywood for a year.

(He would kill me if he read this!)

I think there will be a new phenomenon concerning late-night blogging. As in the morning after, you will suffer embarrassment due to a blog post made at random the night before. So then, what will be the cure for a blogging hangover?
(this is why Texts from last night are so funny! disclaimer: don't read if you are sensitive!)

If only there were solutions as easy as "Delete Post" for other things in life.

Colliding worlds of love

New dress from the Park City BCBG outlet, check. 

New Vanity Fair with plenty of juicy Madoff scoop, check. 

Flight to San Jose, check. 

Only my hippie intellectual cousin Dana and her dear new husband Marcos could bring together the free-lovers of NorCal, native Brazilians and venture capitalists and lawyers of Manhattan, Boston and DC to one place...

SANTA CRUZ!

It has been an incredible weekend of love and family fun! 

Even though I did manage to get my groove on to the awesome music by SambaDa, my nephew Luke, however, was upstaged by all the Brazilians (Marcos' parents, in their 70s, go out dancing nearly every night until 1 or 2 in the morning). 

Although, the wedding cake sugar rush left Luke in fits of giggles as I finally was able to coax him into swinging around and bouncing on my shoulders on the dance floor.  

I will post pictures when I get them. XO

Gwen obsessed.

So Gwen Stefani is pretty hella cool. My friends once met her at the Ivy Restaurant...one of them introduced himself, then 20 mins later she walked over to their table and talked to them, took pictures.... This was right before L.A.M.B. got huge...

Anyway, she looks AMAZING in the new Gossip Girl episode...and I'm pretty much obsessed with No Doubt's cover of "Stand and Deliver."
(Sorry its a live version- the official version isn't out yet).



Watch the full episode HERE for an 80s-tastic L.A. ...
even though No Doubt is 90s...but seriously, was there any significant difference between the 80s and 90s?

(besides MC Hammer pants, the Internet, no more Iron Curtain, and the Gulf War, of course)

Yo quiero bailar a "techno trance"

I love to dance...

dance at clubs...

clubs in Europa...

where you are enough of an American spectacle to have no inhibitions.

Sarah and I at KAPITAL, Madrid, circa 4 am.

THIS is one of my favorites. Also a favorite on the Spain club circuit.
Here's an amazing Craig David remix (who can forget '7 Days'?!).


...


As of last night, I am going to Santa Cruz for the weekend for my hippie cousin's wedding!
I'm serious: among other things, she has been known to check hula hoops on airplanes.


She's marrying this really sweet Brazilian guy, with whom she paraded- slash- danced in Rio de Janeiro's CARNIVALE about 2 years ago.
I wish I had a picture of their costumes: probably the most spectacular attire I've ever seen...to the tune of pictured below:

Photo: LA Times

Anyway, I will get to see these little cuties, my parents and other cousins...

I'm hoping Luke puts out on the dance floor...stay tuned.
xoxo


PS: I talked to Alli (see post below) last night and her 1st chemo treatment went well, all things considered. She is incredible.

Cancer at age 21 should be illegal!

Or any age, really.

Today my thoughts and prayers are with my childhood friend Alli, who I was able to see when I was home about two weeks ago.
She had been biopsied by doctors, and the other week she texted me to confirm that she, indeed, has Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

She begins chemotherapy tomorrow.

All this to a vibrant NYU swimmer and recent grad.

Last summer over breakfast at Pastis in New York, I remember her briefly letting on to some shoulder pain, which more alarmed me and I told her to get checked out. She cheerfully brushed it off, assuring me it was probably due to stress and that fact that she never had time to sleep.

The other week when doctors told her she had to stop doing physical activity, she had plans to do a local half-marathon.

We first became friends in kindergarten, me blonde and her brunette (both of us the latter now), towering over everyone on the playground despite the fact we both have late birthdays and started school at age 4. She made it to 5'10".
We also had the same name (I went by 'Ali' until college).

But most significantly, we embodied what it meant to be Water Babies, soaking up the beach, ocean and our pools nearly every day of our childhood.

Here's us, after shoving shaving cream pies in our faces a la Nickelodeon.

She's so strong and healthy, I have an immense hope she'll pull through this.

I have a really hard time wrapping my head around the concept of someone my age facing this.
It's utterly mind boggling that someone as youthful and luminous as she must go through something as daunting as chemotherapy.

Cancer continues to confound me. All of my grandparents (3 late, 1 surviving) have had some form. Both of my own parents have had scares. But someone my own age...this is new for me.

Here's her and her boyfriend. I met him. He's more darling than even this picture would suggest. He had me at "all tennis players are crazy."
I highly approve.

(haha, Al, if you're reading this, don't mind I stole it from your "First and Last time at the Tropicana" post)

Alli, you're such an incredible person and will get through this with strength, courage and your great faith.

With much love,
Your Al twin

Spock, SocioPATH, & Streusel

NYT's Maureen Dowd on Obama as Spock.

Don't worry, I don't like Sci-Fi either.
My sister does, though.
But she's probably too busy knitting, off-season training or having dorm parties to see that movie anyway.
Oh well.

(haha!)

Oh, sociopaths...you never cease to dirty our planet with your filth.

(via Overheard in New York)

Oh I made this BOMB Apple Crumb Cake with my roomie last night. TRY IT.
We used 2.5 times the amount of apples called for (5 total, unpeeled), and spaced on putting the crumble topping on so we just dumped the rest of the diced apples we had on top.
Then we had a legit ghost storytelling session. Amazing.

The "foodie" language

I might have suspected it from the stalks of rhubarb lying around.
Or the cooking wine in the fridge.
Or all the pots and pans on the stove, perched for action.


But for some reason, these clues completely evaded me as I left my new apartment the other afternoon.


Then, when I returned later, I was cutting into some delicious triple-creme cheese and peeling off sheets of prosciutto di parma to put in my bean salad...it was late and I had just returned home, having not eaten much all day...and I, not thinking very straight and trying to break the awkward silence with my new roommate, declared my love for cheese.

She laughed, then agreed with me...then she asked me detailed questions about all my food that was lying around, which prompted me to frankly ask her,

"Wait, wait, wait a second...



are you.....



a foodie?"



Her eyes widened, as if I had opened the pearly gates of epicurean wisdom.

"You know what that means?!"

I speak her language. She speaks mine.
Finally, someone in my life with whom I can shoot the breeze about reductions and coulis and compotes!

Then she offered me some vanilla bean rice pudding with poached rhubarb made from scratch, straight from the pages of Food & Wine.
um...
A) rhubarb is my favorite thing in possibly the entire world (to follow up in a later post), and
B) I'm mostly Danish and rice pudding is Denmark's specialty.

Heaven!

Not to mention, WHO in their 20s actually cooks from food magazines. Personally, my "cooking for one is a hassle" excuse reduces me to a laziness of salivating over the pictures. In short, what I eat could be seen as eclectic antipastis of whatever I'm craving du jour...usually from Costco staples (pesto, parmesan cheese, kalamata olives) filled in with the more perishable (mesclun greens, chicken, fruit etc).
i.e. a little marinated artichoke + a little cheese + a little fruit = dinner

Well, the next day, she 'whipped up a little risotto' (read: fresh asparagus and mint boiled to flavor a stock to stir into the risotto with fennel. Did I mention we're in college? Don't worry, I found the recipe)....
and contemplated aloud driving to Salt Lake to try macaroons at a new bakery.

We will be starting cooking nights soon. I'm jazzed.
If you're in town, please come over!

Photo: Food and Wine

So yes, my roomie is a foodie, and I couldn't be more excited.

Happy Mother's Day

Love you, bubbala!



Inside the Coliseum, Rome.
April 2008.

The Vatican.
April 2008.

Just got off the phone with her.
She ended the conversation politely hinting she wanted to get back to reading Japanland, in which she had one last chapter.
I'm glad she seemed to have enjoyed it as much as I did!

XOXO

Free candy inside

Okay so one of Lindsey's ski bum friends bought this 'molester van' (as they called it) with his fellow ski bum college co-eds.
They had Canyons season passes and had plans to sleep in it the night before they would go.
Why? I don't know, they were just being silly boys.
They also put a "Free Candy Inside" sign on the back window as a joke a couple days prior to it making it on KSL...
Classic college.

Read the full story here.

Although, I don't think KSL got to the deeper economic implications- why is this dude literally living in his van part-time??!! Haha.
Apparently now, he has been nicknamed "stranger danger" by all his friends.

Luke the P.I.M.P.

So turns out my 4-year-old nephew is a certifiable studmuffin.

(eat your heart out, Brook!)

As if we needed anymore proof, apparently he was THE highlight of my half-brother's (I prefer calling him my brother) sister's wedding reception a few weeks ago.

In over 2 hours on the dance floor, Sir Luke singlehandedly:

a) had 4 songs dedicated to him by the band...

(with his gorgeous mommy, my sister-in-law)

b) caused three groomsmen to approach my brother, saying "I cant get any of these girls to talk to me because they're too obsessed watching your kid dance!"

c) had circles form around him, and ate the attention right up...

Apparently, the bride (my brother's sister) received somewhere between 50-100 texts & phone calls on her honeymoon telling her what a stud/how cute/how funny Luke is.

I can't wait to see Luke and his little sister Sydney duke it out on the dance floor in years to come!

I love them so much!

Hilarious, huh?! I was dying laughing when I heard about it.