Design Books are EVERYTHING

Okay perhaps that's a little dramatic for a title, but they are tres important and influential. I was taking a little inventory of all my design books (which are many and still growing), and couldn't help but flip through/get lost in Ellie Cullman's Decorating Master Class. Her interiors are traditional, full of extraordinary antiques and architectural details. They are elegant but look livable.

The soft blues and whites in this room make me think of summer. Is this bed not incredibly beautiful? I love contrast of the deep mahoganies with the soft bedspread, pale blue walls, and wispy white drapery.

How many times have I said how much I despise fabric over tables? How cool are these with knots tied at the corners?? So nautical! Also, how much would you love to walk through this hall with soaring ceilings framed by thick mouldings like these?

WOAH I love all the salmon and creme fabrics here! First of all those throw pillows are so pretty. Just simply lovely. But second of all, how fun is that checkered armchair off to the left? I KNOW, right?? I'm not even mentioning the bookcase behind and whatever over sized iron work is hanging on the wall off to the right.

Speaking of amazing fabrics, these draperies are so sweet! They really fit with the Early American vibe in this house. And who hangs an over sized pocket watch from a beam? How original.

When I'm left to my own devices after work, most of the time all I want to do is look through back issues of HB and Domino and all my great books. This time I really indulged myself (ie, I skipped doing homework in favor of Ellie Cullman). What really started this was I entered the Style Beat Contest in which Marisa is offering 5 (yeah, FIVE), different AWESOME design books if she picks you as the winner of her contest. Anyway, I entered and you should too. Enter HERE and have fun coming up with how your books inspire you!!

Happy Wednesday!


Alicia B.

Dinner at Eight

This past weekend I had a few friends over for dinner and they were nice enough to let me interrupt the party to photograph the table settings for the weekly Tablescape Thursdays!

I took the first picture before plating the salad course - caprese salad with a nice rose wine.

Plates are Decre Freres, Theodore Haviland Limoges, silver is freshly polished Prelude for International Silver, crystal is Waterford. Alabaster table lamp is a touch that makes it feel like an old supper club to me (from restoration hardware) and candlesticks are venetian glass from Aero in NY. I didn't get any flowers because they seem a bit much for a casual winter dinner.

For the entree course, I used my favorite cuckoo pattern dinner plates from Wedgwood. S&P shaker are mother of pearl from pottery barn. Napkins are antique irish linen from ebay (the best Christmas gift ever!). Here is what we had (ignore the lamp cord!) - roast beef with carrots, potatoes and celery -a hearty winter meal on a snowy day. For dessert (lemon pound cake with fresh whipped cream) I used the bread plates for Wedgwood 'Cuckoo', the small coffee service is antique Austrian by Ernst Wahliss, the teacups are antique Minton and the sugarbowl is cobalt jasperware by Wedgwood.

Just a close up. After all of the wine we needed some sparkling water!The tea (violet from Laduree) was served on my sideboard from my wedgwood 'cuckoo' teapot. The sterling tea strainer was NOT fun to polish after a few years of not being used! Crystal candlesticks I brought back from my trip to Paris in the fall.

Thanks for bringing the champagne! Champagne flutes by Baccarat.
The evening had some ups and downs -the foil from the champagne gave me a nasty cut which would NOT stop bleeding! The rest of the rose was the best medicine......

I love simple meals like this with very little mess (especially in a tiny apt). The huge roast beef (which i'll be eating for a week!) was accompanied by roasted carrots, celery and potatoes cooked with butter, garlic and sage. I LOVE the pattern on my potholders -the chickens always make me smile (from william sonoma)! I hope you enjoyed the meal as much as we did!

More Home Cooking

I know I'm a florist and you would think I would be posting pics of all the beautiful flowers we have at the shop and some of the arrangements we've been doing. But forget that. Right now I'm into what we've been eating or are going to eat.



Tonight is Katsu-don, pork cutlet over rice. I have shown this dish before but minus recipe. I have by my side, a little stained piece of paper torn from The New York Times magazine, sometime ago. It calls for 4 lean boneless pork chops pounded 1/4 of an inch thin, dipped into egg and coated with panko. Actually they want you to dust with flour first but I skip that step. Then I chill the meat cutlets and apparently write a blog entry.


When ready to eat, I put on a pot of sticky rice and in a medium skillet place a thinly sliced yellow onion in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of mirin(japanese rice wine) and 1/2 cup of water and simmer until onion is wilted.



While this is happening I cook the pork cutlets in batches until golden. Then when there is a little liquid left in the onion pan, pour 3 lightly beaten eggs atop and poach on the onion/soy mixture (do not stir).



When the egg has set a bit, scatter a handful of cooked peas over the egg. Divide the omelet into 4 pieces, place on top of steamed rice , slice the cutlets into slices and pour the pan juices over all this goodness. The original recipe adds pickled red ginger and crumbled, toasted nori. Maybe yes, maybe no, all depends what I have in the house.

With or without the garnishes, this is a delish dish.

Cards in Waterstones!

Happy days! These cards that we did for teNeues have been picked up by Waterstone's. Fantastico!

ice cool weekend

Looking back at my weekend, I'm seeing a trend in activities. Stewart Falls @ Sundance.

my first time snowshoeing and I loved it. It was a full moon so the snow sparkled and the shadows were unrealistic like I was in a black and white movie. We had a clear view of the falls the entire hike up +plus+ no one had been there for awhile so the fresh snow was perfect.

a story for another time: pouncing on a tiny mouse and the high speed chase that ensued.

Angela, Terry, me, Lane {ultimate adventure dude and mfc - male friend consultant - great for the ins and outs of dating}



Ice Castle at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, UT. My friend Adrienne told me last week, 'You take pictures of just regular icicles so you really should see this place.' She was right, way cooler than I thought it was going to be. Although the company was really what made it great.



Ice Skating in Midway. My favorite reoccurring dream is ice skating backwards. I like in real life too, but not as much as the dreams, bc in them I can practically fly I'm going so fast.



the question of the day I'll pose to you my dear readers: should I keep design sparrow strictly design, or continue inserting bits of life in with it? I hear all the time 'we miss Sushicat, bring it back!'
Was it the name? Or the stories? I'm trying to do it all here too. Keeping up 2 blogs just feel a little on the excessive side for this girl who is trying to par down on fluff. And really, there is no separating design/life for me. The two are completely intertwined. How do I take one out of the other? Where do I post the entry about ice when I could just as much make it all about how awesome the colors were and how we couldn't stop touching the texture or how my mind was whirring away w/ideas..

Petit Trianon: antechamber

I thought I would begin the tour of Marie Antoinette's personal rooms with her monogram. This metalwork of her initials are the doorknobs (modern) of the tour entrance to the Petit Trianon, where the gift shop is. You are then led through the service courtyard, along the rough stone corridor, through the guards chamber, up the grand staircase and arrive at the Antechamber or anteroom (follow all that without getting lost?).

This is a small room which seperates the 'public' grand stairhall from the dining room. The room continues the beautiful soft green seen in the billiards room but with more highly finished boiseries. As this building is done in the neoclassical style (and for me is the epitome of it), the boiseries are delicate: narrow stiles and rails with restrained ornamentation.

You see the room above off the grand stairhall in blue. The single window on the left faces the formal French Garden with the view culminating at the French Pavilion. The 2 windows on the bottom of the plan face the entry courtyard. The French garden was left in the more formal style put in place by Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV while the rest of the gardens were done in a more casual 'English' garden style favored at the time, as witnessed today when you visit. The room is lit by a traditional french lantern befitting the style. Under the lantern you see the top of the famous Portrait of MA, 'Marie Antoinette a la rose' by Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun.

The portrait was hurriedly comissioned in 1783 after the first portrait of Marie Antoinette by Lebrun created a scandal for the informal way in which she was depicted. So in this portrait, she is shown in high 'court' style in full makeup and satin gown.
The room has 2 beautiful white marble busts on columns flanking the window with the garden view, but unfortuantely I can't remember who they are!
The doors leading into the dining room have a more ornate boiserie and again, beautiful gilded bronze hardware. Imagine carving all of this by hand!

And The Winner Is

I have done nothing today. For some people on a day off this is not unusual. For little Ms.Busy (me) it's a rarity. I went to Anthropologie and bought a glass knob for 6.00 to go on the lid of a green glass canister we got at the Goodwill for 3.49. Hmmm. There was also some clothes shopping, lunching, coffee drinking and laughing. Now I'm catching up on blog reading and debating what to cook for dinner.

Yesterday was busy. We grocery shopped, went Goodwill hunting, did laundry and a modicum of cleaning. A friend invited himself over to watch football and eat pizza. " Why not make pizza?" I said to myself while changing the sheets. I had saved a recipe posted by Heather of A Day In The Country and had fresh mozzarella and a can of tomatoes to make a sauce. We never got to watch the game but the 2 pizzas we made were consumed with gusto by 6 people. As advertised the dough was foolproof and rose to alarming heights. I doubled the recipe and next time will split the dough in half and make thinner pizza. And yes Virginia, there will be another time. This recipe is a winner. Thanks Heather.