Words to Live by

Today, break your routine.  Do something out of the ordinary.  Pave yourself a new road (and if you have a fabulous pink car to drive on your new road, may I be the first to borrow it?).

Bygone Summer

A Weekend Wish

Flowers for Friday

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck." -Emma Goldman

This Friday, rather that choosing my usual array of brightly colored flowers, I was craving simplicity and elegance.  

What is more classically beautiful than a bunch of ivory roses?

A Bermudaful Visit

"Bermuda is the right country for a jaded man to "loaf" in. There are no harassments; the deep peace and quiet of the country sink into one's body and bones and give his conscience a rest." Mark Twain from Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion

Each time we mentioned to friends or family that we were traveling to Bermuda, they would inevitably get the island confused with its tropical cousins, the Bahamas or Barbados.  Aside from the mysterious Bermuda triangle, most Americans know very little about this incredibly isolated island in the Atlantic. 

Feeling Autumnal

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
- George Eliot


Even though we scarcely have distinct seasons here in Southern California, there are a few subtle cues that summer is giving way to fall.  

Soft light in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris

Cocktail du jour

Clink, clink, clink.  Hear that?  That's the sound of melting ice cubes, making room for whiskey.  That's the sound of Sunday night.

Sunday evening used to mean Sopranos or SATC, but now Sunday nights are for Mad Men.   And, how can you possibly watch Don Draper's suave antics without a retro cocktail in hand? 

One of my favorite classic cocktails is the Whiskey Sour. 

At the Movies: Going It Alone

Too often in our American society, we view being alone as something unfortunate or melancholic, a result of circumstance not of personal choice.   But even for the most social butterfly, a regular bit of alone time affords some great little pleasures and an opportunity for introspection.

A testament to my introversion, one of my very favorite activities is going to the movies solo.  So, about once a month, I choose a film and set out to enjoy my movie "me time."  I adore browsing fandango to see what chick flicks or art films are playing at the local theater.  I carefully check out the reviews and labor over my choice, not wanting to waste my two hours on a cinematic dud or downer. 

Words to Live by

New York State of Mind: Part 3-The Sights

Whether you live in Southern California like I do or in the Big Apple, locals often whine about the annoyance of tourists.  They wander confusedly through the subway or clog up scenic routes with their rental cars.  They look through the viewfinder of their cameras rather than looking at the pedestrians they're about to collide with.  They eat at the overpriced, under-tasty joints advertised on billboards and brochures.

New York State of Mind: Part 2-The Art

Detail of Mark Rothko at MOMA

Alabaster vase in the Egyptian wing at the Metropolitan Museum

Henri Matisse in the Met

New York State of Mind: Part 1- The Food

Well, darlings: I'm back!  I've just returned from a lovely long getaway to New York City, followed by a trip to Bermuda.  Rather than trying to condense my visit into one post, I am going to stretch out the highlights of my vacation.  

With my mascarpone-cherry rice pudding at Rice to Riches

Because my family makes plans for lunch whilst eating breakfast and plans for breakfast whilst eating dinner, I shall start with the most important aspect of any vacation: food, glorious, food.


In Manhattan, attempting to choose a restaurant is like telling Carrie Bradshaw to choose only one pair of Manolos: a virtual impossibility.  When the family and I were faced with this daunting task, we turned to New Yorker friends and guidebooks and Zagat searches.  

I was determined to chart every breakfast, lunch, cupcake snack and dinner according to our itinerary for the day.  But, as those of you who travel frequently know, wandering off course sometimes leads to the most delicious discoveries.  

An Afternoon at the Museum

It takes a truly stunning exhibition to captivate me.  Art history is my job.  And as with all jobs, we often become calloused by our day-to-day activities, no matter how much we adore them.  So on Saturday, I was unexpectedly spellbound by the Jean-Louis Gerôme exhibition at the Getty Center.

Newsworthy

One of my favorite lazy weekend pastimes is reading The Wall Street Journal. You may not immediately think of the Journal as a source for aesthetic inspiration of gustatory delights, but inside its pages are often elegantly written articles on wine and travel and art.  

Weekend Wishes

May your weekend be filled with enchantment and wonder.  Surround yourself with color and life and love.  Indulge in some sweets. Frolic. Laugh. Forget subtlety: go big.

 

Restoration, Relaxation and Reevaluation

Over the course of the next weeks, my blog posts are going to become spartan, if not nonexistent.  Partly due to travel plans to Bermuda and partly out of a need to reevaluate this little blog project, I need some time off.  At the moment, I feel I've lost my creative zest.  These days I feel more like Taupe Czechie or Gray Ruskie---my joie de vivre is not exactly emanating from my spirit lately. 

Words to Live by

It seems I swing pendulously from reading quite voraciously to reading nothing but blogs and magazines.  I am either in a complete literary dry spell or conversely I am thinking about ways to carve out extra seconds from my day to read my latest novel.  

At the moment, I am entangled in the later phase---all I want to do is sit in my favorite comfy chair and read...and read...and read. 

Maddening Nostalgia

On occasion, I question if I were born in the wrong era.  I like casseroles and gimlets and circle skirts a little too much to be a 2010 girl---the 1960s seem to be more my pace.  Sleek mid-century modern furniture or Hollywood Regency designs suit me so much more than the behemoth leather sectionals of today's homes. I'll take a tidy and elegant French twist in my hair over a boho braid or bump-it any day. I am relatively certain that I own more sweater sets than any twenty-eight year old I know.  

Restaurant Reverie

In a 2009 episode of No Reservations, Tony Bourdain considered a vanishing breed of New York restaurants: restaurants that were unchanged since the first day they opened their doors. He visited Jewish delicatessens and Italian pasta shops, but his stop at the anachronistic Le Veau d'Or is what delighted my Francophilia the most.  

The minute he set foot in the tiny Upper East Side gem, I sensed I HAVE to eat there and soon, before the place becomes culinary history.  Le Veau d'Or was established in 1937, and the cozy red banquettes, menu of frog legs and escargot, and eighty-five year old maître d' Robert continue ooze Parisian charm and timeless sophistication. 

Flowers for Friday

"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks." Tennessee Williams

Almost every Friday, as many of my faithful readers know by now, I indulge in a bunch of whichever flowers are freshest.  For a mere eight or ten dollars, I enjoy at least a week of delightful blooms.  Today I discovered petite lavender calla lilies and freesia at Trader Joe's. As they sit in a trio of my favorite little vases, I am taking in the sweet floral aroma of this simple weekly pleasure. 

Words to Live by

Banana Bread, Take 2

As I've mentioned many times over, most of my baking inevitably involves mushy bananas---not because I especially love them, but because they are always sitting on my kitchen counter.  I feel some sort of Depression-era guilt for throwing away produce that can be re-purposed.  I simply can't bid adieu to ye ole' bananas.

Last night, with four overly ripe nanners awaiting my experimentation, I set out to make yet another boring banana bread.  On this particular evening, however, I wanted evolved banana bread, banana bread with an attitude.

Tasty Trends: Whoopie Pies

Whoopie pies are the fad-du-jour in the baking world according to Saveur magazine.  They are the nouveau cupcake, if you will. 

For those of you who haven't been inculcated into the cult of Whoopie (poor you), my prediction is that you will soon be seeing these cakey confections in bakery windows from Brooklyn to Boulder. 

Whoopie pies, according to food anthropologists, were invented by the Pennsylvania Amish and later made wildly popular throughout New England.  When the Amish ladies would bake these treats and include them in their husband's lunchboxes, the hungry hubbies would remark,"whoopie!" at the joyous sight of the black and white cakes in their lunch pails.