My New Tattoo: New Year's Resolution #8 of 11

I made 11 New Year's Resolutions for 2011 and now I've competed #8: got my 3rd tattoo last week, a phoenix on my outer left ankle.  A recommendation from handmade Quade led me to Joey Wilson of Hand of Glory and his sister shop The End is Near in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  They do custom, exclusive tattoos and piercings and Joey was super patient in collaborating on the design.

This is my 2nd tattoo in Korean: it's pronounced "na - mahn" and means "just me".

The 1st tattoo is a purple tulip from quite a long time ago.  Why did I not have the artist sketch it before he inked it into my back?  The follies of youth, I suppose.  But it's a part of me, as is everyone's past.  

And I'd post a pic of my belly piercing, but well, summer's here and it's time to do a few more crunches first before I leave for vacation...

A Week of Foodie-ness

Some people object to the term "foodie", but how else can I explain my obsession that has led me to start cooking and baking again?  That's a mesclun salad with blackberries, raspberries and fingerling potatoes with lemon sesame soy dressing.

More berries for triple berry muffins and Lemon Berry Pitcher Punch from 101 Sangrias & Pitcher Drinks by Kim Haasarud of Liquid Architecture.

Food Bloggers: I commend your ability to take gorgeous shots while you're in the middle of everything: I'm either too messy, or forget, so here's a Chocolate Carmalua cake from a recipe by Mrs. Fields cooling by the window, but without the caramel sauce.

I finally found the cord to my rice cooker and made some Korean namool: sesame seasoned spinach, shiitakes and zucchini.

Koru Kate and I had a lovely dinner by the water at Trinity in Hoboken: here's the chicken pot pie and a Panda's Dream cocktail. 

Louise and I had a WONDERFUL dinner at Kin Shop with a delicious menu by Chef Harold Dieterie: my fave was the Warm Sliced Snap Peas with Diver Sea Scallops, Crispy Shallots, Pea Greens & Toasted Coconut. We also had Aquatic Vegetables, Fried Pork & Crispy Oyster Salad, Stir Fried Rice Flakes with Rock Shrimp, Massaman Braised Goat, fabulous cocktails made with house-infused ginger mekhong, guava nectar, thai basil and rum, and tasty Galangal Ice Cream and Calamansi Sorbet...amazing...

Next day I prepped for a lunch for my aunt and her husband.  You can see Mila being very helpful in the background.

No time to iron the tablecloth!

We started with tomato, basil and mozzarella with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I tried my hand at some huge scallops from The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook.  No pic here of the smoked chili cream, but it was quite tasty.

And we finished with Lepore's Home Made Chocolates.

Since I was being a hostess I didn't make it to my parents' trip to Valley Shepherd Creamery but my Dad sent me some pics of baby sheep, alpacas...

and some very nice looking wool.  I want to go back and take one of their cheesemaking classes!

At the end of the day there were some leftovers for me.

And my aunt brought me some pink pasta and a pink spatula she won at a raffle for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  Wonder what I'll make with these...we'll see.

A Little Origami

My friend Tomoko brought me a fabulous gift from her last visit to Japan: a generous package of beautiful origami paper.

I love the colors and wish you could feel the textures.

There are even a few prints of little bunnies!

There's a section on origami in the Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts.  Did you make these little fortune tellers when you were little?  The pattern for the box is on her website

along with instructions for a quick placecard holder.

I can't imagine folding 1,000 paper cranes for a wedding despite the lovely symbolism.  Tomoko says in Japan they send them to someone who needs some cheering up.  Mila was skeptical:

but then curious

but leaned in for a little kiss anyway.

And I hung a few cranes on some quince branches for good luck I guess.

And then yesterday the porter at our kitchen made this elephant out of paper and masking tape!

And I saw this video of an elephant who speaks Korean.  Fun stuff, have a good day!

Jar of Hearts

I was so touched when I heard this song covered on the Glee prom episode so I looked up the original by Christina Perri.  She says of the guy she wrote it about that "My heart wanted to see him, but my head knew better".  
- My friend Bernice says that you can get so lost in a relationship that it's like when you're trying to open a jar and forget which way makes it tighter and which way loosens it.  
- Henry's Mom says that love is being able to fall in and out and back in love with someone over time.  
- Ellaine says that closure comes at different times in different forms.  
- And my horoscope yesterday said that life is full of compromises and in order to be who you want to be you may need to give something up, but to remember that what you're giving up is something you once wanted very much, so choose carefully.
- So, that's just some stuff I'm thinking about today, the day before everyone is predicting that the world will end.

Back to School

It's my biggest arrangement yet!  Had a fabulous time on Saturday in flower school with Remco van Vliet and Cas Trap, the floral designers from Van Vliet & Trap.  I wanted to bring the team some treats, so I made some lemon poppy mini muffins.

And wrapped them in a fat quarter of fabric called Boys will be Boys by David Walker.

The staff brought in loads of branches for everyone in the class to use.

Beautiful azalea, crab apple, lilac, scotch broom and snowballs

and they kindly helped us cut the fat branches: they made it look so easy!

It reminded me that so many jobs can be surprisingly physical.

Remco shared tips from his many years of creating designs for events, weddings and for every Monday in the Great Hall of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

where he stands on a painter's ladder to make the huge arrangements there.

So of course his demonstration arrangment was gorgeous.

I was struggling a bit and he showed me how to hold the clippers (I got the purple ones! although though I was holding them upside down).

And the class buzzed happily creating their own arrangements.

Here's mine!

Remco says that each arrangement showed its creator's personality.

Somehow I got it home.

And the lilacs smell really wonderful here.

Today I pared the piece down a little to weed out some branches that didn't make it

and put some lilacs in the bedroom

and made room in the kitchen for baking a few cookies.