Tag Archives: Photography

An Indian Dinner

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Happy Saturday to you!

I’m a little jet lagged, having just recently returned from London. I’m excited to share some highlights of our trip once I’ve had a chance to download and compile all my photos. I actually went away with just my tiny Leica and the download cord, but no battery charger. So dumb. Don’t you just love packing?

Those of you that follow me on Instagram though have seen several of my holiday snaps there already. The old iPhone (and I do mean the old one) takes a pretty good shot in a pinch.  OK so, wait…I’m off track already, bloody hell…the London post will be arriving shortly (it is coming from overseas after all!)

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few photos from the Indian Dinner table I set at ‘Casa Paley’ shortly before we went away.

890A8441We were excited to be having very dear old friends over for dinner and inspired by the spate of beautiful late May weather in Santa Barbara (before  ”June Gloom” arrived, right on schedule as I’ve been informed, June 1st) I thought it would be fun to serve up a big old curry with all the fixings.

09ea16a6bd9e11e299e522000a9e28c4_7My Instagram shot of the cookbooks we used:

“Mangoes & Curry Leaves” (gorgeous book, somewhat complex recipes),”Tangy Tart Hot & Spicy” by Padma Lakshmi (easier recipes) and “Vij’s” from my favourite Indian restaurant in Vancouver-even though they don’t take reservations which drives me insane. Maybe because I’m mentioning his cookbook I might not have to wait outside the next time.  Do you think??? Hey, It could happen. If you know him, please put in a good word for me :)

I’m afraid I don’t have any photos of the food but this is what we served:

Vij’s Family Chicken Curry (OMG-SO good. and I’m not just saying that because of the no reservations thing. Swear)

Prawns in Coconut Marsala

Sauteed Arugula & Spinach with Tofu (because we couldn’t find Paneer)

Ginger & Jalapeño Basmati rice

Green Beans with Toasted Coconut & Cashews

Cucumber Raita

Shredded Carrot, Cranberries & Cilantro Salad (Gorgeous & delicious-so wish I’d taken a photo) from Padma’s book

Huge crispy Poppadoms, Naan bread and lashings of spicy chutneys

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890A8452Different flavours of salts on the table are always a nice touch.

I found the porcelain and copper “burning match” votives “At The Table” in LA  years ago.

890A8462I actually have a “Salt” post in the hopper as we speak. Keep an eye out for it. I know. Exciting, right?!

890A8457As usual, I like to really mix it up, so here we have a huge vintage Suzani used as the tablecloth (that’s how much I love/trust these friends :) )  little silver votives from Pottery Barn, Cristofle silverware, vintage ocean liner water goblets, black & white striped cotton napkins from “Paradise Lane” in Sri Lanka, and all the black & white dishes are from Target. The roses are “White Iceberg” and “Hot Cocoa” from my garden.

Here’s the recipe for the curried chicken:

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Taken from “Vij’s” cookbook with love and respect… and patience.

What?? I’m not hinting at anything!

890A8520Christofle silver vase (a present for our 25th wedding anniversary last month)

For another Suzani inspired table setting check out this older post HERE -I just noticed that it was also done in May, in 2011. Goes to show how much Spring inspires us to bring the colour indoors (you might also recognise that suzani from my recent post about updating our conservatory) Vintage textiles are such a worthwhile investment, aren’t they?!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

and

VERY HAPPY FATHER’S DAY WISHES TO ALL THE WONDERFUL DADS OUT THERE!!

xoxox

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Slim Paley Daily #6

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Happy Monday and welcome to Slim Paley Daily #6

a wee post dedicated to our furry friends.

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because first there was this little guy that a friend forwarded to me recently.

263f124cb0ac11e2a97a22000a9f18aa_7“Ray Charles” is a blind rescue puppy whose cuteness definitely needed to be shared.

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Then I came upon this feline femme fatale on Instagram

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No one gets between her and  hair washing night.

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Then my subscription to “C” arrived, one of my very favourite magazines,

featuring LA based artist Sharon Montrose

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 who photographs all species of animal “pouched, slithering, winged and hoofed” in studio

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and reproduces them in small to wall-covering size here at; The Animal Print Shop

As “C” says, what a fantastic idea for kid’s rooms (or the kid within us all :) )

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Lastly,

Take a couple of minutes to upload and watch the video link below.

ABC’s “Splash” eat your heart out.

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Giraffe Splash

*Take the viewing format out of HD for it to load faster-in the bottom right hand corner of video

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baby bear hugs to you all, furry and not so much… xx

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Slim Paley Daily #4

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IMG_4308“Cecil Brunner” climber outside my office window this week.

 Thank you so much for all your kind words and wishes on our 25th  anniversary yesterday, both here and on the FB page.

I was truly touched.

Happy Thursday night!

Now, back to the daily share, before it’s Friday…

If you’re anything like me (and you know you are because you’re here) you have about 50 million photos saved on your computer but aren’t printing any of them. Am I right? Sure, digital photography is utterly awesome and we’re taking TONS  more pics than we used to, but other than on a computer screen, they’re not tangible…

One of my Spring resolutions is to change that.

You saw my Moo cards-I’m on a roll…

Here are two more fun ideas to help get your memories off the screen and into the hands of someone you love ( that could just be yourself!)

Screen Shot 2013-04-25 at 9.30.23 PMI’m totally in love with the look of these photo books you can create at Artifact Uprising

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I’ve been following them for a little while on Instagram and I’m so inspired by their style and company ethos.

They also have a blog that might ignite some grand ideas for your photos-they attract a charming crowd.

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Have you ever thought of making tiles with your photographs?

These large slab tiles (12 x 12) at  Image Snap are only $35

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Or an 8 x 8 square for $27.  Dude. Seriously.

Great gift idea.

You can even make teeny 2 x 2 tiles for $4 each.

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I could do a bathroom wall of my roses!

Have I made anything with Artifact Uprising or Image Snap yet? No.

Am I sharing them with you to push myself? Kinda.

Great. Now I have so many ideas and images swirling in my head, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.

Thanks a lot. Until Friday…

Good Night!

Slim Paley Daily #1

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Mini Monday

Welcome to the launch of “Slim Paley Daily” !

The plan is to share one fun thing a day for a week just to shake things up a bit.

Think of it as a “Friday Favourites” facelift (remember those?? Favourites, not facelifts)

As it happens, my first share is something I mentioned waaay back on Friday Favourites but never ended up doing myself…

until just recently

890A7901and boy, do I love my Moo Cards !

890A7894Half the size of regular business cards,they’re really inexpensive, easy to create and the Moo service is great.

and they’re funny, those Moo folks. Always a plus in my books.

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Simply pick whatever images you wish to print, drag them to the templates on the create page and off you go.

If I can do it, YOU can do it.

They have a multitude of combinations for fonts and background colours (though they could use more font choices) and the best part? They print on both sides!  Choose a matte or glossy  finish and load up to 100 images.

YES- 100 IMAGES People!

  I picked 100 of my own photos, most of them from previous Slim posts.
890A7884and went with a matte finish because I didn’t think my card case needed any competition. Ahem.

I think I ordered 400 cards because that seemed to come out to a ridiculously good price.

FYI- you can also create regular sized business cards, stickers, and other fun stuff.

moo.com

Check it out.

PPS. This mention is only with affection, not affiliation with Moo-nies.

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See you tomorrow with Tuesday’s… thing.

Bedouin & Breakfast

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“I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience.” 
― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Yes, that.

So we jumped at the opportunity to spend a sand-swept day and star-filled night in the wilds of the desert at the end our Moroccan adventure.

( it’s almost over…just 1 more post-after this one :) )

890A7354We departed from our hotel located in the outskirts of the city of Ouarzazete by helicopter

890A7365a 50 minute journey over epic scenery

L1020995which we loved…albeit ever vigilant for potential emergency landing spots (see it?!)

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890A7367Incredible to see how specks of verdant green popped up occasionally

L1030005and the lengths some people will go to to ‘unplug’

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rtwgdWhile it’s true that my friend and I did ever so slightly miss the presence of Ralph…

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and couldn’t help but give Omar a thought

or two…

Sand peopleThe hotel camp had us covered!

IMG_3554The tents were amazing

890A7386Crisp white sheets, hot water bottles and a private loo. You can just imagine my happiness.

890A7395More Happiness

(P.S. Gordon’s Gin people, please feel free to contact me for the photo :-) )

Screen Shot 2013-03-14 at 4.00.27 PMSlim Sandy

890A7485‘The desert could not be claimed or owned—it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones’

from The English Patient.

L1150138Tagine served from a huge earthenware pot

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L1030076What we listened to under the canopy of a billion stars?

“Us & Them” from Dark Side of the Moon of course!

(click for mandatory listening please!)

and as I’ve learned through experience, there’s something quite magical about watching an old movie while tucked in a tent in the middle of nowhere, I brought my newest old favourite;

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“The Rains Came”

With no irony.

Screen Shot 2013-04-11 at 8.14.44 PMDawn in the desert

890A7438A peacefulness one can’t describe

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890A7489Strike a pose

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Bedouins_John_Singer_SargentJohn Singer Sargent’s Bedouins

890A7482Bedouin Breakfast

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a little sand kicking up??

IMG_3558 copyno problem for my ever resourceful, quick thinking friend who manages to eat breakfast, play DJ and start a new style trend at the same time.

890A7421“Ralph…Ralph…We’re here for you…”

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caf8fa84021816e56fcc2147dc7ce94d_viewThe John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum  is on now through July 28th

Our desert sojourn was organized by Maison Des Reves

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and have a splendid weekend!

xx

SP

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