Life on the Farm: My favourite dinner party recipe, with a side of Bardot

When I was living in New York I didn't have the time or patience to collect and pour over cookbooks like I do now. In fact the closest I got to anything resembling a cookbook was a manilla office file filled with appealing recipes I had torn out of magazines while reading in bed on the weekends. On the rare occasion that I'd host a dinner party at home, I would consult my recipe file and chose what seemed like the easiest thing to cook. "Easy to cook" in my mind means few ingredients, nothing that requires shopping at a specialty store, minimal active prep time, and delicious results. Once I discovered the above article from the New York Times magazine and the accompanying recipe for Poule Au Pot below, courtesy of Brigitte Bardot's former prep cook, this really become the only recipe I ever made for guests. Of course this limited the number of times I had someone over to once, but it meant minimal stress in the kitchen and the resulting reviews were always raves. 

On a recent trip home to New York, I found my recipe file in storage and tucked these two pages into a book for the journey home to England. Last weekend, I had 6 people over for dinner and decided to revisit my favourite party meal. Everyone of course loved it and begged for a copy of the recipe. So I thought I'd share it with you too. And now that I have a bit more patience and kitchen know-how I've also figured out that with the leftover rice, chicken, vegetables and peas (served as a side dish), and the addition of some scrambled egg, you can make a fantastic asian stir fry for lunch the next day!

Life on the Farm: Farm Fashion (not mine!)

There is nothing Christopher loves to do more than an outdoor chore. Whether it's spraying stinging nettles, strimming the edge of the garden, planting trees, removing a hedge, mowing the grass, tending to the compost heap, moving a large animal or even just weeding, he's in total heaven. He equally loves having the right gear for the chore. He spends hours in the farm supply shop and in the hardware store staring in awe and desire just like I do when I'm in Isabel Marant. Sometimes I walk outside, or round the corner towards home on my walk, and when I catch sight of him, I just can't help but burst out in laughter. His look often reminds me of a HAZ MAT inspector or Mr. Green Jeans from Captain Kangaroo or even, sometimes, when he gets overheated and unzips his white jumpsuit, of Elvis. Despite the hilarity, I thoroughly enjoy witnessing the pleasure Christopher takes in wearing and doing what he loves. 

Christopher in his beloved green onesie. But it's really more about the gear, isn't it?

More gear, and a white plastic onesie, the height of farming chic. 

He put on a special onesie that I'd never seen before to guide our giant pig into a trailer. I especially love the door-as-animal-handling-accessory. 

Elvis in the garden.

Using man toys to compliment his look.

Christopher's Breaking Bad moment.

Celebrating the arrival of the baby pigs in a Carhartt onesie. It's the winter version of his green one and is lined in flannel. 

Loving the red gloves.

ACE, the Chanel logo of hardware store fashion. 

Rainy day garden get up.

The gloves add just the right pop of colour. 

Always armed with the right hat for the right moment.

I ♥ Your Country Style: Amanda Harlech

We've all seen and admired Amanda Harlech in her Chanel. As Karl Lagerfeld's muse, we see her at every Chanel event wearing the most enviable dress with her hair just messy enough to be cool but still look chic. For the most part, this is her Paris life where she spends her professional time. But what really intrigues me is her England life, her private world that she has graciously shared with us through Vogue, Vogue Living, etc over the years. Further research offered up a more candid side of Amanda's highly personal life and style. It's obvious that at her core, she is truly very English - loving horses and whippets and AGAs and blankets draped over a sofa. Her look is traditional with a slash of the bold and extreme. If only we all looked so good in plaid!

Snapshot: Jane Birkin and Chipping Norton

For Christmas my friend Laura gave me the new book "Jane and Serge, A Family Album." It was the perfect present for me - I love books, I love old photographs, and above all, I LOVE Jane Birkin. I know you probably do too. Like Kate Moss is today, Jane has become everybody's favourite style icon from the past. Her beauty, her seemingly effortless style, her dual roles of being a musician's wife and a mom of three girls all have left a huge impact on future generations. I have spent big chunks of time digging up great pictures of Jane over the years, and I was so excited to see the ones I hadn't ever uncovered in this new book. My expectations were met and satisfied, but I would never have anticipated the thrill of finding the above image. Serge and Jane were on a road trip around Oxfordshire and stopped to take this snap in what must have been Woodstock, given the road signs. But I froze in my tracks when I saw the shout-out to Chipping Norton, my local town. "Chippy," as we call it, is just your average market town - it's where you go to the bank, the dry cleaner, and the hardware store. But the surrounding countryside is exceptionally beautiful and within commuter distance of London, and therefore the area has become, especially in the last 10 years, a very popular place to live. Despite the trendy pubs and glamorous residents, Chippy remains the "so uncool it's cool" town it's always been, but now that I have this picture of Jane Birkin and Chipping Norton in the same frame it might just be cool in it's own right.

Observations on Fashion Month Street Style

I so enjoy watching the evolution of street style. As someone who used to go to endless fashion shows and get my photo taken as I was entering and exiting, I know what it feels like to be under that microscope and to feel that you want to be spot-on with what you say about yourself through the clothes you are wearing. We all know the benefits that have been reaped by standing out and making a strong statement - personalities like Anna Della Russo and Giovanna Battaglia have built entire careers from being candidly (or maybe not so candidly) snapped during the show season. But then many people, especially industry insiders, reacted to that by wanting to not stand out and attract all that attention. Fashion month is exhausting enough without feeling like you have to wear Met Ball-worthy outfits to work for a month straight, especially while traveling (imagine schlepping the luggage!!). So last season I commented on how fresh all the understated, more classic looks came across through the lens of street style photographers such as Tommy Ton and Phil Oh. And now I've started to notice unique trends that emerge not on the runway but on the street outside of the runway. Designers offer up so much in terms of new ideas and ways to wear things, but I find it compelling to see what translates, not so much to real life - because let's not kid ourselves, street style stars are not living "real life" - but to the lives of the fashion elite, so to speak. These people consume more fashion than anyone, and most of them have an informed and well-developed point of view when it comes to choosing what to buy, shoot, style, and more personally, what to put on their own bodies. Here's what I noticed this go 'round:

THE ELEVATION OF PREPPY

bold stripes in primary colors.....

plaids and checks....

 

men's tailoring....

 

sports inspired....

 

 

sweater over the shoulders....

THE ARMY GREEN COAT

 

 

 

THE PERSISTENCE OF MINIMALIST CLASSIC