T LOunge for February 16th, 2023

The Chinese Library Restaurant – Hong Kong

Let’s go for grandeur today, darlings! Why not? It’s THURSDAY, after all. You deserve the respite. Find the most fabulous spot in the joint and claim it for yourself. Let’s do nothing today!

Milo Ventimiglia Is Ready for Action
The This Is Us star is trading in his Terrible Towel for a Negroni in his new series, The Company You Keep.
Not a stranger to action-based television dramas (see: Heroes and Chosen), Ventimiglia looks at home on the set of The Company You Keep. As he walks onto Stage 2 at the Paramount lot for his photoshoot with InStyle, you can sense how closely he holds the responsibility of continuing the legacy the space carries. He tells everyone about the history of the stages he’s filming on, explaining how the low ceilings make it complicated for lighting and sets. As the conversation moves on to the various offices on the lot that used to be occupied by film greats like Alfred Hitchcock, a large structure built to resemble a dimly lit dive bar towers behind him. It’s there on Stage 1 (where Star Trek: The Original Series and The Truman Show once filmed) that Ventimiglia’s current role comes to life.

After the Whistle Blows
Silicon Valley likes to celebrate and lionize disruptors. But for women in the tech industry who speak out, there can be a high price to pay for rocking the boat.
Increased regulation around digital privacy, data, and the way tech companies operate in the marketplace, many advocates say, could help rein in an industry where ambition can come at the expense of safety. But for an industry that prides itself on challenging the status quo, there doesn’t seem to be much room for dissent. Discussions around issues like responsibility and equity—and the people who try to initiate or engage in them—are often viewed as impediments to the pursuit of wealth and growth.

The Joy of Being Iranian
For me, celebrating Iran’s innately jubilant culture is an act of defiance against the Islamic Republic.
The stark tension between private and public life in Iran, between expressing the innate joy of being Iranian and the oppression of an authoritarian regime, was too great for many to handle. After the revolution in 1979, Iranian women went from wearing miniskirts to long robes and hijabs overnight. They went from boogying at nightclubs to being banned from any physical expression of emotion—including dancing and singing.
Joy is a part of our culture, from Rumi’s poetry about love, wine, and dance; to the rich colors of classic Iranian art; to our famous wedding feasts—our most extraordinary art is the art of celebration. We are known for our kindness, hospitality, love of storytelling, and vibrant language and history. The Islamic Republic’s greatest crime has been the attempted abolishment of this culture.

The 14 Best Natural and Organic Face Moisturizers
Get dewy skin with ingredients you can trust.
If you’re paying close attention to the ingredients in your skin care routine, one product to look at is your moisturizer (after all, you use it every single day). The clean beauty world has introduced so many incredible formulas, so you don’t have to sacrifice benefits, texture, or results for an ingredient list you feel good about. Ahead, find 14 of our favorite face moisturizers that feature cleaner, natural formulas—including plenty of skin-loving (and yes, science-backed) ingredients like squalane, niacinamide, and vitamin C.

Why Has Prep Taken Over the World of Athleisure?
The appeal of preppy sports is changing and so might our understanding of the stereotypical aesthetic.
In a world where micro trends à la Barbiecore and just-about-every-other-core-imaginable explode in popularity seemingly over night, why have we gravitated to prep—and preppy leisure? According to Avery Trufelman of the popular podcast Articles of Interest, (which recently did did a deep dive on American Ivy and preppy fashion), “Prep is a visual language that we understand because we’ve seen it before.” The visual stylings of prep, the activities, the tweeds—they’ve all existed for over 100 years. “Clothing is a sentence,” she explains, “and it’s all about people being legible… and we emerged from the pandemic with all of these trends divorced from reality—like clowncore— so of course there was this movement to a heritage trend that is in and of itself trend-less. And some of that comes to preps heritage with sportswear, in its ability to be both comfortable and presentable.”

From Crunchy to Chic: How Granola Became Fine Dining’s New It Ingredient
Upgraded with savory flavors, the erstwhile breakfast staple is showing up on better dinner tables everywhere.
The word alone has immediate connotations. “Granola” brings to mind a certain type of situation or place with a whiff of earnestness (or perhaps even patchouli) and a kind of back-to-the-earth sensibility. It isn’t something you’d ever mistake for haute cuisine. Or, at least, it never was before; but times seem to be changing.
These days, the longtime breakfast staple of the Patagonia set is experiencing something of a revival and finding itself in a new and unexpected place: fine dining menus. Whether it’s a textural garnish or playing a leading role in a main course, granola is having a renaissance and being used in surprising and innovative ways.

Actress and Style Icon Raquel Welch Has Died at 82
Raquel Welch has died, according to her son, Damon Welch. The Golden Globe-winning actress and businesswoman was 82. Throughout her career, Welch set herself apart from a previous generation of submissive sex symbols with striking roles in projects such as One Million Years B.C. (1966) and The Three Musketeers (1973). Her look, both on and off-screen, also came to define the beauty ideals of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Welch was born in 1940 in Chicago, moving with her family to San Diego when she was two years old. Welch described her childhood as “grim,” colored by a domineering father who subjected her mother to physical and verbal attacks. They divorced when Welch was in her teens.

Here’s The Number One Excuse People Use When Cancelling Restaurant Reservations
Just be honest.
It’s 6 pm, and your phone buzzes, reminding you of your reservation happening in 30 minutes. You see this calendar alert while cozied up watching Netflix, and suddenly, waves of panic overwhelm you. That mildly discomforting pit slowly grows in your stomach, reminding you that you entered your credit card to book the table, but there’s just absolutely no way you’re getting off the couch to make it to this restaurant. So, it’s time for you to call the host, put on your best show, and ramble off your best excuse.

“The Only Reason I’m Here Is To Destroy The Word Conformity”: How Vivienne Westwood Turned The Fashion Industry On Its Head
As the fashion world gathers to remember the inimitable Vivienne Westwood, revisit Sarah Mower’s tribute to the late, great British designer, below.
The near-impossible task of honouring Vivienne Westwood has to begin by saying this: above all, she was a great Englishwoman – a unique designer who pushed fashion history forward, and who then used all of her power to stand up for the future of the world. Her death, on 29 December 2022, sent waves of images reverberating through memory. Vivienne as the provocateur of punk. Vivienne pioneering Pirates and mini-crinis. Vivienne as a modern-day Boudicca in a magnificent cape, riding a tank past the constituency home of then-prime minister David Cameron to protest against fracking in 2015.
It feels only right to quote Vivienne’s call to action – one snippet of speech in her nonstop campaigning – which her family and husband, Andreas Kronthaler, posted on their announcement of her death. “Stop climate change. This is a war for the very existence of the human race. And that of the planet. The most important weapon we have is public opinion.” She commanded, “Become a freedom fighter!” At 81, Vivienne Westwood was as aligned to what young people care about as ever; the grandmother battling forward in her hand-scrawled Buy Less T-shirt, and to hell with the establishment.

Andrea Riseborough: Oscar’s Most Talked-About Nominee Breaks Her Silence
The best actress surprise on making ‘To Leslie,’ her shape-shifting career and the debates surrounding her nomination: “It not only makes sense that this conversation would be sparked, but it is necessary.”
As this is Riseborough’s first major interview since that surprise nomination — but arranged before the backlash that followed it — she is aware that anything she utters over the next two hours could easily boomerang back to wound her. When asked questions about the awards campaign or the conversations about race and privilege it’s sparking, she hesitates, preferring to address those matters in a later conversation (which she will, via email).
In this moment, however, she can’t even concede to being happy about it.
“I don’t know what I know,” she says. “I think once I have time to process everything, I might understand it a bit better.”

The French Tian Is the Prettiest (and Easiest) Way to Cook and Serve Vegetables
A Provençal classic that’s as simple as layering sliced vegetables in a baking dish is definitely something you should be making.
Looking for a healthy, Instagram-worthy vegetable dish? Consider the tian. A specialty of the region of Provence in the south of France, the vegetable tian is both a savory side dish and the heavy terracotta baking vessel used to bake it in. What makes a tian so special is its beauty and simplicity.

Mis en Place Is Key to Cooking Like a Pro—Here’s How to Master This Meal Prep Technique
Prepping ingredients and assembling tools prior to cooking can help keep you organized and save time in the kitchen.
One of the first things culinary school curriculums cover is preparation and time management—two things that are essential to the French code of mise en place. Loosely translated, mise en place means to “put in place” or “setup.” It’s a system that legendary French chef Auguste Escoffier developed in the mid-19th century, and ever since, chefs have used it to keep their workstations tight and organized.
How does mise en place translate to home cooking? We reached out to chefs and other cooking experts and discovered that some embrace the act of mise daily, while others reserve it for specific situations. All agree that mise en place boils down to three elemental steps that can help build any cook’s kitchen confidence.

The real story behind My Policeman, and the heartbreaking complexity of EM Forster’s most defining relationship
As My Policeman hits cinemas, Tatler reflects on EM Forster: the early 20th century novelist whose life inspired the story
‘My Policeman is a film about the complexity of love’, Harry Styles says in a promo video for his latest film. His hair slicked back and voluminous, he wears a navy blue biker-jacket; he almost looks like a character from Grease. ‘It follows the lives of three individuals living in 1950s Brighton, and it’s framed with the older versions of these characters looking back and reflecting on their youth’, Emma Corrin (who identifies as non-binary) chimes in, their hair almost resemblant of Sandy’s. Later, in a press release, Harry explains what he loves most about the film. ‘The general themes are incredibly timeless… I think people are able to see a part of themselves in each of the characters’, he said.

Raquel Welch, a Lifetime of Looks
From cave woman to “Woman of the Year,” Ms. Welch defied expectations.
“One Million Years B.C.” may have been ludicrous, but it made her a star, largely because of the film poster, which depicted her as an indomitable figure towering over the fearsome beasts in the background. Ms. Welch understood the power of the image, writing, “In the photograph I look so convincing, so formidable standing there astride the rocky landscape in that partially shredded animal skin.”

Oldest Nearly Complete Hebrew Bible Heads to Auction
The Codex Sassoon, believed to date from the late ninth or early 10th century, is set to be sold by Sotheby’s for an estimated $30 million to $50 million.
One day, about 1,100 years ago, a scribe in present-day Israel or Syria sat down to begin work on a book. Copied out on roughly 400 large parchment sheets, it contained the complete text of the Hebrew Bible, written in square letters similar to those of the Torah scrolls in any synagogue today.
After changing hands a few times, it ended up in a synagogue in northeast Syria, which was destroyed around the 13th or 14th century. Then it disappeared for nearly 600 years.

Hollywood Remembers Raquel Welch: Reese Witherspoon, Paul Feig, Viola Davis, Eugenio Derbez, Chris Meloni & More
Tributes are pouring in for Raquel Welch, the legendary actress who died Wednesday at the age of 82, following a career that spanned more than 50 years across film and television.
“So sad to hear about Raquel Welch’s passing, tweeted Reese Witherspoon. I loved working with her on Legally Blonde. She was elegant , professional and glamorous beyond belief. Simply stunning. May all her angels carry her home.”
“This is so sad. I had the great pleasure of working with Ms. Welch when I was a regular on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and she was awesome,” actor Paul Feig tweeted.

These New Train Tours Might Be the Most Stunning Way to See New Zealand
Expect panoramic views of lush forests, sparkling coastlines, rolling hills, small towns, and big cities.
The just-launched rail adventures take three existing train lines and mix them with a fresh crop of guided tour itineraries — ranging from six to 17 days — leading guests on a variety of off-rail excursions in search of Kiwi experiences. The Northern Explorer train starts in Auckland and runs just over 400 miles south to New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington. Along the way, tours bring guests to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves and into Tongariro National Park, where they’ll see towering Mount Ruapehu. After crossing the 58-mile Cook Strait aboard the Interislander ferry, travelers can transfer to the Coastal Pacific train at Picton. The route passes through Blenheim’s vineyards and hugs Kaikōura’s coast (renowned for whale sightings) on the way to Christchurch. Finally, the TranzAlpine train traverses the Canterbury Plains and the Southern Alps between Christchurch and Greymouth. Private coach or shuttle tours can whisk passengers to nearby destinations, including Queenstown and Milford Sound.

29 Most Beautiful Places in Italy
From dreamy islands to charming small towns, these picture-perfect Italy destinations were made for your Instagram feed.
Choosing the most beautiful places in Italy is like being asked to pick your favorite child. You love them all for different reasons, and it’s virtually impossible to express a preference. Italy is filled with epically gorgeous locales — we could name dozens in Rome alone — and has so many different kinds of beauty, from iconic ruins to romantic cities, dazzling islands to seascapes, spectacular mountain ranges to sparkling lakes, plus a thousand small towns and villages, each more picturesque than the next.
But choose we must. We tried to cast a wide net in terms of vistas large and small, and defined “beauty” in its broadest terms — not just for how a place looks, but how it feels to be there, its cultural significance, and its one-of-a-kind quality. So that nobody feels left out, we also included at least one location in each of Italy’s 20 regions.

[Photo Credit: chineselibrary.com.hk, abconcept.net]

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