With love, from California

An early Valentine's Day gift arrived from my parents: See's Candies, from California. I have yet to find anything quite like their Butterscotch square anywhere else--so simple but so delicious (essentially a little block of brown sugar and butter covered in chocolate).
What a sweet holiday this promises to be...

Just for fun, the "Job Switching" episode from I Love Lucy for which Lucy and Ethel trained at See's Candy Factory. The lady in the episode was an employee at See's.

Maybe We Should Live in a Lodge

Burl wood has always fascinated me. We bought a clock made from burl wood at the Rosebowl flea market  when we were living in Los Angeles, and I was convinced we should redecorate our entire apartment in a lodge theme. But I've never seen anything quite like this.

 

They are called Mata Palo and are formed when a Bromeliad bores into its host tree--these are from Guatemala. I think they're totally awesome and remind me of an inverted mushroom.

(Photos from Osborn Design Studio, found via Freckle Farm)

Time for a good, old-fashioned love letter?

For a long time, Meri Meri made the only free ecards that I would use--their ecards actually looked like their paper goods. But when I wanted to send Ashley one last week, I found that the link had disappeared.

My overly long Google search brought up lots of alternatives--mostly very, very bad ones. A few noteworthy exceptions: wrongcards and someecards.

Ashley's imprint actually publishes books of someecard postcards, but most are so snarky that I wouldn't feel comfortable actually sending them (and even hemmed and hawed--and chuckled like a dirty old man--for far longer than I should admit about which examples were clean enough to share here). As an ecard, however, (for someone I know well) they're perfect. 

Still, no replacements though for the sweeter Meri Meri... anyone have any suggestions?

NieNie

Both Aron and I have felt moved, humbled, and inspired--as I'm sure so many are--by Stephanie Nielson's posts on the NieNie Dialogues about struggling through her painful recovery from a near-fatal plane crash. She's incredible. I can't even imagine. Here's an article about her, the accident, the story. She recently went back to the burn center for further surgeries and, while she was there, her kids would send little messages or bits of artwork. One night, as their father was leaving to visit Stephanie at the hospital, they made her Wild Things shadow art. Isn't that just the sweetest?

(Photo from here)

Love/Hate

David Chang's little restaurant row is essentially down the street from our apartment: Momofuku Ssam, Noodle Bar, and Ko--and Milk Bar. Aron and I have a love/hate relationship with Mr. Chang's Milk Bar and all of its gut-busting, delicious treats. It's the place that sells the best cookie in the city (the compost cookie) and it's literally one block away, positioned smack-dab in between us and our gym. The only way to avoid it seems to be avoiding the gym... (or at least that's the excuse). 

You can also get pork buns there. Hmmm... Cookie or delicious little doughy pillow-o-fat? I throw up my hands. Chang was on Martha Stewart while I was home Friday, waiting for the stone-fellow to come, and the siren song was strong: I caved and brought home both. 

By the way: Anderson Cooper recently told Jay Leno that his favorite dessert is from Milk Bar. I know because afterward my dad called to ask me whether I've had something called "Crack Pie." Why yes, yes I have.

Wanderlust: Dunton Hot Springs

I'm not the first person to point out how amazing this place looks, but I think it could bear repeating: this place looks amazing! There are twelve cabins strewn about an alpine valley near Telluride, remains of an old mining town. Everything has this rustic, rough-hewn look and yet it's actually a five-star (and, I'm sorry to report, exorbitantly priced) resort. 

How wonderful would it be to go snowshoeing or horseback riding (or heli-skiing?!), followed by a soak in the hot springs under the stars? Cell-phone free, with a holistic spa, and award-winning meals served in the old saloon--sounds perfect to me! There's a chapel, too, and the whole "town" can be reserved for up to 42 people--wedding party, anyone?

  

  

(Photos from Dunton Hot Springs Website)

Afternoons with M. Bertinotti

While I was studying in Dijon, I lived with a fantastic family--and every afternoon, when I'd come home from a day of struggling with my French, I'd find M. Bertinotti by the pool with little bowls of snacks and an aperitif waiting for me. Most afternoons began with a glass of Vermouth over ice, and it's been a favorite of mine ever since. I like the sweeter blanc, sometimes with a twist of lemon; it's essentially wine that has been fortified and aromatized with dozens of herbs and plants. I think the Bertinottis usually served Cinzano or Martini & Rossi Bianco, but I just came across this bottle of Dolin and will admit that I chose it over the others solely because I think the bottle is completely beautiful (though I did learn that they've been making Vermouth since the 1820s and earned the Chambéry region the only French AOC for Vermouth in the 1930s). 

Completely delicious.

Street Fashion

This week's New Yorker depicts perfectly what happens to be some of my favorite as-seen-on-the-street fashions on these wintry days (along with the hilarious expressions of those who at times seem embarrassed being seen). 

(Photo from here)

ABC (C is for Covet)

En route to Home Depot this past weekend, we stopped for breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien (they make the best Steel Cut Oatmeal) and went shopping for imaginary furniture (things we can't afford) at the adjoining ABC Home Store. It is the most amazing place--in fact, I remember someone telling us about it and how they missed it when we still lived in Los Angeles, years ago--but the prices do tend to be a bit outrageous.

 

 

There's an entire building of rugs, plus the main store with five or six levels, each with different themes or designer-specific rooms with light flooding in. Usually we get hung up in the section with all the tables made of split planks of tree trunks or the reproductions of French antiques, but there was a new room this time--Timothy Oulton Case Goods--that kept us longer than we intended.

 

Lots of rich, worn leather, with these beautiful displays of stacked suitcases and riding boots... Wood frames and the large tables are made with salvaged wood (from a distillery in Scotland and decommissioned fishing junks from Asia)... Blueprints and drafting tools and vintage flags... (Oh my.)

Spite and Malice

During downtime or when traveling, Ashley and I sometimes enjoy playing a card game called "Spite and Malice." The game requires two decks of cards and gets intense enough that we have to work to not resent the other when he (or she) wins. When I saw these beautiful cards, I knew Ashley would love them. They're reproductions of a set of cards that were used in the taverns at Williamsburg in the mid-18th century: Heavy, uncoated card stock was printed with wood blocks and face cards were hand-painted. The backs would be left blank and there are no numbers (which may take a little getting used to). We have yet to play with them--they are so perfect as they are. But I think age and wear will only heighten their appeal.

I digitize books on the side (and so do you)

Have you heard of ReCaptcha? I just learned of it and I find this so fascinating. You know those letters that you have to type to send a friend a New York Times article or comment on a blog in order to prevent spam? Oftentimes, those words you have to enter are part of a text that you're helping to digitize; word by word, the book or newspaper (that can't be read by computer scan) is re-keyed. What do you think? Do you feel used? The idea is that it only takes each of us a few seconds to recognize and key in a word, but with about 200 million words or "captchas" being keyed a day, that translates to hundreds of thousands of hours of labor that can be repurposed for preservation. I think it raises all kinds of interesting questions. I love the idea that we're all participating in what ostensibly is a noble cause, and yet what are we preserving? Who are we preserving it for?

I'm not sure what I think, except that it's brilliant.