Can It

I'm all about eBay. I've bought clothing, furniture, artwork, you name it. One elusive item I'm always looking out for are posters from the 1970s. They are often just a little wrong...like this one. Great for a kooky bachelor pad or something, but not quite right for my living room.

Syndromes

I do like the clothing designed by Vena Cava, although somehow it always feels a little too young for me. Back in the day I'm sure I would have been dying to wear it though.
Anyway, the girls behind the label have a fascinating blog....they are quirky and seem to have a sentimental attachment for werid early 80s American kitsch. Their latest post on Florence Syndrome, Paris Syndrome and Jerusalem Syndrome is truly nutty. Seems almost too weird to be true, but apparently it's for reals. Anyway, it's a must-read.
Refinery29 did a good story a while back about Lisa Maycock's personal style and kooky apartment.

Photo of Lisa Maycock from Refinery29.

Black Rose

Karen Karch is one of my favorite jewelry designers. Her designs are rough but delicate, and seem to incorporate influences as diverse as the Mughul Empire and Hell's Angels. My engagement ring and wedding band, both of which are rose gold, come from her Elizabeth Street store. She has fancied things up a bit since then, and I miss some of the old quirks (she used to have amazing displays with jewelry perched on dollhouse furniture and lit by working dollhouse chandeliers, but now she has changed to more traditional displays).


The website (with amazing photos by Marilyn Minter) has a regular feature called "Word of Mouth" which offers special discounts that run for a limited time. Her Entwined Hearts are the current special, just in time for Valentine's Day. I'll take mine in onyx and rose gold, please.

It's Nice Inside

David Chang has been a hero of mine ever since this New York Times article about how he spends his Sundays. The highlight:

"If it’s the most beautiful day in the world outside, I’d still stay inside until 2:30 p.m. Because it’s just as nice inside as it is outside. I love outside, but inside is nice. People think I should feel guilty. They say, 'You should go out and do this.' I’m like, 'No, it’s nice inside.'"

I'm no David Chang, but I like to stay inside too.



Now Chang has a cookbook that includes the recipe for my favorite Momofuku dish, the sublime Slow-Poached Eggs with Shrimp and Grits. The recipe is also on Martha's website.

Icy Pops

I got in in my head that I wanted to start making homemade popsicles. While I was ordering these jewel pop molds and silicone molds from Amazon, I decided to try out the cute mini-book Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone.

The book is super visually appealing and has lots of fantasy recipes (like caramel latte pops, blueberry cheesecake pops, and tequila sunrise pops) but plenty of them easy enough to pull off. It helped bump me up from the standard homemade juice pops and gave me some wacky ideas like mixing wheat germ into yogurt to add protein and fiber. Not that those are usually my requirements for a popsicle, but these are primarily for my 20-month old baby. She instantly loved the first batch I made, Nectarine Cream Pops (I used Clementines instead) as well as my next batch, a made-up recipe involving coconut yogurt mixed and fresh berries. One downside is she's not so thrilled with the orange juice and apple juice pops I have offered her.

It took me few times to get the hang of the silicone molds but they are definitely the easiest to use and result in the most perfect-looking pop. The little ones are adorable too but it takes some effort (and hot water) to get them out.

The book's author managed to grab the URL icypops.com and the site gives a good sense of the book including some free recipes.

Bitter

Despite being a high-level sugar addict, most of my favorite foods are bitter, sour or spicy. Orichette with Rapini and Goat Cheese manages to combine most of those flavors in one--the rapini is seriously bitter, but the creamy tangy goat cheese offsets it and chili flakes add some heat. I made mine with whole wheat shells instead and it was great. It might just be me, but I loved this dish cold too. And most important it takes very little effort and time to whip up.

I found this recipe on Alexis Stewart's blog. She seems to spend the majority of her time cooking, organizing, and cleaning, and and although she seems to be borderline OCD I often find a lot of good ideas on her site. Not to mention it is fascinating to watch her renovate and decorate her $16 million apartment. She is also seriously bitter, which I already said I love.

Les Blue Jeans

Stella McCartney designs "cool kids" clothing for the over 35 set. When I was younger I really didn't like her stuff but now it's just what I like. Stella is queen of the low-rise skinny jeans, but she's not afraid to mix in some high-waisted jeans, bell-bottoms, and these fairly classic blue-black ones. Love the total absence of logo or stitching on the back pockets. Available on the cheap at Yoox.

Lovely Day

Still Bill Trailer from B-Side Entertainment on Vimeo.

I love Bill Withers...I need to figure out a way to see this movie.

Why?!

Take my word for it, these Proenza Schouler boots are perfect. I froze in my tracks when I saw them on the 60% Off sale rack at Bergdorf Goodman [still not exactly a bargain], but they were a half size to small. What a cruel world. They're also on sale at Endless and Zappos, but still too small for me.

Marimekko Dishware

I know that nostalgia is half the reason I love Finnish company Marimekko's designs so much. They remind me of growing up in Cambridge Massachusetts in the '70s and '80s, when all the Cambridge ladies wore cotton Marimekko dresses and the huge Crate & Barrel store in Harvard Square (it had more of a warehouse feel back then and wasn't so upscale) was loaded with Marimekko.
I buy a lot of vintage Marimekko on ebay, and luckily the company still sells a lot of the old patterns. Recently they released porcelain dinnerware, and although the patterns look vintage they are actually new (although clearly inspired by Marimekko's design history):

Marni

There's something about Marni that I love. A lot of it is too fashiony, in a shapeless kind of way. The girls in the store always look great but they are in head-to-toe Marni and without the clunky shoes and chunky jewelry some of the stuff just doesn't work. But there are always plenty of great pieces, and the sunglasses are my favorite. They're different and never cheesy, an alternative to the overdone "designer sunglasses" look. (And no, wearing Chanel sunglasses does NOT add a touch of class to your Ugg boots.)
Fifty percent off all Fall and tons of great stuff left in the Soho store and online:






Plenty of great [full price] stuff in Resort and Spring too:

Terry's World

Terry Richardson has a new photoblog. He's can be sort of sleazy and creepy but it's impossible to turn away.

Pomegranate Molasses

I'm eating store-bought tabouleh for lunch and it's just not doing it for me. Fresh homemade tabouleh is so much better and this recipe is a good one (use less salt though). It's really just about chopping all the herbs..time consuming but there is no way getting around it! Delicious with a little bit of pomegranate molasses mixed into iced tea or seltzer.