....more

wouldn't this totem go great in my cabin? yep, still not over the cabin.

thanks (again) to the jealous curator who led me to the amazing work of Denise Kupferschmidt

cabin fever

i moved yet again which means that i am deeply obsessed with interior design, style and inspiration. i'll leave you with one (of many) styles i'm wishing that i could pull off. total cabin fever....i want it all: the clothes, interior, even the snow. crazy, i know.

black friday

actually, i despise black friday. huge crowds of people willing to crush each other to death for a half price hd tv is truly american consumerism at its worst. did you know that some stores are opening at 3am to appease these lunatics. honestly, after copious amounts of turkey and wine i don't understand how people can get up so early. so to counteract the strip mall shopping that will hit its stride at the end of the week, i leave you with some images from edinburgh. a vintage shop and the most amazing hat shop i've ever been to.

fabhatrix. fab indeed.

as i begin holiday shopping, i will keep these 2 shops in mind.

bitter and sweet

81 degrees in oakland on this fine mid november day warrants a new salad creation. so here goes:

beets, blue cheese, radicchio,

drizzle white balsamic, drizzle olive oil, pepper,

drizzle honey, rock salt

it's an odd combination and certainly not for everyone but i really enjoyed the bursts of bitter and sweet the radicchio and honey delivered. not to mention it has the most beautiful RED color.

serve this bleeding salad with this serving set from anthro. xo

fennel soup

this soup is so good. loosely adapted from an epicurious recipe, this is really an amazing illusion of creaminess without a drop of cream or milk. it's so clean, and modern, it begs to served in this mid-century modern tureen.

3 large fennel bulbs sliced (6 cups)

1 leek, white and pale green parts sliced

1 HUGE shallot, diced

6 tablespoons of butter

a splash of extra dry sherry

6 cups of chicken broth

teaspoon fennel frond (or more to taste)

3/4 cup of packed, raw baby spinach

saute the fennel, leeks, and shallot in the butter until translucent (about 10 minutes?). add splash of wine cook another minute or so. add the broth and frond and boil for 30-35 minutes.

after the fennel is very tender turn off the heat. let cool slightly before pureeing in the blender (don't skip the cooling, that soup is hot! believe me). Puree in batches. During the last batch add the raw spinach. the heat from the soup will cook it sufficiently. add it all back to a pot and heat back up on low.

enjoy.

this soup is seriously good. next time i will try low sodium chicken broth because it is otherwise very healthy!

renegade craft fair

the renegade craft fair is here! despite moving this weekend i am finding room to fit a quick trip into the city for the etsy filled fair. time to grab cash and some batteries for my holga.

balls

turkey meat balls. my first attempt at turkey meatballs were a success. although adding bacon to anything pretty much guarantees success.

here you go: cook 5 pieces high quality bacon until crisp. let cool & crumble. mix italian bread crumbs, grated parm, fresh minced garlic, 1 lb ground turkey, 1 egg, dried oregano, salt, soy sauce (i know, its weird but i love the salty, and meaty flavor it gives), hot sauce (again, weird but i use a louisiana style hot sauce which is essentially salt, vinegar, and hot pepper) and the bacon. after well incorporated, form 2 inch balls. heat oil in pan at med-high. fry balls each side ~5 minutes each (don't let them burn). I couldn't get them to cook through without burning so i baked them at 350 for 10-15 until they were cooked. raw ground turkey is gross. after they've been cooked through add red sauce to pan that you fried them in (you may need to wipe out) and heat on medium, add cooked balls, continue cooking all for about 5 minutes and presto! easy, homemade meatballs.

long lunch

yes. and by lunch i mean wine. there is nothing i love more than spending an afternoon drinking wine, eating bread & olives and pretending that i live anywhere but where i actually do. me gusta barlata!

diner

how to have the perfect morning? go to a breakfast joint that serves up diner style food with high quality organic sustainable ingredients. this morning after dropping off someone at oakland airport my friend called me for brekky. 6:30 am. i'm in. we soon realized that nothing was open. thanks to yelps "open now" feature we discovered that the adorable bette's oceanview diner was open and slangin' corn beef so good that it was featured on diner, driveins and dives. check out the perfectly poached egg. are you kidding me, bette? i love you.

Scottish

aside from scotch, and accents, papa stour is the best thing to come out of Scotland. i want my bedroom to look just like that one. the white linen is calling my name. i cannot wait until they update their interior page! i'm guessing this will be the first of many posts from their site.

pizza

yes, i like pizza but who doesn't? last night i made a pizza that was super good so i thought i'd share the recipe. i forgot to take a picture of the final product so here's a picture of it before it went into the oven.

wondering what to do with the buy 3 for $1 sweet white corn? look no further.

base/sauce: saute corn (from 2 corns) in garlic (a clove) for about 4 min (until they are just starting to get tender). core, then roast ~4-5 small heirloom tomatoes in the oven at 375 until the skin start to peel. peel them (once cooled, of course). in a food processor put corn, peeled tomatoes, 1/4-1/3 cup of pepitas (raw shelled pumpkin seed), 1/2 fresh cilantro and 1/3 + cup fresh grated Romano cheese. blend until mostly smooth. add cayenne, lime zest, hot sauce, salt & pepper to taste (and more cheese?).

topping: kenrals of 2 cobs, juice of 1 lime, fresh cilantro, red pepper flakes, salt pepper. let marinate.

i bought some trader joes dough (i was feeling lazy!). follow dough instructions then put the base, then some mixed salty cheese, parm, romano, mozz, etc, then the fresh corn topping. bake until cooked and golden. add some more cilantro and lime if you like and enjoy!

local art

i stumbled upon this print on kiramothdesign's etsy page. like and love. now where could i put it? hmmmm....

reuse

i think i am going to petition yelp to allow me to give Oakland's Creative Reuse 10 stars. it's amazing. i am hesitant to even post this for fear that too many people would raid the goods at this stuff depot, but alas, i think my friend shannon my be my only follower. so enjoy sifting through the heaps of crap, shannon!

surprises

what an adorable thing to discover at the end of a cuppa chamomile. i love llama designs.

light

thanks to my new favorite blogger, the jealous curator, i have discovered runeguneriussen's work. let there be light.

iced tea

2/3 peppermint. 1/3 gunpowder green. fill glass 1/2 up with boiling water, put in the tea and let it get super strong. (twice as strong as you would normally like it). if you like it sweet, now is the time to add sugar. i do not. once it is strong, fill the glass with ice and enjoy! love on a summer day!

greyhounds

grapefruit and vodka. what else do you need on a saturday afternoon? this awesome vintage citrus juicer from tramplamp. yes. for only $25, i want.

isley

ok. i have SERIOUS love for the isley brothers. when i lived in oz, i listened to the the heat is on at least a billion times. they don't realize it, but the isley brothers are some of my closest friends. they make me happy when i'm blue, dance with me when i'm joyous and best of all listen to me when i need an ear. so naturally, when my cousin kevin brown was spilling good gossip on the brothers, my ears perked up. *note: he's not my real cousin....he's a dj on my fav radio station KBLX

according to my cousin, rick james' last live show (aside from an awards show) was the stone soul concert. the following year they asked teena marie (self-proclamed "ivory queen of soul" and rick james protegee/lover) to perform some of james' songs as a tribute. naturally, this should close the show. the uncomfortable duty of telling ron isley that he wasn't going to headline went to my cousin. mr. isley's reaction? "do you know who i am?" man, he's a badass. i'd also like to point out that ron isley was just released from prison (tax evasion) and at the young age of 69, insisted at this year's concert to play for 90 minutes! and he headlined, of course. so impressive.

double note: i missed this year's concert to be in San Diego at my very dear friend's wedding. very worth it. but next year, i'm there.

being the early bird

it's true. anyone who knows me, especially if you've lived with me, knows that i am the furthest thing from a morning thing. but when i made the move back to the west coast, i told myself that i would try to keep waking up 3 hours before i normally would. i've been pretty good so far and today was my reward. i woke up at 6:30. on a work-from-home day, that's early! after taking my very sweet time getting myself together, i drove down toward my favorite coffee and bakery shops. i was beyond delighted when i discovered that the city of oakland doesn't charge for parking before 8. as i walked around rockridge collecting my morning goodies i looked around at the other morning birds and thought, "you all had the right idea too." now i'm back home for a day of work, hiking, and cooking. pandora has already played erykah, common and the isley brothers. if pandora played 'today was a good day' by ice cube, i'd swear it was reading my mind. instead it's playing old school mary j blige. turns out it's reading my heart.

best coffee EVER: royal at claremont & college (now known as Cole Coffee)

best morning buns in the east bay: la farine (down college 1/2 block from royal...toward berkeley)

home

"if you like it so much, why don't you go back?" ....it's the thought that goes through everyone's head when i talk to them about california. to answer all you bostonians, that's exactly what i'm doing on monday. while i'm mostly excited to go back to the golden state, i will really miss my friends here. so this weekend i will be sailing, dancing, and cooking with my new friends.

hips

i am loving this shape right now. i wore a dress similar in structure, but much less dramatic, this weekend when i went to decordova (an outdoor sculpture garden in MA) with friends. i like how structured it is and how it can create an illusion of a waist. it just felt so appropriate to wear at a sculpture garden. this dress by the Scandinavian label, Acne, is on sale at gilt right now...over $500 off but still totally unaffordable, sigh.

alice

i like awesome alices. it's rare that i come across an alice my age so imagine my delight when i came across this amazing artist, alice stevenson. i love her style. above is from a live-paint piece she did in london for hugo boss. yay, alice!

spring dinner

i've been very busy cooking and pretending it's spring despite it being the '2nd rainiest month in boston ever'.

tonight's recipe as follows:

• 2 red potatoes


• green beans


• 2 ripe tomatoes


• brie cheese


• angel hair


• olive oil


• salt


• fresh pepper


• rosemary


• lemon (optional)

cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes (smaller the better), toss in olive oil, salt and a tiny bit of chopped rosemary. stick in the oven to roast until golden and tender... around 375 for 30 minutes

dice tomatoes set aside, cube brie cheese & set aside

boil salted water, cook pasta...reserve water by draining into another pot

bring reserve water back to boil, put in roughly chopped green beans, cook 3 minutes. drain and save about 1/4 cup of reserve water

toss pasta, cheese and 1/4 reserve water with a little olive oil until creamy. then add the rest of the ingredients, toss and serve with lemon slice. i like the lemon squeezed at the end. brightens it all up!

next time i will substitute parmesan for brie to make it more creamy and i will wear an apron as cute as this one from anthro

my bike

it's warming up and i really miss riding my bike around oakland.

wish i had brought it here but cruisers are such a pain to check at the airport. bummer.

until we meet again, dear bike, i will think of you fondly.

specialty food shops

cardullos in cambridge, oh how i like thee. i could honestly spend hours and thousands of dollars in that little store. to prepare for hours of back to back queer as folk we stopped in to grab snacks. yes, this was right after lunch. don't judge.

we picked up a great bottle of viognier, stilton cheese, baguette and a bar goat's milk dark chocolate. honestly, i'm not sold on the chocolate. the bitterness of the dark chocolate with the sourness of goat milk made for an odd combination. not bad at all, but not quite right. i would like to try a more sweet goat chocolate to balance it a bit more. the cheese on the other hand was just how it always is.....blue and amazing. and it made the wine so sweet when paired. into it.

sunday lunch

a thai sunday lunch. som tum, tom kha gai, dumplings and pineapple fried rice, hold the dried pork topping, please.

it was great. a little place in cambridge called tamarind house. they don't have a website that i can tell but they are super nice and the food is fresh. i have a friend who loves that word: fresh.

love good thai food on a lazy sunday afternoon.

queer as folk

oh, i like it. i like it a lot. today i will embark on a queer as folk marathon and i couldn't be more excited. wine, snacks, lunch, snacks, wine. all while watching my new favorite old tv show. recipes of snacks to come. my only wish is that i had this valentino bag to wear today. it reminds me of one of brian's shinny shirts. gotta love the year 2000.

denim

it's back. and i haven't quite figured out if i like it or not. denim jackets and now this. i used to have so many pairs of overalls. my ck short overalls were my uniform in the dorms. and in middle school i couldn't wear my dad's pair enough. i thought i looked so tough and cool with my bodysuit and plaid boxers underneath. yikes.

i'm afraid i may be too old for them now. the jury is still out.

sharing sportello

yes. i like to share. wellll, most of the time. i really do love to share food because then i get to try twice as much! take last night. sarah and i went to Barbara Lynch's sportello and ordered off of the restaurant week menu.

in total we had:

baby greens w/rye croutons, mustard vinaigrette and walnut creme

cured smoked salmon w/ celeriac creme fraiche & myer lemon puree

bigoli w/ green garlic pesto, potato & green beans

pork belly w/ fennel and parsley salad

a PLATE of cookies, and

chocolate walnut torta w/ salted caramel

a glass of barbera and prosecco

Highlights: pork belly and the salmon.

Best part overall: Barbara Lynch was there! I saw her and even took a picture, but you really can't see her so i won't bother posting. awesome night. i like.

spring snow

really? i like snow fine when it's during winter.... but snow in spring is just annoying and necessary. so much for keeping this blog positive, eh? ok, i'm cold but i need a coffee so i will brave it. i mean, if the people of dc could do it during the snotorious B.I.G, only to discover that even starbucks had shut down, i can manage. and i won't forget my reusable cup.

drink

i haven't said it yet, but i like (to) drink. it is, by far, my favorite bar in boston. to order, you can just let the bartender know what you like generally and they will create something magical for you. before dinner upstairs, sarah and i stopped in. i ordered "something with whiskey and elderflower" and sarah ordered a classic mint julip. both were perfection. also love how there are no booze bottles. simple. amazing.

dancin'

ohhhhhh, it's thursday and thursdays are soooo sweet. 1-i have a short day at work....only 4 hours. 2-it's the day i go to tap dance! and 3- after tap dance i try a new restuarant in boston. tonight will be barbara lynch's sportello....but more on that later. until then, picture me dancin' like gene kelly because i totally do

get this gene kelly and frank sinatra poster at the uk company, easy art

here's to dancin'....not in the rain!

weather

its not raining and not freezing therfore i'm wearing shorts. i'm also indulging in an old favorite: iced peppermint soy latte. i know, i know, another straw....i do have my own cup, at least. uh, which i totally forgot today on the way out because i was too busy talking on my cell phone to one of my favorite people whilst discussing my new favorite show. seriously, rico, you'll love it! and if you dont, blame your roommates not me.

this weather is making me want bigger and better. actually smaller and warmer. i so wish i was in the middle of the south pacific on this bed (from anthro) and enjoying tropical cocktails from these glasses (yay! whimsicalvintage)

family

i was wrong! there was a new modern family on tonight. brilliant as usual. hilarious and warms my heart at the same time. not unlike this picture of my mama & grandpa jim

vanessa bruno

vanessa, where have you been all my life? i like this. a lot.

Discover “ Le bel été ” with Lou Doillon and Gonzales. http://www.vanessabruno.com

because my new favorite show, MODERN FAMILY, is a repeat i went dream shopping and came across this diane keaton throwback. thank you chloe! i want to be lookin' like this but with a cuter bag and hair, geez, saks...

i could totally listen to the four tops on this baby. if you have $350 layin' around and want to make me insanely jealous, visit the vintage supply co

homemade sauerkraut, people

thats right, i did it. i made my own homemade sauerkraut. and i like it.

i looked up a few recipes online. i needed one that didn't involve jarring it for weeks before consuming. i'm impatient and i already had the bratwurst in the fridge. here's how i did it:

Ingredients

• 3 large shallots
• 1 med/lrg green cabbage (shredded)
• 3 (ish) cups of apple cider vinegar -- see the picture below of the vinegar, it was full....now only until the "h"
• 1 (ish) cup apple cider -- again, see the picture
• Salt
• Water

Directions

• saute shallots on med/high heat in olive oil until soft w/ bits of dark
• add apple cider vinegar, apple cider, salt, cabbage and enough water to cover all of the cabbage
• bring to boil
• down to low for 1-1.5 hours, until the cabbage is very soft
• let it cool & eat!

i think it turned out really good. some spices would be nice but i didn't have any (caraway seeds). be warned though, the smell is pretty strong. a bonus if you want to irritate your roommate who uses the hand wash you bought as body soap. suh-weet, revenge!

make believe

pretending. i like to pretend that walking to the local market(s) can replace a good ol' fashioned workout. in my defense there is a pretty hefty hill on the way there and i had to carry all of this stuff.

i also really love having an armful of local produce from johnny d's and a soy latte from cafenation. these are 2 reasons that i have been able to survive this otherwise boring neighborhood.

now it's work time. dislike.

i like straws. but i also like the environment. conundrum. i participated in a marine debris study (riiiight, so i picked up trash on the beach) and i discovered that cigarette butts, balloons, and my little friends, straws, are most likely to end up on the california coast. boo.

years, and hundreds of straws later, i found a solution that doesn't involve biodegradable material--i love the cups but the straw material is pretty bad. like nail on a chalkboard in my mouth, bad. while perusing my favorite hometown blog sfgirlbybay i found: BROOK FARM GENERAL STORE. they have a multitude of obsessable items not the least of which are these straws. i do realize there are many variations of reusable straws but really, are any this adorable? i don't think so.

the second i am no longer living between coasts, i will buy these.

big f*cking deal

i like big deals. i especially like it when they are a long time coming and when the vice president recognizes that the deal is SO big that it warrants using the f-bomb on national tv. (i know, he wasn't mic'd but come on people....everyone is watching).

doing my part to reduce healthcare costs, i took myself to the Y(mca) and nixed the sausages and homemade sauerkraut for dinner. instead i will enjoy black bean burritos and all the clips of the vp and his potty mouth circulating the internet.

because today is a big fucking deal.

the beginning

i've never blogged before. i love reading other people's blogs so i thought i'd give it a shot. to be honest, i actually like looking at the pretty pictures of other people's blogs but that's beside the point. while i could easily make this a blog of dislikes, (people who don't shovel the snow in front of their house, cockroaches over 2 inches in my bedroom, the list goes on...) i've decided to focus on the positive. maybe because i just survived my first new england winter and it is finally sunny, i am feeling unusually cheerful.

spring has sprung! and not a minute too soon.

something i could still be bitter about: breaking down in winnemucca, nv on my way from san francisco to boston which meant i did not have a car through the hellish winter and was forced to walk and wait for the T in snow, rain and hail. ah, but then i wouldn't have visited a place that butch cassidy visited once... and that would be shameful.