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After the Party….

I’m reading an old book called The Way We Were Then, by Dominick Dunne – best-known as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair magazine but also quite fairly called a celebrity name dropper, a title he happily embraced before being overcome by what he called “the deluge,” in his case, the brutal murder of. His actor daughter, Dominique, by a would-be boyfriend. Dunne also was the producer of pioneering films – including, in the 70s, The Boys in the Band, the poignant film that was one of the first to portray openly gay men’s lives and The Panic in Needle Park, a dark and unsparing look at the relationship of a heroin-addicted couple.

In this book, however, he’s writing about the way things were then, wide and fair, like a shimmering pool of champagne into which pretty people in pretty clothes leap each night … all naughty and innocent fun. At that time, everyone gravitated to Dunne: He loved the part. “This is how I (wanted) to live,” he repeatedly assures the reader.

Later, he would write about the deep, dark end of that pool of iconic fame and glitter – when in his last years Dunne reported on the trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his Simpson’s estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. He sat beside Goldman’s parents, and he thought that the justice system failed those two families as he believed it has after his daughter’s murder, when her killer received what Dunne termed “a slap on the wrist.”

He mentioned once that the murder of his daughter and of Nicole Brown were at the junction where society and crime sometimes intersect. This is not, however, the definition of “society” as it was even when I was a child in the 1960s, but the way it is now – when not too many people care who Anderson Cooper’s mother was (she was heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, heir to the Vanderbilt shipping and railway fortune, but instead the society of movie stars and especially music stars. Perhaps that can be exemplified by the fascination with the glamorous fortunes of Kim Kardashian and her sometime husband rapper/designer Kanye West and her rapper sweetheart Pete Davidson, whose 104 tattoos he apparently repents.

This old book is a very curious story of a time much like our own, except with black tie and gowns instead of see through glitter and boy skirts. It was a time to be seen. It is a thing you might want to want to do – if you had the access, as Dunne did.

To me, the whirl and hustle, the talk and tattle, sounds absolutely exhausting – to the girl who once spent a glittering event in a New York penthouse sleeping on the coats in a back bedroom (a lot of them were fur coats, it was great …)

I was never the life of the party or the death of it … I was the sometimes-reluctant observer. However, being back in one of the unused rooms, let’s just say, I may not know what love is, but I certainly know what it sounds like.

HOT RECIPE TIP

Soba noodles with tofu and mushrooms

You'll need:

· 1 Large pot (for cooking noodles)

· 1 Colander

· 1 Wok (or large skillet)

Ingredients:

· 10 oz soba noodles

· 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

· 24 oz any mushrooms, sliced

· 6 cloves garlic (finely sliced)

· 1-inch knob ginger (cut into thin strips)

· 4 tablespoon maple syrup

· 2 tablespoon rice vinegar

· 1 tablespoon hot sauce

· 3 tablespoons soy sauce

· 2 tablespoon sesame seeds

· 14 oz baked tofu

· Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Boil a large pot of salted water. Cook the soba noodles according to package instructions until soft but firm (al dente). Run cold water over the noodles so they don't stick. Set aside in a colander

2. Heat the wok over high heat and add the vegetable oil. Cook the mushrooms and cook. The mushrooms will express a lot of juices initially, so let the juices evaporate completely. Let the mushrooms cook until they caramelize and become golden-brown. Be patient. Everything else is quick.

3. Once the mushrooms have caramelized, add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds. Stir in the tofu.

4. Add in all the sauce ingredients--maple syrup, sriracha, vinegar and tamari or soy sauce and stir in. Stir in the sesame seeds.

5. Add the drained noodles to the pot and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes over high heat. Check salt and add more if needed.

6. Turn off heat and garnish with cilantro or green onions. Serve hot or warm.

HOT LIFE TIP

A psychologist friend tells me that people should sing when they’re feeling blue. Apparently, it lifts the mood, even if you’re not a good singer.

HOT READING TIP

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

An amazing novel (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) that centers mainly upon a former slave who becomes a landowner and – in turn – the owner of slaves. Told in simple, elegant prose, this is an astonishing story about human intention.