Curator Picks - 4/4

I started the Masterpiece Theater series Great Expectations yesterday--gotta kill time before Downton Abbey returns (Shirley McClaine is joining the cast next season!). It's shaping up to be everything that Dickens makes you feel when you read that book, dark, ethereal, and so so twisted. I got lost in it for an hour or so and even found myself dreaming last night about being trapped and shackled in a foggy swamp. It just premiered on sunday, so there is plenty of time to catch up.

I want to like chicken so badly. I've tried it roasted, fried, baked, steamed, every which way, but I cannot seem to duplicate the lovely results I taste in restaurants. I've made every roasted chicken recipe from here to Timbuktu and the chicken still ends up bland and has me rooting in the kitchen for sweet treats after dinner to kick my taste buds back into gear again. I thought chicken and I had parted ways forever. But now that I've seen this recipe for herb roasted chicken with truffled cauliflower mash from Caitlin over at Roost (via Cup of Jo), I just might try again.

Wow, check out this DIY project for an ombre chair on Design Sponge today. That blue just pops right out of the chair and i love the way it fades into a deep navy at the bottom. It is one of those DIY projects that doesn't seem too impossible to try either. Just picture bright blue chairs (or graduating shades of red or orange) around a white kitchen table.

The glamorous Mrs. Lilien's book is available for pre-order on Amazon now. It's designed as a nifty swatch book with 50 cocktail recipes and tips for what to serve with the drinks. Super cute and cool and a great housewarming gift or, let's be honest, a great gift for yourself.

How often do you dream about picking up everything you own and everyone you love and moving to a new city or possibly even a new country? Me? I dream about it at least once every few weeks. Usually while I'm reading someone else's blog filled with dreamy photographs of their city (or often while I'm watching house hunters international on HGTV). And then my sister reminds me that I live in New York City, precisely one of the locations that many people dream of moving to and then I get over it - for another few weeks anyway. Does anyone actually do this? Well, Nichole of Little Brown Pen did! Read her guest post for Love in the City of Lights all about moving from New York to Paris with her husband and two sons. Also, Nichole's book, Paris in Color, is coming out in a few weeks and looks so beautiful.

Enjoy the spring weather today.