Things I Love: Jambalaya and Mad Men

So, my husband's having a pretty tough time at work. He's in the middle of setting up his own company and as Ireland is, to put it mildly, not in the best economic shape, it's been a fairly uphill endeavour. It's getting there, and I'm really proud of him, but this week has been a bit difficult. There's nothing I could do to practically help, so I did something to impractically help: I cooked food.

Now, cooking is probably the only bit of housewifery I'm actually good at. I was never great at the whole cleaning, laundry, ironing thing. I do a certain amount, but I tend to lose interest halfway through and go off and read a book. This may be the main reason why I want to become a writer, in fact. So I can retrospectively justify my laziness as research.

So I made jambalaya, which may well be one of the most hearty and comforting dishes known to man. It cheered husband up a bit (thankfully, I walked around half of my suburb trying to track down the right type of chorizo) so it served it's purpose.

Which brings me on to Mad Men. I love this show for many reasons, but today I'm specifically talking about it's influence on fashion. I, for reasons not completely removed from my love of jambalaya, have a figure that was last in fashion circa the 1950's. I have a big bust, wide hips and a relatively small waist. My wedding dress designer told me that the ratio between my hips and my waist was perfect. Unfortunately, the ratio between my hips and my height are not- but I'm starting to get on top of that.

Up until recently, getting clothes has been really difficult for me. Jeans that fit my hips gape at the waist. Tops that fit my bust are too big for me in the stomach area. Tops that fit my stomach are to small at the bust, and squeezes my boobs up in way that is not a good look outside of a red light district. The dresses in the shops until recently have been made to drape on slender figures, and generally make me look like I have accidentally got myself entangled in a curtain. Frumpy. Though I love shopping, it's horrible to go into a shop and have to discount most of the clothes, not on size but on style.

It was my mother in law's sixtieth birthday last weekend, so I went out to find myself a dress to wear for the night. I went into River Island to start the long hunt for something half-way suitable, and to my surprise found about six dresses I could have bought. The Mad Men style has caught on, and happily there are clothes made for those of with figures close to both Betty Draper AND Joan Holloway. I don't know how long this is going to last, but I'm liking it.

What about you? Do you like shopping, or is it a chore? And am I the only woman I know who doesn't find Don Draper attractive?