Love is blueberry buttermilk pancakes.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I don’t usually go in for holiday’s, but I got a bit inspired this time, and decided to make blueberry pancakes before dawn this morning, as a surprise for my lovely husband, who is a dear.

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 egg

1 cup of well shaken buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon Dominican vanilla

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Cinnamon to taste

Blueberries, fresh or frozen

Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a large bowl, folding in blueberries at last gently.  Add 1 tablespoon butter to skillet over medium heat. Drop batter into pan in 1/4 cup increments. Turn once bubbles on top of pancakes pop, about 4 minutes. Keep pancakes warm in 200 degree oven. Cut butter pats into heart shapes for pancake topper and serve with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Awesome Super Local Parisian Pasta!!!

My Aunt flew in last week from France, and she brought with her a great new product that I wanted to share. My Cousin, Serge, has started a pasta making outfit, L’epicerie locavore, with a few friends in Paris, the goal being to make fine pasta  from ingredients sourced in and around his own Paris neighborhood. The local food movement is not as big in France as it is here, but the interest in local sustainable food is growing rapidly. Isn’t the label the cutest? Their website is pretty sweet too. I love the direction they’re going in.

Montpelier Mansion

We had a delivery recently that took us down to Washington D.C., and while we were down there we made a pit stop at Montpelier Mansion, a historic colonial home that is open for visitors.

The inside of the house was not so impressive, but the actual building and the grounds were really charming. I took a few pictures of the highlights. I liked the fox ashtray and the oversized doorknobs the best.

New – Center City Media Console

The New Center City Console

We’ve just wrapped up building our newest piece, the Center City Media Console. This was started as a custom project for a client who liked our Center City Bookcase, but needed a place to put electronics as well. The construction of this piece is a bit different from the book case, in that it has a solid wood top, which meant that I had to figure out the best way to let the wood expand and contract inside the face frames of the console, which was  a bit tricky. The door is slatted to allow remote control operation with the door shut, and there is no door pull, just a magnetic push latch at the bottom, to keep things looking as simple and clean as possible. There is a cut-out in the back to allow for the cords to stay tidy.

We built it out of mahogany solid wood and veneered plywood. I’m pretty psyched about how this turned out, it’s always really amazing to compare the finished product with the original drawing. It’s my favorite part of making things.

Vintage Bird Ornaments!!

The new addition

I just found another vintage bird ornament while I was out the other day poking around junk shops with Mark. My Grandmother started this collection/obsession for me a few years ago when she donated all of her ornaments to me and my sad little naked tree. They were all birds,  and I have been adding to the collection for a few years now.

My favorite, with real feathers

Another sweet one, Circa 1940

I’ll post a picture of the tree once it’s trimmed up in all it’s “birdy” finery!

Solebury Dining Chair Release!

The new Solebury Dining Chair in natural cherry

I’ve just finished the first Solebury Dining Chair, my newest dining chair, and I wanted to share some images of the design/building process. I used the same basic back leg from my Rittenhouse Dining chair, but I modified it to make it shorter and I made the silhouette thinner, so the chair would really have a slim feel.

Solebury Dining Chair In Progress

I cut down several slats for the back and laminated them together over a mold to make the back supports. It’s almost the same contour as the back legs, making it a nice curve that hugs your back all the way across. I wanted this chair to be able to go with any style table, so I tried to keep it basic, while paying attention to the dimensions of the stock, and the details of the joints. One dining chair design down, many more to go…

Solebury Dining Chair back view

EmersonMade – Love it!

I stumbled across EmersonMade a while back, and wanted to share her beautiful clothes! She has a terrific eye for detail, which makes her simple pieces extra special. Everything is made in New York City (Bonus!). Check out her site, I can’t wait to see her next collection!