'Tis the Season

'Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la.

I've never been the girl on the right.  Oh, I have every intention of being very organized and getting all of my shopping done early.  The truth is, I am usually the one in the long line at the post office waiting to pay more for expedited shipping than the cost of the gifts themselves - because I waited to the last minute.   

So today is "black friday".  As the proprietor of a retail business, I considered kicking off the holiday shopping season by getting up at 3:00 a.m. and "opening doors for business" as many of the big box stores did this morning.  Then I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Ah, the beauty of the internet.

What I have done is enabled the new coupon code in my Etsy store - everything is 15% off through December 12.  Just enter the code "HolidayFun2010" at checkout.  And I've extended the Fall is in The Air sale at poppies until December 12, too.  You'll find some great deals over there - and don't worry - if you procrastinate a little bit like me, keep checking in, as I'll be adding fresh new goods throughout the season.

Happy holidays to you, and I hope you and yours have a fun, festive season.  Most of all, I wish you peace, and hope you're able to slow the pace down a bit to truly enjoy the blessings of the season and the love of family and friends.  

     * p.s.  Have you noticed our new look?  poppies is reinventing itself a little...You know how they say cottage style is more of an attitude than a style?  poppies is feeling it..with just a little attitude.  I'd love to hear what you think.

Foodie in Paradise

This is my neighbor.

And this is his store.

And this is my neighbor in his store.

My neighbor and his lovely wife Tolan are very generous.  Quite often they invite me to their store to meet very talented chefs and cookbook authors.  I walk over from my house and they offer me wine and cheese when I arrive.  Can you imagine what a Foodie like me thinks about all of this?  AAAAAGGGHHH!

Last week I met a lovely woman named Cate Conniff who works here.

Cate was part of the team that helped open The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, California in 1995.  She has been the marketing manager at Greystone for over 15 years and in that time she has been working, cooking, eating, gardening and going to the farmers' market with many of the chefs and other food and wine loving members of the Greystone community.  I immediately felt a Foodie Kinship with Cate, and then found out we grew up in adjoining neighborhoods in the midwest.  I really like this woman.

Cate wrote this cookbook.

When Cate talked about food and cooking, there was a certain hush throughout the store.  Her words are mesmerizing.  You can almost taste the food she speaks about.  I quote from her book, "I had something of a Garden of Eden story in reverse:  I reached out to pick a perfectly plump and ripe fig from a one-hundred-year-old tree.  I still remember that taste of my first fresh fig."

And then, after describing how she "scraped the carmelized flesh of the butternut squash from the skin", Cate served us this.

And perhaps it was the amazing Cali 351 Chardonnay that Cate's husband Michael was pouring, or the heady fragrance of the toasted pumpkin seed oil steaming from the soup, but I ran to the register to call this book my own.

Given that I can walk to Tyler's beautiful store, or drive to Greystone in 45 minutes, I truly am a Foodie in Paradise.

Enjoy your weekend!