(Left, celebrity DABA girl Salma Hayek lands her baby daddy, Francois-Henri Pinault, whom she married on Valentine’s Day.)
1. When I read about the DABA girls in the New York Times, I loved it for its brazen, pitiless honesty. As someone whose fortunes have dramatically changed as a result of the recession, I have sympathy for women mourning the loss of their shopping allowances and other boyfriend-funded perks. I didn’t live like that – nor am I counting the days until we can resume bottle service when we go clubbing – but I do understand having to suddenly adjust one’s expectations. We are living in what we thought would be a temporary house until we find a larger one in a more family-friendly neighborhood. (And by larger, I mean more than 1600 square feet.) Now we’ll be lucky if we can manage to stay where we are. If you listened beyond the opportunistic DABA girls’ whining about finding someone to pay their Bergdorf bills or flying commercial instead of by private jet, you’d find a woman not at all unlike the rest of us – rocked by events beyond her control and left wondering how many of the shattered hopes for her future are still viable.
It might be a multimillionaire husband and a second home in the Hamptons for them while it’s health insurance and the possibility of sending my daughter to a previously affordable parochial school for me, but “I can’t have what I want” hurts, no matter who you are.
However, not for a moment did I believe Dating a Banker Anonymous was a support group, as it was portrayed in the New York Times. It was outrageous, unadulterated bitching, about husbands too stressed to have sex and the prospect of having to let go of the domestic help and going back to work. As the Web site was swamped with attention in the wake of the Times story, they admitted it’s a satire. I think “satire” is a bit generous – a petulant tantrum is what it is. Couldn’t editors at the Times see that?
The Washington Post recently ran the flipside to this story, about formerly high-powered men having trouble in the dating scene. And we think men and women have evolved past viewing relationships in economic terms.
2. Leave it to one of the glossies to gussy up brown-bagging it. Vanity Fair reports these lowbrow/upmarket lunchtime tableaux were found around the magazine’s offices. I’ve brought yogurt to work before but never a leftover cheese plate from the St. Regis. I did, however, bring my lunch to high school in department store cosmetic bags (Lancome, Chanel). I was channelling Molly Ringwald’s Claire from “The Breakfast Club.”
3. And on the topic of cheap lunches, the three of us went to IHOP on Tuesday for free pancakes. We carefully timed our visit between the breakfast and lunch rushes (after the live news trucks left) and indeed ate free pancakes. Our additional items and drinks ended up costing around $12. But instead of feeling triumphant at our score, I felt icky. I had just consumed fried white-flour batter topped with maple-flavored HFCS. As I looked around the packed dining room, it was easy to understand why obesity is more prevalent among poor people.
To boost the traffic coming in their doors, Arby’s, Quizno’s and other chain restaurants have offered freebies of one sort or another. My advice – resist the allure of the free. Because free equals grossly unhealthy. (And grossly unattractive.)
Update: It’s a conspiracy to make America even fatter than it is. We’re all going to look like characters from “Wall-E” soon. This place is not only offering free ice cream, but you have to be in your pajamas to get it. At the drive-through!
4. Today’s Wall Street Journal has a story that simultaneously has me feeling like we’re shrewder business people than we thought and that we’ll eventually be filing for bankruptcy alongside some very celebrated restaurateurs. Bucking the signs of the times, Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and others are opening huge, lavish restaurants this year. A $12 million, 20,000-square-foot steakhouse just opened in an old bank building in Philadelphia.
I don’t know who these guys think will be eating in their new joints, but I wish them luck. And as soon as luck comes our way, I’ll be happy to eat at every one of them and report back to my readers. Am I a sport or what?
Depressingly, the same WSJournal story says that McDonald’s same-store sales are up by 5.4% and that Chili’s had its best day ever this past Valentine’s Day. Yeah. To me nothing says love like Texas Cheese Fries.
5. As someone who’s staring down the barrel of 40, I have been heartily chuffed by photos of Michelle Obama’s arms. She’s always showing them off. They even stole the show from Obama during his address Tuesday night. When she puts out her arms workout DVD, I’ll be first on waiting list for it at my library.
And then at the grocery store yesterday I saw Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the cover of Shape magazine. Holy shit! Forty-eight years old, and she does it the old-fashioned way, no plastic surgery. Brava, Lainey!
6. For the record: Domestic abuse, bad. Any sort of violence, bad. Men should never do it; women never deserve it. There.
So, can I just say, why is the media making Rihanna the poster gal for battered girlfriends? From what has been reported, there was one (albeit not pleasant) incident. Does that constitute a “nightmare”? Is this Chris Brown really such a monster? If so, why didn’t we know this before the night in question? She might be enhancing her image by playing the tragic figure, but it’s not helpful to regular old women with violent spouses.
7. Did you know Americans could save $10 million to $20 million in energy costs if we boiled our pasta in less water? Harold McGee, writing in the New York Times, has famed Italian chefs Marcella Hazan and Lidia Bastianich help him figure out just how little water you can get away with and still end up with tasty, eco-friendlier pasta.
Friday Quick Takes is inspired by Jen at Conversion Diary. Go on over and wish her well – she’s got a freshie due to arrive Monday.
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