Mad About, Well.... Men

And who wouldn't be??

I openly admit it -- I'm obsessed with the AMC darling "Mad Men", the series that chronicles the personal and professional trials and tribulations of a group of advertising men (and women) on Madison Avenue during the 1950's and 60's.

And don't think for a moment that my dedication to this TV show is because of any little (and I mean tiny), completely harmless (silly, really), itsy-bitsy crush on leading man Don Draper. I mean, come on -- I've been in advertising and publishing myself now for a number of years, so my interest in the show and in Mr. Draper is strictly professional. It's really much more like a history lesson. Truly.

So, when Sarah forwarded a link to "Mad Men Yourself", I was all over it like a dirty martini. Yes, it's true, you can now create your very own Mad Men avatar and even insert him/her into scenes reminiscent of the show. If you're a Mad fan, this is a brilliant diversion -- I've already spent WAY too much time defining the 1962 version of me.

Look out Don Draper -- there's a new mad woman in town!

Keep it Down Up There!

Many of you know that in my NoCal apartment, I live on the ground floor. The major pro is that I have a huge patio and I don't have to cart my luggage up and down the stairs every time I travel (which, as you also know, is frequently). The major con is that within the last couple of months, a new family of grizzly bears has moved in directly above me. Seriously - the noise that comes from this unit is unreal. And it's not even like they're having rowdy parties or anything -- they're just simply noisy. Every seemingly normal, mundane action (like walking down the hall) is amplified about 1000 times to the point where my walls reverberate, my doors rattle in their frames and my books shimmy on their shelves. And it happens continuously. (Don't these people ever just sit down??)

It's gotten to the point now where I am just downright curious about what's going on up there because there is no way that people make this much noise just going about their normal day-to-day tasks.

Here are my best guests:

• They have opened a gym in order to make some extra cash and I'm the only one of my neighbours who isn't up there, heaving around weights and medicine balls.
• The San Francisco 49er's have relocated their existing Santa Clara practice facility.
• There are ongoing African dance (and drum circle!) lessons and events going on ... all with admittedly terrible rhythm.
• Hippo racing has finally caught on.
• They just bought an interest in a winery, the only catch being that they actually have to stomp the grapes themselves -- old school!
• Mickey Rourke is holding classes and demonstrations on wrestling moves in order to make some cash just in case this "comeback" thing doesn't quite pan out.
• The UFC, WWF, MMA and any other acronym that basically stands for "way too much testosterone (and steroids)" has set up new headquarters.

Honestly, I think I'm going to start leaving DVD's of VERY long mini-series and movies on their front door step just to see if I can get them to be still for a couple of hours.

iPhone Speak Revisited

A few months ago, I posted about my iPhone's handy auto-correct feature and its tendency to turn my text messages, emails and Twitter posts into a sort of semi-familiar code language that uses real words, but puts them in a completely bizarre context.


Well, it's still up to its old tricks, plus a few new ones which I thought I'd share:


It turns "oink oink" into "pink pink", as in "I just ate way too much! Pink, pink!" (I think even Webster recognizes "oink" -- why is Apple such a snob about it?)


It edits "hee hee" into "her her".... (Her who? and why are you being so emphatic about it??")


And it STILL has not adopted "whoo hoo" into its repetoire, but has moved on from interesting substitutions like "shoe goo" and now repeatedly serves up "whip hop".


Now, "whip hop" actually sounds like it could be an exclamation of happiness, excitement or triumph. Try it on for size: "I just closed a huge 7-figure deal! Whip hop!" or "These Jimmy Choo's are 90% off! Whip hop!"


Too bad the URL is already taken by a wallpaper company. ("Let's decorate the walls! Whip hop!!")

Rekindling a an Old Love Affair

When I'm away from New York for a while, I start to forget all the reasons why I adore that city so much. But being back in the hustle and bustle for a few days quickly reminds me what I'm missing (and also why I couldn't sustain the lifestyle for very long without either having a heart attack, going broke, or both).

This past trip coincided with Restaurant Week and while NYC is always home to lots of great eats, Restaurant Week usually encourages chefs to include new items on the week's special menu and to bundle items into a prix fixe structure that is often a pretty good deal.

I was lucky enough to dine at a number of fantastic restaurants on this trip:

-- Sakagura: A Japanese eatery and sake bar hidden away in the basement of a midtown office building. Excellent menu of mostly non-sushi items (loved the fluke and the mashed potatoes coated in donut batter (yes!) in particular) and a sake list boasting over 200 varieties. (Finally, some sake that I actually liked!)

-- Blue Ribbon Brasserie: Located on Sullivan street in SoHo, this is a member of the family of restaurants that also boasts Blue Ribbon Sushi. Very small and quaint place, with a menu of both American and international items, all with a bit of an eclectic twist. Erika and I split paella and salmon dishes and both were excellent.

-- Quality Meats: Another midtown classic, I've been before for dinner, but had lunch there this time instead. Sacrilege I know, but I opted for a salad instead of steak because I'd had two big, rich meals the two nights prior and my body was screaming for something simple and ideally, vegetarian. The Restaurant Week menu did boast sorbet, however, so I definitely had to partake in that. Kate and I both ordered the Orange Creamsicle Dream and it came in a perfect little take-away container as if they already knew we wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing.

-- Hudson Cafeteria: I've also been here before and the food has been good (not great), but it is a kind of fun place to hang out with some friends, so this was my Friday night outing. I ordered lobster mac & cheese and could not finish it (even with the help of four friends) because it was so rich. Everyone actually really enjoyed their meals, but the fact that we had to send our bill back three times because they had over-charged us for drinks kind of put a damper on the experience.

-- 11 Madison Park: Just one word: heaven. This has got to be the absolute best dining experience I've ever had. From the servers who seemingly pop out of nowhere to help you out of your chair when you get up to the elegant decor to the perfectly choreographed delivery of every single course, this is what all "dining out" should aspire to. Aside from the items that we actually ordered, chef Daniel Humm also sent us a number of amuse-bouche treats throughout the evening, a bottle of Cognac at the end of the meal and sent the ladies home with a tiny box of sugared fruit candies.

It was a few days chock-full of fantastic restaurant experiences, but I had to come home and detox with salads, water and plain old grilled chicken. Coincidentally, during the trip I was reading Ruth Riechl's book "Garlic and Sapphires" which chronicles her tenure as the food critic at The New York Times and I just can't imagine how anyone in her role is able to eat that much [rich food] that often and not be a walking advert for Lipitor.

After just five days, I was saying "poke a fork in me, I'm done!" (But I'll definitely be back for more!)

Bad (aka Stupid) Things Happen in Three's

I am not a clumsy person. Honestly. But if you'd been following me around with a hidden camera today, you would have thought that I was Inspector Clouseau's next of kin.

Stupid thing #1 happened on my bright and early flight to New York City. And actually, it wasn't even because of anything that I did, but lookers-on thought for sure that I was the culprit, based on their pursed lips and disapproving glances. I was in an aisle seat and when my neighbour in the middle seat (very nice lady, but had a lot going on with her backpack, all sorts of food, beverages etc) asked if she could get up because she wasn't feeling very well, I immediately hopped up to make way. As she attempted to shift her bag, food and beverages, she very neatly dumped a full glass of water squarely on my seat. (This is the one time when the optimist actually wishes for a half empty glass.) Since the flight was full, I couldn't switch seats, so was resigned to mopping up as much as I could and then folding up a blanket and sitting on that for the remaining three and a half hours of the journey. As an upside, I did make friends with my seat mate upon her return and we're now connected on random social networks.

Stupid thing #2 happened within about 15 minutes of me arriving at my hotel, and again, wasn't strictly anything that I did, but I sure got the payback for something! As I was getting ready to meet my team for dinner, I noticed that the toilet had still not yet stopped running from when I had flushed it a few minutes before. I immediately opted for a very complex, sophisticated solution and tried jiggling the handle. No dice. I've "fixed" toilets before when the little chain has just gotten caught inside, not allowing the water valve to seal, so I figured I would probably be able to do the same here. When I lifted the lid from the tank, however, I was greeted by a loose hose that had popped out of one of the pipes and was now waving wildly from side to side, spraying water all over me and the bathroom. Trying to use the tank lid as a shield (a very small, ineffectual one), I managed to wrestle the hose back into the pipe and jam the lid back into place. And then I had to completely change my outfit before heading out to dinner.

I'd like to say that Stupid thing #3 was also not really directly my fault, but unfortunately, there's no way around this one. At dinner that night (at a very hip Japanese restaurant), I was regaling my colleagues with my stories of the day and one of them laughingly moved all the water glasses away from in front of me, lest I knock them all over in the spirit of the events of the preceding 10 or so hours. But no matter, with one dramatic wave of the hand, I managed to completely upend the little jar of house-made soy sauce and spill it all over the table.

More disapproving looks, this time from our server, and I thought I'd try to lighten the mood with a french accented "Monsieur, don't try to be funnayy with me!" but I didn't think she'd appreciate it.

I Do, I Do, I Do

As many of you know, Special K and I have been a fairly non-traditional couple for most of the time we've been together. We've done the long-distance thing between LA and NY and then between NoCal and SoCal (the latter being MUCH better and easier to manage -- duh!). In fact, we've been living in different zip codes (and often different time zones) for longer than we've actually been in the same place.

We carried on this tradition of NON-tradition in our decision to get married, planning the wedding in only about four weeks. That's right, FOUR weeks. (And can I just say that this is DEFINITELY the way to go... A short "engagement" means much less stress and it really keeps you focused on what's truly important... you know, like the fabric you should use for the custom-made napkins that you want at dinner.)

From the words "of course I'll marry you, silly!", we both knew that we didn't want a big, formal traditional wedding. We're casual, fun (well, at least he is), and yes, often quite silly, and we wanted our Big Day to reflect who we really are and how we got that way. (Could have been dangerous, I know!)

So, here are a few things we did to make the day extra meaningful to us. First and foremost, our very dear, dear friends, Craig and Dannie offered up their home as the location for the wedding. Craig and Dannie are my "American family" and to have our wedding at their beautiful home created so many wonderful memories that we'll cherish forever. And every time we go back to visit, we'll get goosebumps all over again!

My dress and shoes were pretty simple (ordered online!) and while I wasn't worried about the "something old, something new" thing, I did want to wear something that had a bit of history, so I borrowed a gorgeous necklace from my mom... that my dad had given to her. It was perfect.

Our caterer was absolutely marvelous and helped us create an eclectic menu with an international flair to reflect our individual backgrounds. During the cocktail hour and for dinner, we had a delicious melange of dishes including samosas (in honor of my Indian heritage), brisket (all hail Alberta AND Texas!), pizza with exotic mushrooms and truffle oil (just because we are both always on a quest for good pizza!) and an artisanal cheese display that was to die for. (I adore cheese... maybe even just as much as chocolate.)

For dessert, we busted out the chocolate pudding in memory of Special K's wonderful Dad and we decided to forego the wedding cake in favor of cupcakes. This was a brilliant decision on our part (if I do say so myself) because the cupcakes were incredible and our fabulous caterer surprised us with some very fun decorations!

As for drinks, we kept the selection to mostly beer, wine and champagne. The wine was all from California-based wineries and the beer was a combination of Iron City (and Iron City Light) from Pittsburgh and Molson Canadian. ("I AM Canadian!!")

On the music front, Special K and I spent a fun Saturday evening a couple of weeks before the wedding perusing through CD's and iTunes libraries to create our musical line-up for the evening. The final playlist included Indian music, Irish music, lots of well-known (and not so well-known American artists), a few rockin' Canadians thrown in for good measure, and of course, a couple of Special K originals!

We sent our guests home with a little gift bag of random tongue-in-cheek goodies including a tiny bottle of Heinz ketchup (yay Pittsburgh!), a lapel pin with the Canadian and American flags joined in unity, a foil-wrapped chocolate maple leaf and a variety of Canadian chocolate bars that you can't buy here in the states. (The chocolate was imported directly from Canada via my mom and dad's suitcases a couple of days before the wedding.)

And finally, in honor of my honorary status as a "greencard bride", you will note that the use of green on the gift bags and floral arrangements was NOT a coincidence. Nor were the green socks that Joe and Linda gave me that night.