My Favorite Pizza: An International List

1. Pizza al Volo, Campo Santa Margherita, Venice, Italy. Best spicy Diavola slice. I ate there practically every day for a year. That's the stuff dreams are made of.

2. Joe's Pizza on Mercer Street, New York NY. I guess I prefer it by the slice.

3. Ricotta Pizza at Place whose Name Shall be Forgotten, Ischia, Italy. Made by a pair of the nerdiest twin brothers you've ever seen. Homemade ricotta.

4. Pepe's Pizza, New Haven, CT. Clam and Garlic and the Salami. One of each!

5. Lucali Pizza, Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY

The Cambridge Cake

One of my favorite things to do, always, has been to sit and read (I know, I know...this is soooo internetty) Julia Child's "The Way to Cook." No, no I'm not embarking on some gimicky personal cooking challenge to keep myself occupied. Rather, I am just recounting something I enjoy to do on days when there isn't much to do except think about cooking. I am planning a "Paris" themed dinner for next week for some friends who sadly have had to postpone their France trip due to some untimely issues, let's say, and so I'm treating them to some good old French standards. So, to whom do I turn to? Julia, of course!

Reading through "TWTC" is something I've always done, as long as the book has been around (well, around me). When I was fifteen I had my birthday off from school for a semester break. I remember it was a cold January day in LA and, having just finished finals and not really wanting to do anything other than stay in and bake myself a fancy cake - specifically the s0-called "Cambridge Cake" that is the cover star of TWTC's Cakes & Cookies section (page 454). This is what we did and still do at my mother's house - there is no cable, no video games, nothing to do but to bake elaborate dishes and play canasta. I remember when my lovely mother brought home the tome that is Julia Child's "The Way to Cook." I thought it one of the most beautiful cookbooks I had ever seen. Up until then she just had her copy of "The Joy of Cooking" which was held together with brown packing tape and had family recipes up and down the inner covers. That book, her old Julia cookbooks of course, which I actually never really picked up until that movie came out last year, a collection of hilarious Time Life "Cookbooks of the World," and maybe some Wolfgang Puck books which were cute and had great recipes, but were nothing like this one. "The Way to Cook" was the biggest cookbook I had ever seen, and had such sumptuous photos and so charmingly written. I think I've read it cover to cover 1,000 times over my lifetime. When I moved back to LA in June and into my own house she gave me my very own copy.

Back when I was fifteen and drooling over the pictures in TWTC, the Cambridge Cake was my favorite page. The walls and ribbons of black chocolate, layers and layers of beautiful Genoise cake tied up in bows of creamy, mocha-y French buttercream frosting. I determined that day, my fifteenth birthday, that, fuck it, I'm going to make this cake. It's just a bloody cake, how hard could it be? Well, it took me all day and looked nothing like the picture, but it was damn good. My chocolate wall was cracked and uneven, but my cake was moist and the buttercream buttery and smooth. I was quite proud of myself, having mastered making madeleines and cookies of all kinds, this cake was a triumph. A delicious, delicious triumph.

It's almost that Time of Year

When all the good movies come out!!!

Coen Brothers+Western=Best movies ever! Does "The Big Lebowski" count? Yes!!!

Can't wait for their version of "True Grit."

Just finished reading "True Grit." Well, listened to, if we are being completely honest here. I downloaded it because it is narrated by Donna Tartt, one of my favorite writers. She gives a wonderful interpretation and performance being the voice of the 14 year old heroine, Mattie Ross. And I'm super duper excited for the Coen Brothers take on this, with Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin. I never saw the John Wayne version and I don't know if I will. I might just re-listen/read the book. It's really fantastic, action packed and funny. Mattie's voice is dry and straightforward, a real character, and the wild wild west setting is pure dusty excitement. I think the young Jodie Foster would have been perfect for this part. I hope the girl they picked can do the Mattie Ross in my head justice. This is a plum role for a young actress, but she's such an iconic character that it's going to be hard for her to get in the critics' good graces.

What's Doing Today

After reading about Leonard Koren's house in the New York Times I am not determined to at least look at all his precious little books about design, and design philosophy.

And This lady from a still from a Garance Dore film from Sonia Rykiel's fashion show. I think I know who this is but I can't remember her name. She looks like Lisa Mayock and has a great haircut. I am collecting curly haired pictures because I've broken the first rule of being a woman which is cutting my own hair and now I need a genius pair of sheers to bring me back to the light.

And finally Luise Rainer. She looks like my friend Tanya (or, vice versa rather), and was stunning in "The Great Ziegfeld." She was the first woman to win two Oscars back to back and then disappeared from the scene. The first Winona Ryder type, pre-Audrey Hepburn waif.

mas rojo

From Scott the Sartorialist, of course.

I love love love this lady in red.

I love her curly hair, and her paleness.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Where oh where is my red dress?

On another note, I'm loving my new Vena Cava green cape jacket.

Highly recommend it for it's coziness and it's ability to just make any outfit look awesome.

Better Red or Dead

I need more red clothes in my life.

Don't you?

Like this dress on eBay.

I wonder if it's still up...

Or like this Karen Elson from Pair-Ee.

Pretty!

The shoes that started it all?

I'm sure Garbo's not wearing red here.

It's too flashy for her.

But she doesn't need it anyways.

Love you Greta.

Starts and ends in the same breath.

The seventies trend is now over.

Fashion show month is coming to a close,

and there are so many things to remember for next spring

fashion wise.

Color, no color. 70s, 90s. etc etc.

I predict the next things on the runways will be

our father's clothes.

per Dries van Noten.

Big body con backlash

slouchy Anna Karina sweaters

lightweight wide and low pants

le smoking

etc etc etc.

The seventies are over. Long live the seventies.

Sorry Marc Jacobs.

In my opinion, it's Dries always leading the pack.

I must admit this S11 collection of DVN wasn't my favorite

it felt a little all over the place

and I hate his colors

but I like the slouchiness of it.

And come to think of it,

very similar to ideas in Celine,

though Phoebe Philo seems quite rigid in her style.

I admire the change she's bringing to the ladies of fashion

who were clearly starving for a change from the rocknroll Wang/Balmain look.

And thank god for Phoebe for coming on the scene so strongly.

I was counting the minutes till the Wang look took its last gasp.

So now we are in a camel dream

and headed towards a looser aesthetic,

which makes me happy.

For a season we will have 70s

and Diane Keaton

whom every girl worth her necktie worships.

But then it will evolve into a looser, more laidback look.

Maybe California is getting to me.

I wear my Clu sweatpants a lot these days

as they pass for cigarette pants quite well

and no one can tell that they are actually made of sweatshirt material.

Love that.

Rain in LA!

I love it when it rains in Los Angeles.

The weather can be so tedious here.

Hot hot hot, or lately grey grey grey.

Rain is always a welcomed happening in the desert.

I like the chance to wear a coat,

and listen to the drops on my roof,

and know that tomorrow everything is going to be refreshed and green,

and probably sunny.

And that's when I'm happy to see the sun.

The last time I saw rain was the day we drove north out of New York City to Providence.

For the last time!

splat

Just getting into this show called 'Dexter.'

I have a pretty tv

but I prefer to snuggle with my warm laptop next to my warm man

and watch this increasingly disturbing show.

I think it gives me nightmares.