Giveaway on Mochatini! Two Modern Champagne Goblets

Click yourself on over to Mochatini pronto and leave a comment for a chance to win these stunning goblets from Sophietta. A $200 value!

Imagine toasting with these to ring in the New Year!

OK Go WTF?

OK Go - WTF? from OK Go on Vimeo.

Past/Present/Future

Past/Present/Future from KentLyons on Vimeo.

MyFryingPan.com

Love food? Like easy directions and mouth watering photos? Check out MyFryingPan.com My new favorite food site for simple and approachable ideas for my next meal.

"MyFryingPan.com is made up of a collection of home cooks, food enthusiasts, and farmer market goers who belive that everyone has a chef in them waiting to come out."

My Very Own House Tour!

Okay, here goes...I've used my own home to do a house tour on Apartment Therapy.

Have a look!

Lemon Zest by Behr

LOVE this kitchen...especially the yellow wall which is painted with Lemon Zest by Behr. My husband says I would get annoyed with it after awhile but I'm not so sure. It helps that there is alot of natural light coming in. I wonder what it looks like when the sun moves?

Image: Canadian House & Home

The Studio Blog by DwellStudio

DwellStudio, the fabulous company for modern and chic linens for table, home and baby, has a blog too!
The ever stylish and hip Christiane Lemieux writes about her inspiration, gift ideas, and creative projects with her kids. There is also the "How You Dwell" feature which showcases people's homes and their use of DwellStudio products. We all love peeking into other people's homes and sharing our own so I couldn't resist and sent in my own photo! You can see what they posted here.

Making Bread

I am enrolled in a pastry certificate course these days - on my way to becoming a pastry chef!

It is fun but hard work and lots to remember. I wish I could focus on just making bread because it feels like there is a lifetime worth of knowledge to be had and I've just barely scratched the surface! But, what knowledge I do have came in handy when some friends asked me to come over and help them make bread. They had tried quite a few times on their own, read a few books, etc and still were frustrated about their results.

To be honest, I was nervous, cause at school I can make a loaf of bread no problem. At home is another story. I don't have the fancy oven or the proof box and well, it just doesn't seem to come out the same.

Another big difference is that at school and in professional kitchens, all ingredients are weighed on a scale. At home we use measuring cups. It really does make a difference! I have yet to buy a scale for home use so I've been trying to find recipes for the home cook for bread online with no luck. Often times there is not enough salt. I really just wanted to use the recipe in my text book cause I knew that worked!

Well, I went to my friend's house to bake and guess what? They actually had a scale! I was so happy and immediately confident that we could make good bread! Sure enough, it was successful!

Here is the recipe:

French Bread (straight dough method)

Water 1 pound 1 oz

Yeast, fresh 0.75 oz

Bread Flour 1 lb 12 oz

Salt 0.5 oz

Malt Syrup (we actually used a little molasses) 0.13 oz

Butter 0.5 oz

Mixing: incorporate all ingredients and then 8 to 10 minutes at second speed in a mixer (if doing by hand, just keep folding, flipping, kneading the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. Sorta messy this way but sometimes its just nice to get your hands into it!)

Fermentation: 1.5 hours at 80F (27C) or 2 hours at 75F (24C)

After it has risen for the above amount of time, then fold out the air in the dough and scale into portions, round it, and let bench for 30 min. Then shape into loaf, rolls or whatever you wish, and proof for 30 more minutes. Next brush egg wash over top and score it before putting it in the oven. If you have a pizza stone, have that preheated as well and bake right on top. I've also baked in a pre-heated Dutch oven with lid on for 20 minutes and then take lid off for the remaining time so it gets golden brown.

Baking: 425F (218C) for loaves, 450F (230C)for rolls. Steam for first 10 minutes.

Above recipe in grams

Water 460 g
Yeast, fresh 20g
Bread Flour 750g
Salt 15g
Malt Syrup (we actually used a little molasses) 4g
Butter 12g

RIP Irving Penn

Some of my favorites...

The Empty Plate, New York

1947 © Irving Penn

Cafe in Lima by Irving Penn, Vogue
Feb 15, 1949

Patissiers, Paris
1950, printed July 1967

Woman in Moroccan palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Marrake
1951

Gerbera Daisy

My Favorite New Cooking Show

I adore Top Chef and watch it every season but it is more of a competition than a how-to. I like some of Anthony Bourdain's shows but they don't involve cooking as much as they do eating and traveling. Mike Colameco has a decent show cause he actually goes into good restaurants and one gets a glimpse of behind the scenes. As for all the other many how-to cooking shows, none has really intrigued me very much to the point that I watch them unless a particular recipe is being featured that I want to know more about.

Ah... but that was until now. Eric Ripert has a new show called Avec Eric and it is everything I want in a cooking show. He travels for inspiration, he speaks with other chefs or others who are knowledgeable about ingredients, he takes you into his kitchen at Le Bernadin and shows you what the cooks do and what they are responsible for. Then he takes you into his home kitchen and shows how to cook a similarly inspired dish. Plus, he is Eric Ripert. Sophisticated and charming.

Gold Picture Frame Windows

The below is just an illustration from an architecture firm in Sweden...but I would love to see it in reality.
illustration: peter kinnmark, danyal taylan, joanna zawieja

Simon's Debut

Simon made his debut in a post on Apartment Therapy New York today.
:)

Celebrating Candyland's 60th birthday

Lombard St in San Francisco on August 20th. For more pictures, go to SFist.
Photo: AP Hasbro Inc., Darryl Bush

re-focusing

Hi all,
I haven't been very good at posting lately cause I got a little freelance gig with Apartment Therapy New York so my blog writing/research/ideas/energy is being focused over there.
If you are curious, my posts go live every day (M-F) at 2pm EST.

I will still post here too when I can.

Tony Rosenthal Aug 9, 1914 - July 28, 2009

Tony Rosenthal died last week. He was the sculptor that created the popular "Astor Place Cube" in Manhattan.

Funny story; when I was new to Manhattan, my friend Paul, (who was also new to Manhattan) bet me $10 that he could move this giant, 15 foot high cube. I laughed thinking I was about to pocket an easy 10 bucks when he casually went up to it and pushed against one side as I stood there with my mouth open watching the cube slowly rotate. I handed over the $10 and learned that the cube is meant to spin and also learned not to bet against Paul.

Mesmerizing

This is wonderful and is best seen on a full screen.

Beautiful paper cuts by Elsa Mora

I love the craft of paper cutting and a friend just sent me a wonderful blog done by artist Elsa Mora where she actually shows you step by step how to get started! Below are images of her work. I chose some simple ones to feature here. There are more intricate and imaginative ones on her site. To see more, definitely check out her blog.

Lion Sands

Someday I would like spend the night here:

all images from Lion Sands

Keep Calm and Carry on Poster Generator

This is fun! Make your own version of this ubiquitous poster. Just go to this link: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/

Here is my version:

Butterfly chair/ Hardoy Chair

photo by Sparrow

We have been needing another chair in our living room but I hadn't really decided on a style and it wasn't on the top of my priority list. However...when I saw the unwanted butterfly chair left in our building's basement, I quickly grabbed it! It is not the original Hardoy Chair design, just the fold-up kind but I still love it. The cover is clean and I can always order a new one...or even make my own?

the brick house

ohdeedoh

design sponge

decorpad

corbis

apartment therapy

So You Think You Can Dance magic dress

My guilty pleasure for summer TV watching has been So You Think You Can Dance. There is some REALLY amazing dancing on this show...sometimes bringing me close to tears it is so beautiful. I also usually find one or two new songs from the show to ad to my ipod. Last night there was this one dance with the most magical dress. See below!!

More Josef Frank

From this month's Metropolitan Home. Photos by Tim Street-Porter

Happy Weekend!

via beachbungalow8

Some of my favorite bedrooms

via bug & Bear

via coco + kelley

via a mad tea party with alis

via a mad tea party with alis

Lise Gulassa via Sisters Gulassa

via Narratives Photo Agency

via Narratives Photo Agency

Michael Crockett via desire to inspire

Living Etc

Jordi Canosa

Jordi Canosa

Jordi Canosa

Jordi Canosa

via Decorno

via Endless Inspiration

via Yolksy

James Merrell

House and Garden Jan 2005

Brabourne Farm

via This is Glamorous

via taverne agency

via taverne agency

Sean Connery. enough said

photographed by Annie Leibovitz near Connery's home in the Bahamas. The bag is pretty nice too. :)