SATC2: Girls Night Out For a Purpose, and a killer fashion-raffle

I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to Sex and the City. For better or worse, I have enough years invested in the TV show that when the movies come out I'm not only first in line at the movie theater (a place I normally avoid) but dressed to the nines on opening night. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the sequel (again, for better or worse) this Thursday night. I even, natch, picked up (another) new dress from Gary Graham for the event. What can I say? In certain areas I'm impossibly predictable.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Food

This Friday at 7 p.m., Lorna Yee and I will be at one of my favorite small venues—Tom Douglas' Palace Ballroom—for a foodie/book event hosted by one of my favorite women, Kim Ricketts of her eponymous book events. Kim hosted amazing food-meets-words nights for many years; I've been to a handful of her events and can attest that they are great fun and truly interesting. We'll be talking about the recipes and stories behind The Newlywed Kitchen, which I can also attest is great fun and truly interesting. I hope to see you all there!

Location: Tom Douglas' Palace Ballroom
2030 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
7–10 p.m.
$25, through Brown Paper Tickets

This is actually my dream wedding necklace...

I spent a sick day yesterday catching up on fashion blogs (my list of daily "must-reads" has grown to, like, 70), and I nearly fell out of bed when I saw this found-object necklace on W magazine's normally, er, dreary site. The writer spotted it at the SOFA show at the NY Amory, and took the time for a short Q&A with the artist, Jennifer Trask. I'm anti-taxidermy, and don't fawn over mounted antlers and the rest of that hunter's-kill-chic ilk, but this highly polished necklace of deer antlers, cow and ox bones, pigeon skull, nutria teeth, pre-ban ivory, plastic, steel, brass and five tiny hidden diamonds looks like 18th-century porcelain and I'm smitten. My first thought: This is the perfect necklace to wear with my GG wedding dress! (Unconventional, yes, but so is my whole bridal ensemble.) Anyone have an extra $14K and wants to treat me to an early wedding present? :)

From top: Jennifer Trask’s necklace, $14,000, ornamentumgallery.com; jennifertrask.com; Trask’s wall installation for the Museum of Arts and Design’s Dead or Alive exhibit.

"There are so many things to love about a person other than how they cut a carrot."

This year has clearly flown by, as today—the release date for the Newlywed Kitchen—completely snuck up on me. Today, May 1, you can find our cookbook on various online sites as well as in bookstores everywhere!

I'm so pleased with how pretty it is; Sasquatch did a beautiful job of compiling all of Lorna's recipes and the charming food/love stories of so many inspirational couples. I hope everyone who reads it finds the idea of cooking with their partner—something antithetical to far too many home chefs—as joyful and rewarding as Lorna and I do. We have learned that cooking with another person is one of the most giving and loving things you can do for each other. It's also a wonderful way