Weekend Wrap Up

This wonderful long holiday weekend is wrapping up.  It's been a great last few days.  Beginning with a spa afternoon at Se Hotel downtown, to the BBQs, pool parties and Lakers games, my sun soaked body will surely enjoy some zzzz's tonight.  I am going to go enjoy the last few hours before reality strikes to the tune of my alarm clock.  

More on Se tomorrow.  The hotel interiors, designed by Dodd Mitchell, has incredible details worth sharing.  

Goodbye Laurel

I received an email, Laurel's final four days, "stop by and wish Laurel a farewell, and enjoy a glass of bubbly."  Well, "ok" on the bubbly, but "no, don't close!"  This Paris meets LA restaurant has been a favorite of my girlfriends and myself.  Not only is the food amazing, but the interiors (by Graham Downes of San Diego) are incredible.  The details of the fabrics, the patterns, the contemporary furnishings and the fabulous accents (my favorite, the submerged flowers in sleek tubular vases).... the interior was hip!  But my initial dark cloud was met with a glimmer of sunshine, Laurel is selling everything.  You could make your own Laurel at home.  And, in fact, they are just developing a new concept after 4 years.  Which, you can follow on twitter.com/urbankitchen I wonder who is going to do their interiors?  I wonder what direction they are going?  Hopefully, after some chilled bubbly,  Amy and I will leave with chairs, chandeliers and sconces ... and a little insight into the future.  

Printing Linens

I have acquired a small obsession with colorful, patterned and unique linens. And while I love table cloths, napkins and hand towels, I have mainly focused on my bed. It is where we spend hopefully a 1/4 of our day, right?

I prefer a palette of a neutral tone, preferably white, with a muted texture (recently a white coverlet with organic bursts stitched in white). Then, onto this base, I add pops of color - accent pillows, a spread, shams, etc. I have already gone through two rounds of pillow purging, and my linen closet is slowly but surely brimming with a rainbow.

But, yesterday when I felt obliged to tidy the office, I came across a book that was purchased for me last winter, Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand, a Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils and Silk Screens (2008). And perhaps it was the load of bed linens waiting to be folded, or just a necessary day-dream to escape cleaning, but I got to brainstorming some ideas of my own. I could make my own linens...... now, I just need to buy the materials and learn how......

Lazy Sunday .... Painting

Today was a lazy, very lazy, day.  Waking up to drizzle and overcast skies, I watched a marathon of Datelines on MSNBC... yes, I have a love for Dateline.  But finally the sun peaked through mid-day, and I took the pup out and soaked up some vitamin D.  And then happily, I got a burst of creativity.  I came home, opened all the windows, turned on trusty Pandora, and started painting.  I made some good headway on my latest canvas, and have been happy with where my ideas going thus far.  We shall see......

Food: Coriander-Crusted Scallops with Chive Potato Hash and Sweet Corn Sauc

I was looking through my camera and found these photos of last Sunday's "fancy" dinner.  I made these delicious scallops and dressed up our kitchen table for a relaxing evening of good food, wine and conversation.  (I was proud of my pairing too)  Recently I received a request from Marie to also send photos with my recipes.  I am known to pass along good recipes, but with a visual it becomes only that much more enticing to make.   Well, after we enjoyed our bites and sips last weekend, I quickly found out that scallops are now my second shellfish allergy (sadly crab went first).  I have had an inkling that scallops were slowly not working well for me, but I just wanted to ignore it.  I love scallops!  I think after reacting to my meal, I lost motivation to share these with everyone else. But, I guess if I can't eat them, hopefully someone else will enjoy them for me instead!