Category Archives: entertaining
valentine lover’s cocktail
Recipe:
Raspberry Caipiroska
1.5 oz Hangar One Vodka
2 lime quarters
5 fresh raspberries
1 tsp organic sugar
In a mixing glass, crush lime and raspberries with a muddler. Add vodka, sugar, and ice. Shake well, enough so that the sugar dissolves.
Pour all contents into a rocks glass. Garnish with 2 more fresh raspberries, and a pansy.
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the merry, merry world of vintage home
Vintage Home is a store I could write about all-year long, but it is my favorite store in America come December 1st, when it is transformed into an Austrian wonderland, giving the fabled Christmas market of Vienna a RUN for its’ money. Laura Rombauer is the proprietress of Vintage Home and has curated the most enchanting old- world Christmas emporium, loaded to the gills with brilliant, thoughtful, and elegant gifts + tree ornaments that haunt a woman like a pair of Louboutins… but what makes me the most nuts is— the extraordinary inventory of wooden crafts she carries… all those Christmas pyramids of all sizes, nutcrackers, candelabras, and smokers.
Every year my husband + I collect a new wooden heirloom, after having wildly anticipated this new purchase for months leading to December 1… On that day, we arrive to inspect all the wooden loot– mercilessly analyzing which new prospect would fit-in best with our house/ family/ other wooden friends…. And then bring it home as if it were a Picasso. From there, we assemble our entire collection on a table in our front foyer; and then we all congregate around the table to light all the colored candles + marvel at the magic illuminating the room, and on to the small faces and hands of our children.
This spectacular extravaganza is what indelible memories, ceremonies + rituals are all about– and some day these wooden friends, who have brought my family such joy, will be my children’s heirlooms.
{photo credit: nicole mcintosh bruce}
Posted in entertaining, kids, my beat
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dinner at my mother’s house
The holidays always remind me of my mother… She would spend the entire year making the rounds at her favorite little thrift shops/ flea markets collecting trinkets, treasures, objects— that she would use to adorn her holiday dinner tables between Thanksgiving + Christmas. Her festive tables were covered by the touch of loving hands and an eye that always told a story.
Creating magical dinner tables is my mother’s greatest personal pleasure– her own love language. In our house growing up, every kind of occasion promised a table that told the story of the celebration/ a person/ love/ hope. The tablescapes became the gift to the guest/s– and for her– equally as important as the food + wine. And honestly, no 2 nights ever looked the same.
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wines with purpose
For each indelible moment in life I remember specific things: those gathered together; what I wore; the weather outside; the favorite foods we shared; the glasses raised. Neither memory has more weight than the other, but since I write about the culture of wine– I’d like to stay on topic. In these particular instances, wine serves as a gesture of appreciation, honor, love, hand-chosen to convey the importance of the occasion.
For example, I remember…
The wine we drank the night we got engaged in New York City.
The wine we snuck into the hospital to toast the birth of both of our children.
The wine we drank on our 5th anniversary sitting by the balcony in Paris.
The wine we drank at Thanksgiving this year.
At each moment described above, the wines themselves became the exclamation point of the occasion– woven into the memory of the moment.
Posted in entertaining, my beat
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more xmas suggestions!
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