My grandmother was a sculptor. Her artwork was quite amazing, she started in limestone & then moved into granite, wood & all types of stone she’d pick up from a local quarry. I remember the first time she let me use her tools & carve a piece of stone.  It was so much harder than I’d imagined & it made me appreciate her work even as a young girl. I have a lot of my grandmother’s work, and want to acquire more sculpture, but it can be quite expensive. I saw this marble sculpture on 1st dibs today & it made me think of her. Art really is amazing in rock form. I love it.

A dear friend who is studying cake decorating and the art of sugar asked me to go to The NYC Chocolate Show. I happily agreed, as it’s a rare weekend I take off anytime for adult-only activities and the Chocolate Show seemed like an ok-enough activity. Plus I thought you people might like to hear about some good chocolate pre-holiday. Overall the show was like a mini-convention. Loads of people and not near as many venders as I expected, but there were some winners peppered among the crowds. I decided to do the entire show before I purchased anything, as the husband made it very clear: bring back samples. I was near sick with tastings halfway through, but soldiered on. It also became very clear what stood out from the pack. Now let me preface & say this…..chocolate is in the eye of the beholder. I happen to like it more pure with less sugar and DARK. The minute I tasted my favorite, it became clear that nobody matched up to them, and that was Chocolate at Cotton Tree Lodge. Apparently their big sell is the lodge in Brazil where you can go stay at their jungle retreat and make & eat chocolate from the source.  This did not sound like a bad idea and, their chocolate was by far the best at the show. I tried the 70% dark and it was amazing. Smooth, lightly fruity & just delicious. Some of my next favorite companies were for all kinds of reasons, some taste, some look & some with inventive ideas. I really enjoyed No Chewing Allowed, their chocolate truffles were just lovely.  A bit on the sweeter side, but whose going to not want that! They melted amazingly in your mouth (hence the name) and the look and feel of their entire brand & packaging was a sure standout….I would rate this as a great little holiday gift for kids of all ages (aka adults). Another really great idea & company standout was Rogue Confections. Rogue took a simple but great concept & really ran with it, they take their inspiration from vintage textiles & old-school postcards & present their chocolate in such a unique way. They’re retro/vintage feel was a sure standout.  I totally dug the chocolate discs, mini-disc lolli’s, and chocolate postcards. What a great idea for a local wedding or again a great holiday gift. Really loved these guys! I have to give a minor shout out to Antidote Chocolate. By far the most design forward beautiful packaging at the show, and innovative flavours: Ginger & gooseberry, Lavender & Red Salt, Banana & Cayenne…you get the point. Another standout for taste & look was the Grenada Chocolate Company. The taste was dark & rich and clean. They had a very intense flavour and I loved the island packaging. My final choice of the day was not about chocolate, in fact it was related to my all time favorite: caramels. Yes Liddabit Sweets were the real deal. At first I left the table due to my own hold ups about corn syrup, but the flavour was so darn great I went back twice and finally got up the nerve to ask them about the corn syrup- apparently either corn syrup or glucose syrup is used to help with crystallization.Ok I can get with that….just not so often, but these people really got the whole salty sweet combination- I finished my bag of caramels alreay (note the show was yesterday!). Overall a fun trip, though an expensive day if you add the ticket & all the purchases..but note: the husband was happy. (I purchased some old favorites: Francois Pralus & Michel Cluizel.)

It’s been over half a year since I’ve blogged. So much has happened; with that a lot of loss, sadly. I’m coming out of the cloud and looking to get back to creative posting & finding ways to be open again.  I am starting with this post on my long lost little blog. For those of you that still click here to see what’s up, first thank you, and I am here to let you know, I am back & will try hard to get to a regular posting schedule. My little one, Mr. W is 2.3 and keeping me quite busy these days, but we have lots of fun things to share. Stay tuned. xoxo

Happy new year. Merry holidays are over & hope you beat the sunday night blues back to work this week.  I know for myself and plenty of other people it felt like the first day back to school this week & not in a good way. I have to admit I kept thinking ok, what resolutions do I want to make – and the bottom line is I don’t! I try & make my life about healthy choices. Sometimes I make them & sometimes I don’t.  Reality is, I need to work out more, focus on my creative pursuits, continue to be a better wife, but i need to do this anyway, New Year or not!  So screw it who needs the resolution.  It’s like undue pressure for life…and I can tell you i need NO MORE pressure in my life. What I wish for you my loyal followers, is a healthy new year, with reward for your hard work, love in your life and the ability to chase your dreams.  go for it, it’s wednesday, not cause it’s 2011. p.s. I’m back to regular posting…so check back in.  Sorry bout the long pause in 2010- life just took over.

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I’ve posted. My granny had an accident and had emergency surgery.  Suffice to say, she’s doing much better & I can finally try & get my life back in shape. Btwn her, Mr. W, and everyday life I haven’t had any time for anything else, let alone time to blog…and I MISS IT! I am gearing up to do some serious posting. I need to update you on the fabulous 1st birthday, as well as a few other fun things I’ve found, some pics I’m working on and just general things to chat about.  Stay tuned.

Having a son who is almost a year old (16 days and counting), I am constantly running after him grabbing things out of his mouth (I have mastered the art of the finger sweep- though it has gotten MUCH harder since his new 4 teeth!), and basically I have to keep my eye on him 24/7. Now I must admit I am lucky (no pun intended), I have help during the week. In order for me to work I need a hands on sitter to watch the boy, so that he’s not screaming & burping into the phone, like he did today on a business call – super professional, I had to say, sorry that wasn’t me….ugg. Anyway, on the weekends my husband & I are at the beach a lot and our little house needs loads of work…which is impossible with this little one. Between cooking 3 meals a day for us, preparing & cooking 3 meals for him (plus snacks), breast feeding & watching the little bugger where is there time to clean, fix things (washer broke, pipe in basement busted, water filtration system went kaput, wasps nest in grill)….and I wish I were kidding. and btw- these are the smaller issues, we need LOADS of other issues attended to. So with that in mind it brings me to my dream: Lucky lil Darlings. They are an elite babysitting service for Manhattan and The Hamptons (and Oregon I believe), what I wouldn’t do to have an extra set of hands so my hubby & I could shocker- go out to dinner, or to the hardware store without a little squirmer or many other things….it sounds like a dream.

Ok so here’s another food post. Can you tell what’s on my mind lately? I am trying to eat more often (i find this an annoying challenge) but since i started I feel worlds better. I am also trying to cook more and keep myself fed with protein and veggie rich food. Today I had a craving for soba noodles, thanks to looking at 101 cookbooks, a great site for super natural cooking, so I decided to use what i had on hand and create a somewhat macro meal. I grated daikon (good for blood cleansing), grated carrots, drizzled with fresh lemon, and made a simple quick stirfry of red pepper, kale, green peas and tofu. Last I drizzled a little bit of soy over the noodles and sprinkled lots of sesame seeds. I must say it was super yummy.

I have an issue with eating. While I love to cook (most of the time) I am struggling with eating lately. maybe it’s the intense summer heat, maybe it’s laziness, maybe i”m in a food rut. Do you ever get those?! I just read about this “eat for energy timeline” in Real Simple this month, and today is the first day I am following it. It’s quite simple…it just makes you eat a lot of little meals, which I know is the best thing for my metabolism. Start 7:15 drink water -check, 7:45 coffee- I skip this don’t do coffee, I did my breakfast then instead – check, I am now off to the gym 8:45 (I inserted this- go me!), and then at 10:15 it says snack on some nuts- ok gonna do it. Ok, so make me stick to this ok. I mean really…OK OK OK I’m going to stick to this. Off to gym- i said that right?!