Halloween is not only for children

Amazing what a transformation some horns, a tail and a pitch fork can make ... Running around the West Village with a Heavenly Angel, Batman, Sexy Naval Officer, the Wild West Pimp and an Alcatraz escapee ... Drinks and impromptu photo session at Puck Fair ... On to Plumm with the beautiful people, the porn stars and the Naked Cowboy ... A Hummer full of nuns ... A private party ... Dancing until 5am ... Spending all of Sunday in bed recuperating ... well worth it!

Monday

Monday ... It's the first cold day. Spring coat is out and I regret not knowing where my gloves are. Work ... boring.

Quick dash to Bloomies for eyebrow touch up. Swing past the Mac counter for essentials, pick up a Guava Lip Glaze from Stila, and a red jersey Zara dress. (The kind you can wear with flats, but also with opaque tights and heels, maybe team up with a belt). Walk home in the crisp winter air ... it almost smells like Christmas.

Sometimes I love Mondays, and New York City ... I will always love.

Babies

Lunch and shopping trip with new parents last Saturday, I was trusted to push the buggy around for a bit. During a relatively short period of time, on not one but two (!!) occasions I pretended the baby was mine. It is just that as people crowded around and cooed I could not bring myself to crash the image they were building up in their minds ... Oh dear!

In Pursuit of Hedonism

A conversation late last night, after many cocktails has started me off ... am I really all about pursuing hedonism?

It has been another week of excess ... so maybe I am

Sleepless

Spending hours with Minky, doing what girls do best ... analysing, has left me strangely perturbed. I am exhausted and at the same time cannot sleep. I would kill for some Valium right now ...

Porn on NY Mag

Surfing nymag.com in search of a venue for tomorrow night, I stumble across this. Immediately intrigued by the title I click and read on ... within minutes I feel the beginning to what can blow up into 'hot and bothered' and look around to see if anyone has clued up. Seeing no one is even looking my way I read on ... I think this will become part of my daily press perve.

One for Minky

Other People's Expense Accounts

After an extremely eventful weekend last week, which left my body bruised and my head in the clouds, the days that followed went by in a flash. Due to the heavy evening plans I had little energy for more than work and priming.

Always difficult to go back and recount finer detail when the events are no longer fresh in my mind, but I will give it a try ...

Tuesday night checked out Wakiya at the Gramercy Park Hotel. (My local source tells me the hotel was recently newly renovated, impressively the choice was not mine but that of a visitor.) The Jade and Rose Bars, both beautiful spaces with impossibly high ceilings and full of glorious colours and textures. The jade and the rose, shades a notch down from velvety emerald green and rich Louis XIV red. Very luxurious ... but a little crowded.

Walking into the Wakiya the my first thought was Hakkasan, but red. Hakkasan for those of you who have graced its dark wood tables and tasted its delicious cocktails please forgive me, for this New Yorker comes close in matching the magic. The food ... we left ourselves at the mercy of our chatty waitress ... pork belly, pork belly and more pork belly ... yum!

The following night I joined the fabulous H, in a gorgeous Reiss Summer 2007 number, for cocktails and dinner at Public. The banter only made better by the arrival of a boisterous (but in a fantastically fun way) ex-colleague and side kick. Conversation, albeit some work related was fun and had me laughing for hours. It is indeed a very small world we operate in.

I had sampled Public's cocktail fare once upon a time when a good friend worked there, but had not been back since. Said friend no longer working there I left myself at mercy of cute, albeit 'too blond' bartender who was knowledgeable and quickly suggested something I felt like but yet had not thought about myself. A moment of realisation, why I do what I do and why he does what he does ... By the way this is my new thing, never pick a cocktail from a menu, just let the bartender mix something which they thinks suits you. Usually only select the base, which lately is gin. The food spectacular and rich with Asian vegetables and world spices. It makes me want to go to The Providores when I'm back in London in December. I vow to return for Public's famed brunch. But I do wonder how the NZ snapper gets to NYC so fresh tasting ...

Tomorrow, this week's roller coaster starts ...

Overheard in New York

Him: (sounding offended) 'Playboy?? Me?? No way!!'

Her: (calmly) '*insert name* once all your friends, as they are awaiting your arrival at a party, start speculating which girlfriend you will come with ... in my book, you have officially arrived as a playboy!!'

Him: (sounding defeated) 'Fair enough ...'

Watching Rugby!

Yes ... it is true! In the last 2 weeks I have been spotted at not one, but two rugby games. Not in France, but in dark Village bars.

The first time Australia were playing, and you can imagine my disappointment as we lost, after having gotten out of bed at 7am on a Saturday.

And the second because a cute boy asked me along. Watching the France - England game with Aussies cheering France on. Pretty priceless

Now that I'm into it ... the South Africa - England final ... would be great to see it in London.

Ahh .. It's My Birthday

I always get excited like a little girl. I love the fuss! Wonder at what age that will cease. I hope never ... On the day it poured rain like I have not seen since Sydney. According to superstition it means everything will flow like water. Throughout the day as it kept raining and Manhattan was getting flooded the smile could not leave my face. It looks like it is going to be a great year!

Being away I found myself snowed with birthday wishes, flowers and delicious cupcakes. JB, the doll that she is, ordered an assortment of delicious cupcake souffles and cookies from no other but New York Magazine's 2007 Best Cupcake selection Kyotofu. All consumed ravenously before I even thought of taking a photo. Here is one from the website, but let me tell you no two dimensional representation could do justice to the melt-in-your-mouth sensation as the first bite hits your tongue. True heaven! The Comptoir Gascon chocolate fondants have been knocked off their sweet pedestal.

K and S, the gorgeous things they are, ordered an obscenely sexy flower arrangement, designed to cause maximum embarrassment as it is delivered to the trading floor. Mission accomplished! Beautiful ....

I arrived home that evening to find more flowers from J. Thanking me for hospitality the previous week and birthday wishes in one.

Celebrations continued on Friday evening. There was a plan, which we didn't stick to. A great gathering of new and old friends, truly spectacular. Waking up on Saturday morning with a well deserved hangover and a smile ...

Only in New York City ...

About to cross 24th Street at 6th Ave something caught my eye. A middle aged man sitting in a non-descipt convertible with the roof down, scribbling away in a notebook. But there was something more ... edging closer I noticed a full sized printer, laptop, desk lamp, papers strewn all over the place and a flower vase. All perched on top of what looked like a desk, fitted across the passenger and back seats. The desk lamp was on, as was the laptop and he had music on. As I walked past gaping I thought I caught a whiff of air freshener. Yes, he was working and deep in thought too!

Only in NYC ... would a man set up office in a convertible. But it is October and it has been raining today ...

One of those moments I really regret not having a camera ...

Frustration and Anticipation

Realising that you cannot always be in control is one of the key liberating feelings. No matter how clear a situation may be from one's point of view, it is still not the full picture. There can be circumstances that you are not even your radar. Factors, people, situations that would have not crossed your mind in a million years. Sometimes just you need to let things go. And let go in the confidence that what ever is meant to be, will be.

So I did just that. I took a long walk and then cooked through the frustration. I dusted off my Bill Granger Every Day cookbook and produced impressive interpretations of his Ricotta Hotcakes (recipe courtesy of http://www.bills.com.au/) and Creamy Mushroom and Prosciutto Pasta.

For the hotcakes I substituted white flour with wholemeal, adding berries to his standard banana garnish. And for the honeycomb butter, I melted New Zealand Manuka blending it with quality unsalted French butter. Delicious!

I sampled the hotcakes before quickly packing up and delivering both dishes to NY University Hospital. The new Mum needed nourishment, and for all the great facilities at NYU the food is nothing to brag about.

Honey, My Water Broke

I imagine something like this was said in the early hours of this humid, Indian summer New York morning...

The baby, being the first one I have ever anticipated with such excitement, is the first born of close friends J & S. Something tells me the real excitement is yet to come.

Just wish I knew if I should be shopping for blue or pink outfits.

Drawing Parallels

Wonderful to receive an email this week from a relative new friend. Reading though it with interest one of the sentences sounded strangely familiar. The cute colloquial phrases, it could have been written by one of my closest friends. One of life's coincidences ...

More Dreams

Last night after a beautiful dinner at Spice Market I retired late and awoke to yet another unnerving dream. This one about suffering in the hands of a badly trained eyebrow technician. We are moving from facing ones' inner fears onto more trivial topics ... that is a relief. What would I do if my eyebrows weren't looking their best ... God forbid! I don't want to even think about it ... the horror!!