au revoir!

a few things for our next Summer's collection...

See you later everyone. I'll try to post at least a little while I'm gone...Jim's going to teach me how to use the big camera.
If you came in search of a bonbon, we'll fill all orders immediately upon return and get them out as soon as we can but if anyone needs anything from us urgently, follow instructions here!

While I'm gone take a gander at 12 nice places (there's one for as many days as i'm gone...)
la porte rouge
we feel fine

foodbeam
manon gignoux
this is glamorous
creative review

le labo
...and always goes forth, forever and ever
chez panisse foundation
the wish jar
big saturday

tea spot nyc

Blogher

I woke up this morning and read this. How interesting it must have been. Then I signed my blog up on the site as an extracurricular activity to packing and cleaning.

Travelling soon

all photos from flickr on a search of Tofino-Ucluelet.

Click some of the images to see the link or else click here.

Leaving Sunday for our journey to (in?) the Pacific NW and I'm too excited. Finished one of the new collections and we've gotten the last of the week's orders out and so winding Bonbon down for the extended holiday. Made some tricky reservations for our first week and we're almost set. Got keys to our fantastic (cat adoring) friend who'll be staying with Maxine and Icky. Today and tomorrow is the big studio and house cleaning so we can come back to a fresh start.

Just looking through flickr this morning to get inspired for the trip and there are so many gorgeous photos! I can't wait to take some of my own...

After Vancouver we'll head to the west Coast of Vancouver Island and then ferry down to Washington's Olympic National Park for a long weekend here and here, the old national park lodge that launched this idea. We'll head to Portland and Seattle as well before we head home...

If you know the area, I'd love to hear more!

salads like a watercolor

I am too easily seduced. Every night I look over all that produce in my fridge and I wonder how I let all those vegetables and fruits in. Like Michael Pollen might agree, I was conned by their beautiful colors and intriguing shapes, their earthy and sweet smells enticing me, whispering, "take me home..you won't regret it... ". These fresh little buggers know what their doing.

So I make a lot of salads. I made two this week, both with goat cheese because the goat cheese from the market is just so good and perfect with these cool fruits and sly vegetables on a hot summer day. Making salads in the summer is like making a watercolor.

Two Salads, both with Goat Cheese
Top: roasted golden beets and the first tomatoes just coming out with fresh chives
and pineapple mint with goat cheese and drizzled with walnut oil

Bottom: Watermelon, spearmint and peppermint
and Thai basil with goat cheese
with a dressing made from mirin, light agave nectar and a little olive oil

ahi tuna ceviche and the best food memories

I passed by a new fish store in Queens on my way home from the train and noticed they had some really good looking sushi-grade tuna. When I see tuna that beautiful, I never think of making sushi, I think of Timo's, the incredible Spanish tapas restaurant where I worked for a few years during my time in San Francisco. Carlos, the French trained chef and owner, is the man who taught me about good ingredients and innards, how to play backgammon and tell a good dirty joke and ultimately how to eat.

His menu, which wasn't limited to the food of Spain but all over the Spanish speaking world still makes my mouth water: the best Spanish tortilla I've ever eaten, which I would eat topped with a Romesco sauce to die for and Ajiaco, a delicious Columbian chicken-potato soup topped with a bit of avocado and creme-frâiche that I still look for in colombian restaurants and never find. He had a chicken dish from Vallodolid, Mexico, a perfectly char-grilled chicken quarter set in a spicy peppery broth with fresh pickled onions and a grilled jalapeño on top--when you cut open the jalapeño the flavors would fire-up--a really perfect dish (and the reason I went to Vallodolid, Mexico... twice. Timo's was better). There was a beautifully pan-fried codfish-potato cake, Bacalao, with a cilantro sauce so habit forming I think I ate it every night for two months. Oh, and there was so many more...it was and still is my comfort food. Oh what I would give for one day back--although sadly it closed it's doors a few years ago.

But the tuna ceviche was my favorite. I still make a lot of his old recipes and I make Timo's ceviche at least once a summer when my habañeros pop out and I can get tuna as nice what I found the other day. This ceviche is made a little creamier by way of the avocado and it's perfect with a bit of crusty bread or fresh tortilla chips. We made it the other night with some simple patatas bravas (my little bliss potatoes from the farmer's market!) and fresh aiolli.

Timo's Ahi Tuna Ceviche
reprinted with permission from the man himself--check out his blog
(for more recipes go to www.timos.com-you won't be sorry)
1 lb. very fresh sushi-grade ahi
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1-2 chopped tomatoes juice, pulp and all
1 habañero chile, seeded and minced
2 oz olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed oregano
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
1 small red onion, sliced very thin
1/2 cup minced cilantro
1 avocado, peeled and chopped

In Carlos' words "Don't listen to all that bullshit about the fish having to sit in the lime juice for hours so it can "cook". Just use some good sushi-grade tuna, (cut it into small chunks and put in large mixing bowl) cover it with the lime juice, season it and mix it with the rest of the ingredients and just start eating."
I totally agree.

Sophia in the Garden

long island

Fall in January, Spring in July and a press release

le loup de la prairie necklace

The fashion industry is never in the present. Most big manufacturers are already sending Fall 2009 into production and I'm always a little late when I start my collections for the following Fall/Winter in January and Spring/Summer in June or July the summer before. The good thing is I can get the feeling for what feels right for the season if I'm designing in that season. The bad thing is, well, I can never quite live in the present. I'm always a little late when, just after I put up the next season on my website (pretty girls in heavy coats in the heat of summer!), I am in the throws of designing for the season after.

les feuilles d'ambres earrings

lueur d'automne necklace

vendange necklace

From the Fall/Winter 2008 Collection, Les Bois & Les Pres
(Woods and Fields) available now on bonbonoiseau.com

And each season we write a press release, explaining the theme of the newest collection:

Les Bois et Les Pres/Woods and Fields: Fall Winter Collections 2008

Nature Studies for Fall/Winter 2008: Evoking the simple beauty of the first leaves quietly falling or a meditation by a snowy field on a late winter's afternoon, this collection is inspired by Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, these delicate and striking vignettes celebrate the relationship between woman and nature and conjure the untouched American landscapes of the past: pheasants run along the edge of a wood, snowgeese take flight above a glistening bay, wolves and bison wander an endless prairie.

The beautiful glass in this collection was found in our travels in America and France and feature rare 1920's mold-pressed, reverse-painted and foil-inlay glass, Victorian-era French crystal jet beads, rich old American enamels along with vintage brass charms dipped in 24K gold, lustrous freshwater pearls and ethically-mined tourmeline in shades of root beer to bay-green on hand-wrought reclaimed silver and gold.

This collection is meant to express our reverence for the quietude of nature, and respect for the safe-keeping of it's creatures. A proceed from all July and August 2008 sales of this collection will go to the World Wildlife Fund.

Available now on www.bonbonoiseau.com and select stores around the world.

Saturday at the Market

Mid-July, the market this week has goods with such pretty names: mirabelles and gooseberries, lysianthus and red currants and sunflowers. I got to do some shopping with Nami too.

the met like an old friend

one of my favorite pieces in the Met is in the Greek Wing, carved alabaster eyeballs with bronze eyelashes

second favorite, an ancient Boddhisatva from China

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art the other evening with some pals to see the new Oceanic Art wing. Inside we wandered around, loving the Asmat shields, Incan feather-works, the little Indian Haveli in the South Asian wing and the delicate features of the old Chinese sculptures. I love to visit these parts, where the museum has created serene and thoughtful homes for the magical pieces they've brought to live there.
It's usually so quiet, away from the larger crowds of the blockbuster shows.
I've sort of grown up with these rooms, in different incarnations. For me it's like visiting an old friend's house, the one whose door is always open and is there for you whenever you need them.

Later we came up to the roof for a cocktail, NYC crowded, but so much glorious energy and one of the few places in the city where you can see an expanse of sky! We walked in and out of the Jeff Koon's sculptures--they created a special cocktail to celebrate his sculptures up there, a pretty sounding drink of elderberry and prosecco. We found a spot to people-watch, ate the heavenly little candies a friend brought back from Rome and saw the sun set over Central Park, a New York City summer night with friends.

And the Winner is....

#18: Mrs. French from the very fabulous Bliss! (She must have wished very very hard!)
Congratulations ms. lucky ladycakes...now you just have to send me your address and the Lure necklace is all yours! And everyone else, thank you for your wonderful and sweet comments. For you, I will for sure do more giveaways in the future...

And hey guess what else? The new Collection for Fall 2008 is up and I'll be adding a few more necklaces, earrings, pins and hair adornments next week and throughout the season.. I'd love for you to take a look!

And this morning

A pretty fantastic friend (with a pretty fantastic blog) went to work in Kentucky last week and brought me back an incredibly delicious present: sourwood honey. I tried it this morning with a little almond butter on spelt toast. I know I will need more by next week.

What kinds of edible gifts will I bring home from the my trip to the Pacific Northwest?

OK...I'm back to work but good luck everyone who left a comment for the lure necklace giveaway,
(and if you haven't you have until midnight tonight!) I'll announce the winner tomorrow morning!