weekend wrap up

It’s Sunday morning and while I’m here dreaming of a white Christmas, we’ve got cold and blustery Santa Ana winds blowing again today, with not a snowflake in sight. 

Everyone in our community and in all of California is praying and hoping for better weather conditions for those affected by the California wildfires, which are burning terribly in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.    

Right now, my favorite Christmas movie, Christmas in Connecticut, is playing on TCM right now, and I have it on in the background. The farmhouse pictured above reminds me of the idyllic home described in the movie. 

And here’s a lovely shot of two homes from my husband’s hometown of Geneva, Illinois, taken just this weekend. The one in the foreground belonged to the Bogash family and the one behind it is my husband’s childhood home. 

All this talk of nostalgia, really makes me appreciate all our pretty vintage ornaments that were handed down from our parents and grandparents. Do you have ornaments that remind you of your family?

The holidays are also a fun time to honor family recipes. I think it’s fun to go through old cookbooks and make holiday treats like our grandmothers did. I have a tattered little notebook from Woolworth’s filled with recipes that belonged to my husband’s great grandmother.

The handwriting is a killer, but I finally figured out the little quirks in her cursive, like not crossing her T's but kind of accenting them instead?!?

It’s interesting to see how that generation ate. No fresh herbs are included in any of the recipe I found in the book, lol. This weekend I tried her recipe for pralines, which I’ll share soon. After a little trial and error, I think I figured out how to make them the right way, since the directions were not detailed at all!

Yesterday was a busy day for me in the kitchen. In addition to making the pralines, I also made Spiced Pecans for gift giving, this week’s recipe of Chutney from Kate Middleton (so yummy!), and Pignoli Cookies that I remember from my childhood. If you’re Italian, chances are you’ve enjoyed these too!

Every time I want to make Pignoli (Pine Nut) Cookies I never have almond paste, which is essential for these cookies. Well, we found almond paste at Ralph’s, and the cookies came together easily in the food processor. They come out soft and chewy kind of like a macaroon. These are the classic old-school Italian cookies I grew up loving. Recipe found below.

BTW, we served the chutney over cream cheese and with manchego cheese on crackers at a gathering this weekend, and it was a hit! I'll share a few other yummy cookie recipes later this week.

I’m loving my collection of little scrabble tiles. They’re perfect for spelling out names or holiday greetings!

How about a holiday greeting from Dorinda and Ramona from the Real Housewives of New York City? Here they are sharing their Manhattan apartment Christmas trees.

I’m soooo excited that as we speak, they’re at Dorinda’s house in the Berkshires for their annual Christmas gathering. 

Here’s Ramona with the fabulous Berkshires tree in Dorinda’s beautiful blue living room. Could it be a 1920's themed party that they're having for Dorinda's birthday? 

It looks that way! Oh, how I love a good theme party!

I’m also excited for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to start on Tuesday night. Even though Kyle has recently moved, we probably won’t be seeing her fabulous new home this season. Here’s a little peek at the beauty from Kyle’s Instagram...

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday,

and are ready to head into this final week before

Christmas!

Here's the recipe for the yummy Pignoli cookies...

Pignoli or Pine Nut Cookies

2 cups pine nuts

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ cup almond paste

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process ¾ cup pine nuts in a food processor with the sugar, almond paste, and vanilla until fine crumbs form. Add egg and lemon zest; pulse to combine. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; process just until dough comes together. Roll dough into ½ inch balls. Roll the cookie balls in the remaining 1 ¼ cups pine nuts and gently press to adhere. Space the cookie dough 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake until cookies begin to turn golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Makes about 2 ½ dozen pignoli cookies.

ciao! fabiana

photos: 1. Country Living  3. Southern Living
Housewives photos: instagram

home style with the new york housewives

“Word on the street” is that the Real Housewives of New York have already been busy filming season 10 and not only that, but a few of them have been busy redecorating their homes and getting their homes ready for the holidays. The best news of all for me is that the entire season 9 cast is back this year!  

So let's get started...

Firstly, I have to apologize for this being a bit of a long post today, but there's a lot to cover! These women have been busy!

One of my favorite things about watching the Real Housewives is checking out their homes, and my all-time favorites are New York and Beverly Hills! 

I also love that most of them own more than one home.

In addition to their city apartments, lofts or townhouses, several of the NY gals have homes in the Hamptons. And then of course, there’s Dorinda with her fabulous Berkshires mansion! 

Luann’s Hamptons home has recently appeared in Architectural Digest so we can take a sneak peek at its recently zhushed-up interior.

As you can see, Luann replaced the red patchwork cow head in her kitchen with one of her antique mirrors.

This really is a favorite spot for her to pose,

isn’t it?

Here’s a little real action in the kitchen with Sonja,

during filming and seen on Instagram.

Here’s Luann, her son and her niece out on the front porch of her Sag Harbor home. This 19th century Greek Revival house is quite a little gem!  

Do you recognize the kitchen from the show? 

I love how bright and airy it is!

Yum, Yum!

Did they take one of these dining room mirrors

into the kitchen just for the AD photo shoot?

Maybe...

Here’s Lu singing and partying with Sonja

in her dining room, possibly during filming of RHONY…  

A peaceful view out back.

Here’s where she sat with Andy Cohen

for her post-divorce interview.

Sonja and Lu single and ready to mingle!

This little sign is so funny after what happened

 last season to Luann in Mexico!

Here's another pretty view of the back of Luann's home.

And now on to Dorinda...

She's been super busy promoting Home Goods 

and with all the excitement of the holidays,

I don't blame her!

Who would turn down getting your whole apartment

decked out for Christmas courtesy of Home Goods?

If you follow Dorinda on Instagram,

you’ve probably seen all of her fun

Home Goods insta-stories and posts.

Don’t you just love her?

Her tree does look very pretty…

Here’s Dorinda’s dining room in the city, but what I really can’t wait to see is her Berkshires dining room. I hope all the ladies get to spend lots of time there this season.

Shopping at Home Goods is always a good time!

Bethenny has great style too, and news broke just this week that she purchased a second home in the Hamptons. She’s becoming quite a real estate mogul as well as Skinny Girl mogul. 

Don’t forget she has a new real estate show coming to Bravo soon with Fredrik Eklund. (BTW, Fredrik and his husband just welcomed twins into the world this week, a boy and a girl!)

Simple holiday décor is the best way to go in Bethenny’s New York apartment. Don't you just love the white tree and fluffy stockings? 

Fabulous “Skinny Girl" red highlights Bethenny’s front door and it also plays a big part in accenting the rest of her Hamptons home.

 Such charm in the Hamptons!

Here’s the front of Bethenny’s new Hampton’s home, not far from her other weekend home. This former bed and breakfast may be a new business venture for her.

I can’t wait to see how she renovates, decorates and designs the inside of this home.

How about making this a vacation home for wayward housewives? Lol.

Bethenny’s a big fan of TJ Maxx and Home Goods too, so I hope she shares some of her decorating tips with all of us!

And we can’t forget about Ramona (and her contractor Mario)… She just renovated her lower east side apartment last season and it was a HUGE improvement. Now she’s working on updating her Hamptons home. This is a little peek she just shared on Instagram.

Carole is always on top of the most fabulous design trends and her home also recently appeared in Architectural Digest.

Tinsley recently moved into her own place after breaking up with boyfriend, Scott and finally moving out of Sonja’s townhouse. We’ll have to see what her place looks like!

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of RHONY. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills starts up again on December 19th, and until then, I’ll anxiously be awaiting the latest design updates from the BH gals!  Who are your BH  housewives faves? 

ciao! fabiana

photo credit:

Architectural Digest, People, Instagram