March: In Rewind
If you follow me on social media, you’ll probably notice that I’m not the best about constantly sharing and updating what’s going on in my life. I think the reason is because I’m actually out living my life!
Of course, I love to casually share updates and pictures of food and designs when I think of it, but I usually find it too annoying to do so. So many people tell me that I need to video tape what I cook and grow my followers on my platforms, but the truth is, that’s just not who I am. I love to be in the moment when I’m cooking. I’m tasting the tastes, listening to the sounds, and smelling the smells. The act of being present during that time is so important for me. I don’t like the idea of feeling like I have to do something for likes and views. On the other hand, I know it’s so important for my small business to share what we do and expand our reach, so I recently I hired a social media intern to help me with these channels.
My intern’s been absolutely amazing, and it’s been fun to have her to collaborate with. I am so much better at coming up with ideas when I share them out loud. I always try to ensure that she feels comfortable to tell me if something is a good or bad idea but at the end of the day, we really don’t take things too seriously. I mean, it’s not heart surgery - it’s cookies and flowers!
I encourage her to try new things so when we shared our first TikTok video (one that she created and I was so pleased with) we started getting comments that weren’t the nicest. One user kindly took the time to tell us that the apartment that I had designed looked better empty than it did being decorated. Hey, to each his own, but honestly, it made me laugh. I couldn’t - and still can’t - understand why someone would take time to comment on something if they didn’t like it. Just scroll past and keep it moving. What I would have like to say was clearly this user doesn’t have very good taste…
At the end of the day, what I love about my business is that I get to make people feel comfortable and safe in their homes. To do that, I give guidance and advice but at the end of the day, I listen to what my clients want. I don’t have to live their space, they do, and if they’re happy, I’m happy. I don’t care what people think, the only thing that matters is that my clients have a great experience with me and I have a wonderful one with them. So while people may be spending their time making negative comments online, I’m spending time making people happy. And baking goodies that make them both happy and fat…!
I hope you’ll find something in the content below that will put a smile on your fave. I hope you try out my recipes and maybe find something inspiring here. If you don’t no worries, but if you do - then I’ve done what I’ve set out to do!
Spotlight Project: Murray Hill Pied a Terre
Design
Features from the Blog:
Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Tapenade
Appetizer
It’s that strange time of the year here in New York City when the fresh fruits and vegetables that I love have to be imported from warmer places. Since I’m one of those cooks that thrives at a farmers market when the ingredients are at their peak, I always try to think of ways to bring out the most delicious flavors from preserved foods. One of the ways that I love to do this is to make a Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Tapenade…
Mexican Chopped Salad
Appetizer
Dil’s always asking me to have salad for dinner and I have to admit, I hate the idea of having a salad. To me, it’s so boring and after a long day at work I want something cozy and comforting - which doesn’t seem to be present in a salad. I will say, however, that recently Dil asked me to make a Mexican salad for dinner and surprisingly, I was very into it. It took all of 15 minutes to make, I used what I had on hand and it came out great!…
Spaghetti with Walnut-Arugula Pesto
Entree
I love making pesto. There’s just something about the freshness of the basil with the sharp bite of the parmesan cheese that makes my taste buds sing. Recently I was home after a long day and was craving a big bowl of comforting pasta. Tomato sauce seemed too obvious so I thought I’d make a pesto. Of course we had run out of basil and…
My Favorite Cookbooks
Miscellaneous
Truth be told, I’m not a recipe follower. Well, that’s not entirely true. I like to follow recipes about 80% but somewhere around that mark I veer off track and put my own spin on the dish. I'm also not a book reader either, but I absolutely adore reading cookbooks…
Herbed Yogurt Salad
Side Dish
I love this salad because it’s so easy to assemble and can be made pretty far in advance. For the most part, you can get all of the ingredients in the grocery store at anytime of the year, but this is best to make when it’s asparagus season and you can pick some up from a local farmers market. The cool thing about this recipe is that the herbed yogurt is also great to use as a sauce on a sandwich so if you have any left over…
Date Night Done Right
Entertaining
Okay, so, truth be told, this was not a date night for me and my fiancé, Dil. This was actually a date night for me and one of my besties, Leigh. Dil was on vacation, so it was girls night in with all the typical things included. It had been a while since Leigh and I had a night in to talk shit and get a little schwasty on white wine, which of course we regretted the next day, but at the time was a perfect idea…
Cooking with Wine: A Playlist
Music
After a long, arduous day do you ever feel like you just need to crack open a good bottle of wine and crank up the tunes? This is my go to playlist for times when the stress of life needs to be washed away with a good dance and some great music…
Coming Soon!
Keep an eye out for some of these features:
My favorite places to eat in NYC
New projects
How to arrange Spring flowers
Spring recipes
Table settings to impress
…and more!