Eastbound.

Dear 29,
I'm nearly eastbound headed out on my first flight in months and months. (or at least 6 months) After many years of travels, I've been grounded, in a nice way, for awhile now. But tomorrow, bright and early, I'll be airborne and jetting east. Back to New York City.

Looking forward to a trip filled with city style, menswear celebrities and little adventures in the big apple. Follow along (how interactive) with my silly instagram hashtag: #LPinNYC. Yep. A self-serving hashtag for the trip. Can't wait.
xo-LP

So many promises.

Dear 29,
Mighty shellfish* of me to show off these fancy snow crab legs that we celebrated day one of 2013 with, but I'm doing it anyway.

Some hot legs. Too far? Maybe.

In my last post I mentioned a little list of promises for 2013. Rather than resolutions (which are really just intentions), I'm working on a list of promises to myself and to a few others this year. So many good things ahead, but lots of work to get there. This fancy set of crustacean limbs feeds (pun intended) one such promise: Cook more at home. I won't share them all on the blog because, let's face it, we all hear enough about what I WANT TO DO and see all the lists I have out there for the world to see.

The remains of a fancy dinner. Not so pretty after it's devoured.

There were so many well cooked meals already in 2013. I took this promise pretty seriously for these first 8 days, but let me tell you, I have a hard time staying in when so many great dining spots exist in DSM. (These links take you to a few of my very favorites) I do love to cook, though. It's like making delicious art. Or, less poetically, it's fun. Endless internet sources leave me combing Martha, Jamie, Chow and Bon Appetit, plus about 187 food blogs, every Saturday (literally. and I'm using the word correctly here.) Some might say I'm obsessive.

One of my favorite dishes to cook up: Risotto. All kinds of mushrooms hanging out too.

Collecting cookbooks, foodie magazines, kitchen tales from friends and new Macguyver style meals (it's been awhile since I brought that up. What do you think blogland? Do I bring back the Macguyver style recipe post?) has become a pretty serious, fattening hobby for both me and the HBF. I'm hungry just thinking about it.

First attempt at scallops at home. Easy on the budget and darn tasty.

In an effort to uphold the aforementioned promise as well as another (Save money for that grown up life ahead), I'll be gourmet-ing a whole bunch this winter. What are your favorite recipe sources? Where do you find feastpiration? (believe it or not I just made up this word.) Share them all.
Now. I must eat.

xo-LP

*A most hilarious joke. I can't stop laughing about it. It's crackin me up.**
**Another hilarious joke.

Onward.

Dear 29,
I wrote and rewrote an end of year post for 2012. A bunch. After last year's great year end post, I really didn't have much to say about 2012 that was poetic, thoughtful or funny. In 50 blog posts I captured just a bit of what 2012 felt like (including some rough patches and bigtime celebrations). But I can say this: 2012 was all about gaining momentum and forward movement. Finally, according to my big fancy horoscope and my general feeling about the world, everything started to fall into place, slowly, but in a way I haven't felt in awhile.

I'm so grateful for the friends, family and colleagues that made the challenges, changes and triumphs of 2012 bearable and, even more so, completely awesome. Onward to 2013. Even bigger things on the horizon. Thanks for sticking with the blog. I'll be doing my best to keep a list of promises to myself (and to others) in this lucky year 2013, one of them: Write more.
Cheers to the year ahead.
xo-LP