More from Oz and a Farro Revolution

Sorry I was MIA this week!

I promised I'd show you more poppy photos....

All taken by my super-rad friend Carmen. How are Carmen and I both in some of these photos?? Because as the Holga camera genius that she is she double exposed it and had us trade places: one sits in the photo, the other shoots and then we switch making sure we stand in exactly the same spot as we take the picture. Except the one where we're really close together--I held the camera out in front of us and pushed the button on that one.

Carmen's pictures make me insanely happy. She does the coolest things with light and exposure and composition (you should see the ones of her and her man Chris out in the desert in rabbit costumes). I mentioned this but we were roommates in college: we were assigned to each other and by week 2 we were joined at the hip, going to our first rave together in which we came back to campus at 5am covered in silver body paint and proceeded to spend an hour swinging on the childcare playground near our dorm..... it's been a great American love story ever since. Here's one she took of me and Sky at our Pink Panther engagement party

And lucky you! You can go see more of hers on her flickr page. And if you ask her nicely she'll shoot your party too. Or your next botanical adventure.

And on the culinary frontier....

I am on the food committee for one of my other BFF's baby shower next weekend. Not just any cute baby shower. A Mad Hatter's Tea Party-turns-Wild Dance Party Baby Shower. Kate and Ben aren't getting married so this party is going to be their big one. Along with making my hat for the tea party portion of the festivities I am experimenting with farro salads. I'll be making a trough of it (along with some pretty veggie tea sandwiches). Farro is amazing because like pasta and risotto the possibilities are ENDLESS. I am putting just a wee bit of pressure on myself to have this one be the best one I've made ever. And it's not gluten-free so Sky gets to live on farro for a week as I subject him to my tinkering. Tried one this morning from Zuni Cafe that is simple and gorgeous (cherry tomatoes, basil, pecorino, olive oil); Heidi has one with a parmesan citrus vinaigrette I'm going to play with; I had one at Lou not too long ago with kale and cranberries and goat cheese and I think walnuts that was pretty amazing.....By all means if you have one you love share with me!! Maybe I'll even go crazy and bring 3 different ones to the party.