October 31, 2011


I have a confession to make: Halloween isn't really my thing. Call me lazy, but if I'm going to spend money and hours of my life crafting a costume out of fishnet stockings, a hockey mask, and a machete in order to parade around with strangers in the freezing cold, it better be because I'm taking part in a kinky sex game.
What I do enjoy about Halloween? Themed cocktails, of course. This year I'm dressing up as someone who wears leggings as pants and celebrating by boarding up my windows and turning off the lights to repel candy-grubbing children, but if you're throwing a Halloween soiree this year, here are some seriously tasty Halloween-themed drinks. Tequila, rum, cognac … just pick your treat.

THE PROCESSION 
Created by Daniel Hyatt (The Alembic, San Francisco)
1.5 oz Espolón Tequila Blanco
.75 oz White Crème de Cacao
.5 oz ruby port
.75 oz hibiscus tea, chilled
2 dashes of orange bitters
Orange peel for garnish
Directions: Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. For garnish twist a strip of orange peel over the top.
PUMPKIN SPICE TEQUILA MARGARITA

Serves 2
1/4 cup Sauza Blue Silver Tequila
1/2 cup cream
2 tablespoons pumpkin spice syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups freshly brewed hot coffee
Whipped cream

Directions: In a saucepan, combine cream with pumpkin syrup, sugar, vanilla and spice. Brew your coffee and divide it between two mugs. To each mug add half of the Sauza Blue Tequila and the cream mixture and stir. Top with whipped cream and cinnamon.
LIQUID JOLLY RANCHER
1 oz Watermelon Jolly Rancher-infused Blue Ice Vodka
1 oz  lemon lime soda
3 oz cranberry Juice
Watermelon Jolly Rancher Vodka-Infusion Directions: Add 12 Watermelon Jolly Ranchers into an 8 oz sealable glass container. Pour in vodka and seal. Allow to infuse for 8-12 hours.
Liquid Jolly Rancher Directions: In a highball glass with ice, add Watermelon Jolly Rancher Infused Vodka, lemon lime soda and cranberry juice. Stir drink with a swivel spoon and enjoy.
LOS MUERTOS
Created by Raul Yrastorza (Las Perlas, Los Angeles)
2 oz Espolón Tequila Reposado
1 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz apple cider vinegar shrub
.5 oz Cardamaro Amaro
1 bar spoon apple butter-infused agave nectar
4 muddled apple chunks
Apple cider foam for garnish
Blackstrap molasses for garnish
Directions: Muddle apple chunks in bottom of a mixing glass. Shake all ingredients together with ice and double strain in a rocks glass over ice. Top with apple cider foam and drizzle with Blackstrap molasses.
THE APRICOT HAUNT
1 part Courvoisier VSOP
1 part fresh lemon sour
.5 part DeKuyper Apricot Brandy
4 parts apple cider
Directions: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon spiral twist and a dash of fresh ground cinnamon.
MALIBU BLACKLIGHT
1-1/2 parts MALIBU Black
3 parts pineapple juice
Splash of fresh lime juice
Seltzer
Directions: Combine ingredients. Serve over ice in a tall glass and top with seltzer.
Diana Vilibert is hiding in the corner at your Halloween party.
Images courtesy of Espolón (The Procession; Los Muertos), Sauza (Pumpkin Spice), Blue Ice Vodka (Jolly Rancher), Courvoisier (Apricot Haunt), and Malibu (Malibu Blacklight).


Of all the many things I love in this world, two that rank near the top of the list are discovering delicious taste combinations, and finding ways to make sense of my life through the use of charts and graphs. It’s almost Halloween, and I spent 20 minutes (and an undisclosed number of dollars) in the corresponding candy section of Target this weekend. To excuse that behavior to myself, I made the whole thing into a graphical microeconomics project. Sort of.
First, let me get this out of the way right now: What you need to know is that there has never been nor will there ever be a Halloween candy treat that outranks the combination of two M&Ms and one piece of candy corn placed in one’s mouth simultaneously. I discovered this recipe (“recipe”) accidentally, while inhaling one of the trail mix bags my tennis captain’s mom would bring to my college team’s matches. I mostly sat on the bench. I had a lot of time for candy-testing.
Two M&Ms and one candy corn (henceforth referred to as 2M1C) is perfect because the colors are nice together and the textures complement one another and it’s chocolate-y but not TOO chocolate-y and it makes you feel like you’re not eating much even when you have one dozen servings.
Microeconomically-speaking, 2M1C are perfect complements, which are goods that HAVE to be consumed together, in a set ratio. Graphed, their relationship would look like this:

The lines’ corners are the acceptable options for consumers. There isn’t even an option to eat them in other ratios, because that would be ridiculous. 2M1C is a perfect formula. That’s why it’s called 2M1C.
But there is a whole world of candy out there, and I wanted to find other advantageous combinations. So my friends and I ate some strange stuff on a study break and I made them describe their taste sensations to me. The field notes are as follows.

The Good:
1 Sour Patch Kid + 1 “finger full” of Grape Pop Rocks
This combination received unanimous support (3-0) because it was sour and amazing. My friend Rylee rightly noted that you couldn’t really taste the Pop Rocks but that they “added fun,” which must be true because all of us started giggling upon eating it. It was embarrassing. I must caution, too, that the combination may cause an excess supply of saliva. Otherwise, A+.
1 Milk Dud + 1 Mike & Ike (any flavor)
The rationale here was that mixing a chocolate candy with a non-chocolate candy would work out as well as it did in the case of 2M1C, and mostly I was right: this is good. Maybe not 2M1C good, but pretty good. It pretty much tastes like that last perfect bite of a Tootsie Pop.
1 Gummy worm + Nerds
This is the poor lady’s Nerds Rope. I discovered that if you put a whole gummy worm in your mouth and pull it back out again (I know, so inappropriate), you can stick the worm in a pile of Nerds and they sort of stick. I know it sounds gross but it’s going back in your mouth anyway, right? So just eat it with the Nerds on it and be like, “yum,” because it is delicious and gummy and crunchy.
2 Cheddar Goldfish + 1 Mini Oreo
I realize that neither of these items are candy, but they ARE orange and black, which makes them seasonally appropriate. And, as it turns out, weirdly tasty together. You know how when you eat something salty, you want something sweet right after? And vice versa? This combination cuts out the middle man. You should put a bowl of them in your foyer right now.
2 Mini Oreos + 1 Halloween Chocolate-Covered Pretzel
You guys, my grocery store’s been selling these orange-befrostinged chocolate covered pretzels for like three weeks and honestly, I’m dying. Did you know that ONE chocolate pretzel is 50 calories?! How does that even make sense? But anyway, definitely eat two mini Oreos and one chocolate pretzel together, over and over. It’s sort of a lot to fit in your mouth at once (...) but in a good way, you know?
The Bad:
2 Hot Tamales + 2 Sour Patch Kids
This was kind of a surprise because it sounds good in theory, but it was just too much gummy-ness all at once, I guess. It was hard to chew, spicy AND sour, and generally unpleasant.
2 Junior Mints + 1 Candy Corn
This was horrible. It was bad minty slop. Never do this.
2 Goldfish + 1 Twix
This was, I think, a shock-value move made by my friend Marie, who declared that the combination tasted “like meat...like beef or something.” This combination was subsequently declared a public bad, which is an economic good that negatively affects the well-being of its consumers. Air pollution is one real example. Public bads are so bad that you typically have to pay to get rid of them. That’s sort of how we feel about Twix and Goldfish together.
Conclusions
One important thing I learned is that eating candy has diminishing marginal utility, which means that the amount of utility (satisfaction) gained by eating it decreases over time, until eventually you actually start to become worse off than you were before.

Sure, putting a fistful of candy in your mouth is great the first time you do it, and it’s pretty great the second and third times too. But on the seventh? We all sort of wanted to die. My stomach felt ... minty? I don’t know, it was weird.
Anyway, do you guys want some candy? I will send you all of it, except for the M&Ms and the candy corn, which I still really need.
Katie Heaney remembers learning about probability using M&Ms in the 5th grade. Those were the days.

October 30, 2011


Cover courtesy of Joy Models Milan (for Toni Garrn).
Katrin Thormann with Women NY/Paris/Milan and Premier London.
Toni also with Women NY/Paris, Modelwerk, Storm.

CEO of Macys Terry Lundgren, Giambattista, Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, Chanel Iman & Jessica Stam wearing looks from the collection| All images Janelle Okwodu 


Giambattista Valli brought a touch of European chic to New York at the launch of his new collection for Macy’s.The Valli look has long been popular with ladies in search of on-trend elegance and bringing that feel to a lower price point is sure to attract tons of new fans. If the enthusiasm of shoppers and guests at last night’s event is any indication Valli and Macy’s have a surefire hit on their hands. Everyone from the legendary Lee Radziwell, to modeling stars Jessica Stam, Chanel Iman and Hanaa Ben Abdesslem came to show their support.


Valli walks iconic social fixture Lee Radziwill through the collection.


One of our favorite little accessories from the Impulse line.


Matthew from Team Giambattista with Hanaa and Stam.

October 29, 2011






Devon Aoki by Juergen Teller for russian vogue, ’98
There are millions of things I love about autumn. One of them is the chanterelle season. The scent of freshly picked chanterelles evokes many fond childhood memories – I tended to gather chanterelles in the forest because I knew that my mom would be over the moon about them. Bringing mushrooms home from school outings in the woods was the ultimate trick to make her happy, which is something I ought to do more than just once in a while nowadays. And then she made creamy soups and Vietnamese ‘banh gio’ (steamed minced pork rice dumpling) with the chanterelles. Good times, indeed. Last Thursday, JulieMaja and I cooked pasta with chanterelle mushrooms. So. Freaking. Delicious. The day after, Julie invited some girls over for delectable risotto with chanterelles and prosecco. I love the way my favorite season is approaching!


October 28, 2011

High fashion has always had a thing for icy blondes who ooze sex appeal, so it is no surprise to see Aline Weber‘s beautiful face on the cover of Numero. Shot by Camilla Akrans saturated color and moody black and white, Aline looks every inch the blonde bombshell.


The importance of China as a fashion market continues to expand, not only in its value as a key luxury demographic, but also importantly as a new platform for creative marketing. Take for instance, the decision of the Huayi Brothers, the powerful Chinese fashion and entertainment company, to invite England’s legendary Vivienne Westwood to stage a grand opening ceremony for Shanghai Fashion Week SS12. The mix of Westwood’s thoroughly English brand history(Think World’s End, Malcolm McClaren, London Punk, The SEX shop) with China’s deep cultural heritage (the show opened with a DJ live mixing a Chinese folk song THE RED DATCHMENT OF WOMEN), made for a dynamic inter-change. Opened by Ming Xi, the face of Shanghai Fashion Week, this Westwood show transcended mere retail branding and became a kind of cross-cultural collision rich with English attitude and timeless Chinese spirit.


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