wanted: spring-ready shoes

My feet have been confined to closed-toes shoes and boots of every possible kind for months now. Needless to say, they're dying for some fresh air. Spring weather is slowly but surely making it's way here and I don't know about you but I can't wait to show off a bright pedicure in some of my favorite sandals. This season, I'm looking to add a few new styles to my spring/summer rotation and I have my eye on these to kick off the season

Clockwise from top: Keds, GAP, DV by Dolce Vita, Zara, Sam Edelman

I also already treated myself to these hot pink beauties from ShoeMint last week. It's still too chilly to do anything more than wear them around the apartment but they'll make their debut soon enough. 

What are your must have shoes for spring?

in the kitchen: rustico cooking school

As much as I think I know about cooking, there will always be more to learn. That's one of the things I love about it, after all. For Christmas this year, my aunt got my cousin and I gift certificates for an Italian cooking school here in the city. With all of the amazing classes they offer, it was hard to pick just one but we ended up settling on a pasta sauce course. Since the classes are in such high demand, we waited until last week to go but it was well worth it.

Here are a few of the shots I managed to snap between kneading, mixing, and eating A TON of pasta (I consider it a small miracle that I didn't roll out of there). The pace was pretty quick though so I didn't get too many... especially not after they brought out the wine.

 

{1. a handy packet with all of the night's recipes, 2. the cavatelli making machine that i now want for my kitchen, 3. the adorable pastas that the machine turned out, 4. recipe one: our homemade cavatelli with arugula, roasted cherry tomatoes and ricotta salata, 5. then the wine happened and my cooking class documentation went out the window, 6. penne alla vodka (my favorite of the night), 7. four cheese baked rigatoni, 8. puttanesca sauce with my new favorite pasta shape - fusilli lunghi bucati}

If you want to check out the classes at the Rustico Cooking School, click here. I took 10 Best Pasta Sauces #2 and highly recommend it but the Northern Italian Favorites class is next on my list. So is the Flavors of Abruzzo class.