how pretty

we have a lot of weddings coming up in 2011 so naturally my weekends are happily consumed by hunting for inspiration, looking through amazing sites for picture ideas for a dreamy wedding, perfect party dresses (and let's face it, wedding dresses) hair style ideas and creating endless amount of flower arrangements in my head.

isn't this photo just the best wedding day portrait ever?!?!

*image courtesy of josevilleblog.com

i heart gwyneth!!!

can't get enough of this clip of gwyneth on glee

roman holiday

in the midst of watching one of my all time favorite movies: 'roman holiday'. falling in love with audrey...and her uber chic sandals, all over again.

perfect end to a happy weekend.

vacation

i want a vacation. here or here would be great.

my newest form of procrastination

this delightful weddings site makes me want to get married a thousand times (obvi to mr.s all over again)

bun love

love this!

 

just came across this look today on one of my fav clothing sites and have been inspired to try it. it will debut at a midtown bar this afternoon. 

shabby chic secret

this secret parisian flat melts my heart. rachel ashwell must be drooling!

gentleman farmer

mr. s and i recently trekked out to the lower east side on the look out for a delicious dinner and someplace to give us that warm + cozy feeling to embrace the perfectly cool autumn evening. luckily, rivington is jam-packed with options. the gentleman farmer beckoned us in.

the menu was small and simple yet so enticing. reflective of the name, everything on the menu was locally grown, organic and absolutely mouth-watering.

we started with the venison sausage in a blueberry reduction. amazing. and shared the braised rabbit dish made with carrots, asparagus, small + sweet onions, served in a big stew bowl. we needed 2 baskets of bread to be sure to get every last drop of the white wine reduction remains in the bottom of our bowl. it was beyond delicious.

berry bliss

loving the colors on lips lately. berry shades are everywhere. i just treated myself to laura mercier 'truly red'. here are a few favorites...

hair delight

i have been looking for something new to do with my hair for ages.

being pregnant, i refuse to do the 'i'm-about-to-have-a-baby-and-need-a-simple-cut' chop. i want to keep growing my hair out to do something ridiculously stylish once my face isn't so cubby. plus, i've been saving a $35 bumble + bumble discount card for months.

i constantly wear my hair up and out of my face. i do things with lots of twist to keep my fly-aways at bay, but these are getting old.

ALAS - i stumbled upon this gorgeous hair trick on one of my favorite blogs and have been rocking braids (at least 3x a week) since.

slight variations: i usually do mine with damp hair. and use excessive amounts of bobbi pins.

breakfast date

brunch/breakfast is one of my favorite things. i love deciding on menus. preparing + cooking. setting the table and using my sweet fantastic flea market find dishes (trying to channel rachel ashwell). and of course eating.



this weekend i decided to have my friend gillian over for breakfast. we had mini ( how much do i love tweaking recipes into mini versions?!?!) broccoli + ricotta + cheddar frittatas, freshly baked croissants (courtesy of my fav local bakery rose + joe's) with jam, not so freshly squeezed tropicana oj and fresh blueberries + strawberries for an added kick of antioxidants. it was delicious.

the frittatas were the highlight. i made them using fresh eggs straight from the farm of martha stewart - the difference in cooking using these fresh eggs is incredible! i created my own recipe to suit my own taste, as you do, by merging it from a few other frittata recipes that sounded tasty + easy enough.

 * gorgeous right!?!

1 head broccoli

8-10 eggs - i use the whole egg, but you can bulk up fluffiness with substituting a few eggs for egg whites

1/4 cup milk - the higher the fat content, the fluffier the egg mixture gets

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

salt + pepper to taste

spray standard cupcake tin with cooking spray, or you can lightly grease with butter

preheat oven to 375 degrees

beat eggs and milk together in mixer on high for at least 5 minutes or until increases in volume and is light and fluffy. add salt + pepper.

scatter broccoli + cheddar cheese evenly into cups. add dollop of ricotta to each cup. 

fill cups with beaten egg mixture.

bake for 15 minutes or until golden and puffy. makes 12 mini frittatas

so easy. so delicious. 

*sometimes i add a few drops of hot sauce or sprinkle in chives into the egg mixture for a different flavour. i also usually chopped onion but forgot about it this time. and you can also add any other veggie or breakfast meat you wish. ham is pretty yummy...but gillian is a vegetarian so i left that ingredient out as well. 

...and the leftovers that i hope will cure mr.s' post-atlantic city hangover

the only thing missing from this breakfast was a solid bloody mary or sweet mimosa. oooh december will be a sweet month of cocktails!

i'm in love with the hester street fair

  


i recently ventured down + out to essex street to check out the oh-so-new hester street fair; a smaller, delightful, manhattan version of the beloved brooklyn flea. it was well worth the long trek from queens and was the perfect adventure to brighten up the otherwise gloomy weathered weekend.

i adore local street fairs and markets - a great way to be inspired to buy local & eat seasonal (cute lil catch phrase i borrowed from top hester vendor claudia pearson)

it got me right from the start with the grub. there was enough to please a true foodie with some of my favorites; lobster roll master luke's lobster (october 28 '09), meatball shop treats (may 22 '10), as well as brooklyns own mcclure's pickles, a selection of tasty bakeries and the much anticipated sigmund pretzel...which was everything i hoped it would be and more. i savored each bite of my classic salted, although it was a tough choice between classic and gruyere paprika, but for a first try i thought it best to try the building block for all the rest of the flavors.

food aside (not so much aside as nestling in my stomach as useful caloric energy bits i would need for the treasure hunting ahead of me) the vendors were stellar. i left with only 3 purchases, but was easily charmed by others and took extensive notes on multiple business cards.

aforementioned claudia pearson has bright and beautiful assortment of tea towels made from old flour sacks, totes, prints and more. she's a "must add" to your etsy favorite buyer list. i treated my kitchen to the spring tea towel. love it! and i have been hinting endlessly to mr.s that the other 3 seasons would be a perfect gift.

  

i have been sporting the cutest little earrings you ever did see from erica weiner and would be sure to go back to her for girlfriends birthday gifts. even the card that the earrings rest on have such detail and can perk up your day.

i couldn't pass up vintage t-shirts that were only $5 each and got one for mr.s and one for myself. we've both been out & about in them a few times since. what a bargain!

and i plan on going back soon for must-have baby attire from juli raja who had a gorgeous collection of block print men dress shirts, baby tops, dresses and scarves.

i plan on going again. perhaps today. i'm craving pickles and am still curious about the gruyere + paprika pretzel.

big apple bbq in mad.sq.park

nothin' says summer quite like bbq food. mmm! greasy meat, loads of bbq sauce and sweet, vinegary coleslaw.

queens cohort N came along with me for the lunch time feast at the annual big apple bbq festival at madison square park.

i must say the actual festival was very mild, strange sponsors, odd crowd of fellow bbq'ers, everything was very spread out and the food was on the outskirts of the park.

the food was tasty, although every stand was dishing out small portions for $8 plates and we somehow managed to miss out on a staple pulled pork sandwich smothered in bbq sauce. we tried 3 different plates...

ny's very own wildwood barbeque pork strip steak sandwich w. bourbon onions and housemade pickles (v. tangy) and hill country beef brisket with yummy, not quite pickled cucumbers

Raleigh's the pit whole hog sandwich w. classic coleslaw. *sweet vinegar sauce was crucial to this sandwich

and chowed down in the park waiting for the sun to make a debut. 

  

museum mile minus the museums

when S and i first moved here we were on a serious budget. well...we were unemployed and our measly savings were dwindling, so we took advantage of every free event in nyc possible. in early june we decided to check out musuem mile; all musuems along 5th avenue between 82nd street & 105th street are free for the evening.

what a fabulous idea. we packed a pb&j lunch and headed out to absorb the art & history. walking from columbus circle because we couldn't even afford the subway. once we arrived at the metropolitan museum of art we were told the free event didn't start for another 6 hours. devastated.

it took us years to attempt again. this year we made a date to go with one of our favorite nyc couples, becca + mike. we soaked up the atmosphere and bustle, walked more than the mile up along 5th avenue and ditched the museums and chaotic lines in favor of a nyc pretzel and drawing on the sidewalk. we made some masterpieces with our 3 shade challenge of colors.

   

perhaps next year we will be prepared for the lines, swarm of children and upper east side parents and lack of food vendors.

vintage bliss

this post is solely for showing off probably one of the vintage best finds of my vintage hunting life to date and more importantly passing along the message that every woman should always make room in your closet and wallet for a multitasking, fabulous, pair-with-anything dress.

i found this dress at what i like to dub 'vintage mecca' (i can't tell you the real name for fear you will go and find something must-have before i do. selfish, i know!)

this dress was too expensive, but you know that feeling of being painfully aware of future devastation that you never bought it and imagining it in your closet, so i had to have it.

since then i have worn it to a v.posh brunch dressed up with chandelier earrings and heels, birthday party, horse racing event, out and about running errands on weekends, to work paired with a blazer, and it even made it to fashion week as a primary layer in some crazy layering texture idea i had. it's the perfect dress.

and to only add to my love for my dress, kate hudson was recently spotted in nyc in the same one.

  

goodness, gracious, great meatballs of fire

a few girlfriends and i recently scored some pretty sweet and hard-to-come-by seats at the new and raved about meatball shop on stanton street (we would like to thank Lauren T for seriously playing the martha card) for a night of wine, amazing side dishes and a plethora of delicious meatballs. 

a great and impressive thing about the meatball shop is how they've managed to create such a wide clientele (there were babies, middle aged couples, brooklyn hipsters, west side poshies and everyone in between present...and may i add, anxiously waiting for a table, while we slid in) and surprisingly diverse menu while still keeping the focus solely on balls of meat. the possibilities and combinations of meal options seemed endless. 

we each got a different variety of meatball and sauce combo - we voted the best to be between the classic beef and the spicy pork in the classic tomato sauce. mmm!  - and a side dish to share. of sides, the simple salad of arugula & apples was perfection as was the market salad of the day, which was also an arugula based salad, but a good polenta always gets my vote for best. 

and although there wasn't much room left, we glutenously decided to get 3 ice cream sandwich creations of our own design. these went pretty fast so no telling which was a favorite combo. 

for our next visit we plan on expanding our horizons and trying the sliders, more meatball and sauce combos and remembering to savor dessert a bit more. 

* photo is straight from the meatball shops website. we were too busy eating to take our own photos of the deliciousness

hideous or a must-have?

it's one of those things...it is either really hideous and terrible and that's why i can't stop looking at it or it is so different i dub it unique and therefor it is totally fabulous and i can absolutely justify buying it. thoughts?

but really, regardless of your thoughts, i already know what wall i want to hang it on and which bags, coats and scarves are the lucky few allowed to adorn it.

next challenge...convincing my favorite welsh import it suits our apt.

 

everything is better in mini...especially banana cupcakes

the first time i baked these cupcakes they became an instant favorite; easy to make, unique, smooth and addicting frosting and the moist banana cake is reminiscent of childhood.

i decided to make these yummy cupcakes in the mini form for a baby shower i went to. perfect & adorable.

the original recipe is from the martha stewart cupcakes book and is far more complicated; (as mentioned in previous blog 'milk please' i have zero patience for high maintenance baking) the thought of separating and whipping egg whites for cupcakes is silly, especially when a similar recipe just calls for two eggs, roasting the bananas for 15 minutes, two mixers would be needed. ugh. and involves sour cream. thankfully i found another martha stewart version much simplified and equally as tasty. phew!

banana cupcakes with honey-cinnamon frosting

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour  

3/4 c. sugar                                                

1 tsp. baking powder                                 

1/2 tsp. baking soda                        

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter

4 bananas ( recipe calls for ripe, but i find them easier to work with when they are past ripe and the skin is brown in color)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350 degrees. line muffin pan with paper liners. in medium bowl whisk together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).

make well in center of flour mixture. in well, mix butter, mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla. stir to incorporate into flour mixture until well blended but do not over mix. divide batter into muffin cups. bake approximately 25-30 minutes. for mini cupcakes, which as previously stated, everything is better is mini i.e. bite size, reduce baking time to 10-15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

best part.....

honey-cinnamon frosting

1 1/4 c. confectioners sugar

1 stick butter room temp.

1 tbsp. honey

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon - i usually add a but more. i heart cinnamon.

beat in electric mixer until smooth. approximately 4-5 minutes. wait for cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

be prepared to be impressed with yourself and be sure to have a glass of milk handy. enjoy!

martha's version 

my version 

subway scents of spring

this guy got on the subway at 30th avenue and sat next to me. he smelt exactly like the 6th grade. it must have been his ck one

guggenheim

yet another classic new york experience....well, i had to wait in line in the freezing cold of february on the UES for over an hour to experience this one...but the atmosphere was well worth the wait.

since i've moved to manhattan (circa 2007) my dear artsy & architecture friends have been trying to persuade me to go to the guggenheim museum for a friday night. i finally made it to one. and what better one to experience than the last one...EVER

once inside (which was thankfully, gloriously warm) we had to fight our way through tots high crowds, dancing wildly to the sounds of chromeo dj extraodinaire to the bar to get free, yet unforgivingly small drinks. units of alcohol consumed at guggs: 1.

we all followed the lead of my favorite red head brooklynite duo and ended up gliding up the swirling white interior. my irritation that my down jacket and scarf draped over my bag ruining both my posture and well-thought-through outfit had left me. the view was incredible. i soaked it in.

and stole a shot of a pair of picassos

movin' on up - UPDATE

as "movin' on up" from september 30th noted, our apartment was near complete.... and after much anticipation, my dream shower curtain and laundry bags have arrived. hooray!