Give Your Little Friday-Love Boards ♥️

♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️ 

“Take a lover who looks at you like you are magic.” ~Frida Kahlo

I love that quote so very much. I find it applicable to not just your lover, but hopefully the people you hold nearest and dearest make you feel that magical love!

With the shortest month ahead of us, I started thinking about what I wanted to jam into it! More self-care but maybe renamed as self-love? I want to also spread the love and instead of asking or reminding you to #findyourlittlefriday, what about #giveyourlittlefriday ? Enter the newest edition to my boards for purchase!

I am so excited to announce my Love Boards! What could be more delicious and thoughtful than a charcuterie & fromage board for two-that also includes two wonderfully decadent chocolate petit cakes? This board is perfect to share but there is nothing wrong with having it all to ones self or even letting more than a couple people experience the love!

This Valentine’s Day, send this board to your family, friends, galentines and of course your lover. The board is only available for order thru February 13th and for delivery on February 14th. The cost is $50 before delivery and is guaranteed to be something unique for the loves in your life!

Ordering is up and ready to go on the site! ♥️​

Spaghetti Alle Vongole

​♥️Find Your Little Friday♥️

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Alright, sometimes mild deprivation in the name of self-care can lead you to place where you need to remember. Remember your pleasure, your balance, your reconnection to yourself and your little moments of delights. For me, a lot of that is recipes, stories, lessons and wisdom-the best is when they can be all rolled into one. I would be remissed if I didn’t get back to sharing more of my own recipes as a way to contribute to, #findyourlittlefriday. Enjoy this recipe that encapsulates all of that for me and then some! 

Serves 4

1 pd of linguini pasta

4 tbsp of unsalted butter

1 yellow onion diced

2 cloves of fresh garlic minced

The juice from one lemon

Splash of dry white wine

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup of fresh parsley rough chopped-Divided

1 pd of fresh little neck clams, rinsed and lightly scrubbed

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

Salt a handful for pasta water and to taste for finished dish

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt once boiling.  Add pasta, cook for 8 minutes.  You want the pasta to be al dente, still firm in the center when you bite into it. 

While it cooks; melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Add diced onion and sauté for 2 minutes, until the onions start to become translucent.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Add lemon juice, white wine, olive oil and red pepper flakes.  Stir, then add half the parsley to combine.  Add the clams and stir once and allow the clams to rest so they can cook.  The clams should begin to open quickly, they only need about 2 minutes to cook.  Discard any clams that don't open.

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With tongs, directly grab the pasta and add it to pan of sauce and clams.  Once all pasta is added toss ingredients together until well combined.  Serve in four bowls, top with remaining parsley and grated cheese. Now-prepare to be popular with yourself and anyone who’s tries this dish♥️ 

Sarah Pachelli


Time to unpack some things regarding food. My biggest literal life source carries a lot of weight in so many of our lives. I find a constant chatter surrounding "I can't or I won't have these things in my diet because they're bad." There is truth to things not being ultimately healthy and I hardly touch processed food but queue that coca-cola over ice for me please for when I really want it! What I am talking about here and what we are are talking about a lot in this conversation is pleasure and experiencing it in all areas of your life. Having large quantities of almost anything is bad news but pleasure, what is life without pleasure? There will always be enough pain and heartache to go around so I say, allow the pleasure to come in so overwhelmingly your life flows with joy.

Sarah Pachelli has been practicing this philosophy for some years now and it's a way of thinking to get behind. Her overall health and life approach consists of balance, not deprivation....and as many possible trips to Sicily . From a health diagnosis that she ultimately healed through diet, which then prompted her to further her culinary education at The Natural Gourmet Institute. Through food, she has helped those suffering from health ailments and shed incredible light on a life of pleasure.  

Sarah's interest in how diet (meaning what you consume not what you don't allow yourself to have) can hugely affect your overall health came out of a diagnosis. She started experiencing psoriasis that was becoming increasingly more and more intolerable. After meeting with a Western medicine doctor, she was prescribed steroids that only temporarily worked. She asked her physician if there was any way her diet could be contributing to her skin condition. This was met with a resounding no and an explanation that this was a symptom of the skin not the gut. She didn't want to take the prescribed upped dosage of steroids so she started looking elsewhere for answers. She found the book Healing Psoriasis and it changed her life. She started implementing a candida free diet for close to three months and started to see her psoriasis clear up almost completely. She says that she knows she will never not have one or two spots on her at any given time, but she hasn't experienced a full flare up since. That initial experience helped her to better understand how diet directly impacts ones overall health. 

I find your understanding of cravings to be enlightening, how would you define/identify them?

"When I was first diagnosed with psoriasis I was craving night shades like crazy. I would open a can of tomatoes and eat straight from it, no joke. I started to recognize that my cravings were more informative. Your cravings indicate either what you could be allergic to or what your body truly needs. You have to become a detective to your own body and awareness. After I had a better understanding of what was going on internally with me, I noticed I was feeding the thing in my body that was causing my psoriasis to be so aggressive. By eliminating anything that my body naturally turned into sugar, I was able to get a handle on my psoriasis."

What is cooking to and for you?

"Cooking is something I have loved to do for a long time. When I was working as an actor or writer, I found myself going back to the kitchen in times of creative ruts for inspiration. Cooking is the ultimate creative outlet for me, from conception to consumption." 

For someone looking to cleanup their diet in a little way but make a big impact, what would you recommend?
"I would say try and stay away from refined sugars. Replace it with maple or honey in your recipes. Not only does it still taste amazing, but you're giving your body a bit of a break."

Something you have reminded me to bring more of in my life is pleasure, you are truly "its" biggest advocate. Why do you find it to be so very important?

"Pleasure heals. Pleasure is about being embodied. Meaning anything that you do, that you're truly present in that moment. When you're present there is immense joy. I focus on it so much because it reduces the stress response. We must learn to eliminate stress to heal. Stress creates inflammation in the body and if inflammation is the known cause of disease, then stress is the esoteric cause." 

Does this have a direct relationship to food and eating?

"Absolutely. When you start treating food as a reward, it can become negative very quickly. You don't want to turn it into a bad thing. If you associate negative thoughts with food, it triggers stress. This in turn slows your metabolism down."

Where do you gather your greatest pleasure?
"In my almost daily movement practice of being active and of course, Sicily. Sicily is a place that holds so much for me. The way of life there speaks to me. That sun and that water is medicine. You have to just lean into life there, let it just happen--it's all pleasure."

One more time...it's all pleasure. Let's all take a page from this way of thinking and go find our own little moments of delight.


A cleaned up version of fudge, sign me up! This recipe is a Sarah original and has been featured on her good friend's website, www.valleybrinkroad.com. Be warned; you won't be able to stop eating these!

Alexis Field

♥️Find Your Little Friday ♥️

Balanced living might just be one of the ultimate Rubik’s Cube puzzles to solve in life. Impossible to maintain, let alone achieve. How do I find balance? Yoga, meditation, reading or even walking have been activities that keep me feeling good outside of my career in food and beauty. I also find that people are a little intimidated by the idea of bringing new things into their lives, especially things that have been deemed a little out of the ordinary.

My featured individual this week is someone whose whole approach to their life has transformed over the past several years. Talk about a journey, there are snippets to take with you from this conversation to encourage your own balance or awareness.  Enjoy this read and be warned, you may experience extreme pleasure if it’s accompanied with sipping hot peppermint tea of a glass of vino tinto!

My long time friend Alexis has been on her own course of spiritual awakening and maintaining. Meditation is something she has been practicing for quite some time and she recently upped her yoga game. She received a teacher certification at the Kripalu School of Yoga this past summer in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and it has transformed her entire practice and way of life. Her compassionate heart is her driving force and she is that go-to person for what some would say is radical thinking. I find it refreshingly full of sincere honesty and I hope you find some ease in her encouragement of subtle changes.

Coming off of an epic post-holiday that includes travel can leave you feeling a little out of sorts, and in this conversation is Alexis speaking from recent experience. She trekked across most of Spain, starting at the Christmas holiday and well into the new year. One of the first things out of her mouth when we spoke was, “I am really excited to get back to vegan food and into my routine. It’s wonderful to be away and fully immerse yourself in your travels and the culture of wherever you’re visiting. That being said, it’s nice to be back in the comfort of your own home. I’m most excited about my walk to work that I get to take everyday. It’s along the UES of Central Park and I get to watch the foliage change day to day.”

First things first, what do you enjoy about being vegan or why did you choose to become vegan?

“I really care about the environment and leaving less of a carbon foot print. Having a vegan lifestyle is the optimal way for me to live. I do enjoy consuming things that came from animals from time to time. My rule is that it has to be something special though, not just a burger from a place where they’re cranked out.”

Meditation is something you have been practicing for a long time, how would you describe it or your own specific practice?

“Meditation is a playground for my mind. A place where—or more like a gas station where I go to refuel. I gain energy and perspective by taking a break from the constant chatter. A lot of people think of mediation as a place where you try to steady and not let things in, but for me it is about letting stuff happen. When I let things happen or allow my thoughts to really come in, I begin to release stress. I started off by saying it is like a playground setting because I want my thoughts to run around like a high energy kid. I want the thoughts racing until they’ve exhausted themselves, then the deep breath comes in for me. This might seem a little too forward but I’ve said it before-meditation it a lot like sex, it’s different every time.”

What would you tell someone who was struggling with their meditation practice or nervous to start one?

“20 seconds. Start small and grow your practice. Everybody deserves to take a little time for themselves. Allow yourself to enjoy the quiet, it calms your life for a more fulfilled life.”

Do you feel like yoga and meditation inform each other?

“Absolutely. Yoga is a moving meditation from where I have learned to live a better life, it’s about surrendering and acceptance. It’s not about getting a tight butt, but that can be a great by-product of your practice. When you truly surrender, you find growth and expansion. So much of my practice is about going to the beginning of my edge. Sitting in my discomfort and discovering what opens up for and with me-finding acceptance.”

What is the one bit of advice or guidance you would like share to help encourage others?

“Try and find a moment each day to take one really deep and good breath, that’s sometimes all you really need.”

Finding the time to reconnect with yourself doesn’t have to be such an intimidating process. 20 seconds or one deep breath is such a great and attainable place to start. Enjoy finding the time for reconnection to yourself and finding your own little moments of delight #FindYourLittleFriday ♥️