Thankful Thought

I am leaving India tonight (well officially tomorrow) at 4am. It has been a great, productive trip and I am so ready for a seriously long nap and a salad. While the opportunity to sleep all the way home is there, it is not likely to happen. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed I don’t land between bad B.O. boy and screaming baby. No really, cross your fingers for me!

I could write a hundred pages here of all the things I have seen, smelled, tasted and tried on this trip but … I don’t have the time or ability to truly make you understand how special Mother India is. You will just have to be inspired enough by the images to get your butt over here sometime soon.

I have missed my green veggies and oh yeah there is a steak with my name on it just a few days away now. Forget turkey fellow Americans – I need some beef.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving that I have made a life for myself where I get to do what I love professionally and travel the world while at it. Since I was just a little girl, this has been my dream and to be doing it now for more than 12 years is really something to be thankful for! Even if I will be on a germ infested stinky plane with an aluminum tray of “unidentified food items” while you eat stuffing, yams, turkey, cranberry and pecan pie – I am still thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving America!

 

Pretty in PInk

At the Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gods are Smiling

 

 

 

 

Indian Louis Vuitton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bulk Aisle at Market

 

 

Mother India

Road Trip

While other parts of Asia have their allure, charm, mysteries and magic, for me there is no place like Mother India. Of all the places I travel to regularly or have traveled to ever, none feel as much as home to me as India. If I believed in reincarnation, I would be highly suspicious that in my past life I wore  a sari every day, bobbed my head in agreement (or disagreement) and had more piercings and tattoos than Pink.

Why? Well, this I still have not been able to put my finger on just yet and it has been almost 10 years since my first visit.

New Meaning to "Rise and Shine"

A part of it is the intensity and energy that is 24/7 on the streets and in the markets. There are so many people, so much activity, so much noise, so many scents and so…each and every one of your senses is engaged with each step. There is more LIFE in one Indian market block than in the entirety of most US towns. As you exist in this, you cannot but become a part of this energy.

The other part of the “magic” of India is the fine line that life and death dances upon. Someone today said they saw a boiling vessel of oil on the side of the street where people, bikes, cars and animals all passed by it only mere mm from its rim. One trip, one waver, one weave and you would be covered in hot oil. Alas, it seems to just keep going – life dancing with death (or at least dismemberment) every second. Sure this is happening with us all everywhere, but in India you actually see it. Its tangible.

I heart pink turbans

The only way to share the feelings that I have for India is to tell you about a 5 minute drive I was on yesterday. While driving through an extremely crowded marketplace I suddenly became aware that I was observing life through two panes of glass. The first my sunglasses which made me “masked”, “unapproachable”, “unknown” and the second was the car window pane that almost felt like I wasn’t really there. Looking into a world that was only imaginary. I pressed the automatic window control, took off my sunglasses and put my head out of the window.

Ginger & Lime

There was my India. The smell of fresh ginger hit me first as we were passing a small food market. Then garlic, then a sweet lime in the air and now even sweeter onions. Jasmine and marigold weaved among the food smells and it was nearly divine. Raw and real. I am in a heavily populated Muslim town and the call to prayer was echoing around the walls of the city. The prayer seemed like a musical background to the market scene. Everyone seemed to be walking, swaying, running or talking to the beat of the prayer. The sounds were amazing, children laughing, hawkers yelling, women chatting, camels bellowing, dog barks, chanting and chanting, truck horns and bird calls. Had I been caught up in a Bolllywood music video and did not realize? Om Shanti Om!

This is the India I love. Where the tailor’s shop reads “Clothes for Womens and Giants”,  and where the air is scented with ginger, jasmine and yes, is that raw open sewage on the last note? Where a warm smile means it and a head bob does to, or not! A country of contradictions. A country of beauty that will forever hold my heart.

School Bus

A Taste of Hong Kong

Hong Kong Harbour

I had a “down” day from traipsing around furniture factories so I took to the streets of Hong Kong with the sole purpose of getting lost. To be completely honest, I did have a map tucked in my bag just in case but I wandered for a good four hours before having to give it only one consult.

Hong Kong is…alive! The scale of the city is immense. It makes NYC feel like a village. If you are a shopper…this is the city for you. Good god there are ALOT of stores and malls. Most are rather high end to boot. While everyone hustled around in and out of the shops glowing with that retail therapy glee I explored the nooks and crannies for the cities eats. Hong Kong has it all as you can imagine, right down to Ben & Jerrys! Korean BBQ, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Sushi, sushi, sushi, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Thai, Dim Sum, Noodle Houses & McDonaldese.

Dried Sea Cucumber, oh yum

Soy Joy

If you can think of a creature in the sea, it was in this store, in a jar and dried or cured. Shark fin, sea cukes, snails, oysters, shrimp, fish and uh lots of “no longer recognizable dried stuff” (technical term).

Then there are the shops dedicated to soy, soybean and tofu. Not for me, thanks.

The windows that always stopped me in my tracks were those filled with the ducks. Duck Duck Goose.

At least they use the whole duck and I do mean the WHOLE duck.

Senor Duck

Duck Soup

This guy was serving up duck “parts” in a broth with steamed greens and mushrooms. I did try it and while the broth left a greasy residue in my mouth, the flavor was really nice and it was the perfect lunch for a chilly rainy day. I made sure that I slurped real loud as I ate my soup so I would blend in with the locals eating their soup

Next find was a lady dishing up these flavorful curry fish balls. She also had squid on a stick and hot dogs on a stick. Seriously, hot dogs.

Curry Fish Balls

Hong Kong "Deli"

The deli on the left here was just like an Italian deli except completely all Chinese food. Who knew?

The most surprising street food find was waffles. Apparently a HUGE favorite with the locals, these stalls had long lines of hungry patrons waiting on waffles and waffle “eggs”. The batter is just like the American waffle mix except they use condensed milk and the waffle maker is round egg shapes rather than the good ole grid I grew up with. No Aunt Jamima though.

Waffle Balls

Holy Hairy Crabs!

October and November are hairy crab season in Hong Kong and let me just tell you..they take these hairy guys seriously around here. Whole stores devoted to them from the bottom price of $200 HK dollars up to thousands. Never really figured out what separates the cheapies from the top line. I was just amazed that every little crab is personally wrapped like the pic. Makes for a beautiful display. I did not have one yet, but they are on my dinner list tonight.

Karoke across from my hotel!

Anti-Freckle Mask!

On a final note, how many “Anti Freckles Whitening Masks” would I have to do? he he.

Live from Hong Kong

NYC to Hong Kong

Hong Kong!

Hong Kong. 8:07 Pm. November 14th 2009.

I have been in Asia for a week now. It feels like coming home in some ways. I have always been comfortable here and I find myself more “awake and alive” than the other places I travel to. I will be in India by Monday and that is where my heart is most at home, but Vietnam certainly is coming up on the list. China, still leaves me wondering where the soul of this country has gone. Cities like Shenzhen and Dongguan are void of any charm or sense of warmth and place. Cold and empty to me. Big buildings with no redeeming architectural qualities and big highways that lead to another soulless city. My opinion, of course. The only thing that keeps me smiling in China are the fantastic translation faux pas. I can’t write fast enough to capture them all from my back seat viewpoint. When I am not giggling about the signs, I am gagging about my drivers. A country where a burp, fart and good hacked up loog are as natural as a yawn. A place where the length of a mole hair is as respected as the balance of ones bank account.

When not working, I take to the streets in search of food. Not to fill my tummy, but to fill my hunger for local flavor. Food stalls, food markets, street vendors and night markets. I get butterflies when I stumble across a random back alley food market where only the locals shop. As I oogle over their stands they shout out to me in their native tongue. For all I know they could be telling the farung (foreigner) to go away. Usually a smile, a head bow and a nod gets me accepted but not always. When Grandma reaches for the machete I go in search of the next stand. So, here we are. Enough of my ramble. Let the pictures do the talking.

Vietnam, Rickshaws

Vietnam, "Beach Umbrellas"

Beautiful Vietnam

Vietnam Vroom

Super Highway, Vietnam

Seafood Salad, Vietnam. Yum!

Goood Morning Vietnam!

Its breakfast time in Southern China and after a strong workout this morning, I am feeling hungry! However the image of a bowling cauldron of Chinese congee on the downstairs breakfast buffet has my stomach turning for other reasons. Just next to that groul will be a few limp pieces of bologna, some heavy German breads, runny & anemic scrambled eggs and a tray of mystery meat bacon and sausages.

Yep, I don’t see me storming that table any time soon. However, to satisfy the low growl coming up from my stomach, I find my thoughts drifting back to just yesterday in Vietnam where breakfast was a five course challenge to see if I could actually sample every one of the different fruits on the table! You think I’m kidding? No.

Many go to Vietnam for the fine silks, the beautiful lacquerware, the expert tailoring or to tour the beautiful cities that still reflect the French influence in the architecture and design. Me, I go for the fruit! Year round a new and different fruit is coming into season and filling the push carts of the sweet ladies who peddle their wares to drooling travelers like me.

Watermelon, Dragon Fruit, Star Fruit, Papaya, Mango, Durian, Oranges, Passion Fruit, Bananas, Pineapple, Pear, Apple, Jack Fruit, Kiwi, Palm Fruit, Coconut, rambutan  and those are just the ones I can identify. There are three times more that I have no name for, well, not one that has an authority to it. I have all kinds of Heather names for them. The yummy prickly one, the bitter but addictive one, the so juicy you need a bib one and well you get the idea.

The breakfast buffet yesterday had all kinds of other amazing Vietnamese specialities to sample from dim sum, to crepes and chocolate croissants (we can all thank the French for the pastries in Vietnam) to local honey dripping straight from the comb! There were 11 kinds of fresh squeezed juices, coffees, teas, champagne (yes, the French again), yoghurts and fruit fruit fruit.

I am feeling full already. I think I will just skip the buffet that is waiting for me downstairs and continue my day-dream of the fruity delights of Vietnam. I forgot to mention Lychee which just happens to be my favorite. That is the one in the picture just above with the dark plum skin. Its skin is really hard and takes some work to get into. But the effort produces four little tiny secret fruit sections inside that will have you questioning the most sensual experience you have ever had.

While we are not trying to think about the buffet downstairs I am now also imagining the other lovely breakfast treat waiting for me to partially gag as I walk by it – Oden. Its like boiled egg and fish cartilage in a jelly like broth. Chinese breakfast of champions.

Ok, erase that image from your mind. Let’s get back to the good stuff (not like pickled egg relish or 1000 yr old egg.)

I could stick around and write all day about how much I love the fruits of Vietnam and southeast Asia for that matter, but hey, there is a big bad China out there for me to conquer today and I have to do it on an empty stomach so I better save my strength.

Check in often, cause I am here all month! Tomorrow I have a big blog planned all about my favorite things that keep me laughing in China. OH OH and its my birthday so I am going to bend your ear about why in hell I am in this armpit on such a glorious day of the year!

Hip Halloween

Cool Cocktail

T-minus two days until Halloween and still no inspiration on a costume. I thought you were going to send me some ideas?

I pulled out my “costume bits and bobs box” and it contained the following – one Felicity Shagwell dress, white go-go boots, mardi gras beads, a pink pixie wig, a gold plastic $ necklace, vampire teeth and makeup, green pom poms, a plastic tiara, a rasta b/w hat, a hot pink boa and fake eyelashes. Wow. How have I ended up with one item from the last 20 Halloweens?

Still no inspiration on costumes, but great new inspiration on entertaining this Saturday. While I am all about my Venetian Ball ala Eyes Wide Shut but in Transylvania party, maybe it’s not for everyone. Ya think? So for all you way too cool hipsters I have an option.

A Hip Halloween. You know…that party you attend and wonder for months later how you are ever going to be that cool? Here are the secret ingredients that will make your invites the most coveted items in the mailbox.

#1 – The Bar – Truly cool people know…its all about the bar…

#2 – Interesting Body Parts – yes, I mean it. Anybody can throw a skeleton on the sofa or a ghost in the closet. If you want to create a whisper, display body parts in funky formaldehyde solutions. Organs & brains are always a winner. Why do you think Hannibal Lector is so revered?

#3 – Skulls. Well, yeah duh. But yours must be special. Damien Hurst special. No, don’t go buy a million dollar diamond encrusted skull! But do re-create the look and feel of the coolest skull in the last decade.

Cool

Top Right - Cooler

#4 – Did I mention skulls? Hey, it’s what the hip party planners do!

Skull Shaker

Service with a Smile

5. Yard Art. The coolest parties always greet you…before the door. There is only one chance for a 1st impression. Let them know they have arrived at THE coolest party happening on Oct. 31

Velcome!

Projected Fear

#6 – A sense of humor. Hey, just because you are throwing the coolest party in town and are THE event to get an invite from; don’t let it go to your skull. Being cool is being real and being real is cool. So, final ingredient for a hip Halloween – a dash of good laughs.

hee hee

No Flying Off!

Think of a costume for me yet?

A Haute Halloween

Save the Date Card!

It’s T-minus 6 days til Halloween and I still have not decided what I am going to dress up as. I saw 10 seconds of Grease yesterday and briefly considered Sandra D (ala, at the carnival) but…not so much. Thought about Frida Khalo, but I don’t have a Diego. Julia Child? Not when you are 5ft 2″ on a tall day. Marie Antoinette? Are you still awake? I guess there is always the ole standbys – french maid, cheerleader, belly dancer, fortune teller or a flight attendant. Rather lackluster at best I know. Got any ideas?

Why I may not have the costume down yet, I have the party all planned. This year I am planning a more sophisticated, sensual theme with an overabundance of all things indulgent, off limits, dark, deep and waahhaaa – vampy. The image that comes to mind is a Venetian style ball but held in a Transylvanian castle. Its “Eyes Wide Shut”, well, without the orgy. Are you in?

Invitation

Invites – Keeping with our dark but sophisticated theme I like these formal black boxes tied with a satin ribbon and housing a white chocolate skull. The details of the party should be on a card posted on the underside of the box lid. Simple directive – just the address and the “word” required for entry.

Decor – Lose orange altogether. That is for a different party and not one in Transylvania. Think blood red silk, black velvet, blackberry & fig tones, creamy whites and sparkling rhinestones. Candles everywhere of course, but make them bleed. If you drip a red burning taper candle over cream colored candles it will give them the appearance that they are bleeding as they burn. I can’t help myself, I have a dark side

Bloody Candle

Get your hands on some big silver platters, bowls and goblets. This is no party for plastic dixie cups. Now the good part – what to eat! Imagine those platters piled high with fresh figs, some sliced in half so you see the flesh; piles of blood oranges, again sliced in half to see that gorgeous color inside. A platter of raw cured meats; prosciutto, salami, capicola, soppressata, pepperoni – you get the idea. Meat! Roast a beef tenderloin and thinly slice this on a platter with horseradish (white) and a port wine sauce made from the drippings of the roast. Pour the port sauce all over the tenderloin so that it is oozing down the sides.

Table Inspiration

Another platter has heady runny white cheeses like brie and camembert that have been out since Friday. Warm and pour blackberry jam over the cheeses and then garnish with fresh blackberries. Flank the cheeses with dark dense bread slices like pumpernickel.

Third platter has tart shells that you have filled with olive tapenade and then layered with roasted red pepper slices that lay long and lazy over the tart. A big bowl of baba ghanoush is in the center of this platter and is garnished with fresh pomegranate seeds. The whole pomegranates are cut open and are garnishing the platter. Squeeze fresh juice from one over the baba. Serve with overscaled pita chips.

Great Color for the Table

Dessert – I am leaning towards red velvet cake right now. Cupcakes? Seem too juvenile for this scene. Cake? Boring. How about index finger shaped cakes? Or brain shaped? I could go with red velvet skulls. We shall see.

Red Velvet Brains?

Make sure your food table has lots of various heights. Use a few pots or tupperware dishes underneath your fabric drapings so that the platters all rest at different heights and try to make the table one that can be accessed from all sides so that it is the center of the room in terms of visual display. For flowers I am going with dark red and black roses. (Buy white roses, add black food coloring and you will black roses in a few days). I think I will throw in a few fern curls and other natural curiosities like some crows. I am going to browse some funky shops today in search for good props.

More to come this week as the party takes shape. Throw your ideas in here too! Now, off to ponder the costume again.

Gravestone Takeaway Bags!

Magic Carpet Ride

Ok, so yet again I am the delinquent blogger. Go ahead, put me in time out, give me demerits, ground me and take away all extracurricular activities. (Maybe not quite that harsh, eh?)

Life just seems to be on fast forward lately.  So, to avoid a novel long dissertation about ALL the things I have been up to, where and how, here are the cliff notes of my recent travels from coast to coast. Enjoy and let it be known that I do promise to include more recipes and detail whenever my magic carpet ride touches ground. Deal?

1. ATL – LA – Way back in that long ago month called August, I went to L.A. to visit the Bro and work on our Gypsy Faire Tents biz together. A few highlights of biz meets pleasure was a little stop for lunch in Santa Monica @ Bay Cities Deli. Wow. What a fantastic shop. This deli gives every NY deli a real run for its money. Great high energy spot with a line out the door & lots of hustle and bustle of the guys taking orders behind the counter who were dishing out more smack talk than sammies!

My lunch @ Bay Cities Deli

2. LA – VEGAS – After LA, I headed off to Vegas for a week for the furniture show @ World Market Center. The market took good care of me with a  suite at the Palazzo baby! Two memorable meals. Carnevino, by Mario Batali where we had a great version of clams casino served cleverly on newspaper. The octopus salad was divine and the caprese salad served with heirloom tomatoes & burrata cheese stole my heart for a good 10 minutes.

Carnevino Clams

Carnevino Octopus Salad

Okada, by Masa Ishizawa, was one of the nicest sushi dinners I have had. Spot on. The setting is perfect. A huge glass wall overlooks the Wynn waterfall. Its like having dinner in Land of the Lost. Dessert was mochi. Now, as a foodie, I know that I should be well versed in this odd ice cream. However, it was my first meeting with these bizarre balls. For those also unfamiliar mochi is an ice milk rather than cream and its wrapped in rice starch so it has an outer membrane. Sound awful? Kinda was for me. Flavors were green tea, vanilla, chocolate and red bean paste (azuki). I’ll stick with my gelato

Mochi

3. VEGAS – NYC – On October 8th, I had a cooking demonstration & book signing at Bilotta Kitchens in NYC. While that was certainly the highlight of my NY visit, I had a few other notable food moments & inspirations. My dear friend Elizabeth was in town with all her South African winemakers and I was lucky enough to get a dinner invite at Hearth with them. After an adventurous meal which included sweetbreads, snapper crudo & a gorgeous beet salad we popped into Terrior next door for a night cap.

Wine Dinner @ Hearth / Terrior

Other notable bites in the city – N @ 33 Crosby near Broome was a great new discovery. Spanish tapas, my favorite! Lavagna, in East Village is a cozy romantic Italian spot with a very yum monkfish and last but never least I ended my NYC visit with a brunch at Russ & Daughters in the lower east side.

4. NYC – High Point NC – After NY I was off to furniture market (yes another one) in High Point NC. Not exactly the culinary capital of the world, so lets talk great design instead. The tents looked AMAZING and we were lucky enough to be showing them with Bobo Intriguing Objects at their gorgeous building.

Gypsy Faire Tents

Russ & Daughters!

Harvest Tent

BoBo Intriguing Objects Showroom

5. HP – GA – So here I am! Spending the weekend at Mom’s B&B / farm in the north GA mountains. Its peak weekend for the fall leaves and the B&B is full. Guess who got roped into doing all the cooking for the guests this weekend? Yeah, so much for catching up on lost sleep. Off to whip up some fresh lemongrass & basil scones for this afternoons tea service!

Bilotta Blog

Fall Fete @ Bilotta

Last Thursday night, Oct. 8th, was my first fabulous cooking event at Bilotta Kitchens, in their NYC showroom. So many of you have been emailing and asking how the event went, so I thought I would share a few pics from the event as well as the menu.

If you attended and have more or better pics, please send these my way! It’s hard to take pics when you cookin’ it up for 60+ ravenous guests

My theme for the night was “Fall Fete” and the menu was inspired by all my favorite veggies in the farmer’s market stalls right now. It also drew inspiration from the seasons colors, textures and noteworthy elements like falling leaves, pumpkins, tweeds, tartans and tall boots!

Fall Fete Table Setting

Fall Fete Dinner for Two

I spent the morning before the event at the Union Square Farmers Market. If you live in NYC, I do hope you utilize this amazing resource. It made my day, as most farmers markets tend to. Warm apple cider fueled me along as I shopped for my very long list of fruits & veggies. I even managed to find a mushroom guru for my wild mushroom risotto and a fantastic herb farm for lots of fresh herbage.

Union Square NYC

Shiitake

So after weighing myself down with many heavy market bags, I headed back to the Bilotta Kitchens where I prepped all the ingredients for the next days demonstration. Carrots, Celery, Mushrooms & Onions. I chopped 10 cups of raw red organic onions. This produced at least one years worth of tears and hands that still smell of onion (not kidding). Anyone have a good remedy for this?

Feeling pretty tired and ready for a long October’s sleep, I headed back to my little, let me say again, little, pieda terre. Just as I was beginning to flirt with my pillow, my MOM calls to say she is in a cab and WOW! has surprised me with a visit to come to the event. One cold shower later and we were off to dinner in the LES at a fantastic Italian Restaurant called Lavagna. Thanks MOM, you rock!

Woke early and off to the kitchens (well off to coffee on Broome St. first, to be honest)! Final preps and a few funny last minute panics, but of course. The oversight of having a blender to puree my butternut squash soup, sent Mom on a 20 block adventure to get a handheld blender for under $20. Sweet Success. A problematic Mac file and a more problematic Heather as a Mac & Kinkos user could have also cost us the game…but we pulled out a 4th qtr. hail mary.

The evening was perfect! Right Jill? Great crowd, great food, great wine and great hosts. The Bilottas are beyond lovely and I am so honored to be working with them. True story. Nobody choked on a quail bone. Nobody broke out in allergic hives and nobody complained to the chef. Ahhhh.. Thanks for all my friends and fam who showed up! xoxo Nic & Leah.

Ready Set Go

Butternut Squash Baked Apple Soup

We missed you! But, its not the last. Mark your calenders, November 5th! The entire A&D Building hosts a Big Ole event sponsored by the NY Times. All showrooms are open and all the kitchen ones are cooking. Only the Bilotta Kitchen will be “haute”!

Menu:

Pumpkin Pancetta Tarts (Goat Cheese, Caramelized Red Onion, Pumpkin puree, spices all in a phyllo tart shell)

Butternut Squash, Baked Apple Soup (seasoned with nutmeg & allspice, a dash of curry and a splash of port)

Wild Mushroom Risotto (why is the rice purple they all asked?)

Roasted Quail Legs with Fig, Balsamic Port Reduction

Hazelnut shortbread Bites with a Nutella Dark Chocolate Spread.

Recipes upon Request. Some are in the book!

A Harvest of Ideas

My mind is on overload with design and food ideas on these gorgeous autumn days! Guess that explains the insomnia as well

I have been traveling like cray and, while not a very good one, I will use this as my excuse for the lack of any posts lately. But I am back! So to catch you up on my whirlwind travels and some of my new favorite things, new inspired ideas and just some fun stuff…here is my September’s Top 10 List!

Heather’s Top 10 Favorites of September (in no particular order) -

1. Clean Modern Minimal Spaces that give a nod to Nature & have restraint in design.

Fjall Ski Lodge, Falls Creek

Dolder Grand Hotel - Zurich

2. The Denver Broncos!

It has been 10 years since we won a Super Bowl. I think we may be due. Can you say 4-0 baby? Not preening just yet, but am wearing a smile this week.

4 -0

3. Quail Anything

I love quail. There it is. My true confession is out. Grilled, Smoked, Baked or Fried this tiny feathered friend pleases every time. Not the easiest to find either under bush or in butchers markets, I have done some sleuthing, on your behalf of course, and give you www.vermontquail.com. I will be cooking with their product this coming Thursday at my Bilotta event here in NYC. So either come by and try them for free or check them out online. The website sells quail eggs too which just send me into a design tizzy. Love the color spectrum in these little orbs.

4. Felt

Its back and I am loving it. Once reserved for the hippy bohemian crowd, felt has reinvented itself into a contemporary material that is being interpreted by various product designers in a very 2010 way.

Felt Rugs by Peace Industry, Iran

Felt "Stones" - Great for Floor Seating

5. Gypsy Faire Tents

Not just for some shameless promotion – but also because it is The Perfect time of year to have a stunning luxury outdoor tent to cover all your Harvest entertaining events. www.gypsyfairetents.com.  Is your grass greener?

Kensington 20' in Marrakech Fabric

6. Il Boschetto al Tartufo (Truffle Cheese)

A mild semi artisanal soft cheese made of sheep or cows milk and loaded with little bits of tartufo (white truffle). In season during truffle season (now) it is not just a seasonal delight it is purely addictive! The perfect choice for a Harvest Dinner Party cheese course/plate.

Il Boschetto al Tartufo

7. Place Cards by Timeless Paper (www.etsy.com)

Love these. Just like that.

Autumn Leaves

Gives me Butterflies

8. A Dinner Party Menu to go along with your new fabulous place cards, of course -

Roasted Eggplant & Sweet Sausage Bruschetta

Rosemary Pork Chops with

Double Stuffed Yams filled with Currants & Walnut

Grilled Fennel & Asparagus with a Thyme Ginger Glaze

Maple Bacon Cornbread (when are we all going to get over bacon everything? I’ll stop if you stop.)

Caramel Apple Crostata with Fresh Whipped Nutmeg Creme.

Just tell me when and where and I’ll be there. Ask me for the decor theme ideas on this one and I’ll post that as well.

9. Giuseppe Arcimbaldo – Well the picture speaks a thousand September words. He is my September poster child. A rather bizarre and twisted poster child, but interesting all the same, no? Check out his other “seasons” and works. This is a guy I would like to have at my “wish list” dinner party.

Guiseppe Archimboldo

10. NYC

Nothing says September (October & November) like a trip to NYC! If you hit it right, the air is crisp enough to have to bundle up in a wrap, to have to wear tall boots, to have to duck into cozy wine bars to warm up and to have the perfect excuse for a long walk in Central Park. With that said and looking out my window right now…this list is done and I am out of here.

xo

H