This is a little gem I’ve been keeping hidden in my stylists black book for a while now. Its the fashion label of Johanna Schafarschik called Comtesse De La Haye based in Hamburg, Germany…

Don’t you hate when I keep secrets? I know you do. But good things come to those who wait! Click here to check out Johanna’s new Autumn Winter collection. She also has a fabulous online shop for those of us who have, shall we say, inexorable impulses…

And here is another little secret: The name Comtesse De La Haye comes from Johanna’s ancestor Comtesse Florentina de la Haye who was born into a noble family close to Paris in the mid 1800’s. Apparently Florentina left the bourgeois existence of the French Aristocracy (go girl!!) early in her life and fighting against the high society pressures she fled the country and followed her heart to start a new life with her non-aristocratic German love. What strength! What determination! And yet still so romantic. Just like Johanna’s designs…

Love that bag.

We made it to our mid-week dinner date last night, albeit rather late. None-the-less my hunger was well-satiated. French Boy surprised me by taking me to a restaurant we had never been to before. A place, as it turns out, that we’d walked past many times but had never seen. And it was very, very good.

It’s called de witteuijl, or ‘the white owl’ in english, and it’s in one of my favourite streets in De Pijp. They cook with organic ingredients and have a wonderful wine selection – as well as champagne, which is not so easy to find here (well, not as easy as it is in Paris). For entree French Boy had wontons filled with mushrooms and gorgonzola, served with a sauce of spinach and a poached egg, and I had an avocado and shrimp puree with home-smoked mozzarella – I could taste the delicious smoke infused in the mozzarella as though I were sitting by a campfire, the flavour took me straight there.

French Boy and I have a rule that we visit a restaurant that we like 3 times before we decide if it gets a shot at our top 5 restaurants around the world. We will be back to de witteuijl to taste the other dishes on the menu soon. So far, if you are in Amsterdam, we do recommend this place – the service was excellent, the ambience was perfect, and the menu fabulous. Click here for location details.

Oh and I must add, to end the meal the hostess served me a slate plate filled with a selection of milk, dark and white chocolate chunks to choose from and eat at my leisure. Heaven.

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images courtesy of de witteuijl.

Available in postcard and magnet form here.

If French Boy hadn’t promised to sneak me out for a mid-week dinner date ce soir, I would stay home and bake this:

The one above is prepared by Aran of course, you can get the full recipe here. And don’t forget, some of my favourite recipes of Aran’s are in le (blog)house kitchen at this very moment, click here to check’em out.

I love this giclee print from Ottowa’s Monkey Powered. It’s just what we need to get out of this universal funk we are in at present. This bit of news also does the trick for me…

Studio Kurashi is open for business! For those loyal readers that I’ve had from the early days, do you remember when I posted about these delicious baked goodies made by Momo from Kurashi? (Here is the link to the post to jog your memory.) Well not only is Momo a terrific vegan cook, she is also a rather talented seamstress and I’ve been adoring all the beautiful clothes she makes for her son Oliver for the longest time. Now, she has her own little etsy boutique called Studio Kurashi, so do go and check it out -her little boys + girls 100% cotton japanese print pants are divine. Happy shop opening Momo!

This little grey days pinafore from humblebea is a little ray of sunshine too (the fab photography is by Amanda Westhart)….

And I just spotted these prints by artist Jenny Keith Hughes. Jenny is based in Edmonton (what can I say, I’m drawn to y’all crazy Canadians)…

Also to brighten your day, purplepinkandorange are holding a giveaway of one of Sofia’s beautiful collages…

Enter by clicking here!

Now, did all that brighten your day? I do hope so. Thanks for checking out…