The Girl Who Cried Cous Cous

First and foremost... Happy birthday to Lily and Claudette! My girls turned 3 on Earth Day! We celebrated with a cake that they could not eat. Ok, maybe it was just an excuse to bake a cake and eat it. Anyway, Happy birthday girls!





Now, onto food and clothes...

I don't wear shorts. EVER. Not even to bed. Prior to, say, 1997 I spent many a summer a'sweating and a'suffering in long pants. Jeans... Khakis... I'd be so hot and uncomfortable that I'd often suffer from the vapors ala Scarlett O'Hara.

Then came the advent of the capri pant.

Was I excited that there was finally an end in sight to my long-pant-wearing-awful summer quandary?? Hell no! I thought they were hideous! Who in their right mind would wear these hideous cropped knickers??? I remember seeing a girl at the mall and mocking them with some friend - Jenn? Kristy? Jessica? I can't remember which, but I do remember that all of them, and myself, thought capri pants were just absurd when they debuted.

And then 6 months later I owned 10 pairs. I've never looked back, and I've never swooned from the oppression of ankle length pants in the height of August again. And, thus, I learned the most important lesson of style: Never say Never.

When I started to shop for my wedding gown in 2007 I had no idea what I wanted. I did know that I wanted to wear WHITE, I did NOT want strapless, and I wanted something plain and simple... Well, here I am, in my strapless, ivory, fully beaded gown...



Now, when I see a new trend that I think is silly, or that I think won't suit my body type, I try and keep an open mind and make my final decision when I'm in the fitting room. Until recently I prayed every night to Jesus that the skinny jean trend would disappear. I'm a meaty size 8 Italian girl. My legs are, at best, average length. But I tried on this magical pair of DKNY skinny jeans, and they've become a staple of my wardrobe. They're like big denim spanks for my lower half, but stretchy and comfortable. I honestly think they make me look several inches taller, and 10 pounds thinner. Jesus knew better than to axe this trend before I found these pants.


Here are two pairs of skinny jeans that I enjoy. The first pair, from Ann Taylor Loft, I'd obviously only wear if I was emaciated. But, hopefully one day I will be. The second pair is from Gap - they're actually denim leggings. They're a bit thinner than regular jeans, and are easier to tuck into boots. I may invest in them if I find $70 laying on the ground when I go to Waldbaums tonight.






The one shoulder top/dress initially reminded me of an 80's superhero. Or The Flintstones. They're actually surprisingly flattering if you have narrow shoulders. I own several. Try them!

This dress is from Piperlime by Postella. It makes me want to go to Cabo and eat a lot of tacos and tropical fruit flavored things. I'd probably throw a big brown belt over it, and wear it with flat brown sandals and some chunky bracelets.


This next dress is from Ann Taylor Loft (can you tell that I love that store?) I think its adorable. Perhaps I'll buy it for Kristy's engagement party.


The final trend that I originally scoffed at, openly and publicly, is the gladiator sandal. Last year, I didn't understand why anyone would want to have the same footwear as a Roman soldier circa 300AD. Now, suddenly, I want to own several pairs. These shoes fall under the "I don't think they will work for my body type" category. As I mentioned in the skinny jean portion of this entry, I do NOT have long, thin legs. These seem to be a necessity for the gladiator sandal to work (i.e. KK) however, I think that with a long dress or with a simple white tank and long, wide leg linen pants, I could pull off the flat gladiator sandal seen below, made by Sam Edelman, available on Piperlime.



These higher heel gladiators... well... I almost feel like I can't move on with my life until I own them. I see them with jeans, skirts, dresses... I dream of these shoes, and in my dream I own them in all three colors, from Nine West:



I'm pretty open to trying new foods, as long as they are moderately healthy and vegetarian. Imagine my dismay when I longed to love cous cous, only to find out that I actually hated it? I made it for dinner a few weeks ago, per the package instructions, and actually had to throw it out and eat a cheese sandwich instead... I was so sad.

So, this weekend I revisited cous cous. I thought, how can I make this weird little grain taste decent? I thought and thought and thought... and then it came to me.

Butter. Much butter.

So, here is what I did. I made the cous cous (1 cup) according to directions, and set aside. FYI, this is regular old cous cous - not the flavored packaged kind which I'm now told is superior in all ways. I also made a cup of lentils, according to directions, and set those aside. In half olive oil and half butter I sauteed half a white onion and 10 pearl onions (both diced) until golden brown. Then I added two cloves of minced garlic. And some more butter, salt, and pepper. When the onions were brown, I added about a cup of diced fresh white mushrooms. Then these were cooked through, I added the cooked cous cous and lentils to this mixture and heated through. It needed something... so I added some more butter. Finally, a cous cous that I can get into!


I had it for dinner. I had a ton left over, so the next day we also ate it as a dip with tortilla chips! Even Tom ate it, so you know it was tasty. It might be on the menu for May's bookclub, with pita chips...

So, if I've learned something over the years, its that some of the best things (clothes, food, etc) come in deceiving packages. Now go eat a bowl of cous cous and buy some skinny jeans. You won't regret it...

Pepperoni... not just for your ears anymore.

Ahhh earrings. For as far back as I can remember, earrings and I have had a torrid love affair. I remember back in sixth grade we were all given pen pals, and we had to write letters to them and tell them a little bit about ourselves. I distinctly recall that my friend Sandy wrote to hers, "I'm a world traveller." I wrote to mine, "I really like wearing big earrings." A bit shallow for a twelve year old? Perhaps. But even at that tender age I saw the horror in leaving my house with a naked ear hole.

Now that I'm an adult I do still enjoy a large earring, but I now know there is a time and a place for everything and for every earring. If my love affair with the three inch long shoulder duster has deepened with time, then my appreciation for the perfect stud has as well. I like to think of earrings like ornaments on a Christmas tree. The beautiful golden angel or the tacky light up star atop the tree is an immediate attention getter, but wouldn't the tree be less beautiful and special if it wasn't also for those small, plain glass balls? What about the now deteriorated homemade ornaments you made in second grade? They're all important, and they all remain in your collection; in this way, each and every earring in my collection has a special place in my heart and tells a special story. Ok, maybe I'm crazy - they're just earrings - but I assign feelings to inanimate objects, and I like to see my shiny little friends standing at attention, greeting me when I open up my jewelry box to decide who my earlobe companion will be for the day. Go now! Go and tell all of your earrings how much you love them! Resurrect some of your long forgotten favorites! Sociopath indeed.

I've mentioned my penchant for Anthropologie earrings. Pricey, yes. Worth it? Absolutely. If you have sensitive ears, as I do, you can feel comfortable knowing that 99% of the time the posts are either surgical steel or sterling. They're well made and unique. Below are two of my very favorite earrings; both were purchased from Anthropologie in '08. If you've met me, I'm sure you've seen these in person on more than one occasion. I throw these suckers on, and I feel like an art student in Rome going out on the town at dusk for some prosecco and limoncello.



Because I've already built up quite a collection, an earring has to be special for me to want to take him home to meet his new family. I think that earrings can be a bit odd and quirky, especially if they are paired with a demure outfit for work. I've been coveting these earrings (Anthropologie Swanky Octopus Earring) for quite some time, but can't really justify the price tag for a pair of octopii.


A few more earrings that I think are unique and would like to add to my collection if I had more than $3 in my wallet at the moment:

1) ABS by Alan Schwartz chain earrings. These would look great with skinny jeans, a over sized plain white tee, and the pair of shoes that I hope fit when I try them on at JPS' wine shindig on 5/1.


2) Fanned Feather earrings Urban Outfitters. These remind me of my favorite person ever voted off of American Idol, Lilly Scott. Naturally I liked her at first b/c she has the same name as one of my cats, but I grew to also enjoy her earrings. I'd wear these with wide leg linen pants and a loose black tank top.

3) These are earrings that I enjoy from QVC. They're Murano glass. I'd buy them, but they're currently out of stock in this color (they do have them in purple black, if you're interested in that info) They remind me of little planets on my ears. Like I'm wearing Jupiter at all times. Like I'm a goddess of the universe with really nice earrings from QVC.


Although I hate to admit it, earrings aren't everything. There's also pizza. I enjoy pizza. Often. For example, today I had pizza for both lunch and dinner. Some people say that eggs are Nature's perfect food. Wrong. Its pizza.

A white trash dinner that I enjoy eating (and making) is the famed English Muffin Pizza. Who doesn't enjoy this delicacy? Its a muffin, and its pizza. The only thing that could make it better would be if it gave out free cash. If someone doesn't enjoy the English Muffin Pizza, then I say, off with his head.

Today I'm going to focus on changing up - accessorizing, if you will - the English Muffin Pizza, which I will henceforth refer to as EMP. Actually, no, I don't like that. They will be called Muff. Tonight I made three different versions of the muff, and I've photographed each of them for you because everyone yelled at me for not photographing the Orzo salad last week.

The first muff, pictured below, features fresh garlic and tomato. I drizzled a little bit of olive oil (sorry KK, not evoo, just regular) on the muffin; topped with a thinly sliced fresh tomato, some minced garlic, garlic powder and salt, and then topped that with mozzarella cheese. I baked at 375 for about 15 min, and then broiled to brown the cheese.



The second "gourmet" muff that I made this evening features sauteed spinach. I always keep a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer, b/c you never know when you'll need a big bag of spinach at a moments notice. I sauteed the spinach in olive oil with 2 minced cloves of garlic, then I put the spinach mixture on the muffin, topped with cheese and baked/broiled as I did for the fresh tomato muff.

My final muff (and, yes, I ate ALL of these tonight, in the name of research) is the Greek Salad muff. I topped the muffin with olive oil, a little garlic powder, and mozzarella cheese, and baked (as above) Then, I topped with a salad of romaine, red onion, tomato, cukes, feta, black olives and dressing (I like to make my dressing fresh every night, so I keep a packet of Good Seasons dressing on hand, in a tupper, and I mix a pinch of it in a small bowl with just enough oil and vinegar for that night's salad. Tonight I used the garlic & herb variety, b/c it seemed Greekish to me)

And that, my dear friends, is how I accessorize my noggin and my muffins.

...Next up: Give it another chance! Re-trying styles & foods that you've previously hated...

A brief introduction to the girls

I'm in the midst of working on my next blog entry - "Accessorizing your head and your pizza" - but in the meantime, I wanted to take a second to introduce you (or reintroduce you, as the case may be) to my three girls. I talk about them a LOT, so I want you to be able to put a face to the name.

First there was Mima. Oh Mima. I adopted Meem from Islip animal shelter b/c Tom's cat died, and I felt bad. Mima looked a lot like his old kitty, so I picked her up in spite of her hacking cough. $3500 later... and I have a cat that won't leave my side. Ironically, she doesn't really like Tom and wishes that Earth was only inhabited by me, her, and soft food. She's my little asthma girl, and I sometimes call her "money cat" because she cost me so much money.

Then came the sisters, Lily and Claudette.

If Mima is the meanest cat in the world (and some say she is) then these tortoiseshell sisters are her complete opposite. We've had them since they were three weeks old, and I had to bottle feed them b/c they were too little to be weaned. Aww babies.

Lily, who we affectionately call the steak kitty because she'd love to eat a big fatty steak, is the perfect lap cat. She loves to cuddle, and she drools when she kneads. Its adorable. Sometimes I pick her up and swing her over my back like a sack of potatoes, and she yells and smacks me in the face. Oh Lily. You're so fat and you love pudding.

Claudette is Tom's baby. She tolerates me, but would probably much happier if I took Meem and moved to Thailand. In her spare time she models for Victoria's secret and likes to walk around in uggs eating salmon. I think she's trying to butter me up for some cash, because last night she slept between my legs and today she came into the bathroom while I was showering. Oh Clode, I'm married! I can't date you!


Anyhow, there they are. Get ready to hear a lot about them. And food. And clothes.

When the money tree has lost its leaves for the winter...

I'm sure we'd all love to have a bottomless bank account. I know I would. Unfortunately, in my real world and I'm guessing yours too, we just don't have a surplus of spare cash to blow on pink patent heels and $70 Anthropologie earrings, as much as we may want to. Yes, this makes us all sad, but shopping - and eating - on a budget doesn't have to make you feel like poor white trailer trash. Unless you want to, of course. But I don't want to. I look terrible in cutoffs.

First, to the food. Those of you that know me know that my husband and I do NOT see eye to eye on food. Often, I have to prepare two separate dinners to accommodate his needs and my palate. What I've started doing lately, to save a couple of dollars (which I invariable spend on my weekly spa pedicure, but we all have needs) is preparing dishes in bulk. I make a large amount of a given recipe, salad, what-may-have-you, and I try to eat it all week in various ways. The recipe that follows is a copy-cat recipe of a salad that I've had from an Italian deli. I tried to replicate it, and although the flavor is a bit different, its very enjoyable. I like to call it my Greek Orzo salad. Usually I make it on a week night; the first night, I'll have it hot as a pasta dish for dinner. The next day, I'll take it to lunch as a cold pasta salad. It can be reheated in the microwave; you can saute some peppers and onions and add the salad to that another night for a different hot dinner; the possibilities are really endless w/this recipe. I hope you'll try it - it is one that I enjoy often. Probably too often, and this is why none of my jeans fit at the moment. But that is neither here nor there.

Orzo Salad (I'm not much of a measure-er, so these are my estimations - adjust to your taste!)

1 pound (box) of Orzo, cooked (I prefer Barilla or Ronzoni - some cheaper brands get a weird film when you cook them)

1/3 cup olive oil (NOT extra virgin - its too strong)

1/4 red wine vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup onion, chopped (white or red - whichever you prefer or have on hand)

1 can of black olives (you can slice if you would like - I like them whole)

1 cup of grape tomatoes

1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, quartered

1/2 cup crumbled Feta

Salt & Pepper to taste

First, in a small bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until combined. I don't really like to eat chunks of garlic, so after I've mixed it and let the dressing sit for a few minutes, I strain out the garlic pieces. If you love garlic, feel free to leave them in.

When the pasta has cooled a bit, combine it with the vegetables and the dressing. Mix until the dressing coats all of the components. Then, incorporate the feta.

Its a great recipe, and you can really tailor it to fit your taste - throw in some spinach, peppers, or whatever you like and have on hand.

So, now that we're all fat from eating a pound of pasta, lets talk about clothes. If you're like me, you have a ton of clothes in your closet and dresser, and you're still disgusted once or twice a week when getting dressed and you mentally utter the phrase, "I hate all of my clothes." What I'm going to talk about today is purchasing ONE new item - an inexpensive item - as a way of waking up your wardrobe. You don't have to spend a lot of money to feel like you've reinvented some of your old pieces. I'm sure that you already own the basics - black pants, khaki pants, black skirt, jeans, black cardigan - now lets see how one new and interesting item can bring new life to these old standards.

I apologize for my photography - I'm certainly no Christine Melissa. I'd put the outfits on and take my picture, but the camera adds 10 pounds, and the last thing I need is ANOTHER ten pounds.

So, I've purchased the following shirt from Ann Taylor Loft on clearance for $24. Its a lightweight silk shirt; its washable; its an exciting print, but is also neutral.

First, I've dressed this outfit up for a day at the office. I've paired it with a plain black pencil skirt, a black cardigan which I have belted, wedge heels, a sleek purse, and a long gold necklace. These were all items that I've had in my wardrobe for awhile, that just needed a shot of new shirt brightness. (skirt, cardigan,necklace - Loft; belt - Target; purse - Bcbg; shoes - INC Macys)

Wow, my photography is just terrible. That's something to work on!

Anyhow, for the next look I've taken the same shirt and paired it with a simple tan skirt, wedge espadrilles, and some posh accessories (two of them courtesy of JPS) This is my "sightseeing in Rome" look. (wristlet, watch - Coach; earrings - courtesty of JPS; skirt - God knows. I bought it at Marshalls like 5 years ago; shoes - Guess)

The final look is one that my idols Stacy and Clinton would refer to as an "on the go" outfit. I've paired the now infamous shirt with skinny jeans, some wedge heels, the same sleek purse from the work look, above, and some pretty gold tone accessories. Notice my favorite Anthropologie earrings are making an appearance in this outfit. Best $30 I ever spent! (Earrings - Anthropologie; bracelet - Loft; purse - Bcbg; jeans - DKNY; glasses - Daisy Fuentes for Kohls; shoes - Bandolino)

Now, the question on everyones mind: How does Mima feel about this situation? Well, I'm happy to report that Mima loves the shirt, and even settled down for a nap on it (Mima - Islip Animal Shelter; $3500)

Welcome to Kitty Cooks In Heels!

Hi! I'm trying the whole blog-thing again, and hope that you'll take the journey with me. Again. Hopefully I can be a bit more consistant with regard to keeping up with this blog.


Kitty Cooks in Heels will be about a little of everything, but mostly the three cogs that turn the wheel of the life that is Heather: cats, food, and clothes. These are my three favorite superficial (dare I say sociopathological?) interests, and I hope you will join with me as I chat about my three girls, my recipe endeavors, and my fixation with finding good deals on clothes, shoes, and accessories. I hope to catalogue these things for you via my writing and via photographs. I do have this expensive camera that I HAD to have last year; I may as well use it for something. Also, writing makes me feel a little less guilty about wasting so much $$ on my Masters Degree.



My first endeavor - trying to get Lilybeans to take a special photograph to embody the three facets of the blog...