The September Issue 2017

For me, the fall season starts with the arrival of Vogue's September issue. Mine squeezes into my tiny mailbox in mid-August. Usually the cover is a surprise, but this is Vogue's 125th Anniversary year so the cover was plastered all over their social media all summer. If you're really into Vogue and collect the Septembers, you can get an Anniversary edition: a boxed magazine with a painted cover that will only set you back $250.

Vogue September 2017 by the Numbers

1" thick

Weight 3 lbs

774 total pages (getting slimmer)

Cover girl: Jennifer Lawrence (this issue has 4 covers actually. Christian Dior shirt shot by Bruce Weber in black and white is the actual cover, but Vogue calls is Cover 2.)

565 pages of ads

103 pages before the First page of Contents

629 pages before the First Editorial

666 pages before the First Article (it being Oprah of course)

1 book excerpt - Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. Depressing, of course.

There is a Happy Birthday Vogue section that spans 148 pages (which is basically ads with Happy Birthday plastered on them. Except for Marc Jacobs, who's in drag.) Best one: The Row - the Olsen Twin's insanely successful line - which simply said Happy Birthday in plain san serif type on the right side of a 2-page white spread.  89 companies wished Vogue Happy Birthday.

DMD Kitchen: Rhubarb Galette

I've always loved rhubarb since I was a little girl. It grew in dense bunches in the garden rows in Estonia where I spent my summers - deep red, with dark gnarly looking leaves. We've always made compote with it, it's was quite refreshing on the hot evening after a day spent on the beach by the sea.

I suddenly had a taste for it recently, only decided to make a dessert with it. I settled on a galette, rhubarb shouldn't be anything complicated and it definitely should be a rustic easy dessert. Try to find the thin stalks, deep in color. If you're stuck with thick ones, cut them in half length-wise first. Slice until the green part, don't use the green. I taste a little piece first to see how tart it is. And never ever touch the leaves (interesting fact: they're poisonous)

Rhubarb Galette

2 C rhubarb chunks (about 1/4inch thick)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2C sugar
1/4C AP flour
1t vanilla
2t orange zest
Juice of 1/4 fresh orange (can be substituted with water if rhubarb is sweet, about 1T)
1 small egg
1T raw sugar

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with two pieces of parchment paper. Roll out puff pastry on the parchment, smooth out any seams. I run a roller over it just to make it nice and smooth. In a large bowl, mix rhubarb with zest and vanilla. Add sugar and flour, stir together. Squeeze the orange (or use water) over the mixture, continue to mix. The juice will help the flour and the sugar coat the rhubarb instead of settling on the bottom of the bowl.
Pile the rhubarb mixture into the center of the puff pastry, leaving about an 1.5in to fold over. Don't worry about making a large mound, it will all cook down. Fold over the pastry, it will pull and stretch so you can cut off the extra dough if it suddenly starts looking like a calzone instead of a tart. Mix the egg with 1T of water to make an egg wash, brush the top of the pastry covering all the dough. Sprinkle the dough evenly with raw sugar. 25 minutes in the oven (or until the dough is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. I set the timer and went outside on the patio, totally forgetting about the oven so mine so it was longer than 25 mins). The tart will puff up while baking and the filling might bubble over a bit. It deflates as it cools. Cool completely. I let it sit on the baking sheet until the steam died down from the filling, then moved it to the cooling rack. Can be served with a scoop of vanilla gelato, but I like it just the way it is.

Bon Apetit!

15 Little Ways to be Chicago North Shore

Lake Michigan, Highland Park.

1. Start your morning with a Venti Starbucks. Your order has to be very complicated.
2. Wear no makeup.
3. Spend an obscene amount of money on throw pillow. Charge them to your husband's card.
4. Spin and yoga are your life.
5. Lululemon and The North Face are the only two brands capable of producing clothes.
6. Honk every time someone dares to stop at a red light.
7. Every major religious holiday, host exactly 40 people to a sit down meal. Of course your meal is either catered or came from Sunset.
8. Drive an enormous Infiniti SUV. In white.
9. Wear an iWatch. Or at least a FitBit.
10. Every school break depart to sunny and warm places.
11. Summer = camps.
12. Raise philanthropic children.
13. Fundraisers rule.
14. Drive like an Italian: green - go! Red - maybe, and only if you feel like it, slow down. Yellow - what is yellow?
15. Never leave the North Shore.

The Best and Worst Dressed of Oscars 2017

Oscars 2107... well, someone at PricewaterhouseCoopers is packing a cardboard box right now. But hey, we actually got something interesting to watch after hours of snooze fest.
The red carpet was a snooze fest too. I might have to start a Boring category (but then it would be everyone). Below are rather slim pickings:

Best Dressed List

Taraji P. Henson in Alberta Ferreti. In a very fluid navy velvet. Hollywood glamor, hands down. My top favorite of the night.

The Best and Worst Dressed of Golden Globes 2017

Oh goody, goody, it's that time of the year again - Awards season!
First let's do a little recap: the leftovers from last year's Met Gala made an appearance (all that silver and gold and belts and zippers... last year ladies, last year). It's still breasts galore and you can clearly tell who was a natural and who was a plastics miracle. We now know who works out and who has their cake first and Spanx later. We also can tell whose dresses were borrowed and who has enough style clout to have one made-to-measure (the hem is a dead giveaway: hitting the floor just perfect and the dress was made for the woman, pooling all over the ground as she teeters on sky-high platform stilettos and trips while walking up the steps... borrowed).
I'll start with The Worst.

Worst Dressed, Golden Globes 2017

SJP in Vera Wang. I don't even know where to start! Some said it's bridal, or an homage to Princess Leia with the braid and the white and the sleeves (which you really want to just rip off!), I call it a one hot mess. She would've been a lot better off with a bird on her head, at least we'd get that.
(P.S. the same sleeve fiasco appeared on another Vera Wang gown worn by Heilee Steinfeld. I think it's time for Vera to hand over the reins to someone else.)