It's a dreary day...I found myself poking around my office uninspired.  Then I found this old box of slides and started dreaming of summer, sunshine and kodachrome.  It was so beautiful.  Maybe Instagram could send Kodak a few dollars to bring it back.  I've still got a roll that I can't get developed....but I'm thinking if I hold on long enough they'll make an app for that. 

Bread by Kamel Saci at Il Buco Alimentari on Great Jones St. in NYC:

I can't decide with this weather if I want to pack a picnic and head to the park or sit by the fire with a bottle of wine.  Either way, a loaf of bread from Il Buco Alimentari would be perfect.  Along with everything else they sell ....cheeses, olives, house cured meats, oil, yum!!  Kamel, the head baker, asked me to come back after my last post on the restaurant and I was happy to oblige.  He is totally passionate about what he does and his bread is amazing.  He was kind enough to share this simple recipe for focaccia and his philosophy on baking. If you click on 'comment' you can read the whole story.  I loved what he wrote, unedited...says everything that needs to be said.

prop styling: Cahill Connelly

How do you know when a man is really into you?  When he gives you the only set of keys to his perfect little apartment on a perfect little block in Soho.  It was casual...he had never moved in, it was too small and a few other dismissive remarks were muttered by the man who was turning over this treasure of a home to a girl he had known only a few months.  I was reticient but I was also about to be homeless.  On moving day I stood anxiously among my boxes....what am I doing here?  A few days later there was a kind offer for dinner...a little bistro around the corner, a bottle of wine.  It was spring and I woke one morning to the most magnificient magnolia blooms bursting through my window.  ...love and real estate in Manhattan, it really does happen.

A sneak preview of a few of the images from the cookbook I photographed with the talented chef, Maximo Lopez May.  I heard a rumor it will be released this spring.  Prop styling by the fabulous Cahill Connolly.  I can't wait!