And now for a little pie talk.  Pastry is not my forte; I feel pretty confident about baking in general, but when it comes to pastry, I am not my mother's daughter (my mom has nailed down pastry-making; she also has firm beliefs about lard and can crimp a pie crust like nobody's business).  However, my confidence level has just gone up a notch.  This week I made a pie and it was a winner:  thank you, fast-easy-flaky piecrust recipe.  It's made in the food processor in about 2 minutes from start to finish (I know - cheating).  I didn't have sour cream on hand, so I used plain yogurt instead.  The recipe is similar to the Smitten Kitchen galette dough, but even easier to make - no freezing of ingredients and no using a pastry cutter.  Then things got even better when I washed out my food processor and made this incredibly delicious ginger-scallion sauce.  And then I had a pile of dirty dishes. 
The end. 

Things around here lately have been about day-to-day life.  Appointments and work.  I've been doing some spring cleaning, decluttering, and replacing or getting rid of anything that I feel negative about.   Goodbye, 3 blackened and gungy cookie sheets and hello beautiful, pristine, over-priced cookie sheet from William Sonoma.  Goodbye, old condiments that have been in the fridge far too long; goodbye frumpy functional skirt.  Goodbye everyday dishes that I never liked and goodbye jeans that make me feel meh. 
This week I've also been having January-in-June:  watching episodes of Nigella Express and Nigella Feasts; reading through Posey Gets Cozy archives from fall/winter; watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Swing Time; turning on the fairy lights.
Last night I made a fantastic bagel melt from Rebar: toasted bagel with melted blue cheese, and then pear slices, arugula and rosemary on top.  I also made rosemary-garlic olive oil which made my apartment smell amaaaaaaazing.

In the spirit of out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new, I'm finally going to update the pictures in these 4 white picture frames in my living room.  This is an excellent opportunity to get into scherenschnitte (traditional papercutting) and to put some black and white designs in the frames.  For papercutting inspiration, I go here (wonderful art) and here.

In foodness, Tara and Susannah and I had a lovely Saturday brunch at Bird's Nest.  Tara introduced me to the Sweet Sugar Bean blog (the breakfast tacos are fabulous); and last night I was greedily purusing Joy the Baker's archives (why yes, I do believe I'm the very last person on the internet to read Joy the Baker).

Last week, I searched for art on etsy, and came across Janet Hill's work in about 2 seconds.  It was a rare instance in finding something perfect on etsy right off the bat; I could easily have purchased her whole portfolio since I love her aesthetic; the print here is the one I ended up getting (now on my dining room table and awaiting a frame).