the spirit of pistoulet

as you are all already aware, we're great believers in the creating of strong, creative and supportive communities in the virtual sphere. we know how important a sense of belonging is!so we were super-duper excited to be shown mary tiegreen's "spirit of pistoulet" fanpage on facebook the other day. the spirit of pistoulet is one of our very special favourites because it is all about (among other things) the importance of community – community in the sense of having people around you with whom you can share your thoughts, dreams, troubles and, most importantly, your love of food. it's all about how we can find inspiration and/or help in our surroundings and the amazing good that little things done out of great love can achieve (i admit, that genius little statement is thanks to thanks mamma teresa!). in fact, this book all on its little lonesome is a great source of inspiration for us here at jt (as most of you probably already know. we're a little bit obsessed with this book). all you need to do is read it to find out why – it's all about the experience of things, and about the time and care that is put into them.so check it out ... join if you're a fan ... help us spread the love! xx

frida love

we're very excited about the beautiful vintage-style handmade brass jewellery that has just arrived at the little brown house. handmade by my mexican heart, every piece is a celebration of kahlo's distintive and intensely emotional art work ... and, by extension, a celebration of the colour and vibrancy of mexican poplular culture.

we're in love with the rings: they're a bold statement to the world of your appreciation of kahlo's art (and so lovely and solidly big on your fingers. if that makes any sense).

enjoy looking!

xx

thoughts on love letters

with valentines suddenly looming ahead of us (is it really that time of year again? it feels like we only just had last valentines!) we got to thinking about how a holiday that celebrates love should be about letting everyone we love – not just our lovers or secret crushes – know how we feel about them. and, as much as we're huge fans of the internet, we can’t think of a better way of telling someone just how fantastically out-of-this-world we think they are than a good old fashioned love letter. of course, there are a number of factors that will up the success rate of your love letter – you can’t just go scrawling it on refill and shoving it in an old bank statement envelope before thrusting it in front of the recipient muttering “here! this is for you” with a scowl on your face. you need to treat and present it with all the love you want it to express. so (thanks to an extended amount of time walking around thinking about just what kind of a love letter we would like to receive ... and we really would like to receive one. please.) here are some of our ideas on just what will win you the “best person of the year” award in someone you love’s books: - first up, you’re going to need to consider who exactly you’re writing to. as we already mentioned, we’re being very liberal with the meaning of the term “love letter” so go ahead and write one for your best friend, for your grandma or for your little brother. just be sure to adjust everything to suit (we don’t think you need to be giving your granny a love letter telling her how hot you think her ass is. for example). - which brings us to choosing the words you’re going to use. we’d suggest thinking about what it is that you really love about the person and them alone and then writing it down. easy peasy. - finally – and this aspect is NOT to be underestimated – you’re going to have to think about presentation. you’ll have to choose stationery that will be special to the person, find a nice pen to write it in, and anything else you might want to adorn your love letter with. go crazy. use stickers, stamps, wax seals, collage … whatever takes your fancy. what’s important is that it’s personal. and, just like that, you’ll have a love letter that will truly make the day of the person receiving it. the thing to remember in the whole process is that it’s the entire experience of receiving a love letter that counts – the surprise of it, opening the gorgeous envelope, reading the hand-written words telling you why you’re fab and that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing someone cares so much about you. if you stick to the "treat others as you would like to be" rule you can’t really go wrong – just give them something that, in their shoes, you would love to receive. and, hey, who knows, you might just get one back …

xxx

what to do with plums

we've got a plum tree over our fence that has been producing plums like they're going out of fashion for the past few weeks. and because i couldn't bear to watch them all falling to waste on the ground, i dedicated around an hour this morning to pitting them (they're very small. it was a labour of love. or madness.) and then another couple of hours to slowly stewing them with a small amount of honey. and it was worth the effort, even if they did reduce to a quarter of the volume i began with! we're serving them with a banana and poppyseed cake and indulging in throwbacks to our childhoods every time we get a whiff of them. there's just something about them that takes us right back to bare feet on the grass, eating fruit straight off the tree and feeling the glimmer of sunlight on our backs.

bliss.

xxx