Headboard Heartache

I have been looking for a headboard  for, well, pretty much forever. My master bedroom is tiny and I cannot waste any precious square footage on some cumbersome, old fashioned bed frame. I've looked at lots of DIY  and store bought options and am finding it impossible to decide. I want a modern Moroccan vibe in the space and that is definitely adding to the challenge...

Here are some ideas that have stuck with me:


This is the West Elm  Morocco headboard...appropriate eh?...It's about $500 for a queen.
http://www.westelm.com/products/morocco-headboard-f833/


Love this idea of fabric with a curtain rod. Simple, takes up very little space and could work with any
design/color scheme. I'm  thinking for my space either a saree fabric or kantha?
http://digitaldollhouse.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/headboard-galore/




















I also like this idea...although in this photo it is done with wall decals
(which I'm  not too keen on) but like the same concept done with decorative wall plaques.

http://www.roommatesdecor.com/blog/post/2011/11/16/How-To-Create-a-Headboard-Using-Trellis-Wall-Decals.aspx


This is deeply fabulous, but a little out of my price range at $1490.
http://www.moroccan-furniture-decor.com/pd-moroccan_bedroom_decor.cfm




Although this isn't my style, I like this concept as well...just a beautiful piece of fabric tacked up.
http://www.onlinefabricstore.net/blog/home-decor-go-big-or-go-home-3/big-tapestry-on-wall-form-martyn-lawrence-bullard-as-headboard/



This is perhaps my favorite of all: A gorgeous, antique decorative screen used as a headboard...now all I have to do is book a flight for the far east and start shopping...sigh.
http://www.adeenidesigngroup.com/

Oscar Party Recap and Recipes

So the Oscar/birthday party was a success! (although truthfully everyone was too busy eating and drinking to watch much of the awards show and from what I've heard we didn't miss much...)

Here are some of the recipes-all of which received rave reviews:

Gin Rickey
Rocks glass with ice
1 1/2oz dry gin (I used Gordons but Hendricks, Bombay etc would be fine)
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
fill with lemon lime soda or if less sweetness desired soda or seltzer water
garnish with lime slice


Mango Lassi
1 24oz container organic unflavored/unsweetened Greek yogurt
1 can mango slices 
2 fresh mangoes sliced
10ozs mango nectar
dash Cinnamon
dash cardamom

Blend all ingredients together and chill
Garnish with slice of fresh mango or-if you're feeling decadent-scoop of fruit sorbet or ice cream

Cucumber Yogurt Dip (Maast-o Khiar)
1 24oz container organic unflavored/unsweetened yogurt
1 seedless cucumber diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 shallot diced
2 tsps dried dill or 3 tablespoons fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, chill.
Serve with pita chips and veggies

Collard Greens (Paula Deen's recipe slightly amended)
1/2 pound smoked meat (ham hocks preferred)

1 tsp garlic powder 

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 tablespoon hot red pepper sauce

1 large bunch collard greens

1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add smoked meat, salt, pepper and garlic powder and hot sauce. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour.

Wash the collard greens thoroughly. Remove the stems that run down the center. The young leaves in the heart of the collards don't need to be stripped. Stack 6 to 8 leaves on top of one another, roll up, and slice into 1/2 to 1-inch thick slices. Place greens in pot with meat and add butter. Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. When done taste and adjust seasoning.

Now planning can begin for the next seasonal shindig...Easter I'm looking at you!

Happy 38th!

"A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day."
-Andre Maurois

 My parents have been married for 38 years as of today. They were married February 15th-the day after Valentine's Day-1975.
It was perhaps the most understated wedding in history my mother wore a thrift store dress and carried a single rose. A friend baked the cake. Another performed the ceremony. There was nary a monogram or champagne flute in sight.

They were young, well at least by today's standards, and more than a little naive. They lived an unorthodox lifestyle that-while viable in the 1960's-would become unsustainable as the pragmatic, capitalistic 1980's encroached. Neither of them had gone to college or had any particular skill set. And for many years they would drift from city to city, unfulfilling job to unfulfilling job. Although they would never have much money, or lead a particularly comfortable life, they have managed for nearly four decades to stay committed to each other.

There was never any doubt that they would be parents. They just both knew that they should be, would be, parents. I think they would have kept having kids indefinitely had it not been for my mother's health. Each pregnancy took a serious physical toll on her. They would have liked to have had lots of kids, but in my estimation my two brothers and I seem like plenty.

Our parents created for us a rich environment, not through any particular design, but just by surrounding us with books and music and conversation. Never talking down to us, treating us as if our opinions mattered. I can't remember my parents ever seeming disinterested or bored by any thing that we said or did. They seem to think their children to be endlessly fascinating and nearly preternaturally capable people. (They are of course wrong about that.)

My parents have weathered countless disappointments, losses, struggles and trials and yet their patience, generosity, and faith seem to know no ends. They have treated their marriage vows as something sacred, not because it has been easy, but in spite of it being hard. Each and every day they get up and choose to stay together. As of today they have made that choice 13,870 times and that, I think, is something to celebrate.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

I'd Like to thank the Academy...(Revised)

It just so happens that this year my birthday and the Oscars are on the same day! Rather than resent this intrusion on MY special day I have decided to embrace it. I am having a Best Picture Party. The menu will reflect each of the 9 best picture nominees for the 85th annual awards.


I've reworked the menu quite a bit so it makes a bit more sense.
Here's the-revised-gist:

Lincoln-Washington DC-Gin Rickey (the official cocktail of The District)

Zero Dark Thirty-Pakistan-dolma (stuffed grape leaves)

Argo-Iran-Maast-o Khiar (cucumber yogurt dip)

Amour-France-Assorted French cheeses (Camembert, Roquefort, Brie, Munster, Neufchatel, Gruyere all qualify)

Les Miserables-France-French Onion Soup

Beasts of the Southern Wild-Mississippi-Mac N Cheese

Django Unchained-Mississippi-Collard Greens

Silver Linings Playbook-Philadelphia-Cheesecake

Life of Pi-India-Mango Lassi (a fruit and yogurt drink)

I've revised and tailored the menu so it's semi-cohesive and not so random/stomach turning...Ok, that's a lie it's totally schizophrenic but I think this way there'll be something for every taste.