A December Night on Charlotte Street

Snow falling on Charlotte Street. So pretty, I think.

Borough Market at Christmastime

Borough Market around Christmastime is just the best.

If you're not familiar with Borough Market, it's not only just a foodies' paradise, it's also London's oldest food market, established on the south bank of the Thames River when the Romans built the first London Bridge. For the past 250 or so years, it's on Borough High Street, conveniently close to my flat.

So last weekend, there I went. It's so quintessentially British. People are always banging on about how "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" were filmed there, but I like to picture a way more Dickensian time.

Some highlights!




I'm not entirely comfortable with this butcher's showy display, and I certainly don't envy the parents who have to explain to screaming children why they can't pet these pretty birds, but in any event, I thought it was worth a shot.




Brits just love their mulled wine. It's been at every Christmas party I've been to this year, and when it's cooking on a hot stove, it makes the whole room just smell incredible. I don't particularly enjoy it, though, much to my hosts' dismay. (Red wine gives me an insta-migraine.)



Look at all of these mushrooms! All I see are $$$, since every time I've bought a few exotic-looking mushrooms, I've been at least $10 poorer. But how strangely gorgeous are these?




Mmmm! This Mediterranean food stand reminds me of being in Turkey this past summer. The people behind it are pretty friendly, and they always insist on giving you samples of their yummy olives. Here I bought a tub of freshly made pesto sauce, as it's my beau's favorite. Trust me, the pesto likely smells and tastes better than any other pesto you've ever tried. You just need the tiniest smidgen to get the aroma and flavors going.




These people here are waiting for coffee. Seriously. Next!




At the end of my little trip around Borough Market, I met my friend L. at this place, Black & Blue, which has become one of our favorite meeting spots. It's a steakhouse, but we don't really eat there much. No, there we drink white wine at the restaurant's sturdy marble bar, sit in comfy, supportive cushion-y leather chairs, eat olives and cover a wide range of topics. It's heaven.

Stuff I Keep Forgetting: Kate Moss is Somebody's Mom.

Is it just me, but does anyone else forget that Kate Moss has a seven-year-old child? I am always jarred by this news.

I was reading this article about Lila Grace's fashion sense, and was like, "Who are they talking about?"

How to Pull Off Glittery Makeup

Last night I went for drinks with one of my former editors, the very talented A.

A. met me inside the candlelit Charlotte Street Hotel bar wearing a gorgeous tartan dress and even more gorgeous sparkly golden eyeliner. It was très festive, but completely casual. (The snow falling outside the hotel’s big paned windows made the whole scene just so Christmas-y.)

Back to the glitter eyeliner — I was so glad to see it. I’ve been championing glitter since I was a wee one, and as I grow older, I’m continually dismayed to see so many of my contemporaries throw the sparkly stuff by the wayside. Some of them I genuinely think feel glittery makeup is no longer age-appropriate. (BOR-ing!) Others I suspect fear they won’t be able to pull it off. Sad, because just looking at something sparkly puts me in a better mood. (Honk if you feel the same.)

I think the secret to making glittery makeup look covetable (and not insane) is really about the other products you wear it with. Whether it’s glittery lipstick, eye makeup, blush or nail polish you’re contemplating, balance it out by keeping the rest of your makeup super-casual. Why, take my friend A. for example.

Last night A. revealed the contents of her makeup bag to me — an exercise that tells you more about a person than a Proust Questionnaire — and she showed off a pretty neutral selection of au natural, fresh-looking stuff (The Balm Stainiac, MAC Lip Erase, etc.), complemented by the addition of the fabulous golden Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in (what I think was) Midnight Cowboy.

To get that pretty, ethereal look, A. had clearly used all of those nice neutrals, and then adorned her fresh-faced look by tracing the Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner along her top lash line. When you saw her, you noticed her pretty skin, smile and eyes, which were lit up by bright, shining, gossamer-like thread of teeny-tiny sparkles. She looked amazing, and she completely illustrated how glitter can be bold without being overwhelming.

Lily Allen Shuns Fame For Cooking, Linen-Sorting

Barf.

I pick up this week's Grazia en route to work today (anything to dull the pain of taking the Tube), and I’m greeting with a shot of Lily Allen in ice skates on the cover, looking part fairy princess, part Kristy Yamaguchi amid some Photoshopped snow. Her arms are raised, she looks optimistically to the right upper hand corner of the cover, and below I see the cover line, “Lily: ‘Why I’m saying goodbye to fame’”

Call me a skeptic, but I somehow doubt this is Lily’s last spin on the ice, so to speak. Inside, there’s the usual talk about how much she’s grown up, how she’s forsaken blogging, Twittering, MySpace-ing, etc., not to mention her hard partying ways. To fill the void, Lily now finds joy in things that are “real,” i.e. Listening to records on vinyl, cooking and “sorting out the linen.”

I’ll spare you the bit about how Lily dreams of having kids and moving to the countryside, how Obama was “the best [event] in social history” (really...all of it?) and how it’s so unfair that only a slim percentage of society gets to wear incredible designer clothes.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like Lily Allen’s music – I’ve got both albums and even went to see her perform – but I just can’t deal with hearing about any more multi-millionaire celebs gushing to the press about how all they really want to do is to fold laundry and cook from scratch at the end of the day. It’s all too Gwyneth for me.

Sophia Loren Likes to Eat.

Sophia Loren just may be Hollywood's last member of the Clean Plate Club.

According to this morning's Daily Mail, she says:

"Young actresses today don't eat enough. I meet them for lunch, we sit down at the table, they look around and they say, 'Oh, but everything is so good, everything looks wonderful.'

And then they eat just a bite of this and a bite of that. They never finish their food, never. I am the only one eating at the table! I get very upset by this."

I had to laugh at this, as Sophia's criticism reminds me a bit of my favorite Real Housewife of New York, the ultra-slim Bethenny Frankel.

As a chef, she's always surrounded by her carb-y Bethenny Bakes vegan pastries. On the show, she's constantly drinking and eating in really yummy restaurants. In Bethenny's blog, she gushes over Levain Bakery's softball-sized, raw-batter cookies and Rosa Mexicano's "fattening frozen pomegranate margaritas."

If you're wondering how skinny minnie Bethenny is able to enjoy all of these decadent delights and still look the way she does (i.e. incredible), she adheres to this philosophy, "Taste everything, eat nothing," which is clearly the credo for Sophia Loren's dining companions.

Maybe they all read Bethenny's book, "Naturally Thin." Or maybe Sophia was just like them in her day, and it's just that she's now too much of a legend to care.

American Products Worth Schlepping Back

This adorable intern at work crept up to my desk this week, and looking terribly scared, asked me for a favor in a hushed voice.

Given how scared and sweet she looked, I was preparing myself for something major (maybe mentorship or my yummy purple pen), but really, she just said, "Do you think you could bring me back some Strawberry Fluff from The States next week?"

"Sure."

Of all of the things she wanted from the Land of Plenty, Strawberry Fluff was it. I tried to tell her that of all of the American products worth hauling back, Strawberry Fluff was at the bottom of the pile. I don't know anyone who has ever actually stocked that stuff in their house, or even their dorm room. Doesn't she know there's so much more when it comes to American innovation?

Here, the domestic American products I'm missing most.

1. Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal - Crest's top-of-the-line, mess-free teeth whitening strips are so noncommittal. You press them on your teeth like stickers, and leave them there for 30 minutes. You can even drink water. Expect Taylor Lautner-like choppers in 14 days flat. Dentists must be soooo pissed about this.

2. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers - These all-purpose cleaning sponges de-skeeved both of my New York apartments. You just dampen your Magic Eraser with water and run it over any surface that's making your skin crawl, be it a hardwood floor, greasy stove, white wall or bathtub. (Even your roommate!) Honestly, it's a miracle product. There's no bubbles or smell or spills or anything. I love you, Mr. Clean!

3. tasti-D-lite or Only 8 - If I could clone myself or get the capital, I'd open up a tasti-D-lite franchise right here in London. Or at least an Only 8 concession somewhere. There are days where only a soft-serve, low-calorie frozen dessert will make it better, and my only option was Yog, this vile, sour frozen yogurt that I wouldn't feed my imaginary dog. (I went there once, spent about £4 on a cup and immediately tossed it after the first spoonful. Nasty!) Seriously, I don't think London waist-watching girls know what they're missing. A small cup Fluffernutter and German Chocolate Cake Twist tasti-D with sprinkles on top for $3 and under 200 cals on a warm summer night? Yes, please!

Note: I realize Tasti-d and Only 8 are not so much products are they are foods, but since, like Strawberry Fluff, they're made with so many mystery ingredients, I think they probably are best classified as products. (I'll definitely be doing an American food-related post soon, so stay tuned for that.)

4. Us Weekly - Few things are sadly entertaining as scanning Us Weekly's "Stars! They're Just Like Us!" opening double-page spreads. Isla Fischer pushes her baby on a swing? Gripping! Katherine Heigl eats a French fry? Fascinating!

5. Slatkin & Co. Scent Port home fragrance diffusers - If there were a God of Home Fragrance, it'd be Harry Slatkin. Harry is responsible for some of the world's most sought-after and snobby home fragrances, churning out luxe, powerful, heavenly-scented candles that were picked up by Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys and Neiman Marcus. He even did those cool Elton John scented rocks.

Well a few years ago, he started doing home scents for Bath & Body Works, a markedly more affordable retailer, and amazingly, the Slatkin & Co. scents for BBW smell almost as fantastic as his more precious stuff. I love these Scent Ports, because they scent a room super-powerfully for over a month, but without giving off that disgusting, cloying artificial smell that other plug-in devices are famous for. You can even get a Scent Port with a night light built in!