Are you looking for something unique or special this holiday season?  The Eye of the Day Holiday Gift Guide for 2016 has you covered. These gifts come from all around the world and are sure to be statement pieces in the home or garden.

1. French Anduze Pottery

Our handmade French terracotta Pottery from Anduze region in festive green and red make great decor not just for the holidays, but the whole year.

2. Karin Shelton Cards
Notecards featuring paintings by Santa Barbara Artist Karin Shelton. Her artwork subject matter ranges from abstract to botanical to landscape. 

3. Hand painted Tunisian Bowls
Crafted and hand painted from Tunisia, these bowls are food safe and lead free.

4. Chivas Skincare Facial Cream
From Filmore based skin care company and goat farm, this facial cream features a unique blend of goat milk, avocado oil, jojoba oil and vitamin E that deeply moisturizes and nourishes the skin.

5. Santa Rosa Mexican Church Candles
Our most popular Gift Shop item for a reason. These creamy candles are made with layers of paraffin and cotton wicks. Perfect for those cozy nights at home.

Visit our Eye of the Day showroom for more gift ideas or call 805-566-6500 regarding questions and availability on our gift guide products. Cheers!

Design Update with Inviting Spaces by Kim 

Eye of the Day’s large rectangular Italian terra cotta planters, the Delos, were installed recently to add impact, structure and curb appeal to the entrance of a home with an overgrown, out of proportion boxwood border.

The planters provided a win- win situation when combined with the ability to peer out each of the four windows from the living room and dining room with views of the beautiful seasonal flowers at window level.

The choice of the Delos by Kim Beber Perlmutter of Inviting Spaces by Kim was made when she saw that the vertical pattern on the planters echoed the pattern on the entrance pillars of her client’s Georgian style home, giving the impression that they were specifically designed for the space.

INVITING SPACES BY KIM

(650) 776-6123
Creating Inviting Spaces For Any Time of Day

Travel Dispatches: A Letter from Portugal

It’s hard to say where I most like to be when my exploring takes me abroad. I like being where I’m familiar—definitely Paris and its arrondissements where I like to walk through the markets and bistros. In Bologna, I walk the miles of arcades looking at the architecture stopping only for a bowl of pasta or chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano. In Barcelona with its Catalonian pulse, I love the doors and wrought iron. San Sebastian I love, if just for tapas of seafood. But now: Porto, the Alentejo, Guimaraes, for the life. The people, the Posadas, the food and the wine is simply wonderful. In Portugal, like Italy, it is hard to get a bad meal and the value is extraordinary.

Portugal’s slight lack of sophistication comes from an ease of self and not a lack of acumen. Two of the world’s Pritzker winning architects are from Portugal, and the Portuguese sense of design is understated, colorful and to the point. The streets of the old, historic areas are mind-blowingly old. The granite and limestone buildings, sculpture and follies are worn and patinaed over the centuries with buildings showing dates from the 12th century. Simple handcrafts resonate with your soul without a hint of kitsch.

Getting to Portugal is easy and inexpensive, and driving the new motorways provided by EU funds along with a GPS device makes driving incredibly easy. I’m putting Portugal on my regular itinerary, I have found things in my explorations to bring to Eye of the Day and there’s no question that I will need some time to come back and arrange.

Let me know if you want to go!

Brent

Garden Cocktails: Winter Collins

Persimmons always remind me of little, even more colorful pumpkins. Sometimes, after all of the leaves have dropped from the persimmon trees in Autumn, they look like ornaments hung on a tree. If they didn’t get mushy, I might want to make Jack-o’-Lanterns out of them, or candle holders. This is the season, and whether you like the flat, solid Fuyu or the pointy Hachiya, they each have their perfect use. The Fuyu doesn’t need to soften, its crunch and sweetness is a fine complement to fall salads, but I think the softer, more astringent Hachiya really works in this cocktail.

Ingredients:

3 oz vodka; the finer, the better the cocktail
3 oz persimmon syrup (see below)
1 oz fresh Meyer lemon juice
Fizzy water
Persimmon slice and lemon slice for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker and two Old-Fashioned glasses with ice.  Combine vodka, persimmon syrup and lemon juice in the shaker.  Seal and shake, shake, shake for half a minute.  Strain into the glasses and top off with fizzy water.  Garnish with a lemon slice and a persimmon slice.

Persimmon Syrup

2 small semi-firm persimmons, chopped
¾ c sugar
¾ c water
3 2” strips lemon zest, NO PITH
¼ c lemon juice 2 star anise

Combine persimmons, sugar, water, lemon zest, lemon juice and star anise in a saucepan set over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer for 20 minutes. Remove zest and anise, puree and pour into a container with a lid. Chill before using.

Photo Credit:

Persimmons, Creative Commons, hachiya by Robert Couse-Baker, is licensed under CC by 2.0

Mike and Jean Ryan live in Oregon on a farm that has been in the Ryan family for generations. We are now related to them as our daughter married their son. This makes us fortunate in uncountable ways, but this is about the filberts grown on their farm. Some people might know them as hazelnuts, but for our intents and purposes, these are filberts. For the last few years, a heavy box of filberts (two varieties!) and a discrete amount of walnuts arrives and then we bask in the abundance.  It’s also Bosc pear time and, of course, persimmon time so here’s a way to use them that does those Ryan filberts justice.

RYAN FILBERT SALAD

• 1 ½ T minced shallot
• 1 medium minced garlic clove
• 2 T Sherry vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 6 T hazelnut oil, or if you can’t find it, olive oil
• 3 med Bosc pears, sliced
• 3 med Fuyu persimmons, peeled, cored and sliced
• 6 handfuls of arugula
• ½ cup roasted filberts
• ¼ c crumbled Roquefort
• ¼ c pomegranate seeds (optional)

Combine the shallot, garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper and allow it to steep for at least an hour.  Whisk in the filbert oil and taste for seasoning.

Just before serving, divide the arugula between six salad plates, artfully assemble the pears and persimmons on the arugula, drizzle with the dressing and scatter the hazelnuts, Roquefort and pomegranate seeds.
Photo Credit: Filbert, Hazelnuts is in the Public Domain 

As we near the holidays, we find ourselves needing a break from the daily pummeling of post-election news, but with the constant overload, our interest in the Presidency has been heightened. So, let’s take a non-political walk with the U.S. Presidents through their White House gardens.

All the Presidents’ Gardens; Madison’s Cabbages to Kennedy’s Roses, How the White House Grounds Have Grown with America by Marta McDowell, offers us a linear story about the eighteen acres surrounding the White House as a witness to history.  It’s the story of the White House grounds, beginning with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama’s focus on edibles, making it also the story of America. 

We learn about Lincoln’s goats, Ike’s putting green, Jackie’s iconic roses, the last cow to graze on the White House lawn (Pauline Wayne in 1912) and Amy Carter’s tree house.  Illustrated with new and historical photographs, art, botanical drawings, garden plans and artwork, this is a book that will keep you interested but cheerfully distracted from partisan politics. This would also be a great gift for that friend of yours that knows everything about politics and needs to have his focus subtly shifted.

Photo Credits:
White House Garden Photo, Creative Commons, is licensed under CC0 License
White House Kitchen Garden by angela n., is licensed under CC by 2.0
Reagan Garden is under the public domain.