Monthly Archives: February 2010

FALL 2010 RTW: BEST OF THE BEST THUS FAR

My favorites of 2010 fall collections thus far.

Unbelievable perfection at Karen Walker. The socks, textiles, shoes and styling – that jewelry looks like this jewelry! Could it be…?

One of Karen’s best collections yet.

The perfect party skirt at DVF.

The perfect blues and plaids at A Detacher.

The perfect 90s hair at Alexander Wang.

70s-era Joan Didion chic at Boy by Band of Outsiders. Need that fur-collared jacket. (Plus saddle shoes!)

Beautiful, simple sportswear at Shipley & Halmos.

I’ve only ever looked at VPL’s lingerie and bikinis but these are great. Love the muted and metallic olive green palette, so rich and decadent for fall.

The second look by Vena Cava is probably my favorite look of the entire season thus far. The styling, the hem lines, that leather jacket with fur collar which I would trade all earthly possessions to own for one day. I know it’s gauche to be into the fur but this is bizarre, art deco decadence done so right.

Of course, I had to save my favorite designer for last. I almost always prefer Rachel Comey’s spring collections to her fall collections, but this is so light and fresh regardless. My obsession for imaginative textiles are made manifest in these insane printed pants she put out.

Printed pants!!!!!!!!!

Printed!!!!! Pants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Classic Rachel Comey. Twinsets in electric blue, skirts that look like woven baskets. Wanna see that fabric up close. Don’t even get me started on fall’s collection of shoes.

I love the longer hemline on this F Scott Fitzgerald worthy dress although this won’t work on 99% of the population, including me. The print reminds me of my mother’s china.

Cropped velvet pants and dip dyed blouses with black lace overlay. Feels so different from the typical RC insouciance and yet, one of the best looks ever. So wearable too, gotta find those pants…

[All images via Style.com]

SLIP YOUR HAND INSIDE MY GLOVE

I wonder what Valentine’s Day was like for THIS group of friends.

Happy Valentines Day!!! XOXOXOX

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfGrNr3MAfU]

SCENIC RECOVERY

I had a nice long stretch of a morning earlier this week so I started soaking 6 cups of chickpeas around 8am and sat around until they were ready. One of the small pleasures in life: watching dried beans plump up in a pot of water for 5 hours.

At lunch, I simmered them for a hour or two with a mess of spices including tumeric, cumin, coriander, hot curry powder, smoked paprika and the juice of a few limes. I cooked the broth down until it completely evaporated and then I added butter. Best chickpea of my life.

The next day I made roast chicken – again! Even better the second time, friends. I roasted the leftover chickpeas in a 425 degree oven until they got golden, crispy and crunchy, like little crackers. Served with roasted diced beets and walnuts.

The Lunar New Year – aka Chinese New Year - is in three days. I am SO EXCITED! Expect lots of photo documentation. Tonight, we celebrate early with hot pot with friends. The last time I had hot pot, the food coma lasted approximately 2 weeks. Hopefully I remember to take photos tonight!

GLASS MENAGERIE FANTASIES

In my typical adherence of refusing to use recipes for most everything, in my bastardized version of cioppino, braised white fish, cannellini beans soaked overnight, red peppers, tomatoes and cilantro come together over rigatoni. I know this sounds crazy but it was my first time ever using San Marzano canned tomatoes. And WOW they are expensive but worth it.

DREAM BABY DREAM

(Front, and back)

 

(Front, and back)

(Front, and back) Dear Santa, this one is my favorite.

 

This one is the largest. Top, front. Bottom image, back.

In love with Los Angeles-based textile artist Ashley Thayer. Her extreme color fetish (she cites Morris Louis as an influence) and affinity for geometry and tie-dye is incredible, and I love the beachy, laid-back surfer vibe of her quilts.

Each quilt design is a variation of a traditional American block pattern using individually dyed fabrics; no two pieces are uniform. Each quilt reflects Ashley’s interest in flattening the perception of light and shadow and sunlight penetrating water.  She dyes all the fabric, sometimes multiple times, using low immersion and tie dye techniques.  All of Ashley’s quilts are hand pieced, sewn, and quilted in her studio on a very basic Singer sewing machine.”

[Images Ashley Thayer via Keep]

THROUGH THE SKIES FOR YOU

Roasting an entire chicken has always eluded me. It always seemed so intimidating and out of my reach. No more, friends!

So, I recently cooked dinner for my dear friend James.

I stuffed a 5lb organic, free range chicken with fresh bay, thyme, lemon quarters, and an entire head of garlic. I smeared the outside with half a stick of butter and placed it on top of carrots, potatoes and red onion.

I roasted a bot of golden beets, sliced them into medallions, and set them against a bed of fresh spinach, roasted almonds and 4 cups of green French lentils that I had simmered for 40 minutes with lemons and broth.

After 90 minutes in a 425 oven, et voila! Perfection.

Seriously, perfect. I shed a single tear of joy. (For the record, I used Ina Garten’s chicken recipe. She knows what’s UP).

And then sobbed into my plate. I mean, WHAT? IS? THAT?

The next day I made chicken broth with the carcass, but for dinner I had the rest of the salad.

It was all so easy and good that I’m roasting another chicken tomorrow night in celebration of the final season of LOST.

STUDENT OF THE EARTH

“Most elementary geological truths are best discovered and explored where geology is—in the field—while looking at the evidence…. We take a step toward this ideal by using photographs of localities that might be visited and, so far as practicable, treating these scenes as prime sources of information.” -John Shelton

Last summer I saw an incredible retrospective of aerial photographer (and La Jolla native) John Shelton’s work at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Besides this exhibit, it is very hard to find any other information on him. He took photographs for textbooks (he wrote the indispensible tome ‘Geology Illustrated’), but his work is uncommonly evocative for school textbooks, I think.  His work reminds me of Canadian photographer Eamon Mac Mahon, who has also shot for reporting/documentation purposes.

“Unlike most aerial photographers, Shelton flew mostly alone and never had the luxury of using a viewfinder. He maneuvered his low-winged airplane to align his large-format camera through a small, open window to optimize the angle, lighting, and composition of each geologic feature. Originally, his exposures were made with a handheld light meter, but eventually he determined his camera settings from experience.”

Shelton’s work:

“Since 2004, Toronto-based photographer Eamon Mac Mahon has spent up to three months of each year working in the wilderness of northwestern Canada and Alaska.  These slow journeys via bush plane have allowed him to intimately photograph remote landlocked communities, and the vast areas of uninhabited land surrounding them.” [Via Bau Xi]

Mac Mahon’s work:

HEALTHY LIVING

I think I first saw this epic cake on Serious Eats a few years ago but anything to remind us of its beauty. [Via Joanna Goddard via Jordan Ferney]

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

As if I needed another reason to love LOST, a small portion of the books featured or referenced on the show (mostly in the hands of Sawyer and Desmond, the two resident bookworms of the program, although Hurley reading ‘Laughter in the Dark’ made me laugh):

NOTHING IS IRREVERSIBLE

Breakfasts & lunches. Being home means: blueberries, palmiers, crab fried rice, tangerine nectar and three blood oranges every day. Not so much cooking as assembly.