(by Clara Williams)
Gramercy Bag in blue
This gorgeous bag is one of Allison Teich McGowan’s amazing creations. You can see them all at her store or on her site. All of her bags are made from ecofriendly materials (like organic cotton, hemp, etc.), or like this one, it’s made from reclaimed/repurposed deerskin. Plus, they are so so pretty and they are made in Brooklyn!
(by Clara Williams)
very rudimentary design for t-shirt
We’ve heard that some of our fans and customers are talented on the design front. We’ve also heard that some are not, but that’s alright. We’re pretty sure the not-so-creative ones among us are good for laughs, getting coffee, what-not… My point is that everyone has their respective strengths, but for now we are seeking out creativity. Anyway, we will soon be getting some new (ie, AWESOME) t-shirts printed and thought we’d like to make a contest of it all. These tees will be organic cotton and printed with eco-friendly inks.
So, what’s in it for you, the creative participant? Well, the winning design will get $150, plus $50 in skinnyskinny products. And if that’s not enough, you’ll also get the fame, glory, and skinnyskinny adoration.
The specs:
Preferrably the designs would be for 1-2 color printing, but if it’s like the best design ever, then we’ll print 3 color.
Designs can be posted here or on our skinnyskinny fan page , but the completed file should be emailed to info@skinnyskinny.com .
Files should be Illustrator, Photoshop, or PDF.
Print size should not be larger than 10″x10″.
Deadline is March 14, 2010.
So, get to work! We need some new shirts.
Questions: just email us at info@skinnyskinny.com
And here’s a skinnyskinny logo for you to work with. Feel free to change color and size.
(by Bumblebee)
We are 100% carbon-neutral. Being “carbon neutral” means we are not adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Every time one travels, transports or manufactures most anything, there is the potential to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This is because most of the energy that is used during travel or transport, comes from fuels like oil, coal, and gas. How does skinnyskinny work to reduce our carbon footprint? We purchase wind-power (a clean, renewable energy) for all of our electricity. We purchase additional carbon-offsets to cover travel, transportation and anything else not covered by our wind-energy. We use recycled, reclaimed, and sustainable materials for all of our packaging. And with very few exceptions, we make every single product ourselves in our Brooklyn, NY workshop. Most of us here at skinnyskinny are vegetarians, too. (There have been lots of studies that show a vegetarian diet contributes less carbon to the atmosphere than a diet meat-based diet.)
(by Clara Williams)
So, last night was date night here: dinner and a play (the review of the play is in my next post). We had dinner at a great restaurant in Manhattan called Hearth. It was our first time there and we’d heard great things about the place. It’s upscale ‘peasant-style’ Italian cuisine.
Because we didn’t have reservations and they were only accepting walk-ins, we were offered seats at the kitchen counter. It was great. I love watching how restaurants function and we were happy to get a behind-the-scenes look at the place. The chef, Marco Canora, was there and was incredibly personable with us. He was the one that actually took our order, explaining in beautiful detail about each dish and answering any questions that we had. We are vegetarians and I would prefer not to eat fish, but occasionally, like last night, there simply aren’t that many vegetarian options…so we both ordered fish for the main course. Brian started with gnocchi, which were delicious and light. Probably the best gnocchi that I’ve had. I had an arugula and fennel salad, which was really good if on the slightly dull side.
Marco brought us some complimentary ribollita between the appetizers and the main course. I love ribollita. It is one of my very favorite meals and one of my very favorite dishes to cook (my recipe is below). I was curious about the ribollita at Hearth, but I had made some at home the day before. I wish that I had liked their ribollita better, but I truly preferred my own. I don’t know why, but most restaurants overcook their ribollita to the point that the vegetables are virtually indistinguishable from one another. It doesn’t need to be like that. This ribollita was also a little too salty. It made me a little sad that I couldn’t like it more.
For the main course, I had a fish called escolar and I forgot what Brian had. Oh, it was striped sea bass. Mine was absolutely delicious. It was cooked in parchment with lemons, green olives, fennel, and a kind of salsa verde. This was my second favorite fish dish ever. (First place goes to a curry tilapia over meditteranean cous-cous that I had at Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand. My mouth still waters over that one.) Brian’s striped sea bass was really good, too, but it was cooked with clams and squid which I was less than thrilled about (simply because clams and squid usually aren’t even in the ballpark of appealing to me).
For dessert, I had the ginger chocolate ganache tart with bergamot icecream. Yes, I ate every single bit of that. Great flavors and great textures. Brian got a pear and apple tart with caramel ice cream. It was good, but seemed to need just a little pizzazz, like maybe a touch of cayenne or maybe a little lemon/lime/orange zest in the tart.
The meal was very very good. And throughout, it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch the goings-on in the kitchen. Marco would ask us how we liked each dish. He’d make comments/corrections to the staff and was stern with them without seeming to be an ass.
I highly recommend Hearth and look forward to going back soon.
And now, for my Ribollita recipe:
I love ribollita because it’s a hearty vegetarian soup that can easily be made vegan. Plus, it’s delicious and it’s very forgiving–meaning you can make a million substitions/alterations. 
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
4 TBSP Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1-1/2 medium white onion, chopped
4 gloves garlic, crushed
2 carrots, sliced
2-3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
2 zucchini, halved (or quartered) and thinly sliced
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
3 TBSP pesto
4 cups vegetable stock
14 oz cooked (or canned and drained beans (I’ve used white, garbanzo, kidney…)
1 lb fresh baby spinach
1 TBSP Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
6-8 slices of good quality bread (like a baguette or peasant bread)
parmesan cheese
Instructions:
It should go without saying that I use organic ingredients whenever possible.
In large saucepan, heat 4tbsp olive oil and cook the onions, garlic, carrots and celery until the onions are clear. Add the zucchini and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, beans and pesto and bring this to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or so. The vegetables should still be tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. At this point, I sometimes add some crushed red peppers for some added spice. Adjust seasoning (pesto, salt, pepper as needed).
Before serving into bowls, saute the spinach (or other greens) in the remaining TBSP of olive oil just until it begins to wilt. Grill the bread lightly with some garlic and olive oil. Place a slice or 2 of bread into each bowl, and spoon some of the spinach on top. Ladle the soup over the spinach and finish with some grated or sliced parmesan.
Trust me, it’s delicious and it’s great for the wintertime. The whole thing takes about an hour, including prep time. It’s not expensive at all and the recipe is super-easy to double, too.
Enjoy!
I was procrastinating…again. This time, instead of thinking about how amazing it’d be to live in the south of France…or Italy…or the Caribbean…I just looked at other blogs for pretty things. I found this gem at oh joy! : Pothole Gardens made by Pete Dungey :
Enjoy the snow, east coasters!
skinnyskinny’s organic body oils leave your skin soft and moisturized without leaving a greasy, sticky feeling. In other words, because these oils are light and quickly absorbed, you won’t be feeling like an oil-slick. An added bonus is that because we don’t add any fillers to these organic oils (just healthy, soothing and nutritious oils), each 3.75 oz. bottle goes a long, long way. See what we mean here.
What can Eucalyptus bath salts from skinnyskinny do? Well, Eucalyptus is a great ointment for the skin because it naturally contains antiseptic and healing properties. Eucalyptus soothes ailments such as chapped hands, dry skin, dandruff, tired feet, and pains in the joints and muscles. So here at skinnyskinny we have infused our bath salts not only with this wonderful ingredient, but also lavender, calendula, aloe, Shea butter and extra-virgin olive oil. The skinnyskinny Lavender and Eucalyptus bath salts are amazing after a cold day out and about! Come check all of our bath salts out. We also sell them in small sample packs just in case you cant decide, I never can! Click here to see the variety.
skinnyskinny’s friend, Kara Hamilton (who makes amazing wearable art/jewelry), originally posted this picture (that originally was in the NYTimes). It’s from the Westminster Dog Show. It’s kinda great, huh? It seemed a little Valentine-y, but maybe I’m wrong about that. Enjoy! 
I really don’t have much need for a wax collector, but I guess need is irrelevant when the object is so pretty.
Wax Collector by Esque Studios
Esque Studios make a lot of extraordinarily beautiful (and some not-so) hand-blown glass objects. The dimensions for the wax collector above are listed at 18″ diameter. I think I’d just want to watch candles melt all day if I got one of these.
