If you’re looking for a feisty read about trying to find love (and often settling for sex), check out a new book by Julie Klausner, I Don’t Care About Your Band.

Photograph by Irving Penn

But it didn’t stop me, and it probably won’t stop you….  PLEASE add to the list!

(Illustration by Beth Adams)

Image: Apples, 1949, by Ellsworth Kelly

Image: Reaching, 2010, by Noura Bouzo, a female artist from Saudi Arabia, who recently participated in one of the first mixed exhibition art shows ever to take place in Riyadh.

Recipe: MOZZA’S Chicken Liver Pâté      

Note: At Pizzeria Mozza, the pâté is served as bruschetta over crostini (toasted bread brushed with a little olive oil and rubbed with garlic cloves) and topped with guanciale; they also recommend serving it topped with pancetta or a sprig of parsley.

1 pound chicken livers
Coarse salt and finely ground pepper
3/4 cup best-quality olive oil, divided, more as needed
2 ounces pancetta, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons brandy or Cognac
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons capers (preferably salt-packed), rinsed and drained
1 lemon, zest finely grated, and 1tablespoon juice
16 slices toasted bread

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Clean the livers: Use a small knife to remove the connective veins from the chicken livers and discard the veins. Line a large plate with paper towels. Place the chicken livers on the paper towels and pat them with a wad of paper towels to get out the excess moisture. Season the livers very generously with salt and pepper, gently massaging in the seasoning with your hands.

3. In a large saute pan heated over high heat until it is almost smoking, add one-fourth cup olive oil. One by one, add the chicken livers. Adding one at a time prevents the pan from cooling too much, and it ensures you will have room for all of the livers because they shrink immediately when they hit the pan, allowing more to fit. Cook the livers until they’re a deep brown, about 2 minutes on each side.

4. Add the pancetta to the pan with the livers, reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook until the pancetta fat is rendered, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute.

5. Stir in the brandy, shaking the pan to deglaze, and cook the brandy for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from heat.

6. Dump the contents of the pan onto a large cutting board, making sure to get all the flavorful bits from the bottom of the pan. Pile the parsley, shallots, capers and lemon zest on top of the chicken livers and drizzle over it the lemon juice and one-fourth cup oil.

7. Chop everything together coarsely with a large knife. Drizzle over another one-fourth cup olive oil and continue to chop, re-gathering the ingredients into a mound from time to time. Continue to chop until the livers are the consistency of coarse paste, almost pureed but with more texture. Add additional olive oil as needed; the livers should be moist and glistening but not so loose the pate won’t stand up.

8. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate before using. The pate can be made up to a couple of days in advance; bring to room temperature before serving. This makes about 2 cups pate.

Make a daily practice of viewing the world as if you have just entered it. Think of the endless, glorious gifts we enjoy. The sunshine, the air. See. Smell. Hear. Taste. Touch. Look at everything around you with newness each day and you will transform monotony into an exhilarating experience.

Image by Nick Dewar, an awe-inspiring illustrator who died last month at the age of 37.

A friend of a friend contacted me about setting me up with a guy she and her fiancé know from AA. She said he’s “Jewish, cute, funny in a sarcastic way and 6 years sober.” The sober thing could have been a red flag, but I wanted to be open-minded and non-judgmental.    

I arrive at the coffee place, and I guess he’s decent looking (though not my taste) but he had a fit build. I immediately knew I didn’t like him. We sat down outside, where he proceeds to make fun of a “NO on Prop 8” bumper sticker. At first, I thought he was kidding, but then realized he, in fact, was NOT. He went on to compare gays to crack addicts and bank robbers that only look for sex…. And when I got really heated and started to raise my voice, I was told “God all you Jewish girls are just so liberal.” Apparently he simply considers himself a Conservative Republican with traditional values…so I had the pleasure of clearing that up by telling him he is a BIGOT (he also seemed like a woman hater) And that as a minority himself (a Jew) he should be much more understanding of people who are different. Needless to say the date was over in 30 minutes. My blood was boiling…I got to my car (yes I was PMS) but just lost it crying that the world is filled with such TRASH. I went to my neighbors’ apartment, where they proceeded to feed me lots of wine and make me laugh. There is even more detail to the story of stuff he said, but why even put his ugly words into the universe.

OK. Just had to tell you. I’ve had some bad dates, but this takes the CAKE! Where or where is my person already!!!

Image: Crying Girl, 1964, by Roy Lichtenstein

Image: Barbie (with Pearl Necklace), 1997, by Marlene Dumas

Living in San Francisco, my wardrobe palette ranged from gray to black, a perfect accent to the perennial fog. My East Coast sister-in-law used to say, “Would it hurt to wear a little color?” Here in L.A., with its long season of white hot sun, I’ve loosened up, and now own clothes in coral, yellow, mint green and white, none of which I’d be caught dead wearing in the Bay Area, for fear of being scorned as a tourist. But red lipstick still intimidates me. Each time I apply a coat, I tissue it off before leaving the house. Beginning on March 11, the wonderful Neue Galerie in NYC is presenting an exhibition of the German expressionist, Otto Dix. In honor of this exhibit, Estée Lauder is launching two limited-edition beauty products: A lipstick called Berlin Red ($30) and a Bauhaus-inspired mirror compact ($55). I might have to give red one more try.

Image: Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber by Otto Dix, 1925.