A Noteworthy Find

One of my absolute favorite bloggers, who helms the site A Lovely Being, recently started a self-titled tumblr chock-full of fantastic photos of everything from old Hollywood starlets to envy-inducing interiors. Here are a few of my favorites so far...

* all images via Fallen Elizabeth

Can I Have Your Life?

Pretty please? Blogger Haleigh is once again off in the French countryside, enjoying the sun and all that the Chateau du Portail (a fabulous looking hotel that apparently insists on playing only Frank Sinatra at cocktail hour) has to offer: blooming roses, poolside wine... To top if off, she is sporting some serious style by the pool, managing to somehow pull off a Chanel turban on a floatie. Look away and let the envy take over...

* images via Making Magique

20 Lovely Living Rooms

* all images via Lonny Magazine

Quote of the Day

"After all these years, I have observed that beauty, like happiness, is frequent.

A day does not pass in which we are not, for an instant, in paradise."

- Jorge Luis Borges

* image via Pretty Stuff

Most Wanted of the Week: Jackie's Love Letters

This Thursday, Christie's will auction off 22 of Jackie Kennedy's love letters to former flame Bev Corbin, Jr. for an estimated $25,000-$35,000. I don't know about you, but if I just happened to have a spare 25k, I know exactly how I would be spending this coming Thursday. Jackie, who dated Bev at 16 while she was attending Miss Porters, wrote: "I do love you though - and can love you without kissing you every time I see you" (demonstrating an affinity for a somehow endearing aloofness at an early age), and announced her failed engagement to John Husted, saying: "What I hope for you is the same thing to happen as quickly and as surely as it did with me. It will when you least expect it." Even at 16, Jackie was already a heartbreaker.

* image via Tory Burch

Quote of the Day

* via The Neotraditionalist

Foodie Friday: The Ultimate Grilled Cheese

I can't say enough how much I love fried eggs and hate that they rarely make an appearance past breakfast. In fact, whenever I see a non-breakfast item on a menu that has eggs, it takes me less than 2 seconds to make up my mind that that's what I'm ordering. So when I saw this recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich with a fried egg wedged between the bread slices I was sold. I haven't tried out the recipe, but it looks like it would be a perfect throw-together lunch. For any bacon-lovers out there, I think the addition of pancetta would make this sandwich even better. Here's the recipe!

Spinach, Egg, and Manchego Grilled Cheese
From Laura Werlin's Grilled Cheese Please!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter, divided, at room temperature
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
8 ounces baby spinach
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 sandwich-size slices sourdough bread
8 ounces of manchego cheese, coarsely grated (or use young pecorino, gouda, or gruyère)
4 large eggs

Directions

1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook just until soft but not brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the spinach, cover, and cook, tossing with the tongs occasionally, until wilted but still fairly bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a small plate.
3. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel but do not wash it. Have a small bowl or cup ready.
4. To assemble: Using the remaining butter, butter one side of each slice of bread and lace on your work surface, buttered side down.
5. Using a 1 1/2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter (or grapefruit spoon or knife), cut a 1 1/2-inch hole in the center of each bread slice. Press the cheese evenly onto 4 bread slices around the hole (it may seem like a lot of cheese, but it's actually just the right amount), followed by the spinach mixture. Top with the remaining bread slices, buttered side up.
6. Heat a large nonstick skillet over a medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Put the sandwiches into the skillet (in batches if necessary), cover, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the undersides turn golden brown.
7. Turn the sandwiches, and working quickly, separate 1 egg over the small bowl or cup, allowing the egg white to drip into the cup. Pour the yolk into the hole in the bread and then pour the egg white over it. (If the hole has closed up because the cheese has oozed out, just use a spoon to open it back up again before putting the egg in it.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Cover and cook for 1 to 3 minutes, until the undersides are golden brown and the yolks have begun to set (the egg whites won't have cooked through yet). Carefully turn the sandwiches again (some of the egg white may run off since it is still partially uncooked).
9. Cover and cook for 1 to 3 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. Cut in half diagonally and serve immediately.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

* recipe and image via Yumsugar

Return of the Eye Candy

Sorry for the crazy delay in posts - I've been up to my eyeballs in work. With my brain officially fried, all I'm craving is some pure and simple eye candy. So here you have it. With no particular rhyme or reason.

*Pretty Stuff, Crush Cul de Sac, Matchbook Magazine, and Mojitos and Blow