wisteria in the wild

I've been doing some driving up and down 95 lately and I love seeing wild wisteria growing amongst the trees.  The purple vines make the highway a lot less ugly.  They're also nice against a whitewashed manse in DC (even on a cloudy day):

I like to daydream about owning a beach house one day and I'm pretty sure I want the landscaping to consist of purples, greens, whites, and some yellows.  Wisteria will be a requisite for sure.

mirror, mirror on the malm

I popped into Ikea last night (as one does on a Friday) primarily to decide whether I could live with Ikea dining chairs (yes) but of course I picked up a few random things (an extendable arm bathroom mirror, heart-shaped ice cube tray, cork stopper for my old but still in production carafe) and slowly browsed the whole store just to see what was new.  It was rather enjoyable to be one of the only people there.  In the bedroom furniture section I discovered they now make mirrored Malm dressers but I can't figure out whether I love them or think they look cheap.  In person, the mirrored effect is slightly wavy, along the lines of cheap pretend makeup compacts for little girls, where the mirror is really just a piece of moderately reflective, adhesive plastic. 

Overall, though, they're pretty hot.  I took the liberty of digging my fingernail into one of the floor models to see how tough the mirrored coating is and I didn't leave a mark, so they appear, at least in that one regard, to be pretty solid.  Reflective anything seems to be really popular right now - sunburst mirrors, distressed mirrored tabletops, etc. - and for good reason, since they reflect light and make virtually any space brighter.  These Malms are pretty mod; perhaps too mod for my place (not that I need any more furniture, anyway - except dining chairs!) but still a cool feature, especially since so much widely produced, inexpensive furniture - Ikea and otherwise - is so boring.  These definitely make more of a statement than most other pieces.  I bet if you laid some painted (black?) fretwork on the drawers, you wouldn't even be able to tell the dresser was from Ikea.  I'm considering ordering decorative fretwork for my own Malm (in Ikea's iconic "black-brown" - ha!) from O'verlays.  Such a smart idea to offer professional means to an Ikea hack end.

springtime in savannah

The other weekend I took a day trip to Savannah with my mom and sister.  For the third trip in a row, I started off my visit at the Paris Market & Brocante.  So I was told, brocante means a sort of second-hand/vintage/flea shop.  There's a cool mix of new (Bellocq tea, Tocca perfume, washi tape, soft knits for babies) and old (vintage beads, china and glassware, canes, animal x-rays) all jumbled together in a two-story corner lot.  Oh, there's also a little cafe that serves Italian sodas and coffee.  The place is a bit like the home section of Anthropologie with a heavier focus on interiors (they offer some design services and sell really pretty linen-covered pillows, chairs, and sofas).  This time I left with a vintage mink stole courtesy of my mom, a few French salted caramels, two rolls of washi tape, a brass bead, and a starburst wall ornament (like the cheaper ones mentioned in this March 2012 post).

(This photo of amazingly beautiful silver, domed egg cups is from my February visit.)

After making pit stops at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes (the whoopie pie I tasted was yum but I heard the cupcakes were too sweet) and the gleaming Tervis store (a store devoted to cups; somehow it works and is awesome), we had a light lunch at Gryphon, staffed by SCAD students and housed in an historical building.  Initially I was drawn to the place because they serve afternoon tea, though I ended up with a salad.  And scones as an appetizer.  The interior is dim and book-sy.  We love, love, loved the studded green leather banquettes. 

We then popped into shopSCAD and bought a few cards and screenprinted tea towels.  They have some neat jewelry, super hot leather tops by student designer Brooke Atwood, and lots of other things.  So great to see students' creations sold commercially.  On the way out of town we saw a few shops and a gourmet grocery in what appeared to be a converted gas station; they'll make the itinerary next time, after the requisite visit to Paris Market.

for the record

For years I've been wanting to host a doughnut party.  For years my family and friends have scoffed at me.  Doughnuts weren't hip enough for them, evidently.  And yet, now we find ourselves witnessing the eclipse of the cupcake.  Welcome, fine doughnut shops across the land.

Astro Doughnuts does doughnuts and fried chicken, which I saw being pulled upstairs on a dumbwaiter into their tiny store front like the Phantom of the Opera.  Line out the door and down the block in its first week, which was last week.  Co-owned by a former Caps player.  Done.

I have yet to try GBD in Dupont but it does doughnuts and chicken and stays open well past midnight.  Quite the niche market.  With Krispy Kreme brick and mortars few and far between these days (although there is one in Dupont...), it's comforting to me to see the next generation of shops specializing in sugary fried dough.  It's really the American version of the European way.

a family meal

Two weeks ago my family made a last-minute trip to New York to visit my ailing great aunt.  My siblings and I arrived late Friday but knowing the next day would be spent in a nursing home, with the bagpipes from the parade drifting on the breeze through the window and a drunken mess of a city to bid us adieu upon our departure that evening, we decided to make a rather mad dash down to Momofuku Noodle Bar.  This place has been on my NY bucket list for XX years; I don't even know.  Were my expectations high - yes.  Was it everything I'd dreamed of - um, yeah.  We toasted our great aunt and dug in; pictorial review below.  Some of the photos, taken with my phone, are a bit blurry due to the fact that I had to take them just faster than we ate, which was really fast.

We'll take one of each.  If not three.

 

Eat me!

The bun, rendered translucent by the grease of the pork belly, reminds me of Homer Simpson's one-time reverse diet, where a sandwich wrapper had to be see-through enough to confuse a flying bird in order for him to eat it.

I didn't have any of the oysters but I heard they were delish.

Not only was it after midnight on a Friday (technically Saturday) so we could eat meat but the chicken wings, for the purposes of my Lenten resolution, were not *technically* fried as they were crisped by their own sizzling fat.  The rice balls were starchy goodness, like savory rice candy.

Splitting soup is hard to do.

I mean, just...yes.  A group favorite.

The remains of chaos.

 

 The beet-lime soft-serve was refreshing but I was the only one really eating it because everyone else was distracted by these:

Cake batter balls could probably solve many of the world's problems.

less is more

Returning to the wall sculpture theme, my sister has been coveting these C. Jere brass urchin sculptures available through Jonathan Adler.  A cluster would look muy cool on a dining room wall.

Apologies for the mini photo!

Thanks to Martha Stewart for calling my attention to these significantly less expensive imitations, available on Jayson Home in three sizes.

It appears these have fewer needles than C. Jere's but the price is aaalllright.

how to get your downton fix in the off-season

About an episode into Downton Abbey Season 2, which I raced through on the PBS website last week before they took it down, it struck me--suddenly yet belatedly--that the Granthams are really just the next iteration of the Forsytes, which sated the reading, listening, and viewing public's voyeurism throughout the 20th Century.

Shortly after landing my first job out of college, one of my coworkers encouraged me to make use of my new Netflix account by renting The Forsyte Saga, a British miniseries about the comings and goings of a grand family and all of their exaggerated drama (i.e., the everything-that-can-go-wrong-does storyline that we see in Downton and, let's be honest, daytime soaps).  New to the Netflix thing back then, I dutifully ordered it and made my somewhat painful way through each of the discs in the evenings, eventually hooking even my dad, who generally eschewed tv shows and movies.  At the end of it, I thought, moly, that was barely tolerable.  The acting was laughable, being done in that stylized, halting, 1960s way and the only thing that got my dad and me through it was sheer wonder at how truly awful it was.  We wondered what all the fuss was about.

Well, come to find out, I'd ordered the wrong one.  My coworker's review was based on the 2002 version--in living color!--which, coming full circle, I plan to add to my instant queue now that I, along with the rest of the world, have to wait 10-ish months until Downton Season 3.  The Forsyte Saga may not compare with Julian Fellowes's production but it cannot be worse that its 1967 BBC made-for-tv predecessor.  Which means it will do quite nicely until we find out what the Roaring Twenties bring to Downton.

minty fresh

I'm obsessed with this guy's mint pea coat, logged by NYMag.com's The Cut in Milan.  Given the pastels dotting street style looks at the Fall 2012 RTW shows--at least in London and Milan--I hope J.Crew or somebody makes me a wool car coat in this exact shade with those exact buttons and that exact collar for fall.  Leave it to an Italian man, not even walking in a show, to catch my eye.

nymag.com

I must have mint on my mind.  A few weeks ago I tried David Lebovitz's ice cream recipe using fresh leaves and 'twas delish.  (Is it me or is the warm, creamy soup better than the frozen version of itself?  Kind of like brownie batter and cookie dough.)

Mine.

a stylish reason to pour yourself a drink

I recently purchased four sets of some delightfully colorful Kate Spade Prize Ball coasters.  One for me, one each for three lucky friends to be determined.  Might as well stock up.

Then I found these preppy canine coasters from Rifle Paper Co.  They're practically begging (pun intended) to be scooped up (partly intended).

I was lucky enough to receive Rifle's pale pink telephone message pad for Valentine's Day.  It makes me feel fancy and would be the perfect thing to track RSVPs for my excuse-to-use-these-cool-new-coasters party.

road trip soundtrack

Last weekend I discovered that the perfect song for driving the country roads back from Charlottesville is First Aid Kit's "Emmylou". 

For two reasons other than it being a really great song that undulates with the hills of the road.  One:  I love Emmylou Harris, specifically for her album with Mark Knopfler, which I had the pleasure of seeing them perform in concert and consistently listen to during car rides (and their song "This Is Us" was the last song played at our wedding reception.  It's the perfect last dance, if you ask me).  Two:  I'm indebted to these sisters because I actually heard their Fleet Foxes cover before I'd ever heard the Fleet Foxes.

Flippin' Swedes, teaching us how to be cool all the time.