Sugar and Cake

Hello Cupcake

1351 Connecticut Ave NW
(at N N St)
Washington, DC 20036

(202) 861-2253

www.hellocupcakeonline.com




Following the trend of other major cities, DC has decided to do cupcakes. I don't really care that we're 8 years late, I'm just excited to have more sweet things to eat. After a couple failed attempts to try the cupcakes (and photograph them) I finally made it in...




The Looks: The interior space of the store screams "DESSERT" in a very tasteful way actually. The seamless look of white marble starts with the counter-tops and onto the little round marble top tables in the eating area, white simple walls and ceilings are accented with hot pink boxes, glass chandeliers and a pink wavy "frosting" counter front.



The Cakes: I love their cake, just the right mix of dense and fluffy, a little spongy give but enough substance to remind you this isn't healthy. They were consistently moist and flavorful, my favorite was the chocolate, and I never like chocolate cake. The only one I didn't love was the carrot cake, which was dry, even dryer than it's inherently supposed to be. The little garnishings on the cupcakes were flavorful and cute while providing the little extra flavor oomph that puts the cupcake deliciousness over the top.

The Frosting: I have mixed feelings about it. The buttercream frostings were heaven. The coffee and peanut butter flavors were both perfectly balanced, bold enough for you to taste them, but without overpowering the moist, rich chocolate cupcake.

The cream cheese frostings were a bit too sweet for me, I like buttery frosting and this one developed a "sugar" layer after sitting for a little while - a sign to me that there's too much sugar - and you really couldn't feel the smoothness or taste anything savory in the whipped cream cheese- the sugar content overwhelmed it. But if you have a sweeter tooth than mine you might think of it as a plus


I tried:
Peanut Butter Blossom: Chocolate cupcake, peanut butter frosting, chocolate kiss.

Pick-Me-Up: Chocolate cupcake, coffee buttercream frosting, chocolate covered espresso bean.

24 Carrot: Carrot cupcake, vanilla cream cheese frosting

You Tart:Lemon cupcake, lemon cream cheese frosting, yellow sugar sprinkles

Ancient Crafts

I thought I would show you one of my favorite Collections for Fall 2008 which, fittingly for TPWP, comes from Miuccia Prada. The collection is saturated with mystery, heavy momentous lace garments that inexplicably refrain from sexiness or prettiness - and were instead menacing and mischievously erotic.

I attempted to capture my favorite moments from the runway and the collection in this collage.



I have also been collecting in my head all these beautiful unexpected items that are made of lace like the Marcel Wanders Crochet Chair and this Moulin Lace Lamp (which I'm buying) and wondered upon seeing the Prada collection if this lace re-emergence is our answer to melancholy for vintage times - modernized and mystical - whatever the reason, I am very happy the trend is back.

Fall Leaves

I have been impulsively buying vintage dresses all summer, most of them are hideous when I find them - I always see some impossible-to-achieve potential in them - so I'm stuck with a lot of work. This dress here I've been working on for mmmmm 5 months. Mostly because I didn't know what to do with the huge overbearing sleeves and the constricting high neck - I finally decided to chop the sleeves into little caps and cut a slight V into the neck. Oh yeah, the dress was calf-length so I cut that off too - can you imagine it that long? God, it was ugly.

I really loved its bright colors when I saw it at the thrift store and the huge pockets--it looks really pretty all on its own, but today I was melancholic for the Fall so I layered it :)









Below I isolated the individual colors to highlight the brightness and for your viewing pleasure :)

Dress: Vintage
Vest: Rogan for Target
Belt: Vintage
Oxford Heels: Michael Kors
Jewelry: Chanel, vintage & Vabene watch

Outside and for Brunch only

Cafe Saint-Ex

1847 14th Street NW
(between N Swann St & N T St)
Washington, DC 20009

(202) 265-7839

www.saint-ex.com

I don't like routine, it makes me nervous, but somehow I eat brunch at the same place almost every weekend - what? - you don't call that routine? oh OK, I feel better.
Cafe Saint Ex is an American Bistro that has my favorite casual outdoor patio in the city - it reminds me a little of the neighborhood near the Bowery Hotel in NYC, edgy, fringy, but with plenty of friendly people walking their dogs.

I actually don't absolutely love the food there, but I love sitting on their patio so much that I forgive the chef's mistakes. Small mistakes, but they can't be overlooked by a foodie (me). They include but are not limited to- cheap box orange juice @ brunch, pathetic tea selection (Lipton only), inconsistent quality of food prep (overcooked eggs) and sub-par sausage.

If you want to eat there for brunch (I don't like their dinner menu) you should stick to these items:

Fried Green Tomato Benedict poached eggs, english muffin, tomato hollandaise
Chicken Salad Sandwich poached chicken, cucumbers, red onion.
French Toast
Muffin baked fresh daily.





Oh yeah, the other reason I continue my patronage of this eat place is our mutual intolerance of the below :)

At work in NYC

We found Alexander Wang's studio in NYC photographed at The Selby and we sent it to our in-house architecture/design expert for his meticulous opinion-

This is what he likes:


The dark-stained matte floors:


His defined point of view and his consistency with it throughout all aesthetics aspects of his life:



The logical agreement of all his pieces (black couch, black table, black chair, black clothing racks, black ceiling lights + only gold accents). The essential strong contrast from all those dark objects and the prevalent white everywhere else.


His attention to detail, his exquisite objects:







His understanding of drama in a space.


I personally love the intrigue of the space, the congruity of the design, and the incredible energy that each object seems to impart into the room. I think all these aspects make the studio captivating even to people whose design preference may be very different from his.

Meridian Hill Park

My favorite thing about living in the city is discovering perfect magical places whose existence seems almost impossible among crowded streets and tall buildings. I remember the first time I discovered Meridian Hill Park - I had driven by it countless times, but its location on a high hill deemed it invisible from the streets and the magic that lives up there was hidden and unimaginable. . . It was a crisp, cerulean skied Winter morning, around 35F, I walked up the little windy path up into the park, and 15 feet into it I felt transported into a strange place far from the city. I walked up to a clearing and saw this magnificent thirteen basin cascade fountain that flowed down the hill into a reflecting pool which mirrored the sky and looked impossibly blue. It was freezing cold, but I didn't notice and spent over 1 hour walking around the park discovering all its special little places - the shady row of trees on the top tier that feels like a small forest, the isolated space home to squirrels by the Buchanan statue, the perfect picnic tree, and so so many more.

I know I keep saying this, but you should really go - my pictures don't do it justice.
















You can guess that this is the perfect place to have a picnic, and now that the temperature is not 95F is the ideal time to have one there.

I had this picnic on an unbelievable Spring day earlier this year - and ignore the bottle of wine cos alcoholic beverages are hmmmm not permitted in the park :) oops

Charms

My current favorite necklaces on Etsy. Hurry before I buy them all.

Clockwise-
Queen Anne's Revenge Sailboat charm necklace from Adorapop $59.95
Nutmeg Sprinkled Latte Cup from SeaUnicorn $20
1970's Golden Vintage Whistle from SeaUnicorn $26
Dearest Deer Necklace from Crumpetcake $21
Boom Box Necklace from The Pudding Store $35

Paris in DC

Unfortunately in this city you are just as likely to get hit by lighting as you are to see a man in a perfectly fitting suit. And the men that fit the latter criteria are either my friends or they're French. No really. They are.


What I love about his suit - the pant legs are elegantly slim, adequately short, and have the perfect break starting at his knee and slightly over his shoe - not the baggy and bunchy pants we're used to seeing - his shirt, when tucked in, is not blousy AT ALL, it fits his arms perfectly and it has these beautiful little embroidered dots (Nodus Boutique Paris). And I love his slim brown/burgundy shoes with the black suit. Regrettably for all of you who might have been inspired by his style the clothes were purchased in France. Although you will be able to find similar slim-styled clothes at reasonable prices at a few European chains here in the US (Zara, Sisley).


If you're not ready for a new wardrobe, a few adjustments to your current clothes can make a remarkable difference and can be achieved by taking your suit to a tailor, but don't be scared - altering a hem or taking in a shirt are incredibly inexpensive - my tailor charges $7 to raise the hem of a pant. For changes like that you don't need a Saville Row tailor, many times your dry cleaner can manage those alterations quite easily.

Leather Flowers

I've had several items lingering in my virtual shopping carts in the last few weeks - some on sale, others just inexpensive. And I was finally propelled to buy them when I realized they all looked really good together in several versatile ways. I bet your mind also likes to do some very creative strategizing when shopping is involved :)

Here are two focusing on the dress & jacket:


Dress: F21 $24.80
Leather Jacket: Mike & Chris
Watch: Vabene Skull White $284
Shoes: Chloe @ Yoox $144
Bag: BCBG @ BBS Outlet $24





Dress: F21 $24.80
Leather Jacket: Mike & Chris
Watch: Vabene Skull Black
Shoes: ebay $26
Messenger Bag: Minus @ Etsy $73
Tights: (must rip before wear) BR $14

Lights and toys

I have an editing problem. It surfaced pretty puissantly when posting about Jaime Hayón. I tried to save in a folder on my computer a small selection of my favorite of his designs.... yeah.... there are currently 22 items in there. I was initially going to do a post about a few of his chairs, which I love, but I couldn't limit you to just them, because there are so many other gorgeous pieces he creates.

Jaime Hayón is an artist and designer born in Madrid and is currently one of the most exciting and innovative furniture designers in the world, actually not just furniture as you will see below. He trained as an industrial designer which (very fittingly) is a cross between a mechanical engineer and an artist. My favorite aspect of his design is his ability to marry traditional characteristics of an object with modern shapes and colors.

This is my attempt at an abridged list of my favorite items.


From his Showtime Collection inspired by classical MGM musicals and contrasts: organic forms, classical details. I love the leather and plastic combination. The red chair on the right is from Hayón's design for the Camper store.



Restaurant La Terraza del Casino in Madrid Spain. Again a futuristic interpretation of classical design with his stunning Queen Josephine Chandelier - I would die to have that hanging in my house.


The Queen Josephine Chandelier in black.


From his Artquitect collection "The celebration of the bathroom as a piece of furniture."



Horses from the circus.


Mon Cirque - His hand-made traveling circus - I LOOOOVE his interpretation of each little character.

Clash

I've been playing with the idea of mixing vintage prints for a few months, I really liked the styling of these outfits and how nerdy they look.





Images scanned from Preen Magazine Issue 07

Follow THIS link for the ebay listing for the shoes below

Take me home

Oh the tragedy of the unalterable human foot. I found a treasure trove of shoes at the thrift store - they were all living together on the same shelf, right next to each other, owned by the same woman, and never worn before.

Diane Von Furstenberg
Stuart Weitzman
Andrew Geller.

At least two decades old but brand new. I couldn't believe my eyes. AND they were all almost my size - 7 - I put them in my basket faster than my brain could process the information and I went home happy. That is until I actually tried them on and realized that a vintage size 7 is, well, a vintage size 7 and far from fitting my size 7.5 feet. They've been sitting at my house for weeks, I haven't wanted to let go of them. Until I convinced myself that it was selfish to perpetuate their captivity. So tomorrow tonight I'm putting them up for sale on ebay. I hope one of you can enjoy them as much as I wanted to... HERE is the link

Salt & Pepper Please

Palena

3529 Connecticut Avenue NW
(between N Ordway St & N Porter St)
Washington, DC 20008

(202) 537-9250

www.palenarestaurant.com/

If you've ever watched a cooking competition (Top Chef, etc) or read culinary reviews you will hear over and over again "perfectly seasoned" "under-seasoned" "over-seasoned" and I have discovered in all my restaurant experiences the incredible importance of accomplishing this task well.

That's why Palena is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. Every bite of every last piece of every tiny item presented to you is PERFECTLY seasoned and dressed. If you look at my picture of the Mozzarella & Prosciutto salad right below, you can see each tiny bean glistening, coated in just the right amount of olive oil and sprinkled with just the right amount of salt and pepper. Simple task right? But it makes all the difference in magnifying a natural flavor of a food, making it richer or sometimes more delicate. And Palena has "perfectly seasoned" mastered, and not just that as you will see below.


Mozzarella & Prosciutto salad with Spring Vegetables - The veggies in their salads are always fresh and flavorful, you won't leave a single one on the plate.


My friend ordered this Gnocchi and I was worried because he doesn't like Gnocchi, and the dish didn't have any meat and you know how boys like their meat. It turned out to be one of his favorite dishes, I can't tell you how they managed to get that much flavor out of a potato, but they did, it was delicious.


Palena Mixed Grill - Lamb Chop, Shrimp, Rabbit Sausage.


Strawberry Tart - I actually didn't absolutely love this dessert, I think it was a combination of the pastry cream being a bit too light and the crust not being crispy enough. The strawberries, however, like all their fresh produce, were sweet and succulent.

The other thing I really like about Palena is that you can order from the fixed-price dining room menu even if you're sitting at the Cafe. The Cafe menu is also outstanding, with a Roasted Half Chicken that is juicy, so flavorful, and comes with all these amazing vegetables that have been roasting with it and for only $13 it's a fantastic dish. The Cafe menu prices are unbelievably moderate and the dishes on it are always so accessible due to their simplicity. It's a menu I could order from every single night and there are definitely not many restaurants in the city I can say that about.