{city guides № 1 : paris}

& at {this is glamorous}, a guide to paris . . .


[image: sydney hirsch]

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From Lithuania with Love

I was recently interviewed for Llamas Valley, a gorgeous online journal all the way from Lithuania, and the issue is now out. Please get yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, settle in, and have a look. My feature begins on page 116, but you may find yourself spending the afternoon leafing through the whole thing... sooooo many beautiful images and stories!

It is an honor to be in such creative company. Thank you Alge! Our many back and forth communications getting everything set up properly for the debut worked out beautifully.... :)

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Anniversary Apples

I haven't meant to be away so long. There have been all kinds of wonderful things happening, like an ICE pasta course I have been invited to take (and will be documenting, mmm I can't wait). Look for that soon. And the Brooklyn specialty foods line I am helping to launch. And stories I've shot for the holiday issue of Sweet Paul magazine! I could go on. But I am here to instead share with you - now almost a month ago - the enchanted time J and I had on our anniversary.

We rented a car and drove to an orchard just beyond Beacon, NY. We chose Lawrence Family Orchards because they seemed to have the most variety, and I was hungry for a farm experience in all its glory. As it turns out that wasn't exactly so, but we dove in and made the most of it. Here is the fruit from our labor... :-)

 

 

 

 

 

Orchard views, down the slope

We happily stumbled upon some raspberry bushes - too ripe to take home, we ate our fill while picking

 

Looking for broccoli

 

Our wagon full of goodies

I hope you experienced a little of the enchantment from our special day. We brought home broccoli greens (for stews and soups, since the florets were mostly harvested), kabocha and pumpkin squash, purslane, some sad tomatoes that I have since made incredible preserves from, and over 20 pounds of apples! Look for a part two story (with tasty recipes) coming very, very soon.

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Oxford Circus...

This is not my first time in Oxford circus, but this is definitely the first time we actually drove to Oxford Street or just around London in general. It felt so weird driving on the right side of the road and on the right side of the car; but it was a fun and great experience.

After a long walk on Oxford Street, we decided to grab a bite at Nandos & Garfunkle's Resturant--Love the spicy sauce at Nandos and the Waffle & ice cream dessert at Garfunkle.

 A brief clip of my experience on my second day of fun in London using my camera.
Enjoy!
Cheers to the weekend!
xoxo
Stella

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Outfit: H&M blazer, shorts, shirt; Aldo brogues & bag; Forever21 cross ring; Mac Lipstick

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View from a Train & Kyoto in Green and Orange

More glimpses of Japan, as I have yet a bounteous number of images to share with you dear readers! We traveled by high-speed shinkansen - otherwise known as the bullet train - to Kyoto to visit temples and shrines in their wintry glory. This first collection is taken from the window of the train (it is always a good time to take pictures): Sloping Mount Fuji with its icy top, and some wonderful industrial landscapes...

Traveling at 185mph, I don't know how I achieved such a perfectly symmetrical image...

Wasting no time, we traveled to Fushimi Inari that evening- a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the god of rice, sake, and prosperity - and walked up the mountain into the darkness.

It felt rather eerie walking along the winding path in the middle of the forest: the insistent sounds of many crows doing their evening callings, and J and I alone together. We sensed the ghostly presence around us in the displays of shrines, statues, and myriad torii. With the hour drawing later and later, we opted to turn around before total darkness set in, letting the crows take the forest for themselves.

Still with a hunger for the forest, our next day brought an adventure to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest on the outskirts of Kyoto. It was quite chilly. Though numb from cold I mustered click after click, drinking in everything and documenting it with the lens to live-again later. Good thing that I did. :)

These incredible trees dotted homes on small streets as we made our way

A small cemetery on the grounds

I hope you can gather the sense of wonderment I felt at exploring these magical places. Even with the chill biting at our limbs, it was an amazing couple of days!

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