Mangia!

{Gabriele Corcos & Debi Mazar make risotto}

I have been a big fan of Debi Mazar since her Goodfellas days -- her wisecracking tone, no-apologies NY accent, vintage glamour girl style. I was so excited to see her in Entourage -- perfect casting. Last year, she and her charming Italian husband Gabriele Corcos started posting webisodes (and podcasts on iTunes) called Under The Tuscan Gun that are like hanging out in the kitchen of two friends watching them cook. Many of the recipes are from Gabriele's family, everything features fresh ingredients and lots of olive oil, with healthy portions and suggestions to serve with a salad, bread and wine (as in, "eat a small serving of this with a salad", not "eat an 'American' serving of this and wonder why you have high cholesterol and need to lie down"). I love their warm California kitchen, shots of a "lived-in" house through the kitchen doorways, and their outdoor dining area in their prolific and lovely garden.

If you are looking for high production values, well-lit food styling, fantasy kitchens, inflated egos and monotone ingredient recitals, stick to Food Network. If you want friendly instruction on how to cook simple, delicious Italian food, in a normal home kitchen, by people who have an obvious love for each other and la dolce vita, check out Under The Tuscan Gun.

The early bird

{photo from Spunky Sprout}

With a name like "Robin", I have a penchant for bird-related things. Every year for Christmas my dad used to buy me a robin-themed ornament. When I moved out and decorated my first Christmas tree with all those ornaments, the tree had a decidedly robin's egg blue theme, which I have added to over the years. The rug above is from a children's decor company, but I think it would look fabulous in my bedroom.

{photo from Decor Green}

And I love the crewel work on this pillow.





Whitney Smith's pottery has clean lines and gorgeous colors, but I love the simplicity of this white bowl with three wee birds perched on its rim.

I want a bath

{photo from Country Living}

Specifically, I want a bath in a clawfoot tub like this, in a bathroom like this. But alas, to is not to be, at least not for the time being, considering that I live in a condo in an apartment-style building, with no window in the bath, and nowhere near this much room. Oh, sure, there's a tub in there, but it is your basic shower/tub combo, without the length or depth of a tub like this. And I am 5'9" without the heels, so the one or two times I tried to take a bath in my tub, I could never get the full-immersion experience that a proper bath requires. Either my upper body was under water and my legs were out, or my legs were under and the rest of me shivered above-board.

So, #87 on the Things To Do When I Win The Lottery list is to redo the whole bath with a lovely, lovely tub like this, and to luxuriate in it on a regular basis.

The pink hail of cherry blossom storms

{the pink hail of cherry blossom storms, originally uploaded by manyfires}

I am so ready for Spring. The calendar says Spring, the temperature says Spring, and yet the ground is still brown and the trees are still bare. I like winter in New England, but right now I itch to get the chill of it off me. I long for that day in May when everything seems to be bursting forth at once and the trees are covered in a bright green haze of newness.

I've never been to the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, I hear it is a sight to behold... if you can see beyond the crowds and put up with the traffic. I remember going on Sunday drives in Fairfield with my family the weekend that the dogwoods were in bloom. The volume of them was breathtaking. But there is something to be said for driving down a country road and spotting a lone pink dogwood in the midst of a wood, a stalwart champion of Spring, heralding its arrival alone.

Spring in a Ring

This is one of my new favorite things, my robin's egg ring from Cindy at Starry Designs on Etsy. Her designs are lovely, with great workmanship and a simple essence to them that make them a joy to wear. Plus, she includes a cute little magnet in the box with your item, and ties it all up with a brown satin ribbon. (I am such a sucker for packaging).