The holidays may have passed but Reading My Tea Leaves’ mulling spice looks too good not to try. 

Amazon and Etsy are vast oceans of ordinary products. But every so often I stumble across beautiful and unexpected finds. With that in mind, I created Tydepool.com to collect them all.

For you Amazon Prime users, this is a great storefront for last minute gifts. Thanks for visiting and please share any recommendations to include.

I’ve become addicted to White Cow Dairy yogurt. It is hands down the best ever!

Little did I know that all this time I’ve been enjoying a scarce delicacy only available at Murray’s and in shops around Buffalo, NY. 

011512 - Sunday Afternoon At Home

I made Bon Appetit’s Cherry Hand Pies for a picnic themed dinner party I had the other night — still don’t have chairs for my table. They look real fancy but they are one of the most simple desserts I’ve ever made. One note: if you plan on following along at home, I’d reduce the size of the individual pies as they were a tad too big to be truly single serving. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted, or about 12 ounces frozen pitted cherries, unthawed
2/3 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 14-ounce package all-butter puff pastry, thawed in refrigerator
Flour (for dusting)
1 large egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons raw sugar 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir cornstarch and 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl to blend. Set aside.

Combine fresh/thawed cherries, dried cherries, sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cherry juices are released, about 5 minutes.

Add cornstarch mixture, bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally (I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t quite wait until room temp as I was in a rush and everything turned out a-ok).

Roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to an 18x15” rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into nine 6x5” rectangles (my vote is that you do twelve or so rectangles). Whisk egg white and 1 tablespoon water in another small bowl for egg wash. 

Working with 1 pastry rectangle at a time, place onto work surface and brush edges with egg wash. Scoop about 3 tablespoons of cherry mixture onto one side; fold dough over filling so that short ends meet, forming a packet. Crimp edges with a fork to seal and using a sharp knife, cut a few slits in the top of the pie to vent. Place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough and filling. 

Brush tops with egg wash, then sprinkle with raw sugar. Chill for 30 minutes (Again rush! No time! Guests arriving! Probably would have been ever better if I did this but no real crisis occurred). Bake pastries until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 30 - 40 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet (Did this!). Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely (Did this too!). 

Mark my words, someday I will have a bathroom that looks like this. 

(Source: sicklyfawn)

Speaking of DIY, I made these sparkle boots last night using this tutorial (with the exception that I mixed the glitter into the glue so it’d stick better), these shoes, and this glitter. 

These t-shirt necklaces from Brit are definitely going on my DIY to-do list. 

(Source: brit, via thegooglymoogly)

If you live in Philadelphia, I highly encourage you to apply to participate in This Town is a Mystery. It’s a new piece from a dance company near and dear to my heart, Headlong Dance Theater. 

The jist is this: if selected, your household will work with Headlong over the course of a couple months to create an in home performance, starring you. When it comes time to perform, audiences will come watch the show at your house and afterwards share a potluck dinner with you. 

It may sound scary but Andrew, David, Amy + Co are not only brilliant artists but some of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I am lucky enough to count them as mentors so I’ll promise you at least two things: 1 - You’ll be in good hands and 2 - It’ll be a wonderful adventure. 

If you don’t live in Philadelphia, I still suggest you look at this, this, and this. 

I’d like to wear this every day please.

Just made the connection that Tacklebox, who did Saipua’s store a few years back, designed Aesop’s NYC stores. Makes so much sense now why I can’t resist going in.