New Year Fireworks Around the World - Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year. May 2010 be so much better than this past year. Here are some images of celebrations throughout the World. We will update this post with current fireworks displays for 2010 beginning with Sydney who goes all out every time as being one of the first celebrants of the New Year. Usher on 2010!    By the way did you know that Fireworks were invented accidentally 2000 years ago by a chinese cook during the Song Dynasty and were fires used for New Years Celebrations to scare away evil spirits!

Sydney Australlia the 1st to go!

Taipei on Tallest Building in the World!

Hong Kong!

Dubai!

London!

New York City

Honolulu!

2010 NICHE Awards are announced by Niche Magazine

2010 NICHE Awards

Celebrating Excellence and Innovation in American and Canadian Fine Craft

Lotus by Lilach Lotan from Nanaimo, BC ...Category Lamps and Lighting

Until Next Year by James Sagui, West Palm Beach, Fl...Category Furniture

Niche Magazine is the exclusive trade publication for retailers of American Craft and Canadian Craft. For the 2010 NICHE Awards program, jurors selected 161 finalists out of nearly 1000 entries in 36 categories. Here's a link to the Complete List.

A Decadent Holiday Brunch, Lobster with Chipotle Mac & Cheese, Caviar and Melon & Prosciutto

One of my favorite things to do in Santa Barbara in the wintertime,  especially around the holidays, is to host an afternoon Lobster Brunch as Pacific Lobster is in season. We recently did this to celebrate Gregg's December birthday. We prepared Barbecued Lobster with Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese. This is a fantastic combination as the Chipotle in the Mac and Cheese really offsets the Lobster nicely. Just forget about calories and cholesterol  for the afternoon! Throw in some Caviar while your at it.

Make sure to prepare a beautiful Green Salad with lots of colorful veggies, it will plate beautifully by providing contrasting color and give your guests the illusion that there is actually something healthy on their plate.

Even if you don't live in Santa Barbara find a great Shellfish company in your area that will prepare lobster for you to take away, cleaned and prepped ready for cooking because it takes all the work out of the preparation. Just be careful not to overcook the Lobster. Use a large spoon to "baste" the lobsters while shell side down on the grill. Squeeze lemon over the lobsters as well. Flesh side down for only a couple of minutes and use tongs to rotate them back on their shells careful to not pull flesh out of shell because it may stick to the grill. More butter and lemon then when done, serve hot.

Start with a really nice prosciutto thinly sliced wrapped around a ripe slice of melon. This makes a beautiful preparation that can be prepared in advance and set on the table prior to quests arriving. It takes patience to pull the slices of prosciutto apart without tearing them, but it will make for a more pleasing "wrap" on the cantaloupe. 

If you really want to be decadent and generous with your friends prior to seating, serve Champagne and Caviar with appropriate condiments. We like to serve caviar with diced onion, sour cream (or creme fraiche) egg yoke diced, egg white diced and blinis to pile it all on to. Everyone plows through this elegant presentation in about 30 seconds. Please make sure that you purchase Farmed Caviar, this is a link to a great New York Times article sourcing farmed caviar for us in the Dining & Wine.

My day started out at the The Santa Barbara Shellfish Co., on Stearn's Wharf where I had called in an order for 10, 1.5lb lobsters to be cleaned and prepared for grilling. They always give you clarified butter and lemon wedges to go as well, this saves so much time. The city had erected a beautiful Christmas tree on the wharf. 

A stately  California Brown Pelican just outside the restaurant.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Great Gift Idea A Cook Book by Ree Drummand, The Accidental Country Girl

We a have a section on our blog called "You Wowed Us" (in the Links on the Right Column). Ree Drummand is definitely one of those people. She has created a blog that is inspirational and ingenioius, ThePioneerWoman. Ree has combined her brilliant photography, the intriguing lifestyle of a city girl / country girl and her culinary skills into a brand. It is fascinating, creative and Gorgeous! Wow!

The Pioneer Woman Cooks link to the book on Amazon. This book was promoted on the "Today" on NBC today. Good for you Ree!

Eco Tree! Recycled, Green & Sustainable - Vintage Aluminum Christmas Trees

We finally won a couple of auctions on eBay for Vintage Aluminum Christmas Trees. We bought a 4' tall tree and 7' tall tree. I consider these trees recycled, green and sustainable. They have been used over and over again for 60 years. Hip and Green!

              

Video shot with my iPhone of this Vintage Aluminum 1950's Chris tmas Tree with Color Wheel in our modernist home in Montecito. This tree is 7' tall and came from Detroit via eBay.

In the John Elgin Woolf Estate in Montecito, this Vintage tree looks perfect in this Hollywood Regency Style home.

This 4' Vintage Aluminum Christmas Tree was placed on a pedestal table in this glamorous mid-century  estate in Montecito. The table will be used as an hors d'oeuvres serving table. The ambience of this room is completely animated and illuminated by this shining, glimmering, retro tree.

Where is Eartha Kitt and her Sable!

Santa Baby 1953: Eartha Kitt ...Chic & Nostalgic Look back. Enjoy!

Eartha Kitt died less than a year ago on Christmas Day.

LEED For Homes - Eco Luxury Home Montecito Construciton Update: A Maienza- Wilson & Michelle Kaufmann Design

Heres a construction update on our Hill Road Project at Butterfly Beach in Montecito, Ca.This will be the first home in Montecito slated to be LEED For Homes Platinum certified. LEED is "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design".

Here's a link to Michelle Kaufmann's Blog about our collaborative project.

Perspective From 1147 Hill Road, Montecito, CA

Clearing the Site. Construction Underway

Foundations Formed and Poured

Modeled Perspecitve  from the North West Looking towards Butterfly Beach

  

Concrete Pour: Pool and Foundations

  

‘Blue Latitudes': Adventuring In The Pacific

http://www.tonyhorwitz.com/

Link to the Book on Amazon

How much do we really know about Captain Cook?  What school has taught us might be that he was an English Explorer, or that he was killed in Hawaii.  Why should we care?  I was blissfully unaware of so many of his contributions to the knowledge of the world and its peoples and his great skills as a map maker, navigator, diplomat, envoy, explorer and sailor.  Three multi-year voyages throughout the Pacifc Ocean and around the world tours bringing him home to England, one starts to realize that this man, Captain James Cook, was nothing short of extraordinary when reading Pulitzer Prize winning author Tony Horwitz's book.

After visiting Alaska and seeing his stamp on the place,  Captain Cook, Hawaii, as well as sailing through Tahiti on The Paul Gauguin, one realizes that to be the first visitor to these locales in the 18^th century was an astounding accomplishment.  I became fascinated to learn more about him.  What Tony Horwitz does in Blue Latitudes, is to retrace many of Cook’s footsteps with an Australian sidekick and at times a historian or two, interspersing the history with real time experiences, centuries later. 

Trying to piece together the life and voyages of one of the greatest adventurers of all time, one realizes what an extraordinary impact this man had on the world as we know it.  Merely look at the styles and trends in art and design in the 18^th century in England, their awareness of Polynesia, and tropical flora and fauna….this all came from Cooks voyages

This humorous and entertaining read is chock full of history, past and current cultural phenomenon and a big dose of reality that we know so little about such an extraordinary and intrepid explorer.  Kudos to Tony Horwitz, this book was just a joy to read.

Inadvertently, we have traced Cooks steps on three separate trips, one to Tahiti on The Paul Gauguin, in Hawaii snorkeling in the very bay where he was killed, and in Alaska where Cook had some of his greatest weather and navigational challenges.  We have been so lucky to see these places in our lifetime, it is just amazing to think what it must have been like to be the very first European visitor to most of the places Cook explored in the 1700's.  

Cook's Cove Moorea, Tahiti

The Paul Gauguin off of Moorea in the Tahitian Islands

The Big Island, Hawaii, Kealakekua Bay the place of Cook's Demise
We like the Four Season's Hualalai

The rocks where Cook was murdered

Anchorage, Alaska on the Cook Inlet

Winterlake and Winterlake Lodge  a short Float Plane Flight from Anchorage

The mode of transport around the environs of the Winterlake Lodge is Helicopter

The only way in to Winterlake Lodge is via Float Plane or Ski Plane 

Captain James Cook

Fashion and Glamour: For the Fashionistas...A Great Gift Idea, Valentino The Last Emperor

This fim by Matt Tyrnauer is one of the most unique opportunities to see inside the world of a great fashion designer. Matt is an editor at large for Vanity Fair Magazine covering Architecture and Design and overseeing the magazines annual new establishment list. Matt and I corresponded via email last spring after the publication of the March 2009 Issue of  Vanity Fair (Obama on the cover)  and just a few weeks before the release of his Film, Matt had written an article entitled "Glamour Begins at Home"

In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, architect John Elgin Woolf and his partner, lover, and, later, adopted son, designer Robert Koch Woolf, gave the Beverly Hills elite a new kind of home, as glamorous as any movie set. The author traces the star-studded rise of Woolf’s “Hollywood Regency” style, and the unorthodox family he created. (excerpt from article).

As it turned out Gregg and I had just completed one of our projects in Montecito, a huge renovation / restoration of a John Woolf Home. I emailed the photos to Matt and he immediately responded very enthusiastically that he had become a lover of the Hollywood Regency Style and John Woolf's designs. He said that he had wished he had known about our project prior to the completion of his article. Me too! I wished him luck with the film and we briefly discussed my experience with Mr. Valentino while working in Peter Marino's office in New York in the late 1980's and about Gregg's and my encounter with Valentino while dining in London at the Ivy , he was dining with Joan Collins. At any rate, check out Matt's film it would make a great holiday gift for any fashionista. 

Valentino The Last Emperor.

Green Gift Guide: Give Eco-Friendly Gifts for the Holidays

Eco Friendly Gift Ideas.  Shop Sustainably here is a great link for Green Giving.

GreenGiftGuide

Holiday Time - New Underwear Time. Ed Hardy Underwear!

Every Christmas we seem to buy new underwear, Stocking Stuffing (theres a joke there).

A Fresh Pair.

Huge Waves! Waimea Bay Surfing Contest Live Video Stream by Quicksilver

Check out live video stream of the "Quicksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau" Surfing Contest in the biggest waves in Waimea Bay since the 1960's.

Luxury Green: Maienza- Wilson Latest Project in Montecito

Please Check out Michelle Kaufmann's Blog about our latest project in Montecito.

"First Home in Montecito slated to be LEED Platinum begins Construction".

We are placing a huge cistern in the underground here that will allow us to store captured site water runoff as well as rain water harvesting from the roof structure. We will use stored and filtered water for irrigation. Below you can see that the pool was poured first as the pool structure will become part of the foundation for the decking around the house and pool cabana. The cistern is buried under ground just to the right of the pool in the photo below.

Brad Pitt's Make it Right Housing in New Orleans

My good friend Marc Charbonnet forwarded this New York Times Article to me about Brad Pitt's Foundation "Make It Right". Marc and I were neighbors like Mary and Rhoda on the MTM Show. We lived in separate apartments a large Victorian Home Marc's mother owned on St Charles Avenue in New Orleans. I was getting a Master's in Architecture and Marc was self educating himself into becoming a brilliant decorator and designer. Cut to 15 years later and we would both be gracing the pages of Architectural Digest and we have been good friends ever since we met in New Orleans. 

Best Design for Holiday Storefronts: A Polar Bear on the Roof Santa Barbara

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Right next Door to our Office in Santa Barbara is Franco's "Members Only" Barber Shop. Every Year Franco graces us with his award winning designs and exquisite execution of his Holiday Decorations.Best in show, ALWAYS. Naturally we would never think of competing with him, it would simply take away the impact of this marvelous tiny barber shop Charm. Plus, who could compete with this! Just thought we'd share this and put a smile on your faces. ;-)

Franco & his Client

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