Southern Spell

This is what 24 hours in Charleston looks like, complete with dinner here (excellent) and a speeding ticket (not pictured). Southern Hospitality? Sort of.

work lunch

I'm bad at blogging, but I'm good at other stuff! If you want to know what I've been up to check out my lunch break style over at the J.Crew blog.

The Graham & Co.

This Winter has been a tough one. Long and COLD. I'm looking forward to summer weekends lounging poolside, and this upstate New York motel in the Catskills fits the bill. Recently renovated, The Graham & Co features a fire pit, badminton court and Tivoli radios in every room. Plus, the pool is fed by a nearby natural spring. Only 2.5 hours from NYC, but looks like a world away. Putting this one on the weekend bucket list!

2012: A Year in Review. A Year in FOOD.

So hard to believe another year has flown by and 2013 is almost here! As I was thinking about what kind of year in review post I wanted to write, and flipping through my images from the last year, one thing became apparent. I. Love. FOOD. Maybe more than the average person? Or maybe not, but god, I take a ton of annoying food pictures. So to prove that whipping out my big DSLR camera in a crowded, trendy restaurant wasn't all for naught, here is my year in review. Dish by dish.

JANUARY

Kicked the year off right with skiing and famous Turkey Chili in Deer Valley, Utah. Probably still one of the more memorable bowls of chili I've devoured this year.

FEBRUARY

More skiing, this time in Switzerland. And it wouldn't be Switzerland without a steaming hot skillet full of bubbling cheese and grilled meats. Plus, the egg.

MARCH

One of my favorite nibbles from 2012 was this Tuna Crudo with avocado, vanilla and pineapple, eaten at one of my all-time favorite restaurants Union Square Cafe. The combo sounds weird, but I hope you trust me enough to know that it was not weird. It was EXCELLENT.

APRIL

An anniversary/birthday weekend Out East was made complete by the introduction of this incredible salad to my life. Now, I eat it pretty much every weekend. Fried things on salads are OK in my book.

MAY

Wanna know a good idea? Eating a massive, delicious cheeseburger in a bikini. I found this one in Anguilla and it died shortly after having it's photo taken.

JUNE

This photo makes it seem like I started eating all healthy in June, but these berries were either for a cocktail, or a pie. It's a little foggy. Either way, it was surely delicious. Calories well spent.

JULY

Quite possibly my favorite Southern Delight is this little pink perfection. She's a peppermint sundae all dressed up with hot fudge and we meet every sticky July, same place, same time. Ain't she a beaut?

AUGUST

A wedding in Vermont was the perfect excuse to stop at one of my favorite places in the world, Simon Pearce in Quechee, VT. Those were some pretty stellar late-summer heirloom tomatoes. And that white stuff smeared all over the perfect hand-made earthenware plate? It's just some whipped local goat cheese. NBD.

SEPTEMBER

I just refused to let summer die, so there was seafood being eaten. Constantly. These lobsters were so huge and there were leftovers for omelets. I mean! P.S. This photo has not been doctored in any way. They were beet red. For reals.

OCTOBER

This morsel of organic goodness was eaten while in attendance at a black tie affair. I declined to wear spanx that evening, so there was plenty of room to grow, and for that reason, I ate more than one of these. I'm not sorry.

NOVEMBER

If ever there was a favorite moment in someone's life, it would be when a platter of freshly shucked oysters are lowered onto a table and all is right with the world. That is my moment, people. These were my oysters. Fresh as a teenager, and more delicious than you can imagine. I live for those damn things.

DECEMBER

I have 3 words for you. STONE. CRAB. CLAWS. I have zero photographic evidence, so just take my word for it. I ate as much of it as I could.

So, here's hoping 2013 is just as delicious! Happy New Year!!

You Scream, I Scream

I guess I'm a little late to the party, but I've been drooling over the images and recipes at Herriot Grace. Have you seen this blog? Her epic lactose-laden farewell to summer has me wishing these summer days would stick around juuust a little longer.

To learn how to make your own homemade ice cream, check out Herriot's recipe.

A farewell to Summer...

Well, just like that, Summer has come and gone. This one was especially good, and while it kept me away from the computer (and subsequently, this little blog) I enjoyed every single minute of it. Here's what it looked liked...

So, goodbye Summer. It's been real.

Island in The Sun...

Originally when I started La Dulci Vida, I intended it to serve as a documentation of my travels. Over the years, I've written about adventures in Spain, San Francisco, France, Switzerland and most recently, Anguilla.

This summer, there are fewer travels abroad on tap and more time will be spent on the road, headed East. After 8 years as a tried and true New Yorker, I'll be spending my weekends (and any other chance I get...) here for the next year. As excited as I am about the summertime (BBQ's, farm stands and fireflies), I'm just as excited about spending the off-season in a small town.

So you'll be seeing less posts about exotic, faraway places, and a few more about some low-key weekends spent in my new backayard...

summer gifs

Lucky for me, the only thing Irene ruined was my plans to visit Nantucket for the weekend. So, since Labor Day is now upon us, I figured I'd take a look back at my summer, through gifs.







Hope everyone has a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!

bare necessities

Check out my 7 summer essentials over at the J.Crew tumblr!