free people press preview

I've been crazy busy at work recently, and one of the reasons why is that we were planning our very first press preview! The event took place just last week at our NYC showroom. It went really well, and the setups looked amazing thanks to our wholesale visuals team. The days were long, but satisfying and fun. We were there in NYC for two days, so I also got to hop on over to Brooklyn and spend some time with my good friend Ariane. We went out to Public House for drinks & dinner then celebrated my friend/intern's 23rd birthday at midnight. It never fails to be a good time in the BK. Can't wait to go back next week!

hope

Caught this Margaret Atwood excerpt the other day on NPR and had to go find it after. 

Never give up hope. It's why we fight for anything that is important.

--

(Source)

popover recipe

Often times at work I'm checking out blogs - looking into their follower counts, assessing their brand appropriateness, you know, the standard. A random day about a month ago, my eye was caught while doing so. Fluffy delicate popovers flowed over a basket while soft melty butter tauntingly rested beside it. It could safely have been called food porn. So hypnotized was I, that I immediately remember an unused gift card to Amazon. Right then and there, I went on to buy the first popover pan I saw. Back to work.

In classic Amazon fashion the pan arrived two days later (Prime!). I what? I bought a popover pan? I guess I had to make some.

For weeks I said I was going to make breakfast. There kept not being enough time, or not enough energy to run to the store for that last missing ingredient. When I finally got around to it, I did it right. I baked those babies golden, served them in a pretty arrangement, and doled out slabs of butter alongside local strawberry jam. It was the simplest, most self indulgent breakfast I've had in a long time. I think it might just be my stable from now on - whipping up popovers anytime I feel.  

Ingredients (makes a dozen):

1 1/4 Cups 2% Milk

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Tsp. Salt

1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder

3 Eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F and grease your pan

2. Sift together dry ingredients in a small bowl, set aside.

3. Heat milk for 2 min in the microwave.

4. Using a hand blender, whip your eggs until foamy, and then slowly add in milk, then dry ingredients.

5. Fill popover pan so that each cup is mostly full.

6. Bake at 450F for 20 minutes and then lower to 350F for another 20.

7. Eat warm with lots of butter and jelly

photographer envy: thomas ciszewski

This photo journal of Indonesia by Thomas Ciszewski gives me the travel itch! What a beautiful place full of culture and color. Whenever I think of Indonesia the vision of an energetic Asian city comes to mind, but these shots portray anything but. Instead, they show off the vast landscapes and a peaceful way of life. I could take a dose of that any day.

weekly scenes: adventures in new hope

Last weekend my friends and I went on an adventure. Word on the street was that a cute town called New Hope lay just 45 minutes outside of the city. We were all in the mood for some discovery, and so we decided to make a day of it. We spent Sunday exploring this little village, hopping around and soaking it up like the storm that we are

The town is set on lake, with two main streets packed with shops that include everything from vintage, to artisan goods and new age necessities. There's a lot to check out, and a great hippie vibe running through the culture there. Cool dudes with long hair walked the streets, and shop owners have pets who've made homes in their spaces. We found an adorable little spot for brunch as well. It had a greenhouse dining room and peacock chairs everywhere. It's amazing how fun it was to get outside of the city-scape and explore this little town for a day.

My recommendations for New Hope:

1. For something random stop into Suzie's Hot Shoppe! They have walls of hot sauce and you can try every single one. I picked up an ultra hot Jamaican bottle called Lottie's that I can't get enough of. I suggest trying the Pure Death as well. It was a close second!

2. Check out Night Bird to get your vintage fix. They had the most amazing assortment of vintage jackets I've ever seen. I picked up an old army number that has barely left my body.

3. Right across the street from the vintage shop is the restaurant where we ate called Karla's. I'd say that the ambiance beats out the food, but it's definitely an adorable little spot to stop and eat. The prices are very reasonable as well.

wanted: a new iphone case

Well, another piece has broken off of my iphone case. I think it's time to officially start thinking about getting a new one. There are so many cool cases out there which makes this a fun, but also intimidating endeavor. I'm digging the simplicty of black and white; however, some color is always cheerful and uplifting. How will I ever choose the right one? Which one should I get?!?

--

Find each of these cases here

apricot and purple potato samosas with honey yogurt sauce

What's more fun than purple potatoes? Now really. Its like the natural equivalent to green ketchup: one of your favorite childhood foods in a fun color. They're plenty full of carotenoids which will help eliminate free radicals in your body, essentially detoxing the cells and keeping them pure. They're also crazy fun to cook with for the only reason being that they are so much fun to look at. 

So when I went home to cook my mom dinner, I threw these guys in there. I muddied them up with some fantastic Indian spices. Then I threw in some game changing apricots and walnuts, and rolled them in fillo dough.  To flash fry these little table footballs, I opted for healthy sesame oil, a favorite of Ayurvedic practitioners and ancient cultures of the west. To top them off, I paired the samosas with a  sweet yogurt dipping sauce, the easiest thing you'll ever make.Yum. Sweet, nutty, aromatic  and full of soft potato texture, these guys were a huge hit.

Samosa Ingredients (makes a dozen):

3 Purple potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed lightly with a fork

3/4 Cup Chopped Turkish Apricots

1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts

2 Tsp Indian Curry Powder

1/2 Tsp Tumeric

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1 Tsp Salt

1 Pkg Fillo Dough Sheets 

*be sure to remove dough from the freezer and place it on the counter at least an hour before you plan to use

Yogurt Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt

1 Tbsp Honey

1/2 Tsp Marsala Seasoning

Directions:

1. Mix together all samosa ingredients except for the fillo dough. Make sure that your potatoes still have a little bit of chunk to them, and then let everything sit until room temperature.

2. Mix together dipping sauce ingredients, and let it chill in the fridge while you finish making the samosas. 

3. Unrolling your fillo dough and using a big knife, cut the end of your sheet into a 3"-4" strip.

4. Take a heaping tablespoon of your mixture, and form it into a little triangle. Place the triangle on the bottom left-hand corner of your fillo dough strip. Continue to roll it up like a table football.

5. Once you've rolled it up, do it once more so that the samosa has two layers of dough.

6. Once you've rolled all of your samosas, pour about a 1/2" of sesame oil into your frying pan, and let it get hot. 

7. Fry samosa's 1-2 minutes on each side, until lightly browned

8. Serve with sauce

fuck it

it has been one of those weeks.

--

(image sources here)

weekly scenes

In my family the holidays are extended by my parents birthdays - one at the beginning of January and another at the start of February. My mom's is the first, and this year I really wanted to make her feel special. I went home to Syracuse, cooked her up a big dinner and gifted some little things. To end the trip, the three of us went on a snowshoeing adventure to Heiberg Forest. I'd never been before, but my dad got me a pair, so this time I was able to come along. With all of the snow they have up there right now and the two dogs in tow, it was such a beautiful adventure! I will surely be heading back home just for another snowshoe before the season ends. It was a weekend spent in true, winter paradise. 

raw brussel sprout and goat cheese salad

Those of you who pick up produce at a farmer's market or participate in a CSA are well acquainted with brussel sprouts and the rest of the cruciferous family (kale, kohlrabi, bok choy, turnips, etc.), those strange vegetables that appear in your plot each week. You might run out of ideas on what to do with them, but hey, that's when we always get the most creative, right? 

So here's a novel idea, raw brussel sprouts. I would have never thought it, but I discovered it in one of those "what am I going to do this time" moments. I got to chopping and realized that the key is breaking the vegetable up into smaller bits. Once sliced, the bites are crunchy, watery, and full of that splendid brussel sprout flavor. There's something about raw vegetables that you just can't beat. It's like you can taste the nutrients, that straight from the earth goodness. To finish the salad off, I mixed the brussel sprouts in with some herbed goat cheese and walnuts, then tossed with simple seasonings, and I had the most care-free, delicious side dish. 

Speaking of tasting the nutrients...did you know that brussel sprouts are rich in vitamin C? Something we all can't get enough of this time year. So soak it up, eat em raw and down that medicine. You can thank your CSA later for giving you the natural germ fighters you need to get through the season.

Ingredients (Serves 6):

1 Lb Brussel Sprouts, cleaned and sliced

2 Oz Herbed Goat Cheese

1 Cup Walnuts, chopped

2 Tbsp Sesame Oil

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix it up and serve!