Break out the Brushes

This makes me want to paint..........!! (and not just another shade of sage green on a bedroom wall or vintage white on a bathroom ceiling!!)

Yes, the famous Giverny, as in Claude Monet's....a magical place I've oddly never visited despite my many travels within proximity.

If you've never painted-let's start together! You have all week to try a new craft...
Life is short.
Decorate a canvas.
I hear it's highly therapeutic and since art is subjective, there are no rules! For more inspiration, visit the highly-talented designs of Paris Breakfasts. I especially love her Parisian-themed table settings entitled Macarons Abroad and Angelina Mont Blanc. I hope to use one of her watercolors in an upcoming set design surrounding a Parisian cafe for a feature film. Mmmmmm....

(Picture courtesy el ca blog, photography Christine Pi)

Ode to Dad

Bonne fête papa!

Dads are the greatest invention. They fill air up in your tires, mow your lawn when the gardener lacks the "proper" row technique, take your pets to the vet, buy your cat treats, change the hard to reach lightbulbs, rescue frightened birds from your corner bedroom, fix broken benches, mix special fertilizer for roses--and another for geraniums--and another for ferns...and on and on and on....

...ok, well maybe this is just MY dad. Talents abound within him. Great eye for design and can really fix just about anything. His workshop garage gives Tim from Tool Time a run for the money.

My father is ill. As a result, he's been in the hospital all this past week, BUT LUCKY US AS my family is thrilled to pieces that he was released and back home as of yesterday afternoon.

Watching a stupid comedy just isn't the same without his infectious laugh...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY EVERYONE! Treasure each moment with any and all fathers in your life...

Top Twelve Things to Eat in Paris

I was talking with a charming book editor recently and the topic of "getting thick around the middle came up".
Got me to thinkin' of my MUST EAT stops when on buying trips in Paris.
No. really.
Each stop.
Each visit. ...Gee, and I wonder where the extra pounds are coming from "so suddenly"???? Damn French and their masterful hands.

1) Freshly-made baguette at the Le Poilane boulangerie: OR any great baguette, sea-salted butter from Brittany, and myrtilles (blueberry) jam. (Every boulangerie's schedule varies, but usually Le Poilane has it coming out of the oven at 7am and 4p. A heaven-on-earth treat);

2) Croissant au beurre (as opposed to croissant ordinaire -- this distinction is important, and the best ones come from places which offer both and thus give you the option of having the extra indulgent, greasy, and wonderfully-luscious type. BUH-TA, baby);

3) Ossau Iraty cheese from Androuet or really any good fromagerie;

4) Poulet de Bresse on the rotisserie at the local boucherie;

5) Crepes (sweet ones on the street -- au buerre sucre, au nutella et bananas; and savory buckwheat ones in a breton or normand restaurant, even the street vendors at The Louvre and Eiffel Tower make wonderful ones);

6) Coq au vin in the absolute traditional sense (Le Toulouse does it wonderfully in the 7e off Metro: Tour Mauborg);

7) Falafel from L'As du Falafel in the Marais;

8) Crusted broiled-top Cheese Ravioli along with a glass of champagne from Le Trait D'Union in the 6e;

9) Pate de campagne from a local boucherie (combined with a baguette, bottle of red, green apple, Evian, and an impromptu picnic on the lawns facing the Eiffel tower);

10) Berry Creme Bruele at Mariage Freres (honestly, the best ever to grace my lips..er, or is that hips?);

11/12) TIE: Hand-made chocolates from Michel Cluizel in the 1e and macarons from Heidiard.

What do you love to eat in Paris?


Oh who can just stop at 12 great things to eat in Paris????? Bring on the honorable mentions:

* Berthillon ice cream on Ile St. Louis
* Pizza with four cheeses, one of which is iFrench Blue Cheese at Saint Lucia in the 6e (a combo of cheese I would never, ever eat in the states but coupled with a pint and people watching it's pure bliss)
* Coquilles St. Jacques at Violon d'Ingres
* 24-month aged Tomme de Savoie cheese
* Assiettes de saucissons secs and jambon
* Roasted potatoes with extra drippings from aforementioned rotisserie chicken #4 above

Please share with all of us your favorites...or your favorite eating spot when you travel to any city outside your own (even if that means the next neighboring town to grab a Krispy Kreme!)

UPDATED TO ADD: For a mouth-watering selection of cakes (desserts), you must see this lovely blog and today's post: Rochambeau. Constance has put together a delectable delight!

Speakeasys of Yesteryear...

I had the best afternoon recently when my old boss and some of my favorite former colleagues and I got together to celebrate a friend who passed very suddenly and tragically many years ago. In addition to the howling laughter recalling shared memories, the day was made all the more memorable when the occasion was booked at a favorite LA haunt, The Buffalo Club.
As you enter, you are transported to a Chicago speakeasy or New York chophouse....

The inside mahogany bar is romantically illuminated from below, casting a tawny glow on the impressive collection of liquor bottles..
Rich Honduran mahogany paneling,
Birch bark shade sconces....
Antique mirrors...
Burgundy leather booths studded with polished brass tacks are both inviting and luxurious...
...and then the walls are adorned with photos of legendary literary figures and 19th century Buffalo, New York, the hometown of the owner, Anthony Yerkovich.

In the back you enter what undoubtedly feels like a Secret Garden: Walk along the bend past the restrooms and you pass through a curtained threshold....there you discover an English garden hideaway dotted with hanging silk Chinese lanterns...and the piece de resistance: a 40-foot, solid mahogany bar and dining tables aglow with amber votives atop soft ivory linens.

Dining here outside, whether under the summer sky or a regally draped winter tent (during Winter months), you feel as though you've entered a magical garden.

Eating inside? You're transported to an exclusive club.

It's one of the best places in all of LA to grab a cocktail.

The Buffalo Club is one of the THE spots in Los Angeles not because it is usually crowded with the most gorgeous people and A-List Celebrities, but because it carries that invariable LA vibe:
There is no sign on the door...or on the building... or anywhere visible for that matter.
You just have to be in the know.

Of course it doesn't hurt that the food is fantastic and the decor is stately, grand and comfortable all at the same time.

TIP: A reservation can often be hard to come by, but if you go right when they open, grab a seat at the bar; they will happily serve you dinner there. I

Their lively website is great fun, too, and wonderful pics under PRIVATE EVENTS:

The Buffalo Club
1520 Olympic Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
www.buffaloclub.com

On the set...

Performing a mini makeover inside a trailer for a client who will be using it for an extended film shoot. Cote Bastide softly-scented candles, mercury votives EVERYWHERE, Cote Bastide Seringa Wreath French triple-milled soaps, Bella Notte throws, custom-made antique linen pillows with down feathers, and many other luxurious comforts....(wish I could share actual pictures, but privacy is crucial.) All these luxury items can be purchased at Vintageweave online ....



On a film set, the food is always yummy, especially if there is a pretty well-known headliner then the really good caterers are hired to feed the herd.... This BBQ was so DE-LISH....I'm so ready for another lunch break!!

.....back in a few days....

When Pictures Lie...

Yeah, Right.

When EVER have you had a delivery boy bring you a pizza in a box that looked like this???!

The Europeans. Oh, how they tease...
(photo: Cote Sud magazine)

One of my favorite gatherings to host at my home is a Pizza Party....


(Vintageweave's Bon Appetite Silverware Sleeves available in any language. Hemp-fully machine washable!)

....friends, who love cooking as much as I do, gather at my house with an uncooked pizza concoction in tow and their favorite bottles. These get cooked on the grill, which is my next most favorite way to eat pizza outside of a wood burning fire pit. If raining (ok, this is California so that is never planned for, but it DID happen once!!), we'll move the party indoors but still utilize the grill.

I romanticize of a time when it's a tropical warm storm and we sit outside under shelter amongst plenty of candles and wine bottles!

If the party heads into the night, we always remain outside but just add blankets to the mix. Cigars get lit and the occasional toasted marshmallow. I always layer a mixture of vintage fabrics-nothing fancy, and I never worry over tomato sauce or red wine. Whatever BIZ doesn't perform a miracle on will just become like a face wrinkle: a symbol of laughing and fond memories with friends.

Pellegrino and earthy red wines are always a'flowin, and usually in antique or depression glass. (Shown: part of my collection of Fostoria American depression glass pattern.) At the moment I'm particularly liking this table red: Abadia Retuerta - Sardon De Duero 2003, a Spanish Seleccion Especial red with undertones of vanilla and fig.)

Antique Watering Cans

{Click on any photo to see full view}

I adore watering cans.
Zinc are really the only ones I collect...

... but from time to time a colored one will rotate in my garden from the boutique or warehouse overflow. It stays temporarily to enjoy for a spell.

I typically love rotating in red, but after a recent trip to Paris where orange was all the rage, I was inspired to paint my garden shed door (and a not-so-old can, aka reproduction! Shame on this antique dealer!) a wonderful terra cotta. Paint: the next best invention to French Bread.....!!! {French Bread wins hands down against everything in the universe of course}


French and English watering cans are so special, their character vastly different from varieties in the States. I stumbled across an engineer's diagram book of all watering cans made by two English companies from 1810-1910...it's my cherished treasure but unfortunately I've misplaced it so... my small home library is being torn from limb to limb.
My favorite is French early 19th C... the angle of the sprouts grabs me. I have several metal ones (not zinc) that are taking on a lovely rust patina from years of Miracle Grow and Fish Oil additives. Truth be told I find myself more and more mixing these fertilizers in a couple of Target plastic versions (for shame yet again on this antique dealer!)

These days only water fills the antique and vintage versions in between feedings.


I know some of my hardier English cans would be up to the task, but still I try in vain to preserve them for as long as possible. Should the bottom rust out, I nestle in a clay pot of something trailing and lovely .


When I have an outdoor party, I love filling them with loads of cut flowers or small pots of newly-planted geraniums.


Ah, but fresh cuttings of hydrangea from my garden against a zinc can is my all time favorite. If you have a favorite watering can you use in your garden, I'd love to hear about it or see a picture....and if you DO NOT, I hope this inspires you!