THIS. I have so much to say about this Barbie house. To begin, my sister and I walked up to a house just like this on Christmas morning when I was just the same age as Florence. My mom and dad had built the most magnificent Barbie house and our little girl dreams had come true. My sister and I spent countless hours in front of the Barbie house, imagining worlds and playing out dramas of the most epic proportions. We were fashion designers, queens, matriarchs, bosses, and brides with wedding dresses that out-ruffled Princess Di. But the house we always came home to in our own Barbie Land, rivaled any real world house I’ve seen to this day. We’re talking perfect little pencil-rod-curtains in each room, lamps, rugs, coordinating color schemes, hand sewn tablecloths, and so much more.
Me, age 4, looking a whole lot like Florence.
My sister, Bethany, age 6.
Christmas morning, 1993.
Our original Barbie House kitchen.
Recently my sister and I began talking about how we wanted this sort of thing for our own girls as well. And a job like this can only really be accomplished by the Barbie real estate agent, general contractor, interior designer, and dreamhouse home makeover crew chief known as Lynda Redding (my mom). While Florence knows she is her Mumsy, she deep down really might believe her to be a fairy-godmother who with a wave of her hand (and many many hours of labor-intensive sewing, wallpapering, and accessorizing) still makes dreams come true.
My mom, Lynda.
This past week my mom and dad visited. And my mom and I had the most fun ever making this little house come to life for Florence. I’ll treasure the memories I have of this week, remembering how well my mom and I work on creative projects together, and how much we giggled, oogled, and smiled as this little world came together. I really have to take a second glance at these photos to realize it is in fact Barbie-scale. It even has the original kitchen from my Barbie house. I can’t even. And I can’t wait to see how Florence grows with this and unfolds her own stories and adventures like we did. Labors of love and creativity really are treasures.
And Now for some food…
A few weeks ago I shared a hummus and crispy chickpeas recipe. Today I’m sharing a Moroccan-inspired chicken shawarma recipe with tahini-yogurt dipping sauce. Next week you can expect a few more Mediterranean elements that will result in everything you need to have a Mediterranean feast of colorful, flavorful proportions.
This chicken shawarma style recipe is a knockout every time. The tahini-yogurt balances out the deeply spiced and blackened chicken to make flavors that bounce back and forth off of one another and come together perfectly. When I was in Morocco, I stopped at a shawarma shop nearby quite a few times. It was so full of spice and flavor, I couldn’t get enough. That same summer, in Fez, I had an incredible Moroccan pastilla that played with the sweet-savory the way Moroccans do best. This is an attempt at capturing some of those memories in my own kitchen.