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cortez + edible selby

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012






Cortez is finally open and it feels like it’s been here forever. Marta and Robert of Cookbook have been working on the restaurant for a while now promising a neighborhood spot for simple delicious food and a menu that changes daily based on what’s at the market. And that’s already what it feels like: a great local spot to drop by and run into friends, have a bite, have a drink. Eventually they’ll be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner but for now they’re open for dinner every day. I stopped by earlier in the week and had a tasty selection of small plates and the highlight: Basque Cake. A custardy vanilla cake that is moist and simple and amazing.

Stopped by again for the Edible Selby event on sunday night (and ran into two of my favorite people). Was happy to see Todd representing in true cat lady style. It was an evening of small plates, grenache, casual vibes and good company. So looking forward to making cortez a weekly hang out. Like maybe it’s my new baco mercat.

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Posted in food, inspiration | 3 Comments »

some pretty good moments on instagram

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Fall is finally here? And without the oppressive heat I can think again and I’m remembering some of what I’ve been wanting to share. Consider this a catch up, getting us all back up to speed:

1st Row:
Jessica gave me this amazing incense that I swear helped usher in Fall, it was my birthday! and sort of unrelated matchbox kitchen made a beautiful cake that some of my favorite ladies and I devoured, I love my neighborhood and am having to ration how many photos of it I instagram.

2nd Row:
Bianca and I share a birthday (9/28) and we celebrated at midnight at our favorite taco truck (one of my favorite moments in the history of birthdays, it filled me with joy and seemed to negate any of the bad stuff that has ever happened), Miranda and Christine sent me the most beautiful Holly Flora Bouquet for my birthday and I was so touched that I teared up, an indulgent self portrait showing off my favorite (and affordable, what?) spitfire sunglasses.

3rd Row:
So much fun was had at my birthday! We went to a dive bar and so many people that I love showed up that I was actually kind of taken aback, More on this soon, but did I mention that I shot for Martha Stewart? Because I totally did and during a break we saw this fern at Dream Collective, Kate made me this beautiful necklace for my birthday, thanks Kate.

4th Row:
Ali braided Kate’s hair and it was so pretty (more on braids stuff soon because let’s just say a lot of people want in on this action), this is currently my favorite soap (you have to smell it, it is so fresh and subtle), and finally, more evidence that I am in love with los angeles.

Phew.

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Posted in food, home & garden, inspiration, instagram | 4 Comments »

dix jours en france

Friday, August 24th, 2012


Just back and have too many images to share. So I’ll start here. At my family’s house in Provence we always eat outside together, in ‘the tunnel’. It’s one of my very favorite spots on earth.

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Posted in food, french, inspiration, travel | 7 Comments »

last week in instagram

Monday, July 23rd, 2012


1st row: Echo Park in the summertime, plum cake from Cookbook, humid sunset.
2nd row: favorite summer dress from A.P.C., the Poketo store opening (find me in this post), art openings in chinatown
3rd row: tabletop shoot props, baco mercat (get the bazerac and the original baco), photobooth fun with claggie at bootleg (we saw the union line)
4th row: my first dodger game since moving to echo park two years ago, beautiful california, summery cocktails by emma.

You can follow me on instagram via statigram or look me up, I’m @ljoliet.
I also sometimes post my instagrams on twitter.

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Posted in food, inspiration, instagram, styling, travel | 6 Comments »

kouign amann

Thursday, July 12th, 2012





A homemade kouign aman from good friends. An incredible layering of butter, sugar and the resulting caramelization. Heaven. Find a recipe here.

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axe for remodelista

Thursday, April 19th, 2012







Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been shooting for Remodelista to help them cover local LA spots with great design. One of my favorites is up on the site today: Axe in Venice.

Having lived in Venice for a good part of my life, this was always my go-to spot for lunch –most often going there with my dad. I’ve been a huge fan of the simple space and the healthy menu (get the rice bowl with chicken! And brunch on the weekends!). Love the wood slat ceiling, the bare bulbs (they did those over ten years ago), the heath bowls, dark furniture and bare walls. I love that it’s minimal without feeling cold, especially with the new kilim pillows they added to the benches.

See the whole post on Axe here.

Other shoots up on Remodelista:
Joan’s on Third
Kismet Tile

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Posted in food, home & garden | 7 Comments »

my kitchen

Monday, March 19th, 2012





Took advantage of the rainy weather and spent a little bit of time nesting this weekend. I puttered around rearranging tiny moments in the kitchen and putting things away. I also hung my other favorite tw pottery and added a purple basil plant to it for springtime. I’ve lived here for a little over a year and feel like I’m only just embracing it as home. It’s exciting and also, in a weird way, a loss. It seems it takes a long time to let go.

(Have you seen Tracy’s house? (From TW Pottery))

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Posted in food, home & garden, inspiration | 11 Comments »

rainy day london

Friday, March 16th, 2012



It’s so dark and on the verge of a big storm in LA today that I’m reminded of my visit to London last fall. There’s something so wonderful about having the quality of light change all around you. Dramatic, moody, comforting. Such a shift from the constant cheerful sun in LA. This was Abby’s london kitchen on a particularly gloomy day (here it is on a sunny day) right before we went for a walk to Borough market. It was so grey and rainy and wonderful and then we ate all the pastries we could get our hands on.





Later we went to Leila’s where I wish I could spend every rainy day.

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Posted in food, home & garden, photo | 8 Comments »

I heart instagram

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012


Those who spend any kind of time with me normally comment on how connected I am to my phone. It is a permanent part of my life. I am grateful for the technology and also curse it daily. I check email, texts, facebook, twitter and, most recently instagram. How it took me so long to jump on the instagram bandwagon, I will never know. I have 6,000 photos on my phone right now because I hate to take any photos off since I like to have visual aids when telling stories. And also I take a lot of photos.

Instagram let’s me follow other people’s visual journeys and also gives me a place to share the little moments I only seem to catch with my phone.



(The photos are of Handsome Coffee Roasters, Gjelina, an old copy of La Cuisiniere Provencale that I was cooking out of at my dad’s house, a ratatouille I made my dad, Cook Book, Axe and the incredible braids that @alisonbrislin puts in my hair when I ask her to.)

If you have an iPhone, you can follow me on instagram, my handle is @ljoliet.

Posted in food, home & garden, inspiration, photo | 11 Comments »

pause

Thursday, February 16th, 2012



Kids, I’m home sick this week and as much as I keep attempting a real post, all I can manage is spending a lot of time on twitter, watching downton abbey and replying to the most urgent emails. Everything else is on hold.

Please excuse me while I drink the pukka tea I brought back from london with the sweet little rosebuds I add for magical healing.

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Posted in food, home & garden | 7 Comments »

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