weekend in [someone else's] pictures

hi there! i had an absolutely perfect weekend, if you discount the hangover i nursed most of sunday. here it is, in pictures.




friday evening me, sam, his brother & girlfriend went to see holly golightly in williamsburg after stuffing our faces with meat & cheese at our apartment. and lots of wine.

saturday morning we woke up surprisingly early (well, like 9:30, early for me,) and i made us soufflés, fruit salad, and chicken apple sage sausages and french pressed coffee for breakfast, than wiggled into comfy clothes and ridiculous shoes and headed off to my bridal shower.






one of my best friends and bridesmaids, rachel, told me she was throwing a bridal shower for me, and i wasn't sure what to expect - but it was absolutely perfect. can you imagine if people are throwing a party in your honor, and their idea of doing so is to bring together the best people you know, with the most beautiful, delicious food and pastries, gorgeous, homemade drinks, flowers everywhere, and asking everyone to wear their "audrey finest"? i have never been so touched and flattered in my life. needless to say i was drunk my about 6 pm. which didn't stop me from. . .



duck fat toast, tecate and tequila shots from fatty cue in williamsburg. truly, and i'm not proud of this, but i barely remember being here; apparently i dropped my food on the floor a lot and repeatedly told the bartender i was getting married. he was charmed enough to give us all free shots throughout the evening, which was sweet, but really probably not the best response to the girl who can't hold on to her ribs.



sunday we woke up early to say so long to sam's brother and his lady, and stopped off for donuts at dough before i headed back to bed in hopes of relieving my pounding headache. (it didn't work.) instead i chowed down on leftover chinese food, called my mom and had a nice long mother's day chat, and then made sam and i dinner



and then we headed to the movies, to catch an old favorite of mine, that sam had never seen -






harold and maude.

and that was my weekend! how was yours? happy belated mother's day to all the moms out there!

and happy birthday to my own dear mother, the proximity of which to mother's day means a curse of combo presents for most of her life. i'm sorry mom! i love you a ton!

xo audrey

friends in high places

hello! i hope everyone's had a good couple of weeks. mine we spent first living the life of someone much cooler than myself - a friend came to visit two weeks ago, and through his savviness we were able to attend a jimmy fallon taping (the one where justin timberlake was the guest and belle and sebastian were the musical guest - a fantastic preview to the next night, when we saw them play in williamsburg [a heartbreakingly wonderful show. i don't know if i've ever left a concert happier]), a saturday night live dress rehearsal, and then, ridiculously, the snl after party. it was fun, but incredibly surreal for a bunch of reasons - i think there were more celebrities of one caliber or another than there were every day joes such as ourselves; every table was reserved by one of the aforementioned celebrities, so we were forced by default to stand awkwardly in the middle of a bunch of celebrities; and i had, at this point begun to develop a pretty nasty cold, the party didn't start until 1 am, and i had to work at 7 the next morning.

so. week 1 spent in a fury of activity, and most of week 2 spent in bed, surrounded by used kleenex, watching show after show on hulu and eating nothing but chicken noodle soup. i guess everything balances itself out. i'm still nursing away what must be the worst cold of my adult life (15 days later i still have a cough and the sniffles) but i've started to dig myself out and get to work. with the wedding 8 months away, and on a saturday in june, i'm anxious to get save the dates in the mail; i've almost completed the pile now. i changed the colors to match what i guess will be our wedding colors (although i don't really see myself sticking to just two) and i've been writing out the addresses with a kind of crappy calligraphy marker. i think i need to upgrade.








but anyway! the goods. a recipe AND an outfit! in one day! i'm trying to make up for lost time.

squid ink fettucine a la audrey

so! i made my own pasta for this one. it sounds like a pain, and it kind of is, but i'm telling you, fresh pasta is so so so so SO much better than anything you can buy at the store. so much. i put squid ink in here because i'd picked some up at a fish market a few weeks ago and intended to use it for, i don't know, something (buy random ingredients at stores and force yourself to use them. i find it gets me making things i never would otherwise) and decided to throw it in here. you can buy little packets like the one i used here. they're cheap! and while they didn't make a huge difference in taste that i could tell (i think it did make the pasta a bit saltier,) they sure do make it look good.

so! for the pasta.

3/4 c semolina flour
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1 T water
1 T olive oil

whisk salt & flour and make a well; add egg, squid ink, water, and olive oil. mix with a wooden spoon until it's combinded, then knead for about 8-10 minutes, until it's pretty smooth and elastic-y. wrap it in plastic and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. then use a pasta machine (or roll it out if you are a better woman than i) to roll it out, bit by bit, until it's pasta thin and cut into fettucine. let it dry while you prepare. .






2 egg yolks
1 large portabello mushroom cap, cut into bite sized cubes
2 small zucchini, washed then sliced into ribbons with a peeler


boil a pot of water. once it's at a rolling boil, drop in the pasta and cook until tender with a splash of olive oil in the water. strain pasta but save some water; get a sautee pan heating up and add in mushrooms and a splash or two of pasta water. once mushrooms start to cook, add zucchini; keep adding pasta water as needed (whenever it's all cooked off, add another splash until the zucchini and mushrooms are sauteed to softness.) add pasta to sautee pan, mix together, then turn off heat; immediately mix in the two egg yolks, stirring quickly so they don't cook at the bottom of the pan. season to taste and voila! few ingredients but tons of flavor. my new go-to pasta.



aaand lastly, outfit! i went to the flea market saturday with some long-lost friends and had a really nice time, despite snotting and sneezing all over the place the whole time. my outfit for shopping (although i didn't buy anything. . .)



shirt (red): urban
slip: vintage
bow tie: shoe clip
tights: american apparel
shoes: pour la victoire
not pictured, but totally wearing: purple bloomers from american apparel. just in case.

my parents are flying in this weekend and i get to go bridal-shopping with my mama. i'm hoping to find a veil and some shoes, and i've been looking for an excuse to check out the j crew wedding shop on madison ave, so. . . yes! more soon!

xo audrey

wowee zowee

last night sam and i went to see pavement in central park. it was a gorgeous night; somehow the humidity of the day disappeared and we arrived to the golden soundz of stephen malkmus. i'd originally planned on bringing a picnic, but we got caught up watching top chef:just desserts (my boss [and friend] eric is a contestant on the show, so if you watch, look out for him! a very talented baker and all-around sweet dude) and the potato salad i'd made to bring was all but gone by the time we were ready to head into manhattan. it was DELICIOUS though, so here is the recipe, which i adapted from one on epicurious. if you're a fan of salt and vinegar chips, do it, have a picnic, and enjoy the last few days of summer weather before we retreat into fall (my favorite time of year.)




salt and vinegar potato salad

about a pound of fingerling potatoes, scrubbed well
half a red onion
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
white pepper
ground bay leaves
celery salt
fresh ground paper
kosher salt or fleur de sel
paprika
ground ginger
1/2 c olive oil

cut the onion into long, thin slices and pour the apple cider vinegar over it; let that steep while you prep the potatoes. steam them for about 10 minutes or so - just until a fork will go into them easily. rinse them in cold water and let them cool off a bit. cut them into bite sized pieces and add them to the onions and vinegar, and add a couple of dashes of each of the spices. alternatively you can use old bay seasoning - the original recipe called for it, but i realized too late i didn't have it and had to improvise (and was pretty happy with the results, if i do say so myself.) salt liberally, add the olive oil, and voila! i should warn that the amounts here are approximated - i kind of eyeballed while making it.

today sam and i are heading to the beach for a couple of days of sun, surfing, and fishing; this weekend it's supposed to get up to almost 90, and i'm going to make the most of it!



shirt: thrifted
brooch: from lori goldstein
shorts: american apparel
shoes: vintage line of cole haan
purse: thrifted

alright everyone. enjoy your weekend, more food soon!

xo audrey

heavens to betsy, i love etsy

sam and i went to new jersey this weekend to go fishing, as i may have mentioned, and came back sunday afternoon with some striped bass in the freezer and this hat on my head. i bought it on etsy late one night last week after quite a bit of wine, and now i'm obsessed with it. we went to a wolfmother/heartless bastards concert that night, and it was unseasonably warm - like ridiculously so - and i wore some denim cutoffs, one of sam's plaid shirts and my new favorite accessory.



and for today, a skirt i haven't pulled out in a while. i bought it on sale at anthropologie but by the time i got to it they were out of my size; i've taken it in an inch or two since i wore it last so that it fits a bit higher up on the waist, which is how i seem to be wearing everything these days.



shirt: very old, from express
skirt: anthropologie
socks: american apparel
shoes: nine west

debating going out tonight or hermiting it up in my apartment and baking all night long. french pastries are a dangerous addiction, folks. don't get mixed up in this shit.

xo audrey