I was going to post a pasta dish this week – it’s really good and summery but still creamy and light – but I just couldn’t bring myself to suggest that you turn on both your oven and your stove. I don’t know about you, but we are in the middle of a heat wave. It’s another heat wave, or maybe it’s the heat wave we’ve kind of been having all summer despite a couple days last week. We have established a system of closing our windows around noon when it starts to get really hot outside, turning on the air conditioning when the inside temperature gets unbearable, and then opening the windows in the evening once the outside temperature is lower than inside or maybe if there’s a slight cool breeze blowing by.
On days like this, I can’t imagine eating anything hot. In fact, I would prefer that everything I ate was cold and crunchy, preferably also maybe juicy or with a little tang or spice to it. These toasts almost fit that bill – no juiciness really (unless you include the cucumbers that I GREW IN MY OWN GARDEN – sorry, I’m excited), but lots of crunch from the sliced vegetables and tang from the miso cream cheese. You do have to turn on your toaster, but it’s worth it, I promise.
I’ve made a decision. Sometimes, when my weekend finds have a theme, I will title them as such. Isn’t that sensible? I thought, hm, maybe I could collect all the cool kitchen art and share it with readers all at once, so that if they’re looking for kitchen art, they can look at one post? Or perhaps if they’re looking for some fun wooden spoons, all of those are in one place? Or perhaps, if there are some kitchens I’m lusting to cook in, I can show them all to you at once? I’m not saying all of my weekend finds from here on out will have a theme. But when the time is right, they might. I hope that’s alright. This week, as I mentioned, I’m obsessed with kitchen art.
1. Radicchio Vegetable Print
I really like a lot of prints from this shop on Etsy, but I love love love this radicchio print. I discovered it via Design*Sponge, and keep plotting a way I can have it, and where I can put it.
2. Sugarboo Postcards
I really like postcards, and I have always thought it would be fun to get postcards separately framed and hang a grid of them on a large-ish wall. I think some of these food and friend related ones from Sugarboo are so sweet. My favorite has to be the radish postcard pictured above.
3. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
Yes, that’s the name of this print from Society 6. Yes, I’ve been pining after this print for years. It combines old music (remember how much I’ve mentioned my Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Pandora station?) and food, and I just think it’s so sweet. I would hang it anywhere, but feel it would be perfect in a kitchen.
4. Illustrated Recipes from Felicita Sala
I think these illustrated recipes are so sweet. I’d love to have one on my wall – I love the mixture of text and drawings. The best part: it’s functional too!
5. Cutting Boards
Not all your kitchen art has to bed 2D. Speaking of functional decorations, there are some beautiful cutting boards out there – some vintage like this one, some modern like these. Maybe these state shaped cutting boards are more your style. Or these chevron ones. Just make sure, if you’re going to try something heavy, that you secure it safely to the wall with a nice sturdy hook or nail. Most of these have holes or straps, or I’m sure they could be easily added.
6. Prints from your favorite blog/cookbook
You might be surprised to find that some of your favorite blogs might be selling their prints, or if they aren’t already, they might be willing to if you contact them and ask them reeeeaaaally nicely. For example, love Smitten Kitchen’s photos? You can find some for sale here.