Moving!!!

I promise, I didn't fall off the planet. Big changes have happened and you can read all about it at my new blog address - http://thisbellavita.wordpress.com

My first scrapbook

Wow. This weekend I unearthed a craft subculture that I had only vaguely been aware of before. Scrappers. They sound like streetfighters but the reality is much less pugilistic. These are people obsessed with scrapbooking. You'd think that since the whole world has gone digital, no one would be making photo albums anymore with physical photo prints. And you'd be wrong. These aren't just photo albums. Each page is a stylized collage. I have to say, I've drank the Kool-Aid. It's addicting! Some of the products are really country-kitch looking (blah) but I think as the scrapper set is trending younger nowadays, there's more modern designs to be had. Here is my favorite cardstock set I found recently. Now I have to starting taking the pics I want to put in my book!

(www.joannfabrics.com)

Big Changes

Back from the dead! Its been many moons since I've posted and I thought I had given this blogging thing up altogether. Just recently I decided to give it another shot because now I have big news and lots to discuss. I'm relocating to NJ!

Yes, I've lost my mind. Its weird even for me to say much less think about as a reality. Why in the name of God, you might ask? ::Sigh::, well its been a decision that I've muddled over for some time now. The bottom line is, I love CA and its my heart's true home. Sorry Jersey, but that's just how it is. BUT, my entire family is still in NJ and stubbornly refuses to leave. So what can I do? For alot of people my age, living far from family actually preferred. The thing is, we actually like spending time together. 99.9% of the time. And, not that I'm planning on settling down in the immediate future, but I do want to e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y and hey childcare is ridiculously expensive nowadays. That's what Mom's are for right? ;) Also, lets please note that I'm not going to Middle-of-Nowhere, NJ. My hometown is NYC-adjacent. One short trip over the bridge and I'm in the "Rome" of the modern era.

So, as you can imagine taking up stakes and moving my whole life back East is going to be quite the process. I'm going to document as much as possible on a weekly basis. One of my projects along the way is to visit a bunch of places I've never gotten around to seeing in SoCal before I leave and create a LA Scrapbook to memorialize the past six very formative years of my life in California. Stay tuned.

WTF Liz?

I have been the biggest slacker lately and haven't posted anything in a few weeks now. Sorry, I blame work burnout. Does that happen to you? You get home after going full steam all day and you want nothing more than to let your brain unwind itself in front of reality TV. Its no way to live but I am almost daily a victim of it myself. That and all my free time during the workday has been spent obsessing over my Facebook Farmville life. If you haven't checked this out yet..well I hate to encourage you because once you're in it can become pretty stressful. Are my strawberries ripe yet? I have to get to my eggplants before they wilt! Like I needed another source of pressure. Time to start engaging in the real world again! My latest project is getting my own Etsy shop started up for my jewelry designs. Any by "design" I mean futzing with beads and things because usually its not anymore conceptualized than that. I struggled with whether or not to go this route. Should I keep it for my own pastime? What if nothing sells after going through all the effort of setting up a shop? Ultimately it came down to necessity. I realized it was necessary for me to continue to be able to buy myself pretty things. So some added income will be required. We'll see how it goes. For now, my shop name will be "Essential Accents" and in the next few days I'll be posting items for sale. Keeping my fingers crossed :)

Blue Shoes

OK, so I couldn't decide which pair of these I liked better so I'm posting both. Whatever, its my blog! The royal blue color is so in right now. Particularly in footwear. But its not about matchy-matchy "I have to wear this with more blue". Not at all. This color is made to pop so let it. The first is the Erica shoe from Pour La Victoire and the bottom pair is called Trufle by Steve Madden. Paired with other complementary brights or basic black and white, they're really young and fun. And the structured look of these strappy sandals and the use of kid suede says sophisticated and sexy. I just love them both.

(image by www.zappos.com)

(image by www.zappos.com)

Staying cool

It was deathly hot outside this weekend so I did my best to stay indoors and keep cool. This gave me a lot of time to work on some jewerly. Here's what I came up with:

Glass bead pendants


a brown and pink shell bead necklace

and a big pink stone pendant


I'm pretty happy with all of them. More to come soon....

Osteria Mozza

I've died and gone to heaven. But the clouds in my heaven are made out of mozzarella cheese. The other night I had one of the top ten meals of my life at Osteria Mozza. A brain-child of co-owner Mario Batali, the fare there is fresh, simple Italian dishes with classic flavor pairings done with the ultimate care for each ingredient involved. The menu consists of antipasto, primi, and secondi courses which tips a hat at the traditional Italian menu plan of gradual flavor progression over several courses ending in your richer proteins. And they have a separate menu section for their mozzarella bar. Mozzarella bar. Was a more perfect phrase ever uttered? Its their homemade mozzarella with a selection of different sauces and toppings. For starters, I had the caprese salad which Mozza made elegant with tiny sweet tomatoes, micro basil, and garlic toast. The real winner in this dish is the olive oil which is oh so flavorful.

(image by www.flikr.com/photos/akatayama)

I could have stopped with my starter and just eaten this dish all night but there was so much more at my disposal that I had to press on. My choice for the primi course was the Fresh Egg and Ricotta Ravioli. What it is, is a very large ravioli sitting in browned butter sauce, with herbed ricotta cheese filling. So far this sounds simple I know, but in the center of the filling is a soft cooked egg yolk. For real egg-lovers this is a treat. When you cut into the ravioli, the egg yolk oozes out and all that richness mixes with the cheese and butter sauce. Its delightful trust me.

(image by crumpcrew.blogspot.com)

Next up, for the secondi course I had the cedar plank smoked sturgeon. Now this was my first crack at sturgeon but trusted Batali enough to try it and my faith was rewarded. The fish was tender - not "fishy" at all, and the smokiness made it taste like a much denser richer meat. It was served on top of some sliced fingerling potatoes and leeks in a mustard sauce that had quite a kick to it. I'm very happy I chose it and I'd have it again. At this point we were all pretty full so we split two deserts just to try them out. The bombolini with huckleberry compote and vanilla gelato and then the Torte della Nonna. Bombolini are small balls of fried dough - akin to its larger cousin the zeppoli. Honestly the huckleberry compote was the main event of this desert for me because I love berries.

(image by www.yelp.com)

The Torte della Nonna is basically a cheesecake with roasted pine nuts and honey. Mozza serves it with three varieties of honey so you really experiences the flavor differences between each flower base. I can't say more about how much I love Osteria Mozza. Their food speaks to my heart like none other. Thank you Mozza!