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‎*** WARNNG: Parental Guidance Alert! Santa Spoiler! *** Visiting the Macy's Santaland on the top floor of this iconic NYC retailer in 2009, with Bike Friday customer Brenda Carlton. When I was a kid, there was just one Santa, needless to say, me and my nosy camera were hustled out of there ever so nicely by the tireless, velvet suited  elves - they deserve a great Christmas tip! Merry Christmas everyone! Santa's Elf 1: beats folding t-shirts! Santa's Elf 2: tip this man!  Scenes from Macy's Miracle on 34th St puppet show. Bear Crossing!  My advertising bent: putting the Macy's branding front and center The final scene from Miracle on 34th St Everyone gets this cute little badge

Continuing my "tales of the uneggspected" in CountyKerry: having been dismissed from my first ever waitressing gig, I now prepare to talk my way into a serious stint on the steamy side of the swinging door...  r ead "Doing the Dishes in County Kerry" Part 1 Head chef Bruce co-assembles the Taster Plate,  a personal smorgasboard of all the sugary offerings al dia . "You need to turn it around in under 2 minutes," said sous chef Tommy.  My life as a trainee chef Mulcahy's Restaurant and Bar, Ireland 1998 After my three-week waitressing career sank like a lead meringue I found myself out in the drizzling rain looking for a new job, and more pressingly, a new place to sleep. Kenmare suddenly took on a grey, miserable pallor, a trick of the brain when life takes an awkward turn. Bummer. I was still frazzled by being fired, though it wasn't the first time in my life. I argued that really, I never wanted to be a waitress; it was just a wa

Want to work in food? You can spend thousands of hours, dollars and brain cells going to culinary school, only to discover you'd rather be on THIS side of the swinging door. Or, you can hustle yo'self a gig as a prep chef, a "try before you buy" if you will. Here's my blow-by-blanch account of going from waitressing to commis-cheffing and back to being an appreciative diner.  The action takes place in a far, far west corner of a kitchen in Ireland...   More tasty reading: "Doing the Dishes in County Kerry" Part 2 My Cheap'n'Choosy food blog One wonders in this place Why anyone is left in Dublin, or London, or Paris Where it would be better, one would think To live in a tent or hut With this magnificent sea and sky And to breathe this wonderful air Which is like wine in one's teeth John Millington Synge From the wall at the Barracks History Centre, Cahirsiveen, West Ireland ~~~ "YE

WARNING: Strong Kiwi content including an accent that will melt the hearts of lovers of the Kiwi lilt ... Watch on YouTube to leave a comment IS it possible for the words "romance" and "rugby" to tête-à-tête in the same sentence? Chief behind-the-scenes enabler of the recent NZ Rugby Stars in NY at Saatchi bash, Sarah Smith, makes a ruck and a maul sound like warm handshake and canoodle as she describes the aims and aspirations behind the program - to facilitate a very sporting cultural, educational and potentially economy-enhancing exchange between New Zealand and the USA, via the medium of stellar student Rugby. I interviewed the NZ Trade and Enterprise attaché at the ThreeTarts , One of Oprah's favorite micro-desserteries in Chelsea, where treats are no bigger than the average Chelsea toy chihuahua ('s poop). The November 12 event at Saatchi netted $23,000 to fund two very smart and presumeably large-biceped exchange students via the Play Rugb

UPDATE:  Kudos! Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts shared this video on his blog MOVIE: Can't get enough of that Kiwi accent? Project Enabler  Sarah Smith explains  the serious ballplay behind this event. I confess I'm not a big into ballsports. I was the 5-foot nothing (on a tall day) runt at school and was never picked for anything except extreme cat's cradling (that's the thing you do with a loop of string). And I think I'm going to embarrass myself even further because I've used the word "footie" in a caption in the above clip, a word I suspect is  reserved for Aussie Rules football only. Right? Wrong? So what on Mars was I doing at this rugby function? My galpal Irene Fong emailed me with a November 12 invitation to a fundraiser entitled "New Zealand Rugby Stars in New York." I skimmed it politely until I saw the host and venue - Kevin Roberts, and my former employer Saatchi & Saatchi! More about that in a New York minute