I had the best bread ever while I was in Tokyo at Kosmos Lane (and I live in Paris). Tsukimo Bazaar is run by a really nice Japanese guy (with a very cool hat) who travels around in his cute VW bus, painted with illustrations by Boojil, serving incredible organic bread creations around Tokyo. His bread creations have so many super interesting flavors, check some of them out here. Also check out his site, it has a calendar of where to find him, all in Japanese but there’s always google translate. ; )

Some Valentine’s Day treats brought over by Papabubble in NY. Merci Rachel!! Also I am now on instagram as littleknife posting photos daily.
Hope everyone is having a nice Valentine’s Day. Go get some flowers at Cookbook! Even if you don’t have a Valentine today this will make your day. ; )

The House that Jack Built hosted the best holiday party at Candelaria last week. They turned the place into a mini forest filled with some of the biggest christmas trees in Paris, with a special holiday cocktail menu of egg nog and other holiday creations, mini chocolate caramel christmas trees, snowflake cookies and gingerbread house cakes,(made by some of the best pastry chefs in town) and as usual they looked AMAZING! The theme of the evening was a “Luminescent Confetti-ed Splendor” I loved their hair and headpieces! Plus I was happy to see Julie from Confetti System stop by while in town, and finally see her garland in the space in person, on the perfect night too. These guys have made yet another great video of the event so you can see for yourself.

Things I’ve had my eye on aside from that entire Raquel Allegra collection.. Cosmic Wonder trench coat, orange mug, triangle socks, Eastpack Kris Van Assche backpack, crazy patterned knit socks, APC army shirt dress, Vanessa Bruno dress, Saskia Diez white wood hair band, A Détacher knit hat, Deyrolle posters book, Carven sweater, Hansel from Basel knit tote, Jane Birken basket, furry hat like this one- preferably fake fur or definitely vintage, a crazy cosby style sweater from MNZ, Loeffler Randall black boots, Araks yellow undergarments, Old Field Farm dark amber maple syrup from this shop.

Back from another little holiday.. totally getting used to french holidays and loving that my birthday lands on the day before an official day off here. We had a little celebration with friends, balloons, decorations and heart melting surprises from David, and the most amazing birthday cake anyone’s ever made me! (** with the exception of my mom of course) My cake was made by the incredibly talented Alison, who makes cakes and other treats for Candelaria, among many other very cool things. She made it based on a picture David gave her of a cake I really wanted, and I couldn’t have been happier. I just wish I had shot a better photo of it, on top there was the most beautiful pink meringue with rainbow colored sprinkles and hints of glitter.. can you tell I love beautiful cakes a little too much..? A big thank you to all my friends for making it a super nice night!

Last week Candelaria hosted a benefit party and raffle for Japan. The evening was filled with cherry blossom decorations, cakes and beautiful floral outfits thanks to the House that Jack Built, a duo of artist/designers/and more! I love that the theme of the evening was a “peculiar floral dreamscape.” Everyone dressed up with flowers in their hair, floral bow ties, and even some Liberty print floral ties. They managed to raise a lot of money for the Red Cross in Japan, and made a beautiful evening of it as well, with prizes from Comme des Garcons, Rose Bakery, L’Eclaireur, Thomsen, and many more! I can’t wait to see the House that Jack Built’s next event.

Happy end of fashion week/month! Come celebrate with a drink candleside at the opening of Candelaria, a new bar and taqueria designed by David and I this Thursday night. 52 rue Saintonge 75003 Paris -enter through the Taqueria. More photos of the space to come!
second to last image source unknown, but I love it.. anyone.. anyone?

This was too funny and well styled not to love. This article from the New York Times Style Magazine features a couple great recipes from Kaori Endo of Rose Bakery and Nigel Slater.
via just like honey.

Although may sound nice, it definitely isn’t a good idea to just have macarons and champagne for dinner, not that I’m complaining, it was délicieux! It was not intentional but sometimes you just follow where the evening takes you. Mine started early and led me from an opening with little chairs and little kids, then a little movie screening and live music, to the first evening of a series of parties in the new André apartment space in Paris. He shared his vitamin water, champagne, and his macaron collaboration, in an André designed tin, made by a “very famous baker, do you say baker?” They are red caramel au beurre sel and they are AMAZING! The salt is particularly strong on the outside and adds a really nice contrast to the traditional caramel macaron. Since they were sitting there all night I may have gorged myself on them a bit, meanwhile so many people were wandering around this small space.. Camille Bidault Wadddington! Vanessa Bruno! Jean Touitou, Oliver Zahm (whose photographs lined the walls of the space), Irina Lazareanu… and of course André, who was a very nice host. Above are some dark and blurry photos of my “dinner”.

I love these beautiful cakes I came across last weekend for Dorade magazine at OFR. They looked too good to eat. Who knew among all the other things that go on there, they have tea and cake on Sundays. David has been creating some vignettes of their events recently that you can view here.

Attempting my first pumpkin pie made from real french pumpkins today..

Go see this film Food Inc! I just went to see this and was surprised by how much I didn’t even know about, especially when I consider myself to be fairly conscious of my food and environment. Even if you don’t live in the US, it’s still really important to see what’s happening to our food here, and to help prevent it from spreading to other parts of the world. Especially in France, it might help to prevent the ban on genetically modified seeds from being lifted.
Also while on this topic, check out Eco Trip, it’s entertaining and fascinating to see what goes into making things and their large scale impact.

2nd annual Boudicca Cake off results.

Help support the Ecology Center! This Thursday starts off the first of several talks focused on basic needs and features special guest Michael Besançon of Whole Foods discussing the topic of food, of course. It’s all the way down in Orange County but in the middle of an organic farm outside an old farmhouse, it’s a pretty nice setting and worth the trip.
6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. 32701 Alipaz. St. San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675