Raw Kale Salad on Of a Kind via Morgan Parish

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Not only a crazy talented handbag designer, my friend Ayeisha of Morgan Parish is an ace gardener and a wiz in the kitchen. In her Boulder, CO garden she is growing lettuces, vegetables and strawberries which she is using in an A&O favorite recipe, Raw Kale Salad with Strawberries. Check out the story and Morgan Parish limited edition Gemini Pouch for Of a Kind.

 

If you haven’t tried this Kale Salad recipe you MUST. My best friend from high school swears this salad turned her whole family (ages 2-100) into kale salad addicts. She uses pine nuts instead of almonds which sounds mighty fine to me.

 

What is growing in your garden?

xo,
Lydia

Books That Make You Cry

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The Huffington Post listed the top 10 tearjerkers:

#10: To Kill A Mockingbird

#9: Charlotte’s Web

#8: The Thorn Birds

#7: My Sister’s Keeper

#6: Of Mice And Men

#5: Gone With The Wind

#4: Doctor Zhivago

#3: Romeo And Juliet

#2: The Notebook

#1: Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl

Do you agree?  What’s missing?   What about Persuasion or Where The Red Fern Grows?  (I just teared up typing that last!).

Also, I’m sorry, but The Thorn Birds is about a pedophile.  Am I right?

Tell me, what’s the last book that made you cry?

xx Sarah

Memorial Day Veggie Burgers

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For our Memorial Day dinner, we tried to recreate our favorite super savory Umami Burger portobello burger at home.

Look familiar?  We started with slow-roasted tomatoes.

I made umami ketchup and had to cool it quickly in an ice bath so we could eat.

Marinated portobello caps ready for the grill.

Charred corn means summer!

Baked sweet potato “fries” with sea salt and paprika

The classic Umami Burger calls for caramelized onions, roasted tomato, homemade ketchup and a parmesan crisp stacked between a buttered and grilled brioche bun.  We had it all except for the Parmesan crisp- I could not find my silpat!  Any chance I loaned it to someone out there?  We shaved thin slices of Parm onto our mushrooms and, sadly, it was not the same without the nutty, toasted crunch.  Next time!

The best part?  A tie between the ketchup and the tomatoes.  Try both this summer-they work with any barbecue menu.

What did you have yesterday?

xx Sarah

Jam Time

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Some fantastic friends sent us home with homemade jam last week.  That oily fingerprint on the kumquat & strawberry label?  It’s mine, not theirs.  I know this because it matches the one on my keyboard.   Lest you worry about the sanitation of homemade jam.

So I’ve been devouring the strawberry kumquat which is the perfect sweet, not too, with a little sour and the occasional jelly soft kumquat rind surprise.  I love it.  It got me thinking.  How do you like your jam?

Can’t go wrong with good bread and butter.  But I like jam best when paired with something savory, like in an open-faced grilled cheese.  This time last year, Lydia and I prepared a baguette sandwich with grilled pork tenderloin and strawberry chutney, which I think is among our very best recipes.  My favorite, though, is strawberry jam or cranberry sauce (fruit + sugar+ citrus = jam!) on one slice of multigrain bread, Grey poupon on the other and a nice stack of  roasted turkey breast, havarti cheese and watercress in the middle.  That’s my mom’s special order and my sister and I think it’s the you-know-what.

So, tell me please, how do like your jam?

Have a happy, happy Memorial Day weekend, my loves.  We’ll see you Tuesday.

xx Sarah

Not So Real Housewives Themed Bridal Shower

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When it came time to plan a shower for our girl Niki, the other hostesses and I knew it had to be different than your average bridal affair. Smart and sassy with a wicked sense of humor, Niki is a generally down-to-earth kind of gal who might chose TOMS over Louboutins and gravitates toward earth tones in her wardrobe. To give her the true “bridal” experience we had to go WAY over the top. Inspired by the excess and silliness of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills we had a pink and diamond JOKE shower. It was SO much fun to plan all the sparkly details and even more of a riot to enjoy the day with the bride-to-be.

All Pictures by Anjali Prasertong

 

The guests were welcomed with two drink stations

 

 

A Bloody Mary Bar with assorted Rick’s Pick’s pickles

 

 

a Prosecco Bar with Peach-Thyme Puree, Orange Juice and Strawberry-Vanilla Puree

 

 

Pink Prosecco, Pink Straws, Pink Nails

 

and pink diamond stamped cocktail napkins (paper napkins + stamp pad + stamp)

 

 

The house all dressed up

 

Candles at noon on a sunny day screams “Houswives”

Paper Topiaries made by our genius designer friend Sandra

 

 

The guests all dressed up

 

The lunch table was strewn with gems

 

The Bride had a special cup that fits a whole bottle of wine and a tiara of course. The place cards were tied to ring pops on each place setting.

 

 

MOB and MOG both had tiaras too (just like Pandora gave to Lisa on her wedding day)

 

Even the salad was hot pink, Beet & Quinoa Salad with Mint by Anjali

 

 

An A&O signature Broccoli & Cheddar Quiche

 

I made Spinach, Sweet Potato and Chicken Sausage Frittata Cups topped with little pictures of Niki’s beloved doggie Mabel. Beth spent hours making these little Mabel signs affixed to toothpicks.

 

More Mabel on the donut holes.

 

 

Sandra turned her ribbon bouquet into a piece of art (the secret here is a glue gun during the gift opening, serious business ladies.)

 

And finally the pièce de résistance! A collaboration between the the bride’s mom and Baskin-Robbins. A mint chocolate chip ice cream cake all dressed up for the special occasion. All kidding aside it was a love filled afternoon, one none of us will soon forget.

 Simply fabulous darlings,

Lydia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Label Lovers Beware

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Martha Stewart has a line of office supplies at Staples and you are going to want to buy every single item.

I grabbed:

a robin’s egg blue shagreen binder

pastel plastic dividers

araucana egg-colored file folders

pastel paper tags with blue and white striped thread

CHALKBOARD labels (!)

kitchen labels like the French roast label above

multiple pads of sticky notepaper

I’m not going to lie, my office has been a much more fun place the last few days.

What am I going back for, you ask?  Shagreen boxes in blue and white as a more elegant counterpoint to my other favorite storage containers.

What can’t you wait to use?

xxSarah

 

Lay Baby Lay

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Presenting my newest obsession, Lay Baby Lay.  Designer Joni Lay creates themed inspiration boards for nurseries that are every bit as charming and fun as we’d like our big girl rooms to be.  She mixes real (i.e., adult) pieces from stores like West Elm and Crate & Barrel with vintage finds and etsy discoveries to create sophisticated nurseries that last well beyond babyhood.

Joni also suggests paint colors.  A woman after my own heart!

When I was convinced I was having a boy, I loved this nautical theme with the rope lamp and oversized whale.

What do you think? Is Joni making nursery inspiration the natural follow up to wedding planning for the pinterest set?

xx Sarah

Meatless Monday: Toast with Almond Butter and Fresh Fruit

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Sarah and I have many things in common but our love of toasted bread spread with nut butter and topped with thin slices of fresh fruit is one worth sharing with y’all. Sarah has a cute story that she would pack such a sandwich as her lunch in Grad school and her fellow students would marvel at the concept of the fresh fruit version of PB&J. When we first met we admitted to eating close to a jar of peanut butter a week in this fashion but in an effort to be healthier I have switched to almond butter (most of the time.)

Toast with Almond Butter and Fruit

 This is my go to healthy breakfast or afternoon snack, in fact  I’m getting almond butter on my computer as I write this post before I rush off to work.

Toast with Almond Butter and Fruit

When fresh fruit can not be procured in the wee hours of the morning, SQIRL Jam is an excellent substitution (Kumquat Marmalade pictured above.) Below is all my favorite brands if you want to try this “recipe”. I use Gluten Free bread because that is the bread we keep in our house and I just don’t miss the gluten in this instance.

Toast with Almond Butter and Fresh Fruit

2 slices whole wheat bread (I like Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread)

2 tablespoons Almond Butter (I like raw, creamy, unsalted almond butters)

Fresh fruit thinly sliced (strawberries, banana, nectarine, peach, plum, apple, pear or just a pile of berries)

 

Hope you love it too!

Lydia

 

 

Carmel Valley Wedding

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Photo: Flickr

We’re heading to a wedding in Carmel Valley this weekend. These sun scorched rolling hills and oak trees that lean to one side remind my of where I grew up in Marin.

Photo: Flickr

 

Can’t wait to toast the happy couple in this beautiful setting.

 

What are you doing this weekend?

 

xo,

Lydia

Pop-Up Baby Shower

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Invite in true Miami colors

Thanks for all your kind words yesterday, my friends.  Both me and my little GIRL are feeling very loved!  Here are some pix from the pop-up baby shower my mom, sister, aunts and cousins threw for me last weekend in Miami.

My aunt Nancy pawed through hundreds of antique baby block beads to make us all an adorable name necklace.

I got three: one for me, one for Baby Lagro Fletcher and a bracelet to bring home for Angus.  They’ll look cute layered over the corner of a family picture in the baby’s room!

Poufs, baby bottles filled with candies and amazingly good sugar cookies.  The girls brought everything with them to Miami and transformed the restaurant table in minutes.

Shamrock tissue paper covered an Irish sweater

…exactly like the one Angus wore in 1977.

Happy cousins.  Katie on the left is responsible for actually getting me to the party.  I wanted to sleep through what was supposed to be a family cocktail hour (pregnant ladies are tired!), but she texted my sister, who was about ready to kill me for ruining all their hard work, that Martha Stewart was in the bar.  I was only about 10 minutes late and very surprised to see a party and, alas, no Martha. Clever girls.

Thank you, ladies, for such a beautiful and thoughtful surprise!  I loved it!

xx Sarah

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