Ninth Avenue International Food Festival 2012


For almost two years, I’ve been a resident of Ninth Ave.  I love my Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood because it’s so easy to walk to most places in Midtown Manhattan.   The name Hell’s Kitchen only sounds scary.  Decades ago it was a high crime area, but now it’s just a part of the city where there are a lot of restaurants so the name kind of stuck.  Every year around this time, they hold the Ninth Ave. International Food Festival that spans from 42nd-57th Streets.  It’s basically the urban version of a county fair and features food from all over the globe.

Though it was only here Saturday and Sunday, naturally, I attended the festival four times stocking up on empanadas, pad thai, spring rolls, pirogues, samosas, lemonade, and sangria.  I even got a psychic reading that was pretty accurate.  Walking up and down Ninth Ave. on a beautiful day experiencing food from all over the world made me so thankful to be living in New York.  I may have many dreams that have yet to come true, but at least one already has.

Home Sweet Home on Ninth Ave.

Planning Your Next Cabana Party

It seems that you always want what you can’t have. So what a better time to plan your next summer gathering in your friendly neighborhood cabana than in the dead of winter? Having a party in a cabana is outdoor living at its best, especially if you happen to be by a pool or the ocean. The first thing to remember about cabana living, is that just because you are participating in outdoor entertaining, doesn’t mean that furniture, flooring, and decorations aren’t at a premium. Think about setting up your cabana like setting up a high-end tent to go couture camping. You’ll need at least a large outdoor table with chairs for your guests to sit. If you really want to take your seating area one step further, you can experiment with pillows and couches.

During the evening, an outdoor fireplace or fire pit is always a nice touch and can serve as a means to keep away mosquitoes. For more light and protection from those pesky mosquitoes, you can also make a trail to your cabana using bamboo torches. Keep your guests cool in the summer heat with lots of water, lemonade, and exotic beverages. Lastly, remember to serve food. It’s tempting to get caught up in planning for and decorating your cabana, but your party is going to be so great that people will want to stay all day and they are bound to get hungry. I recommend ordering a few platters of finger sandwiches and storing them in your inside refrigerator until they are all ready for serving. Now, all you have to do is wait until summer.

We Should Have Been Models

Spontaneous photo shoots are good for the soul.  They can be done alone, with a friend, or in a group.  If you’re having an insanely bad day or an insanely good day, they are the perfect pastime to use as a means of rediscovering your inner model.  On a bad day, however, your photos may be a little more artistic and emo in reflection of your mood.  My friend Amy and I rediscovered our inner models over the weekend and it was a beautiful thing!

Taking casual photos also serves as great practice for being photographed by the paparazzi.  Every socialite has to be comfortable around multiple cameras.  This particular photo shoot is so Zooey Deschanel meets Rachel McAdams.  Like Cher epically reminded us in the movie Clueless which is required socialite viewing, you can’t trust mirrors so you always need to take a picture of that day’s look.  Thanks to digital photography, you don’t have to use polaroids like they did for instant photo gratification in 1995.  These photos were taken on Photo Booth software which only further brings out the magic of Apple technology even more.  Maybe next time we’ll dig up a Cher style polaroid camera for the sake of nostalgia.

Cupcakes Champagne and Sangria

All this bitter cold weather we’ve been having in NYC has me craving an epic Girls’ Night In. When the holidays have just ended and it’s not yet Fashion Week, it seems to call for a few weeks of a more relaxing social calendar filled with sweets and even later brunches. Throughout my recent time spent inside avoiding below freezing temperatures, I’ve derived a formula for the perfect relaxing evening with the girls (and guys if they want to join, but I’m guessing they’ll want to skip this one.)  Listen carefully to the three parts of my secret formula:

1.  Forget your diet and make lots of cupcakes!  Aside from eating these sweet little cakes, decorating them using different themes is the best part.

2.  Get lots of champagne.  It’s the socialite thing to do.

3.  Make sangria!  I know sangria is supposed to be red, but lately I’ve really had a thing for white sangria.  You are also going to have a buy lots of fruit both to put into the sangria and on top of the cupcakes.  It’s a lot of sugar, but it’s worth it.

4.  You can add your own touch to this evening of sweetness with movies, games, or just your usual crazy conversation.

Seeing that I have no plans for Valentine’s Day as of now, I may be repeating this formula with my single friends come February 14th…sigh!

Vegetarians in Meatpacking

Being a socialite means always being on the scene. Last night I ventured over to 1OAK (short for One of a Kind) for a some pre-holiday festivities with my friend Amy. I must say that this year I’m thankful for table service. As Amy says, “We may be vegetarians, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a little pre-Thanksgiving table service in the Meatpacking District.” I couldn’t agree more! Let’s go back soon.

Just dance!

Smile!