Bike-sharing in Paris

Did you know that Paris has a bike-sharing system—the biggest in the world—with over 20,000 bikes at 1,800 bike stations? I had no idea since they certainly didn't have this when I lived there there 13 years ago. Jordan Ferney, an American blogger who's spending a year in Paris with her husband and two little boys wrote about it today and included tons of good tips. Vélib' sounds like the coolest public transportation system ever and I wish we had something like it here in New York. If I were planning a trip to Paris right now, I'd be so excited to ride bikes all around that beautiful city. Too bad I have no plans to visit anytime soon, but maybe you do?

Photos by Paul Ferney via Oh Happy Day

Striped Walls

Our camera broke while we were in Brazil and we haven't gotten around to getting it fixed which is one reason I haven't been blogging much lately. The other reason is that any free minute I have, I end up searching for inspiring images on Pinterest or clicking through a digital design magazine. There's so much I want to do with our new place and I could spend hours online looking for ideas.

A few weeks ago, I was talking about wallpaper for Nico and Leo's room. We ordered all sorts of samples, from jellyfish patterns to vinyl red circles from Marimekko. I even asked for all of your opinions, but then we scratched the whole wallpaper plan last week. It seemed too pricey and a lot of work. My new plan is to paint some bright stripes on their super white walls.

I ripped this photo out of Domino Magazine a few years ago. The bedroom belongs to Jenna Lyons's son. Jenna is the creative director of J. Crew and her beautiful Brooklyn brownstone has been featured in many publications.

Her kitchen inspired me to go with dark blue cabinets in mine. (More on that another day.) Painting stripes on the ceiling sounds like a lot of work, but I love the way it looks.

My old bedroom was the prettiest shade of blue and while it would have worked well in a bedroom for two little boys, I wanted to go with something more unique for Nico and Leo. Still, these thick blue stripes keep making me rethink that decision.

But of all the striped walls I've seen lately, these are my favorite. Probably because they were made with Japanese washi tape and cost just $30. As the designer behind them explains, they're the way to go if you don't have the patience to paint and the budget for wallpaper. Bingo! I think I might finally have a winner. Cute Tape has a good selection of washi tape, so now I just need to pick a color and get going. I'll report back with the results as soon as our camera is fixed!

Images 1: Habitually Chic, 2: Julia Lynn and Squire Fox via Design Sponge, 3: Libbie Grove Design

Stone Barns Harvest Fest

Nico's been begging to go apple and pumpkin picking now that it's starting to feel like Fall here in New York. Last year, we took a day trip to an orchard about an hour or two from Brooklyn. Sadly, I don't even remember the name due to some major sleep deprivation back then, but what I do remember is that as fun as it was to pick apples with Nico and take funny pictures of Leo perched in trees, most of the food we ate that day, aside from the apples, was disappointing. There were cinnamon sugar donuts that were stale and didn't seem homemade and don't even get me started on the lame snack bar at the pumpkin patch we went to after.

So, imagine my excitement when I heard about the Stone Barns Harvest Fest on Hither and Thither yesterday. Daniel, my Mom and I celebrated my 30th birthday at Blue Hill at Stone Barns back when I was pregnant with Nico. A farm-to-table restaurant, their food is right up my alley. On another visit, Daniel and I had some wine and appetizers before a friend's wedding reception.

I happened to get electrocuted that evening as well. True story, I swear. I was so enamored by the farm's adorably plump pigs that I didn't even notice the warning signs about their electric fences. The last time I went, Nico was about 18 months old and in the middle of a major acorn obsession. He could have cared less about the animals, or the farm-fresh lunchtime fare.

It was all about the acorns on that trip, but at least I was able to snap one of my favorite pictures ever of him that day.

Now that he's a bit older, I know he'll be into the hay rides, live music, farm activities (egg collecting! pig feeding!) and Leo, our mini foodie in the making, will be all about the unbelievable food at the Farmers Market, a lot of which is from places in Brooklyn, but nothing is better than getting out of the city and onto a farm. The Harvest Fest is Saturday, October 1 from 10am-3pm and you can buy tickets here. Stone Barns is truly stunning, especially during this time of year.

DeLonghi's Il Gelataio

The sound of my father-in-law's gelato maker whirring on his kitchen counter is something I'll always remember from our recent trip to Brazil.  During the two weeks we spent at his house in Bahia, he made gelato almost every day. Two times a day, on occasion. This, and the beach, and the little monkeys that occasionally arrived in the afternoon to see what sort of food they could snatch might explain why Nico said to me out of the blue the other day, "Mama, I really enjoyed our trip to Brazil."

Nico would happily welcome a bowl of ice cream at any time of day, and in Bahia, he was able to eat plenty of it, at the oddest hours, and help his Vovô make batch after batch. Coconut was my favorite, and although we couldn't convince Andreas to throw some pieces of dark chocolate into his machine, we always chopped some up that we brought from Brooklyn and encouraged people to sprinkle it on top.

The machine—DeLonghi's Il Gelataio—made it way too easy to have incredible gelato. There was no slaving over a stove and cooking eggs and all the other complicated steps that come with making ice cream. The machine takes up a lot of counter space and is over $200, and with so many great ice cream shops nearby, I really can't justify buying one. But maybe you can? I never did get a good shot of the gelato, or more accurately, I never really bothered because I'd much rather be eating ice cream than taking pictures of it. Bad blogger.

Is it sunset yet?

I'd take wine over liquor any day and have never been big on cocktails.  Except in Brazil where it's hard to pass up a caipirinha, the country's national cocktail, a drink that goes really well with vacation and sunny weather.  On this past trip, my father-in-law would suggest "a sundowner" around 5pm most days. He'd take orders—cachaça or vodka, lime or passion fruit or pitanga—and then head to the kitchen where he'd plop fresh fruit into tall glasses and get started. Some sugar would go in next and then he'd muddle it with the fruit using a wooden pestle. So serious about his caipirinhas, he owns a machine called The Ice Crusher which he uses to crack cubes to perfection. He'd add a handful of crushed ice to each glass and then top them off with a hearty glug of cachaça or vodka. As you can see, Nico enjoyed the whole process a lot. For our first sundowner, he and Leo both kept sticking their hands into our glasses, trying to fish out pieces of ice and fruit. Since their Vovó makes strong caipirinhas, we decided to give them their very own virgin ones the rest of the trip. By adding water instead of alcohol, they were able to really join in on the happy hour fun, too. In fact, it was Nico who got happy hour going most nights after that, always asking "is it time for sunset yet?"

Some friends are coming to stay with us this weekend and if the weather stays warm, I think we'll have to plan a Brooklyn sundowner using some summer fruits like strawberries or plums. This blackberry caipirinha recipe also sounds good. If you feel like giving caipirinhas a try, but can't find cachaça, vodka works well. It makes the drink a bit more mild and you'll be able to really taste the fruit, too.

Enjoy the long weekend!