Ahoy! My love affair with stripes.

I'm not sure why, but I've always been drawn to nautically inspired clothing. I own more blue and white striped shirts than I'd care to admit, and I'm always on the prowl for more.

Maybe its a Pisces thing. There's just something so crisp and neat about a wide leg pair of khaki pants and a striped tee. It makes me feel like I'm spending the weekend in Nantucket, riding a bike around town and reading Moby Dick on the shoreline on a cool spring morning.

Perhaps I think about clothing a little too much.

One of my favorite dresses growing up was a little white sailor dress with red ribbon trim. Even as a three year old, I felt so put together in this ensemble!




Below, Stella models two of my favorite striped tops. Unfortunately, they don't really photograph very nicely. The first is from Loft. Its a long sleeved tee, with a tie neck. I pair it often w/this particular white skirt (also from Loft) or sometimes with a pair of khaki pants. I bring it on every cruise vacation. It makes me feel like a first mate. Second, Stella models a silky black/white striped tank from the Limited. I usually pair this with a black pencil skirt, and throw a colorful cardigan over it for work.






When I spied these Steve Madden shoes two years ago, I HAD to have them, despite the price tag. I must say, they could be the most uncomfortable shoes ever - they DO have a 4 inch heel - but they are so adorable, that I'm willing to suffer!

As if I didn't own enough blue and white, here are some items that I'd love to add to my collection, if you're in the market for a gift for me:

This dress, by Rachel Pally, is the perfect Caribbean cruise dress. I imagine it with rich brown leather, flat gladiator sandals and big coral earrings.

Another, more casual, Nautical dress, from Beyond Vintage. This dress makes me think of dinner and drinks at Ocean beach. I'd pair this with chunky, wedge espadrilles and my favorite gold Anthropologie earrings.

Not sure if you're aware, but LL Bean has a great new line of more contemporary clothes that don't scream "I hunt elk" in the way that their regular line does. This shirt would be adorable w/white linen pants or a white cotton skirt. LLBean Signature Line. I'm 98% sure I'll be ordering it sometime soon.

I plan on ordering this striped sweatshirt, from Chadwicks, very soon. It looks great for those nights when you go to a friends bbq, wearing cropped khakis and a white tank, and just need a little something to throw over your shoulders when it starts to get dark out.

This is a nautical look that would be great for the office if paired with crisp, white dress pants and nude heels. Gap (its on clearance right now!!)

LOVE these denim sailor pants from LL Bean Signature. The denim looks so light and breathable - they'd be a great alternative to cropped pants. I'd pair them with a gauzy white top and flat, gold, embellished sandals... This outfit would make me feel as if I was out sightseeing on Capri. I know this to be true b/c I watched a show last night in which Giada tours capri and sports a similar outfit. Giada doesn't play.

These cropped sailor pants, from Victorias Secret, would look adorable paired with a simple navy blue ribbed tank and neutral cork wedges. Alas, if I was 20 pounds like the model below, I might wear them w/a white string bikini. For now, I'll just floss my teeth w/the bikini below.

Ah... gotta love a nautical inspired earring from, you guessed it, Anthropologie. Glitzy Starfish earring.

Some cute and very reasonable espadrilles from Old Navy.

When I was 5 I insisted on making my mom buy me the classic Dr Scholls hard bottomed sandal. I would then proceed to fall down in them all the time. But, my golly, they were a stylish shoe back in 1983. Here they are, updated w/a higher wedge and a more contemporary color, from Zappos.

And an adorable pair of nautical espadrilles that I stumbled upon in the Chadwicks catalogue. PS - They come in wide width! Yay for all my fellow fat-footed ladies.

Captain Claudette says Ahoy and invites you to go out and stock up on all kinds of Nautical Paraphenalia. She even promises that it will make you a championship sport fisherman. Captain Claude wouldn't lie about her fish.

Naturally, you'd assume that since I've dedicated this blog to nautical themed clothing that I'd be sharing some sort of seafood dish with you. Well, I hate fish. I wish I liked fish. It looks like a gay ol' time to be sitting there at the table w/a plastic bib, cracking open a lobster and dipping it in butter. Every Christmas Eve I force myself to try a miniscule piece of scallop. Your palate developes as you get older, right? Well, that may be, but no fish for me. I'm not sure what it is... the smell? The consistancy? The fact that I feel bad for eating one of Ariel's friends? A little bit of each. Regardless, we live in a fish free household, save for kitty food.

So, what I'm going to share w/you today I'm categorizing as a "striped" food. Hey, I had to make something fit with this theme. And so we have...

The Rainbow Cookie

I don't like to brag (ok, maybe I do a little bit) but I have been told that my rainbow cookies are the best around - moister than a bakery even! Alas, I actually don't really like rainbow cookies personally, but they look super fancy, and people always seem so impressed by them. Now I will share with you my super secret (not really, I'm a big recipe sharer) Rainbow cookie recipe, along with some tips.

Ingredients
8 ounces almond paste
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
Red Food coloring (I like to use the Wilton gel. Its gives a vibrant color)
Green Food coloring
1/4 cup seedless red raspberry jam
1/4 cup apricot jam (IMO, you have to use both types of jam)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three 9x13 inch baking pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, break apart almond paste with a fork, and cream together with butter, sugar, and egg yolks with an electric mixer. When mixture is fluffy and smooth, stir in flour to form a dough. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into the dough. Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Mix one portion with red food coloring, and one with green food coloring. Spread each portion into one of the prepared baking pans. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Carefully remove from pan and parchment paper, and cool completely on wire racks. Place green layer onto a piece of plastic wrap large enough to wrap all three layers. Spread green layer with raspberry jam, and top with uncolored layer. Spread with apricot jam, and top with pink layer. Transfer layers to a baking sheet, and enclose with plastic wrap. Place a heavy book on top of wrapped layers to compress. Chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight. The next morning, I cut the long strips (or, like a cookie log), the width that you want the cookies to be. I melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and cover the strips with the melted chocolate on the top and both sides. Sometimes I'll top them w/chocolate sprinkles if I have them on hand. I then return these to the fridge for another 2 or 3 hours. When they seem completely hardened, cut into individual cookies and store in wax paper.

These are great cookies. Even my ex's super bitchy mother had to admit that they were pretty damn good, and she hated me with all of her being. Try it out! Its a labor of love, but once you've done it a few times, you get the hang of it. Or you can just pay me to make them for you.

Alas, I hope you've enjoyed this blog! It took me over a week to get it together, b/c of this horrible tonsillectomy. Now that its complete, I say we all throw on stripes and espadrilles and eat a vat of cookies on a boat.