We're Rooting for Cheerios.

Loving the new video for Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr - Nothing but our Love.

Fabulous Eggs by Fabulous Birds

And how fabulous they are.

These gals are looking faboo in the new advertising campaign for Clarence Court premium eggs by WFCA.  The company specializes in eggs across the pond in England, selling Quail Eggs, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Ostrich Eggs, Goose Eggs, and other rare-breed chicken eggs that are "proud to be delicious".  So for the new campaign, these Mad Men decided to show off the birds au-naturale.  

These ladies are totally hamming it up for their big photoshoot:

We also adore the behinds the scenes footage, proving that these chickens really are fabulous.

 

Also, check out the Clarence Court website - it's very nice, and there are recipes and fantastic instructional videos that teach you how to prepare eggs 8 different ways - ie learn to poach - finally. 

Oh, The Many Colors of Paris

Turquoise-chalked menu boards (and Daphne boats!), black ash-covered goat cheese buttons, puffy pink marshmallows, green garlic stems, milky brown cups of cafe au lait: all the delicious colors of the city of lights, as documented by Little Brown Pen and sold in vibrant color blocks here.

It's enough to make a girl put on her new pants and move out to France to sit in the Luxembourg Gardens with Sean Ono Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Mull. (Ed note: though we're more than a bit skeptical of the band's name, the duo's early-60's French surf pop-inspired swingy beats are bonafide good. There's no official music video yet, so this one will have to do. The album is streamable at NPR.)

I Was Wondering How to Dress for Halloween

The answer is simple: just like Paula Deen
Blonde Wig
Teased Big
With style and sass like the creamed butter queen

Some courageous dude over at Chow put together a lovely look book and how-to guide on dressing for this year's Halloween. Bravo, my friend, Bravo!

The Mast Brothers with their Roman collared shirts and matching beards (OMG ROFL!)

Alice Waters with her purple hat and rough-hewn gemstone necklace

Molto Mario with Crocs and all that business


Sexy Michael Pollan with an open-front button down and a bald cap

Guy Fieri with that ubiquitous flame motif bowling shirt

And of course, the matronly muse herself, Paula Deen

In This Donut Boutonniere, I Thee Wed

I can just see it now, as written up in the Sunday New York Times Vows: "The groom, a life-long fan of salty-sweet combinations, wore a black velvet Prada tux accented with a dark chocolate covered German pretzel boutonniere. The blushing bride, a sandwich accompaniment afficionado, descended the baroque spiral staircase in a Vera Wang special collection white chiffon gown and a turquoise and black polka dotted potato chip bouquet."

This sounds like my kind of wedding.

The Classic Pink Iced Donut, $12.95 by SurroundingsOnline on Etsy

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The aforementioned pretzel number, $12.95

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You know, a little "something blue," also a steal at $12.95

One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor

Except it's Whisky. These floors by McKay in Glasgow are made from reclaimed Whisky barrels. Do you think you get to drink the peaty goodness first? Regardless, they're HOT.

Cheese Please

We stumbled upon these gorgeous images of aged artisnal cheeses at the Gourmet Grocer Balmain, winner of the 2011 Sydney Morning Herald Best Cheese Award at our new favorite food photography blog, What Katie Ate. I know the Kiwis are known for their, ahem, relations with sheep, but the Aussies seem to know what they're doing as well.

Sans Caramel

Maybe we've got a sweet tooth right now, but this hand lettering is looking mighty delicious.  Made by Czech design student Marta Maštálková.  So so sweet.

A Baker, A Surfer, An Accordianist & Her Lover

Chad Robertson's new book, Tartine Bread (Chronicle, September 2010) from his eponymous well-loved San Francisco restaurant showcases his famous but humble country-style artisan breadbaking methods. This video of Chad and his bread tasting buddies has us fully on-board with the program. We're packing our bags and hopping a flight Westerly, so we can tear into some piping hot, crusty bread tomorrow morning.

Tartine Bread from 4SP Films on Vimeo.

Serious Coffee Buzz

Wow.  We praise the heavens every morning when that glorious cup of coffee hits our lips, but we never knew that you could power more than just humans with coffee.  Seriously powerful stuff those magical beans.

Vienna designers Misher'Traxler made batteries - yes functioning, energy producing batteries from 700 used Nespresso capsules.  Each battery is made from coffee grounds, strips of copper, the Nespresso aluminum capsules, clamps and saltwater and 6 coffee pots power a clock, and the entire piece can power a radio.

"In this mixture between a soil battery and a salt water battery the aluminum functions as the anode, the copper as cathode and the salt water as electrolyte. Due to a chemical reactions a small, but usable, amount of energy is created. Each battery produces about 1,5 – 1,7 Volts of potential and enough power to run a electro – mechanical Quartz clockwork." 
                                                                                        -Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler

Did we mention is it also gorgeous?!?!  We are suckers for anything color coordinated.

via dezeen

Urban Beekeeping is Totally Awesome

Earlier this year, New York officials dissolved the old, silly anti-rooftop beekeeping ban on the city. We're super psyched about this decision and can't wait to see more home harvested honey around town. This video featuring members of the always-resouceful Roberta's and Frankie's team takes us back to a time before when the ban was lifted, and provides a glimpse into how it's all done.

To learn more about beekeeping in the Big Apple, visit the New York City Beekeepers Association.

Dishes I'd Rather Be Doing

Well isn't this just the greatest tea towel ever?



Let's take a closer look...

Exhibit A: George "I don't get older, I just get better" Clooney

There's also:

Jake Gyllenhaal, "So manly he's happy to play a gay dude!"

Owen Wilson, "aka The Butterscotch Stallion"

Johnny Depp, "His cheek bones are so high you can see them from space"

Brad Pitt, "Cuter than a fluffy kitten kissing a tiny duckling wearing a pink bow"

Seriously, we'll volunteer to do these dishes any night.

This fabulous tea towel and other really sweet treats like totes, posters, and snarky award ribbons by DearColleen on Etsy.

Blood. Orange. Caramels.

Some days, we come across a flavor combination that just blows our minds. Bitter chocolate and ancho chili pepper at Vosges Haut Chocolate. Brussels sprouts and sriracha at Joseph Leonard. Ahi tuna with brown butter at Mas (farmhouse).

Today, we stumbled across a flavor bomb at one of our favorite sites ever, MattBites. Blood Orange Caramels. With Toasted Almonds. And Sea Salt. Matt, you have brought us to our knees.

images via MattBites

Matt Armendariz is well-known and widely admired (by none other than Miss Martha Stewart herself) for his incredible photography and artistic direction, and everything on his site is just so damn appetitey. Thank you, Matt, for your consistently inspiring work.

Speaking of inspiration, we're making these TONIGHT.

(This recipe reproduced from MattBites)

Cindie’s Blood Orange Caramels with Toasted Almonds and Sea Salt
Could you use regular oranges? Perhaps. I wouldn’t. Blood oranges are very special and I’m quite fond of them. And they are in season right now. Cindie says if you prefer a tart candy you can cut the brown sugar in half. I happen to think they were just perfect as written.

3 cups blood orange juice, strained
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted almonds
2 teaspoons sea salt flakes

Line the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper. Butter parchment paper and set aside.

Place blood orange juice in a 4-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Let boil until liquid is reduced to 1/3 cup.

Remove from heat and stir in sugars, butter, and cream. Return to high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn heat to medium and let boil until a candy or deep fat thermometer reads 248 degrees F (or when a half teaspoon placed in a glass of icy cold water turns into a firm, chewy ball), about 17 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Scatter almonds on bottom of parchment paper. Pour caramel over almonds. Let sit until cool and firm, about 2 hours. Remove from baking dish and sprinkle salt flakes over top. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

WishList: This $32,000 Red Zeppelin Ice Gun

This 1935 original, modeled after the ray guns of the 1930's comic strip Buck Rogers, is constructed of enameled aluminum, chrome-plated, and rubber. Yesterday, this hottie was sold at auction by Wright20 to one lucky bidder who will now be seen hand-pumping ice at every cocktail party in town.

Image via Wright20

Activated by a spring-loaded trigger and plunger, this bad boy instantly crushes any ice cube in its chamber, shooting shards through the bottom chamber.

via NotCot

So, yeah, who wants to set me up with the fashionable gent who won the bidding war?

Our New Drinking Buddies

Meet Edna, a classy broad who prefers "her men young (sixty something) and her gin slow." She, like us, is "a bit brash with a splash of class." Edna, we'll see you on the shuffleboard court at high noon. We'll bring the Hendrick's. You bring the sunscreen.

Edna's drink of choice: THE BINGO WING, 1 shot vodka, 1 shot ginger juice, 2 shots lime juice & a splash of soda. To serve, double the recipe (obvs!), pour into a goblet sized glass, stir, and garnish with a cocktail umbrella. Cheers, dahling!

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We are loving this new collection of hand-died letterpress coasters (available as examples of thier custom coasters in a wide range of shapes and sizes for your wide variety of beverage-resting needs) by Cranky Pressman. The design team at Parliament of Owls created a cast of characters we'd gladly take on a drinking buddies.

Meet Mr. Snogglebaum, this "oldie original has been refining his look about as long as he's been growing his stache." He likes Jeopardy, antiquing, plum tartes (us too!), liesure cruises and The Theater. Dislikes: televised sports, speed bumps, hat hair, crumbs and queues.

His aperetif, THE SHUTTLECOCK, is 1 part cream, 2 parts OJ, 1 part Cointreau and 1 part Galiano, mixed and shaken with ice, strained into a chilled glass, and garnished with a lime wedge.

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And then there's Cranky, "straight up and hard working," a fan of THE HAIRY BACK, a working-man's combo deal of a shot of Jameson and pickle juice.

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Adelaide (pictured here with Pistachio), likes mud, cussing, and winning; hates mosquitos, cheaters and losing. She's partial to THE SEA BISCUIT, bitters, bourbon, ginger ale and soda on ice.

Each coaster comes with a character bio on back. Here's the run-down on lady Edna, the woman who stole our hearts.