Coincidentally, the nail polish I chose for my toes had a food theme. Dubbed "Bloody Mary," it was made by a company called Nailtini that uses a martini glass for its logo. I thought it went quite nicely with my sunny yellow apron speckled with black olives.
Because Mathew is a creative writer and drinking buddy, I thought it'd be fitting to incorporate booze into his birthday treats. Though I cheated by using a Duncan Hines cake mix, I substituted Maker's Mark for the required water. Realizing that the corn syrup in my pantry had gone bad since the last time I used it to make milk chocolate frosting, I was sent into three minutes of cooking chaos. I didn't have time to run back to the store to buy the essential ingredient, and there was no way that I was going to waste 1.5 pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate. Fortunately, I watched a lot of MacGyver when I was a kid and aced AP chemistry in high school. So I mixed enough sugar with Maker's Mark to produce the necessary 1/4 cup of corn syrup. Because the alcohol was cooked off, the bourbon didn't overwhelm the cupcakes and frosting, which went well with the other drinks served at the birthday bash.
While other revelers sported T-shirts and shorts at Mathew's party, I gussied myself up in a dark purple silk frock by Michelle Mason, one of my favorite local designers who gives her elegantly tailored dresses, suits and pencil skirts a punk edge, without having to resort to skulls and crossbones. I think she creates all her clothes so that they can go well with ankle boots. At least, I always rock her stuff with my Ferragamo boots. I had warned the birthday boy and other friends that I had to leave the party early to head directly to my black-tie event in Beverly Hills. But they were still surprised when I showed up in my party dress. My friends know that I work for a fashion newspaper, but I don't think it registers with them that part of the job of being a style writer is having style and getting glammed up. Maybe they are too used to seeing me in shorts and capes. Or they think that I'm really an operative for the CIA and my "cover" is being a fashion reporter. Anyway, it was a late night as my photographer and I had to edit a lot of photos that suffered from the dim theatrical lighting used at the fashion presentation. So I missed the 1234567 celebration that Mathew had been planning. At 12:34 a.m. on May 6, 2007, the clock and calendar were cosmically aligned, for the first time in some 20 years. It'll be another decade or two before the numbers line up as such again. The upside for missing this historical moment was that I got edible swag from the gala: Boule's Camargue caramels made with fleur de sel from Brittany, France. I was especially happy to get this treat because one of my summer projects, other than growing lemongrass, is to master making caramel with fleur de sel. So the candylady from the Cheese Store of Silver Lake can take her maternity leave as long as she wants!
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