Foggy Ridge Hard Cider

You never know who you'll meet on a plane and most of the time it usually turns out to be a fascinating experience. I was lucky enough to meet Diane Flynt on a recent trip who runs Foggy Ridge Cider. We're talking artisan, hard cider made from over 30 American, English and French apple varieties.

They harvest their own apples from their own orchards and make their cider in small, carefully controlled batches. You can find a list of fine restaurants and retailers on their website that serve Foggy Ridge Cider and cook with it. If you're lucky enough to be a Virginia resident you can order by mail.

Great Business Card & Great Coffee

©Charming Ink/Lachelle Via

I'm all about some good coffee and supporting smaller, locally owned businesses. On a recent trip to Portland, OR I discovered Stumptown Coffee Roasters. They make a dizzying array of coffee beverages and as their name indicates, they do all the roasting themselves. You can even see it person at their Division Street location.

I'm also a fan of their business card design. I love way the stack of cups resembles a rough woodcut print and the rounded corners and textured paper are just the type of careful attention to detail I respect. Even the cappuccino is a mini work of art. I mean just look at that heart in the foam. I heart Stumptown.

Pina Colada Pudding

© lachelle via/charming ink

I enjoy certain aspects of my job more than others. Today was one those fun days where I got to prop shop, set style and photograph a recipe for the magazine I freelance for. I also have to make the food in these cases and this reader recipe turned out to be pretty tasty. 

Sunflower door in Prague

Every little detail in the architecture around Prague delighted me. I've always heard how this city embraced Art Nouveau like no other and I was in heaven. Just look at this incredible door! Aside from the ironwork sunflowers and the fact that top is round and filled with tulip-patterned leaded stained glass, it's got a clock as well! Positively beautiful. I wish we'd had more than two days to explore this wonderful city.

Beauty in unexpected places

I've been off the radar for several weeks taking a long overdue mega-vacation. Munich, Prague and Budapest. All the cities were beautiful and unique in their architecture and design. I love finding something beautifully designed that as a general rule isn't. I wasn't disappointed. The photo above is of a manhole cover. Yes, a manhole cover. Go Budapest!

Color Inspiration in Rome

© 2010 charmingink/lachelle via

On a recent trip to Italy I snapped this image in the late afternoon sun. The colors were just so gorgeous that I wanted to translate them into a design color palette. Aren't those windows beautiful?

Picci Carousel in Florence, Italy

The Piazza della Repubblica is in the heart of Florence—a gathering place for tourists, artists and musicians and at the center is a wonderful antique carousel. It's the Picci family carousel and while the gaily colored horses were beautiful by day, they were even more compelling when illuminated at night.

The food was so good in Florence that I ate it all before having the presence of mind to photograph anything. Sorry. Really.