Recipes »Springtime Veggie Pasta

springfrom Bird and Cleaver

Sometimes I am amazed how quickly some extraordinary meals can come together. This Springtime Veggie Pasta is an easy weekday dish but looks and tastes restaurant worthy. Of course, as the name suggests it’s the perfect time of year for the ingredients – fresh asparagus, peas, and tarragon.

I used proscuitto pasta instead of the recommended spaghetti and it added a nice saltiness. I imagine other ingredients could be changed easily to suit your taste.

It’s recipes like this that get me excited about trying to cook more with limited time on my hands.

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Posted on April 24, 2013

Albums »All Our Own Work

allourby Sandy Denny and The Strawbs (1967, 1973)

All Our Own Work is an album for those quiet days when the sun is streaming through the window and you have time to stop, breathe, and listen to the world. It’s a folk gem and features one of my favorites songs ever, “I’ve Been My Own Worst Friend” as well as the heartbreaking classic “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”. Sandy Denny, she of the most extraordinary voice, is amazing here but even songs without her are beautiful.

The album was recorded when The Strawbs were fledgling and unable to secure a record deal. Denny famously went on to Fairport Convention and The Strawbs found success with various genres. The tracks were forgotten until released a decade later. Later still, a reissue included more unreleased demos and outtakes.

strawbs

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Posted on April 24, 2013

Desserts »Top Pot Doughnuts

toppot6855 35th Ave NE

Ubiquitous and delicious, Top Pot Doughnuts are an iconic Seattle treat. We visited the Wedgwood location with its huge donut sculpture and comfy library dining area (there’s also nice outdoor seating under the shade of a surprising palm tree).

Cute decor is great, but a sweet donut and good latte makes this place a must visit. I indulged in a raspberry glaze and stole bites from a giant apple fritter.

Lucky for us, but maybe not our health, Top Pot is available even closer at the local grocery store and there are several cafes scattered across the city.

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Posted on April 22, 2013

Places to Visit,Spend a Couple Hours »Pacific Science Center

pscfinal200 2nd Ave N, Seattle

Gears, wires, pipes, machines – these are my son’s passion. Naturally the Pacific Science Center, a hands on kids science museum was totally up his alley. We could have spent all day in the lobby room with its pulleys, gears, wacky mirrors and levers and he would have left satisfied.

Fortunately, though, the exhibits offered even more excitement including a tots area with water play and toys to climb, animatronic dinosaurs, a petting area with sea creatures, and a butterfly pavilion.

Mimi had a nice time too with plenty to look at and even a quiet nursing room!

Some reviews online complain that exhibits are sometimes old but they are missing the point. Kids love this place dated animatronics, duct tape and all.

When we decided to move to Seattle, the wealth of child friendly activities appealed to us. Not that NYC doesn’t offer them, but here, everything is easier to accomplish. In fact, we hadn’t even set out to go to the museum, but a morning drive happened to bring us there and it was a lovely spontaneous family fun day.

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Posted on April 21, 2013

Spend a Couple Minutes »The One Fund, The Blood Center of Central Texas, The Red Cross

OneFundFlag-smWays to Help

Obviously some horrific and heartbreaking tragedies have occurred in the last weeks. It leaves us, surely, wondering how we can help.

To donate to The One Fund, which goes directly to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombing, text BOSTON to 80108.

To help victims of the Texas explosion, you can donate to The Blood Center of Central Texas here.

You can always donate to The Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999 and give blood year round.

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Posted on April 21, 2013

Restaurants »Portage Bay

portage4130 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle

We arrived in Seattle a couple weeks ago (we are still settling, hence the lack of posts). We stayed at the comfortable and friendly Watertown Hotel until our things arrived. A few blocks away we found Portage Bay, an most appetizing welcome to our new home city.

Everything we tried on the menu (yes, there were return visits) was delicious. They had Swedish pancakes, made with fresh, real ingredients that I didn’t have to embarrass myself with a trip to IHOP for! They had a vegetable hash that had Jim, yes Jim, shoveling vegetables into his mouth! There’s a fruit and toppings bar, a number of omelett options, and Benedicts of all kinds that will impress (I had to try the salmon, a food I’ll always associate with the Northwest since a visit here years ago) but the dungeness crab was remarkable too.

The space is huge and child friendly (though admittedly I am coming from Brooklyn, where spaces tend to be pint sized and hating children is a new pastime) but I’ve read it can get very crowded with long waits on peak brunch hours.

I imagine this will be a favorite of our family in the years to come as we settle into our new town. It’s service with a smile and incredible food with a conscious: ingredients are local and organic.

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Posted on April 17, 2013

Style Icons: Female,Style Icons: Male »Best of Paris Fashion Week, Part 2

Style Icons: Female,Style Icons: Male »Best of Paris Fashion Week, Part 1

Songs »You’ll Lose A Good Thing, Barbara Lynn

lose1by Barbara Lynn (1962)

Barbara Lynn played guitar like a boss, wrote her own songs, and gave us the wonderful You’ll Lose a Good Thing. She’s like a hero I never knew before and her hit song is the kind that makes the world stop for a few minutes then seem like a better place when it ends.

lose2

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Posted on March 25, 2013

Movies »Anna Karenina

ak1directed by Joe Wright (2012)

Anna Karenina is a sexy movie. Not necessarily for the soft close up nude romping (though it answers a few questions about how Aaron Taylor-Johnson was able to woo and bed a much older woman in real life) but rather, it’s sexy for us that get hot and bothered over exquisite jewelry, lavish ball gowns, and lush set design.

Is it style over substance? Perhaps – but that’s perfectly alright with me.

The literal staging (the film is shot moving in and out of transforming set pieces and stages) is almost distracting at first but undeniably beautiful. Fields of white flowers, ornate walls that had me buzzing with lofty ideas for a new house, diamond necklaces to drool over, and one particularly breathtaking chartreuse gown were backdrop to lots of pursing lips (a Kiera Knightly signature), rugged handsomeness, a couple pairs of piercing eyes care of Taylor-Johnson and Jude Law.. even the supporting cast, an impressive list of recognizable British beauties and dashing men, were more like living props with a few lines of dialogue to move the plot along. The lovely Cara Delevingne doesn’t have much more to do than titter at a distance.

There is emotion to be found, mostly and surprisingly in form of the stiff and nearly autistic suffering husband Jude Law. While Taylor-Johnson was quite convincing in his obsession, Knightly almost becomes too shrill to elicit sympathy as she careens out of control. The high schooler in me, who surely would have loved this, wanted to identify with a woman so committed to passionate, romantic and scandalous love, not get annoyed with her.

For a story so steeped in drama, it didn’t exactly move me, but I will be dreaming of tulle, gems, wainscotting and satin for weeks.

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Posted on March 25, 2013

Songs »Easier Said Than Done

the-essex-easier-said-than-done-roulette-2by The Essex (1963)

I was surprised to find the catchy number one hit, Easier Said Than Done did not come from one of the big known groups but a group of (totally adorable) Marines named The Essex.

While the band had little faith in the b-side, it quickly became their biggest and only real hit.It’s still makes for pretty great listening.

Plus, it played at my last restaurant meal in Brooklyn, so it has become a bit of a sentimental favorite.

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Posted on March 17, 2013

TV Shows »House of Cards

house-of-cardson Netflix

Alright, alright, I’ll admit it. The House of Cards remake is addictive, beyond that, it’s actually quite good. Look, I’m one of those indignant people that saw the original, (thank you very much!) and the idea of Smug Spacey taking the place of world’s most charming bad old man, Ian Richardson, well it was not something I was prepared to embrace.

When I began the series, it was a guilty pleasure. I mocked Spacey’s ‘Our Town’, folksy asides and I still laugh at the “hip” political blog office where extras must have been paid to gleefully roll around the desk-less room on office chairs for days. But when it’s all said and done, despite its flaws, House of Cards is taut, clever, enjoyable, and very well written.

The cast is mostly great. Corey Stoll and Robin Wright stand out for adding dimension to their tough roles while Kate Mara just teeters on the edge of being annoying enough to ruin a good thing.

I love that Netflix is capable of producing quality programming and embrace that they make the entire series available at once – especially in comparison to, say, HBO who guards their content, even to paying subscribers, as if it were gold.

I’m very looking forward to the next season and have even more high hopes for Arrested Development when it returns in the same fashion.

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Posted on March 17, 2013

Style Icons: Female,Style Icons: Male »Best of Milan Fashion Week

Restaurants »Edelweiss

edel34 East Ramona Ave. Colorado Springs, CO

Edelweiss is everything an authentic German restaurant should be. There’s traditional costumes, accordion playing entertainment, deer heads and cuckoo clocks lining the walls, pitchers of crisp dark Dunkle, black forest torte, and huge, heaping plates of heavy meats and potatoes.

It’s been the spot for brat in my hometown of Colorado Springs since before I was born and after a family friendly dinner last night, I can tell you it’s still the same. And that’s a good thing!

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Posted on March 17, 2013

Style Icons: Female »Maria Kochetkova

Untitled-1Ballerina With Fabulous Style

On stage Maria Kochetkova is a graceful, dynamic principle dancer with the San Francisco ballet. In real life, or at least what’s depicted online, she’s as charming as she is on pointe and one of the most interesting modern fashion icons you may have never heard of.

Over-sized Harry Potter glasses, lots of checks and polka dots, exaggerated silhouettes, and the looks of a mischievous pixie; quirky never looked so cute and genuinely fashionable.

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Posted on March 12, 2013

Style Icons: Female,Style Icons: Male »Best of London Fashion Week, Part 2

Style Icons: Female,Style Icons: Male »Best of London Fashion Week, Part 1