Love story

An old love story, Free people.

Trystan Bates

Beautiful work by Trystan Bates.

BlossomType

BlossomType by Alice Mourou. Beautiful.

Focaccia 2 way

Best focaccia you'll ever taste. I love Yotam Ottolenghis cooking, it's easy, simple and so yummy. I was greedy and wanted to try two toppings, and I did. I chose the parsley and olive topping and the grape and fennel seed topping. I have to say that both taste amazing, try them together and you'll get flavors that compliment each other, salty (olives) and sweet (grapes and sugar), chewy (grapes) and crunchy (olives and fennel seeds). And the smell of fresh bread baking is truly amazing. I enjoyed making it as much as I enjoyed eating it. Here are the ingredients you need from Ottolenghi's site, and here is how to make it. If you love to cook I recommend to get the book, it's wonderful.

Nature's color combo

Amazing color combinations created by nature. I've found the leaf above while walking this morning, it caught my eye between hundreds of other leaves laying on the road. One of my jobs as a graphic designer is creating color combinations that work well together and are pleasing to the eye. Getting inspired by nature is a great way of finding new ideas.

Dudamel & Beethoven

We went to see Dudamel & Beethoven last night at the Hollywood Bowl, it was truly magical. Thank you Maurice for the lovely evening.

Thank you

Tahini cookies surprise

I'm not crazy about tahini, I'll never choose to eat it and I never had an interest in baking tahini cookies. My very talented friend Sharon, who is a professional baker posted a recipe for tahini cookies in her blog and wrote a moving story about a tahini manufacture in Israel. I thought that the cookies looked interesting and easy enough to bake, so I gave it a try. The cookies are so amazing that I had to share them with you, they taste like a very good quality halva and melt in your mouth. Sharon suggested to use pistachios on top of the cookie, it made them even better. I made a few with chocolate on top and dipped some in melted chocolate (I have a chocoholic at home). For all my friends that read Hebrew here is the recipe. I'll ask Sharon if OK to translate the recipe to English.

Moussaka

We made Muossaka last night with most of the ingredients from our vegetable garden. One pan (the first photo) with tomatoes, potatoes, hot peppers, garlic and herbs, the other with cut eggplants and onion. It's more like a grandmother recipe when you taste everything and use a little bit of this and some of that. We layered the eggplants, potatoes, meat and tomatoes twice and baked them in the oven on 375º F for 20 minutes. • The last photo is of a fresh melon salad with figs, arugula and greek olives. The dressing is a mix of olive oil and aged balsamic.

24/11

Remember those amazing coconut cookies I made a while ago? I baked them again. Instead of sprinkling each cookie with some salt I added a pinch of kosher salt to the batter before I baked them and they came out perfect. 24 cookies baked for 11 minutes.

LACMA

We went to see Expressionism in Germany and France: From Van Gogh to Kandinsky, a new exhibition at LACMA. Beautiful.

Factory Kitchen

The Factory Kitchen in down town LA, each dish was crafted in a perfect way, pleasing to the eye and the fresh ingredients came through in a perfect harmony. You should try this busy, noisy and yummy place. •  The Factory Kitchen serves traditional Italian fare in the heart of the thriving Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles. This trattoria-style restaurant is the product of a long-standing friendship between Restaurateur Matteo Ferdinandi and Chef Angelo Auriana. After years of mutual respect between the two passionate professionals, Ferdinandi and Auriana now share the vision of imparting their Italian roots and memories through food and hospitality.

Sunflowers

We're growing very happy and huge sunflowers, all from seeds. Thank you Eliot for all the beautiful plants in our garden.

IU

We came back from a two day New Student Orientation at Indiana University. It was pretty intense with all the information that we've received, and very exciting. What an amazing place.

Belinda Marshall

Belinda Marshall's limited edition 100% belgian cotton-linen cushion is a part of the 'leaf series' ~ a collaboration between frankie and swiss and belinda marshall, featuring a detail from her original paintings. Beautiful.

Santa Barbara

We went to Santa Barbara for a day and a half, great weather, food, beaches and star gazing. On our way back home we stopped at Hummus Bar for some amazing Israeli dishes, such a great short trip. • Photo by Uri Rodan.

Surprise

We had a surprise visit from our friend from Japan. As always I'm blown away by the attention to details in their gift wrapping, box design, colors, fonts, the whole feel of the product before you even taste it. Each small box comes with a tiny plastic spoon attached to the top. Very high expectations on the flavor of bean paste.

4th of July