Happy Long Weekend!

I hope you all have exciting plans for Labor Day weekend! As for me, I'll be beading and typing as fast as my little fingers will allow- because there's only a few more days until I open the gates to Rappaccini's Garden on Etsy!

This photo from Vogue makes me think of Beatrice in the garden... quite the specimen, no?

I'll be listing items all day on Monday, so I'll have a full shop ready by the time you all get back from your vacationing! 

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement of my new project. As a token of gratitude, my lovely online friends can receive a special discount on purchases at Rappaccini's Garden during my grand-opening month. I'll give you the scoop on Tuesday!

John Derian for Target (Please Sir, may I have some more?)

John Derian's website is pleasure spiked with pain for me- I want one of everything but can't afford one of anything. When I heard that he'd be designing a collection for Target, I was ecstatic (especially when I found out that everything would be under $25).

Of course, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the goods, so I joined Gilt Groupe and snagged a few pieces at their preview sale.

I'm usually hesitant to buy melamine (I prefer the look and quality of glass, ceramic, wood and metal... and I don't want my apartment to look like a daycare center), but items like this feather tray don't disappoint!

The line launches this Sunday, September 5th. Needless to say, I'll be one of the crazies lining up early.

Darkly Romantic

As I prepare for my grand opening I've been utterly immersed in the haunting and beautiful garden of Dr. Rappaccini. Perhaps that explains my obsession with vibrant flowers against inky black...

Photograph from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, Scanned by Shock the Bourgeois

There's something transformative about the combination. 

Modern interiors get moody.

Home of Abigail Turin & Jon Gans Photographed by David Duncan Livingston, Scanned by Shock the Bourgeois

Pale peonies show a sultry side.

Photograph by Bonnie Tsang via Snippet & Ink, Floral Design by Flowerwild

And even the simplest dresses seem to mimic works of art.

Never a Wallflower Dress from ModCloth, Still Life Painting by Antoine Berjon

Oh, so romantic! Makes me want to transform myself- maybe with a box of black hair dye and one of these.

Kitchen Chemistry: Taking it Outside

Hi All! Adam is  back today to discuss one of our favorite summertime activities...

To me, outdoor cooking occupies a special, enigmatic place in the world of cuisine. It's a cultural experience. It can localize family and friends and attract strangers, even to the point where a community congregates with cult-like fascination to watch flame and smoke yield up their charred offerings.

Barbecuing is quite a phenomenon. It's easy to do well, yet difficult to do perfectly. It's often the domain of those normally uninterested in the culinary arts (read: men), and is performed under close scrutiny by those with lesser experience than the "grill master" holding the tongs ("so, you think those are ready to turn, huh?").

As Elizabeth's Dad advises, "fire on bottom, meat on top."

I find myself drawn to everything about grilling: the preparation of food and fire, the execution, and of course the delicious aftermath.

Elizabeth and I have no grill of our own, so this process becomes even more of an adventure. The nearest grills are located at Live Oak Park several blocks away. Our weekend mornings are often spent shopping, trimming, marinating, and packing supplies at home before setting off into the Berkeley wilderness. Luckily the park people are usually roasting and smoking (this or that) themselves, so we fit right in. Lighting our fire, cleaning the grill, and cooking our food takes more watching than doing, so plenty of time is left over for true weekend leisure: Elizabeth makes friends with random animals and takes pictures, we talk and drink beer (technically illegal, shhhh).

We typically make full use of our coals, grilling several flank steaks (cheap) or batches of frozen chicken until the coals run low. In this way we keep the afternoon economical as well as luxurious.

The grill lies at the intersection of public and private space. The park provides elements of nature, yet at the same time is the epitome of hearth and home. The method itself is ancient and universal, yet also urgent and personal. The eventual dish is unfailingly classic and also unique to the time, place, and person executing it. The experience is raw, archaic, and crude, yet as rich and rewarding as any other in the culinary world.

Announcing my New Etsy Shop: Rappaccini's Garden

Dear Friends! With no more suspense (but a little more ado), allow me to present...

Rappaccini's Garden will feature vintage and handcrafted adornments for yourself and your home. The collection takes inspiration from the Gothic tale Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: a dark romance spiked with mad science and a poisonous flower.

Rappaccini's Garden will open on Etsy next Monday, September 6th!

Announcement #1: New Camera!

That's right! Thanks to some birthday donations from my wonderful family, I was finally able to retire my not-so-trusty point-and-shoot and bring home a new Nikon d3000 DSLR camera.

I had become so accustomed to the limitations of my old camera that I'm still marveling at the d3000's capabilities.

I can capture beautiful light...

or scenes in low light...

texture & color...

minute details...

and fleeting moments...

This camera makes it possible for me to share so much more with you here on the blog: my explorations in California, the progress on our apartment, and Adam's culinary creations. Photography will also be playing a large role in an exciting new project... which I'll be announcing on Monday!

(Amateur) Kitchen Chemistry: Peach Crumble

Because the internet failed me yesterday, I've got two posts in queue today! This one's about dessert, but I'll be posting a real treat this afternoon... Happy Friday!

Adam's not the only one who plays mad scientist in our kitchen/laboratory. I've been conducting research of my own and making important advancements in the field of baking.

I'll have you know I suffered goggle lines for the sake of this corny picture!

When I bake with strawberries or apples I use the bruised, overripe, mealy, or otherwise homely fruit that doesn't make the cut for raw snacking. However, an icky peach makes an ickier pie (and don't even get me started on canned peaches). One of the perks of living in California is the abundance of gorgeous organic peaches. After last week's trip to the farmer's market I found myself with more ripe fruit than I could eat- so I decided to stage a peach crumble experiment.

The texture of a fresh peach is just as lovely as the flavor, so it's a terrible waste to reduce it to jam in the oven. My solution was to halve each peach, placing one half in the center of the dish and filling the gaps with slices of the remainder. I then poured in a mixture of sugar, flour, and a few drops of lemonade- just enough to coat all of the fruit and pool a bit at the bottom. The resulting filling was just like a bite out of a sun-baked peach. Success!

I used pyrex lab glass for my observation, but standard ramekins will work nicely.

Half of any good fruit crumble is the crumble, so I tested several formulas. The Classic Crumble featured an oatmeal cookie topping similar to the one that I used on my Strawberry Rhubarb Pie- substituting even more cinnamon for the ginger and lemon. The Honey & Ginger variation had a light and spicy topping consisting of flour, honey, sugar, baking powder, and plenty of crystalized and powdered ginger.  The Oatmeal & Maple crisp was my Eureka! moment. The topping is merely a packet of Quaker instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal!

Of course, my favorite part of any baking trial is the taste test (it was all very scientific, I assure you). My findings? The Honey & Ginger was innovative and the Classic Crumble yielded an impressive amount of "yum" per bite... but the Oatmeal & Maple crisp is a Nobel Prize contender.

In Suspense...

Good afternoon, my patient readers. We're having some ongoing internet issues, so I'll be having a productive chore day offline (or moping around with Matilda and obsessively checking twitter on my iPhone).

Be sure to check back in- remember the big news I hinted at earlier? I'll be sharing one part with you tomorrow morning, and making a big announcement on Monday!

See you then...