Friday five

These days my life seems to be all about E!.

And by E! I mean the E! network, natch.

While I have absolutely no patience for the schlock televised by most local and basic cable networks - and don't even get me started on the quality of "news" these days - the E! network holds a nearly endless fascination for me.  

From Joan Rivers and Chelsea Handler to Kimora Lee Simmons and Betsey Johnson, without forgetting the ubiquitous Kardashians (of course), the roster of talented, or at the very least entertaining, folks at the E! network is mind boggling.

As if turning 80 isn't enough to celebrate, Joan Rivers has a total of two, count 'em, two shows on E!: Fashion Police and Joan and Melissa. Fashion police is an hour of fashion truth doled out by the queen of comedy along with her Joan Rangers; Kelly Osbourne, Giuliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos. 

While several celebrities don't seem to find the humour in being (good-naturedly) ridiculed - aka Anne Hathaway "we've seen your breasts, calm down" - I find it fabulous.

Speaking of fabulosity, Kimora Lee Simmons, self-proclaimed style icon, offers a behind-the-scenes look at her online shoe empire, JustFab, on Kimora: House of Fab. As a member of JustFab that has not yet taken the plunge and purchased a pair of sky-high stilettos, the show is pretty convincing. I mean... just check out what my fave gay Johnny JustFab has to say about... matching shoez and bagz.

While there is no one I enjoy keeping up with more than the Kardashians, I especially enjoy keeping up with their eating.

I'm weird in that I like to watch a lot of food shows. Whether it's watching food be prepared, served or actually consumed, I enjoy it. It calms me. It's like living umami. 

I dare you to watch an episode, nay, a segment, of Keeping up with the K's without getting hungry. When they're not taking food out of a (perfectly organized) fridge, eating in, eating out, ordering in or taking out, they're talking about how hungry they are.

I know exactly how they feel.

I actually went online to try and find out who made and delivered their at-home meals (hello Sunfare!), because the chicken Caesar salad looked so good.

But back to business.

That's what she said. 

Betsey Johnson I mean.

After going bankrupt, or out of business, the cartwheel-into-splits designer is re-launching her career, and returning to New York fashion Week, via the Style network and E! with XOX Betsey Johnson.

And then there's Chelsea Lately... 

Sing it sister!



 



 
   

My bloody Valentine

In honour of the True Blood season six premiere Sunday, I thought I'd bring back my bloody Valentine - aka the Sookie Stackhouse inspired French manicure - with a nifty how-to nail sesh.

I say inspired by Sookie, particularly, because I remember "someone" once telling me that the French manicure was slightly... waitressy in bent.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  

To achieve the bloody slash waitressy effect, start by painting your nails a light pink colour, the same shade you'd use for a regular French manicure. Once dry, take a bright red nail polish and trace the edges of your nails with it. Drag the brush down to create a dripping effect every couple of nails, without being too symmetrical.

Once dry, apply a clear coat and let the mayhem ensue.

So what did y'all think of the True Blood premiere anyhow? 

For starters, I watched the pre-show filmed live from the set of Fangtasia and was surprised to hear Jason Stackhouse's/Ryan Kwanten decidedly non-True Blood Australian accent.

Impressive. 

I was also surprised to see how... rude some of the "actors" were to the host.

Not so impressive.

As for the show itself, I was happy the second-half took place in Bon Temps instead of a boardroom of the Vampire Auhority's headquarters.

Enough with that already. I need me some Merlotte's. 

Back to Bourdain

As parasocial relationships are all the rage these days, let me take you back to my buddy Bourdain (!) for the low-down on one of his favourite foods, and mine, pho.

Before we start talking pho though, let's talk about how to properly pronounce it.

Fuh.

That's right. You heard me. Or maybe you didn't.

Now that we're on the same page, linguistically speaking at the very least, let's get our pho on and find out what it is that makes Tony and I cuckoo for cocoa puffs.  

 "Early warning sings of great things to come: I got my lime... chunks, got my chili paste, tissue box, very important... this is where the food porn really is, okay?"  

Well okay then Anthony... glad to hear you're "quivering with desire."

Ahem. 

"A textural Disneyland" indeed!

While I may not be able to go on a tour of Vietnam to find the best pho I can do the next best thing and go on a tour of Gatineau and Ottawa to try and find the same.

Or not.

While I had some decent pho in Ottawa at Cafe Indochine, in the Byward Market, and some very quite good pho at Pho Bo Ga 777 in Gatineau, the best pho I've had in the Outaouais was actually at yours truly's. 

This time I know you heard me!

While my version of pho is far from traditional (for starters, I use linguini instead of rice vermicelli) it is very close to deee-luscious.

I start by warming a little chopped onion and garlic on canola oil before adding equal quantities of organic chicken and beef broth. Next, I add a couple of star anise as well as the 4 C's (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and coriander) and some fennel, sugar, salt and pepper. 

Once the broth has come to a boil and simmered for as long as you can handle it (the smell is beguiling!) prepare a big bowl with cooked noodles (linguini in my case) and raw, thinly sliced beef. 

Add piping hot broth and stir.

On a side plate, prepare some chunks of lime, Thai basil (the smell is also beguiling) and bean sprouts. Dress your bowl with a little of each and add as much chili paste (Sriracha in my case) as you can handle.

Now you understand why the tissue box is so important.

While I absolutely love traditional pho, and would kill for jump for the opportunity to try it in its native homeland, I can't actually recreate it at home. 

So instead of recreating it, I've reinvented it.

Let me know what you think Anthony! 

PS. For Bourdain's take on Quebec cuisine, scroll down here and check out what he has to say about being food%#&@ed (ahem) by chefs Martin Picard, David McMillan and Frederic Morin... food porn indeed!

Anger management OR This one's for you!

I used to like Don Draper.

No.

I used to respect him. 

Sure, he was morally confused more often than not but I thought he was a "good" person. Deep, deep, deep down.

I was wrong. 

Since almost dying he has become insufferable. And very, very unlikeable.

First he cheats on Megan. Then he loses his creative touch. Now, he's disappointing Sally.

With Father's Day fast approaching (June 16), I started thinking about what it would be like to have Don as a dad. A man who puts himself, and his "needs," before his family's. A man who lies to get what he wants. A man who is incapable of true love...

If Father's Day is supposed to be about celebrating paternal bonds and the influence of fathers in society the questions remains... what makes a father a father?

Is it the fact of having children or the act of caring for them?  

When I typed in Father's Day in Google today I came upon this heartwarming letter from a father to his daughter. Two lines really caught my attention.

This one: "You physically have your mom everyday of the week, and I only get you in my memories. I've missed out watching you grow up."

And this one: "I am saying all this to convey as deeply as my spirit can muster that I need you in my life. And as much as I need you, I feel that it is equally important, if not more so, that you have me in your life. Please know that I love you and gotchya back." 

Waterworks!!! 

In the end I realize that fathers (and parents in general) are like everybody else. 

No better. No worse. 

Some make mistakes. Some don't. Some try to make up for them. Some don't. 

Time has yet to tell whether Don will try to make up for his mistakes. 

For Sally's sake, I hope he does.

***

The Grand Optimist, City and Colour 

I fear I'm dying of complications

complications due to things that I've left undone
that all my debts will be left unpaid
feel like a cripple without a cane
I'm like a jack of all trades
who's a master of none

then there's my father
he's always looking on the bright side
saying things like "son, life just ain't that hard"
he is the grand optimist
I am the world's poor pessimist
you give him burdensome times
and he will escape unscarred

I guess I take after my mother

I used to be quite resilient
gain no strength from counting the beads on a rosary
now the wound has begun to turn
another lesson that has gone unlearned
but this is not a cry for pity or for sympathy

I guess I take after my mother

Happy Father's Day dad... I love you.  

 

(Almost) Friday five

There’s nothing better than a tight-knit family... of muscles.

With the neverending rain and a growing case of cabin fever, I decided to look to YouTube for distraction. 

In the form of exercise.

Tracy Anderson is a celebrity trainer who uses a unique method of training that focuses on smaller muscle groups to tone rather than bulk the body. Her fans include Gwyneth Paltrow (her business partner in crime), Nicole Richie, Jennifer Lopez and Miss B.

What I like about this arm workout video is that you don't need any equipment to do it and after about three minutes it feels like your arms are going to fall off.

Jillian Michaels, A.K.A. "America's toughest trainer," has a variety of really great videos but the one I tried today, for "killer buns and thighs" features a couple of really interesting and challenging moves (see 3:09 and 3:48).

Killer indeed!

There are a variety of standing ab workout videos that I like (both Tracy Anderson and Jillian Michaels have them) but what works best for me is picking a song that I really like and doing sit-ups (crunches, oblique crunches, bicycle crunches, torso twists), planks, side planks and more until the song ends.

Or I collapse.

The longer, and slower, the song the better the burn. I tried Stay by Rihanna yesterday and today, it hurts when I cough.

For the boot-eh!, or Canadian booty, I like to use the same approach I do with abs. Choose a song and start squatting.

Ewww.

Regular squats, Sumo squats. Squats with front kicks. Squats with side kicks. Static squats.

Basically squat 'til you drop. 

Finally, Tracy Anderson has a challenging grunt-inducing workout that targets muscles you didn't even know you had in your legs.

All you need is a chair.

And the will...

What workout works best for you?







   

  

The empress has no clothes

I love looking into people's closets and apparently (sigh of relief) I'm not the only one because there is an entire website dedicated to the very concept: The Coveteur. 

Based in Toronto (who knew?) and absolutely addictive, the site provides a unique, behind-the-scenes look at celebrity style, and more, through beautifully photographed fashion vignettes and, of course, closets.

After a good friend recommended I watch The Eye has to Travel, a unique, behind-the-scenes look at Diana (pronounced Dee-anna) Vreeland's fascinating ascent to the top of the fashion chain (and fascinating private life) I am even more tempted to go "through the looking glass" and into wonderland.

Fashion wonderland that is.

So, in true coveteur style, welcome to my closet.

"I love nostalgia" are the first words pronounced by Vreeland in this stunning documentary and I couldn't agree more. 

Now if only I'd arranged to be born in Paris.

Calling all fashionistas

This weekend, while it rained, I curled up on the couch to watch In Vogue: The Editor's Eye, a documentary about the many fascinating women who have held the coveted titles of editor-in-chief and fashion editor at (American) Vogue. 

While I watched the film, which included interviews with Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman, I was struck by the many creative, and eccentric, women that have toiled at Vogue to make it "the bible" it now is.

From Diana Vreeland and Polly Melen to Grace Coddington and, of course, Anna Wintour, the film is a literal who's who of the fashion industry past and present.

And it reminded me so much of this scene from one of my favourite movies, Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, which pretty much set the tone for my fashion sense at the tender age of... 13?

Speaking of Audrey Hepburn...

LOVE!

In addition to being one of my early fashion inspirations, she also had the best apartment - as Holly Golightly.

My love for a certain style (part boho/part bordello!) may have started with Breakfast at Tiffany's but it positively blossomed with SATC and Carrie's New York (not so maxi) pad.  

Vogue!

In closing, from thinking pink to being pretty in it, I absolutely love it when what I watch onscreen somehow sartorially inspires me in real life. 

Like this.

I actually bought a pattern and made a dress after watching Andy doing the same. 

And how much do you love Annie Potts' Chinatown apartment?

Tomorrow... into the closet we go!