Jamonera

My parents are taking me out for my birthday to Jamonera, the new restaurant by Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran. I know it will be good because this unstoppable duo has yet to disappoint me, and I am a very picky girl.

Photos found on fussing with forks, a blog dedicated to foodies in Philly!

Cakes and birthday

Tomorrow, I will be one year closer to 30. Sad face. On the bright side, I rejoice in the fact that you are never too old to eat lots of cake and uber indulge on your birthday or birthday week.... Recently I found some neat cake recipes that have peaked my interest. I traditionally buy or have someone begrudgingly make me a carrot cake, but this year I could go for something a little less expected.

Pistachio olive oil cake

found at Design Sponge

Princesstarta

found at Semiswede

Pumpkin Spice cake w/Coconut Vanilla Icing and Roasted Hazelnuts

found at My New Roots

I think the b/f is making the pumpkin spice cake with carrot cake instead? Not sure, excited to see what he comes up with. He can be quite the Master chef/baker when he wants to be.

Things...

My lease is up in two months, and I can't help but day dream about new things for the future apartment. Especially kitchen things like these!

1. These mugs by Best Made.

Not only do I love that the mugs have the first letter of mine and Erich's name, I love their old world appearance. In fact I learned through the item's description that their industrial look is no facade. They are manufactured in Poland with WWII machinery in a one-hundred year old factory. I imagine them filled with a surly cup of coffee or some oats on a cold winter morning.

2. These quirky plates by wolf and badger.

3. This print called "creative cook," from I'd like to be shop.

These are just a few of the things I would love to fill my new place with. I also want a big rustic wooden table, a chandelier, and an awesome desk....and so the list goes on.

San Fran, see you soon!

In less than a month I will be in San Francisco on vacation and nothing could make me happier. This print will describe how I feel after arriving home. Womp womp... People are so lucky to live there! Have a great weekend!

Emerson Fry

Check out the full Spring Collection over at Emerson Fry's Shop. Everything is amazing!

Dots

An outfit of dots.

Thanks Anthropologie.

The perfect summer dress. Courtesy of Leifsnotes'.

Top by J.Crew.

I go weak for dots...

A special project

This weekend was one of those weekends that you just need sometimes. The next few weeks are a bit crazy and I knew that I needed to finish some pending projects and then take a breather before the madness.

Saturday I worked on a project dear to my heart. My friend Maura asked me to do an illustration for her invitations, a quirky one at that! She is the fox and her fiance is the deer. I can't wait till the illustrations are finalized and printed. See some snippets that I worked on below. I got a bit messy as any good artist does.

Maura the fox.

Jim the deer.

The Mr. and the Mrs.

Irish Taters

Hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's day. I usually try to ignore the holiday, but there is one tradition we will always keep alive. Tater time with the Mama!

Before adding a pound of confectioner sugar.

After adding a pound of sugar. See the creamy texture? Takes a good bit of irish elbow grease, but it's well worth the trouble. Mmmmm.

Aaaah the perfect after dinner treat. Really...any time treat. Tomorrow I will be the irish lass, making special deliveries at work.

Baby Card

I made this card for my coworker, who is having a baby early next month (maybe on my birthday if she comes early!). She shared with me one of her fears about having the baby... Her two cats whom she is crazy about, love warm things and to cuddle. Her one cat, Houdini, sleeps above her head every night, so she is scared when she puts the baby down to sleep that the cats will jump into the crib and frighten the baby. Although I understand her fear, I would like to think her two little fur kids will welcome new baby girl with open paws.

Treats

My coworkers went on a trip to Europe last week and came back with some interesting treats for me.

Looming!

Saturday I spent the day threading my loom. I used the remainder of the yarn I used to make the cowls earlier this winter. Right now the weaving looks like it is going to be an irish flag, but I think the weft yarn colors will make all the difference. I ran into a problem with the tension spring, so I did not have the chance to start weaving.

I had a furry little friend keeping me company.

Have a great week!

Weekend

This weekend I am excited to go home for the day on Saturday and spend some much needed time with my loom. It's been too long. I will post pictures once I start weaving. Unfortunately, I have to finish threading, which is always back breaking and no fun. I just have to tell myself just keep trucking, the end is near! Other than that I am looking forward to chilling real hard (term coined from Kerry).

Oh and I have been working hard on setting up my portfolio the past few weeks on my very own website! Check it!

Have a great one!

-Ash

Philadelphia Flower Show

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing the flower show thanks to my uncle. This year's theme was Hawaii. The displays were beautiful and made you want to board a plane on a tropical getaway immediately!

There was one section of the flower show that had a wall filled with tropical landscape scenes. From far away they look like paintings, but as we walked closer to the collection we noticed the strokes were flower petals meticulously placed to create a tropical landscape scene. AMAZING!

The photo on the right was part of a series of shadow box installations.

I love this little plant! It reminds me of when I used to watch smurfs when I was little.

I have never been to the flower show, so I can't compare this year to previous shows. Just know this year's show is amazing, and if you have time this week or weekend you should go.

Marni for H&M

Will you be standing outside H&M bright and early tomorrow to get first dibs on one of the coveted Marni pieces? I kind of want to...

Check out a full preview and prices at Lucky Mag.

Also, Heather Taylor of L.A. in bloom modeled and styled the collection over on her blog too.

Loving those prints!

Opal Visits!

Yesterday Opal visited our office.

He got tuckered out real quick! Check out more adorable photos of this little guy on Kerry's blog, Opal Weekends.

Weekend Foodlights & More

Placing the final touches on de pizza pie!

Saturday night, the boy and I made one of the first pizza pies in what feels like months! We lightly sauteed up some spinach, mushrooms, and garlic. For cheese we laid down some large dollops of ricotta, a little mozzarella and some grated pecorino. To top it off we added egg and freshly shaved truffles (a gift from Erich's little brother)! Talk about bringing the pizza pie making back! This was one yummo pie. Oh did I mention we made a second one? Erich is one hungry boy after he's been brewing.

Sunday we went to Mugshots in Fairmount for breakfast. I ordered the scape goat sandwich, which has spinach, tomato, red onion, goat cheese and pesto, grilled on foccacia. So good! though I did have pesto breath for the rest of the day. (Sorry Erich.) The boy had a good ol fashioned everything bagel sandwich with egg and bacon. Then we went to the Perelman building, which is part of the Philadelphia Art Museum, and saw a wonderful outerwear exhibit in their textile and costume section. They also had a fiber exhibit showcasing the work of Sheila Hicks and some other great Fiber artists. Go check it out! It's Fiberdeliphia!

Falafel Lettuce Wraps

This weekend I made these wonderful falafel lettuce wraps for dinner Sunday night. The recipe is adapted from the whole living recipe for chickpea-brown rice veggie burgers from the 21 day cleanse I participated in, which I am sure are equally delicious.

Recipe: Serves 2

feta

4 large leaves from a head of iceberg lettuce

Falafel mixture:

2 cloves garlic

1 chopped yellow onion

1/4 c. fresh cilantro

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. mustard seed

1 egg white

salt & pepper

flour

Topping:

1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro

1/2 c. diced tomatoes (I used cherry, feel free to substitute)

1/2 avocado

1/2 c. cucumber

salt & pepper

Dressing:

1 tsp. mustard

1 tbsp. tahini sauce

1 tsp. e.v.o.

1/2 lime (juiced)

salt & pepper

First roughly chop all of the ingredients for the falafel. Then pulse the falafel mixture in a food processor until everything is combined. I like when the consistency has a little bit of texture. Then place the batter in the fridge for about a half an hour to set up. In the mean time dice all of the ingredients for the topping and make the dressing. Once the falafel batter is ready, go ahead and hit the pan with some olive oil. Scoop out roughly 2 tablespoons of batter to form a falafel ball and then coat in flour. Cook about 1-2 minutes on each side in the pan. Next assemble your lettuce wraps as above. I would say that this recipe should yield 3-4 servings, but the boy and I ate all of it! Haha. Don't worry if this happens to you, remember they are pretty healthy!

Fashion Love/2

I am very much in love with the Charlotte Taylor A/W '12 collection. The dark and stormy back drop makes the clothing pop and give the collection a sense of enchantment. I also love the styling and print mixing.

To see more of her previous and current collections, click here.

All photos were found here.