joie de vivre.

5.10.2010

{ Riches to Rags in Camelot's Backyard }

I'm really excited about this post. It's a topic I wanted to write about before this blog actually existed, because it inherently has all the traits that I wanted my Joie de Vivre posts to contain:
fun, fascinating, lovely, sometimes tragic and always romantic, extraordinary things.

I wish I could tag all relevant words on this topic, but I can't. I want to make tags like these:

Propriety and Rebellion.
Present and Past.
Wealth and Poverty.
Stagnation and Ambition.
Celebrity and Obscurity.
Freedom and Captivity.
Sparkle and Decay.
Fantasy and Reality.

(You get the idea.)

All these are contradictions, but somehow they all fuse together to become the story of
Grey Gardens.

And now is the perfect time to post, since my mom and I recently celebrated Mother's Day by seeing a local (and fabulous) production of Grey Gardens.

Last year, I read an article about an HBO movie starring

Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.
I love them both, and I love period dramas based on true stories...
so of course I had to see Grey Gardens.

A side note: I always somehow end up doing WAY too much research after I see a "true story" movie, because I just have to know more about the real people in the stories. Examples:
Miss Potter. Amazing Grace. The Other Boleyn Girl. Capote. Finding Neverland.
(Did you know the real-life inspiration for Peter Pan committed suicide?! That burst my bubble a little.)

But back to the topic at hand.

One thing that makes this story so intriguing to the public is that the two pricipal characters, mother and daughter Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale were aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

Edith's husband, New York City lawyer Phelan, purchased the gorgeous East Hampton beach estate as a summer and entertaining home for the family. Big Edie was a beautiful free spirit, who like all wealthy wives kept a house and a busy social calendar, yes; but went against the grain of the cordial entertaining formalities (light gossip and dirty martinis) and gave live performances of her favorite songs with the help of her loyal accompanist, George Gould Strong.

Little Edie was known as "Body Beautiful Beale" and was on track to become a well-married society woman herself. She claimed to have marriage proposals from the ill-fated Joe Kennedy, Jr., and J. Paul Getty, among others. She also had unconventional aspirations like her mother-- a dancer, or perhaps Broadway star.
But while a debutante, Edie mingled with the beautiful and wealthiest of East Coast society.

Edie, age 8 or 9

Debutante and "Body Beautiful Beale."

Spread in Italian Vouge

In 1932, Phelan left his theatrical and at times uncouth wife Edith with a small trust fund and.... Grey Gardens.

I think I see the ghosts of Miss Havisham and Estella peeking around the corner.

After a brief stint in NYC, Little Edie moved back in to take care of her mother. They would live there, alone, for decades; and the once beautiful Hamptons home fell victim to the reckless hands of Neglect, Compulsion, and Squalor. Infested with fleas, overrun by cats and racoons (and thus their carcasses and waste), filled with garbage and decay, without running water... A sparkling palace left to deteriorate quietly to an unrecognizable shell.

Big Edie rarely got out of bed; Little Edie lost her hair from alopecia. They ordered sparse groceries and at times ate "pate" meant as cat food. In the fall of 1971 and throughout 1972, their living conditions were exposed as the result of an article in the National Enquirer and a cover story in New York Magazine after a series of inspections (which the Beales called "raids") by the Suffolk County Health Department.

With the Beale women facing eviction and the razing of their home, in the summer of 1972 Jacqueline Onassis and her sister Lee Radizwill provided the necessary funds to stabilize and repair the dilapidated house so that it would meet Village codes.

Albert and David Maysles became interested in their story and received permission to film a documentary about the women, which was released in 1976 to wide critical acclaim. Using a direct cinema technique, the women were left to tell their own stories. Little Edie fashioned outfits from skirts as scarves, upside down sweaters, and vintage brooches, and reminisced about time with Joe Kennedy, Jr. and the Barbizon Hotel. Big Edie belts out some of her favorite songs and cooks corn on a hot plate next to her bed. They fight, they sing, they love. And they get their long sought-after fame, in a film that has launched a thousand franchises.

Edie at the time of the Maysles documentary, 1976

Some call it exploitation, some a train wreck you just can't look away from; others call it a celebration of individuality, contentedness, and female independence. Regardless, there's no disputing it's a cult classic and a story that intrigues many (like me) still today--

Just look at the musical, the documentaries, the coffee table books, the bobble head dolls (really-- click the link if you don't believe me), the haute couture fashion shoots and ready-to-wear collections, coloring books, buttons, fan clubs, and abundance of online websites dedicated to Grey Gardens.

Below, the HBO promo starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

And one of my favorites: the real Little Edie in her own words on the "best outfit for today."
She has an enviable confidence and innovation in fashion:
"My costumes? That's a protest against having worked as a model for the Establishment, believe it or not. A lot of models feel that way. Sometimes their lives are protests against having worked as models. Besides, I didn't have time taking care of mother to get out and buy any clothes. So I used what was left of mine and mother's in the attic." - Little Edie

For more information on Grey Gardens, check out these great links:
http://www.greygardensonline.com/
http://www.greygardens.com/
http://greygardensnews.blogspot.com/
A house tour of Grey Gardens today: http://lxtv.com/openhousenyc/video/10233

Grey Gardens circa 2005, restored to its former glory.

Little Edie sold it after Big Edie passed away, on the condition that it not be torn down.
"All it needs is a coat of paint!"

True Glamour Never Fades.

4.20.2010

{Barefoot in the Kitchen}

I can't cook. I have gotten by for a long time being okay with that fact. I'm the girl who asked her grandmother for a great recipe, because some friends had generously bought me a page in a community cookbook where I was supposed to share "the best recipe in my repertoire." I had no repertoire. I'm the girl who made muffins for a boy in college, only to have her roommates play helicopter with them--while still in the pan--because I'd neglected to spray Pam on the cooking tins prior to baking.

I have even.... this one really hurts to admit... gone to a local market, purchased some gorgeous couscous and caprese salad, and taken it out of the market's packaging and put it in MY Tupperware so it would look like it came straight from my kitchen. So very very sad.

That's not to say people didn't try to teach me. Mothers have given me cookbooks (many with titles including terms like "Simple!" "Basic!" and "A Kid's Guide to...." Friends have literally taken me step by step through making things in their kitchen (one of my favorite memories is of D's basil jelly making day, where she did everything but I proudly poured the sugar in the pot and-- ta da!-- I got to say, "I cooked basil jelly from scratch." Yep.

At the age of almost 30, however, a few facts dawned on me:

1. All my friends do it. I'm a sucker for peer pressure. And eating with friends is fun.
2. You can drink wine when you cook, and no one will judge you.
3. I will mess up. I will burn things. Drop stuff on the floor. Be tempted to throw it back into the mixing bowl. Cut my finger. Have the pizza place on speed dial because dinner is inedible. And that's okay... because I won't learn if I don't try.

3. One day I will have a family. I will have children and will make memories with them. I don't want a eulogy starting with "One night, over a bowl of Beenie Weenie, my mother said something to me I'll never forget..."
4. I don't want to be the designated stir-er anymore.

This is where the lady below comes into the picture.

My friend N is obsessed with the Barefoot Contessa, aka Ina Garten. N has always been a great cook, but now she is a phenomenal cook. Everything she made while I visited her for a week was delicious. Everything. And she says she owes it all to "the B.C."

After the first amazing dinner, we started chatting about the Barefoot Contessa. We watched one of her shows. She's really personable, explains things clearly, and kept saying, "How easy was that?" A welcome phrase in my cooking verbage. And N told me the Barefoot Contessa's story, which was fabulous:
Garten had started out in the corporate world, then decided she wanted to do something more creative with her life. She and her husband saw a little specialty food store in Long Island called "The Barefoot Contessa." Garten wasn't a cook, but wanted this store; she sent in a lowball offer... and the store was hers.

"I had no experience in the food business but knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do," she said.

How awesome to have that sort of blind faith in yourself and your dreams? Love it.

The store evolved into a career, and even though she sold the store she kept up her life as a cook, writer, and "Barefoot Contessa." (You can read more about her here.)

I was inspired and didn't want to talk about learning to cook anymore. I wanted to try it... again.

So I went to the local library and checked out what seemed to be appropriate for a rookie like me.
The Barefoot Contessa: Back to the Basics. I loved the opening pages-- it outlined the "Barefoot Contessa" philosophy:

Food can be simple and fabulous; entertaining should be easy, elegant, and fun.

I found this great interview she did with the Huffington Post -- her words better explain why I think this lady may be the key to bringing me out of the Cooking Darkness.

LM: For the novice who wants to start cooking, what basic utensils would you suggest they start with?

IG: A set of good sharp Wusthof knife. A KitchenAid mixer. A Cuisinart food processor. All-clad and Le Creuset pots. And a whole stack of half sheet pans.

LM: What one cooking tool or appliance do you use most often in your cooking?

IG: My knives.

LM: What are the most versatile ingredients that you keep on hand?

IG: My go-to ingredients to add flavor to things are: salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese, freshly squeezed lemon juice plus good vinegars and a drizzle of olive oil.

LM: What dish would you recommend to a greenhorn cook who is trying to master one dish, would you suggest any one dish to start with?

IG: Roast chicken. It's in my first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, with carrots, fennel and potatoes cooked in the roasting pan—it's an entire meal and it's absolutely delicious.

For me, it will be all about the baby steps. Yes, I've already gone to YouTube to find a demo on what exactly it means to "julienne" an onion. (It's here, and it's awesome). I have a few battle scars from Taco Salad night where I fought the iceberg lettuce and the lettuce won. But I am going to persevere and would like to thank N and "the B.C." for giving me the jumpstart I needed... it only took 29 and a half years.

I'll leave you with a few visuals to enjoy from the life of a Barefoot Contessa.

Her home as photographed for House Beautiful. Courtesy of Black Eiffel blog.

Mrs. Barefoot and Assistant (thanks N for the clarification)

Some samplings.

Ina's pal who I have incorrectly identified twice now. So-- I don't know his name, but he is mighty easy on the eyes and I like to stare at him when he's on the show.

4.07.2010

{ Springtime, the Only Pretty Ring Time }

"Every man and every living creature has a sacred right to the gladness of springtime."
- Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection

The Monet French Country House at Giverny, France

le blog de la mechante

I love the coziness of Christmas and guarantee of too much barbeque on the Fourth of July; but Easter tops my list of favorite holidays. The sunshine and flowers wake me up from a long winter's nap, and get me excited about all things new, fresh, and beautiful. I feel like it's God's way of rejuvenating the human spirit, in honor of the miracle of Easter.

This year, Springtime is particularly special because I'm getting to see the yard of my new home bloom for the first time. The previous owner was amazing and innovative in what she planted. Every day there seems to be a new surprise-- fresh mint and basil sprigs, a yellow bud peeking out of a shrub I thought was evergreen, or (my favorite suprise so far) a gorgeous blanket of pink, red, and white flowers on what I thought was a "dead" tree.

Time to celebrate the season! This is my ode to all that is new and gorgeous this time of year.