Dim Sum with Sue at Nom Wah

Dim Sum with Sue 
We were happy to receive an invitation to dim sum from Sue Kreitzman, artist and Fabulous Fashionista, at the historic Nom Wah Tea Parlour in New York's Chinatown.

Yesterday at 3, we joined Sue and her charming invitees, for a feast of varied and delicious dim sum. Dim Sum, meaning "little bit of the heart," hopefully not literally, are small plates of goodies like shrimp dumplings, pork buns, scallion pancakes, shrimp and bacon rolls and sticky rice with Chinese sausage. The plates kept coming, causing culinary wonder among the guests.

The Nom Wah Tea Parlour is to be found on Doyers Street, a crooked little alley of a street, just off the Bowery. The street has quite a checkered past, having been, in the early 20th century, the site of much blood letting. Because of the angle of the street, it afforded an ideal place for warring Chinese Tong Gangs to fight. Their preferred weapon was a hatchet, giving rise to the name "hatchet man."

 Facade of the Nom Wah Tea Parlor

The angle in Doyers Street

makes me think of the Marais in Paris,

or a street in Nice -- except it's Chinese.

 Sue in her magnificent skull necklace,

documenting the affair on her phone.

Sue ordered for all of us.

Here she demonstrates her chop stick skills with a delicacy,

while a giant dish of broccoli lies resplendent in

front of some turnip cakes.

What I wore to dim sum:

A Sonia Rykiel sweater, Fabrice

necklace and ring by Alpana Bawa.

Photo by Ricardo

The Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened in 1920.

Today it is run by Wilson Tang.

Hat and jewelry designer, Debra Rapoport,

shows of the gift that Sue gave each of us,

a golden, waving kitty.

 Richard telling us that our 

table is ready.

 An original sideboard.

Tea canisters from the 1920's.

Artist Malcah Zeldis.

 Nom Wah has been updated recently but

the decor is largely as it was in the 1920's.

Artists Quimetta Perle and Joseph Gagliano.

 The Ladies Who Dim Sum.

Left to right: Malcah Zeldis, Sue Kreitzman, Debra Rapoport,

Sarah Jane Adams and me.

Photo by Ari Seth Cohen

 Thank you Sue for a splendid afternoon of

great food and friends.

To see more about the Nom Wah, look here.

À Bientôt!

Tea Party at Debra's

They should bottle this...
What do you get when you combine a group of women "of a certain age," in one room, add large dollops of creative energy, smarts and fashion sense, stir and voila! You get a Tea Party at Debra Rapoport's pied à terre, which is actually her boyfriend's apartment in the storied Westbeth.

It's dangerous to get so many women (and a few men) together, who are all creative, makers, artists, free spirits -- mainly released from the saddle of corporate life, or a life in which they were beholden to something else, probably a career. Now they are free, and the cat is out of the bag, and they can create, and dream and think and do. It's dangerous because they may become drunk on creative energy and do something crazy like jump out the window.

We had no window jumping yesterday at Debra's Tea Party which was in honor of two new friends who Debra has befriended on Facebook and on her film tour of London for Advanced Style, the movie. Debra is the kind of person who attracts people like a magical magnet as she trails her crinolines along the curb.

But thank you, Mark Zuckerberg, for making it possible for we ladies to connect across continents and states within the U.S. If no one else will, we are creating a club of like-minded, creative thinkers who appreciate each other and want to be FRIENDS!

 What I am wearing:

Hat of my own design, Tucker dress, blue, silk

jacket (probably handmade) and coat

repurposed by Madame Matovu.

 The inimitable Sue Kreitzman, of London and New York.

Necklace by Anothai Hansen.

 Debra's wilted Rose centerpiece.

 Sue Kreitzman and a friend catching up.

Claudia Bergs, a visitor from Australia.

Debra met her at the Easter Parade!

 Nonnie Balcer and Richard.

They complement each other.

 The Countess of Glamour, Lynn Dell Cohen.

 Richard choosing a maccaron from the Meow Parlour.

He took the purple fig one.
The Meow Parlour is a place on the Lower East Side
where one may interact with cats.

 Mary James, of Maryland, with her friend, Janet.

Mary is Debra's Facebook friend.

The party was in honor of Mary

and Monica Boxley of London.

 Mary James and Monica Boxley of London.

Monica is a jewelry designer and you can

see her work here.

Artist Shelita Birchett Benash 

 Debra in motion.

 Monica Boxley's daughter, Martha.

She lives in Berlin.

Wonderful Elke Kuhn.

We went around the room and each person

told who they were and what they did.

Here I am listening intently to the introductions.

Creativity Rules!

À Bientôt!

In Your Easter Bonnet...

I got frills upon it...
My friends, the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, Valerie and Jean, called last week to invite me to participate in a photo shoot for the New York Post. "Moi?," I said. Bien sûr. Explanation mark, explanation mark, explanation mark!!!

Jane Ridley, Senior Features Writer for the Post, was preparing an article about New York's Fifth Avenue Easter Parade. She asked for color, and I can do color.

Joining Valerie, Jean and me for the shoot were Lynn Dell Cohen, Xtine Baczewska and Cigmond Meachen. We started at The Modern, the beautiful restaurant overlooking The Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden. Soon we moved on to St. Patrick's Cathedral for more photos.

Photo by Zandy Mangold for The New York Post

What I am wearing.

The hat: A fine brown straw by Quina Fonseca purchased at The Smiths, a shop in Soho, sometime in the 1980s. For this photo shoot, I trimmed the hat with artificial flowers purchased at a little Chinese shop at Ludow and Delancey streets. Each bunch of flowers cost 99 cents.

The Coat: A multi-striped wool by the brilliant colorist and designer, Alpana Bawa.

The Bag: A handmade straw from Italy, purchased at Adresse, a shop in Philadelphia. I also put bunches of the flowers in the bag.

Standing across the street from the Cathedral are (left to right)

Cigmond, Xtine, Lynn, Valerie, me and Jean.

Photo by Zandy Mangold for the New York Post

At The Modern:
L-R, Valerie, Xtine, Jean, Lynn, me and Cigmond.

Jean and Lynn. Lynn is the owner of the
famed Off Broadway Boutique.

 Xtine

The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas:

Valerie and Jean.

Lynn's outfit is from her shop,

Off Broadway Boutique.

I look like Eliza Doolittle at

Covent Garden.
"Ooo 'enry 'iggins."

The Parade Itself...

On Easter Sunday we reconvened, among a sea of tourists, for an endless routine of selfies with said tourists. There were people wearing huge platters of eggs and flowers on their heads, and many scenes of millinery carnage on the Avenue.

L-R: Valerie, Debra Rapoport, me and Jean.

Photo by Ari Seth Cohen

À Bientôt!

Sue's Stupendous Artist Meetup

Like-minded Spirits Meld
Minds at Sue's Open Studio
Put together a group of artists who think more is never enough, led by the Queen of More, Sue Kreitzman, and what do you get? An afternoon supplying enough inspiration guaranteed to last months, if not years.

Sue Kreitzman divides her time between two cities: London and New York. She has just arrived in New York, and hosted an Open Studio in her way-uptown aerie, which included the charming idea of each invited artist doing a "Show & Tell."

I am ready to take the A train to Sue's studio

wearing a Madame Matovu dress.

 Sue with a gift from me.

It's an Easter Egg from DiPalo's decorated

with a Barbie doll and images of Sue.

Sue made the fantastic necklace that she is wearing.

 Jeweler, Wendy Gell, models examples of

the cuffs that she makes.

 Erica Savage and tattoos.

 Wendy and I in Sue's studio

jam packed with her

paintings and sculptures.

 Debra Rapoport poses next to

her doppleganger by Sue.

 Doll goddesses by Sue.

 Anothai Hanson with a necklace

of her own design.

 Michah Moore with her friend,

Ms. Mer-Maid.

Michah is a photographers and lover

of all things Mermaid.

 A corner of Sue's studio displays

her work.

Sue's fantastic dolls.

Ari Seth Cohen, photographer and blogger at Advanced Style

and creator of the book, Advanced Style with

his friend, Joanna Lily Wong.

 Sue's anthropomorphic red chairs.

Renown outsider artist,

Malcah Zeldis

 Joseph Gagiano with

his Lolly Pop girls.

 Quimetta Perle holds a bead

portrait of her son.

 Erica with her mermaid painting.

 Archana Santra shows us one of

her paintings.

After such an afternoon, who could blame

a couple of girls for being pooped as we schlep

back to Manhattan.

Photo by Ari Seth Cohen

À Bientôt!