Tiffany's Creative Force AT The Met

All photos: Carolyn

Recently my friend, Carolyn, and I returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Edward C. Moore Exhibition. As we learned from the Met, "Mr. Moore was the creative force behind the magnificent and inventive silver produced by Tiffany & Co. during the 2nd half of the 19th century."

"His is a tale of phenomenal artistry, ambition, innovation, and vision. In his drive to study and create beauty, Moore sought inspiration in diverse cultures and geographies." 

"He amassed a vast collection of artworks from ancient Greece and Rome, Asia, Europe, and the Islamic world with the aim of educating and sparking creativity among artists and artisans in the United States, particularly those at Tiffany."

"He believed American design could be transformed through engagement with historical and international exemplars, and his collection not only revolutionized Tiffany's silver but also came to influence generations of artists and craftspeople." 

Upon Moore's death in 1891, his family donated his collection of 2,000 objects and 500 books to the Met so they would be available to everyone. This exhibit presents 180 of the silver objects he created or that were created under his direction.

Before leaving the Met, Carolyn and I went up to visit a few VanGogh's. Everybody's favorite, the Impressionist gallery, is always a must-see at the museum!

On our way to the rooms, we took in other artists exhibited on the Met's 2nd floor. Extra points if you guess whooo?

Thanks, Carolyn, for giving me permission to publish your photos and for spending a lovely afternoon with me at the Met!🎨

Answers: 1) Frans Hals, 2) the great El Greco, and 3) Jacques-Louis David

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Homemade Applesauce

I turned a refrigerator crisper drawer full of apples into applesauce. We like apples but for an unknown reason didn't eat the apples. I gave some away and still had plenty of them left -- Gala, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Fuji, Baldwin, and Empire, as far as I could tell as I didn't select them. {I kept one Granny Smith (tart apples are my favorite) for eating.} While I didn't care for peeling and corking all those apples, I'm surprised and delighted by how delicious my homemade applesauce turned out! Here is my impromptu recipe:

Homemade Applesauce

Ingredients:

8 oz (1 cup) apple juice (without added sugar)

At least 5 lbs of apples (guessing, I used a crisper drawer full) - peeled and corked - just fill up a 10 oz - 12 oz stockpot.

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 

1/4 each teaspoon of ground and fresh nutmeg

1 tablespoon of ground pumpkin pie spice (substitute ground cloves and allspice if you wish.)

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon

A squeeze of lime (or lemon)

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

A sprinkle of Stevia

I tossed in cinnamon sticks (just because I had them. What am I going to do with them otherwise?)

Optional: Frankly I don't think it was needed, but I poured in a teaspoon of vanilla flavoring because it was in the cabinet. Cooking is like chemistry, and it's fine to experiment. Use my recipe as a guide - taste and spice to your liking.

Directions:

1) I threw the peeled apples into a big pot, followed by the apple juice, spices, and dark brown sugar.

2) On the stovetop I simmered the mixture on medium heat for one hour, let it cool a bit, then mashed it with a potato masher. You could also puree the cooked apples in a food processor or blender. I like a bit of texture.

3) After it cools completely, dip it into air-tight containers. Makes about 7 cups of applesauce.

We ate a still-warm portion in a bowl after dinner. Later I filled and put 2 16-ounce containers in the refrigerator and 1 16-ounce container in the freezer. I hear frozen applesauce is delicious partially thawed like a homemade slushy, which we're trying next!

Waste, not, want not! We won't have any trouble polishing off our apples as homemade applesauce.

Happy Autumn, Folks!🍎🍁🍂

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10 Face Moisturizers For Fall

1) 7E Wellness Restore

As fall descends upon us one of the first signs we may notice is the tightening of our skin especially on our faces. Summer humidity gets replaced by a dryer climate resulting in a dryer face.

Ceramide

With the change of season, you may have to add a moisturizer to your routine to combat the dryness. Two ingredients to look for in an effective face moisturizer are ceramides (fatty acids that are naturally in the skin) and hyaluronic acid (a  

Hyaluronan

chief component in connective tissue that helps the skin retain water). You should moisturize your face right after you wash it in the sink or step out of the shower to lock in moisture and on top of thinner face serums such as vitamin C (an antioxidant that lightens the skin), retinol, or bakuchiol (a natural retinol alternative for sensitive skin) if you use them.

2) Cocokind Ceramide Barrier Serum and 3) The Inkey List Bio-Active Ceramide

So let's learn (by clicking the brand names) about 10 new beneficial face moisturizers that help fight the dryness of autumn without breaking the bank.

4) Cerave Moisturizing Cream and 5) Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream

CeraVe (#4) and Cetaphil (#5) above👆 are what I use on all my skin including my face. Neither cream is heavy or clogs my pores, and I find each brand as pure, mild, and effective as moisturizing creams formulated expressly for the face. 

The more choices consumers have the better IMHO! Some moisturizers work better than others on different skin types --oily, combination, dry, or sensitive. It's also fun to discover and try new products. When we have options galore we can take full advantage of retail sales to never go without or spend more than necessary. If we know what to buy, when a budget-friendly favorite is out of stock, we can buy another budget-friendly favorite in stock. 

6) SimplyVital and 7) First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

None of today's examples cost more than $20 and the majority are less, with a few offering you extra ingredients like vitamins C, B5, E, etc. Still, without more research to compare concentrations in the right forms of a product, I'd turn to them mainly to moisturize. A moist face is also a younger-looking face!

8) Organic Manuka Honey Rescue Cream and 9) SeoulCeuticals Snail Muscin Moisturizer

#9 SeoulCeuticals cream is 97% snail mucin valued in Korean beauty as having anti-aging properties; manuka honey in #8, is hailed for its antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation causes the skin to wrinkle.

10) Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer with Ceramides and Hyaluronic Acid

Vanicream (#10) is a brand dermatologists praise and recommend as pure and suitable for all skin types especially sensitive skin.

The list could go on and on since nowadays there are a ton of fantastic budget-friendly moisturizers on the market. With choices galore, you need never empty a wallet to buy a great face moisturizer. Watch this space periodically for future skincare recommendations.

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3 Quiet Luxury Bags

I'm happy to have finished my teens and 20s before the logo designer bag craze began. My parents bought me well-made leather shoes that held up and later on I followed their example with handbags. Moreover, we didn't collect them, just bought them as needed. After spending a fortune, some luxury-obsessed fashionistas are waking up and feeling the sting of debt for the surface status and not necessarily the quality of the luxury bags they collect ... and luxe brands including Hermès, Dior, and Chanel are noticing shrinking profits (in 2023 - 2024) -- some critics say due to their arrogance and greed in mistreating loyal customers. A shame as we love the aesthetics of the high fashion labels.

Today I'm featuring 3 luxury quality leather bags that are pricey yet attainable and made by companies that don't play the designer bag games with consumers, namely a) by creating scarcity and artificial demand; b) while offering poor snarly customer service; c) by charging $1000s more than the worth of the bags, i.e., for a logo; and d) sometimes selling customers inferior quality while hiking up prices several times a year.

Today's 3 featured brands offer customers fairness and quality for their business!

Full disclosure: I love the leather and craftsmanship of the featured bags below👇, however, I'm not a handbag maven, myself, and don't own them. I'm happy with COACH. But if ever I see an unbelievable deal, I'll know to snatch up the following bags and you will too!:

1) Strathberry - I'm featuring the tote (👆top image) and East/West (👈left image), but as with the other 2 accessory makers, there are many bag styles for customers. All Strathberry bags take up to 20 days to handcraft by artisans in Spain. The style is simple elegant lines oftentimes completed by Strathberry's signature bar closure.

2) Pourchet - A French brand that began making bags in 1903. The classic bags in its collection are made of durable smooth calf leather with impeccable craftsmanship and timeless straight lines. The Trianon is perhaps the retailer's most popular bag. It's minis a few Alexander Hamilton's under $400 which is far less than competitor French luxury bags.

3) Le Tanneur - is another French leather goods merchant that has been stitching full-grain leather bags since 1898. The Emile bag above reminds me of Saint Laurent's best-selling Envelope bag for roughly half the price!

If you're a bag maven who is tired of being gauged and underappreciated by the flashy logo brands (whose practices seem to care more about taking your money than giving you quality, service, or the respect you deserve for your purchase) perhaps consider Strathberry, Pourchet, or Le Tanneur. Each makes gorgeous, exceptionally crafted bags (indeed not cheap), yet for thousands less!

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Healthy Fast Food

A skillet stew I make

If you're too busy or tired to cook dinner because your active life doesn't let you enjoy preparing meals anymore, here are 11 foods to have in your pantry at all times so you don't have to eat processed, unhealthy food or overspend on eating out. You'll have to have a few extra items in your pantry such as spices, fresh celery and onions, or soy sauce to flavor my list of 11 main go-to foods:

1) Bags of baby carrots - It took me years to make the swap from whole carrots that I had to clean, scrape, and dice to the bags of baby carrots. Yes, I know whole carrots last longer and cost less, but if already clean, cut, and easy to grab, you'll toss them into whatever other vegetables you're preparing for dinner.

2) A 5 lb bag of potatoes - I scrub and dry them then store them in the crisper drawer of my refrigerator. Food experts tell us not to refrigerate potatoes, but they last far longer refrigerated, and don't turn a poisonous green. I'm much more likely to grab a washed potato to bake, microwave, or toss into a stew.

3) Top-round London broil steak - It's very lean and requires braising to tenderize. Lately, I'll cube one-pound packages and freeze them to make a quick one-pot stew ready to eat in about 2 hours. Leftovers can be portioned and frozen for microwaving.

4) Frozen mixed vegetables -  Good in the stew, as well as, a variety of meals. Additionally, I want manufacturers to return lima beans to the mix. Who decided to remove them and why?!?

5) Good rustic grainy bread - Lucky me, I live near Fairway supermarket in NYC.

6) Your favorite cheese - I love most cheeses, but I always return to extra sharp New York cheddar. Another tip is to always keep a few good bottles of red wine in your home so if you have guests but don't have time to cook a whole dinner, you can still offer them filling and delicious food and drink.

7) I also keep a crisper drawer of fresh fruit - Apples, grapes, blueberries, pears, oranges, sometimes peaches, strawberries, or plums. Add the fruit to the wine, bread, and cheese along with nuts if you have them.

8) Skim milk - A staple in our house. Along with ...

9) Eggs - I buy 2 dozen eggs at a time.

10) Canned salmon and/or tuna - Another cupboard staple. In a can, each fish is fully cooked. You can turn salmon or tuna into sandwiches and the salmon into grilled patties -- one of the reasons stocking eggs is a must!

11) A 5 lb bag of all-purpose unbleached flour - To thicken a gravy or make a batch of biscuits, or pancakes, or French toast! 

These inexpensive foods make good snacks and fast meals. Fast food should always be real food. It doesn't have to be unhealthy, mean empty calories, or require a lot of work.

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Uniqlo's Pocketable UV Protective Parka

In 2010 I devoted posts to (1) What Every Woman Should Have in Her Wardrobe and (2) What Every Man Should Have in His Wardrobe. If I did a good job, my recommendations are still relevant. Today I'll add another essential article of clothing you could call an investment piece as it's so versatile. Once you have it, you can't go without it!

You'll wear it all autumn and spring. You'll also carry it if you need a light layer of protection against windy evenings on the beach; rainy days or nights out on the town; or indoor events with air conditioning. And best of all, you'll have it for many years to come since it's well-made.

What is this awesome, indisposable item that should be in every human's wardrobe? 🥁🥁🥁 Uniqlo's Pocketable UV Protective Parka.

I bought myself one 6 years ago for $29 and my senior mother one last week for $49.90. Alas, post-pandemic inflation, yet still worth the higher price. I've gotten six years and counting of wear out of mine.

The parka is boxy yet not sloppy. It complements pants, leggings, skirts, and dresses. The look is sleek and whatever you need it to be ... sporty, casual smart, or dressier than a sweater, which btw, you can wear underneath it to keep warm in late fall, or early spring. It has a hood, zipper closure, 2 generous pockets with zippers, and an inside mesh lining where I put supermarket flyers or newspapers I don't wish to carry by hand. The fabric is 100% polyester and it's machine washable. I have never had to wash my parka as it's never gotten dirty. Every year Uniqlo slightly re-designs its pocketable parkas, and this year's interpretation has a coating of sun UV 50 protection. Often the sizes aren't consistent from year to year so one year's x-large parka (or coat or sweater or bratop) may be the next year's medium. You must try it on to know. Consistent sizing from year to year is the one feature I think Uniqlo could improve upon in its Lifewear Collection of basics to make ordering online a surer thing.

The packable parka is so lightweight you can take it anywhere tied around your waist, on your arm, or rolled up in its very own little included pouch. I have never used my pouch either! Although of sturdy construction, the parka takes up zero space and adds zero extra weight lying on top of clothes inside a suitcase. The best $50 you'll ever spend!

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Are H2O+ Resort Products Any Good?

H2O+ shampoos, conditioners, and moisturizing lotions are familiar beauty products for anyone at a Disney resort. In 2022 after years of partnering with Pola Orbis Holdings LLC to distribute the products to its customers who stay at Disney hotels, Disney villas, and Disney Cruise ships, Disney bought the rights to the formula for the H2O+ products outright.

Freebies are nice, but it begs the question are the products any good? 

Before I answer the question, I'll share that the brand was founded in 1989 and once upon a time had a retail store on Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Back then, I discovered the brand on a lunch break when everything in Manhattan was new and exciting to a younger me. I sampled the sea-ingredient skincare on repeated jaunts during my lunch hours. The brand provides facial and body skincare and hair care with good clean ingredients.

After 33 years I understand why the company sold itself to Disney. Nowadays in addition to containing cleansers and moisturizers, retail skincare lines tend to be specialized to treat specific skin issues such as acne, rosacea, or aging. Beauty brands must invest continuously to keep up with the science of skincare. Since H2O+'s launch in 1989, the skincare industry has proliferated 1000-fold! You can now buy highly effective skincare in the aisles of your local drugstore for less.

H2O+ is primarily formulated to clean or moisturize, a perfect spa line for Disney to dole out at its resorts. You don't expect spa skincare products to contain industry-forward ingredients such as retinol, alpha-hydroxy acids, or bakuchiol as they wouldn't suit every chronological age or skin type. For a week you can make do with clean, gentle cleansers and moisturizers. 

I have 2 fluid-ounce tubes of 1) H2O+ Body Lotion; 2) H2O+ Sea Salt Hydrating Body Lotion; 3) H2O+ Marine Revitalizing Shampoo; and 4) H2O+ Salt Marine Collagen Conditioner. They all have the same clean, pleasant oceanside scent. No perfume.

The lotions offer gentle hydration without stickiness. The shampoo and condition feel clean leaving my hair soft and bouncy with no residue. If I can put my fingers or a shower comb through my hair in the shower sans tangles after applying a condition, I judge it to be good. This conditioner passes the test. 

If you stay at a Disney resort be sure to take your H2O+ skincare and haircare complimentary goodies home. They're too clean and good to leave behind! If someone else gives you their products, accept and use them. Basic yet quality ingredients!

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Sausage Gravy For Biscuits

Photo by Marg - Caymandesigns

On weekends after sleeping in, my family ate a breakfast (before the word "brunch" existed) of eggs, bacon, juice, coffee, and (I won't lie) canned biscuits. During the week we'd fend for ourselves. Monday - Friday I drank an Instant Breakfast (a protein and vitamin powder) stirred into a tall glass of milk. When I was in grade school my mom or dad had it ready for me by the time I came to the table. Unlike the weekends when we ate breakfast together, nobody was going to get up earlier than necessary to cook or eat a meal. To this day, we aren't morning people. Sleep rules!

As an adult, I learned to make homemade biscuits from scratch and never again bought a can of biscuits. On vacations, I ordered sausage gravy, which my mother never made. Delish! Here's how to make that as an occasional treat for a weekend breakfast.

Sausage Gravy

1 pound of sausage (Pork, beef or turkey)

1/2 teaspoon of fennel

1/2 teaspoon of sage

1/4 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon black pepper (24 turns of the peppermill)

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups milk (whole or whatever you buy. All work, but the more fat, the creamier)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1) In a skillet, break up the sausage into crumbs. Flavor with the fennel and sage. Brown the sausage until done. No need to drain unless there's an excess of grease. 

2) Toss in the flour, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Mix well. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes.

3) Slowly add the milk and Worcestershire sauce while whisking on medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer while gradually adding all the milk and continuing to whisk. 

4) After the gravy thickens taste and if needed add more salt or pepper. I like the taste of black pepper and a hint of heat in this gravy.

Round out your breakfast with eggs, juice, or fruit, and coffee. Check to see if your biscuits are ready to pull out hot from the oven. Bon Appetite, country style! 

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Timekettle WT2 Edge/W3 Translator

The Timekettle WT2 Edge/W3 Translator is one cool gadget! At $350.00, it's expensive and hard to justify purchasing unless you have a frequent use for it. But if you live, work, or go to school in a foreign country and aren't yet fluent in the language, these earbuds simultaneously translate 40 different languages, so you can use its Al technology to bilaterally understand and converse in a 2nd language in real-time! If you were to speak nonstop, an earbud plays the translation in another person's ear 5 seconds later so the two of you can experience a real conversion as if you spoke the same language. 

The manufacturer of the gadget says, "To make translation even more accurate, "WT2/W3 Edge earbuds use smart noise reduction to filter out distracting background noise, ensuring the message isn’t muddied." Moreover, it uses simul mode -- "share one translation earbuds with your partner, and both of your words will be translated into bi-directional communication," as well as, touch mode -- "tap the force sensor to activate voice pick-up and touch again to translate. Speaker mode: 1 earbud + 1 APP. Only one person needs to wear the real-time translator."

The WT2/W3 Edge portable language translator supports 40 languages and 93 accents for online translation. The technology also enables companies to support group chats and conferences remotely.

Wow, talk about unlocking the world to understand your
fellow humans! You can now debark an airplane across the pond and start communicating in a 2nd language right away. The Tower of Babel is a thing of the past!

I can see buying this device if you have inlaws who speak a different language, or your company transfers you overseas, or you decide to study abroad ... yet are still mastering the new language. For the rest of us, it's a pricey yet impressive and innovative toy to know about.

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