My dad always enjoyed plain boiled red beets as a side dish at dinner. He was diabetic for many years, and beets were one of the few sweet pleasures in life that he was not forced to forgo. Until I started cooking red beets for myself, I was unaware of quite how much redness they actually produce. Pickled beets and canned beets you pick up at the store have lost most of their stain producing capacity. But boil some raw beets at home and you might as well dye a king size set of white sheets while you are at it. The idea may briefly cross your mind as you pour out what looks like a vat of fuchsia-red dye. Even if you have no inclination to start an all natural fabric dye cottage industry from home, you can still enjoy the sweetness of beets. Beets combined with garlic and rosemary and chicken broth form the basis of a great pasta dish, which I have adapted from the one given by Laurie Colwin in her amazing and delicious book, Home Cooking. I am not fond of angel hair pasta, so I used macaroni, and instead of Parmesan, I tried feta cheese crumbled on top. Both are delicious. There is one thing, however, that no one likes to mention about beets. I am going to mention it, mainly because some of you may never have had fresh beets before and are unaware of their amazing reddening power. So I will warn you: when you go to the bathroom after eating fresh beets, don’t panic. You are not bleeding internally. There is nothing wrong with you. Everything, and I mean everything, will come out startlingly red and pink for a little while, and that’s okay. It’s a small price to pay for sweet, delicious beets. Beets...

Last week, I went through probably one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Hurricane Sandy was barreling towards New York and I was right in her path. Stuck inside my flooded apartment, I was forced by my boss to find an uncongenial means to get to work. Without power, internet, and spotty cell phone service – I turned to books! Yeah, big deal, we all have books.  But, in this case – they were my lifeline. Stuck on the flooded New Jersey side of the Hudson River, and like thousands of others in my area, I was desperately trying to find a way across the river. While New York City is only a stone’s throw from the Jersey waterfront, in this case – it might have well been miles away. The state was no help. With PATH trains and the Holland Tunnel flooded, the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge quickly became parking lots. Not sure what to do, I decided to try and drive in. Driving in my neighborhood quickly became next to impossible. Streets were flooded or littered with debris, while others were sparks of downed live eclectic wires. I was given permission from my boss to stay home for the day, but was told it was mandatory to report for work, tomorrow. Years before moving to the New York metro area, I purchased several guides to familiarize myself with everything from subways to flea markets. Frommer’s New York City Guide 2006 and Newcomer’s Handbook for Moving to and Living in New York City. I think I might have opened these books one other time before. Initially, I purchased these to read on my train commute to work, but never got around to really reading them. Since then, they have sat on a shelf collecting dust. Turns out…...

BOOM! There it is! Another flash of lighting and a crack of thunder. Nothing says summer quite like a big old thunderstorm, and while the lightning can be amazing to watch, it can also be quite dangerous. Some spectacular shots have been caught on camera and these videos, are, well, shocking! Say, let’s get out our camcorder and take some video of this thunderstorm – until lightning strikes that tree 20’ foot away! Love the slow-mo and the stills! That tree is totally lit up! In this next video from Australia, a crew of photographers is shooting an approaching storm when a large bolt strikes about 250 meters away. Check out how the dirt flies during the slow motion close-up! The Empire State Building was built to withstand lightning strikes as most skyscrapers are. Without the lightning rod on the top, the electric current would seriously damage the building, but being one of the tallest in New York City – it gets struck all the time. . In this shocking video from South Africa, lightning strikes during a live soccer (or football) game broadcast on TV.  Many of the players go down, some requiring CPR, and several being carried off the field in a stretcher. Next to Japan, where the local news has video of an elderly pedestrian getting struck by lightning in a crosswalk! Forward about 18 seconds in. Amazingly, the man is only dazed and walks off. In Texas, where severe lighting and storms knock out the power to a neighborhood. A local resident is recording video of the mass amounts of lighting strikes when one nails his neighbor’s house across the street. Fast forward to 1:05 to see the hit. Caution: the language is rather colorful. Here’s super-cool video of a passenger airplane taking off in San Francisco...

San Francisco has a special place in my heart.  It has the romantic feel of New York City mixed with the casual, laid back feel of California. This combination makes San Fran a bit of a utopia for me, except, it’s still too darn cold. If it had the same weather as LA, I would definitely have been tempted to live there, but now that I’ve grown accustomed to sun and warmth, I am happy to visit the City by the Bay at least once or twice a year.  My husband and I never grow bored of the city, and are always discovering something new to do and somewhere new to see. On this last trip we went to the city’s Carnavale festival, saw the Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibit at the de Young Museum, took a Noir-themed walking tour that focused on the life and writings of Dashiell Hammett, and took in the fireworks honoring the Golden Gate Bridge, among other fun little adventures that I will detail in upcoming blogs. Being that this is a FASHION and TRAVEL blog, I would be remiss to not tell you all about the Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibit. Back when the E! Channel used to focus on fashion, I spent many hours of my youth watching their fashion runway telecasts. During fashion week I was glued to the television watching pieces of magnificent art walk down a little runway. Jean-Paul Gaultier’s fantastical and irreverent designs quickly became my favorite and greatly inspired my youth and the designer I am today. The exhibit at the de Young was overwhelming to say the least.  There were six large galleries filled with Gaultier’s creations, sketches, videos, monologues, photographs, etc. And each of the galleries was absolutely packed with people. There was a...

Why would anyone bake a tiny baby doll inside a cake? The king cake is a succulent and fun way to celebrate Mardi Gras. It’s time to introduce everyone to this dessert that’s just a darn good time! A few years ago, a friend from New Orleans introduced me to the tradition of the king cake. The large and colorful cakes are a part of the party fun at Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras (or Carnaval) is several days of eating, parades, dances, and partying. The celebration comes to a head with Fat Tuesday, the last night before the Catholic Lent season begins, and at which time the faithful are expected to fast and obey church law. There are many different varieties of king cakes and countries around the globe have their own versions, with many being served at Christmas time. The cakes are usually decorated in Mardi Gras colors: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Some of these high fat cakes are deep fried like a donut, while most are baked with some type of inner stuffing such as cream cheese, strawberry, or in true Louisianan style – cinnamon. The cakes are then coated with icing and sprinkles. I’ve enjoyed some on several occasions and each time it reminded me of eating a gigantic cinnamon bun. Most feature a small, plastic baby baked inside which is meant to resemble baby Jesus. Finding the piece containing the plastic kid, designates that person gets to receive special treatment such as “king of the day” and in many cases is expected to provide the cake for the next celebration. The host of the party can purchase a cake without the baby baked in, and insert into the cake just before serving to have an idea of where it is. ...