Manolo says, the Manolo’s friend Erik discusses the aging of meat at home at the Manolo’s Food Blog.
This bit of aging made a wonderful roast. Very tender, with a mellow but full beef flavor. Tasting this you realize that the regular roasts have a much more watery flavor at the same degree of doneness.
And now, you must go read the whole thing
Manolo asked, whose shoes?
Manolo answers, it is the Kate Middleton!
Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friend, the Klee, who was the first to correctly identify the winner of the Sloane Ranger Sweepstakes!
And, yes, as the Manolo’s internet friend the Long Island has noted, the Kate needs to diversify her shoe collection. It is filled with nothing but black and the occasional beige.
Manolo says, the Eve of the New Year’s, it approaches! And you will undoubtedly need the beautiful shoes in which to trip the fantastic light, shoes that are sparkly and festive, such as the Tryst from Stuart Weitzman.
Manolo says, it is Tuesday, time to see what the Manolo is…
Just before the Christmas, the Manolo had the pleasure of accompanying some young friends to the new Disney Rapunzel movie, Tangled. He is happy to report that he found both the outing and the movie to be delightful.
Two things about this movie were exceptionally gratifying to the Manolo. The first is that the screenplay was unburdened by the endlessly annoying and out-of-the-place pop cultural references and adult-oriented jokes so common in most children’s movies today. In the other words, there was none of the tiresome Shrek Dreck, those catty references to assorted pop divas and their many problems.
The second gratifying thing, was that the actors in Tangled were chosen for the expressive quality of their voices, not for their fame and/or stunning good looks. Yes, the Mandy Moore and the Zachary Levi, the leads, are moderately well known, but they are not the big, big stars, and this is the good thing.
The recent trend in the animated movies has been to use the muy famosos to provide the voices for the cartoon characters, thus reducing the sort of work that has customarily gone to the character actors.
This is bad. Not only because the Manolo counts among his Hollywood friends many, many character actors, but also because such actors are usually superior in talent to their more beautiful, and more famous co-workers.
Consider, now, two movies:
Manolo says, outside it is 206 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), and the snow is piled fifteen feets deep on the sidewalks, drifting to twenty-seven feets in the places.
But you have to go out to the Duane Reed because you need the milk, the toilet paper, the cat food, and maybe some smoky taupe eye-liner, because you have just read something at one of the beauty blogs, and you only have the smoky bisque color on the hand.
But you are in the quandary, because your flimsy, unlined rain boots, in the pinkish color, will not keep your feets warm. And the only other suitable feetwear are the fugly moon-boots you brought with you from Wisconsin, and you need to look your best, because you have heard that many of the major banks are closed because of the blizzard, and you suspect that there will be the hunky young investment bankers on the streets, having the spirited snowball fights. (This is Manhattan, yes?)
If only you had bought something practical and stylish, something like these Karisse boots from La Canadienne.
These are the sort of toasty-warm, weatherproof, feminine boots that, paired with the right smoky taupe eye treatment could win the heart of even the most jaded wunderkind.
Ayyyy! And look! They are on the sale! More than $115 of the American dollars off of the usual price!
Snow in Central Park, December 27, 2010
“Winter then in its early and clear stages, was a purifying engine that ran unhindered over city and country, alerting the stars to sparkle violently and shower their silver light into the arms of bare upreaching trees. It was a mad and beautiful thing that scoured raw the souls of animals and man, driving them before it until they loved to run. And what it did to Northern forests can hardly be described, considering that it iced the branches of the sycamores on Chrystie Street and swept them back and forth until they rang like ranks of bells.”
Manolo says, it is Monday, and you are NOT back at your desk, NOT slaving away for the man.
You were supposed to be back in the office this morning, as surely as the sun rises in the Easterly direction, doing your bit to increase the bottom line of MarScro International, the privately held company with interests in the manufacturing, importation and marketing of such diverse products as the lead-based Chinese toys, powdered Sudanese baby formula, and Liberian-made cellphones.
You were supposed to be back at the work, but on Christmas Day, shortly after nine in the morning, you received the strangest phone call from the CEO, Mr. S., himself, the eccentric billionaire famous in the financial press for driving the 1962 Nash Rambler (which he purchased new), and for chasing business reporters away from his decrepit three-bedroom home with the walking stick.
It was the strangest call, because the perpetually sour, old Mr. S. sounded giddy, perhaps even drunk, shouting “Merry Christmas”, and weepily thanking you for being such the faithful employee. And then he gave you the week off, followed by the big raise.
At that point, you became certain that the phone call was some lame practical joke, that this was not really the CEO, but rather some co-worker playing the cruel trick upon you.
“No, no, my dear lady. I assure you it is I.”
“But, sir, it may sound like you, but…but….”
“But, it is not my usual behavior? Not my custom to give raises to valued employees?”
“Yes, sir. Not your usual behavior.”
“Well, let us just say that I am a changed man, that from this day forth, I shall know how to keep Christmas well.”
And then he asked about your son.
“And how is little Tom?”
“He’s fine, sir.”
“Is he? The last I saw of the boy he was in a leg brace, so pathetic.”
“No, sir, he’s fine now. He’s a sophomore at Johns Hopkins, on a lacrosse scholarship.”
And then you remember that Tommy had come into the office the few years ago, on crutches, right after he had hyperextended his knee in the scrimmage against the varsity team.
When you finally hung up, “Merry Christmas!” and headed back into the family room to finish the opening of the presents, you were still not sure it had really been him.
But this morning, while you were sitting in the kitchen, drinking the coffee and debating whether or not you should get dressed and go into the office, the doorbell rang.
You pulled your housecoat tight around you, and went to the door, where you discovered the courier standing on the front step. He said your name. You signed the receipt. And then he handed you the thirty-five pound turkey, together with the envelope containing the fancy Christmas card and the substantial, year-end bonus check, with the words “Merry Christmas!” scrawled in the spidery script on the subject line.
And now, you are sitting at your computer thinking about getting some new shoes…
Something like these Maestro Manolo Blahnik Clausado D’Orsay Pumps in this rich blue color…. You have certainly earned them.
Crystal Harris and the corpse of her great-grandfather.
Manolo says, in today’s big news: Elderly Gentleman Hires Busty Home Health Aide.
Hugh Hefner’s Christmas was extra, extra jolly this year: He’s engaged again!
The Playboy founder, 84, is engaged to Crystal Harris, his 24-year-old girlfriend and Playmate, a Playboy rep confirms to UsMagazine.com.
Hefner first Tweeted about it on Sunday. “When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears,” the Girls Next Door star wrote. “This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory…I got what I was hoping for for Christmas…Crystal’s love.”
“and mashed peas, daggummit! Mashed peas and apple sauce and someone to help change my bed pans.”
P.S. Senex Amator & Senex Amator, Oscar Edition!
P.P.S. Senex Amator???
Manolo says, if you were wondering what became of Virginia…
Virginia O’Hanlon as an adult embraced the recognition and modest fame that came with her part in inspiring “Is There A Santa Claus?” (She once said in jest that she was “anonymous from January to November.”)
The editorial, she told an interviewer in 1959, when she was 67, “gave me a special place in life I didn’t deserve. It also made me try to live up to the philosophy of the editorial and to try to make glad the heart of childhood.”
She occasionally read the editorial at Christmas programs, as she did in 1933 and 1937 at Hunter College, her alma mater. Virginia earned a bachelor’s degree there in 1910 and a master’s degree two years later at Columbia University.
She was a teacher in the New York City schools, and became a principal at a school for handicapped children after earning a doctorate from Fordham University in 1935.
At her retirement in 1959, the New York Times observed that Virginia was “one of those rare persons whose given name alone has instant meaning for millions.”
There is yet more at the New York Times, including this charming picture of the young Virginia…
Manolo says,
The Manolo wishes you the most super fantastic of holidays, warm and happy, with friends and family, good food and wonderful gifts!
