Awesome or Hideous?

Cherry Juice Heels

Please vote now. Awesome or hideous.

Young Designer to Watch: Elizabeth Bauer

One of things that makes me happy are all the wonderful comments and emails that I receive from my readers everyday. A lovely note came on December 31st from one of my readers in France who said, "I love the way you write about other designers without any jealousy, au contraire, you are always so enthusiastic about other peoples work." As we all know, there aren't that many magazines left for designers to have their work published so I consider myself lucky to have a public forum to tell another designer how much I appreciated their hard work or to give a young designer some much needed publicity. I also love giving my design friends a shout out on their accomplishments!

Today I am especially happy to announce that my friend Elizabeth Bauer was named one of Traditional Home's 20 Young Designers to watch! That's a bedroom she designed above! Elizabeth is one of those great people that you meet for the first time, in my case at last year's Design on a Dime, and feel like you've known forever! She started out working for a designer on Nantucket and now has her own successful design firm in New York as well as a fabulous shop in the West Village.

I told Elizabeth that I like to describe her shop as Paris meets Palm Beach which she loved since those are two of her favorite cities! The shop combines her vintage finds with lots of bold patterns and bright colors that look fresh and fun!

Elizabeth is also a member of one of my design groups that we have nicknamed "Decorator's Anonymous." (Hello my name is Heather and it's been four days since my last visit to the D&D!) It's wonderful to come together with other young designers who also work mostly alone. We share great vendors, business advice on things like contracts and billing, and sometimes just vent about our frustrations! As one of the other members joked, it's like AA but even better because we can drink! I encourage everyone to create a design support group in your area!

As you can see from some of the photos of Elizabeth's shop, she has lots of great artwork and accessories that work for design projects or for your own apartment! I hope you'll stop by the next time in you're in the village and if you want to be really nice, you can vote for Elizabeth for the Traditional Home Readers Choice Award! Merci!

Elizabeth Bauer Design

43 Greenwich Avenue

New York, NY 10014

212-255-8625

www.elizabethbauerdesign.com

More Happiness!

One of my readers mentioned magazines as something that makes them happy and I have to agree! Right now, the March 2010 cover of ELLE DECOR is making me very happy! Those blue walls are gorgeous and I can't wait to get the issue see the rest!

UPDATE: I was overjoyed with excitement when I found this issue on sale today in New York and I can tell you that it's just as spectacular as I imagined! It's probably one of my favorite issues in a long time! Hope you get your copy soon!

Funny Vintage Advertisements

As I peruse my vintage magazines, I can't help but be amused by the ads throughout. Some of them are naive, some of them are silly, and some of them are downright offensive. It is fun to see how far we have come, and how sometimes, we have gone too far.

I can not believe they used to advertise Thorazine! And to keep old people calm!

Ah, I see. If I keep my vajayjay clean, then my husband won't be such an asshole. It all makes sense now!

So wrong.

This ad made me laugh out loud. Can you even imagine putting soda in a bottle these days?

Can you imagine a soap using a baby that has fallen out of a tub as an advertising gimmick these days?

Oh, honey, please! At least she has panties on, which is more than I can say for some of the young starlets these days!

So, so wrong.

This is a personal favorite, because every time I mess up dinner my husband quotes the above ad and it always makes me feel better.

It's Delish! Quinoa Salad

My friend Chana Malka made up this salad the other day and I have been obsessing about it ever since. It is delicious- full of fresh flavor, interesting textures, and bit of tang. She started with an Israeli salad and then added quinoa. It may sound simple, but the flavors are perfection. You must try it!

Start with 1/2 cup quinoa. This will make a salad for 2 people. (This is the easiest recipe to double, triple, etc.)

Quinoa MUST be rinsed because it contains a bitter substance around each seed. I don't have a fine colander, so I just pour the quinoa directly into the pot I am going to cook the quinoa in.

Then I pour water in the pot...

use my hand to swish the seed around....

and then drain the water out of the pot. If the seeds are trying to float away with the water, I just use my other hand to catch them and return them to the pot.

Then I add 1 cup of water to the pot and cook on high until it comes to a boil.

Ah, there it is. The water is at a boil, so I lower the flame, put on a lid, and let it cook for 15 minutes until the water has been absorbed.

While the quinoa is cooking, you can chop the vegetables. Start with two scallions. Slice off the roots.

Next, slice the scallions in half length-wise.

Then dice the scallions into small pieces.

Next, the cucumbers. I used two small Persian cucumbers, but you can always use half of one regular cucumber. I just slice off the ends:

Then I cut the cucumber into eighths.

Then chop the cucumber into a small dice.

On to the tomato:

First, take out the woody area where the stem was.

There you go!

Then cut the tomato horizontally and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Perfection!

Then cut the tomato into small slices...

and dice!

Now you should have a bowl that is essentially an Israeli salad! If you add some lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper,  you could serve it up as a nice side dish. But the quinoa really takes it to the next level. So let us continue.

By now, the quinoa should be done.

I like to cool the quinoa on a tin foil lined cookie sheet. This keeps the quinoa from overcooking.

Now it is time to get the lemon juice. I always start with half a lemon and then taste the salad to see if I need more.

Add the quinoa to the vegetables, add the lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a crackle of pepper, and 2 Tbsp of olive oil.

And voila! An amazing salad. This tastes best if you let it sit for at least 30 minutes. It will also keep for at least 3 days in the fridge.

Now, you could stop there and have a wonderful side dish, or...

you could add some chickpeas and feta and call it lunch! I had mine with a bowl of tomato soup and it was amazing! The chickpeas add some protein and heft, and the feta gives it a creamy, tangy bite.

Some other additions could be:

minced fresh mint

minced fresh oregano

red onion instead of scallions

switch the garbanzo beans for black beans and add fresh cilantro

crumbled goat cheese instead of feta

red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice

cherry tomatoes instead of a Roma tomato

diced red, yellow, or orange pepper

Happiness

I was catching up on my fashion magazines while I was at the hair salon last night and I kept noticing articles about happiness. This has been a been a big topic of conversation among my friends this year since we all believe that having a positive attitude is the key to happiness and also success! We've all heard that money can't buy happiness, although it might you dress better while trying to be happy, so I was trying to think of the things that make me happy that don't cost any money. One of the main things I came up with is sunshine. There is nothing I love more than feeling the warm sun on my face. I've even been known to cross the road to walk on the sunny side of the street. There is something about dog walkers that make me happy. Well, not the actual walkers, but all those cute little dogs strolling down the street together always make me smile. So tell me, what makes you happy?

Photo by François Halard

Discount Code for Umeboshi and More!

I'm not sure if it's the name, taste or health benefits of umeboshi that impresses me the most but whatever it is, I do know that umeboshi is worthy of your attention. These pickled plums are available whole, pureed or as a vinegar and they are excellent used in stir fries, sauces, dressings, sushi, spreads and even drinks. Umeboshi has a salty and sour flavour, so you only need to use a small amount. I've been using the umeboshi puree and I love its lush purple colour, sweet fruity scent and the fact it keeps so long in the fridge. I've been adding a teaspoon here and there to my stir-fries and boiled rice and I really like the way it gives any simple meal a bit of a wake-up call!

According to food author Robbie Swinnerton the 'Japenese pickled plums have remarkable medicinal qualities.' Swinnerton explains on Clearspring's website how they are 'the Far Eastern equivalent to both aspirin and apple' and 'an umeboshi a day is regarded as the best preventative medicine available.' You can read more about the health benefits of umeboshi here.

If you are eager to try umeboshi, the kind people at Goodness Direct are offering readers of Green Lashes and Fashion a 20% discount on umeboshi products and other groceries (excluding chilled, fresh and frozen products). To receive this discount, enter the code 32233VFN into the voucher code box at Goodness Direct's online checkout. This offer expires at the end of April 2010 and is valid for one order.
Visit Goodness Direct.


Once you've got your umeboshi, here are some vegetarian recipes you can try:

Vegetable Rice Bowl with Miso Dressing - Martha Stewart Living
Umeboshi and Rice Salad
Tofu and Broccoli Quiche

I'd love to hear about any recipes you've dried using umeboshi. Does anyone have a good noodle recipe or has anyone dried umeboshi as a drink?

Just as a final note, is it wrong that I totally want to use the name Umeboshi for my dog (when I get one) or for my own organic perfume (because a girl can dream). People will ask, 'who are you wearing?' (or 'who are you walking?') and I'll tell them dramatically, oo-may-boshay. I know, I've officially lost it today!


Image credits: here