Oliver Jeffers x Digby & Iona

Oliver Jeffers has his hands in just about everything - first and foremost an artist, he has been taking the literary world by storm ever since he debuted the first of his (now numerous) illustrated picture books back in 2004. Now some of his most popular characters and icons have been made into a jewelry line by Brooklyn-based jeweler Aaron Ruff under his jewelry label Digby & Iona.

penguin ring ($180). heart in a bottle necklace ($220). boy necklace ($220). 

The End of Autumn

Even though it's hardly the end of autumn, it really feels like the weather is shifting gears again, and with Remembrance Day coming up this weekend (and American Black Friday looming) it signals another big shift towards the Holiday Season. 

So before the outdoor Christmas lights come out on Saturday (they're LED and they look like tiny crystal PINE CONES!), here is my ode to autumn:

pumpkins in and around Salem, Boston and Union Square Market in New York City

and a tiny pumpkin for a ginger-haired wee one:

Sweet Tooth

Be forewarned: this post is not for the weak of will and may induce serious cravings. The days are getting shorter and colder, so naturally I've been gravitating to the kitchen, mostly to make soups and breads, but ever since my Thanksgiving pumpkin custard tart triumph I've had the urge to bake. 

I've been salivating over these desserts and waiting for just the right occasions to make them for a while now ... and am still waiting, because were I to make them on a whim (like I've nearly done several times over the last two weeks), they would sit on my counter and taunt me until consumed. Especially that pumpkin s'more cake. Unreal. 

For real, though, I may just start at the bottom of this page with the apple hand pies (hand pies!) and work my way up. Or I may just surrender after the pies and make these beauties, which I've been lusting after for a while: homemade twix bars. Enjoy...

pumpkin s'more cake 

from dessert for breakfast

dark chocolate salted caramel tart 

from sweetapolita

harvest cake with vanilla cream 

from roost

lemon raspberry breakfast rolls

from joy the baker

cheddar apple hand pies 

from dessert for breakfast

oh but there's more... double chocolate caramel pecan brownies, my no-fail go-to chocolate fudge, no-bake peanut butter tart, s'more pie, and homemade oreos

Fall 2011 at Joe Fresh

It's both a blessing and a curse to have such cute and affordable clothing available at the grocery store. A harmless trip to get milk and vegetables then becomes potentially dangerous when it comes to bypassing the goods from Joe Fresh. Like tonight, for instance, when I came across this pair of black leather ankle boots. At $79 they would have been a steal, but on top of my $12 grocery purchase, my visit would have sunk me in over $100.

I realize that the grocery store down the street doesn't have a clothing section, and that I could just avoid going to the larger store with the clothing section altogether, but some of my favourite wardrobe staples have been found there on a whim. For instance: my favourite brown suede boots that I've had for over a year and don't have much wear left in them (beyond sad). I'm hoping to track down these brown lace ups in my size:

fall essentials: pendleton for madewell blanket. striped wool coat, joe fresh. landscape sweater, joe fresh. braided chain bracelet, joe fresh. the marriage plot, jeffrey eugenides (fall reading). leather tote, madewell. wool skirt, joe fresh. bobbing for baubles, essie (currently wearing). suede lace up boots, joe fresh. 

image via polyvore

Designer Pumpkins

I would rather spend my time baking with/eating pumpkins than carving them. For me, the best part about carving pumpkins is getting to cook the seeds while someone else does the more labour-intensive handiwork with sharp utensils.

That said, I wish I were talented enough to recreate some of these pumpkins (especially this hexagonal design and Steven Alan's birdhouse). Here's a no-carve alternative that I plan on doing next year that involves melting crayons and potentially lots of glitter. 

waris ahluwalia. shipley & halmos. steven alan. warby parker. chrissie morris. moss lipow. richard chai.

all images via vogue.com

Fall Coat Inspiration: Menswear and the Sixties

I have a thing for coats. It's probably got something to do with living on the east coast above the 49th parallel, but of all the things in my closet, if I had a disposable income all year long I would lavish it on coats (good, well-made, perfectly-tailored-in-beautiful-fabric coats) for every season and possible weather scenario. 

I'm in the market for one right now. Last year I made do with a (surprisingly spot-on) wool peacoat from the little boy's department at Old Navy. It actually reminds me a lot of the one from Built by Wendy that Andrea Linnett wrote about here, minus the insanely tempting gold lining. 

As usual I look to menswear and the 60s for inspiration. I love the tailored boxiness of these coats, the silhouette of the swing coats, and as usual am gravitating towards their neutral tones. I can't get enough of gray and navy, so I'm especially grateful these days for my red leather gloves, the only pop of colour I currently wear. They're beautiful fleece-lined gloves and are perfectly worn in from years of wear by my grandmother.  She gave them to me the last time I saw her almost ten years ago; it was in the middle of February and I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted, and a month later she passed away (she wasn't ill, but I do think she knew). She was a very stylish lady and always favoured a classic silhouette; I think she would approve of these:

images: 

Kirsten Dunst in Carven coat 

Club Monaco

Calvin Klein Collection coat  

Club Monaco 

J.Crew

Rochas  

SJP 

A.P.C.

Dream Shoppe

source 1 & 2

The Selby featured this delightful pie shop in T Magazine today. It's called Four & Twenty Blackbirds and is located in Brooklyn, and now I'm sad because even though it hadn't crossed my mind to call my (non-existent) pie shop Four and Twenty Blackbirds, now I can't name it that, just like I can't use Queen of Tarts.

I was (half) joking with an acquaintance from my undergrad who I haven't seen in years about dropping everything and opening up a pie shop this past weekend after commiserating over the dismal outlook for those trying to enter the workforce with a graduate degree in the arts. Dismal. Hence, pie, because who doesn't love pie?

Sisters Melissa and Emily Elsen love pie and opened their pie and coffee shop over a year ago. Funnily enough I actually came across their recipe for maple buttermilk custard pie last week while searching for recipes for the pumpkin custard tart that I planned to make for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. It so happened that such a recipe doesn't exist, so I made it up myself and was quite pleased with the results (see recipe below), but didn't take any photos because I was too busy brining/roasting a turkey and making cranberry sauce, roasted vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes, all while it was almost 30 degrees outside. Unreal.

all photos from The Selby via T Magazine

Pumpkin Custard Pie
*filling adapted from blackberry custard pie recipe; Sweet Tart Pastry from Baking Illustrated

Filling:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1/2 cup ricotta
3 eggs
4 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pastry:
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp
1/2 cup butter