Since Lily and Kai have both posted about their “go-to” fragrance choices, I suppose it’s only time I write about my longtime love affair with Jo Malone.

Sweet Lime and Cedar

Jo Malone’s French Lime Blossom has been one of my signature scents since first moving to New York post college. Light, fresh and clean, it’s the perfect understated daytime scent, and I wear it almost exclusively during my work week.

But for nighttime and weekends, well, ahem!  Let’s just say I crave something a bit more exotic.  After all, what girl doesn’t want something a bit more flirty for her play time?  Lately I’ve been alternating between Dior’s Addict and Tom Ford’s Black Orchid, but have been in the mood to try something new.  Well, lo and behold, Jo Malone has called to me once again in the form of their new Sweet Lime and Cedar line:

Inspired by the diverse flavors of Thai cuisine, this exotic scent balances zesty citrus fruits with aromatic leaves, delicate flowers, fragrant spices and nutty woods … sweet lime combines with delicate hints of jasmine and ylang ylang, coconut and the vanilla-like tonka bean. The addition of the of the nutty scent of pandanus leaf, the sweet yet sour character of tamarind and the aromatic warmth of cardamom complete this unexpected, tantalizing scent.

Tempted yet?  I know I sure was.

I recently had the pleasure of trying the Cologne version of the line. The ripe citrus lime and orange top notes are invigorating and lively, while the middle notes, filled with coconut, gardenia and jasmine, hearken to exotic beach destinations under blazing suns. It’s the perfect scent for Spring, a refreshing “pick-me-up” to awaken us all from the Winter doldrums.

Well, it was love at first sniff. You better believe I’m making room for this bottle in my new casa.

Sweet Lime and Cedar is currently available online, but if you have the chance to stop into a Jo Malone store, I say purchase there.  The stores themselves are just gorgeously designed and a delight in and of themselves, and since Jo Malone’s fragrances are actually made to be layered with one another you will get the full experience of spritzing to your heart’s content to find your signature combination.

The Sweet Lime and Cedar Composition:

• Top Notes: Kaffir Lime, Blood Orange, Pomelo, Passion Fruit, Spearmint, Pink Pepper
• Middle Notes: Clary Sage, Lavender, Coconut, Gardenia, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Coriander, Cardamom
• Base Notes: Cedarwood, Pandanus Leaf, Tonka Bean, Amber, Tamarind

My God, there are no words...

Okay, we can argue over whether I’m a gourmet, a gourmand, or just a plain old pig, but I LOVE food.  Sampling new food products and increasing my cooking repertoire is one of my favorite pastimes.  My most recent discovery?  Aux Delices Des Bois Black Truffle Butter from the handy grocery delivery services of FreshDirect. That’s right, I can get truffle butter delivered to my apartment.  God, I love New York.

If you like truffles, this is the perfect small indulgence, rich truffle flavor packaged in a form that you can add to just about anything.  They suggest eating it on vegetables, swirling a little into eggs, and generally using it to add an epicurean finishing touch to fine food.  I can tell you from personal experience that this turns even the humble English muffin into a gourmet experience that, topped with a poached egg, makes the perfect breakfast.  (In point of fact, I had just that this morning.)

Fresh Direct carries both the white truffle butter and the black truffle butter, but if you don’t have Fresh Direct, take a look in your local gourmet shop or order online at Earthy Delights.  For $7, it’s an indulgence that’s hard to beat.

Lily just apologized for having spent yesterday in a hung over mass falling half over the edge into her exhibit’s pond. I’m just going to step up right now and apologize in advance.  By Thursday afternoon, I anticipate being an incoherent puddle of goo, fit only to ooze slowly from room to room in my apartment, desperately seeking hydration.

Why?  Emma is coming into town on Wednesday for a flying 20-hour visit to the Big Apple, during which time she anticipates getting her hair cut, visiting three different fine dining establishments, and running me, Betsy, and anyone else available into the ground.  Let me say to begin with that Emma is fun.  Lots of fun.  You can’t imagine how much fun Emma is.  However, visits with Emma invariably leave you impoverished, with a headache the size of Texas, shaking with palsy in every limb, and vowing never to eat again.  At least until the next time she shows up. During her visit to the city last summer, a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was instituted with regard to our credit card bills and was much needed.  It worked for both of us (although I’m less sure as to how Em’s husband felt about it).   A typed three page schedule was necessary to keep track of all the reservations and important chocolate shop locations.

On the tentative schedule for this time around?  The bar at the Four Seasons, Roy Teeluck Salon, Caviar Russe, Sugiyama, and Balthazar.  We’ll be reporting back… but probably not until Friday.  Or maybe Saturday.  Wish me luck!

Diana the Huntress, on loan from the Musee du Louvre

I recently had the opportunity to check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Cast In Bronze exhibition, which runs through May 24.  I’m admittedly not the world’s greatest expert on bronzes, but this exhibit was FUN.  Why?  I took an artist with me.

If you’ve been following along, you may recall one of our special contributors is a friend of mine with a seemingly never-ending list of unusual hidden talents.  (Men!)  One of his less-hidden talents is that he’s an extremely gifted artist, and in particular, a sculptor. I highly recommend taking a sculptor to the museum as your personal tour guide.  Particularly if you can find a cute one.  (This last feature is unlikely to add utility to the exhibit itself given the presence of security guards, but I still recommend it from an aesthetic standpoint if you can manage it.) Since I’m guessing that might present a challenge for most people, however, I’ll do my best to share what I learned in my tour of the exhibit.

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Looking for something to do tonight, New Yorkers?  Hustle yourself over to the Jazz at the Lincoln Center website and make a reservation for one of Cyrus Chestnut’s last sets at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the Lincoln Center’s jazz club venue at the Time Warner Center.  Chestnut, one of the best jazz pianists playing today, never disappoints even when playing alone, but playing with pianist Eric Reed, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Willie Jones III, he can’t be beat.

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It’s amazing how much trouble two adventurous city girls can get in a mere half hour.  After our exciting adventures with five-figure jewelry, we headed straight over to the Chelsea Market’s rear entrance on 10th Avenue.

Coincidentally,Morimoto just happens to be right outside the Chelsea Market’s back door.  (I warn you, if you click the link, Morimoto’s website has possibly the most irritating animation design I’ve ever seen.)  Well, we’re both trying to eat healthier, but isn’t it one of the great things about New York that you can drop in to a famous restaurant for a drink when you want to?

White Lilies for our Lily

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As Lily mentioned, in the interests of bringing you all the best news, we recently sacrificed our bodies to science by making a pilgrimage into the city to sample the eateries at the Chelsea Market.  Somehow this turned into a shopping expedition as well.  If this surprises anyone, well, you don’t know the two of us nearly well enough yet!

Now, the idea was originally that we were going to grab lunch and not shop, but Lily wanted to take a stroll down 14th Street past the stores between 9th and 10th Avenues on the way. This is possibly the most dangerous stretch of the Meatpacking District for the susceptible.  Frankly, very few of those stores are at all affordable, but drooling through the windows at the Alexander McQueen and Hugo Boss never hurt a girl, did it?

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Nectar of the Gods

Ladies, I have a confession.  I have a sweet tooth.  I would take the stereotypical route and say that I have a sweet tooth the size of China, but really, I’m not sure that’s an adequate description for the magnitude of my sweet tooth.  If I am to be perfectly honest, my sweet tooth is more like Jupiter.  It hasn’t quite reached critical mass for fusion yet, but it ain’t that far either.  Before moving to New York, I satisfied the monster by baking a lot and having the occasional box of Godiva truffles, but while I still bake, New York has ruined me for lesser chocolate.  There are at least a dozen spectacular chocolate shops around here, and I have made it my mission to find and sample them all.

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Alexander Calder bracelet, circa 1948.

New Yorkers looking for a little culture this weekend might want to consider grabbing this last chance to check out the Calder Jewelry exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which closes March 1.   Although Calder is generally known for his mobiles and larger stabiles (including, for New Yorkers, his sculpture “Saurien,” which occupies the corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue), he was apparently well known during his lifetime for his output of wearable art, a total of approximately 1800 pieces of jewelry in brass, silver, and gold.  Jewelry-obsessed as I am, I checked it out a few weeks ago, and it’s well worth a look.

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Today is the anniversary of Ansel Adams’ birth (1902 -1984).  I could wax poetic about his contributions to photography, but I think I’d rather let his images speak for themselves:

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