WHAT'S IN THE BAG?

We forgot about Homeland Security.

A team of almost two dozen people worked on this issue’s cover story, “Icing on the Cake,” and yet, not a single one of us foresaw that trying to get a silver leather Louis Vuitton handbag—made entirely of cake—through security at San Francisco International Airport was going to cause a bit of a problem.

Imagine yourself for a moment in cakemaker Shinmin Li’s shoes, trying to explain to the burly man behind the x-ray machine that as real as her flour-and-sugar carry-on may have looked, no, he couldn’t open the zipper to try to look inside.

Alas, the cake, which took about 60 man-hours to create, did not go unscathed through security: Much of the intricate embossed monograms and patterns got wiped clean off. And so, there was Shinmin at the gate awaiting her flight to the New York photo shoot, painstakingly recreating her work detail by detail—with a coffee stirrer found at Starbucks.

These days, the stars of the food, drink, and entertaining worlds are just like Shinmin—artists of the highest caliber, blessed with unmistakable talent and style, and not afraid to improvise (coffee stirrer, anyone?) or stray from the expected path. From our Tastemaker chefs to the architects designing their restaurants and wineries, the special of the day, they tell us, is that recipes always have room for interpretation and if you’re not allowing for happy accidents in your dinners, parties, or nights out on the town, then you’re taking things too seriously. We’ll raise a glass to that.

At CITY, we’re also toasting the launch of a thrilling new feature on our website, www.city-magazine.com: a virtual CITY magazine. Each new issue is now available online as a page-turning, interactive portal to the CITY lifestyle. Love a bag? Click on the item and place your order. Want to try a new restaurant? Let us help you make your reservation. It’s CITY, à la mode.

Enjoy your summer,

John McDonald
Editorial Director

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