Food Porn is Back!

Oh mon dieu mes amies. Where has the time gone? The summer was a blur, as it didn’t feel much like summer this year. My newly acquired homeowner responsibilities leave me yearning for a vacay that I could not have this year. Instead I reminisce about about my last vacances d'été - June 2010, New York City. Poppy and I ate and shopped to our hearts content (and our Murrays were content with staying home!)

This trip marked my 9th trip to NYC since my first visit in 1999. It still ceases to amaze me. The city has changed so much over the years, yet always excites me in new ways. Perhaps if I didn’t wish I was born in France, I would wish to grow up a New Yorker. Even better - a French immigrant to New York City!! How divine! I digress.

So as promised my dear loyal friends – the return of Food Porn, this time with a New York attitude!

Poppy and I touched down after a red-eye flight on our beloved Cathay Pacific. Thank you Cathay your good service and good food. Who still serves salmon on a flight? Cathay does! And surprisingly tasty for airline food.

The flight lands at a dreadfully early hour so what better to do than head straight to the outlet mall! My other dear cousin, Suzette graciously puts us up every time. You think I can actually afford such glamorous trips for the past 11 years? Mais non! It’s free accommodations on futons and sofas, mes amies!! After a few hours of power-shopping, true outleters must stop and refuel – what better with, a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich topped with mac n cheese! (When in Rome, my friends. We are in Long Island after all. Love you Long Island!! Kiss kiss!)

I noticed something about Poppy this trip – she eats much much healthier than I do!! You’ll see the contrast of our food options as this progresses. Exhibit A: my outlet refuel is a heart attack topped with cheesy heart attack, washed down with a bottle of diabetes. Hers is a turkey wrap, hold the dressing, and a refreshing hot green tea, s'il vous plaît!








I do recall it was difficult to find healthy food, and sadly, the good stuff was much pricier than “regular” food. So alas, sometimes Poppy was left to order artery clogging food like moi. Oh well, all the walking and sweating in the summer heat probably worked some of those calories off for both of us!! C’mon, lift those H&M shopping bags, one more, two more!

Our guilty indulgences – hey we’re on vacation!
Bagels with cream cheese – I’ll say it again, bagels in NY are like none other in the world. Simply delish! (Although I will agree with Poppy on the health factor – we could have done with a lot less than the pound of cream cheese smeared on both our orders. It was 9am for goodness sake!)








Whoopie pies! We had heard of these chocolatey creatures but have not been able to find the elusive beast except in its native environment of the East Coast of the United States.

Not quite a French macaron, but I can see its appeal. Very chocolatey and so good you don’t care how bad it is for you.





Street food! The traditional NYC food cart – shawarmas. Yum. Now this can probably be found anywhere, however, nothing beats leaving the MoMa to stop for a $5 bite on “free admission” night, then return to the museum fully re-fuelled with special entrance pass in hand and beating the freebie line up!












And how could we stay in New York and not have a slice of pizza? And what better place to indulge? At MY pizza joint! Okay it’s obviously not mine, but wouldn’t that be fantastic? – if I were born in NYC, my family would open a pizza place back in the day, Daddy would name it after me, and eventually I would take over the business and just live off the earnings since Dad was always good with real estate investment and knew to buy in the Upper West side when it was still rather dumpy…see, up there in the window with the lamp? That’s my office where I’m writing to you now! I digress. Instead of any of that really happening, we just enjoyed a slice. Guess which one is mine.


Poppy and I did finally agree on one food order – Met Museum Café – chicken sandwich. Surprisingly good for museum cafeteria food and a perfect break from our day long stroll in one of my favourite museums in the world.











And our last opposite food choice to end another great trip to my beloved city that never sleeps. Guess which one is mine? Hint: Remember I'm the glutton for punishment!









So there you have it my friends, all the best food we had in New York in 2010.
As always merci to my dear Poppy for being a wonderful travel companion and extra special thanks for being the sole photographer this time as my camera died upon landing.

Oh and just to prove we did do other things – Poppy and I wanted to show our Murrays that we were in touch with not only clothes but nature! Our footsies in the Hudson River in Brooklyn. Luckily we returned home with all toes intact!










And this is what I bought!



Please forgive the fuzzy photo, this was taken on my phone when I returned home. Yes, I brought bagels home in my suitcase, you-gottta-problem-wit-dat?!

That’s all she wrote mes amies, thanks for waiting. The adventures continue, I promise!

double xx and oo
mh

TGIF

Does everyone have a soul-sucking day job like I do? Seriously, I think I can hear it leaving my body every day I show up for work. For those of you (4 people) reading who love their jobs, you can suck it. Not because I hate you, because I am jealous. J'adore all 4 of you, please keep reading! Mwah!

Today I disliked my job more than I ever have for a variety of reasons. Some old and tired reasons, some new and enlightening ones. How thrilling is that? Finding new reasons to dislike my only source of income. Oh joy.

*sigh* Maybe I've just been at it for too long. I see others around me and they still seem to have their souls in tact. Or perhaps they have been completely turned into zombies disguised as happy human workers, or they just go home and cry themselves to sleep. Or,OR dare I suppose, there are some people that actually enjoy what they do for a living. I don't think I do. I know I don't. But I guess I haven't quite figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

So instead of wanting to jump into oncoming traffic, or call in sick everyday, I should look at the bright side. Friday is in our midst. I can almost touch it, enjoy it, taste it, get drunk with it, sleep in after with it ! Oh Friday my dear, why must you be so cruel and leave me so quickly just to return and toy with my feelings for one day?? Why? But I'm so glad you're here...

Have a happy Friday mes amies and enjoy your weekend!
xx
mh

I love Cats

I have a secret girl-crush (well, not so secret after I hit "publish"). Cat Deely from So You Think You Can Dance. She's rather mesmerizing, non?

Her shiny hair that's always a different style, her willowy stature that I could only dream of. Don't pretend like you've never gawked at her lovely legs. They are so awesome and I wish I could buy them and plant them on myself. And even if she's styled and doesn't choose her own clothes, she wears everything so well. Did I mention her shiny lovely hair and how willowly wonderful she is?

Best of all - the fact she's British automatically makes her so much more attractive to the gauche North American ear. She could cuss you out til the cows come home, and yet, you'd still love her. She's the best thing on reality television right now. *swoon*.

I shout it from the rooftops, I LOVE CAT DEELY. She's so dreamy.

xx
mh

I agree to Terms and Conditions of my upgrade

Happy Belated Birthday – to moi!! In real life, I actually share my birthday with a few friends. In non-real life, I share my birthday with good old creepy Thomas Cruise Mapother IV aka Tom Cruise and now I’ve discovered Julian Assange – Wikileaks founder. How scandalous!

Now I don’t know how they feel about their birthday being on July 3rd. Okay maybe Mr. Assagne doesn’t care because he didn’t grow up in North America and Mr. Cruise is rich enough to buy a birthday every day for himself if he really wanted to.

I have my opinions (but of course!!). Stuck between Canada’s birthday (July 01) and American Independence (July 04), I can’t say it’s always been a party about me!
As a child, the parties were almost non-existent since school was out. All I ever wanted was a party at McDonald’s in the train caboose parked outside the restaurant. Sounds stupid now, but time’s were simpler then *sigh*

As an adult, I looked forward to making up for those lost pinata smackin’, donkey tail pinnin’, cake eatin’ extravaganzas. “Oh sorry Mimi, we are going away for the long weekend. Happy Birthday anyway!” Boo on you people and your long weekend holidays. It’s my fuckin' birthday damnit, my present better be in the mail! (ooh did I say that out loud??)

(Not so) many years ago, Poppy started to refer to her birthdays as version upgrades of herself. Version 2.0 turned to 2.1 and legal drinking in the US, V2.8 to V2.9 put us another year closer to the major upgrade to 3.0.

So yesterday was just another scheduled upgrade (and I’m still not gonna tell you what version I am at!). And over the years, the urge to smack a pinata and do jello shots has waned. I now look forward to a perfectly chosen and eloquently written birthday card in the post from my dear Poppy, my texts and calls from Pea and other friends. And now a fancy night out with Murray…it’s all good. Joyeux Anniversaire à moi! Your upgrade has been successful.

To tattoo or not to tattoo

I haven't watched reality television in a long time. I used to love watching Miami Ink on TLC. Ooh that Ami James is a lovely, lovely man.
Now there's a new show NY Ink. And I'm watching the first episode. I can't be bothered with the drama that's created with all the "characters" on the show, but I do like all the tattooing that they actually do.

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo. Not because of watching these shows, but for other reasons. I've been thinking about it for about 4 years now. Still not sure though - I'm still coming to terms with how much it's going to hurt, the fact it'll still be there when I'm 80, the pain...

I could apply to get it done on the show actually. And I think I would die if Ami was the one to do the tattoo. But he is one of the best and it would be in NYC, so that wouldn't be so bad!

What would you do, mes amies? Lil ol Mimi here, low tolerance for pain, a bit of a commitment-phobe...would you do it? (And no, it's not a butterfly on my stomach, or a dolphin on my ankle, or a Celtic knot on my lower back, or the Chinese character for Love on my shoulder! Please!)

xx
mh

Forgive me mes amies, I have a confession to make...

I've been watching American Idol all season. I haven't watched this in years!! But this season was quite addictive. And I also confess that I was rooting for Scotty McCreery. What a cutie! It's a little disturbing actually. I think I may very well be old enough to be his mother! Oh mon dieu!

But I'm very happy he won because I think he deserved it, and I can't believe how many people voted - 122 million last night. If they could only use their power for good...rather than the evils of over-sponsored entertainment. But damn, was it some good ol' television programmin'

Now let us all pray that sweet lil' Scotty doesn't become a douchebag with too much fame and too little life experience behind him. I'm sure he'll do juuussst fine.

Tomorrow starts So You Think You Can Dance. Another guilty pleasure...

xx,
mh

Minimum Wage sucks, and I totally respect you

Hello mes amies,

My Murray commented this morning that he had read my post about my small feet. I usually don't share with him prior to posting, and like to think that I'm my own great Editor. He did make a valid comment:

"You shouldn't make fun of people who make minimum wage like that." Very true mon petite chou, very true. I wasn't making fun of the entire work force. In fact, I used to be one of those minimum wage, retail people. I paid my dues for 10 years actually and totally respect the work and bullshit you often have to put up with. But in all my 10 years, I don't think I made such a comment to a customer. So that's why I thought what I did. You might not like a customer, but no reason to make such comments. So please my friends, do not take offense.

xoxo,
mh

My Favourite Things

I recently purchased my very first apartment. It was exhilarating and the most stressful experience of my life to date. Mostly because I bought the first one I saw. I know, incroyable! More like ridiculous on my part. I spend more time shoe shopping than I did for this massively expensive thing that isn’t going to go on sale, and there are no refunds. Yikes! But I did it and now the bank owns me until 2045. Yay me.

The purchase has finally made me an adult, I think. And shit, things are expensive! Luckily, I had already hoarded enough major pieces of furniture and knick-knacks that I'm not living in an empty box with a plastic lawn chair and upside down box in the living room. But there are some things that I now have to find and buy new. As I always love a new project, I’d like to share with you a few of my (new) favourite things:

This first fave thing stems from one of my least favourite things: Ironing. I’m still on the fence about which chore I dislike more – ironing or washing dishes. Thankfully, my place has a dishwasher so it makes the choice less painful now. However, there is no automatic machine thingy that you just throw your clothes in and they come out pressed. (Well, I suppose there is the drycleaners, but I’m house-poor now, so no services like that for me!) The alternative – a kick-ass new iron!!


It’s cordless. That’s all I have to say about it (well that, and it has its own cover!) I highly recommend you invest in one. This model was not cheap but so far, well worth the money. I even found myself trying to find things to iron. Yes, it’s that good. Tough call now – which chore do I like more? – ironing or unloading the dishwasher.

xx,
mh

Plasticine and Miss Pea

I haven’t connected with my friend Pea in quite some time. She’s becoming a primary school teacher and has been very busy being “Miss Pea the Student Teacher”. In honour of Earth Day, she recruited me to test her kids’ craft project. I am never one to say no to a craft project. But she didn’t mention it consisted of plasticine. I didn’t know it was still legal to produce it.

After our gossip catch-up over yummy sushi and desserts, we got into our eco-friendly-recycle-the-crap-in-your-house project. Testing the project for the kiddies was a good idea. We timed it. We critiqued it. We modified it. And then we streamlined it. We really got into it!! It’s what Pea and I do. We organize things – even kids' art projects!

As our one hour time limit was up, so went our art on the wall. Miss Pea gave us an A+!! So on this Earth Day, how about turning off the lights, lighting some candles and reuse your 90s cd cases.





Happy Earth Day mes amies!

xx,
mimi

"How do you not fall over?"

Mes amies! Oh how I have missed you so. Bad Mimi! Please forgive! I'm working on so many things right now, I don't know where to start! So how about we start...at the bottom? My feet!

I am 5’8” tall. My shoe size is 5 (Euro size 35, Asian size 24). Freakishly small, the bane of my fashion existence. I used to wear a size 6.5 shoe. I wonder, are my feet shrinking, or has the shoe industry started to re-label sizes to console the ego of the…ahem…large masses?

Regardless, it’s still the bane of my shopping existence. If I'm lucky that a brand even makes shoes that start in a 5, the one available is usually the one on display. *sigh* The one where the mate has been lying alone in a box in the back while its mate has been tossed and abused by the fondling, not-a-size-5-but-I'll-shove-my-giant-foot-in-it-anyway public. Ew.

This is by far my favourite shoe-fitting experience:
MH: "May I try this shoe in a size 5, s'il vous plaît?"
Store: "You are a size 5?? How do you not fall over when you walk?"
MH: "Probably something to do with physical equilibrium and your inner ear. Now take your minimum wage ass to the back and get me the damn shoes!"
Oops did I say that out loud? Mais non! A lady would never.

I tell you, shoe shopping has become a tragedy of constant rejection. It's not even like I'm picky! I'm a shoe whore. I will wear anything. As long as you have it in a size 5, please and thank you. I have a coveted pair of Ferragamo pumps that I scored for 90% off. And the main reason I bought them (besides the incredible deal), they fit like a charm. A size 4.5 charm. Yes! I said Quatre.demi!

Have I mentioned I love a bargain too? I don’t remember the last time I paid retail. Pshht. Retail is insulting. I know you are going to mark it down in a few weeks, and honestly, I might be precious, but I’m too cheap to be the first in town to own something. And besides, the hunt of a bargain is the best part. It’s exhilarating.
Murray once asked me: "Mimi, why do you like shopping so much?"
In order for his man-brain to understand the full spectrum of my bargain shopping fondness, I chose this analogy: "Murray, it’s like how you like to go fishing. Casting the rod thingy, waiting/looking for the bite, and then reeling it into the net thingy and you’re so happy when it’s a big one…"
He nodded. I digress.

Desperate shoe shopping calls for desperate measures and tactics. The shoes in the photo are my Converse All-Stars. Children's size 3. More than half off the price of adult size shoes and a perfect fit. What more could I ask for? A bargain AND a perfect fit! And that’s my secret – the kids’ department. Move over 8 year old, I believe I see a Stuart Weitzman Kids sandal in my size. No really, they are a perfect fit and just in time for summer.

xx,
mh