Bits & Pieces

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind, with lots of diverse things happening. I am not officially working right now, and so have been doing some projects, including supervising two photo-shoots.

Pal David of McLain-Wiesand, is having his staff photographed for their new website, and he wanted to evoke the custom craftwork that he and his team put into each piece they make. Here’s David in front of a Moroccan-style mirror he bought, and then re-made. He’s wearing a custom-painted cashmere double-breasted jacket. He usually doesn’t work in these clothes!

His woodworker, Jesse, looks the part of a 19th century craftsman. He actually does dress this way, but we’d put a bowler hat on him at one point, and then rejected it as a bit too Amish looking. Despite all of the electric tools and great techniques we have now, the guys still use tools that have been part of a carpenter’s bag since Jesus.

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How was your Valentine’s Day? We had a little dinner here at my house, with the aforementioned Country Captain, which was wonderful!

This is before the chicken and shrimp went into it, and you can see the pieces of apple floating on the surface. We added rice as the base and everyone had two helpings! I can’t recommend this enough.

I also made tortilla chips, which I cut out in the shape of hearts in acknowledgement of the day.I spray them lightly with olive oil, and then sprinkle either sea salt or parmesan cheese on them. Bake at 375*. Simple.

The hit of the night was Julie’s chocolate mousse. Julie used Heston Blumenthal’s two ingredient recipe for this. Chocolate and water. Yes, I know, completely crazy. You’ve always heard that water is the enemy of chocolate, but there’s some chemical magic that happens when you whisk it all together. With the addition of raspberries and some whipped cream, this was the perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day!

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I wanted to show you one more place I visited in New York. It was at the suggestion of the brilliant Mitchell Owens that I stopped in to see Mr. Louis Bofferding at his wonderful shop.

Each piece in this shop was carefully selected for its rarity, its beauty and its special qualities. While this looks like a piece of Murano glass from Venice, it’s actually an English piece.

This was the sweetest picture frame in the form of a picket fence’s gate.

I adored this pair of chairs upholstered in the most glorious blue satin.

How funny is this? It’s Maria Callas’s nose in crystals. It’s close to three feet from top to bottom!

I loved these two tiny chairs…

and look who made them!

This is a Tibetan singing bowl. The sound produced by these bowls is remarkable and the singing goes on for ever!

Another pair of chairs.

Like nothing I’ve seen before and just wonderful!

Thanks to Louis for showing me around and answering all of my myriad questions!