Let Your Love Grow...

Via the Telegraph, via Shimona on fab FB

For the ultimate expression of love in an organic, carbon-neutral way: Growing Jewellery by Icelandic designer Hafsteinn Juliusson.

The rings represent

"... a redefinition of modern values. It is a clash of jewelry and gardening; couture and organism. The collection is designed for people in metropolitan cities and is an experiment in drawing nature toward man, as nature being the presupposition of life."

Tiny Icelandic moss, which requires watering, is planted in the ring, and can they can last up to six months.*

here

*The ideal length of an engagement -- longer than that, and the flowers/centerpieces/ menu/ fittings/meddling/ etc. will drive you mad.**

** Unless you like that sort of thing... that's cool.

**aI'm still recovering from the wedding year... It might have been nice to have a ring with an expiration date.

Organic cotton + SALESALE = yippee!!!

Dr. Fish, she of the completed dissertation and summer of leisure, came over so that we could get pedicures in celebration of my completion of 70-page chapter on Monday. (Sorry for the radio silence: after spilling 40,000 words into that document, I haven't had much to say...)

We never made it to the nail salon, as we ended up gabbing over tea...

But she did point me in the direction of this fabulous sale at Stewart + Brown, purveyors of stylish organic cotton and Mongolian cashmere duds.

Conventionally-grown cotton requires intensive applications of pesticides and fertilizers, which can then contaminate the water supply - so organic cotton is a great choice. (You can read more here. Patagonia also makes lots of organic cotton clothing.) Given the relatively few sources that supply it, organic clothing can be hard to afford on a grad student budget.

Stewart + Brown's hip stuff is usually super-spendy. Right now, though, a bunch of the summer stuff is more than half off -- and, on top of that, you get 30% more off if you enter SALESALE at the checkout.

Saving the planet one dress at a time...

Go have a look!

Floroptimist

I came across small stump + studio choo, just down the coast in Pacifica, via shiny happy weddings. Loving these slightly wild, organic-looking arrangements, using locally grown seasonal flowers. Check out the goodies in their shop, too.

Wed Head

Do you ever get this?

If my day starts with wedding-related stuff (today it was cake tasting - yum!), it is ridiculously hard to switch back to the serious, theoretical pre-professor I'm supposed to be. (Not quite a prof, but I play one on TV ;-) ).


Rather than focusing on that chapter I'm supposed to finish, visions of sugar plums, and tinted icing, and raspberry filling, and sugar silkscreened postcards are dancing through my head. Along with rings, and a dress-fitting, and the invitation design, and flowers, and centerpieces... oh, and the ceremony! Right now (four months out), there seems to be a lot to do, with all of it demanding attention.

I've got a bad case of wed head.

That said, I think we've found our baker, the lovely Edith Meyer. We met her at her 1921 Craftsman house that sits in the middle of a gorgeous fruit and vegetable garden, and sampled a delectable array of cakes and icings.

She works with locally-sourced organic ingredients, organic fair-trade chocolate, and free-range organic eggs. (The fair-trade chocolate is a huge bonus because much of the world's supply of chocolate comes from West Africa, where the production of chocolate often depends on child slavery. Ah, yes, briefly coming back to my pedantic profession. I learned the hard facts about chocolate only last summer, from a colleague. These little facts can help us become more conscious consumers...)

Back to sugarplums... Edith's cakes are not only socially-responsible, they're downright gorgeous, with a clean, modern aesthetic.



She copied the design on the bride's gown for this one.

Though we've steered away from the Alice in Wonderland theme idea (despite the fact that it would incorporate croquet and make a great play on my name) this cake captures the ideas that we discussed with her the best.

Edith's blog

We walked in thinking that we would get a simple white cake decorated with flowers. After going to a cake tasting yesterday where every additional design element added twenty-five cents per serving to the cake cost, we were in the mode of thinking conservatively in order to stay within our budget. However, Edith's pricing system is different, and she encouraged us to think outside of the (round) box. She worked hard to brainstorm with us to figure out what sorts of themes and ideas would represent us well.

When I mentioned the postcards that we used as Save The Dates and will probably use for table assignments, her eyes lit up. So the cake may incorporate design elements from the invitations that reflect our love of the outdoors, and pick up on the postcard theme to represent our love of travel. Woo-hoo!

I feel so fortunate to have met so many wonderfully skilled and creative people during the wedding planning process!

Veggie love

From here, via FFFFOUND!

Having been a vegetarian for more than twenty years - and having convinced my family to stop eating veal when I was just seven years old - I never considered serving meat at my wedding. We don't serve meat at dinner parties, so why would we at the Dinner Party of the Year? I don't want to go to a party where I can't eat the food (though people keep warning me that I won't have a chance to eat at the wedding. This one gets cranky without food, so I will have to find time to eat).

Earth Friendly Weddings takes up the issue of vegetarian weddings today, asking "Can a Vegetarian Meal Ruin a Wedding?", with a comment from Yours Truly. My take on it: Serve what you'd like to eat, thoughtfully prepared for your guests.

I do enjoy fish (yep, not a perfect vegetarian, and believe me, I've been taken to task for this many times over the years. Why vegetarians are expected to by completely consistent paragons of virtue is beyond me...), so we may serve some seasonally, sustainably caught fish. Or not.

Our caterer does amazing things with vegetarian food - I'm pretty sure that everyone will be so busy enjoying the food that they won't pause to wonder where the chicken or steak is.

Beyond the amazing flavors and textures of vegetarian food, it also costs less. The per-head cost our caterer quoted for an all vegetarian meal (no fish) was significantly lower than her lowest per-head cost for a chicken meal. We will be able to offer more dishes for the same price per head, if we don't serve meat. The dinner will actually end up looking more lush and magnificent, with a greater number of choices!

Serving locally-sourced vegetarian food helps reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of the wedding. To take just one example, three times as many fossil fuels are required to produce a meat-based diet, as compared with a plant-based diet. (more info here).

For vegetarian cooking at home, I love:

• Fields of Greens, Anne Somervill.
• Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison.
• The Moosewood Cookbook, Mollie Katzen.

Our weekly CSA box from Farm Fresh to You includes a batch of recipes for using seasonal vegetables, too.

From here, via FFFFOUND!

Yum!

That looks like a wedding cake to me!


From aptly named Love at First Bite, from which I brought Mr. Barefoot cupcakes for his birthday after we'd been dating a few months.

However, I think Mr. Barefoot would like something a little more traditional.... maybe we'll get this for the "groom's cake."



he, he! And then we'll have this chocolate confection as the 'bride's cake.'


Super spectacular, from Edith Meyer, organic baker.

But what I'd really like is a luscious tiramisu



or amaretti cake, from organic Crixa Cakes.
Must get over there to taste right away!