Material Archive

On my Fall shopping list: Jeremy Laing dress

 

See more here.

Adieu Steve

Evergreen Brickworks Picnic

You'd think the rain would keep people away from the annual Evergreen Brickwork Picnic – but not hard core foodies – oh no! :) My gang and I arrived early and there were already throngs of people lined up to get in at noon. Luckily, being friends with a sponsor got us to the front of the line and in no time we were gobbling up everything in sight from Ontario's best restaurants and merchants.

Almost everything was wonderful, but, of particular note, was Auberge du Pommier's cassoulet topped with foie gras! It was very rich & perfect for a cold rainy day.

This year was my first and I can safely say I will not miss it again going forward – very worth it and totally fun.

Cottage Weekend!

Last weekend @itbitme and I visited with our wonderful friends Joel & Joanna at their cottage – it was magical.

James Nares

James Nares does these in one brush stroke while hanging suspended in a harness above the canvas. – Beautiful!

Mercy's GASPARD Opens

The store's fitting rooms are lined in Liberty prints

_

While walking home from work yesterday, I came across a lovely new boutique called Gaspard. The moment I entered, I realized it belonged to my former Portrait clients, Richard and Jennifer from Mercy. Their signature use of Liberty prints tipped me off instantly and then I recalled bumping into Richard and chatting about their upcoming venture a few months ago.

After over 15 years as Mercy, the duo have finally expanded to offer their amazing line in their own store – complete with several other clothing, shoe and jewelry lines to compliment theirs. The result is a very tightly curated vision. So happy for them.

More Nathalie Lété

I love Nathalie Lété's owl illustration so much that I broke my own rule and bought two instead keeping my collection singular. Get them at Anthro.

A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt

 

 

Quite enjoyed this little documentary about Paul Liebrandt. His absolutely tireless determination and passion made me perma-smile throughout the whole film. I never tire of watching people that care so deeply about something. And unlike the recent El Bulli doc, this one is full of commentary and personal disclosure.

Read a fun article about when Paul came to cook for Jeffrey Steingarten at his home for 2 weeks here.

Louis Vuitton Velvet Studded Heal

These are from last Fall but I'm still obsessed with them.

I want: A Vintage Rolex

 

 

 

 

 

See them here and here.

Sandbanks

 


Some snaps from a couple weekends ago!
 

August Restaurant, NYC

Based on this photo alone – I'm posting this so that I remember to go to August restaurant when I'm in NYC next month! 

Julia Dault's Mega Brush

Untitled (mega brush), 2011
Oil on canvas
72" x 60"

By Julia Dault

Miu Miu Glitter Booties: Indulge me

Ok ok, I know – it's a bit OTT to post so many photos of my shoes – but I seriously love them. They are currently sitting on my shelf as art – can't bare to put them away in their box... Every time I see them, they make me smile.

Yes please & thank you: Baguette vending machine

"Enterprising French baker Jean-Louis Hecht offers fresh bread 24 hours a day thanks to his "automated baguette dispenser". via

The Perfect "Rustic" Martini Bar

I've seen these mix-it-yourself "rustic martini bar" photos endlessly on blogs for some time – only today did I find their source! From the lovely ladies at Sunday Suppers no less.

Recette filmée : Macarons

The CNE: A yearly tradition of pigging out

We ate: corn dogs, crisps, deep fried Twinkie, funnel cake with ice-cream, deep fried butter, lemonade, poutine and spaghetti. I am not kidding when I say I actually had a food hangover the next day – was slated to leave for an early morning roadtrip to Picton and I couldn't negotiate being vertical for several hours! Sugar is a killer!

It's cute Delia:

 

ACME DeLuxe Ice-Cream Bricks

This is a real store sign! Unfortunately, it's sits on what is now an antique store on Queen West, next to Local Kitchen where I had dinner tonight.

Honestly, the concept of an "ice cream brick" store named "ACME DeLuxe" seems too good to be true – it's right out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon...  :-)

Reminded of my love for Parra today:

Just ordered this print as I have loved it for ages.

Am a fan of huge Parra's work and hope to collaborate with him one day on the right project.

Penguin's Great Food Series

If you enjoy reading about food – this series should be on your radar. I just picked up several books from it and am in the midst of reading "Murder in the Kitchen" – which is more my speed since I enjoy a great story versus just straight up cook book. Here's a synopsis:

"In this memoir-turned-cookbook, Alice B. Toklas describes her life with partner Gertrude Stein and their famed Paris salon, which entertained the great avant-garde and literary figures of their day.

With dry wit and characteristic understatement Toklas ponders the ethics of killing a carp in her kitchen before stuffing it with chestnuts; decorating a fish to amuse Picasso at lunch; and travelling across France during the First World War in an old delivery truck, gathering local recipes along the way. She includes a friend's playful recipe for 'Haschiche Fudge', which promises 'brilliant storms of laughter and ecstatic reveries', much like her book."

 

J.Crew opens in Toronto: leaves all the interesting merch in the US

The recent pricing controversy didn't keep my curiosity at bay and so I went shopping with list in hand (after doing a pre-shop online) and ventured out to the burbs to see the new outpost of American retailer J.Crew at Yorkdale mall.

Someone must have sent Jenna a memo outlining Canadians' supposed predilection for boring basics because I wasn't able to find one thing on my list in stock. The most interesting shoes, blazers and dresses were left south of the border for their more "fashion forward" customers. Deep sigh.

Canadians love J.Crew because of it's sunny and distinctly American outlook. Having Canadian buyers curate the collection (the sales staff confirmed this) removes what makes the brand interesting to us to begin with. So thanks for your efforts Mr. Drexler but I'll stick to my online / catalog shopping for now.

Photo from the Grid

Today I bought: Miu Miu Glitter Booties from Net-A-Porter

 

Snagged the last size 39! Major shopping victory.

Modernist Cuisine – mostly no Photoshop

When I first saw this series of books, I assumed it was almost all retouching that produced the amazing cut-away photograpy – but alas, as this Ted talk shows, the majority of imagery is a result of actually sawing dishware and appliances in half! Pretty cool.

Watch several other videos on the book here.

Read a great article about Nathan Myhrvold, the book's co-author, and the former CTO of Microsoft, here.

Having a crap day? Watch this – instant prozac

 

Dying for this Givenchy:

Buy it here.

High Tea at the Windsor Arms

Last weekend, a group of friends and I enjoyed High Tea at the Windsor Arms.

The Red Room we started out in was charming as all hell but very hot, so we had to move to a cooler area. Once re-seated, our tea arrived quickly and we were grateful! The rose tea we had was wonderful, as were the scones and Devon clotted cream. The sushi style rolled sandwiches were not remarkable though – a bit dry and flavourless. The petit fours were also not terribly inspired either, although pretty to look at. I would advise skipping those courses and simply focus your attention on what they do best – scones & tea!

Overall, a nice experience, with attentive service.

Next up for High Tea – MoRoCo & The Four Seasons!


P.S. There was a wealth of great art all around too – many great Charlie Pachters throughout the space.

 

Alexander McQueen : Savage Beauty

With an absolutely eerie and haunting cover of McQueen morphing from portrait to skull, Savage Beauty is a must own for any lover of fashion – a beautiful book.

Hanging with the Abstract Expressionists (& General Idea) at the AGO

Spent a fun afternoon puttering around the Abstract Expressionist exhibit at the AGO today. Took in a little General Idea too.

Today I bought: Ports 1961 Perf Suede Booties

Saw these in the window at Ports 1961 on Bloor Street and decided I had to give them a good home...

Crazy cold AC is making me want this fur jacket:

 

How crazy adorable is this girl's style? The jacket is a: Must.Have.For.Fall.

From Jac&Jill

Jeni's Splendid Ice-Creams At Home: The Book

The last two weeks have been a bit rough at work and so @itbitme decided to cheer me up with a wee preezie when I arrived home today. How lucky am I? :)

Jeni's Splendid Ice-Creams At Home is a book that catalogues Jeni's 15 year history of making all manner of ice-creams in her bakery / creamery.

I'm super excited to try:

♥  Grapefruit Hibiscus Frozen Yogurt

♥  Wildberry Lavender Ice Cream

♥  Toasted Rice Ice Cream with a Wiff of Coconut & Black Tea

♥  Earl Grey & Cherries Ice Cream

♥  Cucumber, Honeydew & Cayenne Frozen Yogurt

♥  Star Anise Ice Cream with Candied Fennel Seeds

♥  Sweet Potato Ice Cream with Torched Marshmallows

 
Stay tuned – experiments will be documented!

In the meantime, here's a cute video about JSIC:

 

 

Chanel Make-Up

Was just looking through my YouTube favs and found this fun video from last January.

It's the little things that make me truly happy:

Like sweet fresh shelled peas from the farmer's market...

Or making more homemade ice-cream –

Here's the first strawberry flavour @itbitme and I ever attemped and it was amazing...

 

My Custom Wildhagen Hat

I was out shopping one day 2 weeks ago when I saw a girl wearing the most charming hat. Usually, when I approach another woman about an article of clothing she's wearing, she'll tell me she bought it in Paris two seasons ago or at an antique market – leaving me with no chance of finding one for myself. Luckily, this particular girl, named Jade, proudly told me that she had made the hat herself and directed me to Wildhagen.

Already familiar with the brand after buying several hats from the Canadian company over the years, I beelined over and ordered a custom "Miniçoise" from Cheri Wildhagen herself. I chose the hat material and grosgrain ribbon and presto, a week and a half later, I picked up a made-to-measure (for my larger than average melon) lovely chapeau! A fun experience that I would recommend to all.

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

Keen to see this! Might go tomorow – message me if you want to join ;-)

*** Update!

I saw it and really enjoyed it.

It's received many bad reviews criticizing it's lack of interviews or voice over, but for me it was a voyeur's delight. It's a style of filmmaking that allows you to simply observe without the lens or bias of an interviewer – you simply spend the entire time listening to the occasional exchanges Ferran Adrià has with his staff and watching them experiment tirelessly – drawing your own conclusions instead of being spoon-fed every insight.

My take-away – the man is very precise and understands that the core of what he is selling is something magical, creative and inspiring – an experience to remember.

Midnight in Paris

Charming, silly film with an enviable Hermès, Chanel and Goyard laden wardrobe sported by Miss Adams.

Barque has bite

I've been to Barque Smokehouse twice, once for brunch and once for dinner and here's what I have to say:

• Call ahead – it's always packed
• Be warned, the cocktails are strong – the mint julep I had was so potent I couldn't finish it
• If you must choose between going for brunch or dinner, choose dinner as they do not serve the BBQ sampler at brunch
• Order the babyback ribs – after having the sampler with chicken and brisket, which was all good, they were still easily the best item on the menu

Enjoy!

Last night I saw: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the result of Herzog's exclusive access to the recently discovered Chauvet caves in the South of France, and their extraordinary cave paintings, dating back 32,000 years."

 

Creepers Acquired

Say what you will – some love 'em some hate 'em. I am firmly in camp number 1 and am thrilled to bits I landed a pair after they had been sold out for the last 3 months.

My first homemade ice-cream sandwich

After the oreo cookie had some time to chill in the frigo – it was the perfect balance of soft and crisp so the result was really good!

Pop Pilgrims New York: The Royal Tenenbaums house

 

The hotel 'Maison Champs-Elysées' by Maison Martin Margiela

In love with the look of this hotel... it has 57 rooms and suites located on the quiet rue Jean Goujon, in the heart of Paris.

Ice-Cream Project: Second Attempt

The addition of @itbitme to the mix improved everything tenfold – the consistency and texture of the ice-cream was perfect tonight! So rich and custardy.

Just packed some of it into ice-cream sandwiches for tomorrow – can't wait to see how they turn out! :-)

 

Bobbette & Belle: Go for the Whoppie Pie, Stay for Everything Else.

As mentioned in a previous post, Jules and I, (that's her in the first photo), popped into Bobbette & Belle last weekend to sample their macaroons, whoppie pies and raspberry lemonade – all of which were delicious! Toronto Life actually named their whoppie pies the best in the city – so I would recommend skipping the Starbucks versions and try a red velvet pie like the one I had above.

The shop's size and space is quite impressive and the decor is really beautiful – perfectly suited to hosting private parties, or having a gab fest with a friend.

Naoto Fukasawa: Designing Accessories with Paper

If you read this blog with any regularity, you already know that I love it when objects are designed with unexpected materials. I'm particularly fascinated with the idea of clothing or accessories made with paper. The items above were created by famed IDEO industrial design master Naoto Fukasawa – who is known for his collaborations with Muji, B&B Italia, Driade, Magis, Artemide, Danese and Boffi.

Here he has created a line of items called Siwa in collaboration with Onao, which are made with traditional Japanese washi-paper that can withstand moisture and over time becomes softer and takes on the patina of leather without the heat or weight. "Soft Naoron", as it's called, is a type of paper developed from wood and polyolefin fibres, which is derived from recycled polyester fibres, plastic bottles and repurposed textiles.

I recently bought the handbag at the top from Mjölk. Loooooooove it.

Paul Bloom: The origins of pleasure

Mini Mac at 416 Snack Bar

Ok – so I was sad when I arrived at 416 Snack Bar tonight and saw that the Ribwich was off the new menu – but faith was restored after I ordered the Mini Mac! A tiny, and significantly less harmful version of the original Mickey Dee's variety, the Mini Mac is a new fav. Go try it! Order 2, because you'll want another immediately after.

Louis Vuittton Travel Guides: The Perfect Gift

 

 

 

 

 

Faced with finding a fun gift for a friend this weekend, I remembered an old stand-by that always pleases. Louis Vuitton City Guides are a fool proof option for friends that love to travel in style – concise, compact, reliable, useful and so pretty.

I bought my first set in 2000 and carried the Paris edition in my handbag the whole time I lived in France.

Found some charming video excerpts here about Paris & New York: