i enjoyed alcove and will probably return to try something less spartan, but i won't sit inside again. the tables are for dolls, you have to wait in a line to order your grub, and water is self-serve and comes in plastic cups.
the ambiance is charming though!
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The Nickel Diner. Because you'll want to go.
The 5th & Main is what I'd recommend. I'm the first to admit this tastes a bazillion times better than this photo would lead you to believe.
Maybe a gazillion.
You can hit the mean streets afterwards and go on an urban expedition.
This is almost across the street from TND. Along with about PLENTY of other camera worthy sites.
I told you.
Don't take your crappity crap camera like I did.
And one of these will surely be whirring overhead. Covering the latest high-speed freeway car chase.
Don't be cute and try to apprehend the suspects yourself. Just don't.
Okay?
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this morning i went to the licuado shop on york here in highland park.
i've been wanting to try this little shop for awhile. i decided to try something i knew how to translate. which was numero 4.
the lady behind the counter whipped my strawberries, bananas, and walnuts into a light milky froth. also she gave me a large, even though i ordered the medium. this happens to me a lot. but it is not something i complain about.
next time i'm going to have the escamocha. either that or the chamango.
i also took home some arroz con leche for safekeeping.
not for me! in case a guest dropped by later.
sister, when you come out we're going here! we can sit outside at the orange table with the plastic ivy plant. you can knit. i'll play words with friends on my ipad.
whadda ya say?
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i only thought i'd made stew before. i hadn't actually.
fortunately last week my dutch oven cookbook arrived. i read about it over on POSIE GETS COZY.
i've been getting cozy with posie for a long time so when i saw the book recommendation i assumed she left it just for me. i mean i know she has other readers, but i doubt they all have brand spanking new orange dutch ovens. like me. i just bet they don't.
i was very pleased with the weird foil tip the recipe mentions. any chance i get to do something strange whether in cooking or other life areas i seize the opportunity.
so i got my foil and i started seizing.
i did.
this is what happened.
i'm aware that a big pot of brown stew may look less than appetizing, but...
it was very extremely intensely wonderously delicious.
it was all that.
just in case you were wondering.
and if you come visit me on facebook i'll give you the entire recipe. instead of half.
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i found this bottle of st. germain in santa barbara.
a friend's garden. no relation between the two except the colors are so nice together.
elderflower liqueur + club soda + a tall glass of ice + a lemon wedge.
when i read about it recently i knew i would like it. thirst quenching & very light. {plus i love the story of how it's made.}
imagine a drink the perfect flavor of summer garden. this is it.
more st. germain recipes HERE.
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If you were following THIS recipe and it said you needed a rack to drain the chicken on after brining in buttermilk and sea salt wouldn't you use your dish drainer? I mean if you didn't have a regular rack. A rack rack. My SISTER seemed to think it was hilarious and strange. I, on the other hand, thought it was a perfectly logical choice. I guess I could have used the wire mesh paper tray on my desk. Hmmmm...next time.
A summer without fried chicken is like a heart with no love inside. A house with all the lights off. A bottle of lonely peanut oil without a hot pan. I won't belabor the point. You're smart. You get it.
Buck demonstrated his growing repertoire of yoga poses while I fried the chicken. I showed my appreciation by not getting any flour on him.
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cinnamon coffee + breakfast + uncrowded restaurant + journal
leaning into simple summer pleasures.
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Stuffed, fried, squash blossoms. Slap-your-mama good. Cacao Mexicatessan. If you live in the vicinity...JUST. GO.
~
I'm swimming in a sea of rose petals. I'm going to be sad when this wild flush of blooming is over.
Eden is COVERED with roses. They aren't fragrant, but they are pure pink buttercream deliciousness. I think Willy Wonka would be proud.
Fragrant Yves Piaget opens up to reveal frilly scalloped petals.
I'm a rose dunce. Luck is the only reason I have this many this year. I'm going to attempt to fertilize regularly and see if that will keep me in roses this summer. I won't hold my breath, but I will enjoy these while they last!
I've been held captive for the last week while a ferocius art storm has been raging inside my mind. Whirling dervishes have been spinning inside my art room. In other words someone has been making one big mess after another and it isn't the cat posse. I work really well when I'm given a deadline so I'm going to say that within a week's time all of the prototypes will be completed and you will be flooded with one big MOTHER of a post about the June class. Including the name so I can stop calling it "The June Class." However, I'm not ruling that out as a name.
In the meantime go amuse yourself over at my SISTER'S blog. She's been making pies and drinking again. Who knows what you'll find there.
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Yes, that's a Miracle Whip lid on the lemon marmalade. The last guest to visit Moss Cottage must have gone through my cabinets and hid the lids to my jars. I don't know why people can't behave when they come to visit! The label came from a cute little paper store in Rome.
I cobbled together several sets of marmlade instructions to come up with this. It is enough for exactly one jar. Perfect.
3 meyer lemons 3 cups water, 1.5 cups sugar
Quarter lemons, cut off stems, squeeze juice into glass bowl, slice super thin strips (pith, peel, everything!). Add water, should cover all the lemon slices. Cover and soak for 24 hours at room temperature. Leave the seeds in the mix. You could tie them in cheesecloth, I didn't have any so I didn't. They have pectin which helps with thickening later. I plucked mine out before cooking.
Pour into pot and simmer for 20 minutes, add sugar, stir. Low boil for 25 more minutes, mas o menos. Stir often. Pour into jar. Cool. Refrigerate. Eat. Easy.
Your mileage may vary. I'm not known for precision when it comes to cooking. or anything else.
This is what the moon was doing while the lemons were having their water bath!
p.s. the flavor... exquisitely lemony tart sweet taste of sunshine deliciousness. 100%
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Summer afternoons. I sit outside and send big thoughts up into the wide blue canopy of sky. Binoculars and journal by my side.
Buck & Wyatt rock the cat nip pot back and forth. Rub, munch, push.
The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper
I regret that I did not stop take the time to stop shoveling this sublime stack of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella into my face long enough to take a proper photo. Hello.
Go. Eat. Now.
A most satisfying summer supper. Let me just wipe the last of the olive oil from my muzzle and tell you about my latest Turkish flick.
photo from NPR
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As you know it is my duty to try and come up with a holiday appropriate martini for each and every family gathering. This year I further challenged myself by only using items that I had on hand. Here is what I came up with. I call it "The Stars and Stripes". You will see stars if you drink too many.
Here is the recipe:
Shake the lemonade, water, and vodka together in a martini shaker and strain into a glass. Carefully pour the blue Curacao down the side and it will settle on the bottom. Garnish with a red twizzler or fresh strawberries if desired. Enjoy.
xo
-Your older, clever, but not more beautiful, sister
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Let's take a little trip shall we? To the land of butterscotch pudding. The homemade kind. The only ingredients not pictured are the vanilla extract, salt, and cornstarch. Picture them in your mind.
I pretty much sort of almost not quite followed THIS recipe. Yes. It's totally true that evaporated milk does not appear in that recipe. Which is why I added it. For a grand total of 4 and a half cups of milk. I could have substituted some of the evaporated kind for the whole milk. Only. I didn't.
I didn't know butterscotch pudding had actual butter in it. It does. It's good. You stir it in at the end with the vanilla. The whole effect is intoxicating. Swoon worthy. The aroma is bliss. Mine probably has a milder flavor with the extra milk. If you want a richer butterscotch-exploding-in-your-mouth flavor use less milk. I'm also thinking coarse sea salt sprinkled on top = heaven on earth. Next time.
I always wanted to press plastic wrap onto the top of cooling pudding. That might have been my favorite part of all.
I lie.
***********************
Some of my talented ROD students are selling their extra journals on ETSY. Go see!
Susie's aren't listed yet, but she's working on it. AND... Susie is having a giveaway HERE on her blog for one of her beautiful journals.
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This week my sister and I shared this butterscotch budino with maidon sea salt and rosemary pine nut cookies on the side. Sublime. That was after the Coach farm goat cheese, leek, scallion, garlic, and bacon pizza. And glasses of Pinot right in the middle of the afternoon. The early afternoon. Pizza Mozzeria. You come to LA? You get your hiney over to Pizza Mozzeria. STAT.
We visited my friend Joe. He's starting a blog. I can't wait! I've visited his house before. You might remember.
While Carol distracted Joe, I snuck this chandelier out to my car. I have no qualms about stealing things from friends when they aren't looking. None whatsoever.
In between eating and stealing we went to see the succulents at the Huntington Library & Gardens. They were putting on a triple X porn show. Voluptuous blossoms.
Dear Aloe Marlothii, you bloom, I die. Simple as that.
I didn't catch the name of this plump blue girl, but I thought hard about it. All of that thinking made me hungry.
Yamashiro. Who loves ya baby? The Moss sisters, that's who!
HERE are the rest of our dining experiences.
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In a stunning reversal of tradition, the breakfast club went out for dinner & cocktails! On a weeknight. GASP! To this splendid corner table. Which overlooked the whole glittering metropolis spread out below us.
Happy Birthday Lewis. I enjoyed every bite, every sip, every word.
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jiffy corn muffin mix + blackberries + peaches + egg + splash of milk =
This in 20 minutes!
I'll have a side of berries with my blackberry muffins please.
And a big stack of envelopes and assorted ephemera which arrived the other day from France by way of London. Everything you see here plus an old blue silk frock of mine are going to be sewn together into a travel journal. The details are very unclear.
I'm thinking security envelope pages. Some vintage red pom-pom trim I just inherited. Maybe a few plastic marquee numbers.
Sounds like a catastrophe in the making. Whatever! While I'm sewing, the reception is bound to come in clearer. Naturally, I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for all those weather reports. My meterological bliss grows larger by the second. Here in Los Angeles we've got mostly cloudy skies. Lows in the upper 50s to mid 60s tonight with Southwest winds around 15 mph in the evening. I woke up to soft drizzle. Love these odd climate quirks we're having lately.
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Here is a study in red. Please note creation of new healthy drink chock full of antioxidants in right upper quadrant. It is the Tanasi Lodge Cosmo - cranberry/pomegranate juice, gray goose l'orange vodka, and triple sec. Drink one a day for maximum health benefits.
Tanasi Lodge Cosmo:
2 shots gray goose l'orange vodka
1 shot triple sec
2 shots cranberry/pomegranate juice - new from ocean spray
(use 3 shots juice if you like your drinks on the weak side)
shake it up with ice and strain into a nice martini glass
~
I've been sick all weekend with a cold. Sniff, sniff. Fortunately my unsuspecting sister sent this email a few minutes ago and ZAM ZIP ZOOM! Instant post material. I love to commandeer her emails and use them at will. That's just how I roll.
Need a really fine garden blog to thrill and delight you? Go check out THE GERMINATRIX. Gorgeous photos & great writing. A deadly combination. Her garden was featured in Cottage Living some years ago. Fortunately it's very close, so I can drive by and gawk at her front yard garden whenever I want. So fabulous!
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The skies over Los Angeles remain a snowy grey. It won't snow here of course, but I like seeing it frosting the wall of mountains to my north. It's good to know that if I chose, I could drive for an hour and hole up in a snowy cabin. The fact that I've never done it is irrelevant. My intersection between reality and dream life can be as wide as I want it to be.
While I ponder the logistics of landing the sleigh and reindeer in a snowy clearing next to my Currier & Ives cabin I may as well cook something.
How's about some roasted fennel? (insert collective cat posse eye roll)
A drizzle of olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar, salt&pepper then into the oven for an hour or so. There's a recipe HERE
A lemon begonia sits on the kitchen ledge to remind me that the sun could return at any moment to interrupt my cool domestic bliss. It's the only yellow I want to see for the rest of winter. Sun be damned! Rain, rain, and rain some more!
More visual journal pages. My assorted bird specimens continue to get a workout.
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This Christmas Eve a balmy wind has come to call. Today in the land of eternal sunshine the snow dreams were put on hold, the windows unlatched and opened wide. This is the first night in weeks and weeks that the heat hasn't been needed. But the air, warm or cold, isn't going to keep Santa at bay! No siree Bob! The cat posse is scanning the sky, eyes peeled for the magical team of reindeer pulling their special Christmas passenger. And down here on earth they are all set to chime the alarm. 3 meows in perfect unison will ring out across the house alerting me to hightail it outside with the camera. This is going to be the year. I can feel it.
Meanwhile the getaway car is packed and ready to head north. There's a real live Christmas Village to explore. A friend to meet. Pirate ships far out at sea to focus in on with my binoculars. Beaches to roam. And many many dogs wearing sweaters. Yes friends, I'm on my way to Carmel! And with any luck at all a great storm will blow in making it necessary to unfurl my raincoat and don my Astoria oilcloth hat.
The Merry Christmas collage above is on an 8x8 canvas. I sent that to my sister for her Christmas card. I had a grand time at the spraypaint station yesterday and today whipping up a small batch of mailart for a few special people. Those will be mailed from the road. 76 degrees is perfect spraying weather.
The bird theme continues. Today I used the giant bird mask over the blue-flowered vintage wallpaper.
Another unfinished page from the visual journal to be finished in Carmel. I never prep pages in advance so this is new for me. I'm strictly a one page at a time, one journal at a time person. The entire chaotic brain scan gets poured onto the page all at once. That's just the way I roll. But not this time.
In about three and a half minutes I'm going to be whipping up one of these babies in the kitchen. My sister will of course object to the way I've altered her recipe, but I can't help it. It's better this way. A perfect after dinner martini on a light-twinkling, magic-making Christmas Eve. Put on your party pants muchachos, the Key Lime Pie martini just pulled into town!
Okay and one last teeny tiny thing: THANK YOU. For continuing to stop by, and read, and comment, and share your thoughts, and ideas, books, music, art. All of it. Every last bit. xo
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It's a cold winter's evening in Los Angeles. Rain is pouring down all around Moss Cottage. I'm a little giddy what with the rain and the Snowdrift Martini I'm sipping. See that great big birdie up there in my journal? I found him HERE at Martha Stewart. Painted fabric silhouettes - it's a cool little project you might have some fun with.
I drove to work in the rain.
And when I drove home it was still raining. It's good to see the garden getting drenched with WET.
It's such a delicious feeling to hunker down up here in winter wonderland. The cat posse has folded themselves up into very tight round fur packages. They are scattered here and there. One of them just took a lick of my Snowdrift martini before I could bat him away. I could have sworn he winked at me.
Mostly I sit and stare at the lights and decorations. Later I'll lace up my snow boots and pretend I'm getting ready to hop on the snowmobile and get to the maple sugaring.
I found THIS tutorial for 5 Point Stars last year. I made them out of scrapbook paper. They're hanging everywhere.
If you start making them just know that you will be powerless to stop. They store easily with the other decorations by folding them up and securing with a paperclip. Tomorrow I'm making them with the kiddos. They always ask before we begin a project: "Is this gonna be hard?" I always say, "For most 2nd graders yes, for you, NO." The stars really are fairly easy.
THIS Modular Mathematic Dodekaeder looks less so.
Today we made THESE. I think they are BEAUTIFUL.
More gorgeous photos that Suzanne took in Italy. Most of these are from the Valentino show at the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome. The glass eyeballs are from the doll hospital. The big strapping fellow on the top left is delivering my present from Santa.
Try this now. You won't be sorry. Have 2 then try making the Modular Mathematic Dodekaeder. That's what I'm getting ready to do.
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My inner cupboards doth overflow lately with digital postcards. The one above featuring a bevy of Venetian menfolk is this year's letter to Santa. What? You think only 2nd graders write those letters? Suzanne captured that image during her 3 month stint in Italy. More of her outstanding photos are featured in today's (and tomorrow's) mosaic below. Suzanne and I are meeting up in Carmel in late December and driving back down the coast to Los Angeles together where she'll spend a few days in my neck of the woods. My sister and I are going to visit HER in Chicago in 2008.
This is the view from her Chicago condo taken at sunrise. Pretty spectacular I think.
I was thinking of my favorite Hem song when I made this digital postcard. Carol sent me this snowy photo last week. It was taken along her route to work.
More scenes from my growing visual journal.
It's a good friend that will scour the Athens flea markets and office supply stores for stamps. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts? Peshaw!
Some of Suzanne's photos were taken in Ospedale de Bambole, (doll hospital) in Naples. Hmmmm... I wonder if it's too late to change my profession to nurse?
This pie RECIPE has won blue ribbons and awards and accolades and everything else. I made it yesterday. Wanna know how good it is? Picture my head flung skyward and a limp hand upturned and resting on my brow, eyes crossed, crumbs on apron, one or two tears falling down cheeks. THAT'S how good it is. You'll want to make it. I'm just saying.
We Moss girls like to bake. This just in: Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes from Carol's kitchen.
I DIG teeny tiny houses like mine. This one of artist Denyse Schmidt was featured on DESIGN SPONGE recently. Go HERE to see more photos.
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Thanks to the genius inspiration of THIS Georgia blogger I now have found a new digital pastime: Fake through the viewfinder pics. AND... I discovered just this very day the magic and mystery of Photoshop Actions. Check 'em out HERE . Flickr also has a TTV group. Plenty to look at over THERE . Maybe when you're sufficiently inspired, you too, will dash outside in the fading light to snap a picture of your neighbor's laundry hanging out to dry.
If Pancake Boy didn't need me to help him with his regrouping and if the rest of the little punks didn't need to stencil and print with the New & Improved JUMBO square doilies I just got. Well then, I'd call in sick and spend every last cotton-picking minute of my day blissfully turning the pages of this Stack-O-Journals. These belong to my friend, RANDI One jolt of visual excitement after another.
But tomorrow is Friday so I'll content myself with thoughts of my 48 hour vacation that begins tomorrow at exactly 2:25 pm. Plenty of time for making more fake TTV photos, working on the little canvases, going to town in the visual journal, burying myself in my new book, getting out the Christmas decorations, and making more crispy-edged roasted brussel sprouts. (Stop frowning already. These ARE NOT your mother's brussel sprouts.) 48 hours can last forever if you have a strong enough imagination.
Blue things are growing in the garden. Oh. Let's run outside and take a picture of it before the sun goes down and sprint back inside and make another TTV photo. Why not?
I heard MOLLIE Katzen talking up her new book on the radio the other morning. I've made these roasted brussel sprouts twice since then. I'm pretty sure you're gonna want some. STAT.
More security envelopes snuck into the journal.
Quick! Go look at THESE heartbreakingly beautiful winter photos.
Then go see what HULA 70 does for kicks on Friday afternoons. I want to get a note that says, "Your hair looks good today." Or maybe "You look great in those pants!" Don't you?
I adore APRIL'S art and photographs. I JUST discovered she had a blog too. Oyvey. Her archives are well-worth a good archeological dig. Really.
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Dottie is winging her way back to the great plains of Kansas as I write this. She left late this morning. There's just one Moss sister left in LA tonight and she is enjoying a Lemon Cream Martini all by her lonesome. Oh Muchachos! You'll want to make this very very much. It would make a good dessert martini. Since I always eat dessert before dinner it works perfect for me.
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. lemonade concentrate thawed
splash of limoncello
1 oz. vanilla syrup
4 oz. milk (you could use half & half, but 2% really is creamy enough)
I invented this one myself. Once you have your ingredients stockpiled it's fun to experiment.
I've enjoyed my last day of vacation very much snuggled away up here in the tiny cottage on the hill. I like easing back into school with a 3-day weekend coming up.
I decided to carve an OBEY stencil of my very own. That Shepard Fairey is such an interesting fellow. My good buddy RANDI who is my pipeline to all things cool sent me THESE very informative and interesting videos on S.F. Then there is THIS old Salon.com article that I enjoyed very much. If you're a hopelessly clueless sort like me you might enjoy listening to and reading about the Obey Giant campaign. For years and years my curiosity about Andre the Giant has been simmering as I kept seeing his image throughout the city. I love getting to the bottom of things.
Okay one more...Go HERE to see S.F. talking about his artistic process in his garage studio here in LA.
Further exploration with Photoshop brushes. Between the S.F. correspondence course and the Photoshop mania I really don't have time to return to school tomorrow.
AMY sent me this fragrant box of earth and water from a secret location somewhere near the Columbia River. My very own box of the Pacific Northwest. Pure bliss.
Gator Pride shows her lovely face in the garden.
Someone's running out of t-shirts.
A chipboard book covered with scrapbook paper. And getting covered with more photos and scrap and paint. It's currently living on my oversized t.v. tray.
A person's gotta have an art project to work on during Dexter, Survivor, International Househunter, and Ugly Betty don't they?
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