Wednesday 4 March 2009

I am visiting dovegrey reader for her birthday today


Please come and join me there! Or here, rather... It's dovegreyreader's 3rd birthday, and I have been celebrating it with her. Oh, and she's done a very nice interview with me about 'Daphne'... And here is my favourite recipe for the best-ever birthday cake from Nigella Lawson, as pictured above. The picture of the cake is from Nigella, I hasten to add, not from my kitchen. If only...

14 comments:

Juxtabook said...

Lovely interview. In the midst of your personal difficulties I hope you are getting a nice self-confidence boost from knowing ho much pleasure your work brings to people.

Justine Picardie said...

Thank you. Am feeling like a total failure most of the time, to be honest...

kairu said...

I know I can't stop you from feeling like a failure (however very much I want to) but I do wish I could send you dozens of fine linen handkerchiefs to weep into (balls of soggy Kleenex are so disheartening, although if you could get your hands on some Tempo tissues, they are thick and soft, like weeping into multi-ply cashmere).

Having finished Heartburn I have moved on to Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck, which is lovely and cheering, like the thick chocolat chaud that came with a separate dish of whipped cream I had at my local French café on the way home from work today.

Apropos of nothing, I remember that Helmut Lang coat you wrote about in My Mother's Wedding Dress. I saw it on the pages of some fashion magazine; I thrilled to Lang's detailed minimalism. A year later I found myself in New York, and happened to come across the daunting cave of the Helmut Lang store, and tried on a perfectly cut coat of deep charcoal wool; it made me look like a chic French schoolgirl. (At $1200 it was my entire year's allowance, unthinkable for a college student). I still think about that coat, even though I eventually found an even better one, an equally perfectly cut Jil Sander wool coat that wraps me in a sort of slouchy insouciance, elevating my my cords and grubby sweaters to something resembling style.

Justine Picardie said...

Kairu, thanks for your message. I spent most of last night in tears, sobbing into my pillow, which is very soggy this morning. So glad you liked the chapter in 'My Mother's Wedding Dress' about the Helmut Lang coat. I still think about that coat, too, but like you, moved on. I do so hope that as with coats, so with men, though right now, I'm possibly safer in a warm coat than with a cold-hearted man.

kairu said...

Dear Justine, you are reminding me of those scenes in Something's Gotta Give where Diane Keaton is sobbing uncontrollable. Onscreen, it is pure comedy; I suspect in real life it is more tragic (or at best, tragicomedy). Unfortunately, I have not the means to send you Keanu Reeves in consolation.

Interestingly, the relationship between Erica and her ex-husband in the movie is at least partly based on the director's relationship with her ex-husband; they worked together during and after their marriage.

GlassCurls said...

Dear Justine - just wanted to say that I hope your talk in the Lakes went well today, and that their beauty went some way to helping restore your equilibrium. Like Kairu, I wish I could send you something comforting to help - you shall have to make do with my best wishes!

Justine Picardie said...

I didn't get to the lakes today. I was drowning in a lake of my own tears.

GlassCurls said...

I'm so sorry, Justine. You're in my thoughts, and to me, you're far from being a failure.

Lou said...

I'd like to echo the sentiments of Kairu and Oxford Reader.To all your fans out there (and I'm sure your friends and family)you are far from a failure.

StuckInABook said...

One day someone will invent a method for eating the pictures of food you see on computers...

I made a chocolate cake yesterday, but compared to this mine looks like a slab of mouldly stone...

Justine Picardie said...

We need a 21st century Willy Wonka -- it's a completely brilliant idea, to be able to reach into the computer and eat what is on the screen. Mmm, chocolate cake...

kairu said...

Well, now I know I want chocolate cake, and I have none in the house. None! It is a tragedy, I tell you.

Jill said...

Your books, blog and column in the paper are so enjoyeable and clever. You are a real talent and treasure. You have to know that men who leave/cheat are all about themselves it is not about our "failings" no matter what they tell you. My ex told me he had stopped loving me the second year we were married after 23 years and 4 children. I took comfort in getting know other wonderful women who were in the same boat. It took me an ocean of tears to figure things out, also a truck load of pastries and chocolate. Watch the heartburn though I ended up having to take Rx meds for it, now I am dieting and must have my gall bladder removed this year! Sort of symbolic of removing the last vestiges of "his" influence.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday dovegreyreader!!!!

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