Weekly Love Letter for February 14th

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“This was a holiday weekend in Japan, so my husband and I took a quick trip up north to the island of Hokkaido for the Snow Festival in Sapporo. This area is known for amazing seafood, fresh dairy, and great skiing. It was cold and very snowy, which I expected was was still unprepared for! I just assumed that they would know how to handle snowy conditions there, since that’s kind of their thing (they hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, after all). But that was not necessarily the case. The sidewalks were crazy slippery and we were basically walking on 6 inches of packed snow the whole time. The roads weren’t plowed, and there was no evidence that they use salt here to improve conditions. It was actually a little scary at times! Our taxis were sliding around and I almost fell about a hundred times.

Anyway, I digress. The snow festival was fascinating and we ate lots of delicious crab, uni, scallops and lamb. And dairy. The photo above is donburi, which is a bowl of rice with fantastically fresh seafood on it. This one had uni, crab and ikura (salmon roe). Yum!”

*I was playing around on the Liberty website for my dollar store serving tray makeover, when I came across this fantastic collaboration with a children’s book author and illustrator. How amazing would this print be as a more sophisticated take on a zoo theme for a kid’s room?

*In love with the Etsy shop Maoiliosa. They combine beautiful Japanese prints with everyday objects, like jewelry and pencils. I don’t even use pencils and I want ALL OF THESE.

*I made these brownies for Valentine’s Day and they were everything that they promised to be. This is the only brownie recipe I will ever use, ever again. I will choose to ignore the fact that it contains one whole entire CUP of butter.

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“My sister sent me this photo a day or two ago with the message ‘Here are some handmade Valentine’s designs for your blog by (my niece). She insisted on making her own!’ (TOO CUTE.) Speaking of family, my oldest nephew is turning 8 years old today which is about 7 1/2 years older than I think he should be in real life. Happy Birthday, E!

I watch all sorts of TV (we have an ‘on again’ relationship, if you will), but I specifically need to know if you have checked out the show ’90 Day Fiance’ on TLC? I’m OBSESSED and have lot of opinions on each of the couples. There’s apparently only a couple episodes left, so catch up so we can gossip about the finale!”

* I found my favorite new sparkling wine last weekend and I can’t wait to share it with you guys. Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs is tasty, super bubbly and made primarily from red grape Pinot Noir. It runs about $40 a bottle, but I found it at my grocery store on a great sale and even cheaper at Trader Joe’s.

* Since seasons are different at the mall, now is the time to start looking for summer dresses since they hit stores over the next month or two (also, swimsuits!). Old Navy has several chambray styles that I love, but I didn’t want to forget to introduce you to my favorite jersey maxi dress, available online only. It’s wonderfully light and soft and one of those pieces you can easily dress up or down.

* Sure hope you didn’t miss THIS piece of awesome from Deadspin: this interview of a pair of runners tackling a snowy day. (Don’t worry, it turns out it’s ok to laugh.)

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