And the dish ran away with the spoon.

That could actually happen with these little jewels. I am a confessed dish-a-holic. And I have kept that in check for about a year now. I have not bought one single serving platter or cake stand. But aren't these adorable? They are from Dutch designer Jorine Oosterhoff. They are made of porcelain and come in three increasingly cheeky sizes: Mad, Madder and Maddest. Each comes with its own lid. The interior is glazed, so as to hold any kind of delicious treat, and the exterior is unglazed for a smooth modern finish. Don't tempt me little dish people!

The Academy Award Nominations Are In!

Nominated for BEST PICTURE

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

* “Frost/Nixon”

* “Milk”

* “The Reader”

* “Slumdog Millionaire”

We've only seen 2 so far. . . Button and Slumdog. We both loved Slumdog. It is a wonderful story. It has a little bit of everything . . . romance, action, drama. We plan on seeing The Reader sometime very soon. I'll keep you posted!

Yay! New books!

Can't wait for these two! The craft book comes out in March and the cupcake book comes out June 2! It'll be a yummy summer for my co-workers. I'll be trying lots of those recipes out I'm sure. I plan on trying the "Pure" cupcake recipe from Sweet Revenge Bakery in NYC that was featured on Martha today. I'll be posting soon!

For bookworms only.

This little shelf is quite clever. Makes it look like your books are juf t floating there on the wall. Another find from Uma.

What's up, doc?

Carrot Cake! This Friday is my friend & co-worker, Laura's birthday. Since I will be in court on Friday, we celebrated early with her favorite, carrot cake. I made the recipe by Alton Brown of the Food Network. It was different, but turned out great. It is a much less spicy than normal cake. I would suggest making it the day before you need it. It takes much better after it's rested and the flavors have mingled. And I am making another one next week for my grandmother's birthday. I'll at least have to come up with another way to decorate it. Hmmmm..... Click here for the recipe.

Nuts About This.

We need one of these from Uma. Our neighbor's walnut tree has provided us with a huge amount of fruit this year. However, I am no good at getting them cracked. Having almost broken the wooden/plastic cracker we have now, I think this one would do the trick. It looks impossible for me to break. All stainless steele.

Christmas with the Lannings

Christmas with the Sloans

Things I've done since last I posted . . .