“Can I go with you?” or “I’ll carry your bags” is a refrain I often hear when someone learns I’m going to Italy for work. Traveling to Italy to buy terracotta pottery for our store sounds like a pretty good job, and it is when you don’t have to do it every other month.  It’s not that I don’t love the time in Italy, but it takes a day to get there and a day to get back.  Remember, I’m not flying on Air Force One, I’m flying coach.

I don’t have a bag for you to carry because I’ve figured out how to travel in Europe for a month or more with just the bag on my back. I take the same train, rent the same car, eat at—well here is where it can get interesting—after a long day going from terracotta pottery factory to terracotta pottery factory, I usually can find a great place to dine and a gelato shop with an excellent scoop. This is a consolation to twenty years of hanging out in terracotta factories and spending the rest of the time driving, don’t you think?

I am usually traveling in the winter, but this time I had (yes that’s “had”) to go in April. Spring had really sprung and Tuscany was in full bloom, trees had leaves and people were not in big fat coats. I wore a T-shirt every day. What a difference a few months can make.

Another difference was that on this trip, I didn’t go to buy terracotta pots, I went to buy garden antiques. I’ve been trying for three years to get this old guy to sell his collection of old, very old farm troughs, stones, millstones and wagons. I spent three days loading two containers and then two more days visiting manufacturers, back to Rome, back on the plane (in coach) and back to work selling pottery.

Somebody has to do it!

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!

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

My Annual European Expedition

This year I did something different, not only did my wife Suzi accompany me but my daughter Daisy and her husband, Greg, came along for the first two weeks. As I get closer to looking for some sort of exit strategy I’ve been thinking of why not blending our business with theirs. For years the English have expanded their garden centers from being just plants, pots, soils and amenities into restaurants, outdoor sporting goods like fishing tackle, wine bars and other miscellaneous shopping. So, off we went (Daisy has experienced traveling and buying with me for years), to show them a firsthand experience of what it’s like to GO AND SEE.

In many ways food and drink is different in Europe than the USA but they are not always ahead of us. Sometimes, for example with beer and coffee, it’s our opinion they are way behind. Greg made this very clear to us as we tracked down cutting edge coffee providers in the major cities we visited. As he explained “third tier” coffee and how it is different from the typical, Starbucks type coffee. I was amazed at the differences.  Should Eye of the Day add a coffee machine?  What about a cafe?

From world class tapas in San Sebastián to crepes in Montparnasse or simple but classic Tortellini en Brodo from Bologna, what would the impact be on EOD’s future?  So many questions, so many calories so we walked and walked and looked and as you may already know, Eye of the Day is about authenticity, quality and real personal service.  How would this type of expansion affect us?  How would we approach such an idea? A lot of questions coupled with a lot of ideas.

Milan to Bolzano to Bologna

The number of food oriented businesses in Italian cities is extraordinary like most large cities.  Density equals bars, coffee shops, take-out, pizza, burgers everywhere in Europe and restaurant on restaurant. The key to being different beyond the norm is the atmosphere and the that have exterior space as comfortable as the inside have a much better chance to succeed, just look at your typical Paris bistro with its tables on the Rue. Sausage and beers in big steins in Bolzano on a large open piazza covered with a tent let in the sunshine but the environment could have been so much more. Throughout Italy it looked as though most restaurants had nowhere to go when it warms up in the Spring.

I hope that someday soon our goals come together and we can blend our passions into one exciting, vibrant and delicious venue. Eye of the Day, Garden Design Center with the Eye of the Day Cafe.  Stay tuned…

Photo Credits:

Creative Commons, French quarter patio dining by Janice Waltzer is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Creative Commons, Une pizzeria rustique by Stephane Mignon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The holidays are for eating, drinking and perhaps dreaming and planning for some future Spring garden. On these cold winter mornings, it’s nice to get up early and bake something that will make your house smell like your childhood holiday.

CINNAMON BREAKFAST PUFFS

1/3  c. unsalted butter
½ c. sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 ½ c all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ t nutmeg
¼ t allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground ginger
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
½ c whole milk, room temperature

CINNAMON SUGAR COATING

6 T butter, melted
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the 1/3 cup of butter and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until browned and nutty smelling.  Pour into a medium mixing bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature

In the meantime, heat the oven to 350.  Grease and lightly flour a 12 cup muffin tin.

Add the sugar and egg to the cooled butter and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, spices and zest.  Add the dry ingredients in increments to the butter-sugar mixture, alternating with the milk and beating until fully combined after each addition.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups.  Bake until golden grown about 20-25 minutes

While the puffs are baking, put the melted butter into a shallow bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon in another one.  When the puffs are finished baking, use a knife to take them out of the muffin tin.

One by one dip each I the melted butter, covering the entire surface and then roll in the cinnamon sugar.  Transfer to a festive platter and serve warm.

Photo Credit: Cinnamon Breakfast Puffs, Creative Commons, the return of the egg puffs! by Jessica Wilson is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Garden Cocktails: Holiday Edition

You have so much going on during the holiday season, but you need something special for yourself while you sit down, relax and enjoy all the work you have put into making everyone happy.  You could make a second one for someone and continue to spread the happiness.

WINTER  ICE CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

Serves 1

¾ oz Hendricks Gin

¾ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice (from your garden!)

½ oz simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water)

3 oz your favorite champagne or sparkling wine

Shake first three ingredients with ice.  Strain into a coup or champagne glass and top with champagne.

Photo Credit: Champagne Tower, Creative Commons, champagne tower by kenichi nobusue is licensed under CC by 2.0