the love list

Hello!

I hope you've been enjoying the first week of spring. I for one am pretty excited to see springtime springing all over the place and so many lovely flowers poking their little heads up through the soil. After the unusually cold and wet winter we had here in Seattle, spring couldn't have come soon enough!

I can't wait for farmers markets overflowing with spring produce and blooms. I'm working on some new spring-inspired recipes to help you put those tender asparagus, sweet english peas, and tart rhubarb to use when they do make an appearance. I'll have those coming your way soon! In the meantime, here's a Love List with some of my latest obsessions and favorite things.

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- I am in love with this Cup of Sunshine Dust my friend Sherrie sent me to try out. Maybe because we've been in sore need of sunshine in this corner of the world. Maybe because this warming mix of turmeric, ginger, lemongrass and pepper is such a great way to kick start my day. Whatever the reason, I'm going to be mixing this Sunshine Dust into steamed milk for a caffeine-free boost throughout my day. I'm also going to see if I can work it into some other sweet and savory dishes. I'm thinking maybe a marinade for grilled chicken or fish. Or a golden milk tart with coconut cream and lime. Or spicy turmeric caramel corn. Stay tuned!

Image: Sherrie Castellano for Big Heart Tea Co.

- This succulent workshop with The Field Trip Society and Marzipan Seattle looks fantastic!

Image via The Field Trip Society

- Instagram feed I'm crushing on this month: Christèle Ageorges. The dreamy aesthetic of this Paris-based journalist, stylist and set designer is always so inspiring. And her floral arrangements are gorgeous. I'm going to be attempting to reproduce this one with cherry blossoms from our yard:

Image Christèle Ageorges via Instagram

- I am over-the-moon excited to be attending my friend Natasha’s photography retreat in the Scottish Highlands this May! Natasha has gathered a super-talented group of photographers and makers who will be sharing their knowledge with us. We’ll gather around the table to learn, share delicious, locally-sourced meals (I’ll be cooking one!) as well as venturing to the Isle of Skye, Loch Ness and a local distillery for vintage scotch tastings. There will also be a crochet workshop and I'm hoping to get my hands on some of the gorgeous yarn Natasha produces on her farm.
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There are still a few spots left if you want to come hang out in the Highlands for this amazing retreat. Details and registration are here.

Image Natasha Seidel via Instagram

- This Vietnamese Steak au Poivre from Food & Wine. One thousand times yes.

Image Con Poulos for Food & Wine via Instagram

- I recently discovered Belong Magazine and I'm feeling it pretty hard. This quarterly digital and print mag celebrates the art and community of blogging, social media and entrepreneurship, and encourages women to use their passions for a purpose, to be authentic, and to encourage one another. Yes to all of that!

Image via Belong Magazine

- And last but not least, this Grapefruit-Cardamom Gin Fizz from the lovely ladies over at the The Modern Proper. Because it's Friday and because no Love List is complete without a little boozy inspiration for your weekend!

Image via The Modern Proper

XO and Happy Friday!

Olaiya

thank you!

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you’ve been having a great week. Things are looking up over here. The funk I wrote about last week has lifted. Tiny buds and blooms are starting to show up here in Seattle, so it feels like spring is right around the corner. And last Saturday’s Love Trumps Hate fundraising dinner was a huge success!

I got to hang out and cook with some awesome people. I figured out how to make a pretty respectable tamale. I developed a recipe for a smoky, floral mezcal-marigold margarita that is going to be on heavy rotation when the weather warms up. Most importantly, we raised over $3000 for the ACLU! 

Before this dinner, I’d been feeling more than a little despondent about the future of this diverse, boundary-pushing, democratic nation I call home. I know we’ve got a lot more to do to protect civil right here in the U.S., but this fundraiser felt like a great start. We were able to support a great organization while also doing a little community-building here in Seattle. To my mind, anything that brings people together instead of tearing them apart is good news. We need more of that. Especially now. 

To keep this spirit of community and engagement alive, I plan to organize some more fundraising events this year. I’m thinking maybe a community potluck. Or a soup night with homemade bread and wine. Or an old-fashioned ice cream social. Let me know in the comments below what sort of events you’d be interested in! If you’d like to volunteer for future fundraisers, shoot me an email.

I’d like to send out a HUGE thank-you to all the hard-working volunteers who made this dinner happen: Alex, Ellen, Erin, Kaylah, Linda, Marianna, Nicole and my sweet mamma! I’m so grateful to Danielle for shooting the event. It was such a pleasure to have a talented photographer to capture everything so I could focus on cooking! And an extra dose of thank-you goes to Beau, who first had the idea for this dinner, put up with me being a total crazy person while I planned and prepped for it, and who washed a mountain of dishes afterwards. (You’re my hero, Babe!)

I also want to send out a heartfelt thanks to the local businesses who so generously donated to the dinner: Book Larder for allowing us to use their space, Honor Society Coffee for providing us with their amazing coffee, Marigold & Mint for sending over such stunning flower arrangements for the table, and Tieton Cider Works for offering several cases of thier beautiful dry cider, which we transformed into a sangria blanca with pineapple and serrano syrup (recipe coming soon). 

I feel so grateful for the outpouring of support around this dinner. I couldn’t have done it without all you wonderful people!

XO,

Olaiya

All photography in this post by Danielle Elliott. Click here to check out her beautiful portfolio!

P.S. There’s only 1 spot left for the Paris food and photography workshop I’m leading with Yossy Arefi in May! Click here to make it yours.

oaxaca wanderings

I’m home from Oaxaca and what an amazing trip! I went for a photography workshop that turned out to be a little tougher than I'd expected. We rose early and headed to bed late. We shot through heat, dust, smoke and into darkness. We muddled our way through a foreign language to ask total strangers if we could take their portrait. I got a stomach bug. And slammed my finger in a metal door. And one night I drank WAAAAY too much cheap mezcal and danced my ass off at a salsa bar and then had the (second) worst hangover I’ve ever had in my life. It was not pretty. 

But was it ever worth it.

In addition to the above trials and tribulations, there were visits to some of the most beautiful, vibrant markets I’ve ever seen. A trip to see artisans making paper by hand and coloring it with locally sourced natural dyes. A visit with a group of feisty sisters crafting ceramics using techniques thousands of years old. A bumpy car ride to a palenque where we watched as our hosts smoked woody agave hearts, then mashed, fermented and distilled them into some of the finest mezcal I’ve ever tasted. Everywhere we went, we were greeted warmly and fed heartily. The Oaxacans we met generously shared their stories, their knowledge, their traditions and their tables with us. 

Through those sunrise shoots, rides over dirt roads to breathtaking locations, and interactions with the people we met in Oaxaca, I feel I’ve grown as a photographer, too. I learned more from Andrea and Martin in nine days than I would have in a year (or a lifetime) of experimenting on my own. Add to that the generous feedback and advice of my fellow travelers (many of whom I can now call friends) and this trip was truly invaluable.

Oaxaca has changed me a little. The time I spent hearing the stories of such talented, wise, humble women and men in Mexico has left me feeling more connected to people everywhere and more grateful for my time on this earth. Bruised fingers, sleep deprivation, hangovers and all.