Springtime Favorites

Springtime Favorites Recipe

No recipe today. Just a quick list of some of my favorite things this Spring.

Fresh-cut Flowers
Short of going on an all-out spring cleaning bender, bringing home fresh flowers inspires me to go through and pick up the house a bit. I roll up my sleeves, wipe down the counters, revive any slumpy pillows, and find homes for stacks of wayward books and magazines. Flower arrangements that are informal, fresh, bright, healthy, and un-fussed with are my favorites - a handful of unruly wildflowers in a Mason jar on the counter, one or two perfect ruffled tulips in sherbet shades, and with roses I always look for them in the softest shades of pink, melon, lemon, and peach.

Russell + Hazel Binders
I bought a spectrum of these binders last year to keep my favorite recipes and projects organized, crisp, and unwrinkled. The binders have wonderful linen spines and the inside cover is cleverly made of dry-erase material so you can make quick, non-permanent notes. They have new spring colored three-ring binders.

June Taylor
I've been on the hunt for tasty ingredients to put in homemade crepes ever since I received a deluxe tabletop electric crepe maker for my birthday (I wrote all about it here). I bought a deliciously tart jar of June's Lemon + Rose Geranium jelly at the market and will now save my pennies for a jar of her Candied Seville Peel in Syrup which I imagine will be perfect for drizzling on sweet crepes.

Boylan's Bottleworks Seltzer Water
For the most part I'm not much of a soda drinker - but I love sparkling water. Flavored, unflavored - I'll drink it all. I like to grab Boylan's seltzers when I find them. The citrus flavored ones in particular. Crisp, spritely, with big bubbles that dance on your tongue and make you smile. A better choice than soda (and sugar-free!) as the weather starts heating up.

Kitchen Aprons
I am one of those people who will unknowingly show up to a lunch date with big hand prints of flour on my jeans, fingertips stained dark from berries, or a smudge of chocolate on my cheek. My friend Jen bought me a great apron from Lotta Jansdotter for my birthday and I've been putting it to good use ever since. Treat yourself and keep your clothes flour and stain free. Cute aprons from Murge Designs or Lotta Jansdotter

Tasty White
I went with my friend Gwen to a huge Italian Wine Tasting called Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri 2005 a while back and sampled quite a lot of wines. Alder did a much better job of systematically tasting his way through what must have been every one of the 200+ wines at the tasting. He diligently wrote up a nice list of coherant notes which you can read here. I stopped tasting after he turned me on to what ended up being my favorite wine of the afternoon - a refreshing, dry, beautiful 2003 Coffele "Ca' Visco" Soave Classico. Stock up if you can find it (I'm not sure if it is imported to the US, but I've seen it online from the UK in a couple places) - a perfect picnic wine, afternoon lunch refresher, etc. Easy on the pocketbook at roughly $18 retail. (If anyone knows where to get it in the US, let me know and I will link.)


Bison Australia
Bison - it's not what's for dinner, it's what you use to make your dinner. I was browsing the aisles at the IACP culinary expo a few weeks back and stumbled on Bisons Australia's beautiful, handcrafted, and refreshingly understated ceramic houseware line. Contemporary plates, pudding bowls, herb pots, beakers and milk bottles come in a range of delicious sounding glazes including - watermelon, celery, willow, and blueberry. My guess is that you will start seeing Bison in upscale boutiques and shops in the U.S. soon - fingers crossed.

101 Cookbooks Membership

Premium Ad-Free membership includes:
-Ad-free content
-Print-friendly recipes
-Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection PDF
-Weeknight Express recipe collection PDF
-Surprise bonuses throughout the year

spice herb flower zest
weeknight express

Comments are closed.

Apologies, comments are closed.

Comments

Sounds great Patty, I will check it out when I get back from Mexico. I've been wanting to get to that neighborhood to try lunch at Cafe Gregoire as well. http://www.gregoirerestaurant.com/ -h

Heidi

Hi! A friend of a friend just opened a new bakery and will open on May 14th, called Love at First Bite. It's located at 1510 Walnut Street, Suite G (corner of Vine and Walnut Streets), just around the corner from Chez Panisse. I'm not from the Bay area, and would like to know what you thought should you get a chance to visit and taste!

Patty

I'm totally lovin' this site. Thanks for doing it!

Shawn

Funny enough, I just ordered the binders this week, hoping they would might be useful for cd's, which never look nice displayed. Finally, a binder that doesn't scream 7th grade or office space!

bea

i may have to purchase one of those binders! the lotta jans dotter aprons are really nice - we do some stationery products of hers at chronicle books.

joyce

Really look forward to each new posting here...enriching my life; de-riching my pocketbook!

Joyce

Oh June Taylor! I'm currently saving my pennies for that same rose geranium jelly after tasting it 2 weeks ago. I sent a jar of the Bergamot marmalade to my sister (I regret not keeping it for myself), and have been making kir royale with the strawberry/lavender syrup. Have you tasted her pickled green walnuts? They're really something. Ok, done gushing.

Lulu

Comments are closed.

Apologies, comments are closed.

More Recipes

101cookbooks social icon
Join my newsletter!
Weekly recipes and inspirations.

Popular Ingredients

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of its User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

101 Cookbooks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Any clickable link to amazon.com on the site is an affiliate link.