mint & vanilla strawberries

...another video recipe.  simple and oh so good.

btw, to make 'vanilla sugar' put your used vanilla bean (i.e., after you've scrapped it out for another use) in your sugar canister 

when spring feels like summer

the smell of meyer lemons and vine ripe tomato.  awesomeness. check out this video recipe of me making a simple spring meets summer salad.

Platforms

I'm actually not sure if i love these or hate them.... I think the real questions is would i ever wear them?

....you decide

dolce vita boots @ saks

Park(ing) day

For a nice lunch break, I walked to my favorite coffee shop. I call it royal, others call it Cole. Regardless, I stumbled upon park(ing) day. An international day celebrating parks. In honor of completely unknown holiday, Royal created this parklet (mini park) in the street. I love AstroTurf I think more people should use it, especially in Oakland. It's so cheery. <3

Polenta

I love polenta, its simple and versatile. Tonight i made it again with a twist. With this recipe i think you could serve it warm and creamy (how i did) or you could cool it (at which point it turns to a solid), then bake or fry it. Hmmmm?

Preheat 350
Stir 1cup polenta and 3 1/4 cups water into buttered Pyrex
Bake for 50 minutes
Stir, add 1/4 - 1/2 cup mascarpone, 3 cloves fresh minced Garlic and chopped parsley. Salt and pepper

Delish. xoxo

Lattes

Aussies make the best lattes and the worst beer. I know it sounds wrong but it's true. An Australians idea of beer is a soapy lager...not good. On the other hand they make coffee drinks like no other. Strong, small, just the right amount of creaminess and always a beautiful design on top where the espresso meets the milk. Perfection. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered a coffee cart at the Thursday farmers market that recreates these glorious masterpieces. (you must order the small, double for the correct effect). And double my delight when I discovered he's now parkin' that cart in front of my office 4 days a week. Oh happy day. I guess he loves me back
xoxo

Bomber

Is $500 too much for happiness? guilt group does it again. check it: (http://m.gilt.com/mobile/sale/women/31-phillip-lim-834/product/59142307)

My neighborhood

...is so ferocious, no?

plaid

i cant take credit for discovering the similarity between the movie clueless and this jacket. that was the crazy geniuses at design*sponge. that does not diminish my obsession. i want it to own it so bad. and i want to wear it with these cigarette pants from banana republic's mad men collection. did i mention that this blazer is sold out.....everywhere. way harsh.

cooking on mondays

it hasn't been very hot this summer and we're just now getting tomatoes. enter easy monday night dinner. you're welcome.

chicken
thyme
salt
olive oil
garlic
large cherry tomatoes
butter

preheat oven to 350
heat olive oil (a good amount) to medium high in cast iron skillet
generously season chicken with salt

sear chicken at medium high for 4 minutes on each side

after the chicken is seared on the second side add a handful of peeled garlic cloves and thyme (couple of sprigs worth of leaves) into skillet. put the skillet in oven. bake for 10 minutes


take chicken out of skillet - cover with tin foil to keep warm. leave oil, garlic and thyme in skillet. heat skillet to medium heat and melt 1 tablespoon of butter.

add tomatoes to skillet (as many will fit in a single layer) and couple more sprigs worth of thyme leaves.

continue to cook tomatoes until they burst and caramelize - creating a thick tomato gravy. (15 minutes?)

pour over chicken breast.


enjoy

xx