Le vin bon marché

...that's French for cheap wine. But, don't those Frenchies just know how to make everything sound more chic?

In addition to endless sunshine and balmy weather, California's other greatest perk is inexpensive vino by the oak barrel full. Why drink water when wine is cheaper?

Two of my recent faves (one white and one red), both under $6:

• Now & Zen Alsatian Wasabi White: crisp on the palette and a delight with Thai or Indian food
• Chariot Gypsy: a blend of Cabernet Sauvingnon, Petite Syrah, and Sangiovese; a gorgeous garnet-colored wine with a jammy taste and everyday versatility

The Fake Housewives

Confession: Ssshhh...Don't tell anyone. I watch The Real Housewives of...everywhere. Dysfunction clearly doesn't discriminate according to geography because those ladies, and the occasional gay sidekick, are just as delusional from Newport Beach to New Jersey.

Why do I watch this crap? Sometimes a gal just need a few wackos to remind her that her life really is pretty normal. Maybe I'm just as disturbed as they are, but, dang, their meltdowns make my occasional hissy fits seem like tea with the queen.

What are your guilty t.v. addictions?
Image from eonline

Cumulus Cloudscapes

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky." Rabindranath Tagore
When was the last time you stopped mid-activity to take a moment and look up at the clouds? You might be surprised what you'll see.

On a recent flight, I looked out my murky airplane window to see this glorious view. High above the clouds, the sunset produced such an array of pinks and oranges across the sky. Up in the air, the clouds became a billowy ocean---a reminder of the unparalleled beauty of nature.

Robin's Egg & Periwinkle & Azure

Blue is such a lovely hue!

Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian abstract painter, in Concerning the Spiritual in Art contemplates blue and ultimately argues that it is the most intensely spiritual of all colors. Blue is of the sky and sea--in all its shades, it can calm you like few others in the rainbow. So, whether indigo or Tiffany or cerulean, punctuate your rooms with this glorious color and feel your pulse slowing and your mind wandering.

First image by Holly Dyment Design
Last two images from Elle Decor
Other images from House Beautiful

Taste Treats, Bread Edition

"You are the butter to my bread and the breath to my life."
Paul Child to Julia Child

There are few things in life that are more comforting than a warm crusty baguette or a flaky croissant. Indulge (and drool!), mes amis!images borrowed from Catherine Meissner, Entre deux trains,Hotel Chatter & Farm 3

Kitchen Must-haves

Without these superior kitchen implements, I would surely exist on mac and cheese. Each of these goodies makes my culinary adventures far more pleasant and more efficacious:

• Le Creuset Dutch Oven: ideal for simmering chili low and slow or pan searing pork medallions & so easy to clean
  
• Silpat: ensures perfectly baked cookies and pastries that don't stick
• Lemon squeezer: sensational at getting every last drop out of your citrus fruits (lemon drop, anyone?)
  
• Microplane: grate nutmeg, a block of Parmesan, or even garlic with ease
  
• Henckels chef's knife: the perfect knife for almost anything

Travel Couture

Each time I traipse through one of America's airports, I am reminded how casual our culture has become. I think we should return to the glory days of air travel when ladies wore elegant skirts and white gloves and fancy hats as opposed to velour track suits and gym shoes and backpacks the size of toddlers. Mad Men has seeped into so many other aspects of our society, why not encourage our hubbies to dress more like Don Draper when they fly and less like Al Bundy?

In addition to making people-watching so much more pleasant (who really wants to see your saggy-butt sweatpants or your cat t-shirt, lady?), I also believe that improving the way we dress when we travel will result in better treatment by the airlines. Maybe, just maybe, that gate agent will give you the upgrade you've been begging for if you're decked out in your Sunday finest as opposed to your everyday worst.

So, go ahead America, ditch those old hoodies and stretchy pants when you fly! Pop on some pearls or don a chic trench coat, and voila, instant travel glam!


images from NYTimes, Google Images, Meaningful Design

Happy Easter

Feeling Peachy

"Whoever said orange is the new pink is seriously disturbed!" -Elle Woods, Legally Blonde

Sorry, Elle, while agree with you on most of your pearls of wisdom, I must disagree here. Did you know that orange tones are actually universally flattering on all skin colors? Give it a try, pop on a touch of coral, tangerine or apricot next time you are feeling gray and you will immediately look and feel refreshed (and maybe even a little bit more Heidi or Jen-esque!).
all looks from In Style

Design Peeves

I read more interior design magazines than I'd like to admit. Consequently, I have developed a few design pet peeves that just ruffle my feather pillows:

• unburned "display" candles: burn your candles, people---from what I hear, wax is not waning
  
• "karate-chopped" throw pillows: some designers do this thing wherein they give the couch pillows a chop with one hand to make them look more lived-upon...however, the result is not coziness but rather judo-chic
  
• lack of personal touches: who wants to live in an interior design museum? add photographs and memories from your adventures throughout your space to remind yourself and your guests that you live there
  
• collections: if you have 44 Aunt Jemimas, let's keep that little secret to yourself
• impractical furniture: cuteness should rarely trump comfort (exception to this rule: super cute shoes)
• cluttered bookshelves: make your bookcases aesthetically pleasing---group books by size, shape or even color and be sure to add in non-literary elements like vases, sculptures, or picture frames to break up the monotonyimage from Apartment Therapy
  

Dream Dinner Party

Granted, this is a very clichéd question, but it's very fun to answer: if you could have a dinner party, and invite anyone dead or alive, who would you invite?

It would be so so difficult to whittle a list down to a few, but among my favorites would certainly be:

• Pablo Picasso
• Meryl Streep
• C.S. Lewis
• Abigail Adams
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Georgia O'Keeffe

with dinner prepared by Tony Bourdain and music by Yo-Yo Ma

Rotisserie to the Rescue

A rotisserie chicken is one of the quickest and most scrumptious ways to enhance most any chicken recipe.

My recent favorite rotisserie chicken recipe is...

Green Enchiladas Suizas:

My Life in France

"I feel I was born French." -Julia Child

Me too, Julia, me too.

The place where I feel most French is the gloriously sun-drenched Southern part of the country, particularly the region between Nice and Marseilles. The colors appear more vibrant there. The grapes taste of the earth in which they were grown (terroir, as the French call it). The hillsides look like patchwork quilts in varying shades of green.

One of my favorite activities in any country, but especially in the South of France, is aimless wandering through local markets. The artfully arranged stacks of freshly picked produce, bundles of local flowers, artisanal cheeses or soaps that smell of lavender---these markets engage and overwhelm every one of the five senses in the most wonderful of ways.

All images taken on my last trip to the Saturday market in Nice, 2007:

Mojito Monday

It's Monday, y'all.
So, I'm guessing you could use a little rum-infusion.

Classic Mojito (you'll feel like it's summer in no time):

1 teaspoon powdered sugar
juice from 1 lime (2 oz.)
4 mint leaves
1 sprig of mint
2 ounces of white rum
2 ounces of club soda

Place the mint leaves in a glass and squeeze the lime over them. Add the sugar and then gently muddle the lime, sugar, and mint. Add crushed ice. Add rum, stir and then top with club soda. Garnish with the mint sprig.

Sip, close your eyes, smell some Coppertone and pretend you're on South Beach.

Words to Live by

Desiderata

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.