In the Garden

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know the tone of yearning in my writing when I dream about owning a home with a yard and a fruitful garden... Well, the next best thing is having a friend who has one! Freida has been immensely enjoying the benefits of the Berkowitz's (remember Zalmy?) backyard and garden these past few months. We head over there every week on Wednesday morning (the day her garden-savvy dad comes out from Huntington Beach to tend the earth and plant and reap) and hang out in the shady haven. She digs and rakes, and scouts for worms in the dirt, munching on garden bounty straight from their vines as she plays. Her garden-guru, Zevi, teaches her how to identify and uproot weeds, keeping the vibrant garden plot clean and cared for. :)

I'm such a strong believer in the importance of teaching children that food comes from a much more valuable place than the market! Watching the fascination on Freida's face when she sees fresh basil (an all-too-familiar kitchen ingredient) growing from the earth (I guess windowsill herb gardens are not nearly cool enough) was completely priceless! She walks around the garden looking at all the tags and asking Zevi which plant is where and which flowers will bloom which vegetables. It's totally adorable, and it makes me so happy to know that she is learning about the earth's resources and also able to begin to understand the concept of making specific "food group" blessings over food.

It's also incredibly peaceful to watch her pick and munch on her own choice of veggies. The sugar snap peas are out of season just now, but for a kid who only ate peas of the frozen variety, she sure consumed her fair share of fresh peas in this garden! Loved knowing all the crunchy consumption was not just fresh garden bounty, but organic, to boot!

It's just so satisfying to know that my ever-curious little person is slowly learning about where food stems from and a bit about how to tend the earth to make it grow there. (Thanks Berkowitz Family!!!!!)

Smokey Cream Sauce

Just thought I'd share a little savory revelation I stumbled upon last week while doing some Shavuot experimentation. Firstly, good pappardelle pasta makes for a way more authentic and rustic italian pasta experience (you can get some really good varieties at Trader Joe's). It's slight chewiness plus the richness of the (almost transparent!) egg flavor gives the pasta so much more depth! I felt like I was inhaling serious fragrant handmade pasta off the coast of Venice... mmmm! Anyways, enough about the noodle. Moving on to the cream sauce. And my revelation: smoked salmon. It was the most incredible combination of flavors! Use your favorite white cream sauce recipe, and add some chopped smoked salmon and sautéd spinach leaves. The smokiness of the lox coupled with the rich creaminess of the sauce was culinarily uplifting. Even Freida licked her plate!

Loose Leaf Lounging

I'm currently loving this Notebook Striped Pouf from Little Choux! I'm especially fond of the concept of it being used for a library/reading-writing corner, or as an ottoman at a homeword desk! How adorably charming??

Remember these super-cute cotton composition tees??

Indian Princess: from Play to Go

I don't know if ya'll (sorry - I'm Scotty-ed out!) remember when I posted about a fantastical collection of childrens goods over at a boutique called Wovenplay, but they had been featuring the most darling feathered headband (keeping with the feather trend!) and I've been waiting for it to hit rock-bottom sale since last spring! It still hasn't made it that far, running somewhere between $54-$44 (here, here, and here), and after creating a little feather headdress for Freida's Indian-Princess Purim costume I thought I'd tweak the headband a bit - so it can function from dress-up play to day-out accessory - before giving it to my little costume loving lady. I went with this Wovenplay inspiration:

And - for about 7 bucks - landed this:

I used a sequined headband (I had bought a pack of 3 for $1 at Forever21), scrapbook gems and craft feathers from an art supply store, a strip of craft felt, and some hot glue to hold it all together. Voilà! :)

Trends of the Feather

I don't know what exactly it is about the festival of Lag BaOmer, but somehow I've always associated this bon-fire, barbecue-ing, band-of-brothers holiday  with feathers. Perhaps it's the archery...? Anyways, feathers seem to be an item. The current "it" theme. Here's a few of my favorites: Royal Icing Cookies from Cookieboy

Feather-themed House-wares Roundup, via Apartment Therapy

Fantastic Vintage Arrows DIY

And while I generally prefer to keep this a politics-free-zone, (after today's infuriating speech; i don't really mind making a jab!) this cartoon said it all... the (lone) feather in Obama's hat.

Also, on Good Day LA this morning Jillian was rocking the most retro sweatshirt-y top displaying a cluster of graphic scrawled feathers - was so rad!! But you would have already known that, seen the picture, and see where she got it, if you'd follow FreidaFroo on Twitter and join the party!!