Massepain au Beurre

I did something I probably shouldn't have done when you're an invited guest: I brought a dessert that I had never tested before. I was looking through my grandmother's recipes and saw le massepain au beurre, a name I didn't totally understand but the instructions were simple and I understood that butter was a major …

Guest Room Featured on Apartment Therapy

Thanks, Apartment Therapy, one of my favorite and one of the best design and home sites out there, for featuring our new guest bedroom on your site. To check out the Before & After on Apartment Therapy, click here.

Dear Guests, You’re Welcome!

From blank slate to flex guest room/studio in a month.

Welcome to Boss Bar

The outdoor Boss Bar is now open for business.

Pain au Saumon Japonais

So what exactly is Japanese salmon bread or salmon bread Japanese-style, as the title of this recipe suggests it is? Or what exactly is it about this meal that makes it bread or Japanese? These are questions we had going into it that still weren't answered when it was done. But I promise this falling-apart …

Gratin de Homard/Lobster Gratin

It's been a while since I made one of my grandmother's recipes so I thought I'd trot out one of her fancier ones: lobster!   As a reminder, she wrote out her recipes over the course of a summer she spent with my parents and me at our house off of her memory. Over the …

Our First Christmas in the New House, a.k.a How We Prepared for Our First Holiday Guests

  Plot and plan. That’s how we got through what turned out to be a festive frenzy. What was going to be a cozy Christmas of just the three of us - puppy included - celebrating the holiday together for the first time in our new house turned into double the fun. Since we got the call that …

Aubergine a la Creme

I don't want to say that I hate eggplant, but I would really rather not eat it. So it was to my dismay when I saw how many recipes in my grandmother's notebook called for eggplant. The vegetable has a beautiful color and a funny shape, so that is two things going for it. But …

Urgency of Verdancy

When we bought the house, we knew we would turn one of the three bedrooms into an office. Daniel pretty quickly decided on two things: he wanted to feel surrounded by his books and he wanted the room to feel alive, verdant. I can't tell you the number of times he used the word "verdant" over …

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Tip off #1: We saw a photo on Google Maps of the house before we bought it and there was a very lush white hydrangea bush out front. Tip off #2: Everyone we met, from our real estate agent to the neighbors on our street and around the block, talked about how much of an …