Instagram – The first app I installed on my iPhone –  follow @lamanufacture.

Starbucks Cup Magic – Animates holiday cups… Updated just in time for Valentine’s Day!

True Love – The sweetest app from Tiffany and Co.

Pinterest – The best way to take my addiction on the road – follow along here.

Red Stamp - A lovely selection of templates that enable me to send paper postcards of my own photos.

Missoni Art – I love using this app to make abstract versions of photos.

Tumblr - Another one of my addictions gone mobile. Follow along here.

Origami - This app presents easy to understand instructions for a variety of origami forms.

Inspired by Eileen Gray’s impeccable aesthetic, Bodum created the Eileen french press. Since she is one of my favourite modernist designers, I had to have it!

Read her biography and see some of her work  here.

Hot cocoa and popcorn are the perfect accompaniment to a good movie. My hot cocoa recipe is decidedly improvised, but the basics are as follows…

- about 3 cups of milk
- about 4 tablespoons of cocoa
- about 4 tablespoons of agave nectar
- a hint of flavour: freshly grated nutmeg and cinnamon, chili, lavender, etc.

Combine the ingredients in a pot with a whisk over low to medium heat – the key is to use a heavy pot to heat the milk gradually without burning it.

Enjoy!

My collection of vintage silver plated cutlery is something I’ve been working on for a couple of years. I hope to eventually assemble a number of complete formal place settings, but in the meantime I enjoy seeking out each piece and watching my collection gradually evolve. Since variety is what makes this collection my very own, I’m constantly looking for unique patterns, monograms and pieces engraved with the crest of a hotel or restaurant.

[ Cuban sandwiches served with coleslaw and kettle cooked potato chips ]

Hot and humid summer weekends are all about late, leisurely dinners outside. Inspired by repeated requests for mojitos, Cuban sandwiches seemed like the perfect choice. For a cool treat to end the night, I prepared a Watermelon Lemonade Sorbet from Jeni Britton Bauer’s book, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream at Home.

The beauty of sandwiches for dinner is that it doesn’t require more effort than a trip to your local deli. Although I didn’t have a Cuban sandwich in Havana, I made sure to pick up some kettle cooked potato chips as a nod to those sold by street vendors throughout the city.

Gather:
- roast pork, thinly sliced
- ham, thinly sliced
- swiss cheese
- dill pickles
- buns
- mustard

[ a mojito, recipe from here ]

[ watermelon lemonade sorbet, served with a sprig of mint ]

[ the sweetest shorts by corey lynn calter ]