William Eggleston 1969

David Lynch Inland Empire 2006

Juergen Teller 2009

The egg is famous 

for shooting nothing and the banal

in Memphis

and making it look interesting,

uncomfortable, and beautiful.

The pink tree bled pink today.

MEALS WITH ERICA.

We've been cooking some delicious things. The amazing thing about all these recipes is the proportions and cooking instructions are about perfect, so I'm just posting links to the recipes themselves.

I only have a small comments. The pine nuts in the caponata and sesame seeds in the roasted carrots are best generously toasted, so they are golden brown and a completely different color than the raw versions. The carrots and the cauliflower can stand to be very well roasted and almost burned. The lemons and oranges in the carrots should be quarters or halves because they otherwise completely dry out, and in this recipe I might even do extra oranges and lemons in order to have more juice for the dressing. To help spread the butter over the cold chicken, it's okay to heat it up so that it is very soft and easily spreadable. It doesn't really need to be rubbed into the chicken. The salt, pepper, and chopped rosemary (the only herb we had) will nicely stick to the butter with just a tiny bit of patting. Go generous on the herbs. For the eggplant caponata, we fried the bread in a little bit of olive oil and this tasted delicious. I also added fresh mozzarella to the caponata as is done in the actual restaurant. For the lamb, I would err on the side of undercooking in the oven. Also, the pan needs to be very hot in order to get it nicely browned.

I learned a new way to cook fennel tonight from Erica. Slice a fennel bulb, toss with salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Cook at about 400-450 degrees on a baking sheet until well browned. The result is almost creamy and very delicious.

Lamb with Pistachio Tapenade - hello dinner parties

Beretta's Eggplant Caponata - best caponata recipe ever

Rosemary and Lemon Roast Chicken - my first roast chicken, sold

Parsley Gremolata for the Chicken - this makes all the difference

Perfect Roasted Cauliflower - onions and garlic and truffle oil

Roasted Carrots with Oranges and Lemon - Spotted Pig style

Small Pear Cakes with Cardamon Cream - the whipped cream is divine

Garlic Confit - very intense

Most of these dishes work perfectly as a light, easy dinner on a week night. Best eaten as a heavenly respite from dining hall food.

Honolulu.

Kahala.

Moana.

Waikiki

Love Hawaiian words.

Pink trees.

Andy Warhol polaroid portraits

Genius.

Farrah Fawcett, Carolina Herrera, Debbie Harry

San Francisco has a completely unique light

It's like a Wayne Thiebaud painting

So white and bright

Simple simple dressing.

The focus is on the person, not the clothes.

An understated, rich accessory seems key.

Color and textiles matters.

All from Sartorialist,

except the berry hues from Hanelli

I've made a few delicious things recently.

Here they are before I forget.

Bright cabbage salad

Warm cabbage salad

Swiss chard tart

Stone fruit couscous

The secret to all these recipes is in the combination of fresh herbs, toasty nuts, either spices, onions/shallots/scallions, or cheese, plus a sweet (cabbage, egg, apricot). They are all surprisingly easy for the amount of flavor.

Photo is of the sort of triple creme cheeses I've been craving lately. Best so far is Pierre Robert.

YVES SAINT LAURENT

In fashion, he did it first.

Russian furs and rich fabrics,

Khaki and tunics,

Huge bows,

Red and fushia,

Modrian color blocking,

Black lace backs.

His inspiration came from art

and Morocco and the sparkling

glamorous jet set scene.

He wanted to make women feel

beautiful and confident.

He was also very sad and shy.

I love his glasses.

He loved his hair.

And his idea of heaven was

being in a big bed. L'Amour fou.

RAY EAMES

was a painter.

She understood colors and shapes

to make something

lovely and friendly

yet also modern and sophisticated,

so well.

Black, pale pink, blue, red, white.

Contrast.

Happiness.

She added the bird.

It's perfect.

Look at those patterns!

The friendliest combination of

lines and dots.

Food

From Fiskebar in Copenhagen Denamark

Nature does colors best

Selby

This is boring

- gray and black, oversized sweater and skinny jeans -

But I like it

- comfy, sexy, messy hair, chic -

Even though I wouldn't wear it

- black and gray with black hair is morbid

those heels do not look walkable

the bag is not a bag-

Maybe if ...

I subbed ballet flats

and the color palette was

a rich cranberry plum or forest green

I do love the marled knit look

Photo by GD.

PENN

... 's self described style is 70s camp counselor. Her favorite color is olive green (the color of her eyes) and her clothes are a little tomboyish.

... She prefers her jewelry gestalt. Like her Lizzie Fortunato bracelet made of sharp angles in metal and felt, wooden ring the shape of an oversized knuckle, and set of three brass bangles that look vaguely African. A big, chunky statement piece that adds the camp, the tacky to her otherwise 85% classic look.

... Penn brings a studied bit of bright I Love Lucy and Monty Python vaudeville to an otherwise perfectly composed (think the daughter of an impeccably dressed mother who wears soft cashmere sweaters and wool slacks in the winter, flats and a shirt dress in the summer, and bright red or blue rag and bone skinny jeans with a white tee-shirt in Jamaica) existence.

... She likes collages, Rauschenberg, Miro, and heart shaped red velvet cakes smothered in cream cheese frosting.

Only hearts Japanese knotted silk robe

Soutine cake

Lizzie Fortunato collage

Rauschenberg, Untitled, 1955