Window Shopping in Paris

Window shopping in Paris is seriously an art form.   Actually, I suppose the shop fronts are the art form, and the act of window shopping is just seriously fun.  

It is like the shop owners have a quiet competition going on to outdo each other.    The colors, textures, lighting, props all come together to create gorgeous imagery that is hard to pass by.   I suppose that is the point.    I could spend days, probably weeks if I had the luxury of time, simply strolling past shop fronts admiring all of the fabulousness.    I admit, I did spend quite a few hours in my two weeks in Paris doing just this.

What I love about Paris if you make it beyond the window to an actual purchase, the same care and design go into the process of packaging up your item.    It never matters to me that it takes infinitely longer to finish the transaction.    The art of packaging in Paris is so worth the wait.   I love watching the shopkeepers hands wrap up a tiny little item in beautiful paper and tying it with ribbon and other pretty things.   It makes me feel special, appreciated.   I am silly that way.    

I remember my very first purchase in Paris.   Several years ago on a trip with friends.    We were strolling through Le Marais.   Had just finished our tour of the Musee Picasso (amazing, amazing, amazing, when it is open!).    Browsing shops.   Just having fun girl time.   In one of the shops I found a necklace.   Delicate, pearls strategically placed, very feminine.   So me.   I was really poor at the time but knew I had to have it.    It was so exciting to make that first purchase and even more wonderful to watch it being wrapped up in such a gorgeous fashion.     That necklace and the experience of buying it made such a lasting impression on me and is one of my favorite memories of Paris.

And... there is truly nothing better than coming home from a shopping trip and emptying all of your little packages onto your bed and spending delicious time carefully unwrapping each and every one.   Kind of like your own personal holiday.  I also just love how it doesn't matter how much you spend, you still get the same treatment.   2 euros on some small trinket and it is the same process and experience!   Love it.

I always laugh a little bit when I read the debates on etsy about packaging and whether it is okay to throw an item in some used cereal box with grubby newspaper, slap it all together and send it out to your customer.   I am all about helping environment, trust me, but I'm not about to lose that 'Parisian experience' in the process and I want my customer to feel just a little special on the other end, like they are receiving a gift.   Everything in balance.

Speaking of etsy, it is probably one of my favorite places to 'window shop' online.    Here are some of my latest Paris inspired finds from a recent trip.   Enjoy!

Parisian Princess by clairelafaye

Amour 5x7 Fine Art Photography by StudioHaus

Vintage Scalloped Lace Silver Cuff Bracelet by WhiteFly

Listen To Your Heart

We went to an absolutely amazing and incredibly moving Mary Chapin Carpenter show last night in Durham.    Here are the lyrics from one of our favorites and a couple of random pictures from Rome and Paris to keep you around until we venture back later this week.   Happy Monday!

The Hard Way, by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Show a little inspiration, show a little spark
And show that things that drew me to you and stole my heart
And tell me something I don't know instead of everything I do
And look at me as if I mean something to you
Our hearts are beating while we sleep, but while we're wide awake
You know the world won't stop, and actions speak louder
Listen to your heart, and what your heart might say
Everything we got, we got the hard way

Show a little passion, baby, show a little style
And show the knack for knowing when and the gift for knowing how
And have a little trust in us when fear obscures the path
You know we got this far, darling, not by luck, but by never turning back
Some will call on destiny, but I just call on faith
That the world won't stop, and actions speak louder
Listen to your heart, to what your heart might say
Everything we got, we got the hard way

Caught up in our little lives, there's not a lot left over
I see what's missing in your eyes; you're searching for that field of clover
So show a little inspiration, show a little spark
Show the world a little light when you show it your heart
We've got two lives, one we're given and the other one we make
And the world won't stop, and actions speak louder
Listen to your heart, and your heart might say
Everything we got, we got the hard (everything we got, we got the hard way)
Everything we got, we got the hard way
(Because the world won't stop) hang on, baby... 

Candied Maple Bacon Oatmeal Muffins

Special Sunday mornings call for totally decadent outrageously imaginative breakfasts.   One of life's sweetest pleasures.

Even better when you get to share them with someone you love!   This is the first Sunday in a gazillion Sundays that John is not working and we have so many fun things planned.   The only thing is... he's still sleeping.   I believe he will sleep until noon if I let him.   Considering he's been working days and nights for months, I shall allow him this little treat.

Which means I get to play in the kitchen until he wakes up and then we get to eat bed and breakfast style.   Yay!   Minus the 70 year olds.

I was reading on line this morning that men prefer breakfast in bed to bed and breakfast.   Duh.   I think we might actually be a little weird though.   We do enjoy sitting around the table with a bunch of strangers early in the morning on our days off eating fancy little breakfast things.   It is pleasant, civilized.  

Bottom line, if John does happen to make it out of bed today, he will have a fabulous breakfast waiting for him.    Plus a very sunny happy me which is always a good thing.

Check this out... this morning I am perusing and I run across this recipe for Maple Bacon Oatmeal Muffins on FoodBuzz this morning.     A recipe inspired by imagination... gotta love that.

But better yet, listen to these ingredients.   Bacon.   Oatmeal.   Maple.

How can I not try this?   I gave it my own little spin too.   I have had in the back of my mind forever that someday I must try candied bacon.   The kind you slather in sweet stuff and bake in the oven until it turns into CANDIED BACON.   Totally crazy.  

So here's the recipe...  adapted slightly from Hot Polka Dot's very own Love Muffin:  Bacon Maple Oatmeal

Ingredients
3 packages instant maple brown sugar oatmeal
1 1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 strips candied bacon, cooked, chopped

Note:   I made the bacon first.   Basically just put down five pieces on a baking sheet.   Preheated oven to 350 degrees.   Painted each strip with a thin layer of maple syrup.   Sprinkled each with sugar.    Put it in oven for ten minutes.   Flipped them.   Sprinkled more sugar on second side.    Baked for another five minutes or so.   I let them cool and then crumbled it up into candied bacon goodness.   Yes, I ate some too.   How can you not?

Back to the real recipe,

1.   Keep the oven on 350.   Fill muffin tin with liners.  I used the gorgeous little silver liners that I've had sitting around since a time when some friends and I had the brilliant idea to open our own dog bakery.   Needless to say, I still had them available.
2.   Mix the packages of oatmeal with the milk and let it sit for 5 minutes.
3.   In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
4.  Add the egg, sugar, maple syrup and butter to the liquid mix.
5.   Gently stir in the flour mixture to the liquid mixture.   Add the bacon.
6.  Pour liners 3/4 the way full.   Bake in oven.   About 20-25 minutes.

If John ever wakes up, I'll let you know how they turn out.   They smell FANTASTIC though.   This alone may get him downstairs.

On another note, I think I need to put a picture of my wedding dress on the fridge as incentive to stop eating like this.    Now that we have a date in mind, I suppose I need to cut back a bit.

Wishing you a fabulous Sunday filled with yummy breakfast with loved ones.   Or if you are sitting in the kitchen, by yourself, drinking tea and hanging out with your cats while the sweet smell of candied maple bacon wafts through the house, that's fine too.

Cherry Pie Day

This is one fabulous pie.    In the most simplistic and yummiest way possible.   And since we've all been soooo good this week, I think we definitely deserve a little dessert heading into the weekend.

I have to confess this is only my second attempt at a pie in my entire life.    The first attempt, a well intentioned blueberry pie with cornmeal crust, just recently actually, didn't quite live up to expectation.   It tasted really really good but looked horrid.  I massacred the crust.  Wow.   It was not attractive.  I like things to look pretty.  

I also like a good challenge.    I figure I should learn how to make a pie so that when I'm old and grey and my future children talk about how wonderful their mother was they can say things like "Remember that fabulous pie we used to have?" and other similar glowing comments.  

I've been combing through recipes on blogs like crazy and was so super thrilled when I saw one that seemed so easy that it would be perfect for my next try.    And it was a cherry pie too.   And I had cherries already in my possession waiting for me to do something with them.    Yesterday was therefore deemed cherry pie day.  

PS - I love my life.   Cherry Pie Day.   A year ago, the thought would have never crossed my mind.

Back to the recipe.   I found it on a wonderfully entertaining and lovely blog, Zoom Yummy by Petra.

Check out the recipe here.

Look at that ingredient list!   Short and sweet.    And who doesn't love cherries?

The crust was incredibly simple to make.   I was momentarily horrified by the massive amount of butter I threw into my little machine, but once it started blending and the butter turned into a lovely pile of dough, I forgot all about it.   If you don't see it, it must not exist.   Sometimes that is a good philosophy.

Once I blended it all up and rolled it into a nice little circle, I threw it into the fridge to 'chill'.   Took all of maybe five minutes to bring it together.  

With the dough relaxing, it was on to the cherries.    I seriously need to invest in a cherry pitter.   I didn't think hand pitting three cups of cherries would be all that bad.    It was definitely do-able, but just really messy and time consuming.   My kitchen looked a tiny bit like a crime scene with me as the guilty party. It was kind of a soothing task, mindless chopping away, but just plain messy.  

After chopping up all the cherries, it was on to making the filling.   Unbelievably simple.  I had no idea it would be this easy.   Cook the cherries in water, throw in some cornstarch and sugar, and mix until properly thickened.    Gorgeous color and fun to sample as it reached the appropriate state.   That's it.  Filling done.

Dough is ready for me now.   This is the part I was most terrified of.   Last time I tried this, I started rolling out the dough and it just kept tearing apart.   Then once I thought I might have a sheet, I attempted to add it to the pie plate where it completely disintegrated.   It had some sort of meltdown and forgot to act like dough.  This was so disheartening.  

This time around I approached it with a little more patience.   Carefully rolling out the dough, using flour when appropriate and my favorite tip of all, curling up over the rolling pin and laying gently into the plate.   No casualties.   At this point, I was feeling pretty impressed with myself.

The recipe has some awesome instructions on how to make a lattice crust.    I wasn't sure I would attempt it when I started, but my confidence told me I could do it.     I tried to photograph the steps along the way, but really, you should just look at the one's in the original recipe.    They are perfect.   It was fun, and seriously easy too!   I was so happy with how it turned out.  

My fiance came home and looked at it and said, "Now that is a pie".  Yay!

The recipe called for 45 minutes in the oven, but for some reason, mine didn't cooperate.   I left it in another half hour or so until the top started to brown and all of the yummy cherry juice started to bubble up through the lattice.

Isn't it beautiful?

And it tasted even better.   Not too sweet at all.   Perfect cherry.   Good flaky crust.     You simply must try this recipe.  

And since the pie was so good to me, I figured it deserved a little ice cream as a reward.   Not just any ice cream, but the creamiest, sweetest tahitian vanilla bean gelato.   A perfect match.  

Yum.

Next week I'll be taking you back on my European adventure with me.   I have been procrastinating telling you the rest of my story, but I think I am ready now!

Happy Pie-Day!   Wishing you all a wonderful happy summer weekend ahead!

Grilled Pizza with Italian Sausage

Grilled pizza is kind of like the epitome of summer for me.    It is easy, colorful and fresh.    What's not to love?   The preparation is actually also an incredibly fun social activity if you get others involved.     Perfect for informal evening parties or family gatherings on the deck.

This is one of those foods that brings back deep memories of growing up in New Hampshire.   My mother went through a grilled pizza phase for a couple of summers.  Once you get the basics down, this is a perfect food for experimenting with and it is so flexible since everyone can choose their own toppings.    I remember those summer evenings like they were yesterday.   So much fun.  While summer in New England isn't long, those perfect summer days and nights are truly memorable.

One other note on this, if you've been following me around since Italy, you'll also know that I am a huge fan of super thin crispy pizza, the kind that can only be achieved in ovens heated to a gazillion degrees.   I have found that while not exactly the same, I can achieve a similar effect on the grill.   Super high temps help crisp the dough and prepare for toppings and it imparts a lovely smokiness that adds so much flavor and depth.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com.   One of my favorite sites for browsing (aka time wasting).  If you search for grilled pizza, you'll find a bunch of recipes, but I'd start with this one because it is so amazingly fantastic.    It is honestly not hard, even though the instructions look super long.     I'd also encourage you to make this exactly as noted.  I have a tendency to change things around, but this recipe is seriously perfect as is.    Oh, and the fresh rosemary in here is outstanding, it really makes a difference.

Grilled Pizza with Spicy Italian Sausage

I will confess to one small variation.   We substituted mild for spicy sausage.   I love spicy.   John doesn't.   I've learned to compromise when needed!

Oops, actually two.  I used cherry tomatoes since we had those available.

John and I made this together.  I made the dough and prepped all the fun and colorful ingredients.   He was in charge of the grilling activity.   Everything came together just beautifully.

It is a gorgeous dish to look at with all of the color and contrast.     The flavors are also a perfect balance of sweet, smoky, fresh and tangy.    We looked at each other after the first bite and literally almost did a happy dance in the kitchen.  

Love, love, love this recipe.    Definitely a summer keeper, although next time we'll invite friends over for a fun evening.   Lots of versatility with wine pairing too.   This would be perfect with a crisp pinot grigio or lightly sweet rose or even a chianti to pick up the smokiness in the sausage.  

Bon Appetit!

Fruits et Legumes

Happy Monday!

Feeling a little giddy today so thought I'd share something sweet.    We accomplished so many wedding things this past week that I am feeling just a few seconds of relief!   I found my wedding dress and our venue.   As a project manager extraordinaire in my recent past, checking off those two boxes feels really really good.

I ran across this little guy promoting healthy eating painted onto the side of a truck in Paris.   I love that I would just be walking down the street and run into random cuteness like this.   He made me smile.   I can't think of a better way to get the little ones to indulge in some yumminess.    Yes, I know, I'm not a parent yet, so I am certain its not quite that easy.   Still super cute though!

Here are some of my favorite fruit and veggie shots from this summer.  I don't know what it is, but I just love photographing them.  Something about the color and freshness just begs to be captured.    I know soon enough when the weather turns cold, the vibrancy will diminish so will take advantage of it now while I can!  

So kids.... lesson for today... Eat your fruits and vegetables and have a wonderfully Happy Monday!

Endless Flowers

My well intentioned Romance Week fizzled out as quickly as it started.    Sometimes life gets in the way.     After dealing with feeling terrible for a couple days with some random illness, I managed to pull it together to get some needed things accomplished before John and I headed to St. Louis for the long holiday weekend and our first official meeting of the families and wedding related celebration.    

So while I didn’t quite get around to sharing the planned romance with all of you during this past week, I assure you we did a pretty nice job behind the scenes.   This weekend was perfect in so many ways and if anyone in my new family is out there reading, again our thanks to each of you for making it so special.   Our dinner on the lawn surrounded by candlelight, fireflies, great new friends and family and wonderful food and wine, is an evening we will never forget.  Truly magical.  

One of my favorite things from this weekend was a gift from John’s parents.  A gorgeous flower vase.   Even better is the gentle reminder given to John that it is his new responsibility to make sure it stays filled each week as we enter our new married life together.   Isn’t that the loveliest gift?   I certainly think so!   I have to say, John is really pretty good about flowers.   He is always surprising me.   This just makes it an official duty.   Yay for new families and new traditions!  

All this talk about flowers reminds me of one of my favorite spots in Europe.     On our very last day on board the ship, my new group of friends and I ventured out to Nice for the afternoon.    We had a  truly special time filled with lots of giddy laughter and fun.   

I especially fell in love with the Flower Market in Nice.   Row after row of gorgeous flowers in all shades and textures.     I was thrilled to finally visit as it was a place I had always heard about but had never seen.     I love flower markets in general… I mean really… how could you not?   But this one in particular was really special.   Something about the light in Nice makes everything sparkle a little.   Very fresh.   Just gorgeous.  

And a little tidbit for any of my male readers (you know who you are!), next time your wandering around a gorgeous flower market with a special someone, one of the most romantic gestures you can do is buy her some of her favorites on the spot.   Nothing says I love you more than spontaneous flower buying.      I’ll always remember the guy in Rome who was being pestered by one of the ever present rose sellers at his dinner table.   Most of these sellers get brushed away, but this particular guy bought the entire bunch of roses for his date.    How romantic is that?

Wishing everyone a romantic and flower filled day!    And a very special Happy Anniversary wish to John!   Three years ago today.    I feel like the luckiest girl alive and I am looking forward to a lifetime of flowers with you.