On Slow Life

#Slow Living My Affair with #Slow Tables In Los Angeles & Europe

 #Slow Tables Where Travel Inspires My Dolce Vita & A Milestone Birthday

I like to travel and see how people simply celebrate life around a table ... slowly. The Mediterranean is a good place to start, and the first place my slow appreciation for life began. So when a big birthday came around and travel was not an option for many of my friends and family, I got creative with this as inspiration. Slow and simple did it for me. ❤️🥂☮️

My Walks in France Got Me Going Slowly

In Paris & Arles 

My Lens Slows For These Gems

Home

I Begin With Inspiration & A Patch Of Dirt

And Create It With Linens from Provence

Over the years I have been obsessed with tables usually on European soil. I always admired the way French or Italian people just throw together tables anywhere and make it an event. I decided to do that this year in my backyard for a milestone birthday. My heart and soul did the job with a little help from a Goddess caterer whose small elegant crew were on my page with the simplicity of what a little patch of dirt, an olive tree, rosemary, lavender and love could do. Oh ya, candles, flowers, and wine and champagne of course. I could have been in Spain, Italy, or France. Instead, I stayed home and brought Europe to my friends and family. 

Los Angeles The Slow Life Began With A Simple Garden

The small salad plates got me in the 

MOOOD “Am I in France?”

 

In Los Angeles We Have Spanish Homes

That Helps Set The Stage

The set table

A Milestone Birthday Should Be

Celebrated

Slow life to me feels like something simple and magical, intimate and soulful. Over the years, I have had some of the most memorable meals in my little corner of the world in Los Angeles after lusting after the simple tables I have photographed or eaten at in France and Italy and Mexico. Birthdays have been usually out of town. Sausalito, Ireland, The Berkshires, anywhere but here. It was time to slow down at home after all we have been through.

A Small Garden Is Just Enough 

With The Right Touches

There is something easy about a table outside with the right blend of people and embellishments to make the scene magical, celebratory, intimate or simply special. As a slow lifer here are some of my own tables. I had the blessed good fortune to celebrate my milestone with established elders, modern elders, family, friends in my own backyard. We all feel more comfortable outside right now, open air and knowing who has a seat at your table.

A private chat with my mom @ 87 

The Guests Arrive

Where Are We?

The Wine & Champagne Table 

So We Slow Down In A Small Space

And I Am So Happy To Stay Home

This is also a reunion after 

A long pause

When Life Moves Slow It Is Something 

To Remember

 

 

At Home Celebrations 

Chez Moi

Thanksgiving 2020

Outside Table for Four

To Life & Slow Tables

Cheers!

My Slow Maltese Pilgrimage

A Beautiful Time Warp - Reunion Malta 30 years later (Homage to Travel)

Recent New York Times T Magazine Article- Fortress of Solitude

Valletta

 The Mediterranean Island of Malta is slowly growing into my own personal history.  With old friends, ancient architecture and the soothing and seductive lure of the sea, it is one place I have been that I can drop out of the world and still learn a lot about it. It is remote and international, isolated and inundated with spirit, history, ancient gorgeous cathedrals, phonetic language, a mash up of civilizations that feel Arabic, Italian, Greek, spacious and crowded.

 

 Walking in Mdina

 It has a raw simplicity of earth, rock, sea and  sky (particularly on the island of Gozo), true old friends that put my relationship to time and space back in focus. When I first came here I cultivated my love of slow life and the eccentric nature of islanders, particularly this one. Malta is all things majestic and primitive. I love it and feel blessed to have had friends through my ages where slow and timeless adventures in coves and rocks, churches and piazzas house parties and country roads unravel a country so small and so vast.  

 

 

 Valletta Harbor

  The capital of Malta is forever linked to the history of the military and charitable Order of St John of Jerusalem. It was ruled successively by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and the Order of the Knights of St John. Valletta’s 320 monuments, all within an area of 55 ha, make it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world.

 

And My Obsession With the Water Which Cradles The Jewels

Human and Architectural 

Seriously Seeking Serinity

Reconnecting with long lost friends welcoming me back to

Malta 

  

 

 

La Dolce Vita - Malta is Just A Choppy Hop From

Italy 

 

 

             Solange the Rib Diva Real Estate Mogul & Thoroughly Modern Maltese Mom

 

Jessica and Wendy friends since 1979

She's Mostly Maltese But Talks Like A Fast American Brought Me To This Crazy Island In The First Place And Is The Unofficial American Ambassador

  

We dove off the “rib” to snorkel catch sea urchins, swim in coves,  hopped back on and marveled at the glory of the water. My friend's go from traditional Maltese mothers and local matriarchs to goofy girls constantly enchanted by the island's capacity for daily adventures. Accents are gutteral, lyrical, dramatic punctuated by the words MADONNA!! EEEE LA LOO.. distinct fodder for me to mimic while entertaining them with my Maltese accent. My friend Solange morphed from college student I originally met,to traditional Maltese housewife to real estate maven bombing around the island's surreal waters in her zodiac with a la dolce vita attitude and that heavy sing song accent forever imprinted in my mind. She cooks for her grown sons, goes to church with her mother knows more about the stock market and tides, the world and most importantly secret coves. Jessica born in California raised mostly in Malta flips from American to Maltese, clutches on to her American (ness), with such specificity being around her in Malta makes both places feel like home. 

 

 

 

 Malta is a forty minute speed boat drive away from Gozo and a civilization of churches, fortresses, a mashup of multiple civilizations all surrounded by the clearest water in the Med. People are just starting to hear about Malta, with its grand palazzos, overbuilt water front in Silema, the hidden cobble stone streets of the walled city of Mdina and the hauntingly beautiful feasts in every village. This is an island that now attracts tax evaders, investors, refugees, immigrants, sun worshippers and yes, Joile and Pitt for the romantic film set on and around water.

 

 The Girls About To Hit The Waves

 

Why Malta? Revisiting The Island 30 Years Later With  My Local Friends

Who Welcomed Me Back With Open Arms, A Speed Boat, Good Wine & Stories

 
After bumping along at 40mph in the Med off the coast of Malta crossing a small channel with my daredevil friends, I had to process what happened to us over the years. Actually there was nothing new, time slowed down in the speed boat. I was glad I didn't wait too much longer to immerse myself in all things Maltese. These were slightly wild women with grown kids and respectable lives on the island but their water  was clearly kid's zone a  playground as compelling in glorious mid life as it was during college. We had the reunion we talked about for ages. One thing I know, time goes fast so it's key to slow it down and find the people that you can eat and laugh with. That will slow everything down properly and in the most fundamental way.
 

  

 

Good to be back... timeless grace of the sea
 

 Docking in an azure cove tucked in Mgarr ix-Xini bay on the island of Gozo (hiding place of Knights) under the new movie set of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s movie By The Sea 

 

 An afternoon lunch with a group of Brits, Maltese and Italians where the wine flowed, the locally grown peaches and plums delighted. Laughing, bathing suits, pools and discussions and a bit of gossip.

 

Yeah, Food Glorious Food & Wine 

 



 
 

 

 

 

slow lunch & a few laughs

 

 What makes Malta Slow? It's easy to eat and drink all day or hang out on boats but the people talk fast, drive fast, enjoy their news and travel a lot. They are also good at recycling, conservation, cultural tourism, world heritage status, EU standing. They rock.

 

 

 

Gaby On The Boat Tells of Adventures In Amsterdam Coffee Shops

 

 

Driving The Thing  in 84

 

                                                                                           

  Thanks For The Great Summer of 2014

 

Republic of Malta Repubblika ta' MaMalta i/ˈmɔːltə/, officially the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta, pronounced [rɛˈpʊbb.lɪ.kɐ ˈtɐ ˈmɐl.tɐ]), is an island country comprising an archipelago of seven islands in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The country covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi), making it one of the world's smallest[9][10][11] and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which is also, at 0.8 km2, the smallest capital in the European Union.[12] Malta ha

 

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