Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ice Cream Social

I’ve always wanted to make my own ice cream so when I found out that my new roomie Merav has an ice cream maker, I was beyond excited. Along with our neighbor Janelle, we decided to make good use of the ice cream machine and try a new flavor every week. Here are photos of our creations so far.


Our first ice cream attempt was salted caramel. I love sweet and salty flavor combination and this was really rich and creamy. We finished it off with sprinkles of sea salt.


This honey lavender ice cream was super light with a great floral taste. We tried to make our own sugar cones but they were sort of crumbly.


Guinness milk chocolate ice cream, recipe by David Lebovitz. I'd venture to say this was one of the best ice creams I've eaten. Like ever. We used high quality Scarffen Berger which really sealed the deal. Photo by Merav Lahr.


Blueberry muffin ice cream recipe from Kitchy Kitchen. This is a brown butter ice cream with homemade blueberry jam and streusel swirled in.


Flavors coming up next include sweet corn, apricot and basil, and cookie dough!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Barbizon Lingerie

I am not one for modern lingerie but something about vintage lingerie really tickles my fancy, especially pieces from the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Obviously wearing someone’s old panties is a little creepy but tap pants, slips and dressing gowns have such a special feel and they are cut so much more beautifully than cheesy lingerie that you see today.


Vintage lingerie is actually not that easy to come by, I guess like most people today, undergarments were mostly worn and tossed out when they became skeevy. Whenever I see a special piece of lingerie, I make sure to snap it up for the shop and last week I found this slip by Barbizon on a thrifting trip. Not knowing much about the brand, I did some research and found some really interesting tidbits.


Barbizon was established as a brand in 1933 specializing in silk and rayon lingerie, not the cheap-feeling nylon that you see in a lot of lingerie today. What set Barbizon apart though is that instead of sourcing their fabric from outside companies, they made all of it in-house. Each Barbizon fabric was given a playful name like Saucy, Beau Belle and Trubeau as you can see on the slip that I have. Each one also comes with the U.S. patent number on the tag so you can actually see when the fabric was introduced which as a vintage clothing geek I find super interesting.


According to the Vintage Fashion Guild, Barbizon was bought by the Vanity Fair Corporation in 1991 and it sadly doesn’t appear to be produced any more. There are lots of lovely pieces on Etsy, here are a few of my favorites.

A cute cami from Fab Gabs Vintage


A Lovely embroidered bias cut '30s nightgown from Union Made Bride


I really like the flirty print of this babydoll nightgown set from Shop Style Vintage


A beautiful and simple slip from Marie's Vintage


Stunning scalloped edge and embroidered trim bodice on this slip from Empress Jade Vintage

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

A New York City-Style 4th of July

For me, the 4th of July has always meant beaches and BBQs so for the past few years that I’ve lived in New York, I always try to get out of town to celebrate the holiday. This year I decided to give New York’s 4th of July festivities a try and it ended up being a great decision. We had a lovely picnic in Central Park complete with pulled chicken sandwiches, potato and green bean salad and three kinds of berry deserts. Then we made our way over to see the fireworks at a friends apartment who has an amazing view of the Hudson River. I hope everyone had a relaxing Independence Day as well!


Pulled chicken sandwiches with spicy slaw, potato and green bean salad.


Cherry hand pies from Bon Appetit. These were seriously delicious.

Peach and blueberry cobler with cornmeal topping from Smitten Kitchen.

Serving up some goold old fashioned apple pie and wearing a maxi from the shop.