Random TidBits

It's Friday which  means One King's Lane's designer tag sale is TOMORROW!.  Every Saturday, they have a different tastemaker selling wares. Think of it as shopping at the best tag sale ever while in your pjs.  onekingslane.com.

Preorder your copy of Apartment Therapy's first book on small places on Amazon.  They are in invaluable source to us space challenged folks.  Book drops May 7.

You'd have to live under a rock to not know that Saturday is Derby Day so thought I'd offer up my favorite Mint Julep recipe from the Lee Brother's first cookbook (and James Beard Cookbook of the year).

It's ingenious because making those suckers takes a bit and who wants to get stuck playing the role of bartender when you can be mingling and placing bets?  The Lee Brothers solve the problem with their recipe for  a  Pitcher of those yummy concoctions.  Their secret to serve a clamoring crowd?  Mint simple syrup to use in the following recipe. Here goes:
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup tightly packed fresh mint leaves
Combine the ingredients in saucepan over low flame, stirring with a wooden spoon.  Press the mint leaves against the sugar on the bottom of the pan until the sugar as dissolved (about 2 min). Then turn off flame and let steep for 1/2 hr.


Now, on to make those drinks....

Pitcher of Mint Juleps (makes 1 Quart or 18 drinks):
1/2 cup Mint Simple Syrup
4 cups of Bourbon
18 springs of fresh mint
9 cups crushed or cracked ice
cold water or seltzer (optional)

1. In a two-quart pitcher, combine the Mint Simple Syrup and bourbon and stir with a long-handled spoon until thoroughly mixed. Add the stems of mint.

2. For each julep, put 1/2 cup of ice in an 8 oz julep cup and pour 2 ounces of the drink over it.  Garnish with spring of mint and if desired, add a splash of cold water or seltzer.

Here's to you, Uncle Fred!

Live Large,
Frances

Raising the bar

The lovely boys at The New Traditionist/Duc Duc  (thenewtraditionalist.com) invited me to style a bar for a party they were hosting to honor the Editor in Chief of Cocktail magazine.  Heather from Habitually Chic, styled another bar and wrote up the event, habituallychic.blogspot.com/2010/04/cocktails-with-new-traditionalists.html.  Check out her blog shout out (thanks, Heather) and thanks, David & the gang at TNT.  Be forewarned. Their furniture is so cool that drooling is a side effect from web browsing.   Everything is custom and they have a lovely showroom in Soho to visit to experience the magic first hand.

Shots of The (Brand New) New Traditionists at the Architectural Digest Show.

Amazing finishes. 

Well proportioned pieces. 

My Fav -lots of look in a chair

Life Large, 

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My new design obsession

Today I learned about the absolute coolest design site.  It's called mydeco.com and it's a British website created and run by the best techies to help us design better.  Check it out !   There was so much to this multi-layered tool but my 3 favorite things are:

1. Best search for stuff
Better than google, you can search for "white sofa" or "white Moroccan leather pouff" and they'll find the best of what's in the market place.  If you like the one from a certain vendor, double click and it'll take you to their site to purchase.   Finding the perfect sofa has never  been easier.   Bonus:  you can also search by size so if you have an odd shape or only want consoles 42" long, they'll find it.  Genius!

2.  Insight into tastemakers
The site has a bevy of heavy hitters  (Sir Terence Conran, Phillip Stark) in the design world with profiles  so you can see their work, check out what things are on their wish list and stay on top of trends.  One of my favorite writers, Mayer Rus, whose sharp wit made the pages of  House & Garden days, is  currently a Guest Blogger with a laugh out loud writing on what his apartment says about him.  If you don't utilize  any of the fancy shmancy design tools, just reading the blogs makes it a go-to site.

3.  Create your own 3D room (My FAVORITE tool)
You can literally create your rooms online using their ingenious  tech tools that are like Interior Design programs CAD and InDesign.  So you can create rooms with different furniture pieces or layouts, wallpapers, accessories and they create it 3D.  It takes the whole fear factor out of the design process.  Voila!

You can also create a mood board for projects and decorating a photo (say of an existing room) to add to your tool box.   Cool, huh???

Best part of all. IT'S FREE!!!!!

This is like hitting the design motherload.

Live Large,


Frances

Five things I learned from a 20 year old this past week.

I've skirted blogging this past week as I've been hunkered down, styling an advertising job for a client.  It was brutal work but fun.  The client rented this house in Westchester. It's on the market for a mere $14 million (marked down from $16 mill).  Not a bad place to spend 18 hours working...

The best part of the job was working with two really talented assistants:  Bethany Obrecht and Alyssa Kirsten.  Working with spunky twenty year olds (ok, they are more like 25 but still...) always keeps me on my toes.  Working with new assistants is like wearing new shoes.  After a few hours, it can go either way.  These girls came recommended from a gal who I had worked with at  Country Living and who had assisted me there so I trusted her.  Now for full disclusure, I am 38.  How cares about age, you might ask?  Spending a day with a 20 year old is like spending a day in a foreigh country. My experience hasn't bode well for this age group.  I'd noticed that I'd started glossing over the 20somethings over the last year or two.  The summer editiorial interns were increasingly hitting my hot buttons.  Between their lack of motivation to do a good job or their lack of respect for what we were doing, I had lost faith in the Millennium generation.  I knew of HR groups that were hosting 101 sessions for managers on how to engage and retain these workers since they were so quick to exit if they had to do one too many copies at the copier. I was not impressed.  

But I lucked out.  The gals  I hired are going places.  Bethany is co-owner of, www.foundmydog.com which makes chic dog leashes and donates 25% of the profits to animal rescue.  Her leashes have already been in Martha Stewart Living and sold at some of the coolest shops in the USA.  She's also a photographer, does some modeling and rents out her adorable garden apartment in Brooklyn as a Bed & Breakfast. And in her spare time she is a dog foster mother.   I am not convinced that she sleeps.  

Alyssa is also a talented photographer whose work can be found at her site, Alyssakirsten.com.  She specializes in portraits and just shot her first story for Fortune Magazine (Go Allysa!).  She also has a keen eye for prop styling and is somewhat of a frugal gourmand whose  recipe for doctored up roman noodles made my mouth water.  

Here are 5 things that I learned from them this past week: 

1.  Just Go For It.

When propping, Bethany approached a store owner about her leashes.  She's  fearless in asking and why not?  Both girls have a lot going on and obviously while not everything will pan out, they don't let the climb up the mountain stop them.  Both girls were yes women. They were saying yes to all work opportunities and pushing themselves.  Rejection just wasn't a factor.  Each of them seem to be jumping over a lot of puddles on the ground.  You know when you are a kid and you jump over one that you don't think you can make but you do? That is what they are doing.  Sure they might miss a few but they continue to jump. 

2.  Enjoy the process

Everything seems to mean more when you get older. The jobs, dating, life in general seems to hold more pressure and stress.  A 20 year just sees it for what it is, an opportunity. Didn't get the job?  So be it.  Date didn't call back. There will be others.  Band broke up? Ok, you get the picture....They would work to find fun in the job.  And it made it more enjoyable for me that they did. 

3.  Build up your lunch room community.

Still in that school cafeteria mode before life schedules them down, they seem to always be working to get together with friends and friends of friends and friends of friends of friends. Granted, they don't have to worry about husbands, babysitters and job demands  etc. in their planning so much but they keep up the active social life of a recent post grad and it works to their work advantage.  It made me wonder when is the last time I added someone to my speed dial.  

4.  Make technology work for me. 

Rather than focusing on how difficult, expensive, stupid I think it is (and sometimes I really do), I focus on how technology can allow me to work and life differently and better than before. I don't have to be at a desk to work.  It has expanded the notion of an office to anywhere, basically.  But these girls were rock stars with the iphone and took it to another level. They basically ran their business from it.  While I love my iphone and think it is helping me to manage my life better, they showed me a few tricks that made it even more indispensable.  They were taking the best of technology and making it really work hard for them.  It allows for smart multi-tasking if done well.  And best of all, it wasn't hard.  

5.  They ask for help.

They asked me if contacts and picked my brain on things.  It was smart, natural networking.  When problems arose, they were quick to ask for help. For instance, we were creating an Indesign file and needed help exporting, Bethany called a tech friend at work and got us the answer.  It didn't come off as a sign of weakness or incompetence but rather, let's get this job done and move on.  

Thanks, gals, for the lessons.  You both are class acts! 

Live Large,

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5 reasons to buy Lulu Power's Food to Flowers new book

Full disclosure, I know Lulu and have had the pleasure of having cocktails at her terribly chic LA home this January.  That said, she isn't some friend, hawkin' some book but rather a truly gifted entertainer.   And while every Tom, Dick and Harry seem to think they are an Entertaining Expert these days, she can actually fit the bill.  Now, I am as tight as the next girl during recession of the century but this is worth forking over cash.  

Here are my 5 top picks to get this book:

1.  She is the Real Deal.
She's been a private chef for folks like Madonna and Will Smith.  She actually cooks instead of pretending to (sorry, Saundra Lee and Rachel Ray).  Her list of clients is very impressive. These are not easy to please people so having the talent to produce events for such folks is worth taking note.


2.  But she also gets real people.
Unlike a lot of Hollywood Party Planners like Preston Bailey and David Tutera, she understands that most folks don't have a staff of 10 or even 1 to make things happen. And that most of us go from work to chef mode to get family-ready mode to party-girl mode (you get the picture) so we need things that fit into that lifestyle.  She gets it.

3.  She gets that money matters.
While it's not in your face, she adds ideas or ways to save money, make your party go further on less and  it's done on in an elegant way.  I love her love of Ikea ice molds and .99 pack of festive napkins. I love  how she gives you ways to extend recipes like lemonade for the family or with vodka as cocktail or frozen as a fancy party pop.


4.  Nothing is too hard. I have more cookbooks and entertaining books than one should be allowed and the ones with recipes as long as the front page of the NY Times never get tried.  Her recipes are very "Ina" in that they are doable and I want to eat 'em.

5.  To get the recipe for the Ivy Gimblet pg.  259. Delish!

Check out her site, lulupowers.com.  She's a hoot so if she's speaking in your area, go!  And if you meet her, tell her hello from me.

Live Large,

Frances

Soap that won't scare your guests

This week's mini make-over involves one very sad bar of soap.  

This soap is incredible. I got it for a few euros in the market at St.Tropez last summer. The lavender scent is so strong that it stays with me all day. It has lasted almost a year and has this incredible texture that exfoliates yet moisturizes. It is truly fantastic soap.  


That said, it's like the ugly kid in the classroom that only the mother thinks is beautiful. I imagine that friends coming over and want to wash up might cringe at seeing such an item. I know that I do when I see a dirty, used bar.  Slightly late to the "get green" party, I was aware of the Method line of products but didn't fall in love with them till this year.  Their non-toxic hand wash is THE BEST I have ever used. My favorite scent is flower water and at $4 a pop (or $2 at Target), it lasts forever. This is an unpaid product testimonial.  I love this stuff. It literally makes me happy to wash my hands.  The scent is lovely and real smelling, not like the artificial smells in other products.  The other scents are fantastic too (french lavender, sweet water and fresh mint are close seconds but nothing tops flower water).  

Other hand soaps that make me smile are:


J. R. Watkins natural liquid hand soap.  This old fashion apothocary has been in business since right after the civil war.  They've got that retro design down and the scents are easy on the nose. I have lemon scent in my kitchen and it does the trick.  The only draw back is It's slightly more expensive, $7.49 a bottle.  

Mrs. Meyers (named for the company's mother) also has a fantastic product.  She, like Method, also sells the liquid soap refills so you don't have to keep buying the bottle.  Her scents step out of the box a bit. My fav?  Basil or the Geranium.  At $4 a bottle, it makes a welcomed update from the dirty Dove bar.  

So today I am making over the bathroom soap with a new bottle of Method's flower water. That fabulous french bar will join me in the tub where guests won't have to face it.  I can live with that. 

Live Large, 

Frances 

Visual Diary of Easter

Picture info:

City daffodils on 15th St, Easter breakfast, centerpiece from Union Square Green Market, late brunch at Good with friends, an unknown pastry at Garden of Eden.  (That's a boiled whole, dyed egg in the center.   If you know anything about it, let me know).  

Live Large, 

Frances

The Last Butcher in Little Italy

In the spirit of Good Friday, I went out to get some lamb and caught word that there was one last butcher left in Little Italy so I headed his way.  Full disclosure, I have an odd fascination with butchers. The book, Heat, is a great read if you're into this sort of thing too.   It's about a guy who worked for Mario Batali then ended up in Italy learning how to become a butcher. It's clearly a dying art and yet, I don't want to live in a world where there are no butchers or cobblers or tailors etc.  You get the picture. Now back to Little Italy.

Moe Albanese was born on the same street in which he holds the title of Last Butcher.  There is actually a documentary about him and having had the pleasure of meeting him, I bet it's a hoot.  Nestled across the street from hipster chic Cafe Havana and trendy Tory Burch, the shop seems out of place and clearly a relic from another era.  The shop was being guarded by Moe's brother who waited outside while he delivered meat to Cafe Gitane, literally taking a bag of meat across the street. (Now, that is what I call curb service.)  Walking towards the door, I noticed instantly that there was a whole animal, dead, in his window. Now, I am no stranger to Canal Street and have seen more than my far share of dead ducks etc in the windows of restaurants but as I walked closer, this was a whole dead skinned lamb.  It was both shocking and yet, displayed in such a caring way.  And that wasn't the only one.  Inside, he had two whole baby lambs in the same manner, bagged ready to be carried home.  It is Easter, after all.  And what is Easter without lamb.  So here are some pictures.

Now, if that doesn't get a double take then I don't know what does. 

And a close up...

ok, the teeth are a bit much and it's way too much like our family dog.... but.... if I eat lamb, I need to deal with it.

The tools of the trade. 

Moe's "hook" is the "got'cha" steaks. Apparently, if you buy one of his steaks, he's "got you" for life. 

Well done... Well done... 

Happy Easter!

Live Large

Frances