oopsfish

hello! i'm still getting my bearings after a quick vacation this past weekend - me and a few friends booked a b&b in nashville, tennessee; i'd been looking forward to it for weeks, and i packed my suitcase carefully the night before - i'm a notorious over-packer, and wanted to travel light this time - and was headed out the door for work when i realized that i didn't have my passport. (i've lived in new york for nearly four years, and chicago for five years before that, so when i lost my driver's license a couple years ago i got real lazy and just didn't replace it.) sam had taken off for a fishing trip a morning earlier, and my passport had gone right along with him and was now residing in his jacket pocket somewhere on a river in connecticut. so. vacation was off to a rough start.

as it turns out, getting on an airplane without a photo ID is not as difficult as you may think. i brought along every piece of paper i could find with my name on it - birth certificate, marriage certificate, social security card, mail - even my wedding invitation! - and got a little extra TSA action, but got to nashville and back without a hitch. it was a perfect vacation - a few days with some of my very best friends, eating, drinking, dancing and vintage shopping our way through the city. we found a shop called savant vintage that was absolutely miraculous - jam packed with some of the most incredible vintage pieces i've ever seen, including these trousers.




blouse - vintage, from brooklyn flea
earrings - handmade by the owner of savant vintage
pants - vintage, savant vintage
shoes - madewell

so, while i was galavanting about tennessee, my sam was camping out with a bunch of his friends, and he brought home a bag full of trout of different varieties. i decided to pair one - simply prepared - with a dish inspired by one i had at city house in nashville.

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swiss chard, raisin and almond salad

1 bunch of swiss chard
2 thin carrots, cleaned and chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup toasted almonds
1/2 small red onion, cut into thin slices
a splash of olive oil, honey, and white wine vinegar
kosher salt

turn the oven to 350 and place the carrots in a foil-lined sheet pan with a splash of olive oil and drizzling of honey. roast until soft, about 20 minutes.

from here it's easy - sauté the chard in the smallest bit of olive oil until dark green and limp; take off the heat and add a tiny bit of white wine vinegar, then stir in the raisins, almonds, and carrots. season with salt to taste.








the fish should be even easier - but i've been trying this new health-ish kick lately, and i didn't put enough olive oil in the pan, and i kind of mangled the poor thing. trout has such good flavor on its own that i like to prepare it simply, with a little lemon, salt and pepper; just be sure you put enough butter or oil in the pan that you don't ugly it up like i did.






ugly or not, it was utterly delicious and a nice pairing of mild and earthy and sweet.

hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and i promise more soon -

xo audrey

to be adored

happy friday! i had a very busy week - right smack in the middle, i was fortunate to get to sneak a peak at warby parker's upcoming line. i first started wearing glasses in high school, but my prescription was so weak that i never really wore them; finally, just recently, i came to terms with the fact that not being able to identify friends and regulars that come into the bakery and say hello, a mere 10 or so feet away, is totally unacceptable. i've been wearing contact lenses, but i'm excited to get a new pair of frames when the new ones come out! anyhoo, i have a new favorite blouse, and wore that to wednesday's jaunt:

 

top: tba
pants: zara (similar here)
necklace: vintage, thrifted
shoes: vintage, ebay

my hair is in the awkward phase of growing out where the only time it looks semi-okay is when i either sloppily throw it out or muss it so far out from my head that you can't tell how awful the haircut (or lack thereof) is. the last time stylist scissors touched it was back in august. i chopped my own bangs a couple months ago.

anyway, i've got a busy weekend ahead and more outfits and recipes to post, so more from me soon!

xo audrey

breakfast for dinner

hello! last night i scurried all the way to the upper east side, to an event thrown by decades to benefit sloan-kettering hospital's cancer center. basically, i got to sip champagne and feast my eyes on some of the most beautiful designer vintage clothing i've ever seen in person - none of which i could afford, of course. still, it was fun, and i got to catch up with a long-lost friend, which is always a good thing.
 

top: thrifted vintage
scarf: thrifted
boots & skirt: madewell
earrings: c/o charming charlie

 i got home and set straight to work on dinner - i'd scored some duck eggs and house-made corned beef hash from work, so i had a vague plan for breakfast for dinner. i heated up the oven, got some pizza dough rising, and set about chopping.

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breakfast pizza 

one batch pizza dough - i use this recipe
white or red sauce - i made a bechamel sauce (basic recipe here) with onions, mushrooms, ramps and fresh ricotta
toppings of your choice - i used baby heirloom tomatoes, duck prosciutto, avocado and an egg

heat your oven as high as it will go without broiling - mine was up to about 550. put your pizza stone or a sheet pan inside to heat up with the oven. make your sauce, then roll out your pizza dough on a piece of parchment so you can easily slide it onto your sheet pan/pizza stone. bake it for 2-3 minutes, then pull it out and spread your sauce over the dough, and add the toppings that need more time - for me, it was the tomatoes and prosciutto. bake these for 5-6 minutes, then pull out and add the egg and avocado; bake for five more minutes or so, until the white of the egg is fully cooked.
 

while everything was baking, i quickly threw together some corned beef hash.

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corned beef hash

 3 large idaho potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
a spring of rosemary, finely chopped
1 cup of prepared corned beef hash (mine was dressed with some mustard and mustard seeds, salt, and pepper)
butter
3 eggs (i used duck eggs, just because.)

once everything is chopped, it's quite simple; use a cast-iron pan and add a couple tablespoons of butter. add the onion, and sautee until soft and transparent; add the potatoes, turn the heat down to medium-low, and just let those potatoes cook through. don't worry too much about them sticking to the pan; add a bit of butter if this happens (my favorite solution to any problem) and you'll just have some nice crispy bits. add the rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste, and the corned beef (chopped into bite sized pieces) once the potatoes have cooked through, and stir occasionally; i put mine in the super hot oven with the pizza, still baking, so they'd be ready at the same time. while the hash crisped up in the oven, i fried the duck eggs to place on top.
 

i didn't get home to start cooking until nearly ten o'clock, so by the time we sat down to dinner it was a rather unhealthy 11:20; it felt sort of right, though, eating breakfast in the pitch black, all sleepy-like. but instead of just waking up, i got to go to bed right after. bonus. have a wonderful week, and more from me soon -

xo audrey

glowering flower

good morning! how was everyone's weekend? i'd planned on going into the city to see a couple of shows - fashion! - but instead i stayed home and cleaned my room, because THAT'S how cool i am. this is kind of a repeat, i guess, of what happened in september - delighted to be invited to shows, for the first time ever, i rsvp'd to almost all of them and then ended up only going to the one - rachel comey - that i was most excited to see. there are a few reasons for this - i'm incredibly flattered to be invited, to be sure, but i don't really think of myself as a "fashion person." i am really just a girl who likes dressing up. and this weekend, the craziness of lincoln center - the jumble of photographers, the legions of stick-thin models, the waves and waves of beautiful, confident women walking swiftly past me in several-thousand-dollar shoes as i wait in line, staring at my $12-on-ebay-miu miu's - just didn't sound like a good time. i'm definitely not judging - lots of close blogger friends attended many a show over the past week, and have some really gorgeous photos to show for it. but they know what they're talking about; i don't.

all that to say, i am going to a presentation tonight and i am VERY excited about it. my camera is fully charged and i'm dressed in an outfit that is the most show-appropriate i could put together; i'll post photos from both the show and of my outfit tomorrow, so you can (hopefully) see what i mean. in the meantime, here's an outfit from last week that i somehow never got around to posting.





top: quail
skirt: thrifted, vintage
shoes: a few seasons old pour la victoire
brooch: thrifted vintage clip-on earring

this shirt is one of my all-time favorites, but i don't wear it much anymore because i accidentally ran it through the wash about a year and a half ago, and it's shrunk up to be less of a crop top. . . well, yeah, less than a crop top. i saw a girl rocking this color combo on the F train a couple weeks ago and made mental note of it, and this green skirt is just high enough to make this not-totally-unreasonable for work. all together, the colors & shapes felt very floral to me; a nice little last-hurrah for summer.

oh! i've recently gotten a lot of questions about how i learned to cook. i did go to french culinary school, and graduated about 2 years ago; my concentration was pastry, though, so all of my classes focused on pies, tarts, brulees, napoleons, macarons, chocolate, etc. as far as cooking - rather than baking - is concerned, i really got into cooking a few years ago, when i moved to chicago; i love good food but couldn't afford to go out to eat, so i started slowly, cooking recipes from the cookbooks my mom had given me, and just kept on going from there. i was lucky enough to grow up with a mother and two sisters who knew their way around the kitchen, so i learned some simply by observing them. within a few years i'd cooked enough to know how to make the basics, and started experimenting more; in the year before i left chicago, i started an underground restaurant of sorts, selling tickets to a four- or five-course meal to be cooked in my apartment. it was not only a success, but the most fun i'd ever had - that's when i decided to move to new york to attend culinary school. i decided to focus on baking instead of cooking for a couple of reasons - one being that cooking is something much more easily experimented with. once you know the basics, you can pretty much throw whatever you like into a dish and it will work, so long as you've thought the flavors through - baking, though, is an exact science, and i wanted to be able to play with recipes the way i can when i cook.

i hope this answers some questions, and wasn't too long winded! thank you all so much for reading - you make this a lot of fun for me.

i hope you all had a lovely weekend! until tomorrow,

xo audrey

and the birds cease to sing when you rise

obscure title day! i chose this lyric because a. i'm wearing turquoise, and that's the name of the song i'm quoting; b. sam's been playing donovan records a lot lately and c. i roasted a chicken last night so birds ceasing to sing seemed like a morbidly appropriate lyric!

so! after a few days of ordering food to beat the heat last week, we've decided to just embrace it and drink cold beer to compensate. we got a nifty vertical chicken roaster from our wedding registry (thanks little brother!) and i've been really loving it - it cooks the bird evenly and has a nice little well for veggies, and for easily catching the liquids that are released during the cooking. i wanted to use as many ingredients from the farmer's market as possible, so i came up with this pretty straightforward recipe.

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kumquat & fennel roasted chicken

3 1/2 pound chicken
about 1 T of good, chunky mustard (we got some at the market that is basically mustard seeds and honey, soooo good and simple)
2 T butter, melted
2 onions
fennel (i just used some leftover stems that i had)
salt & pepper
about 8 kumquats, some halved and some sliced
one ripe peach (optional)



this is an adaptation from a cooks illustrated recipe - i use their methods, but not their ingredients. makes nice, crunchy skin on the wings and lets and soft, juicy meat inside. quite tasty, indeed.

start off by brining your chicken. this, they tell me, keeps it nice and juicy, and it certainly seems to work. dissolve 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of salt into a pot of water big enough to cover your chicken, and let it sit, covered, in your fridge for at least an hour or even overnight if you think of it ahead of time. remove from water, pat dry, and set on your roaster (or in a roasting pan on a rack if you prefer.) we buy cleaned chickens that have already had their giblets and whatnot - it makes for a much easier time. preheat the oven to 375.

chop up the onions into thick slices, cut about half of the kumquats in half, and dice up your fennel and stuff the chicken as full as you can with the three. take the remainder that won't fit and scatter them in the pot below the chicken; with the extra kumquats, cut into slices and set aside. melt your butter and mix the mustard into it, then brush on liberally. salt and pepper the chicken, then squeeze and cover with the remaining kumquats. go ahead and place it in the oven and cook it at 375 for 30 minutes, plus 5 extra minutes for each 1/2 pound of bird (so if you're cooking a 4 pound chicken, give it 35.) drop the temperature down to 200 and roast for an hour, then take out the chicken, use the brush (or a baster, mine is broken) to brush with some of the liquids that have pooled at the bottom, and add the peach at this point if you want. i loved the peaches cooked this way, but sam didn't care for them - they definitely taste like chicken fatty peaches, so if that doesn't sound up your alley, skip this step. crank your oven back up to 400 and cook until a thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 170 - should be about 10-15 minutes.





kumquats: also delicious in your tecate.

unable to locate any green tomatoes, i attempted some fried green tomatillos, but they were a big disappointment. pretty though!

meeting a friend for drinks after work today, so i decided to step it up a bit and pull out a dress from my new favorite thrift store in new jersey - part of a haul that included this dress and this dress, with still a couple more to be debuted.





apologies for the mess behind me. i'm in the process of re-organizing my room and i have come to the conclusion that i quite simply need to throw a bunch of stuff away, but i have a lot of trouble parting with anything. . .

dress: thrifted
belt: thrifted
pin: c/o accessorize
shoes: nine west

stay cool and have a lovely tuesday!

xo audrey

shimmer by the pool

all right! time for part two in the hawaiian tropic + stylecaster series. i am a leeeeetle self conscious about posting this one, not only because i am super awkward, but because it's a whole lot of me in a bathing suit. so be gentle.



i have skin that tends to skip "tan" and go straight to "burn," so i always wear sunscreen when i head out into the sun — particularly if i'll be spending a few hours by the pool like i did shooting this video. my figure is a bit more 50s curvy than modern day skinny, so i embrace that with vintage style bathing suits and big floppy hats.

the next - and last, i promise - video is my favorite, because there's a lot fewer shots of me and a lot more food porn. and some recipes!

thank you all so much for the outpouring of kindness over the last week or two. it's hard to say it without just sounding like a hallmark card, but it really does mean a lot and i never ceased to be surprised and incredibly flattered by it all, big time.

have a lovely day!

xo audrey

what makes love true

good morning! so much to post, so little time! a couple weeks ago i was invited to take part in a new campaign for tiffany called what makes love true. being that i just got married (and just got word that the photos are en route to my apartment and should be in blog form by week's end,) if i so much as see the word 'love' written on a kleenex box i pretty much melt into a puddle of butter on the floor (plus who doesn't love a fine piece of jewelry?) so i readily agreed. my love of brooches well-documented at this point, i selected a beautiful bow-shaped pin.






i found this dress, and a pile of others, at a vintage shop in new jersey this weekend; since this drastic hair-chopping, i've been wanting more simple, high-necked shift dresses, and i walked out of there with about 4 of varying colors and patterns. score.

dress: vintage, thrifted
shorts: urban outfitters (similar here.)
shoes: urban outfitters
brooch: c/o tiffany

i think it's the perfect little detail to add some romance and charm to any outfit; especially with the more basic, mod-style clothing i'm starting to gravitate towards, i'll be glad to have this to pin on if a dress needs a bit of sparkle.

and you can see how some other girls styled up their pieces here.

xo audrey

teal & lace

i was going to stretch for a play on chantilly lace there - shan-teal y lace? - but i'll stop short.

i've been planning today's outfit since about this time last week (sad, but true) when i got an invite to a kate spade and adeline adeline event to take place right after work today. events aren't always my cup of tea - if i don't know someone there, i get kind of nervous and shy - but for kate spade i will suck up my awkward, throw on my best duds and even wear some makeup.






dress: vintage, funkyfondledandfresh's etsy
tights: welovecolors
slip: thrifted
bloomers: american apparel
shoes: pour la victoire
necklaces: ebay, gifted


last night was a perfect, quiet one; i came home, took a nice long bath, made some mushroom & goat cheese pasta for dinner, watched an episode of the wire, and sam made us the most perfect garlic butter popcorn. unfortunately we watched & ate in bed, thus leaving ourselves to sleep in salt and popcorn bits. oh well. we're deep sleepers.

i've got my camera ready for tonight so i promise to take lots of pictures and give a full report tomorrow.




until then,

xo audrey`

oh pleats

good morning! today was the first morning in memory where i didn't have to wear a coat! okay, i got some are-you-crazy looks on the subway, but 50 degrees is downright tropical as far as i'm concerned and i can't WAIT to get rid of the bulk of a winter coat for good. (well, until fall, anyway.) so i bundled up in a thrifted sweater, slipped into this comfy outfit, and headed in to work.

i've always loved pleating; such a beautiful texture, and the way it moves is just so stunning. perhaps my favorite part is the way it ripples at the end.



i've been saving this skirt for a warm enough day to not wear with tights - it's so soft and feels so good swishing against my legs.







top: j crew
necklace: vintage, thrifted for $1
skirt: american apparel
shoes: courtesy of aldo
i realized i've never posted a good photo of my rings. i wear them every day, so i don't really think of them as accessories but just part of me; they both mean a lot. my engagement ring (bottom) was sam's mom's (she's since upgraded,) the aquamarine was left to me by my grandmother.


tonight sam and i are scoping out a place to watch the big east semi finals - he's a uconn boy and his team beat the number one seed last night (does it sound like i know what i'm talking about? i don't!) so we're pretty pumped to see what happens when they play syracuse tonight. i actually genuinely love watching games of any kind, so i'm pretty psyched for a fun evening of beer and basketball.

and for the rest of the weekend i am looking forward to RELAXING. this week has been absolutely insane and exhausting in the best way, but i need some good r&r - and to finish my damn wedding invitations, for pete's sake!

hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and thanks so much for all the kind words of late!

xo audrey