flower arrangements

I was feeling inspired today-

coneflowers, coleus & strawberries from my garden

garden photos!

I am fairly preoccupied with taking pictures of my garden lately- I think I am rapidly becoming the neighborhood crazy garden lady...

cute dresses

I am slightly obsessed with this designer right now-
Voom by Joy Han












Her stuff is at Double Dutch too.

These are sooo Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8....

italy II

italy

I just back from Italy- it was really really nice to go back. (I studied abroad in Sorrento many years ago) We stayed in Praiano-- a small town just past Positano on the Amalfi Coast in a villa perched high up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was awesome. You can see all 217 photos, including the kitchen, here if you like. I did quite a bit of cooking there and am including two recipes... they aren't exactly recipes though, because they are painfully simple, but tremendously delicious.

recipes:

homemade pasta
This is hardly a recipe- just start with a pile of flour and a pinch of salt I use about a cup per person and make a well in the center. Crack in an egg for each person . Whisk the eggs with a fork and slowly start pulling in flour from your pile until you have a nice dough. (there will be flour left over) Knead the dough a bit and then run through a pasta machine or roll out with a rolling pin and slice thinly (as pictured) Let dry out a bit (I rarely have the patience to really do this) and drop into a pot of salted boiling water. When the noodles float they are done- it should only take a few minutes. Toss with olive oil, fresh tomatoes and basil. Yum.

fennel with sorrentine lemon
Again this isn't exactly a recipe but it's my new favorite snack. Thinly slice a bulb or two of fennel either with a mandoline or with a knife. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice from your villa lemon tree... that's me eating my fennel salad on the villa balcony at sunset.

happy easter!

meatball cupcakes

Ok, so meatball cupcakes may seem odd... but they were for my friend Virginia who makes meatball sculptures so it made perfect sense. She also had a squirrel phase during which I made her polka dot squirrel cupcakes... These are chocolate cake, salt caramel swiss buttercream, homemade truffles for meatballs and jam for sauce.