Ladurée Macarons

I haven't really had any cravings during my pregnancy, but if there's one thing that I can't stop thinking about lately, it's the lovely macarons (not to be confused with macaroons) from Ladurée. I think this is partly due to the empty Ladurée box sitting in my living room that I can't bear to part with. Everytime I see it I am transported back to memories of those heavenly, perfumed, morsels. I'm not usually one to get overly ecstatic about my food. I'm not a huge chocolate addict (don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, but I'm not one of those girls that "needs chocolate" or craves it particularly).

Anyway, there's just something about Ladurée's macarons that just sets them apart. But there doesn't seem a way to get them that doesn't involve a 9 hour flight (which, I suppose, is part of their charm). Anyway, I dearly wish that they would at least open one shop somewhere on this continent. Currently they have shops in Monaco, London, Tokyo and Switzerland. Would it kill them to open a shop in Seattle, San Francisco or Vancouver? Or even New York?

Hmm. Well, until then, I guess I'll just have to cherish the memories. And maybe try bribing friends to bring them back from overseas trips. And perhaps even learn to make a decent macaron myself!

A Baby Announcement!

Yes, yes, I have an announcement. My husband and I are currently expecting our first baby. Right now I'm 15 weeks and my husband and I are both extremely excited.

I have had an eerily symptom-free pregnancy. Aside from some tiredness and the occasional mood-swing (along with constant freaking-out-out-loud about the baby's health--thank you, Javier, for being so understanding!), I probably wouldn't have even known I was expecting! It's still a little shocking (and definitely reassuring) to go to the doctor's office and listen to the baby's heartbeat. It's very exciting, of course, but also a little hard to believe! (I've developed a lot more sympathy towards those women that claim they delivered a baby without even knowing they were pregnant).

The baby is due in October, and I must say I'm really looking forward maternity leave. Here in Canada we get an entire year, and I am so excited! Hopefully in between the sleepless nights I'll also have some more free time to blog and work on my writing--and maybe I'll even have some time to read!

I haven't decided yet if I will be starting a separate "baby blog" or not. I love reading other people's baby blogs, so I'm definitely toying with the idea. However, I'm not totally sure how much I'll have to say about motherhood! I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.

*Perhaps another symptom of pregnancy: I have started making up jokes in Spanglish, which make me laugh like crazy, even though I know it's positively loony. Early on in my pregnancy, I was watching Jeopardy with Javier and I got the answer (or is it the question?) wrong final Jeopardy answer wrong. In what I thought at the time was a brilliant bit of word play, I announced "yo perdi!" (Spanish for "I lost"), which sounds a lot like the word "Jeopardy." I think I laughed for an hour. Wow.

"Blood, Absinthe, and Aphorisms: New Currents in Aestheticism and Decadence"

If you're lucky enough to be in New York city at the end of this month, be sure to check out "Blood, Absinthe, and Aphorisms: New Currents in Aestheticism and Decadence." The conference is being held free of charge with no prior registration required at the City University of New York, New York, NY from April 30- May 1, 2009.

The conference will be bringing together scholars from various academic backgrounds "to examine aestheticism and decadence in late Victorian literature, art, theater, politics, and popular culture." Reginia Gagnier will be this year's keynote speaker and the opening roundtable will examine "What's New in Decadence and Aestheticism." Other speakers include Dennis Dennisoff, Joseph Bristow, Linda K. Hughes, Richard Dellamora, and Margaret D. Stetz. Topics covered include presentations on C. R. Ashbee and British utopias, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, and romanticism; Aubrey Beardsley and the art of the poster (that one sounds like a lot of fun!); Edward Carpenter and domestic interiors, and Black decadence in the work of M. P. Shiel.

The conference will be held at the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

For more information, check out the conference's website.

Sin and Salvation: Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision

For those of you in the Toronto area who have not yet had the chance to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario's current Pre-Raphaelite exhibit, there's still time! "Sin and Salvation: Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision" will be running until May 10, 2009. Sixty of William Holman Hunt's paintings are on display at the exhibit, including Isabella and the Pot of Basil, The Awakening Conscience and The Light of the World.




In addition to the paintings, the museum is also displaying the costumes that Hunt and his family used to pose for artworks (Hunt himself used to enjoy dressing up while he was painting--I saw a great photograph of him a while ago in full safari getup while he was painting The Scapegoat). It sounds like an amazing exhibit. I only wish I lived closer to Toronto!


For more information on the exhibit, please visit the Art Gallery of Ontario's website.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Announces Sequel to Phantom of the Opera

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has been busy working away at a sequel to his 1986 hit, The Phantom of the Opera. The sequel, entitled Love Never Dies, will premiere in London this fall and is slated for production in Toronto and Tokyo shortly thereafter.

Love Never Dies is set in Coney Island (of all places), and features an older Christine, her husband Raoul and son Gustav. Christine agrees to a "one night only" performance and everything goes terribly wrong...

I fell in love with Phantom of the Opera when I was fifteen. I heard the soundtrack to the musical at my friend Alisa's house and was entranced. After that I even managed to get my hands on the original book by Gaston Leroux, which I highly recommend, even though it's quite different from the musical. The book has a very recognizable Victorian Gothic quality to it, and reminds me a lot of Bram Stoker's Dracula (the writing style is very similar).

I'm looking forward to the new show, though I have my reservations about the Coney Island setting (which will probably be delightfully macabre). The music has already been recorded on a concept album, though no word yet on when the album will actually be available for sale. The word is that it might be released before the premiere, but I rather doubt it.

What do you guys think about a sequel to Phantom of the Opera? Would you be excited to see it? Are you worried that Andrew Lloyd Webber will damage the legacy of Phantom of the Opera with a sub-par sequel? Please weigh in.

You can read more about Webber's upcoming production on broadway.com.



Image courtesy Wikimedia.

A Good Children's Book is Hard to Find

I love illustrated children's books. When I was a little girl, my mother had a tremendous collection of gorgeous illustrated books that she would read to me. Now that I'm older, I can't help but to acknowledge what a profound effect they must have had on me. Through those books, I gained a life-long appreciation for beautiful art and beautiful words.

I'm not sure if my mother was just exceptionally gifted at finding beautiful books (which of course she was), or if children's books were just a lot better then (which I think they probably were). Whatever the case may be, I just have a very hard time finding well-written, beautiful children's books.

Yesterday I spent over an hour at our local independent bookseller and could not find a single book that I thought was worth getting. It was majorly depressing. I went through every single shelf in their children's department and I couldn't find anything that really spoke to my soul. Some of the books were okay (who doesn't love "The Hungry Caterpillar"?), but they certainly didn't speak to my imagination. The illustrations were either banal or downright bad. I did find some books by Demi Hitz which were quite pretty, and I was a little bit tempted by them. But overall, nothing really stood out. Oh...I also found a copy of "Bread and Jam for Frances", by Russell and Lillian Hoban, which I also love. (By the way, do any of you remember the Caldecott medals they used to have for kids books? Do they still do that in the States? I have not seen any awards on kids books here in Canada, though I'm not surprised, as the choice here seems pretty dismal).

My husband picked me up afterwards and we had a long conversation about the whole experience in the car. I decided that for now I'll just collect used illustrated children's books, and if I want to get good books for very young children, I may just have to write them myself! I'm ready to run out and get some coloured pencils and have at it...

Does anyone else with young children ever feel like there are no books for children that are worth reading? I would love to know if any of you have found great new children's books recently!

Cast of "Desperate Romantics" announced by the BBC

The BBC Press Office has finally released the casting information for their upcoming series, Desperate Romantics. Most of the actors historically inspired TV dramas are much better looking than their historical counterparts and I'm not complaining. However, the BBC definitely took some rather extreme artistic liberties with this one.

First up: Dante Gabriel Rossetti will be played by Aiden Turner. We all know that Rossetti was a bit of a lady killer, but he wasn't exactly top model material. The producers have chosen to gloss over this a bit and have chosen an impossibly attractive young man to play Rossetti. While I fail to see much of a resemblance between him and Rossetti (other than the fact that both of them have brown hair!), I'm pretty sure Rossetti would approve. After looking at his photograph, take a look at his self-portrait. Rossetti doesn't seem to have had a problem with portraying himself as more attractive than he actually was (though, in his defence I'm sure years of drug abuse had taken a toll on his boyish good looks in this photo).

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in the flesh


Rossetti's self portrait:


And finally, his cinematic alter ego :


Correction: it's not that Aidan Turner, it's this one:


(And thank you to whoever pointed out which Aidan Turner will actually be starring in Desperate Romantics! A little less soap-opera-ish and a lot more believable.)

And now for the rest of the cast.

Tom Hollander (who bears little resemblance to John Ruskin--for one thing, he's a bit chubby and Ruskin was practically anorexic) will be playing Ruskin, the famous art critic and patron of the Pre Raphaelites. This casting decision still makes sense to me,though, as Hollander often plays snobby, self-absorbed types. At the same time, I hope he doesn't overdo it. Ruskin was certainly interesting, even if he was obsessed with his work and had a rather odd way of relating to women.

In more casting news, Samuel Barnett will be playing John Millais, and Zoe Tapper will be playing Effie Ruskin (who later leaves Ruskin to be Mrs. Millais).

Amy Manson has been cast as Pre-Raphaelite "stunner" Lizzie Siddal, Sam Crane as Fred Walters and Jennie Jacques will play Annie Miller. Rafe Spall will also take a turn as PRB founding member William Hunt.

All in all, I predict that the script will be frothy melodrama and the cast will be easy on the eyes. Not a problem, as far as I'm concerned. There's no denying that the Pre-Raphaelites are ripe for soap opera-esque treatment. I just hope that the series will revive public interest in the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements.