feeling Lucky

Recent press from Lucky Magazine's shop girl. Thanks Emily!

at left, our current window: beautiful resort wear from Matta, Velvet, Epice, Virginia Johnson and a swimsuit from Vix. at right: a glimpse of the Bolivian frasadas to come.

We've been busy photographing new items for the site, as well as shopping for new lovelies coming in the Spring (can't wait for the gorgeous one-of-a-kind Bolivian frasadas) and cooking up a storm- my usual way to stem the hibernation blues.

So for now:
Song of the day: Jailhouse Tears by Lucinda Williams and featuring Elvis Costello- sounding like vintage Costello- (does that make sense??) from her most recent and really excellent album, Little Honey.

And recipe: Chocolate bread. Mine came out looking much like the picture in the npr article, and tasting fabulous- warm, buttery, and not too sweet with that fresh-bread yeasty goodness- I was proud.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
-Barack Obama

screenprints from Deroy Peraza, at Hyperakt Design, Brooklyn

Welcome Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha- We are so proud of this moment!

jumping on the bandwagon

Not surprisingly, I really loved "Slumdog Millionaire", director Danny Boyle's colorful, gritty, clever and Dickensian film. I was especially taken with A.R. Rahmans spectacular soundtrack.
On a different note (;-)), I've noticed that our most popular item in the store this season is, hands down, the shearling lined clog boots from Sven. With fur extending all the way down, including the footbed, these babies are deliciously warm and all-day-long comfortable. Just what you need when the high for the day is 18 degrees, as we are enjoying today. Even better, they improve with age, as evidenced by my own much loved and well used (abused?) pair:
See them here.

warm fuzzies (aka cheesecake)

Winter sparks the cooking bug in me, and I crave rich foods (actually the "winter" bit is really a red herring- I crave rich foods just about all the time): pot roast, french toast, endless bacon, and most recently cheesecake. This recipe, my introduction to all cheesecake and therefore my standard-bearer, came from my aunt Susan- a chef of some renown in our family. When in need of an excellent, basic and delicious cheesecake recipe, you've found it.

Aunt Susan's Famous Cheesecake
preheat oven 350 degrees

• 3 8oz. packages of cream cheese- room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream the cheese, add eggs one at a time, and sugar and vanilla. Blend well.
Line a springform pan with a basic graham cracker crust. I use the honeymaid grahams, 1/3 of the box (they are packaged in thirds, so it is easy to measure) crushed with a pestle and mixed with a stick of melted butter. pour cream cheese mixture onto the crust and bake for 30-40 minutes, until just set.
Turn the oven temperature up to 500 degrees
mix:

• one pint of sour cream
  
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract

pour over cake, smoothing gently. Return to the oven for 6 minutes
Allow cake to cool completely, then refridgerate.

I served it with this blueberry topping: simple and very very good

• Wash a pint of berries, I used blueberries but I imagine substituting for your preference would be fine.
• Place approximately 1/3 of them in a saucepan over medium low heat with
• 1/3-1/2 cup of sugar and the
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• cook, stirring frequently for about ten minutes- until you've achieved a jam-like texture.
• Let the mixture cool to about room temperature, then
• mix in the remaining fresh berries
  

Happy New Year

We are home and cozy and have bid farewell to 2008. I'm looking forward to '09 with hope and cautious optimism. The house smells wonderful, the boys are busy with all that Santa and our generous family bestowed, and all is well.

The store is packed with excellent bargains as we embark on our biggest sale to date. Steals include the last lucky pairs of Repetto shoes at a remarkable 70% off, as well as a store-wide shoe clearance at 50% off, including the handmade lovelies from Chie Mihara and Cydwoq. Stop by and visit us in Brooklyn, or peruse the pages of the site.
Happy 2009!