july 4th roundup

July 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays. It reminds me of the Adirondacks, boating, campfires, and lobster bakes {oh and fireworks, I guess}. Unfortunately since moving down south I usually find myself working and missing out on all the Independence Day fun. If I were enjoying the day's festivities, I think I would like to be sporting some of these items.

1. Mint Crown Fedora; 2. Stripe Boatneck; 3. Cape Cod Beach Tote; 4. Whale Towel; 5. Jackie Ohh II sunglasses; 6. Cobalt Jug; 7. Arden Wedge; 8. Steven Alan skirt

sunday sweets {prosecco-raspberry gelee}

I've been making a lot of cakes and pies lately, and while they're delicious, I wanted to change it up a bit. Also, Jacob wanted something light and summery. So, while flipping through Bon Appetite the other day, I came across this recipe. It's quick, easy, and won't leave you feeling like you ate one bite too many. It's also very pretty, and if you have any fancy glasses lying around that you haven't had a chance to use lately, this is the perfect excuse.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh raspberries

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 750 ml chilled bottle Prosecco

3 1/2 tsp. unflavored gelatin

3/4 orange-flower water {this step is optional, so I used rose water instead, but I should warn you, it's much more potent so if you choose to use it, only add a couple of drops, taste and go from there. If you add the same amount as the orange water, you're going to be eating a gelee with the same taste and smell as perfume}

Directions:

Place raspberries 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tbsp. lemon juice in a medium bowl: toss gently to combine. Let stand at room temperature until raspberries release their juices, tossing occasionally, 20-30 minutes.

Place 1/2 cup Prosecco in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over and let stand 5 minutes to soften. Bring 1 cup Prosecco to a boil with remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, add gelatin and stir until dissolved.

Transfer gelatin mixture to a large pitcher. Add raspberries with juices, remaining Prosecco, remaining 1 tbsp. lemon juice, and orange-flower water {or substitute} stirring to dissolve any sugar.

Using a slotted spoon, divide raspberries equally among coupe glasses or other small, wide, shallow glasses or cups. Divide Prosecco mixture equally among glasses, about 3/4 cup per glass. Chill gelee until firm, about 3-4 hours.

Enjoy!

honey badger

If you haven't seen this, you need to. Stupid? Yes, but it still made me laugh pretty hard. Laughing only increased when I saw these mugs after watching the video. I want one. I want one NOW.

{mugs from Jen Ray via Design Crush}

happy first day of summer!

{via black eiffel}

Although it's felt like summer here for the last couple of months, today the first official day. Wouldn't it be nice to have a summer picnic like this one? If only it weren't 100 degrees here.

sunday sweets {pistachio, yogurt & elderflower cake}

Things were going so well.

By now you may have caught on that I am not the most graceful of bakers. I make a lot of mistakes, I get angry easily, and more often than not, my desserts don't look like they do in magazines. However, despite their lack of visual appeal, they are always delicious, which I suppose, is what truly matters.

With this cake from Jamie Oliver's magazine, I made a promise to myself in the beginning that I was going to read everything and follow the recipe exactly. I was NOT going to make a mistake, and it was going to look glorious. For the most part, I kept this promise to myself. Everything was going to swimmingly, the batter looked correct, and was quite tasty, it cooked perfectly, the icing was going well; everything seemed to be perfect. It is at these moments when the likelihood of disaster is at its highest.

I went to flip the cake onto my cake stand {something I usually have Jacob do in fear that I will ruin everything, he was not here though, so I was forced to do it myself. So really this is his fault}, and it seemed to be stuck, despite my excessive use of pan spray. I thought a good shake might do the trick, and guess what? It did. The cake came out in chunks, which I then puzzled back together while mumbling obscenities under my breath. After "gluing" the chunks together with icing I was left with this:

Just once I would like my dessert to turn out like this:

Oh well, it's still rather tasty. Lots of elderflower and pistachio taste, which I love. So give it a try, it's great for the summer, and perhaps you can make it prettier than mine.

Ingredients: {they were originally measured in grams, but I've taken the liberty of converting them for you}

For the cake:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup pistachios roughly chopped

1/2 cup ground almonds

1 cup polenta {this was confusing since polenta is mainly cornmeal, I bought an instant polenta mix and used that}

2 tbsp greek yogurt

3 eggs

zest and juice of 1 lemon

Elderflower syrup:

5 oz elderflower cordial

2-3 tbsp runny honey

lemon juice, to taste

Elderflower icing:

1 cup greek yogurt

3 tbsp powdered sugar

2tbsp elderflower syrup

Directions:

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.Grease and line the base and sides of a round cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the pistachios, almonds, polenta, baking powder, and yogurt and mix well.

2. Crack in the eggs, one by one, and mix in. Add the lemon zest and juice, stir to combine and pour the mixture into the cake. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

For the syrup:

1. Place the cordial and honey in a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until thickened. Taste and add a squeeze of lemon juice, if necessary.

2. Reserve 2 tablespoons of syrup for the icing. Poke holes in the cake using a skewer. Pour remaining syrup over the warm cake and let cool completely.

For the icing:

1. Mix the yogurt, powdered sugar, and syrup until smooth. Spread over the cooled cake and top with a handful of chopped pistachios.

Enjoy!

in the wilds - nigel peake

Remember when I mentioned that I was sent a copy of Mike Perry's Pulled? Well apparently this put me on some sort of list with Princeton Architectural Press and they've sent me another new book {i'm not sure how this happened but i'm definitely not going to complain}. In the Wilds is a collection of illustrations from Nigel Peake based on his observations from rural life. Simple and beautiful, this book is a welcome addition to my collection and one I probably wouldn't have thought to pick up otherwise.

midnight in paris

Go see this movie.

There are so many reasons for absolutely loving this film. For starters it's directed by Woody Allen, and the way he captured the spirit and beauty of Paris is truly enchanting. If you have any sort of love for art, music, or literature, you'll find yourself in love and incredibly jealous of Owen Wilson's character. From dancing with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald to inspiring a Picasso painting to talking rhinoceros with Dali, the movie packs in icon after icon, while managing to keep it believable {believable being a relative term since the story is focusing on time travel}.

Anyway, I was clearly enthralled by this movie. I sat in my seat for the entire two hours with a huge smile on face, unable to make it go away. Also I went by myself to a matinee on a Sunday. Do you know what kind of people go to a Sunday matinee of a Woody Allen flick? Couples apparently 70+. As if the movie wasn't good enough, I was also entertained by the audience's commentary. They showed a trailer for the new Tribe Called Quest documentary, just imagine a bunch of old people's reaction to that. Classic.

Seriously though, GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

have a wonderful weekend!

{via sunsurfer}

Jacob is going on a fishing trip this weekend for Father's Day, so I plan on staying here with the buddies and getting stuff done. I think I may also take this opportunity for some much needed girl time, complete with a trip to a girly movie and dinners.

Around the web:

1. Amazing relief paintings from Gregory Euclide.

2. Alice in Waterland.

3. Bake by numbers pie plate.

4. Dinosaurs!

5. This colorful wedding, how awesome are those bridesmaids?

Also, Happy Father's Day to this guy. Love you Dad!

etsy finds

{the first freedom}

{complete succulent wall art}

{pride and prejudice little vintage hearts}

{turkish bath towel}

{power off}

{color study locket II}

{rainfall stitched and signed print}

maptote

Maptote consists of Rachel Rheingold {a fashion stylist} and Michael Berick {a cartographer}. They started the business because of their love for travel and their desire to work together. Now, aside from grocery totes, they carry wine totes, notes, bandanas, and prints. Their bags are so fun and playful, and one can never have too many totes. Don't you think they'd be a perfect party favor for a destination wedding, or perhaps a gift to yourself after a memorable trip? I think I may have to order a few of these, starting with the wine bags.

penguin book designer {allison colpoys}

I would like to steal her job, now.

How amazing are these books? What a beautiful mix of color, illustration, and typography. I love how the design is carried through each book, just lovely. For more photos of Allison's work and for a full interview click here.

sunday sweets {sangria]

I'm trying to be better about food. Lately we've been eating healthy dinners together with lots of veggies from our garden and lots of grilled fish or chicken. I'm trying to be better about not keeping too many sweets in the house too, which is a huge problem for me {refer to all other sunday sweets posts}.

So this week I thought I'd do something different and include a sweet summery drink. Something that's incredibly easy to make and will still allow you to put a bathing suit on later without wanting to die.

Ingredients:

1 bottle of red wine {I used shiraz}

1 bottle of blackberry schnapps

ginger ale

fresh fruit: I used oranges, blueberries, and peaches {you can also use lemons, limes, strawberries, blackberries etc.}

Directions:

Pour wine, ginger ale {it should be about 3/4 wine 1/4 ginger ale} and schnapps into container or serving pitcher {add 1/2 bottle of schnapps firs and then taste, add more depending on preference}. Slice oranges and peaches and add them to the wine, also adding whole blueberries and stir. Let refrigerate before serving.

monday morning eye candy

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I wanted to start off the week by mentioning Sweet Paul's summer issue online now. The issue is so beautiful and has a ton of ideas for summer recipes and decorating. Plus it has an article about summer salads with the most amazing photos of veggies I have ever seen {like the one above}. Check it out!

happy weekend!

Quick, someone take Franklin so I can justify buying a pig!

Around the web this week:

1. Another awesome hair tutorial from a cup of Jo.

2.Keri Russell's awesome Brooklyn brownstone featured in Elle Decor.

3. The Elements of Happiness.

4. Ruche's new summer lookbook is lovely.

5. I could get into this color blocking trend if it's this awesome.

6. Summer decor mood boards from some very stylish people.

Have a great weekend!

moleskin stop motion ad

MINI PLANNERS from Moleskine ® on Vimeo.

This ad may be from 2010 but it's still awesome. Designed and filmed by Rogier Wieland in the Netherlands, this video combines three of my favorite things: moleskin notebooks, paper, and stop motion.

abita S.O.S.

Abita is a craft brewery outside of New Orleans. Jacob and I picked up their SOS Pilsner last fall at CBX mostly because it was for a great cause {but also because the bottle art is awesome}. With each bottle bought, Abita donates 75 cents to relief efforts in the gulf. People may not talk about the oil spill that much anymore, but it's really important to keep it in mind, since it's something that region, and the country, will be dealing with for years to come. Political opinions aside, this is a wonderful idea, and it's not Abita's firs, they also created Restoration Ale after Katrina. This pilsner is great for a hot day, and the bottle would make a lovely vase, because it's just too pretty to throw away. Also you can feel good about yourself and the company when you buy it, which is always nice.

Check out the SOS website, it's pretty awesome.

win a trip to paris! oolala!

Did I get your attention?

Oh Happy Day is sponsoring a 7 day trip for 2 to Paris. How amazing is that? The trip includes airfare and a stay at one of Paris' hippest boutique hotels, Mama Shelter. {they have chewbacca bed lamps. if this doesn't impress you, i just don't know what will.} Anyway, needless to say, I would like to win this. However, I encourage you to enter as well, and then, perhaps bring me as your guest, since I did tell you about it. It's only fair.

To enter go here. Good luck!

sunday sweets {thrills}

Better late than never, right?

As I've mentioned in previous posts, it's extremely hot here in Savannah. Despite this, Jacob and I have been trying to spend a lot of time outside, either at the beach, kayaking, or in the backyard. So, sometimes we need something to help us cool down, and the ice cream truck isn't always around. This sweet is perfect for that.

I'm sure you're familiar with ice push-pops, popsicles, and ice cones, but this is slightly different. These are slightly... what's the word I'm looking for? ... ghetto. In the best possible way. Many times people use Kool Aid for the liquid in this, I chose to use pineapple juice because I don't really like my desserts to be too sweet, but if you have a serious sweet tooth, then by all means go for it.

These are super easy to make and they're so refreshing. My favorite part about them is that the fruit is kept chunky, so you're not just scooping out flavored ice, but chunks of strawberries and pineapple. For these I chose to do both a strawberry/pineapple/gin and then a pineapple rum version. Of course these can be made non-alcoholic too, but where's the fun in that?

Ingredients:

Frozen Strawberries and Pineapples {you can use other fruit as well}

one large can pineapple juice

your favorite liquor {to taste}

plastic cups and popsicle sticks

Directions:

Run warm water over the fruit, you don't want them to be completely frozen. Place pineapple and strawberries in two separate bowls. Add about a cup or two of pineapple juice to each bowl. Use a stick blender to blend up the fruit, but make sure to leave it chunky.

Add the remainder of the pineapple juice to each bowl, dividing them equally. Add liquor to each if you would like, starting with about half a cup and then adding depending on how boozy you would like it. Divide mixtures evenly amongst 6 plastic cups {3 for each flavor}. Place cups in the freezer, after a couple of hours, when the mixtures are beginning to freeze {slushy stage} place one popsicle stick in each cup's center. Keep in freezer until completely frozen.

Enjoy!