Shocking, i know. That I could possibly mention a European locale other than France….BUT these past few months I have periodically been watching installments of the PBS program SPAIN! ON THE ROAD AGAIN, which I purchased on iTunes when it first came out. I have finally managed to squeeze in each of the 13,1 hour-long episodes and am A) quite hungry and thirsty for wine but B) certain my next european venture will be to this beautiful locale.
The program featured American Chef Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, Spanish actress Claudia Bassols & NY TImes food critic Mark Bittman road tripping throughout all of Spain and taking in the culture as well as LOTS and LOTS of great indigenous foods and wines.
It’s truly a visual feast and has me craving some Paella !!!
IF you need a break from winter, I recommend renting this for a virtual vacation…or even better i suppose, would be to actually GO to spain!
New to ROOM SERVICE (not yet on web, will go up later today when i get into the store) are these Scandinavian-designed pieces. I LOVE the nut bow/game, what a clever idea and a GREAT gift idea for someone from the workplace, your boss even. Below the game are two different sets of cafe mugs, one set has photographic images of a city skyline with a sun and clouds drawn in and the other with a photographic image of a windmill, birds and a tree.
nothing more adorable than a wide eyed baby girl speaking french! my mom had my brothers and I in Spanish lessons with a lady down the street when i was like 3 years old, but it didn’t stick, surely if it had been french….well, who know!
so, i have not yet been to babycakes in NYC. although, i think i may have to put it on the list for my next trip in january. check it out here.
So, the other half of my “sweet sweet Sunday” was a visit to Lilly Handmade Chocolates, so that I could buy a gift for someone with a custom selection of flavors that they personally enjoy.
These kind of places are what make our town so dynamic. Be sure, this holiday season to shop independent!
Below are some pictures i took yesterday morning while in chagrin falls, to see my parents (who were not home at 8:30 in the morning, because they were out chopping wood for fire, which i though was such a cute fall morning!). I also went to Chagrin to see my BFF, Beth, who Saturday night became betrothed to her lovely boyfriend, jimmy! We had a lovely cup of coffee, the 3 of us and giggled about their big news!
So, since joining the blog world (already 7 months ago now!!), I would have to say my favorite thing, besides having a venue to exhibit things that inspire or make me happy, is the way it connects people from all over the world. Those who fear that all this advanced technology takes away the ‘humanness’ from communication or complain it is all too impersonal - They are not considering the fact that this technology, specifically internet and blogging, is connecting people that would otherwise have NO good reason to have ever crossed-paths! what a romantic notion that is to me!
I was so excited to be a part of Sofia Barao’sAUTUMN SWAP…an opportunity to SEND comfort, in the form of a comfort drink, a comfort food, comfort food for the soul, and a comfort surprise, to another participating blogger. All I have to go on is the person’s blog and a list of some of their likes/dislikes. NO ONE knows who has their name or what to expect, just that we have some comfort package being sent to us from someone somewhere in the world.
We are to POST our gifts WITHOUT mentioning who they are destined to, so without giving away too much, I can just say that, I was charmed by this person’s blog, she lives many thousands of miles away from me and other than the fact that she is a chocolate and coffee type of gal, I cannot say anything more, as I fear it would give it away to the person before she has received her package…and what fun would that be!
I have chosen things that I think she will like, but have also tried to find Cleveland-centric items, so for the coffee lover, I have chosen a Fair Trade Organic 1lb of coffee beans called KARMA which is from Phoenix Coffee Shop. For the chocolate lover, I have selected a 12-piece chocolate set filled with the flavors she savors from an amazing chocolatier right here in Cleveland, named Lilly Handmade Chocolate (see more on this in my next post). I have included one of my favorite books, because I really get the sense she may like it! I did not want to pick anything from my own store as it kind of felt like cheating, but ultimately couldn’t resist, and so after picking 3 of the 4 items from elsewhere, i also threw in a few things from my store that seemed to fall into something she could be interested in, one for art projects or correspondence and another merely for the look of it!!
above are some of the handmade chocolates in the flavors my recipient enjoys. I had so much fun assembling it, I hope she enjoys it!
So, today is my last Sunday off until 2009. I decided to do a little shopping, a little cooking, and then a little NOTHING, something I rarely allow myself to indulge in, but after the 2 weeks I have had building, painting, planning, installing… I believe I deserve it!
I had to go to Tremont today to buy some chocolates from Lilly Handmade (more to come on this later) for a gift, so I thought to make it a theme, and also stop by the newly opened shop, A COOKIE AND A CUPCAKE to get a few gifts for myself and R.L. too!!!!
Too many choices, as they all looked AMAZING, I decided to just randomly pick 4 cupcakes: a strawberry, vanilla, lemon and PB lovers ( think perhaps this means peanut butter, but we shall soon see!).
Looking at this creamy, fluffy, bright frosting I can barely wait for R.L. to get home to indulge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
have a great Sunday!! Be back tomorrow with the photos of my AUTUMN SWAP !!!
