Triple Space Design

Michael Feinstein - Delightfully Unexpected

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Did you ever go somewhere expecting to do or see something and have a completely unexpected experience? Recently a friend called with a last minute invitation to see Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall. I love Feinstein. I love Gershwin. It had been a hectic time and I blurted out a "Yes", without thinking about how tired I was until I found myself in a taxi in yet another New York City snowstorm.

Shana Alexander

Shana Alexander

We got settled in our seats and Feinstein did as only Feinstein can do. He sang, taught, cajoled, mesmerized and entertained us. I found myself swaying to the music and so true to Gershwin and Astaire; I journeyed back to my first wedding. It was East Hampton, in the garden of Shana Alexander. A woman who helped shape my very soul. Shana was the first female journalist on CBS 60 minutes Point/Counterpoint with James J. Kilpatrick. And she wrote the book 'Very Much A Lady' about Jean Harris, my first mother-in-law. Hers was an extraordinary career. But always, she was the daughter of Milton Ager, who wrote the songs, 'Ain't She Sweet' and 'Happy Days Are Here Again'.

Shana had known Michael since he was a teenager and introduced me to him many years ago when we all made the pilgrimage from East Hampton to see him at The Regency with Jean for her birthday. After the Carnegie Hall performance we were fortunate enough to go backstage for a brief moment. I had a chance to share with him a special someone we had in common. Our eyes met and we both drifted to a place we hadn’t expected to go that day. 

Troll at Fairway - Broadway & 75th NYC

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"Scraggly bits hung from the Carcass"

"Scraggly bits hung from the Carcass"

I am having 'a hate on' for Fairway on Broadway and 75th. The crowd is so aggressive, 'God Forbid' you forget something in the front and have to make your way back for a pound of coffee. They should have signs like at the toll booth “do not back up”.

The produce is of mediocre quality and the refrigeration is inconsistent rendering fragile greens spoiled well before their due date from the moisture content rising in the plastic tubs. The loose greens are over refrigerated and are thus tasteless and limp.

My experience with the butcher was so unpleasant it could put me off my feed all over again. After perusing the cases of organic chicken I politely asked the butcher for a bird under 3 lbs. He pointed to the case and told me to look again that’s all the organic chickens. After receiving no help from the masked and hooded worker arranging chicken parts I chose one and asked the butcher to please butterfly it for me. His head went back down and he continued trimming a rack of chops before grabbing my bird without so much as a nod. I said I would continue shopping and be back in 10 minutes. When I returned he slapped the loosely wrapped and hastily stickered package into my hand and did not reply to my thank you.

Back home I discovered the back was snapped but the bones had not been removed. Scraggly bits hung from the carcass and the neck was hastily stuffed inside, piercing the cavity. No giblets or liver. Where I come from, butterfly means to remove the bones. I had to do it myself which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.

When I phoned the store it took several tries to speak to a manager and he couldn’t have been less interested.

 

Women's Sexual Health

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FDA approved Viagra on March 27, 1998. On CNN's Larry King Live show, former presidential nominee Bob Dole admits he took part in experimental trials for Viagra, calling it "a great drug." In December of 1998: Pfizer announces it has hired Bob Dole as a spokesperson.

On August 19, 2003: The FDA approves Bayer Corporation's vardenafil hydrochloride, sold under the brand name Levitra, to treat erectile dysfunction in men. Cialis was the third drug for ED to receive approval by the FDA at the end of November 21, 2003. Cialis is manufactured by Lilly ICOS LLC.

In 2008, The Washington Post reports that the CIA is using Viagra to gain friends in Afghanistan. "While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations."

2011: A federal judge extends Pfizer's U.S. patent for Viagra, making sure generic brands cannot come to market until 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal.

By 2012 there were 8 million sales of Viagra resulting in $2 Billion revenue.

So, in the 16 years and billions of dollars in revenues since Viagra was approved by the FDA, how is it we women are now having a full on battle for FDA approval of flibanserin, the one drug that has the potential to help millions of women all over the world with Sexual Dysfunction. That means millions of women with no libido may once again have the option to fulfill their god given right to be a sexual being. Just like men.

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Why do women have to fight for everything? Who started the rumor that we don’t love it if we didn’t have to work for it? The general opinion is flibanserin is for women in peri menopause and menopause that may be experiencing a lack of desire for sex. News flash, this is not about boomers wondering where their next boom is coming from. The bottom line is that women between 18 and 36 that are experiencing the greater diagnoses of Sexual Dysfunction.

How is it that young women all over the world, in their sexual and reproductive prime are just plain old not interested in sex? Oh there are ever so many reasons but lets not go there right now, but lets stay focused on why we should even have to wait or wonder why we don’t have as many options as men, again.

Dig this. This drug has been tested on over 11,ooo women. Initial resistance suffered arguments at hearings such as the concern that women who use this drug most likely drink alcohol and so, might abuse the drug or be less than responsible with this prescription medication. What, like no guy has ever come back from the Pharmacy and said to his buddies, “ Hey look what I got, you want one?” or “ Hey, that was fun let's try two!”

Piffle, there is a drug for men with ED on the market that has barely 100 test cases and is slated for approval. The drug is to help those men afflicted with a crooked penis. The side effects include the possibility that the drug could cause the penis to explode.

Are you kidding me?

Really what is the old boy network so afraid of? That women of all ages will suddenly be sexually active again and that Viagra sales will fall as the heart attack rate rises putting a strain on our men of fighting age? The sheer dollars alone could eliminate illiteracy in the female population on a global level and you can rest assured that if anyone’s vagina explodes that we girls will form together in sisterhood to get her a new one.

You simply cannot make this stuff up.

Bklyn - Teak to Chocolate

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Joan Horton - JHorton Store, Connecticut

Joan Horton - JHorton Store, Connecticut

Today was a Williamsburg adventure day with the intrepid Joan Horton from JHorton Store in Madison Connecticut. I love working with Joanie. Her never ending quest for the new and exciting has led her from being VP of Corporate Communications for Revlon to having her own Lifestyle store.

We started out navigating the streets of Williamsburg in search amazing organic teak bowls. They are so beautiful and capable of withstanding the punishment of the outdoors. We compared and contrasted several petrified wood stumps to act as cocktail tables, seating and pedestals. Finding elements of Pat Steir’s drip paintings and loving the simple yet distinct differences in each and every one.

After the bowls were dusted and polished we took our starved selves on a safari through Williamsburg. The now pristine hipster hood is home to countless shops and restaurants but we had bigger game in mind. Mast Brothers. That’s right, we needed chocolate. 

With our steady guide, Waze, we found ourselves at Mast Brothers Brew Bar. Furniture shopping on an empty stomach is never a good idea and so the perfectly broken squares of dark chocolate imbedded with pepitas, cranberries, almonds and did I detect a hint of bitter orange?, was gobbled up in about 30 seconds as we were schooled on the latest brew from The Brothers who brought chocolate back to Brooklyn. We chose the salted caramel and watched as the cacao nibs were ground in a special grinder so as not to disrupt the healthful butters and then the grinds were prepared in what looks like a tea bag, covered  in boiling water and steeped like tea. Add some simple syrup and it was truly a new taste sensation. So new it propelled us down the street to the factory to snatch up an assortment of truffles and bonbons to take back to the prisoners on Manhattan island.