menagerie bookends

How cute are these hippo bookends from Serena & Lily?  The hippos may be for a kid’s room, but I think they are great for adult rooms too!

via serena & lily

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 98,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 4 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 121 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 275 posts. There were 438 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 215mb. That’s about 1 pictures per day.

The busiest day of the year was July 7th with 707 views. The most popular post that day was Wedding Cupcakes.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were search.aol.com, facebook.com, en.wordpress.com, crowdspring.com, and supermama.lt.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for wedding cupcakes, cupcakes, whoopie pies, brunch, and wedding cupcakes pictures.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Wedding Cupcakes July 2009

The next big thing: Whoopie Pies October 2009
2 comments

Tissue Paper Pom Poms July 2009
2 comments

Textiles and Cake March 2009
4 comments

Candy Aesthetics February 2009

London: fav bakery- Ottolenghi

Ottolenghi, a bakery, a food shop, a restaurant  (cafe-deli-restaurant) was quoted by Yotam, himself as “a playground for people who love food” in an interview in delicious magazine here.  The plentiful salads, beautiful pastries and cakes are simple, yet the product of a wild variety of ingredients.  While in London, I visited two of his shops (in Kensington and Notting Hill) and was blown away by the experience.  It takes “food porn” to another level.  Meticulously merchandised, you walk into and of Ottolenghi’s small storefronts and want to taste everything.  Israel born Yotam Ottolenghi set up Ottolenghi with his business partner Sami Tamimi back in 2002 after training at Le Cordon Bleu and working at Capital Restaurant, Kensington Place, Launceston Place and Baker and Spice.  Yotam is also a food writer and has authored several cookbooks including his newest one, Plenty, which I wanted to buy on site but couldn’t put the 10lb book (may be an exaggeration but it was a HEAVY cookbook!) in my suitcase without having to pay extra.

I only have a few shots but hopefully you’ll get a glimpse at this wonderful place.  You can also check out their blog here or read an interview in the Evening Standard here.

Bread Pudding

Front display window

Happy New Year

via amy atlas

via the sweetest occasion

via hostess with the mostess

via martha stewart

London: fav breakfast- My Old Dutch Pancake House

While walking around Kensington one afternoon, we passed by a small restaurant called My Old Dutch Pancake House.  We looked the place up to see if they had any other locations, and to our luck they had a spot in Chelsea, where we would be the following day.  After our mini “trek” from the tube station, we arrived at My Old Dutch Pancake House and soon found out there was nothing “small” about this restaurant. 

If you haven’ had a Dutch pancake before they are huge.  They are the size of a small pizza and are a cross between a pancake and a crepe.  At My Old Dutch you could make your own pancake and choose toppings.  I went with an apple, pear, cinnamon and honey pancake topped with loads of icing sugar.  There were toppings like caramel, nutella and other rich sauces but I couldn’t do it.  I could barely finish the one I got given the size.  If sweet is not your thing, there is also a large selection of savoury pancakes for lunch/dinner.  I have never had a dutch pancake and if I had the chance again, I would go back 100%.

London: fav bakery- Sweet Boulangerie

The next mouth-watering bakery in London that deserves mention is Sweet Boulangerie in the Exmouth Market.  On our morning walk around the Clerkenwell area, we walked through Exmouth market and stopped dead in our tracks when we got to Sweet.  It was packed in there and we were lucky to grab the last seat.  This is a typical french patisserie with macarons, cakes, cookies, tarts, and savoury items like sandwiches, pizza slices with a low key atmosphere, and a delicious aroma of baked goods.

Our macaron sample

counter display

London: Fav Bakery- Konditor & Cook

I just got back from a work/vaca trip to London and on my time off, I had the chance to explore some of London’s best bakeries.

First up is Konditor & Cook, an amazing bakery that I visited in Borough Market.  Started by ‘Konditor’, Munich trained pastry chef, Gerhard Jenne, his Konditor & Cook has grown to six locations around central London.  You find everything savoury and sweet in this bakery from mince pies, and cakes to cinnamon stars and brownies, this spot has it all, and beautifully merchandised as well. 

I was there to grab some breakfast and sampled their muesli, a cinnamon star and a cookie. Delicious!

Inside Konditor & Cook

Window display

My favourite mince pies

buddha bowls

via flavour design

via flavour design studio

via flavour design

via flavour design