After the Storm: Sunshine & Macaroons!

Hope everyone had a good, safe weekend since Hurricane Irene's visit. I headed out of town for a few days, but am back in NYC and the sun is shining on a beautiful, cool day.  And even better about today: Ladurée has opened on Madison Avenue at last!

I saw the mention in the Times today and trotted up to Madison & 71st in these 5" heels.  I reported on Twitter that they were 4", but then came back and measured, yikes!

We make macaroons here in the kitchen at the catering company I work for too.  We start with almond flour.

Crushing on Color

I'm adoring the new issue of Martha Stewart Living for May, all about finding the "hue for you."  I write about pink a lot and sometimes purple, and love the palate of both with cream.  It got me thinking about shades, flavors and textures, for example:

A Pink Marc de Champagne truffle from Charbonnel et Walker, a gift my boyfriend brought me from London a few years ago,

lights at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in the Lower East Side,

water kimchi at Bibim-Bar in the East Village.  We weren't sure what it was when we had it a while back, but loved the color (and the taste),

mix for macaroons that reminded me of wampum: beads made from shells highly prized if they were rare purple,

nail art done in Korea with O.P.I. polish in Hawaiian Orchid, so pearly it reminded me of a pink seashell,

and this pic from last spring on Hudson Street.

Pink and purple together can make a gorgeous sunset,

and then it's just a tiny step away to blue, like these hyndrangeas for my Mom's birthday

and at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market in San Francisco.

And in more macaroons.

I've always loved water, and each ball in this display was filled with it at the Dining by Design tabletop event for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids).

At another event, Zaha Hadid's mobile art installation for Chanel emanated a futuristic blue glow,

and back at Angel Orensanz Foundation, this is their starry ceiling.

Hmmm...I see another blog redesign in my near future.

What's your favorite hue and do you love it alone, or mixed into a palette?

Spring Ahead Arrangement

Crazy daylight savings time...it was cool coming home before dark, but now I don't want to go to sleep yet!  Had a great work day today and picked up some hyacinths for spring (just a few more days until this Saturday, the 20th, the 1st day!, which will also be Macaron Day NYC as I mentioned here). 

These blooms are quite pale and not fully open yet, so I put them by this pink pillow to make them pop a bit.  The stalks were even paler, like white asparagus, a little too blanched, so I wrapped the vase with fresh green leaves from the inside.  I'm looking forward to longer days and the promise of spring breezes soon...

An Inspiring Evening with Martha

My first trip to Martha Stewart headquarters was back in December for their Craft Fair and last Thursday I had the privilege of attending an event to celebrate the Tastemakers featured in their April issue.  Saying that Martha is an inspiration to me (and so many) is a humble understatement and she has such an amazing and creative team.  These images are from the hallowed hall that leads to their offices.

I'd really enjoy a walk to work like this.

The April issue has 3 different covers: one featuring stenciled Easter eggs (pretty!), another with a lemon crepe cake (yum!) and the 3rd with a gorgeous flower arrangement of parrot tulips (love), lilac (a definite fave), daffodils (I didn't know there were so many different kinds!) and hellebores (never seen before, but they are splendid)

Among the many tasty bites and sips at the event were a sampling of tasty hors d'oeuvres on breads from Sullivan Street Bakery and beer from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.  There were lovely macarons from MadMac (yes, with 1 "o", the French way).  I've blogged about macarons here and here and here and MadMac's are seriously tasty; great texture and the fillings were delicious: chocolate, coffee, apricot, raspberry and pistachio:

Their website has an ad for the very 1st annual Macaron Day NYC on Saturday, 3/20 where participating locations are giving away free macarons with a portion of the day's proceeds going to City Harvest.  They're hoping to make the macaron "the new cupcake", nice.

There were also yummy chocolate caramels with gray and smoked salts from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle.  And there was a big crowd around Fleisher's Grass-Fed and Organic Meats as they demo'd how to butcher a whole pig and raffled off the parts.  I loved it when they gave Martha a big sampling and she popped it into her handbag!

I took a peek behind the scenes at the neatly organized rows of desks in the office and marveled at the inspiration boards everywhere: totally want to post pics, but don't want to spoil the next issue!  And as we left there were (very generously heavy) gift bags:

I love this April issue and can't wait to get started on spring and Easter projects.  I also had to buy the gorgeous "Pretty in Pink" Spring 2010 Weddings Issue to get inspired for a pink party this summer.

Next I really want to go to this Stitch Fest Party on April 1st to launch the new Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts.  And check out The Crafts Dept. blog for their entry on the Craft and Hobby Association's Winter Trade Show to see some amazingly enormous knit animals from Lion Brand Yarn, another of my faves.

So Many Bakeries...

These baked goodies are from Madeleine Patisserie, 132 West 23rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenue, an adorable, little bakery with a cozy seating area in the back.  The selection of macaroons is stunning: on their website they list 56 flavors including Red Wine Black Pepper, Banana Guava Orange, Pink Champagne, Lavender Nougat, Caramel Fleur de Sel.....

I'm thinking about bakeries today and how I used to love to bake and decorate all the time: I made a rubber ducky cake for my friend Sarah's baby shower, a pink "hardcover" book for my boss's birthday when I worked at a publishing company, an egg with a bow for Easter, muffins every weekend...  And even though I haven't turned my attention to baking in quite a while, I still love sampling and visiting pretty, little shops.  Speaking of which...

Today is opening day at my friend Tully Lewis's Tully's Gluten-Free Bakery at 338 East 11th Street betwen 1st and 2nd Avenue.  Now people who cannot eat gluten have beautiful and tasty options for cookies, brownies, paninis, rotating daily cupcake flavors! and more in this lovely, pink space.

I also had the privilege today of attending the launch party for the new cookbook from the folks behind Amy's Bakery with locations in Chelsea Market, the Village and Hell's Kitchen.  The new book is: Amy's Bread, Revised and Updated: Artisan-style breads, sandwiches, pizzas, and more from New York City's favorite bakery and has already been named one of 2010's Most Exciting Food Books by Publisher's Weekly.

I couldn't take any pics at the party because my hands were full of the fantastic carb-y treats like chocolate cherry rolls, rosemary foccacia, black olive twists and many more shown with their "starter" doughs so you could see the beginning and finished products.  There were also many sweets from Amy's first book: The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread: cakes, cookies, bars and pastries and more from New York City's favorite bakery, yummm...

They even gave out breakfast goody bags for tomorrow and lots of free bread to take home.  And then to end the night we came home and watched Cake Boss on TLC, the show about Carlo's Bakeshop in Hoboken, New Jersey.  The first time I went there about 6 years ago I wanted to learn how to make his stacked suitcase and purse cake and it's funny seeing it become so popular that there's a line around the block on the weekends.

Words from the Wise

One of the events I worked on during this busy week was a party for event designer Preston Bailey's book Celebrations: Lush Flowers, Opulent Tables, Dramatic Spaces, and Other Inspirations for Entertaining.

To walk into a Preston Bailey event is to be jaw-droppingly inspired and I'm so impressed with his vision and the hard work it takes to bring it to life.  I love that he can create environments with so many different materials: flowers, lighting, fabrics, beading, even paper.  Us crafters out there would be interested in his chapter on "The Art of the Details", in which he uses yarn, felt, paper and ribbon to create centerpieces, placemats, table runners and party favors:

"From floral chair backs to daisy cupcake place mats of woven ribbon, paper brought an exquisite level of texture and beauty to the table while still being functional and affordable, and prompted me to look for other similarly affordable and versatile elements".

Very cool advice from the man who is given free rein on lavish, budget-is-no-object events for everyone from Oprah to royal families around the globe and proof that (and maybe even especially in these times), creativity doesn't have to cost a fortune.