A New Year's Day In Pictures:

It was a good first day of 2009 at the Mayer-Stein residence!

1) We leisurely looked through one of my absolute favorite design books, D.I.Y. Design It Yourself, by Ellen Lupton. It provides a wide variety of design ideas and projects and is incredibly inspirational, whether you want to design your own wedding invitations or a poster for your agency. Don't expect to get detailed tutorials or how-to's; that's not what this book is about. Written in part by graduate students, its down to earth and pragmatic approach is intended to get your creative juices flowing, and it certainly works for me. I take a look at it whenever I've hit a dry craft spell.

2) A good day around here is one which involves homemade food and tempting, savory smells wafting through the apartment from our kitchen. While I rested, Jake whipped up a yummy batch of Egg Drop Soup (super easy to make, we also add Bok Choy), grilled tofu with green onions, steamed sticky rice and cold Vietnamese Spring Rolls. The spring rolls are so delicious and refreshing, try making them using this beautifully illustrated recipe (I omit the pork and add imitation crab, chicken or just stick with the shrimp).

Coincidentally, this is a recipe that would be perfect for someone self-catering their wedding: they are fun and easy to make, and keep well in the fridge in a tight Tupperware. It would be a fun pre-wedding task to share with friends and a glass of wine!

Last year, for her birthday, I made a batch of the spring rolls for an overworked co-worker with three kids. I presented the rolls in a simple (hand decorated) Chinese take-out container, and included one package of rice paper and a hand-written copy of my favorite cold spring roll recipe on decorative paper. She later reported that she and her children had a blast assembling the rolls together, each person experimenting with different fillings and sauces, to taste. Sometimes food can be the best gift of all. Especially in New York City where space is at a premium, a consumable present is often a welcome change from receiving more "stuff" for which there is no room.

3) Feeling a cold coming on, I decided to take it easy for most of the day. So I put on the fuzzy slippers and snuggled up with Jake to watch one of our favorite movies; perfect for the contemplative, reflective mood of the New Year.

4) Taking time out to hang with my buddy, Maxwell.

We're taking it easy the next couple days. This is our reward for (nearly) finalizing our guest list, making a bunch of calls to caterers (and getting discouraged by the prices...eek!), initiating contact with a promising (and cool!) Rabbi, and--most importantly--narrowing down our location (more to follow on that one). Done, done and done.

Pass the spring roll, please!