The Glorious Season of Giving

Nancy Franke’s Tiny Surprise (and the cover of our Christmas card)

Just like everyone else out there, our little gallery has been full of people running in and out to pick last minute gifties, both large and small. We love the idea of giving art as a gift, especially to the just-starting-out-in-a-first-apartment set or even teenagers. And, is there anything more romantic than a specially chosen painting from the love of your life? Or choosing a piece together? We’ve had all of the above come through the gallery in the last couple weeks and it’s been simply joyful to help and facilitate.

Here are some paintings that will be nestled under the tree Christmas morning:

Doug Foltz, But I’ve Been Wrong Before

Silke Henkel Wallace, Interieur I

Some art-loving clients just went ahead and bought paintings for themselves, something we heartily applaud:

Nancy Franke, Gift of Love

Dawne Raulet’s Goose on Brown

Lorraine Christie’s As Though It Matters

We are actually taking a couple days off to celebrate the season with our families and friends. We’ll have a little lunch here tomorrow with Linda, Sam and Sarah and we’ll celebrate Ann’s birthday, belatedly.

From all of us to all of you: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and be safe.

ta ta…

Huffingtons in the Movies: the Sequel

Last week, we just had to share the news that some of our paintings made their screen debut in a new TV pilot, “Necessary Roughness”, that’s being filmed here in Atlanta. (www.deadline.com)

We loved the entire process and are waiting with bated breath for the pilot to make it onto our TV screens – don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted.

Working with the lovely set designer did get us thinking: what if the inimitable Nancy Meyers and her longtime set designer, Jon Hutman (“Something’s Gotta Give”, “The Holiday”) or Beth Rubino (“It’s Complicated”) called us one day to tell us they need art for their sets? Can you imagine the fun?

Here’s the wonderful Jack Nicholson as Harry in “Something’s Gotta Give.” His manly and sophisticated bedroom is perfect for him. While we like the funky abstracted piece above the bed, we had a different idea:

We think this is just a little more soothing and serene for the bedroom – and this would help Harry get to that zen place in his life, which he badly needs. (Doug Foltz’s “But I’ve Been Wrong Before.”) Beside, Erica (Diane Keaton) will love this because it will remind her of her fabulous Hamptons beach house.

“The Holiday” was another cute Meyers rom-com whose interiors had us all drooling.

Here’s Cameron Diaz’s snazzy L.A. living room from “The Holiday.” We love the monchromatic palette and white slipcovers here, there and everywhere. Very chic.

Here’s our suggestion for Cameron:

We like the edgy quality of this gorgeous piece by Zae, called “Semblance.” We think the splashes of rusty red against the black and cream are a perfect complement to this room…and we can just imagine Cameron and Jude Law lounging in here and being very L.A.

Cameron’s L.A. bedroom is also very clean and stylish:

In fact, the paintings above the bed remind us of our own Georges Nasri, who paints simple, elegant and spare watercolors of women:

Chic Hat in Black and White

All Dressed Up

Indigo Chic

But we liked the idea of something softer and more ethereal over the bed especially since Cameron plays a hyped-up workaholic in the movie:

Melissa Payne Baker’s “Everlasting I”

Last year’s “It’s Complicated” with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin was funny and entertaining – but what really got us was Meryl Streep’s fabulously comfortable house. Why on earth was she planning on renovating it?

The kitchen alone was serious eye-candy:

And we all ooohed and aaahed over the living room, which seemed to be the perfect place to relax with friends, curl up and read or enjoy a little glass of wine:

We love the pops of color and the collected look and feel of this…and had no problem imagining this over the mantel:

Love the chartreusey green and brilliant reddish-orange palete of Onyeka Ibe’s Hilltop Barn II.

We love the magic of the movies, but honestly, it’s even more fun to imagine our precious paintings gracing the big screen. We’ll keep you posted about our TV pilot!

Ta Ta…

Huffingtons: In the Movies (okay, a TV show…)

Some very exciting news came our way a couple weeks ago when we were visited unexpectedly by the very lovely and talented Kathryn Peters, who is a set designer based in L.A. She’s here in Atlanta filming a pilot for a new TV series called “Necessary Roughness.”

Callie Thorne plays tough, sexy Long Island divorcee, Danielle Santino, who, to make ends meet, becomes the therapist for a professional football team and quickly becomes sought after by other athletes, musicians, politicians and those living in the spotlight. (www.deadline.com)

If you don’t live around here, you may not know that the state of Georgia offers quite a hefty tax rebate to production companies when they film here, so we natives are becoming increasingly used to seeing film crews here, there and everywhere these days.

Brookhaven, an Atlanta intown neighborhood, has been ground zero for filming lately. This adorable house had a starring role in the recent “Life As We Know It,” starring Katherine Heigl. (this house is actually for sale and is listed at http://cathyboston.harrynorman.com/)

Anyway, the pilot is being filmed virtually across the street from one of us so we caught on immediately when Ms. Peters explained her mission.

She was in the process of creating the “home” for the lead character, a feisty Long-Islandy type of therapist who works with professional athletes. She explained to us that the character has had her house “done” by a designer, but her fiery Italian independence means that the certain spots in the interiors definitely show her passion and love of life: color, color and more color. Ms. Peters was in need of artwork for the house and could we be of help?

We knew the house in question – and there is no doubt that it is truly a beautiful, tasteful home full of gorgeous furnishings and an elegant, sophisticated flair to it. Kathryn agreed with all of the above, but in this case, the character rules: out with monochromatics and in with the color! So, we gave her a pad of paper and a pen and plenty of time to browse…and before we knew it, Ms. Peters had chosen a vibrant, lively collection of paintings for her “client.”

Here are some of the pieces Ms. Peters chose right off the bat for her character:

Ewa Rzeznik’s “Red Boots”

Onyeka Ibe’s “Tuscan Heights II”

Heidi Kirschner, “Cashmere Mist”

Elise Morris, “Unearthing Petals 5.1”

Jim Richards, “Real Lemons” (this one ended up in the character’s kitchen)

Nancy Franke’s “Just Me.”

We got to pop over to the house the day before Thanksgiving to see how our babies looked in the house. The crew was frantically putting it all together and our babies were placed, but not hung yet:

In the family room (with a set guy doing his thing)

We think this is going to be the character’s pretty study.

Two Nancy Franke’s wait for their final placement in the foyer.

We’re dying to see how it all came together and will be glued to the tube when this pilot airs.

The whole exercise did get us thinking. What if the wonderful Nancy Meyers or Beth Rubino had called us for a helping hand in the set decoration for Something’s Gotta Give (a Huffington fave) or It’s Complicated (ditto) or the rom-com, Holiday? We had fun imagining the results…stay tuned!

In the meantime, we’ll be glued to the TV waiting for our paintings’ screen debut.

Ta ta…

M.

Huffington Holiday Decor

Thanksgiving is over and so now it’s official: Happy holidays! We Huffingtons like to wait to until at least after Thanksgiving to bring on the Christmas cheer with the holiday music, the tree, the garlands and wreaths. And if truth be told, we sometimes do it a little warily.

But this year, our wonderful Sam Jones has put a whole new spin on Christmas that has surprised and delighted us, once again. Some of us drove by the gallery on Sunday only to see Sam’s car in the driveway. “What is she up to?” we wondered, knowing that we’d be in for a pleasant surprise. The wreaths on the windows with their chartreuse bows blowing in the wind were just one indication that Sammy and her elves were up to something special.

Inside the gallery, there was Sam, with one single elf (a fluffy white one named Scurry, who prefered to spend Thanksgiving with Auntie Sam than brave the Huff’s family reunion in Maine this year), busily gluing gorgeous holiday balls and jeweled Christmas decorations to create the most spectacular wreaths we’ve ever seen. All we had to do was watch her for a few minutes to admire the intricacy and labor of love that went in to creating each wreath. And pray that we didn’t accidentally drop one!

We all need to have a little touch of glam in our lives, and these wreaths do just that. We can just picture them in our clients’ beautiful homes, dressing up a holiday party or sparkling quietly over an elegant mirror. These gorgeous wreaths are keepsakes, that can be brought out year after year. Sophisticated and tasteful, each one is a jewel of its own, created with originality and love by our sweet Sam, who wants us to sell them for the benefit of Genesis House.

And so the season of giving has really kicked in.

Happy holidays!

This one is called Tiffany Blue (and some of us who have been to Tiffany’s recently think that they might just benefit from having one made for them, hint hint). $180

Good as Gold ($180)

Amber Light ($140)

Tata!

HH

A Huffington Thanksgiving

We’re always thankful this time of year for so many things: our healthy families, our dear friends and our blessed day-to-day lives. We two Madames are especially grateful for the wonderful people in our gallery life who make every day interesting, lively, inspired and downright fun: Thank you, Linda, Sarah and Sam. You make us smile each and every day.

And, we’re always giving thanks for our artists. What on earth would we do without them? They thrill us, challenge us in the most creative ways and make our hearts sing on a daily basis.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the feast. Here are some tried and true Huffington Turkey Day specials:

Ann

A couple of years ago, my good friend Cynthia gave me what has become my bible of all cookbooks: Ruth Reichl’s Gourmet cookbook. For me, this volume has replaced the Joy of Cooking, as my go-to book for my entire life and has even eclipsed Craig Claiborne, who had kind of reinvented the Joy of Cooking many years ago. So when I’m doing the turkey for Thanksgiving, I always take the Gourmet Cookbook to bed with me the night before, and study it carefully so that I know what to do, when, in the morning. After all, on Thanksgiving day, it’s all about timing …

And this is what I’ve learned:

Cook the darn turkey upside down! You don’t have to baste it, because gravity works its magic and all the fat goes in to the white meat making it ever so juicy. All you do is turn it over ½ hour before it’s finished to get the desired crispiness on top. Is it as beautiful as the traditional breast up turkey? Maybe not. But does it taste better? You betcha! If you’re married to a guy who thinks that turkey is the next best thing to dark chocolate ganache, you’ll score big points for Thanksgiving day feast and leftovers. Unfortunately, the chocolate will have to wait …

For more about Ruth Reichl’s way of cooking turkey, check out The Gourmet Cookbook, page 377.

Meg

Yankees Meet the Mason Dixon Line

This is what happens when a (former) Yankee girl falls in love with and marries a Texan: it’s the war of the North/South Thanksgiving table. Happily, we all adore one another and I was never happier than the day I surrendered the business of thanksgiving dressing to my adorable mother-in-law, Thelma. She whips up a serious concoction of cornbread, spices, broth and cooks it until it’s perfectly crispy on the top and luscious inside. Yum. Her recipe isn’t even written down – it has been perfected in her mind over the years.

This year, we’ve got a change of plans and I’m responsible for the dressing to accompany Ann’s Upside Down Turkey (which I’m absolutely going to try) I’m a huge fan of Epicurious and found this recipe for Farmhouse Herbed Stuffing that sounds pretty good (I’m dressing, not stuffing.) I’d also like to whip up our other Huffington recipes, which follow. I’ll have the Macy Day Parade on the kitchen tv, a glass of Veuve Cliquot in hand and I’ll be happily cooking away….

Linda

A Family Favorite

Sweet Potato Soufflé with Grand Marnier

Feel free to substitute your own homemade mashed sweet potatoes for the canned ones. I use 2-3 large sweet potatoes baked in the oven at about 400 to get that roasted flavor!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, divided use
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter, divided use
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (may substitute ground cloves)
• 1 (14-1/2 ounces) can mashed sweet potatoes- I recommend you use 2-3 large FRESH mashed sweet potatoes!
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (rind)
• 2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier or fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a standard size soufflé dish with vegetable oil.

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup of the flour, pecans, and brown sugar. Stir in 1/4 cup of the butter with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together remaining 1/3 cup of the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Add remaining 1/4 cup of the butter, sweet potatoes, milk, orange zest, Grand Marnier or orange juice, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until combined.

Pour sweet potato mixture into the prepared soufflé dish and sprinkle evenly with the pecan mixture. Bake about 40 minutes.

Add a touch of Crème Fraiche to the final product, and a shaving of dark chocolate and a splash of Grand Marnier for an exquisite finish to your Thanksgiving meal!

Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Sam

Spinach Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 - 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 - 1 1/2 oz. envelope dehydrated onion soup
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:

Cook spinach according to package directions and drain well. Mix spinach, sour cream, onion soup mix, salt and pepper.

Place uncovered in a 350 degree oven and bake for twenty minutes.

Sprinkle chopped nuts on top and bake 15 more minutes.

This is great for stuffing in mushroom caps also.

Enjoy!!

Sarah

A Taste of the Homeland

While I love turkey, stuffing, gravy, and sweet potato casserole as much as the next Southern girl worth her salt, my favorite Thanksgiving dish is somewhat unconventional ‘round these parts. Agurk slat, or Danish cucumber salad, is what I look forward to the most! My mom’s family is Danish, and it just wouldn’t be a holiday in my book without this little side dish.

I’m a huge fan of anything sweet’n’salty (think Honey Chex Mix, Kettle Corn, chocolate covered pretzels…now I’m hungry), and this recipe combines apple cider vinegar with sugar to make a sweet, pickled cucumber dish of sorts. Click here for an easy Agurk slat recipe. I promise you’ll love it!

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We’d love to hear about some of your family’s favorite Thanksgiving dishes! There’s nothing better than a tried-and-true recipe that you know will be delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tata!

HH

Heaven in the 7th, Part III

Veni. Vidi. Bought-i. And we are now excitedly under contract to purchase a Parisian apartment. Can we please just call it a flat? I know it’s pretentious, but it’s so much nicer!

Now there is a very nice little French law that allows you to get out of your contract for up to eight days after you have signed your “Promesse” to purchase in the notary’s office. Although I’ve been feeling pretty good about this apartment, there is one person I’d like to have look at it before I let the eight days elapse.

Ever since we’ve thought about buying an apartment in Paris, I’ve kept close tabs on the apartment rental market in Paris. We’ve stayed in a lot of hotels and rented apartments from a lot of agencies, and although there are many good ones I can recommend, my personal favorite Paris apartment rental agency is Paris Perfect. Every time we’ve stayed in a Paris Perfect apartment, everything from the quality of the apartments to the locations, the views, the amenities and the service have been, well … perfect. I’ve always thought that Madelyn, the co-owner of this agency, has a great eye and great judgment about investing in Paris apartments, and so my next step is to get her opinion.

I know Madelyn from way back, when we first started looking for an apartment almost three years ago. We had found a jewel of an apartment in the 7^th, which we were planning to buy. Unfortunately, the stars did not line up in our favor this time around, when everything from the economy to the exchange rate turned against us, and we had to, regretfully, step out of it. When the apartment showed up on the Paris Perfect website, I knew that it had gone to the right person. They did a fabulous transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan, and I knew that if anyone could help me determine if my little duckling in the 7th was the right purchase, Madelyn could.

Before and After:

Here are the pictures of the one that got away, as we saw it when it was for sale, followed by Paris Perfect’s beautiful transformation.

Before we get started, let’s just show you why we were even considering this apartment: A killer view in a killer location, in the heart of the 7th. With this picture, the before and after didn’t change, which is why it’s always about location, location, location!

Now, for the magical transformation:

Before

After – love how they kept the idea of the closets, but made them more open, keeping them functional but with a greater feeling of space.

And of course, a big Louis Philippe mirror does wonders for any room, especially with a chandelier reflected in it.

A little corner of the living room gets a precious little desk and chair.

The windows were already a great feature of the apartment, but what a beautiful place to put the dining room table!

One of my favorite features: The afternoon light pouring in to the living room.

In the bedroom, they cleverly transformed one of the walls in to a wall of closets, creating storage (a most precious Parisian commodity) while keeping it good looking.

They had to shift some walls around to have put the bed against this wall – and it sure was worth it.

Bathroom transformations are always some of the most dramatic, and this one is no exception.

The kitchen had good little bones to begin with, but badly needed the facelift it received. Vive la difference!

So, what do you think? Can my little duckling be transformed in to a swan? I’m pretty sure it can, but just to be sure, I’ll see what Madelyn has to say. Stay tuned!

Ta ta,

A.