made with love

Check out this fantastic little freebie made by Twig & Thistle... the idea is you make the heart-shaped brownies, download Twig & Thistle's free graphic, print the graphic on a paper bag or sticker, and tada(!), instant valentine's gift, appropriate for anyone. A genius idea if you ask me.

If you're feeling a little more adventurous in the kitchen, click here to see Twig & Thistle's recipe for individual apple pies and another free graphic to go along with them. Twig & Thistle is on a roll, make sure to give the blog some love.

{photos from Twig & Thistle}

whimsy & spice

I used to bake [and blog] pretty often... but lately my free time has been slim to none. Today I stumbled upon a lovely website, Whimsy & Spice, and I am smitten.

"Whimsy & Spice was founded in 2008 by the husband and wife team of Mark Sopchak and Jenna Park, who combine their skills and more than 12 years of experience in culinary arts and graphic design to produce a distinctive line of handmade sweets."

I love how amazingly styled the photographs and website are. Which I'm sure is thanks to Jenna, whom leads all of the company's branding and creative efforts. I'll have two Pumpkin Ginger Sandwich Cookies, please.

{all photos from Whimsy & Spice website}

something blue

I'll take one of each, thankyouverymuch.

{via The Bride's Guide}

in the kitchen

{from top to bottom} Soy Sauce Dispenser, Go Kumagai, 2004 ($14), Eva Solo's Table Grill ($300), Plum Party Basket Weave Coral paper plates ($4.50-$6.00), oven mitt, blue and green platter from Svenskt Tenn , Chat Plates, Ikuko Nakazawa, 2007 ($45), Anthropologie Parrot Bottle Stoppers ($12), Bambu low bowls ($34), Anthropologie Rondavel Serving Bowl ($49.95), Anthropologie Crocheted Food Cover, Yellow ($18), glass bottles (oops! i started putting this post together a couple of weeks ago and i cannot seem to find where i found those glass bottles! if anyone has the link please comment below. my apologies!)

live wire farm

Today I was on the Domino magazine website checking out Grace's affordable bathroom accessories under $100 monthly gallery contribution, and one of the things she featured this month was a hand-carved wooden hook from Vermont's Live Wire Farm. Upon further curiosity I hopped over to the Live Wire Farm website and I was really impressed with the photography and photo styling for their products.

I love the clean, raw look. The photos were styled by Susan Robohm and the photography was done by Ewan Burns.

sarah king

Isn't this pear amazing? Customized type by Sarah King.

Her illustrated type was featured in Graphic 12: Customise.

sweet talk

chocolates send a romantic message: these sweet talking chocolates can be found at cox & cox and baska-jon fine foods.

symmetrical seeds

impressionable dipping dish by artist and sculptor mary judge (when filled with olive oil, five spectacular shades emerge). acorn necklace by jewelry designer rachel leigh.

scrumptious paulette

don't these macarons look divine? [from paulette bakery]

yummy yogurt?

so, as my friends know, i suffer from pretty severe migraines. i am home sick with one right now. (usually i can work through them, but today i just couldn't bring myself to drive until i nursed it better.) so to keep myself busy (somehow preoccupying myself tends to be less painful than just "laying down") i was divulging in some of my daily blog reads and i just read about rachel's yogurt on the bluelines blog (blueprint magazine's blog). i have recently started to LOVE yogurt. i used to not be that fond of it, and honestly the dairy part just kinda of scared me (not a big fan of milk - yuck!). anyway, rachel's yogurt sounds devine and i wish there were a place here in jacksonville that you could buy some to eat right now. checkout what the website says about their flavors:

The Essence line offers blissfully blended mood-inspiring yogurt. The essence of scrumptious satisfaction.

• Vitality - Pomegranate Açai
• Revive - Peach Green Tea with Ginseng
• Glow - Berry Jasmine with Zinc
• Relax - Vanilla Chai
• Calm - Plum Honey Lavender

The Exotic line offers luscious blended yogurt inspired by the planet's most alluring fruits and flavors.

• Orange Strawberry Mango
• Pomegranate Blueberry
• Mango Pineapple Passion Fruit
• Kiwi Passion Fruit Lime
• Cherry Black Currant

the taste of morocco.

i will never forget or stop craving the taste of morocco. everything i ate there was so delicious and flavorful. if i only knew how to cook like that...

(white tagine from the conran shop)

a lot of moroccan dishes are cooked in a tagine like the one pictured above. i would love to be able to recreate some of the flavors i tasted in marrakech, i wonder if this tagine would work the same way? i don't even know, can these be put in the oven? i do know that traditionally a tagine cooks over (in?) fire for many hours to carefully blend the tastes of meat, vegetables and seasonings together. and then can be used as a serving dish, being brought directly to your table.

not too long ago i came across a blog called a moroccan kitchen that is being written by two lovely ladies named sabah and samira. they are moroccan women from fès medina who work at riad laaroussa. they started this blog to practice their english and spread the taste of morocco all over the world!

so maybe with these two things, a lovely tagine and a moroccan kitchen blog, i can come a fraction closer to having the authentic cuisine in my own home!

blossom and bill

birch wood / laminate plates from isak.co.uk

shinzi katoh

shinzi katoh designs

martha at macy's.

[recipe box $14.99, vintage-inspired spice rack $59.99, six prep bowls $9.99, cast iron pot $119.99]

excuse me while i drool a little bit... martha stewart's new line at macy's is oh-so-pretty! (it's reasonably priced too.)



[measure equivalents magnet $5.99, colanders $9.99 and $19.99, cake stands $14.99, $19.99 and $29.99, six melamine bowls $29.99, 3-piece silicone bakeware set $39.99]

looks like the perfect place for a registry if you ask me!

j'aime les couleurs de le creuset.

i just want to make a quick post proclaiming my love for le creuset cookware. ever since i first spotted the turquoise blue pot in March/April 2007 Blueprint i have had the photo below on my inspiration board. i mean not only are the colors on those shelves amazing, but i think about le creuset's newest caribbean colored line almost every other day. (yes, i covet it that badly.) i found out recently that most of the line can be found at bed, bath and beyond.



(inspiration photos from Blueprint Magazine and Wary Meyers.)

i love all the colors that le creuset cookware comes in (particularly kiwi, cobalt blue and flame).



but for me, caribbean takes the cake.