Fall Fashion Must-Haves

Michael Kors Leather Jacket - Currently in stores for $450

Yes, I do realize I advised in my last Closet Goddess blog entry that it was too early to go shopping for Fall clothes because trends are not yet fully established and you want to wait and see which runway trends actually stick before you buy.  However, somebody's got to do the dirty job of getting out there and testing the waters, so it may as well be me.

The good news is that in the course of this weekend's mall excursion I gathered some good intel to share--particularly as it pertains to key season must-have accessories. The focus here are investment pieces--the items you'll be wearing frequently, if not every day, and get good mileage out of during the coming months.

If you are anything like me, you don't have unlimited funds to spend on threads, so your best bet is to pick what  you want to be your neutral color scheme early on in the season and plan to buy your "anchor" pieces in these hues--so that later on you can build the rest of your wardrobe and color accent pieces around them. My own neutral foundation choice this season is the combination of gray and fawn. With that said, let me show you what I am building upon, most of which I found over this weekend:

A Kick-Ass Leather Jacket
After looking around for a while for the next addition to my outerwear collection, I went with this fawn-hued leather beaut from Michael Kors. She's hooded, zippered, and fitted just right to make me look like a fashionable badass on my free time. As you shop for outerwear, look for the details--such as the stitching, buttons, lining, etc.--they make all the difference! In this case the quilted shoulder and cuff details  along with the oh-so-luxe gold hardware were what had me at hello.

It's all in the details when it comes to outerwear

Suede Platform Booties
The high heeled platform bootie is the season's hottest footwear trend. My pick is the "Lesly" bootie from Michael Kors--they come in several colors and finishes (suede, leather or reptile), and are basic enough in design to go with just about everything in your closet, from skinny jeans to opaque tights and pencil skirts.

Michael Kors "Lesly" booties, currently in stores for $220

A Touch of Fur
Please, make sure it's faux fur. I realize this directive is in conflict with the last two items I just highlighted, both made of leather-- but leather usually comes from cows, and we eat cows. We don't eat fox or mink--and to kill one for its fur alone is downright wrong. In this vein, a faux fur vest is what first comes to mind as a go-to trendy piece this season...but a scarf is the most versatile if you're looking to have something that you can wear in cold weather with a coat, or in milder weather as means to add visual interest to a sweater.

MK faux fur scarf currently in stores for only $59.50 (it's also available in a minky brown!)

Wrist Candy 

So this post so far has been biased in favor of Michel Kors' merchandise, but how can you blame me when the stuff is so affordable and so hot?  These days MK is the girl-on-a-budget's version of Burberry. More so, a watch is an accessory you wear just about every day, so why not pick one you love? I've had my eye on this MK tortoise and gold tone watch for a while...Right in line with my "anchor" color scheme, it's bound to take me far into the Fall season, if not all the way through the Winter.

My watch pick this season, an MK tortoise design currently in stores for $250. The multi-toned metal cuff bracelet and starburst stud earrings are from The Limited, both under $40

A Classic Handbag with all the Bells and Whistles 
In all truth, I jumped on this Louis Vuitton handbag when I visited Boston last month--and it pretty much determined what my Fall wardrobe was going to be built upon--i.e., shades of brown. A luxury handbag may be expensive, but when you consider that you'll be wearing it every day straight for a few months and do the math as to what the cost-per-day boils down to, chances are it's cheaper than the average blazer or designer jeans you're only wearing once every couple of weeks. So go ahead and splurge guiltlessly.

 This handbag currently in LV stores, retailing for about $1,500. The matching wallet is $600, and  the flower clip- on charm is about $500

Cool Sunglasses
Just like a watch and a handbag, chances are your sunglasses will be an everyday item. I personally dig aviator style shades--they look good on most face shapes and have a bitchy badass cool look to them. Again, MK is my choice this season for aviators--so crazy affordable and stylish all at once.

MK aviators, a bargain for $99 -- Currently in stores

What colors and wardrobe pieces do you plan to make your anchors this season?

Food Styling Tips for the Home Cook

It's no secret that we experience food with our eyes as much as we do with our taste buds. I think we can all agree on the fact that our most memorable meals not only tasted delicious, but also looked it. Professional chefs have known for ages that the aesthetic appeal of what's on a dinner plate often influences our perception of its flavor, and the right presentation has the ability to elevate food from being just a meal to being an experience.

Sure, Michelin-rated restaurants and celebrity chefs have raised the concept of food styling to nearly architectural standards--but that doesn't mean it cannot be applied to home cooking.  Keep in mind nobody expects a home cook like you or me to be able to build an Eiffel tower out of crystallized caramel drippings to place atop our flambé dessert. The fact is you don't even need to know what the hell the term flambé means to make your tasty home-cooked meals that much tastier and enticing by following these four simple, basic food styling rules:

Rule #1: Think of Plates as Fashion Accessories for your Food
The dish you choose is the canvas for your culinary artistry. Make it a point to have more than one dishwasher-safe set in regular rotation. This allows you to match the meal to the plate, just as you would match different pairs of shoes to different outfits. If all you own is one set, it's never too late to start collecting. No need to spend a fortune, either. My favorite places to hunt for unique plates, bowls and serving trays are bargain stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx--where you can often find dishes sold individually, which allows you to build coordinating sets or mix and match at will for a fraction of the price you could pay at other stores. Oh, and one last thing please: ditch the paper plates. Your home-cooked meals deserve to be treated with dignity.

I scored these Tiffany-blue crackled enamel beauties at Marshall's for about $3.99 a piece

Rule #2: It's All About the Plating! 
Don't just pile it on--save the sloppy mountains of food on a plate for those in line at Golden Corral. You want the serving size to be balanced in proportion to the dish you serve it on...aim for at least one third of the plate's total surface to be visible after you're done placing the food on it. Always lay the food down carefully, using kitchen tongues or other food handing utensils if need be to deliberately arrange the meal's different components. Even a humble chicken stew can look like a Top Chef creation if the carrots and potatoes are beautifully laid out on the plate.

Coq a Vin Stew

Rule #3: Garnish the Power of the Garnish
Keep fresh herbs handy, or better yet, grow your own. Not only will they infuse your recipes with the lovely flavors and aromas that dried herbs don't even come close to matching, but they can also be used to add just the right amount of pretty to a plate. A couple basil leaves here, a rosemary sprig there, and chopped parsley everywhere. Mint leaves, berries and chocolate shavings are no-brainers for desserts. Lemons and limes are always good to have handy as well. Just slice them up, then place strategically on the plate and you've got yourself a spruced up meal guaranteed to elicit all sorts of ooooohs and aahhhhhs!

A plain slice of cheesecake gets a little help with just a drizzle of rasperry licquour, berries and mint

Rule #4: Wipe It Off
You've come this far, so don't skip this step. Before you serve your meal to your anxiously awaiting audience, do what the pros are trained to do from Day One of cooking school, which is simply to grab a clean paper towel and wipe off any unwanted sauce or food drippings that may have landed on the plating surface detracting from the presentation.

Now you're ready to share and enjoy all the effort and love you've put into creating a beautiful meal. Just pull up a chair and watch their faces light up in anticipation of what's sure to be a spectacular treat. And then tell them they can thank you later by doing the dishes :-)

Portuguese Caldo Verde Soup Recipe

If you grew up in Southern Europe or are closely acquainted with someone who did, you already know where this is going. For every bit of good fortune involved in having had the privilege of experiencing such vast cultural wealth, there is a price to pay--a curse of sorts. That curse is being destined to become restaurant food snob by the time you reach adulthood.

This doesn't mean that we expect every restaurant meal that touches our lips to be cooked in the classic French method, or be topped with truffle shavings and caviar. Instead, it means we grow to be very picky about what we expect restaurant meals to measure up to, starting with the quality of raw ingredients. Anything previously frozen, mass-grown, or hormone fed just isn't worth paying premium for.

Double the odds if you grew up with a really, really good home cook--and you learned a lot of what you know from them. In that case, it's nearly impossible to eat a restaurant meal without breaking it down in your head and coming up how you would have made it better at home for a fraction of the cost. In short, we become the culinary version of that annoying friend who's unable to sit through an action film without pointing out which explosions, car chases or gun fight scenes are not consistent with what would actually happen in real life. We totally buzz-kill your Olive Garden experience.

Caldo Verde

To spare myself--and my dining companions--that agony, I often choose to cook and eat at home. More so if the cravings call for the sacred, iconic comfort foods of my childhood.

One such meal is Caldo Verde (which best translates as "Green Soup" from Portuguese). This soup is to Portugal what Miso soup is to Japan. If you're dining at a traditional Portuguese restaurant you can expect the Caldo Verde to come with your meal (just like Miso would come with your sushi), whether you planned to order it from the menu or not.

Second only to Bacalhau (salted cod), this humble little soup sits proudly in the hall of fame of dishes that make up the very foundation of traditional Portuguese cuisine. If you are curious about this Caldo Verde thing, keep on reading for the recipe--it's super affordable, easy, and quick to prepare (about 45 total minutes from start to finish, including prep and cooking time).

The Ingredients

Gather and Prep Your Ingredients:

For 6 servings, you will need about 5-6 medium potatoes (peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes), a yellow onion (diced), 3 or 4 minced garlic cloves, a big bunch of collard greens or kale (sliced into thin ribbons), a Kielbasa sausage (sliced, about 1/2 inch thick), plus high quality olive oil and sea salt. For an even healthier version, you can substitute with low-fat turkey sausage.

Roll the greens in order to slice into "ribbons" more easily

Get Cooking: Brown the sausage in olive oil. Once done, remove and set aside in a bowl. This is a single pot meal--and for this I prefer the cast iron type, but any old pot large enough to hold 8 cups of water (plus all the ingredients listed above) will do.

Next, sauté the garlic and onion together with a little extra olive oil until translucent golden. Then, add about 8 cups of water and salt to taste. Add the cubed potatoes now too. Boil gently for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

PANTRY QUEEN TIP: Use chicken broth instead of water or add meat-flavored bouillon for a more robust broth. My favorite extra ingredient for this recipe is a Goya ham-flavored seasoning packet (or two), which perfectly compliments the porky flavor of the sausage. If your local store doesn't carry Goya products, Knorr beef bouillon is also a good choice for this dish.

My "secret" ingredients for a little extra flavor

Once the potatoes are cooked, it's time to add the sausage previously set aside, but before you do--mash some of the potatoes by hand or, better yet, if you have an electric arm blender, then just give it a few quick pumps to release a little extra broth-thickening starch into the soup before reintroducing the sausage to the mix.

The sausage provides enough protein to this soup to make it worthy of "main course" status at your table

Mash some of the potatoes for thicker broth consistency, but don't go overboard!

Now you're ready to add the greens. If you use the entire standard-size bunch of winter greens found at most grocery stores, it may seem like you're using too much, but relax--they will wilt and reduce in volume as they cook. Bring the whole thing back to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes. Boom, you're done.

Collard greens are closest to the traditional recipe, but Kale will work just as well 

Serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil and crusty bread with butter. The Portuguese like to add a little glug of wine vinegar to give it a kick (and the acidity in the vinegar serves to balance the starchy and porky components)--but if that seems too weird, just add some fresh ground pepper or a dash of hot sauce to your taste. Portuguese wine of the "Vinho Verde" denomination pairs beautifully with this soup, as does Spanish Albarino or even a dry sparkling Cava (Brut).

Enjoy--and let me know how it turns out!

The finished product - perfect with crusty bread rolls and a crisp, lively Iberian white wine

For an alternative version, check a similar recipe out at www.epicurious.com

Your Guide to The Status Handbag

The Dior handbag that started my addiction in 2007

There's something magical about a new luxury handbag--I'm talking about the moment you walk it out of the store, all bundled up and carefully packaged like a precious little newborn going home from the hospital. Then, there's that other magical moment, when you wear it in public for the very first time--akin to stepping out on the red carpet with the hot celebrity all your friends are fantasizing about.

Appropriately termed "Status Handbags," they've become an indispensable part of our wardrobes. If you're an American female, regardless of tax bracket, age or ethnic group, chances are you've got your eye on a favorite designer handbag that you're saving up to buy. With that in mind, let's own up to our 21st Century obsession with purses and consider the three main types available out there--the Holy Trinity of Arm Candy, if you will):

My first of several LVs --  a 2011 buy

The Entry Level Status Bag--  These have traditionally been the more affordable American labels, such as Dooney & Bourke or Coach. Prior to their mass-market takeover, it was Kate Spade--who probably started it all. More recently, a Michael Kors craze has swept the country (justifiably so--his designs are super hot). In the course of her adult life, the average American woman will have accumulated several of these. Over time, some will hang on to these popular, durable brands for life and keep adding to their collection. Others will move on to the next level of addiction.

The Thousand Dollar Threshold Bag is (you guessed it) the next level. Think Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Dior--just to name a few. The starting retail price of these beautifully crafted babies ranges between $1,000 and $5,000 USD, although some iconic labels (like Chanel or Valentino) can easily start around up to ten grand. Despite the wide range, I call them Thousand Dollar Threshold bags because, let's face it, after the first time a woman spends that much on a handbag she rarely ever reverts to Entry Level. Perhaps you bought your first $1,000+ bag as reward-to-self for getting a big raise, or maybe a spouse caved in and got you one for your birthday...and since then you have never, ever looked back. In fact, you're planning your domestic budget around however many luxury designer bags you are scheming to purchase in the next year.

The Rich Bitch Handbag is the holiest tier in the Status Bag hierarchy, and most of us mortal women will rarely ever cross paths with anyone wearing an authentic one, let alone own one ourselves.  I'm talking about the ever-elusive Hermes Birkin bags and other equally exotic and prohibitively expensive arm candy, for which there are year-long waiting lists (and countless movie stars, rap mogul girlfriends, and European royalty already in line ahead of you).

In case you haven't guessed already, I'm a Thousand Dollar Threshold Handbag kind of gal. I got hooked living in Washington DC during a time when Chloe, Dior, Prada and Marc Jacobs bags were accessories de rigueur. I now live in El Paso, TX--and around these parts, only Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Gucci seem to make the most wanted cut. The top coveted styles prominently feature highly visible logos--because that's just how we roll in Texas. As such, I'm working to blend in with the local style habitat like any good fashion chameleon would; and so far I am a few LVs and Burberries deep into that effort.

But in all truth this is nothing to be alarmed about--handbags have been my #1 fashion addiction for years and to this date I haven't even come close to overdosing, although my bank account has at times needed life support. What's your fashion addiction?

My first Prada, a 2009 acquisition. By this time, my addiction was raging and I was getting several bags per year

Pictured above, from top:

DIOR: "My Dior" Handbag 2007 - No longer available in stores but you can find it on specialty luxury broker sites such as this: www.luxuryexchange.com

LOUIS VUITTON: LV Galliera PM, with added Monogram clip charm, currently available in LV stores. Find it at: Luis Vuitton USA - Galliera PM Monogram Canvas

PRADA: Nappa Black Leather Bow Tie Bag 2009 - No longer available in stores but you can find it here:  www.strictlypursonal.com

Ode to the Insalata Caprese

I thought it fitting for my inaugural post to ask myself what would be the one meal I would be happy to eat every day if stranded on a deserted island. That meal for me would be Insalata Caprese--a lovely sensory collaboration of flavors, textures, colors and fragrances that capture Mediterranean sunshine on a plate.

Depending on where you go, the plating and presentation may vary...but the core ingredients never change: sweet, sun ripened tomatoes, luxurious fresh buffalo mozzarella and aromatic basil leaves--drizzled with just the right amount of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and, of course, sea salt.

One of my fave ways to re-interpret this iconic salad dish is to use extra-sweet Campari tomatoes and build mini-Napoleons, tucking in the whole basil leaves as shown in the picture below. The result are bite-sized proportions that translate into manageable, elegant little cocktail party appetizers. For a more filling meal, I turn my Caprese into a sandwich--nestling the cheese, tomato and basil between between slices of a warm baguette loaf and drizzling the olive oil and balsamic right onto the crusty bread.

And let's not forget the healthy points a Caprese scores from a nutritional standpoint, especially if made with organic-grade components. Loaded with antioxidants, "good" cholesterol, and low-calorie protein, this may very well be The Perfect Meal.