Orange Crush

There are a few colors that I’m innately drawn to in both fashion and makeup, particularly anything fluorescent or virtually any shade of blue, but a good portion of my closet is also dedicated to all shades of orange, coral and salmon.

There are a few colors that I’m innately drawn to in both fashion and makeup, particularly anything fluorescent or virtually any shade of blue, but a good portion of my closet is also dedicated to all shades of orange, coral and salmon.

Not the most glamorous of recipes, I know. But trust me, it’s a good one, a true crowd pleaser that also happens to have less than five ingredients and be mostly healthy (you can always substitute plain Greek yogurt for the the creme fraiche as well.)


Though I love to shop for clothing of all sorts, my lifestyle is casual enough that buying formal or cocktail attire seems pretty silly. We recently attended an evening wedding for good friends of ours, and as usual, I turned to my fancy-occasions solution, Rent The Runway.

My skin, on a good day is… tricky. Super-pale, unfailing sensitive and prone to throwing tantrums at even the smallest change in weather, skincare regime or, I don’t know, stress level, my skin is my own personal barometer on how my life is going.

There’s an instant thrill in trading recipes found online with friends, and I do this frequently over im, like little kids from another generation huddled around baseball cards.
Pouring over a tried and true cookbook is a more leisurely endeavor, best enjoyed by oneself on a quiet weekend afternoon or workday evening to disengage from some of the day’s stresses.

My mother was kind enough to be born right around Mother’s Day, making it super easy to remember both and allowing her to claim a whole weekend for celebration (strangely, my dad was also born right around Father’s Day; I have very efficient parents.)
This year, mom asked that her weekend consist of spending Saturday night at our place in Cambridge, with activities to include some walking about in the lovely weather, a great cookout at home, brunch on Sunday at Blue Ginger in Wellesley and, most importantly, a major shopping/styling session.


Burrata, that dreamy hybrid of fresh mozzarella and triple cream, is one of those foods that can take just about any preparation you wish to throw at it, but in the end, is best simply done. Which makes it perfect for a lazy Sunday dinner, served two ways with a side of asparagus tomato salad and a cold dark ale.
For the first preparation I drizzled clover honey over the top, and sprinkled smashed pistachios and fresh ground pepper all around. For the second, just hot pepper flakes, good green extra virgin olive olive and some sea salt flakes thrown on.
Grab some crusty Italian or French bread, smear a good dab on, and sit back enjoy the last dregs of the weekend.

Among a bunch of other furniture updates we’re working on slooooooowly over time, we’ve upped the priority on finding some new stools for our kitchen due to one small but persistent annoyance- they’re just too tall for our current counters.
I’m a bit bummed to be giving our current stools (above) away as they were my very first upholstery project, but countless bruised knees and food spills later, I’ve given in.

I recently stumbled across a tiny gold lame Ms and Mrs Minimergency Kit while shopping and had to bring it home with me. Tiny and so cute, This purse-sized bag contains emergency essentials (I’ve already broken out the itty bitty nail file.) The whole Ms and Mrs line contains kits for everything from brides-to-be to dorm room survival. I’m thinking of asking them to consider a lockpicking model for the next time I lock myself out of my car/house/office…

(Before Keratin)
The other day I was reading a magazine while waiting for an appointment and read rave reviews for at home keratin treatments. My hair, while relatively straight, gets a bit frizzy when humidity strikes, and I’ve had a salon keratin treatment a couple of times to minimize the frizz. The idea of doing the time-intensive process at home, and for a good deal less money, sounded too good to be true.