Easter Brunch Try a Little Bunny Food with Eggs: Baked Eggs with Spinach

This recipe....is one of those easy but sophisticated ones that can serve as a late morning breakfast, or brunch staple....baked eggs and spinach.



First, you blanch some spinach, dropping in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute, and then lining a lightly greased oven safe bowl with about a half a cup of the spinach.

Break two eggs over the top of the spinach, and pop in the oven at 375 degrees (200 C) +/-, for about 15-20 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

The result is an almost quiche like consistency, that is tasty and there are no carbs.....it is also something that can be served at a table in the garden or at the kitchen counter, where traditional egg dishes can get cold quickly or are impractical....really simple and simply delicious!  Thanks again to Donna Hay!

Farrow and Ball Designer Paint and Wallpaper goes Green - Low VOC paint is eco-friendly

I am thrilled that Farrow and Ball paints have finally gone green with their product line by producing environmentally friendly, eco- friendly low VOC paint and wallpaper.  I have always thought of Farrow and Ball as producing the most beautiful paint and wallpaper products. They produce the chalkiest flat paints I have ever seen and the highest gloss paint I have ever used, in combination the effect is stunning. 

At this Luxurious Montecito, Ca. Estate we created a Grey on Grey palette. Using Farrow and Ball Wallpapers in combination with chalky grey flat paint on the walls and with a very high gloss white trim paint. The Bedroom Charcoal wool carpet from Stark Carpet.

Grey flat wall paint  with high gloss white trim paint.  

Silver Travertine Floors and Oak Flooring with beige wax rub.

 Murano Glass Chandeliers are from Donghia. Bedroom Ceiling Fixture is From Boyd Lighting in San Francisco.

Grey Stripe wallpaper and stripe drapery  Charcoal Starck Carpet

Read more about A Greener Farrow and Ball on their terrific website;.

A Decadent Holiday Brunch, Lobster with Chipotle Mac & Cheese, Caviar and Melon & Prosciutto

One of my favorite things to do in Santa Barbara in the wintertime,  especially around the holidays, is to host an afternoon Lobster Brunch as Pacific Lobster is in season. We recently did this to celebrate Gregg's December birthday. We prepared Barbecued Lobster with Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese. This is a fantastic combination as the Chipotle in the Mac and Cheese really offsets the Lobster nicely. Just forget about calories and cholesterol  for the afternoon! Throw in some Caviar while your at it.

Make sure to prepare a beautiful Green Salad with lots of colorful veggies, it will plate beautifully by providing contrasting color and give your guests the illusion that there is actually something healthy on their plate.

Even if you don't live in Santa Barbara find a great Shellfish company in your area that will prepare lobster for you to take away, cleaned and prepped ready for cooking because it takes all the work out of the preparation. Just be careful not to overcook the Lobster. Use a large spoon to "baste" the lobsters while shell side down on the grill. Squeeze lemon over the lobsters as well. Flesh side down for only a couple of minutes and use tongs to rotate them back on their shells careful to not pull flesh out of shell because it may stick to the grill. More butter and lemon then when done, serve hot.

Start with a really nice prosciutto thinly sliced wrapped around a ripe slice of melon. This makes a beautiful preparation that can be prepared in advance and set on the table prior to quests arriving. It takes patience to pull the slices of prosciutto apart without tearing them, but it will make for a more pleasing "wrap" on the cantaloupe. 

If you really want to be decadent and generous with your friends prior to seating, serve Champagne and Caviar with appropriate condiments. We like to serve caviar with diced onion, sour cream (or creme fraiche) egg yoke diced, egg white diced and blinis to pile it all on to. Everyone plows through this elegant presentation in about 30 seconds. Please make sure that you purchase Farmed Caviar, this is a link to a great New York Times article sourcing farmed caviar for us in the Dining & Wine.

My day started out at the The Santa Barbara Shellfish Co., on Stearn's Wharf where I had called in an order for 10, 1.5lb lobsters to be cleaned and prepared for grilling. They always give you clarified butter and lemon wedges to go as well, this saves so much time. The city had erected a beautiful Christmas tree on the wharf. 

A stately  California Brown Pelican just outside the restaurant.

‘Blue Latitudes': Adventuring In The Pacific

http://www.tonyhorwitz.com/

Link to the Book on Amazon

How much do we really know about Captain Cook?  What school has taught us might be that
he was an English Explorer, or that he was killed in Hawaii.  Why should we care?  I was blissfully unaware of so many of
his contributions to the knowledge of the world and its peoples and his great
skills as a map maker, navigator, diplomat, envoy, explorer and sailor.  Three multi-year voyages throughout the
Pacifc Ocean and around the world tours bringing him home to England, one
starts to realize that this man, Captain James Cook, was nothing short of
extraordinary when reading Pulitzer Prize winning author Tony Horwitz's book.

After visiting Alaska and seeing his stamp on the
place,  Captain Cook, Hawaii, as
well as sailing through Tahiti on The Paul Gauguin, one realizes that to be the
first visitor to these locales in the 18^th century was an astounding
accomplishment.  I became
fascinated to learn more about him. 
What Tony Horwitz does in Blue Latitudes, is to retrace many of Cook’s
footsteps with an Australian sidekick and at times a historian or two,
interspersing the history with real time experiences, centuries later. 

Trying to piece together the life and voyages of one of the
greatest adventurers of all time, one realizes what an extraordinary impact
this man had on the world as we know it. 
Merely look at the styles and trends in art and design in the 18^th
century in England, their awareness of Polynesia, and tropical flora and
fauna….this all came from Cooks voyages

This humorous and entertaining read is chock full of
history, past and current cultural phenomenon and a big dose of reality that we
know so little about such an extraordinary and intrepid explorer.  Kudos to Tony Horwitz, this book was
just a joy to read.

Inadvertently, we have traced Cooks steps on three separate trips, one to Tahiti on The Paul Gauguin, in Hawaii snorkeling in the very bay where he was killed, and in Alaska where Cook had some of his greatest weather and navigational challenges.  We have been so lucky to see these places in our lifetime, it is just amazing to think what it must have been like to be the very first European visitor to most of the places Cook explored in the 1700's.  

Cook's Cove Moorea, Tahiti

The Paul Gauguin off of Moorea in the Tahitian Islands

The Big Island, Hawaii, Kealakekua Bay the place of Cook's Demise

We like the Four Season's Hualalai

The rocks where Cook was murdered

Anchorage, Alaska on the Cook Inlet

Winterlake and Winterlake Lodge  a short Float Plane Flight from Anchorage

The mode of transport around the environs of the Winterlake Lodge is Helicopter

The only way in to Winterlake Lodge is via Float Plane or Ski Plane 

Captain James Cook

Green Gift Guide: Give Eco-Friendly Gifts for the Holidays

Eco Friendly Gift Ideas.  Shop Sustainably here is a great link for Green Giving.

GreenGiftGuide

Luxury Green: Maienza- Wilson Latest Project in Montecito

Please Check out Michelle Kaufmann's Blog about our latest project in Montecito.

"First Home in Montecito slated to be LEED Platinum begins Construction".

We are placing a huge cistern in the underground here that will allow us to store captured site water runoff as well as rain water harvesting from the roof structure. We will use stored and filtered water for irrigation. Below you can see that the pool was poured first as the pool structure will become part of the foundation for the decking around the house and pool cabana. The cistern is buried under ground just to the right of the pool in the photo below.

Luxury Architecture- Sustainable & Green in Montecito, CA

We are currently under construction in Montecito on this home that we collaboratively designed with the MKD Michelle Kaufmann Designs This home originally was intended to the be a modular house, sustainable and as green as they get. We have converted the project to be a custom built, site built, sustainable house and a LEED for HOMES project where we are setting our goal at Platinum LEED Certification. We will be posting about this house, this project and the LEED certification process as we progress through the project. We just wanted to introduce you to the project now, after all it's Green Week on NBC. In the Luxury Real Estate market in Santa Barbara and Montecito this will be a first.

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About Us

Capturing the essence of “Wow” in all they do, John Maienza and Gregg Wilson are globe trotting architects, designers and decorators. They are creators of lifestyles and environments that capture the essence of “WOW”.

Mr. Maienza is a registered Architect and Interior Designer. He holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Bachelor of Arts (Art History) both from Tulane University. Mr. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Science from Pepperdine, and has a decades long career in construction and management.  The  “brand” in design is simply the best. Their collaborative work has been widely published Internationally. Currently, John and Gregg are working on a production for television about design and lifestyle through their production company WowBoyz Media.

John and Gregg's Latest Available project in Montecito California