...more recent posts
Mar 7, 2000
As I was circumnavigating the toilet bowl of the restaurant last
night with a piece of paper towel wiping away the vomit from the
latest bulimic assault it had endured, I wondered about the
identity of the vomiter. It's part of the pleasure of being a
hostess: spot the bulimic. I also wondered why I had been saved
from this fate. I love to eat and I also love to fit into my tightest
pants, the logical extension of this conundrum is to throw up your
food. However, you're either a puker or you're not. To me it's just
too radical, all that peralstisis in reverse. So I just prefer to
oscillate between the two: eating a lot and then eating less/fitting
into pants; ocassionaly the extremes are tempered by regular
visits to the gym or during periods of interferon injections taken to
ameliorate the ravages of hepatitis c on the liver. Interferon is
probably the most effective diet drug you will find on the market
(by prescription only and with the slight drawback of flu like
symptoms, depression, suicidal ideation, hair loss, muscle
wasting, dry skin, loss of libido, intestinal problems, fatigue and
anemia.) I can't imagine puking several times a day is any better,
but that's just me. On a lighter note: yes the loins never lie, was
that not the first sweet smell of spring in Manhattan today? I
smiled at people and they smiled back; such sweet pleasure this
simple wave of delight at another passing soul. Guthrie, C and M's
Chinese girl arrives in New York on March 29th. They asked me to
be her godmother.
Mar 5, 2000
Haven't been here for a while. Winter creates those numb
interstitial bits. I like the display of abandoned garments on the
railings on the south side of the street on Rivington between
Norfolk and Suffolk. It changes regularly and I have no idea where
it comes from or who takes advantage of it. Entertaining in a way
that an installation could never be. I went to Asbury Park, New
Jersey today; I'd like to know what happened there. It looks like it
took far too much LSD. It's nearly 4am and there is a BBC voice
floating out of NPR reassuring me that the opposite end of the
spectrum to Asbury Park does exist somewhere on the planet. Or
does it? Apparently we have forgotten how to nourish ourselves.
The statisticians tell us that the number of obese people have
caught up with the number of malnourished. Complicating the
matter is that many of the obese are also malnourished. Have
decided to approach Lent with seriousness in the year 2000, as
an Irish Protestant I thought it might be fun to go the whole hog
and besmirch myself with ash on Wednesday coming and give up
something really fundamental, like liqour, again. It feels like it
might be time for a little sackcloth and self-flaggelation. Ah,
spring's sweet tremors toying with the loins.
Feb 25, 2000
The neighbor is ranting again. That's what happens when you run
out of story, you rant.
Feb 12, 2000
Recovering from flu contracted from those damn Britons, ever the
colonialists, even if reduced to spreading foul viruses. Picked up
several books, as well as a foul lergy, in their tempting book
shops: one a foodie paradise ("How to Eat") written by the
gorgeous Nigella Lawson, food editor of British Vogue and one
called "C, Because Cowards Get Cancer Too" (don't be repulsed
by the title) by John Diamond. It turns out the two of them are
married, which I manage to ascertain after some delirium induced
detective work. How charming. Both their books lie intertwined
with my heaped bed clothes. I feel compelled to write them a fan
letter. With a fever of 103 I'm chanelling them: been to their
annual summer party in their back garden and even given Nigella
a couple of recipes (recipe exchange is a sublime form of intra-girl
flirtation). You don't give your recipes to just any old cunt. So here
I am with the Anglo-flu and some sort of Anglo-mania and 400
chocolate truffles to make for St. Valentine's Day at the
restaurant. Perhaps my mother's misgivings were justified.
Feb 8, 2000
You go away and come home. You had a good time but you
missed the place that smells like you. You want to make your
home orderly. So you take apart the spice cupboard and put
everything from Whole Nutmeg to Tandoori Masala in labelled
containers, it takes the better part of three days. Mania?
Probably. It makes you feel like you are stroking the walls of your
apartment, licking the ceiling; It's a Good Thing. You're in the right
place.