Holy Crap

BUTTER CUTTER!

LOVE IT.

(the all caps just goes to show.)

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Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are...

Gap/Ferragamo: Double Vision

Has anyone else gotten confused when flipping past print ads for The Gap and then for Salvatore Ferragamo? I have, because both of them feature very simple shots of Carmen Kass* wearing neutral taupe- and cream-colored outfits against a golden tan background. Seriously--did she know that both these campagins were going to look like this? Shouldn't she have alerted at least one about the pre-existence of the other?

I'm not sure whether the resemblance is going to be detrimental for Ferragamo, beneficial for Gap, or negative for both of them because of the failure to identify uniquely. HMM--a matter that, surely, none of you care about. Oh, well.

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*In case there was any doubt, I think Carmen is one of the most gorgeous models out there. I couldn't find pictures of either of the ad campaigns, so I put up this great one of her playing chess. Brains are, like, beautiful.

Rachel Bilson is Cute.

I See Stars In L.A.
Today I went out to the front of the store to check on a dress for a customer, and I noticed a petite girl trying on my very favorite things in the store: these incredibly gorgeous Buttero boots. I can't find a photo anywhere, but they're flat boots with a slim, wrinkled high top, made out of the softest finest leather you've ever seen & so delicate they practically don't have soles. Yeesh. I want I want I want. Anyway, so I see this girl wearing them and I can't help saying "Oh good, those are so beautiful!" She looks up and laughs, and it's the truly adorable Rachel Bilson/Summer Roberts from The OC. Shopping with a few friends and talking just like ole Summer herself. I always like her style when she's photographed in magazines, and the fact that she beelined for my fave boots confirms her excellent taste. Good going, little (very little) lady.
Later I picked up the coffee she'd left behind on a table, and thought to myself as I carried it to the trash, "If I were a different girl of a different mind, I could totally touch the cup rim and thus have only 2 degrees of separation from Seth Cohen's lips." Fortunately, I'm not that girl.

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Donatella!!1! oh, and some other stuff.

News flash: one of the salesgirls from the front (I'm at work) just ran back here to the office, whisper-shouting "Donatella's here!" Donatella. Versace. Yes. The head salesgirl started flipping out and trying wildly to get rid of the salad she was holding so she could run out to the floor--"Somebody take this! Take it! Oh god!"--since she was suddenly unable to muster the wherewithall to put it down herself. Naturally, within 30 seconds I found an excuse to trot out there myself, where, indeed, the little leathery lady with the blinding platinum hair was reigning the scene from atop her big black stilettos. Chattering in Italian to her raggedy/anorexic-looking accomplice and then adding more and more to the pile of things waiting in the arms of the fluttering salesgirl. Her voice is very deep and she looks totally, insanely, like all the pictures in the magazines. Love it.

In more useful news, there are some neat happenings coming up in L.A.:

BUY
Sample Sale
What: Loads of Vanitas dresses, N.Fem. basics, Wilen knits, and Morgan Oakley handbags priced wholesale and below.
When: Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Where: 7600 Melrose Ave., at Curson Ave., 2nd fl., ste. n, West Hollywood (310-567-2484). http://vanitasofcalifornia.com/

HEAR
The Perils and Pleasures of Prefab Architecture
What: Free reception, book signing, and panel discussion on ecofriendly building and architecture in conjunction with the Some Assembly Required: Contemporary Prefabricated Houses exhibit.
When: Thurs., 6 p.m.
Where: MOCA Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., at San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood (310-289-5223).

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The RR Report: SXSW Stylez

Though I took full advantage of the "river of free alcohol" (as heralded by Jax) flowing from dawn til dusk at South By Southwest, I managed to retain enough of my powers of observation (normally honed to Painfully Catty level) to notice style and lack thereof among the hordes overtaking Austin, TX this past week.


There's a good reason that, when Dan and I decided to imitate generic New York dance rock in gravelly accented voices, we sang "TIGHT PANTS DANCE DANCE!" There was nary a pair of bootcuts in sight, and both guys and girls wore equally ass-tight versions. Almost always black. Kate Moss would've been proud.

My personal style statement involved the free pair of Diesels I scored when the band played the Nylon/Diesel party. Higher-wasited, crisp and dark, really comfy, and FREE BITCHES! I know the sensible thing would be to eBay those babies, but my materialism is winning out on this one.



I don't have any illuminating comment for this one. Point is, band dude in all the latest trends for girls.


Despite the dubious value of skinny fucks in expensive black clothes, at least most SXSWers aren't nutball hippies wearing knitted animal ears in the hot sun.


Animal ears are only cool if they're real. Winky: most stylish SXSW attendee, bar none.

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Navy = New Black; Spring = New Winter

Entirely unasked-for statement of the day: I love pretty navy dresses for this spring. Still within the confines of the general dark-color trend, but spring-ready with their easiness and warm-weather skirt shape. My faves:

I LOVE this dress, which is a stretch jersey version of a corseted ballgown. Ingenious. It's light and swishy and much more casual in person than in the photo. Great color, and the skirt is a chic-er, updated version of last year's bubble. You could wear a little cropped jacket or whatever over it, or even a thin raggy jersey tee for daytime. I think maybe I'm just seduced by how comfortable it is. (I know because I'm wearing it--it's from a shop I do shoots for sometimes). Oh, and flattering, with my favorite princess seam.

This Plenty dress actually comes in navy too, but it's sold out online (perhaps because I, uh, took one as payment). It's ridiculously cute, comes from one of my favorite lady designers (Tracy Reese), and is the most versatile thing I've seen: it can be worn short or long, depending on how you pull the skirt, and thus is doable alone or over tights/leggings/what-have-you.

Next up: I have a whole South By Southwest style report in the works (black still rules in the un-subtle world of any New York-esque rock people), but first I have to go shower off the collected dust of 44 total in-car hours and 60 total SXSW hours.

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Best of Both Worlds

For those of us who aren't high-falutin' culinarians or whatever they're called, we can admit to liking total junk food. But some of us like to think we're above that, so when we discover junk food in fancy-food form, we rejoice. Especially when that fancy-food-form manages to combine chocolate and pizza.

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God Does Exist, Per Banana (and not the Ana Calderon kind)

...though the Ana kind may also prove God exists, some of you who don't know her, must put your faith in this:

(and yes, that is KIRK CAMERON)

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What I'm Reading Now:

My food obsession is becoming ridiculous.

Last night I dreamt that I was dating (read: sleeping with) Anthony Bourdain.

"Ewww," you must be thinking.

"Me too!" I want to shout--except it was hot. We cooked and...Well, you know, all day long. Everything was about food...and well, you know.

This comes on the heels of me reading Marco Pierre White's autobiography, Devil in the Kitchen, that is to drop on May 1, 2007.

It's a fun read, poorly written, but to not to worry, it is written as if it were spoken from his lips. You feel like you have been sitting in your parlor taking a spot of tea with the infamous chef.

For those of you who don't know, Marco Pierre White is the culinary world's first "bad-boy chef." It is the reason Gordon Ramsay has found fame for screaming at the poor sops they gathered in the kitchen of Hell; Ramsay worked for Marco at one of his Michelin starred restaurants, Harvey's.

Names are dropped through out the book, and not in this way; "Last night I was talking to my friend Gordon Ramsay..." (cuz they aren't anymore, btw) but more like this; "...so I hired a sous chef who was about my age, an American lad called Mario Batali."

For those that want to understand the making of some famous chef's of today, I can highly recommend this easy read.

If you want to shell out some dineros for his famed, White Heat you can find it here.

If you want to read about his troubles before you can read about his troubles you can read it here.

If you want to evaluate my dream, you can send it here.

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Thomas Keller's Bouchon seeks Chef de Cuisine

from craigslist.org:

Reply to: hr@bouchonbistro.com
Date: 2007-03-09, 6:24PM PST


Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, CA seeks a Chef de Cuisine. The ideal candidate will have 5 years of experience, ideally with increasing levels of responsibility in a fine dining French bistro setting.

This position oversee and coordinate all culinary aspects of the Bouchon kitchen including the planning, organizing, training and leadership necessary to achieve stated objectives in sales, costs, employee retention, guest service and satisfaction, food quality, rating, cleanliness and sanitation.

Who we are:

The Thomas Keller Restaurant Group is dedicated to setting new restaurant standards in service, cuisine and the employment experience. Our goal is to collaborate with talented restaurant professionals and offer opportunities to learn and grow within the industry. Our restaurants include The French Laundry, per se, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery and Ad Hoc. We offer Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits after 90 days of employment. We have a 401(k) plan, Voluntary Life Insurance, an Employee Assistance Program, a Scholarship program for continued experiential learning outside the organization, paid vacation, food and wine training seminars taught by industry leaders and various other benefits. We seek inspired candidates who are passionate about food, wine and service. Fine dining experience is preferred but we will train the right person in all aspects of their position.

The Thomas Keller Restaurant Group is dedicated to hiring a diverse staff and strongly encourages qualified minority and female candidates to apply for all positions.





Compensation: DOE
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 291412523

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Cheap, um, Friday*

*Note: I am NOT lame and staying home on a Friday night. no no no, i mean i am at home, but i was with a friend until a minute ago and we were drinking lots of alcohol, which is inherently not lame, all right? an d i'm about to go out to el cid for a party SO THERE and justbecause i am making typos does not mean i m drunk. wait yes it does. anyway, onto the post i started yesterday:

Back in January, I admitted that my resolution to be buying-free all month had failed during the home stretch, thanks to a sale too ridiculous to resist. I haven't kept my promise to report on my subsequent February failures (but, to be fair, it's because I actually didn't buy anything in February. Blame the short month--probably with an extra 2 days, I would have.), so I'll extend the promise to March and crow about my latest coup:
I've been hearing about Cheap Monday jeans for a while now, and all rumors have been good ones: they're from Sweden, they're super chic and skinny minny, and their defining feature is the lack of a $200 price tag. Sweden is basically the best country going (universal health care, great public education, fantastic ginger cookies, everyone's HOT) and provides the rest of the world with pretty great exports (Peter Bjorn & John, all those other neat bands, oh and let's not forget Abba, Swedish fish, vodka, ME). The list now includes hip jeans at real-person prices ($50 - $70). I managed to secure myself a pair (thank god they come in a 34" inseam!) and oh gosh, they're lovely. Like tights, but jeans. Like jeans, but tights. I got them from my place of employment, and I made the other girls assure me that I didn't look like a child-bearing whale. And with said assurances, however true or not they may be, I'm now informing the world exactlly how my legs are shaped. It's funny, I was talking to my mother on the phone (an at-least every-other-day event) and realizing that I can chronicle my jeans purchases by their narrowness. I.e. the less skintight the jean, the older the pair. I remember when I bought a pair of slim-cut Gap jeans in, oh, late 2000, and they were my big concession to the burgeoning slim jean trend. Now. those Gap jeans are my baggy go-to-the-supermarket pair. As time goes on, I keep deciding that I still don't have a pair skinny enough. Now the skinny jean chronicle must be over, though; if they got narrower than Cheap Mondays, I'd be constricting blood flow. But they're not tight-feeling; they're stretchy and soft and comfy and marvy. I love Swedes. Not a little because of this quote from the head honcho of the Church of Sweden:
"It is abundantly clear that this designer wants to create public opinion against the Christian faith." Love it.

> r r <

Download.

I agree.

And agree some more.




(from yosh.com)

"'Download,' a dinnerware set for one, is a comment on technology and our lives. I once saw a 1960's science program that proclaimed computers would simplify our lives bringing a 4 day work week. I can only speak for myself, computers have had the opposite affect. Most of my meals are spent in front of the computer. The pace of our lives seems to be spinning out of control.

'Download' is dedicated to the individuals whose dining companions are often their computers. The monitor, a shallow plate that reminds us there is more to life than work. The keyboard, a shallow box for holding food items, a CD to serve as a small plate or coaster, a mouse which is a two sided spice dispenser and a mouse pad napkin."

download.com
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Who is Gonna Get This For Me?

come on...it's only $17,300 per place setting.

That's not much when you consider how many times I'm gonna cook for you...

ETERNITY.

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La Traviata

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Hardcore.

For all y'all who have Real Jobs and think that fashion school is all fun and games and MTV cameras, let me just enlighten you: I left my house at 7:43 this morning. It is 10:32 PM currently and I walked back in the door about 11 minutes ago. You can do the math; point is, shit's tough sometimes. I've been cutting and sewing and drawing and computer-drawing for that many hours, and I'm about to throw back some aspirin and head out on the town again. It ain't no PICNIC, fools, and there ain't no FREE LUNCH (as my college graduation speaker tried and failed to tell us) and Adobe Illustrator CS is NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.

I.e, more blogging will happen soon, promise swear, but not just yet.

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