Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Summer Party at The Glass House, New Canaan Connecticut - June 22, 2013

The Glass House, a modern iconic architectural masterpiece in New Canaan Connecticut hosted their annual Summer Party on June 22, 2013.  This year's Summer Party kicked off under bright sunny skies at noon to a cocktail reception with Chandon Sparkling wine, canapes by Elm, music by DJ Arp, and an afternoon picnic complete with picnic baskets and Dunhill blankets on the lawn of the Glass House premise.  

Guests arrived in the attire of fashionable summer chic as you can see from scenes of the party below!  The summer afternoon picnic party concluded with desserts and silent auctions of renowned works by Jeff Koons, Alfred Dunhill, Wendell Castle, and other contemporary luminaries in the arts.

The Glass House Summer Party was hosted in partnership with Alfred Dunhill and Swarovski.  Other sponsors of this year's event included Design Within Reach, Neat Artisan Coffee, Voss Artesian Water, Aesop, and the Alpine Creative Group.  The 2013 Glass House season is open to visitors from May through the end of November - worth a trek outside NYC for a nice weekend day trip!


Chef Brian Lewis of the Elm Restaurant prepared gourmet picnic baskets for this year's Summer Party
Guests were treated to tasty crostinis made with local seasonal ingredients!
Chandon sparkling wine was served throughout the afternoon
Guests enjoying the picnic on the grassy knoll
Summer Chic was the theme of this year's party (Jon Potter, Eric Jones, Sara Dimonekas, James Dimonekas, Korinne Munson)
Guests came in outfits that reflect the simple minimalist geometric design of the glass house (Tauba Auerbach ,Cameron Mesirow)
Even the little ones came dressed in summer new england chic (Rina Stone, Linus Stone, Hazel Stone)
Dunhill blankets were provided to guests for relaxing on the grassy knoll (Ted Lee, E.V. Day, Irene Shum Allen)
Guests posing with their beautiful gourmet picnic baskets! (Estevan Rael-Gálvez, Dana Evans, Christy MacLear)
Julia Chiang in an elegantly layered bohemian dress

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Cravate Noire Favorites for Fine Living

We live on a budget, but we also like to live very well.  This is why we rarely buy things, but when we do buy things, we like to buy high quality necessities.  Here, we'll share some of our favorite items from around New York City, and online that brings simple pleasures to our every day lives.  In these Cravate Noire Favorites articles, we like to stay true to the original spirit of blogging, so you'll find things we actually spend money on, not things companies give away for free to bloggers so they can be written about.

Now for our list...

1. Fresh Tajarin Pasta - tajarin is basically pasta made with egg yolks, it gives the pasta a deeper and richer flavor.  These taste best when they are purchased fresh from your local pasta maker, and because it's fresh pasta, it only takes 3 minutes took cook once the water starts to boil.  We got these from Eataly here in NYC.  They don't sell the fresh versions online, but they do in their shop! 
 Here, we cooked the pasta and drained in cold water to stop the cooking, then we mixed in our sauce of olive oil, sea salt, soy sauce, chopped cilantro, cumin powder, paprika powder, lemon juice, black pepper, and we added shaved thin sliced of carrot for a nice texture contrast.
2. India Tree Dark Muscovado Sugar - If you use brown sugar often, you'll notice that the ones you get in the supermarket just aren't as brown as they use to be.  Not sure why, but pure brown sugar is so deep and rich in flavor that it tastes almost like burnt caramel.  We love the India Tree Dark Muscovado Sugar as they are the tastiest you can get in the market - available at specialty food stores or online here.  
They taste good on everything (soup, pancake, simple syrup, ice cream making, etc), we like to use them to make our no-cook raspberry syrup below.
Easy recipe for no cook raspberry syrup - we mashed fresh raspberries and dark muscovado sugar with a fork.  Wait a few minutes and the sugar will pull all the juice out of the raspberry and you end up with what you see on your right, a jar of fresh no cook raspberry syrup.  Store in the fridge for up to a week.  Add to pancakes or ice cream, or use them to flavor your cold water and never buy beverages again.
3. Casual wear from Jack Wells - Jack Wells is a British Clothing store selling simple casual staples - with everything from shorts, t-shirts, lounge wear for both men and women.  Very preppy and stylish, with a few stores on the east coast and available online.  We got these stripped knee high socks, super cute with oxfords and mary janes.
If there was a flavor for this color it would be strawberry mint candy cane.
4. Fine preserved pickled condiments for quick and easy open faced sandwiches.  We've been getting picked condiments from Lemon Bird, based out in California.  They make picked leeks, which you see here.  Add them to your sandwich and they will turn from ordinary to wow.  We like to eat our sandwiches without a top, or as the french like to call them, tartines.
Our open faced sandwiches - this one is made over toast with avocados, topped with sea salt, hot sauce and lemon bird picked leeks.
5.  Better Life Dish Liquid - we were using Seventh Generation Dish Liquid till we switched to Better Life Dish Liquid.  Better Life Dish Liquid is clear, and comes in a nice clear squeezable bottle with simple colorful graphics that adds a nice touch to your kitchen sink counter.  Aside from the nice packaging, Better Life Dish Liquid is made with castille soap of all natural ingredients.  We got the unscented version but the sage citrus scent smells so light and refreshing!  This also has aloe vera so it's easy on your hands.

Better Life Dish Liquid also sells refills so you can always have their nice clear squeezable bottle sitting on your kitchen counter.

Hope you like our first fine living post - feel free to share your favorite items with us!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Celebrities Join the Fight Against Pediatric Cancer at the St. Jude Spring Social - June 19, 3013

Young socialites and celebrities gathered at the trendy Noire NYC lounge on June 19, 3013 for the annual St. Jude Spring SocialGuests arrived on the red carpet and celebrities from Real Housewives of New York, Sopranos, and the Americans were photographed and interviewed before heading upstairs to the Noire NYC second floor lounge.  Despite the star studded guest list, there were no fancy gowns, just a setting of young casual glamour gathering for a good cause - guests were treated to 80's music spun by DJ Miles Guthrie Robbins (son of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins ), tasty cocktails, passed savory hors d'oeuvres, and live auctions of items from local businesses

Sponsors of the event this year include Organic Avenue, Lady M Confections, Baked by Melissa, Taza Chocolate, Emma NYC, and Zipcar.  Proceeds from the event benefit St. Jude's Childrens Research Hospital - a center dedicated finding cures for pediatric cancers.
DJ Miles Robbins, son of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins spun groovy tunes throughout the night
The youngest guest of the night - Holly Taylor of the TV show the Americans came accompanied with mom, there was plenty of Voss spring water available for those who can't do cocktails for the night
Julianne Michelle (left), actress from the movie Wall Street Money Never Sleeps chaired this summer night soiree.