Yummy Sunday BBQ

We love to BBQ at our house and often do it in the middle of the week because the weather is so nice. Our new favorite potato salad is a recipe from the June/July issue of Domino. My husband does most of the cooking and loves it when I find really good recipes for him :)

My husband changed the recipe slightly so here's his version:

Dave's Domino Potato Salad

2 lbs.small red potatoes
Plugra european Butter to taste
8-10 garlic cloves peeled ( whole )
1 tbsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
20 cornichons cut in half lengthwise
10 fresh tarragon leaves torn

Wrap red potatoes in foil with a few pats of the european butter, the garlic cloves and salt and pepper to taste. Close the foil and place on the BBQ for about 30 min. until the potatoes are tender.
Let the potatoes cool and cut into quarters. In a large bowl, combine the mustard, vinegar, pepper and a 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir until uniform. Add the olive oil and stir again. Add the cooked potatoes ( with the cooked garlic ), cornichons and tarragon. Toss and coat.
ENJOY!!!

This weekend's DIY

I finally decided to devote some time to the kitchen island I should have finished long ago...

This is what it looked like before... ( above - hideous brand new contemporary - courtesy of the builder ). Actually, the whole kitchen looked like this :(

And this is what it looks like in process....

Remember...these cabinets are going to complimnt the cabinets I finished below. I just gave it a slightly different look because I want to have the island look like a separate piece of furniture. It also functions as our dining area.

The view from here

It looks like Napa doesn't - but it's really Malibu and view from the top of my street is all ocean. Sometimes we'll open the sliding glass doors and put on the movie "A Good Year" ( with Russell Crowe ) with the surround sound and we feel like were on vacation in Provence ( similar climate ). My husband loves this movie as much as I do. I think we've seen it 30 times - literally - and believe me my husband is old school southern California surfer - he is definitely manly man ( at least by Cali standards ). Yes, I know how lucky I am ladies!

OMG - to die for

Flourless Chipotle Chocolate Cake. Found the recipe here.
You better believe this will be on my table this weekend.

Rock n roses

I l-o-v-e this idea I found in Lucky Magazine years ago. Rose wallpaper with vintage rock posters. Very old Malibu, especially Latigo Canyon ( Axel Rose - no pun intended - is one of our neighbors ).

I was thinking about doing this downstairs in the teen apartment, but now I am thinking the upstairs powder room could use this kind of a perk up.

I dig it.

Looking for Lynn

I spent most of the last year looking for inspiration in any form from designer Lynn Von Kersting. I first fell in love with her work around 1990 and was lucky enough to get through to an editor from House Beautiful who tracked down the pics for me from a spread they did on her.

Thankfully I live close enough to Indigo Seas ( her insanely beautiful shop next to her restaurant "The Ivy" ) and low and behold the heavens opened up and granted all of her fans their dying wish - her book -equivalent to a decorating bible...at least for those of us who adore this style of decorating.

As I do more work on the house, I will include inspiration from her book, "La Strada della Dolce Vita" so you can see where the ideas are coming from.

This ramen doesn't say "recession"

Fine Furious Life is now one of my favorite places to get recipes. Check out this one for the beautiful ramen dish ( left ). Makes you want to eat ramen even if it isn't a recession! Or maybe it just makes recession a bit tastier!