Posts Tagged ‘SoCal Contractor’

Staycation in Beverly Hills

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

I’ve heard a lot about these “staycations” everyone is taking.   Exhausted from a summer of globe trotting, I decided to try one on for size.   I’m lucky because I live in a place where most of the world comes to visit.  Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica and Hollywood are all stomping grounds for me and my posse.   But to be honest, it’s a completely different experience when you approach these places with a staycation state of mind.  We began at lovely Douglas  park in Santa Monica with a picnic hosted by our good friend the deb from Houston.  In addition to a fenced in area with copious amounts of creative structures for little ones to climb and a sublime duck pond, this park also has a fountain area that sprays into the air and keeps kids busy and cool on hot days. 

It felt like a place you would normally have to pay for entry.One out of towner commented twice about how beautiful the parks of Los Angeles are and that they don’t have anything like that in her city.  (Hearing things like that always makes me feel better about our 10% sales tax.) The dutchess from the South brought it with yummy finger food, fashionable guests and delightful table decorations. Anyone who knows me, knows I love a civilized picnic at the park. (And someone has also being doing pilates- look at those arms!)

 

         MY LOVELY LITTLE ELLE BELL

Fig jam was the next treat on my holiday at home.  The trees in my front yard are EXPLODING with figs and don’t look like they’ll stop anytime soon.  We had a fig fiesta last week- serving up grilled figs with goat cheese and tri-tip keebobs.  I sent folks packing with figs galore, but alas, those trees kept pumpin’ out more figs.  What better way to thank the editors who gave my book, Green Interior Design, rave reviews than jam made from the organic figs that I grew myself?  I also plan on sending a few jars to the people who missed the fig fiesta like Ms. AGL and  the editors from Angeleno and LUXE.  Since one of the chapters includes ideas about replacing grass lawns with edible gardens to grow  produce that is  free of pesticides, insecticides and herbicides, I think it makes sense.  I hope they like figs.

For any of you wondering, it’s pretty simple.  1 part figs to 3/4 sugar, finely chopped lemon rind and a splash of vanilla.  Put it on slow boil for two hours.  Let cool. Cover until next day.  Boil for 15-20 minutes. Let cool.  Put in jars. 

Next we headed over to the Beverly Hills Food and Wine Festival. Christofle has been sending me invite after invite for the last 6 months, so I popped in to finally say hello.  I had no idea that they made jewelry, frames and other amazing accessories.  They served up Bouchon cookies and delicious red wine against a back drop of some of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen.

The SoCal Contractor and I are renovating a hacienda on Laurel Canyon so we decided to mix business with pleasure and head over to the Montage for some inspiration.  I never thought about doing this with our toddler in tow, but we sat down for cappucinos and ice cream in the lobby lounge.  It was so pleasant and Elle was so well behaved that we stayed for dinner: sliders, fish tacos and french fries.  The last thing I expected in a place where the well heeled go for cocktail hour was a chest filled with children’s books.   Very smart boutique hotel.  Darrell Schmidt’s fabulous interior design, a phenomenal jazz sound track, gourmet cusine and NO DISHES, forget a Cabo beach, this is what I call paradise.   We were so elated that we spent $80 on a stuffed cat Elle adopted in the gift shop. ( Incidentally every single item in that shop was something I would want to receive as a gift, simply the best hotel gift shop I’ve ever visited. And Nicole Campbell, at the helm, was adorable too.) 

Our real cat Monkey thinks he’s been sent a mail order bride.

Three more house parties to attend befor this staycation is over on Tuesday.  I’ll keep you posted….

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Architecture and Design, Events, Green Living, Interior Designers, Retailers | 2 Comments »

The Green Front in France

Monday, July 26th, 2010

 

Hotel DeVille Paris

Two weeks ago I returned from a lovely holiday in France.  The SoCal Contractor and I were invited to a lady friend’s 80th birthday celebration in Lyon, and there was no way we were going to miss that!  We began in Paris- where else?- and were wowed by the beauty that surprises me every time I step foot in the city.  What also surprised me and made me a bit sick were the hundreds of piles of empty, plastic,  water bottles in trash heaps all over the city. It was hot and there were TONS of tourists.  In California and many places I’ve visited there is a 5 or 10 cent value placed on these plastic bottles, so even when lazy people use them and chuck em, you have an army of people who collect them right out of the trash to redeem for cash.  It’s a system that has always left me wondering how the beaches of Indonesia (have you seen those photos???)  can be filled with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of empty, plastic, water bottles.  My thinking: they’re worth money, if for no other reason, how can they be discarded on the beaches that way?  Well, there they were, all over  Paris, on their way to land fills, streams and oceans.  Not so green.  What was green and one of the best ways to see the city was the 10Pm-12AM bike ridethrough every arrondisement in the city, protesting Saudi oil.  There we were minding our business, eating chocolate and drinking wine in front of Notre Dame  when we saw about 200 bicycles cruise by us.  We weren’t sure what was going on and thought possibly France had just won the World Cup. I had seen a similar scene when France won in 1998. (Funny thing, is that France had been long gone from the games at that point.) We grabbed our city bikes and caught up with the parade. A few blocks later we learned we were part of an oil protest, holding up traffic, waving banners and honking our horns at every cafe in the city. I saw parts of Paris,  I never knew existed during that two hours, cheered and exchanged greetings with every type of Parisian. Very Green. 

 

Pantheon

Notre Dame

Luxemborg Gardens

We stayed in a great hotel a few steps from Musee D’Orsay and right across from the Louvre called Hotel Bellechasse.  Christian LaCroix just renovated it–super funky and right next to a public, bike station. Not too expensive, it’s a great place to stay on a couple’s trip.

Hotel Bellechasse

Lori Dennis Biking around Paris on an Anti Saudi Oil Protest

Musee D’Orsay

Loved Paris, but it was hot, dirty, crowded and we were ready to head to the culinary capital of the country- Lyon.  We weren’t sure what to expect and after seeing the hotels on line, didn’t expect much. There were only three nice ones. We booked one of them and hoped it would be ok.  After recovering from the shock of a $100 cab ride into the city from the airport, we fell in love with the place.  Our hotel, La Tour Rose,  was in the Vieux Lyon-the old city, every room in the hotel decorated  in a different  fabric of the prominent 18th century silk houses of Lyon.  I can not describe how luxurious and simply beautiful our room was with red velvet, silk covered walls, matching bedspread and floor to ceiling curtains.  It was a room befitting writer Alexandre Dumas and he actually stayed there when he wrote the Three Musketeers.    The town lived up to its reputation for cuisine (much more fairly priced than Paris food of lesser quality) and had two sparkling green rivers running through it: the Rhone and the Soane.  People were actually swimming in these rivers and the entire experience was all too civilized.  What was unexpected was that the majority of chefs, like Alain Aleaxnian, were  green food advocates, dedicated to promoting and supporting local producers and organic food and wine.   (Read the next three words in a French accent) But of course…  it makes total sense in a clean environment, surrounded by pristine waters and forests.  For a day, we ventured deeper into the countryside and visited Chamber, witnessing the fields of pure, white cows famous for so much of the region’s delicious cheese. I am so happy to have been exposed to the fantastic wines of the Rhone, earthy and full bodied- yum! 

La Tour Rose Hotel

 So Cal Contractor Roi Yerushalmi and Lori Dennis Rhone River, Lyon France

Cooling our feet at the Soane

Beautiful Lyon

Lyon City Square

Chambery France

We wrapped up the trip with a two day layover in London- unfortunately most of it was in the airport due to faulty British Airways planes.  In Heathrow airport, terminal 5, green is alive and well.  On one of our last eating and drinking extravaganzas, we were served a bottle of Belu Water.  This company donates ALL of their profits to clean water in places where people don’t have any.  Belu has successfully created the world’s first carbon neutral bottled water, launched the UK’s first plastic bottle made from corn not oil, promotes PVC-free bottle caps and provides over 40,000 people overseas with access to clean water. 

So we wrapped up the trip with a nice green, ribbon and came home to see our sweet little Elle Bell.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Architecture and Design, Green Living, Interior Designers | 1 Comment »

Springtime at Our New House

Monday, April 12th, 2010

“I love living in our new house!”  That’s what my husband said when I handed him freshly squeezed orange juice this morning. We’ve been here for 10 days and now that everything is pretty much where we want it (NO MORE BOXES !) we have had the opportunity to start enjoying what this place has to offer.  And boy oh boy does it has a lot of citrus! 

 

We spent the past weekend planting our succulents, the beginnings of an herb garden and painting the patio fence.  The SoCal Contractor even made  three huge planters for the patio. 

   

    

We found the perfect spot with the right combination of shade and sun for the orchids and figs will be ready in a few weeks.  Can you say edible garden?

  

It feels like the garden of Eden and I can promise you I won’t screw it up by planting any apple trees!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Green Living, Kitchens, Outdoor Living | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »