JOHNNY WALKER IN DA CHATEAU!

From an overdose of five shots of Johnny Walker Black as part of a cure for my cold the other night, I elevated my taste level last night to about six TASTING glasses (okay maybe 8-10 including champagne) of Chateau Margaux in various vintages from 2006-1985.

Margaux held their first wine dinner in Hong Kong at the Mandarin Oriental Grill. I estimated there were about a hundred people in the room. I expected the wines to be between good and great, which they were because the hotel ran through the vintages as the dinner's unique selling point. However, I had no expectations about the food. Food is hardly ever good at wine tastings.

But our menu last night did not disappoint. In fact, it seemed like the chef made a great effort to have the food truly complement the wines and not just have the wines stand out which everyone was expecting based on the vintages.

I never knew Margaux was in business since the 16th century and they owe their top quality to---wait for it---the British (followed by "of course" and uttered by a Frenchman) and to a lesser extent the Germans.

Who knew? I always thought with the Limeys and the Krauts, all you had to do was plunk down in front of them any plonk that could kill germs and they'd drink it.

On last night's menu:

RAW: salmon, hamachi,tuna, sake and cucumber with an ultra yummy jelly sauce and gourmet salt washed down with Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux 2006...I never knew they did whites. They had been doing it for 3 centuries and today they produce only 33,000 bottles a year, about 10% of their total production.

SOUP: Onion consomme with a floral tea bag while other unenlightened meat eaters had langoustine soup accompanied by Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux 2004 (what I think is their 'diffusion' or 'secondary' line, the Kors to Michael Kors but still at over 100 USD a bottle from the dealers)

Now for the main event--the sellers chose the series of wines that follow to show all the facets of Margaux vintages where every one should be a treat (or trick if you paid too much for a fake or if like the Philippine president, ysed 'government funds' but that was for gallons of Petrus which many Margaux aficionados say is 'overrated').

RISOTTO: mushroom, truffle, asiago (cheese) and egg yolk was divine with CM 2001 which is considered young but drinkable because is not yet 10 yrs old. As the French guy said, "Why refuse it now? But you could also save it for more depth in 10 years."

CHICKEN: breasts very nicely presented in a green nest accompanied by CM 1999. NOW you're talkin' ---what a difference two years makes!

SEABASS for me and STEAK for the unevolved. This time, I will have to admit that the CM 1995 didn't come out as well with the fish than it did with the steak. My husband said it was stellar. 1996 would also be a great choice. They served the food with edible clay and I got a kick out of that.

CHEESE: Comte, Beaufort, Mimolette with super yummy DRIED GRAPES (NOT raisins!!) and quince was served with the star of the evening, CM 1985. At 24 years, it was a great privilege but by this time you are so stuffed that you want to go home.

BUT NOT BEFORE the white cotton candy TREE the size of a huge bonsai plant with chocolate truffles!!!

I had to stay home all week nursing a cold just to get well for this dinner. It would have been a disgrace to miss it. One of the diners told us that she flew back from Korea just to make this dinner.

FULLY BOOKED

Many people find it strange that I have absolutely no interest in today's news stories on celebrities, movie stars and reality TV personalities. Plus some politicians. I am not alone in this attitude because if you get to know history (and I don't mean watching "The Tudors' and "Rome") you will find out that it is much more exciting than the present.

It's still real life but nothing any news on Victoria Beckham and her latest dresses come close to. (Now HER---Victoria Beckham---have have to admit, I read about!)

And these speak volumes on why I was quiet over the summer.........

Isabella de Medici--Catherine de Medici's distant niece--on the surface led a glorious and independent existence (for her time) in Rennaissance Florence. Until her brother wanted her dead with the help of husband. Can the Menendez brothers beat that? They only killed their parents.

A family of relentless social vaulters since they were the new rich of their day, Isabella's dad wanted to marry Mary Tudor and her brother (the one who killed her) wanted to marry Elizabeth I.

This book shows you a very delightful (to the point of childishness) and human Queen Victoria and the responsibility she had to bear before she turned 20. While many of us are doing drugs and deciding where to work, she was ruling an Empire, arguing with Prime Mininsters, looking for a husband, taking care of about half a dozen kids and marrying them off. Some of us who work part time at Burger King can't even find a decent man!
(On top of that, like Catherine de Medici and Empress Marie Therese before her, she managed very good political and financial matches for her children and grandchildren. Take that, Mrs Bennett and other social astronauts!)

Ah The Bolter!!! (As in she bolts from responsibility) Idina Sackville-West. Supposedly the shame of her family only for a great granddaughter (I think) Frances Osborne (Mrs George Osborne and for decorators out there, she married into the Osborne of Osborne and Little family) to be totally enamoured with her life like you will. Think the glamour and humor of Jeeves and Wooster but REALLY up to NO GOOD!

After three recommendations not including every bookseller and Oprah.....

Now THIS ONE was also a bolter but I didn't like her idea of leaving a husband and perfect home. I hate that. Couldn't get past page 6 (??) when she prayed to God for assistance (what for if you got something good??) Like Revolutionary Road, I call this, White Wimmin Problems.

How could you be unhappy if ya got everything??

I might not be spiritually evolved because I don't understand and see the romance in leaving everything to study cooking, yoga and languages. That's what Jamie's shows, your yoga teacher and Berlitz are for.

She got a best seller out of it, though!

For anyone who is getting swept off her feet, read this NOW!! Reads like an MTV series from the 60s.

At least today we have Google and Kroll security. It was harder to expose a fraud then.

Now these TWO--one hardly ever travels out of the UK (but they have lots of homes) and the other is in a different country almost every week. Great rapport between two people who are not married (that's probably why they had great rapport) and didn't have an affair (really??). Deborah Duchess of Devonshire is aka the grandmother of super model Stella Tennant (who originally wanted to be a coroner).

Got your attention now, did I? But this would too!! Great prose, fab one-liners that show you a quick mind goes everywhere.

(She agrees with me that Jackie Kennedy is an odd one. Read "Nemesis" for all out Jackie mudslinging)

NOW THIS! For all those impressed with Harvard and what it stands for. Unfortunately in my house, that was no one. Not even the dogs. But it's a great read, (McDonell is a great writer and storyteller but like Imelda Marcos, after you read the book you're like, "What?") will make a good film with Bradley Cooper and I want to read Twelve, his earlier work on Upper East Side life. If it's anything like this in tone, it would probably be a VERY dark version of Gossip Girl.

IN MY BATHROOM:

Even in the loo, I strive for enlightenment.
Not for the politically correct or bleeding heart liberal. But great to read amidst scented bubbles.

Be grateful you don't live in the English countryside.
When you are having a bad day, read this and weep....Turns misery into laugh out loud comedy.

ALAIA IS NOT WHAT IT SEAMS......

Fashion, like life, has a way of getting back at you.
I have wanted an Alaia dress for a very long time(specifically the one worn by Mrs Sarkozy to one of the EU summits last year). But fate has been cruel.
a) I was too fat
b) They didn't have my size
c) Nothing I tried looked good. See point a).

BUT THEN!!! Two weeks ago at Maria Luisa in Lee Gardens Hong Kong, I saw an Alaia calling my name. Of course I didn't buy it right away. Like with buying anything or encountering anything that just screams "This is it" there is a tendency for one to say, 'Naaah!!"

I went back the next day and it fit perfectly. Or so I thought.
When I came out of the dressing room thinking I had on perfection but with a few bits and blubbs surfacing because of the wrong underwear....(yes, and just MAYBE FAT!)
Carmen, my regular salesgirl breezily said, "I assume you'll be wearing a corset under that."
That bad, huh?
The last time this happened was at Lanvin in Taiwan where they salesgirl told me I needed to wear a girdle!! (When I complained to the owner, Wang Shaw Lan, she raised an eyebrow and said, "Maybe you should!")

I had to listen to Carmen because she had the foresight to put me into Haider Ackerman (on sale) three years ago when you couldn't give his stuff away because no one knew him! This is the same Carmen who told me to choose a dramatic Rue du Mail top over a Givenchy one because it was cooler.

Anyway, I'm not wearing a corset or girdle with it. Just seamless underwear.

FASHION IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

Today's quote: "That is a very '80s question." -A friend's comment when I asked the Estee Lauder make-up artist if blush should go in a slanted line on the cheekbones instead of blended outward from the apples of the cheeks.
**********************

Probably because I work in the fashion industry, I didn't find RJ Cutler's The September Issue, particulary spectacular or informative.
(Why wasn't Anna Wintour's maid in a uniform?)

But because I watched it on DVD with my husband who has absolutely no clue about the business, that experience was in itself worth a blog entry. He with the big fashion career opinion that "if fashion is so hard, why do Patsy and Edina have such an easy life?" Perhaps he can also explain to me why Ari Gold has such a huge office and only one client in Vince Chase or why Lloyd worked for him for so long.

On the first scene where the camera pans the cosmetics and clothing press racks:
"WOW---I didn't think I would see anything WORSE than YOUR CLOSET!!!"

On the scenes at the beginning where they are discussing a 'color-block' story:
"Since when does Vogue actually do stories? I never saw any stories to read in there!!"
Me: "A 'story' is when they decide on a theme like color-block or work a fashion shoot around something like a jacket or a historical period."
Husband: Then what happens?
Me: You choose clothes, book the models and photographers then take the pictures.
Husband: So a story is just photos?? No wonder people don't read anymore.

On the idea of going to Paris for the couture
"I don't understand this timeline. Why are they in Paris all of a sudden?"
Me: They're going to the couture.
Husband: They have to go all the way there?? What kind of expenses do they run up?
(You really don't want this guy in charge of budgets)
Me: The couture is only in Paris.
Husband: No kidding. Every shop in the IFC mall says it's couture.
THEN he SEES the COUTURE
"THAT'S COUTURE?? They went to Paris to see those circus costumes? Who wears those?"
Me: The Chinese probably to the opening of a new property and the Arabs under burquas. They start at 50,000 euros.
Husband: I guess if you already have a Maybach and a Rolls.....

On Andre Leon Talley:
"How can you play tennis with all those designer logos? The towel takes up his whole body! Wait...his strokes are quite good!"
(Designer logos: The reason I can't wear Chanel on the slopes. But I can wear Moncler!)

On Grace Coddington:
"How can you be a fashion editor looking like THAT? Do you have to look like a witch to be a fashion editor??"
Me: No-- but you have to have the personality of a witch.

"Why is she dressed in a sack and sandals? Is that fashion?"
Me: Sometimes if you are surrounded by beautiful and colourful things, you get image overload and the best thing to wear is black.

"Why is her hair like that?"
me: "Her husband is a French hairdresser."
husband: "As in professional wrestler?"
me: "NO!!! HAIRDRESSER!!??"
husband: "Professional??"
me: Not only professional but also famous.
husband: Well it seems he's too busy to do his wife's hair. She might be wearing a wig for this show like when Meryl Streep dyed her hair white for that other movie.

On the last scene where magazines are lined up in the newsstand. Vogue is placed next to Harper's Bazaar:
"The Bazaar cover is so ugly. But if you do 'Fabulous at any age' you'll HAVE to use an old woman...."
(Stephen Gan, your days are numbered...)

Our next fashion feature conversation: Valentino: The Emperor of Fashion.
(I was already asked: Who is darker, Donatella or Valentino? I said that Donatella is NOT DARKER. She's more orange.)
I can't guarantee the same comments but I leave you with what he said when Josie Natori (who he does not know) walked past us: "Was that the night of the living dead that just walked past us?"

FAB...

I THANK GOD and other major sponsors for his day job.....

I was in Manhattan early this week when the UN opened with speeches by Barak Obama (probably 30 mins) and Muamar Quadaffi who ranted and threw stuff (just like one of my former bosses!) for 95 mins. He LITERALLY camped out on a Trump property in Westchester--he has a very big and nice looking tent with 'walls'painted with Arabic art.

When my sister told me Obama would be in New York on Monday, my only thought was ÖMG!!! I hope MIchelle doesn't go to Bergdorf's on MOnday or Tuesday!! Those are MY shopping days!"!!"

(Of course, I would have LOVED to see Carla Bruni as I think she is so much chic-er than Obama who has a more contrived look. The French can never be beat in this area. But I am of course, part of the minority)

Last year, I left NYC not exactly loving it(for the first time I did not entertain the idea of buying a flat there) and in fact, I thought of not visiting this year but because my husband was in Boston and wanted to meet in London on Wednesday, New York started looking like a good choice of a stop. Indeed, for two days, I renewed my love for the city that doesn't sleep (because now business is bad but California is broke).

Walking home from a yummy FRench dinner at Jubilee, my friend and I saw Neil Simon taking a walk with his wife. The only reason we knew he was Neil Simon was because he and my friend are neighbors. THis is something that will not occur in any other city in the world. (So what if we see Jackie Chan or Jiang Zhi Yi at Landmark??)

I continued my walk along brightly lit streets (thank you Mayor Bloomberg) and buildings lit up to Vegas capacity then came home to a hotel room that overlooked yet more lights. This is when I fell in love with New York yet again.

But when I got to London, I enjoyed the old buildings lit strategically by spotlights. Even Buckingham Palace seemed dark compared to Park Avenue. On the surface, London's beauty comes out during the day but there is a serenity to it at night. But Paris and Rome are equally stunning day and night.

IN AND OUT OF FASHION

At the behest of Vogue USA editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, retailers from 13 countries participated in Fashion's Night Out last Thursday. Since I don't go out at night and I do my shopping during the day and sometimes online, I don't really know how things went.

BUT I can still give an opinion on what I THINK happened.

The problem with this well-intended shopping stimulus plan is that it comes at a time when people STILL either a) do not have money or b) even if they do, refuse to fork out for anything that is not an investment (and I am not talking about the fashion investment 'that you can wear forever").

Personally, I hate shopping events because everyone sees what you are buying and you have to get out of the dressing room quickly because there usually is a line. (Well, maybe not these days)

Central in HK did a property wide shopping event before the summer and I don't really know how much the shops made during those few hours but I was told there was more champagne quaffing by office people and the 'wrong people' walking away with freebies.

PEOPLE just TOLD me, okay???

Last Thursday, my hairdresser said his business is down 30% and this is in Hong Kong where unemployment is considerably lower than the rest of the world and where the stock and property markets have bounced back. He said, "The markets are good but I know people still want to save their money and spend it on something with long term value and that's not exactly a haircut." (Even HE KNOWS!)

The following, from the Financial Times of 9 Septemmber 2009, sticks the stilleto heel into a crack on the pavement:

"...Bruno Frisoni, the creative director of shoe brand Roger Vivier, who will be at the Milan event, said: “This will bring people into our store that maybe wouldn’t have come in. But certainly in Paris it will not mean immediate cash. They come, have a drink, meet people, see the collection and maybe, if we’re lucky, they come back during the week. Maybe.”

Another international luxury brand executive, who asked to remain anonymous, noted that the company did not expect to recoup its costs in terms of overtime, electricity, security and food.

“It is a big expense for us” to keep flagships in multiple cities open for an extra five hours, he noted, pointing out that they agreed to participate only because Ms Wintour asked."

Business is certainly bad but I have yet to meet someone in the fashion business who would talk on the record about how bad it is.

Word on the street (like Pedder Street, perhaps?) is that On Pedder, a shoe and accessories regional boutique chain owned by Lane Crawford is ahem...."consolidating, relocating, merging, absorbing staff and inventory..." with the mother company.

I can think one other simple word that begins with a C.

GAAK! Choke! Surprise! But then, when you think about it (and you don't have to think longer than the length of a fashion show), the signs were there even to Wal-Mart shoppers.
1) high prices - cheaper online or in Europe or the US - I walked in there last week and there were hardly any heels there under 6000 HKD (750 USD) and hardly anything I wanted to buy
2) ugly stuff - well, you can't blame retailers if the design houses are producing atrocious stuff made available worldwide
3) recession and/or a now financially conservative customer
4) the Lane Crawford Beijing store which should really be in a mausoleum (oh..uh..museum) than in a mall

THE DIET ENDED YESTERDAY

Quote of the day: (on middle aged dating)
"At our age, you'll be hard-pressed to find a guy with no kids, no ex-wives, no emotional baggage and no debt. What you will be able to find is a guy with no hair. Or worse, no job."

Wednesday, 9 September 2009
exercise: NONE!
desperate measure: lymphatic drainage massage
breakfast: kefir, tea with milk no sugar and one banana
lunch@China Tee Club: chrysanthemum tea, 1/2 palm size chicken parmigiana (the rest I took home to the dogs), steamed veggies, 2 scoops ice cream (shared), coffee with milk, no sugar
dinner: pumpkin and orange spice soup, green beans (again!), the last of Nora's brownies, mint tea

Thursday, 10 September 2009
exercise: 1.5 hrs ashtanga yoga
desperate measure: haircut and highlights
breakfast: kefir, Awake tea from the Landmark mandarin, blueberries, dried friut
lunch@Shanghai Fraternity Club (by far the deadliest Chinese restaurant in town): fried eel strips, tofu and mushrooms in brown sauce, chicken and bamboo shoots in brown sauce 9which could possibly be the only brown sauce they use in that joint), 2 bowls of rice shared by three people--two of whom were thin and showed up in fitted dresses. I was NOT one of THEM!
dinner@Shiro in Pacific Place: sashimi salad, 2 slices mackerel sushi, miso soup, 2 glasses VERY GOOD rose (this was a VERY BAD idea)
movie: Bruno@Pacific Place sponsored by 'the world's local bank"--1/2 bag popcorn, two sips ice tea, the maltesers are still in my bag.....

My diet officially ends today not because I can't stand it and I haven't been getting any exercise (It will be worse in the next three weeks) but because---taddaah!! Seeing is believin'-----I can see TWO muscular lines on my abs. I also fit into my grey metallic Barbara Bui trousers and a Fendi chiffon top from, take note, a PRESS sale! (that means--- sample size come to Mama!)
NOW I'm happy!!