roasted, and baked

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Saturday night, all tucked in, going nowhere, and couldn’t be happier. Travel, while great, has me roasted.

To compensate, it’s been all things work and domestic. Brussels sprouts, clipped off with kitchen shears, combined with some olive oil and good old kosher salt, and roasted in the oven. Almost like eating potato chips, ha.

Baked the cookies for the new neighbors, they’ve been here since August, and delivered with, shocker, a bottle of wine, always feeling just a bit behind. 🙂

Every day dress, roasted, and baked.

Thanks everyone for reading. Thinking this might be a good little feel good about what you do blog. Thinking that if you like to dress and you like to cook or even simply like to eat, you might find something of interest here. Everything we all do matters. For those that like numbers, site visits are about 200 per day, so you all out there, small group and couldn’t be happier, seem to keep coming back. Thank you.

Have a great and safe weekend. xo

 

dress and cook

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Kind of at a blogging standstill so decided to just jump right back in with the things I seem to do best: dress and cook. Simple they may be but they both move us all through the day.

Yesterday for an off-site client meeting wore the few new things that have been added to the rotation: sweater, scarf, bag. Pretty standard, especially when paired with black jeans, a bit of the difference being doing the sweater in cashmere and making certain that the jeans are hemmed to a good length. So many of us run around in jeans all day and really by paying attention to the length of your pant your style standard can be instantly upgraded.

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Dinner was simple oven baked wild cod, pan roasted organic sweet grape tomatoes, blanched and then sautéed green beans. Salad and bread on the side and dinner done. No cookbook, no google search, no recipes needed.

Not going for any fashion or food empire here, intent is to inspire the women (and men) that matter to me to do small things every day that make their days better.

Every day dress, dress and cook. xoxo

bring it home

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Haven’t posted since last week Saturday, busy week. Two weeks in France can set you back a bit, no complaints.

Travel abroad teaches so much. Always fun to bring it home. Tonight’s dinner snapped on the iPhone made from last weekends ham for the dozen or so teenaged girls for a Sunday morning post football game sleepover. Ham and Lentil Soup and Grilled Gruyère Sandwiches on days old sliced crusty bread. Anything I read about French cooking tells me that they never waste a thing, use everything to everything.

Every day dress, bring it home.

 

dress for dinner

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There’s something magical about the shift from day to night: a new chapter, a new beginning, another coming together.

To mark the transition, it’s always nice to dress for dinner.

You might change everything you wore before or simply light the candles, reapply your lip and (finally) brush your hair, the key being the mind-set to move beyond.

We love to dress for dinner, whatever that may be on any given day.

Photos taken at rented château in I’lsle-sur-la-Sorgue France | Hermès scarf, worn as dress

Every day dress, dress for dinner, wherever you may be. Yeah, photos a little blurry, we were really liking the wine. xoxo

make time for pesto

IMG_1630IMG_1633IMG_1635IMG_1638IMG_1640IMG_1645There’s something so soul satisfying about pulling leaves off of a basil stem. We’ve been watering those things all summer long and now it’s time to pull in the harvest. Even from a small kitchen pot garden it’s a gratifying thing when you make time for pesto.

Pesto tolerates time in the freezer, yikes, the only thing in there now is ice cream and gelato.

Every day dress, make time for pesto.

lunch for two, dinner for six

IMG_1605IMG_1609IMG_1598When fashion week is going on in the big city and you claim you’re a fashion and lifestyle blog and you’re home working, you kind of have to default to the lifestyle stuff, how in the world else can the content be the least bit interesting? There are tons of blogs and social sites out there reporting on all that’s happening, and we’re home watching.

We’ve talked about this before, this is an every day site, accessible to all and existing to inspire to find the good and the style in the every day of every day.

So, here’s what’s been happening: husband and I have decided there’s been much too indulgence in the French trinity of  bread, wine, cheese. Cutting back on all but heck no not eliminating. And back to the gym, this new trainer is all about push-ups. Politely asked the trainer that in addition to the body we could focus on the chin, arms, abs trinity, ha.

Lunch for two inspired by NET-A-PORTER video of some fabulous stylish London woman prepping a salad with one egg for the protein part. Oh, it was beautiful, and sometimes think that vegetables and one egg could do it for lunch but have now lived long enough and have kind of learned that maybe there’s more.  There’s always so much to do after lunch: work, house, pick-up, laundry, garden, dinner, clean-up, dogs etc etc.

When it’s just two, greens and a piece of cod, quite nice.

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When it’s six you need to mix in some rice, and some tortillas, and a pile of cheese. Vegetables still there, and green peppers are prime now, so sauté those separately from the onions and then stir them all together when both are at the right doneness.

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Every day dress, lunch for two dinner for six. Fashion coming back soon, off to France again this coming weekend. Oh, trinity, bread, wine, cheese.

 

tried and true

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Simple post here: while the husband is off in Newport RI and Boston MA getting twenty-something daughters prepped for the new school and work year, we stayed upstate, (teenaged daughters and I), and spent just about every cent we had on their back to school stuff.

One thing we came home with that always brings pleasure and satisfaction, a new stack of dish towels. Tried and true and maybe a bit pedestrian but when you feel like so much is going on all around you there is a feeling of well-being when opening the kitchen drawer and finding freshly laundered and ironed dish towels. No fabric softener here, we want to the real deal. Like scented candles on the dining table, some things are left better undone.

Every day dress, tried and true and finding order in the kitchen by bringing home new towels.

Wishing everyone a safe Labor Day weekend filled with rest and relaxation.

Kitchen Towels | Williams Sonoma

dinner is easy


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This time of year, all you really need to do is gather up what’s good and fresh and put it together. First in, Coho salmon, local corn, homegrown tomatoes, done. Next night, revisited the CA pizza thing, homemade dough with 1 1/4 cups hot water, (perceived temperature even though we do have the thermometer), 2 packages active dry yeast, 1 tablespoon honey (we like it when the hive is still in there), 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and 4 cups King Arthur flour. Mix it up in the Kitchen Aid for about 10 minutes, roll it out on the counter, add whatever you like with some more olive oil on top, bake it up in a hot oven, add a green salad, and dinner is easy.

After a day with work, dinner is the treat, and dinner is easy.

Jeans | Slouched Slim | Joe’s Jeans

Shirt | Vince | (from second son’s closet)

on the edge

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Totally on the edge right about now, wanting everyone to get back to where they need to be come September 1st. Have had this feeling every end of summer since having a couple of kids, simply wanting everyone to get through the swimming, boating, driving, flying, (drinking), safely, and to resume work, study, play.

Last weekend we tucked in about 34 adults for food and drink at the ski house for husband’s office weekend retreat. Dina’s Restaurant, thank you, food was out of the park and you took the edge off of being on the edge.

Every day dress, honestly, a little on the edge. Be safe everyone. xo

(no) more chicken

IMG_1353IMG_1355IMG_1352Husband confided to oldest daughter last night while having a post-work glass of wine that if it was chicken for dinner he wasn’t in. ha

Felt challenged at first, what’s wrong with what works? After a day full of stuff that needs to get done we all need/like to eat. Did chicken tonight, and yes he was in. 🙂

Buy the best that you can, and keep it seasonal too. Note the difference in two pots of basil: one on the left, ordinary store-bought, one on the right, organic specialty nursery stock.

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Makes me think of my clients that tell me (no) more black, or, (not) one more black dress.

When given the choice of dinner or not I’ll take more chicken please, and yes, another black dress.

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Post dinner activities included hand trimming flag-stone pathway. Totally understand how the face, body, and entire cities can sink after a while.

Every day dress, more chicken, and yes, another great black dress. Why not?