List 94

Love: My friend Lisa's idea, from her blog Picnic, for inexpensive, stylish present wrapping:  brown paper bag + binder clip + any wintery Instagram picture. This is especially brilliant for people like myself whose presents tend to look like they were wrapped by a small child, or perhaps even an animal lacking opposable thumbs. 

Like: This always reliable, always delicious Smoked Salmon Dip from Bon Appetit, for any holiday cocktail party.

Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe

Discovery: Some of my favorite gift ideas for the year...

For the geek, any (all?) of these Star Wars prints from etsy's CONCEPCIONSTUDIOS. 

For ladies/readers, these lovely versions of the chick canon, sold at Anthropologie.

For the entertainer, monogrammed cocktail napkins from Mark & Graham, in the typewriter font.

For me (hopefully), some new rain gear: a Pendleton umbrella and L.L. Bean Maine hunting boots, based on their original 1912 model.

Obsession: My new favorite weeknight dinner - Eggs with Chickpeas, Spinach and Tomato - which is as easy as it is comforting during this hectic holiday month. Bonus: it's healthy too.

Recipe here.

Complaint: Stella's, not mine: that we only have "totally, completely not-exciting" strands of white lights decorating the trees in front of our house.  She is deeply disappointed that we haven't gone full Christmas Wonderland like the houses on Alameda's Thompson Ave, who've been putting on a show every December since 1938 (save for during World War II mandatory blackouts), and where we went to walk around and mail her Santa letter last weekend.  For my part, I'm glad that other people go for it, so I don't have to.

List 92

Love: I ♥ NY. What a crazy time to be there for a vacation.

There were the expected highs, like spending a wonderful Saturday in Brooklyn, perusing the flea market and ogling brownstones in Fort Greene and Carroll Gardens.  

There were the silver linings, like riding out Hurricane Sandy in the cozy Bowery Hotel, where strangers bonded and the staff kept us all safe, warm and well-looked after, even pouring champagne for everyone when the power failed as the storm raged outside. And getting to spend quality time with friends David and Tia in Brooklyn, who took us in when we were forced to leave Lower Manhattan, as well as with my brother. 

And, of course, there were the lows: seeing such a great city brought to its knees, dark, flooded, and scarred by destruction, and seeing so many peoples' lives upended. New York City will come back - and so will we. 

Blackout as seen from our 12th floor room at The Bowery

Like: Perla's calamari - narrow winner of this trip's best bite food bracket.  No picture (when you eat dinner at 11 pm you're too hungry to pause for photos) but it was delicious, pan fried in much larger pieces than you normally see, and served atop a bright lemon-basil sauce.

Discovery: ISH Premium Horseradish, sold at various green markets and food fairs around New York, as well as a handful of shops.  They make a citrus variety with fresh oranges and lemons that is to die for, and unexpectedly perfect on a cracker spread with blue cheese.

Obsession: Making my own punch, after having a glass of the daily special at Prime Meats.  It was so good I was inspired to track down this vintage mid-century Dorothy Thorpe-style punch bowl set on Etsy, and to find a few recipes, like Prime Meat's "Rosemary, Baby", to try out at our holiday party this year.

Complaint: Depressing but true: sometimes even the restaurant bathrooms in NYC restaurants have cooler interior designs than 98% of the restaurants in the Bay Area. Every place we went to had me pea green with envy that it's not in my town.  The manager of Perla gave me his theory: in general, restaurants here are dealing with smaller but more expensive spaces, and that forces them to be creative in a resourceful way (versus a hire-a-fancy-designer-to-come-up-with-a-theme way), plus they have the benefit of great bones and character to build upon - tin ceilings, brick walls, old mouldings, etc.  And, even when their interiors are the result of more effort and study, ala Keith McNally, they just look damn good, like they've been around forever.

Walter Foods:

Flatbush Farm and BarN:

Prime Meats:

Peels:

Perla:

Pulino's - including their bathroom

List 78

Love: The Boxcar Children was a childhood favorite of mine - to read and endlessly play act - so it's been lovely to re-read it this past week with Stella. The idea of four resourceful kids fending for themselves while living in the abandoned train car in the woods (storing bottles of milk in their cold creek "refrigerator", gathering mis-matched cracked dishes and pots from the town dump, finding eggs in the woods for supper, etc.)is as appealing now as ever.

Like: Tasting Table's Year of the Dinner Party series, which promises to provide ideas and inspiration for entertaining for the coming year.  Based on the first two entries, I'm hooked.

http://www.tastingtable.com/multipart_article/national/121

Discovery: Friskies' brilliant Cat Fishing app, which played a small part in keeping our poor cat Clara sane during her 8-week confinement following surgery (she was hit by a car in January.)  As of today, she's a free girl and authorized to be a normal cat again. 

Obsession: The current post-advertising fantasy gig is owning a small, modern urban inn above a bar or restaurant. Not unlike Longman and Eagle in Chicago or Detroit's Honor and Folly.

Complaint: That I don't have a picture of the finished dish to help convey this, but I swear this recipe for Guinness-Braised Beef Brisket is the easiest and most delicious centerpiece to a St. Patrick's Day dinner, if you are so inclined this Saturday.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/guinness-braised-beef-brisket-10000000577146/

List 50

Love: Using brown eggs, rather than white ones, for dyed Easter eggs. The colors turn out mellower and more interesting, with speckles showing through.

Like: These Peeps tributes to iconic movie scenes, sent to me by my friend Gigi, who knows how much I dig any kind of diorama.

Discovery: Risotto for brunch. I never would have considered that before, but this recipe for Bacon and Leek Risotto with a Poached Egg looks like the perfect Easter brunch idea.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/04/bacon_and_leek_risotto_with_poached_egg

Obsession: I like dark, moody paint colors for the house - "Monk's Cloth" brown, "Thunderhead" grey, etc. But I have always wanted a room inspired by certain Easter colors - like Robin's Egg Blue, or sea green. Maybe a slightly darker Peacock blue would be a nice middle ground.

Complaint: Easter is almost upon us and I have yet to enjoy my annual Cadbury caramel egg.