Pink of Perfection

Relationships — and not just romantic ones, but with our friends, too — open us up to all sorts of delights we might not have known otherwise. Take me, for example: Before Sebastian and I started dating, I thought I didn’t like Chinese food, had never listened to David Bowie, and thought the internet was for buying shoes. And now look at me — it’s a rare fortnight that doesn’t see me ordering fried pork dumplings to my door, I listen to Ziggy Stardust when I’m washing the dishes and folding laundry, and I don’t think we need to go to into how much the internet has shaped the trajectory of my little life.

Also B.S. (Before Sebastian) I had never heard of poutine, but he talked about it like it was the holy grail of foods. (Perhaps it was made more fantastic by its relative unavailability to us.) So, when work took me to Montreal several years ago, my beloved came with me. While I sat at a book conference, he stay locked in our hotel room and built the original Pink of Perfection and dreamed about eating poutine for dinner. Finally, one night, I rescued him from his hard work and we took the metro to another part of town. We found ourselves at a diner and, intimidated by the locals, managed to choke out an order for poutine and two Molsons. The poutine was just as so-wrong-it’s-right delicious as Sebastian had led me believe. And now, if you can believe it, there’s a burger joint a mere 10 blocks away that serves up this Quebecois delicacy.

But to learn the ropes of the real deal, I figured we needed a bona fide Montrealer to give us the scoop. Cat Taylor from Montreal is Chic tells us everything you ever wanted to know:

Back in the late 1950s when poutine is said to have been conceived in Quebec, no one could foresee the foray this unique product would make into some of the most sought-after dining establishments worldwide. The trend has spread past the North American shores to Europe and the myths and legend of the poutine story continue to grow.

But I’m here to give the facts.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Poutine” »

There are so many blogs I wish I could live inside, but I think Abby Try Again takes top billing. Her blog is the visual interpretation of what I love about Paris: gray, and a little bit melancholy, but like a gossamer-draped dream. Its talented creator, Abby Powell-Thompson, calls it an experiment in film photography and general happiness; I call it my favorite love letter to life’s most unassuming beauties — a tissue paper beach ball with the light catching it just so, colorful pennants stretched across the street, a donut with sprinkles. And it probably goes without saying that I’m an absolute goner for her Five Senses Friday series. We may not be able to step inside her blog for the weekend, but we can get into that brain for a few questions (and snag her prints on Etsy):

Tell us about Abby Try Again. What made you decide to do the blog? What are the biggest challenges? What inspires your posts? What’s been the biggest surprise?

I started the blog almost five years ago, right after my husband and I relocated to Portland, OR, from a tiny little farm town in California. It was a “crafty” blog and a way of keeping touch with family and friends who were back at home. Over the years the blog grew and changed just like me. I noticed I liked the “journaling” aspect of the blog and the photos just came as a natural progression. I try to be very honest and open in the blog without revealing too many boring details. The biggest surprise was finding so many like-minded people from around the world. I was (am) a really big nerd and it was nice to make connections through the blog. Another surprise is that the blog is very therapeutic for me. It calms me down, gives me perspective and it’s become a nice daily ritual for me.

Your photographs evoke the most serene, quiet, beautiful life. What’s your personal philosophy for achieving beauty and pleasure in daily life?

Like many others out there, I’ve always struggled with my self-image. Blogging has helped me realize how good my life is and how good the people are around me.  I think the majority of us are so very lucky and when you take the time to stop and notice the little beautiful things you begin to realize that. At least, it works for me. Every day I try to schedule at least one “nice” thing — whether it’s a walk to someplace quiet, a new flower from the market, a phone call to a loved one or reading a chapter in a book. I think it is important to have scheduled “good” times.

Who or what most inspires you?

Oh, that is a tough one. I glean inspiration from everywhere. I guess if I had to answer, it would be objects. When I see an old object I imagine its story; where it came from, who it belonged to, where it is going…

What’s your ideal day look like?

I love to travel! So my ideal day who would be spent in some town I’ve never been to, eating new things, exploring, digging around in old shops and shooting photos. Of course, James would be there, too.

I know Twitter isn’t a completely useless media development because it brought me to Tea. Known more formally as Tara Austen Weaver, Tea & Cookies’s namesake is warm and utterly real. If you can sense a kind, salt-of-the-earth nature in 140 characters, you know it’s the real deal. And today is a huge day for Tea. Her book, The Butcher and the Vegetarian, just hit the shelves. It seemed like a more than fitting time for a celebratory chat.

Tell us about Tea & Cookies. What made you decide to do the blog? What are the biggest challenges? What inspires you, your food, and your posts?

Tea & Cookies was a total accident. I was sick, I was bored, I had been reading a lot of food blogs. One day I started one—but I never put my name on it or told my friends. I didn’t plan to keep it up once I was healthy and back at work, but by that time I was hooked and couldn’t stop.

The site has always been about what is inspiring me at that moment. It’s a personal place where I talk about what I love—food, travel, tea, pretty things, amazing people. The name for the blog was an accident as well, but now I think of it as my tea party where I get to chat with lovely people about things that make me happy. It’s a joy.

The hard part is staying motivated and finding the time for it all. I burnt out after finishing the book and had to step away for a little while. I thought about stopping entirely, but the site has brought so much that is wonderful into my life—people who have become dear friends, a wonderful community of other bloggers, amazingly kind and generous readers. I would miss it terribly if I gave it up.

How did your experience blogging affect the process of writing a book? Do you approach the two forms differently, and if so, how?

Writing a blog is like going for a lap swim each morning—a slight effort, but ultimately a nice little workout that leaves you energized. Writing a book is like swimming the Atlantic. There are sharks, there are storms you couldn’t have predicted or prepared for, but there are huge triumphs as well. A regular writing schedule like blogging is good practice for a book, but I’m not sure anything prepares you to lose sight of the shore.

In my case I knew the book was going to look very different from the blog, as it covered material I had never written about. If my blog is about putting forth what I want to write about, the book pulled out things I was scared to write about. It was much harder, though ultimately more rewarding.

Continue reading “POP Profile: Tea & Cookies” »

photo by Rebecca Brogan

Shannalee T’Koy’s writing on her blog, Food Loves Writing, is like a ripe peach at full blush — lush and irresistible. Part of Shannalee’s appeal is how intimate her voice is. Whether you are reading her blog for the first time or the fiftieth, the feeling is that she is confiding just to you a discovery or a family treasure. And this would explain, in part, why when she decided to throw a blog birthday party, her readers showed up eager and hungry and left happy. Oh, and her photographs? Let’s just say they leave me hungry and happy, too.

Tell us about Food Loves Writing. What made you decide to do the blog?

I wanted a place to honor my grandma, the woman who taught me how to bake and who’d passed away nine years earlier. After she died, I used to say that I’d name my first daughter Caroline, after her, but by the summer of 2008, I realized there is more than one way to honor someone you’ve loved. Food Loves Writing has become just that, a place where I’ve continued growing and learning as a cook and as a person, with her a part of it all along.

What are the biggest challenges, and what inspires your posts?

It’s definitely been challenging to teach myself the technical side of blogging, but I guess that’s like cooking: no one is born a great webmaster any more than she’s born a great chef, right? It’s all about trying and learning and taking things one step at a time, so I do.

As far as what inspires my posts: I subscribe to so many well-written, beautifully photographed, creative, interesting blogs, and I can’t say enough about the inspiration they provide; I read magazines like Bon Appetit; I subscribe to newsletters like The Splendid Table; and I get the nicest e-mails from people, pointing me towards new things to try.

I share your feeling that food is a good entry point to talk about life. What do you think it is that makes food such a good reference point for, well, everything else?

Maybe because food is something we all have in common. No matter our age or race or culture, we all have to put something into our mouths in order to keep living, in order to keep doing everything else. Food sustains us and pleases us and, even more than that, connects us, through cooking, eating, standing around a table for the community of shared experience. When you think about it, food is such a gift.

Has your life changed at all in face of the recession? Has your cooking changed?

It’s true we’re all a little more aware of our spending these days, whether directly affected by job loss or pay cuts or not, but eating well doesn’t have to be. I am continually looking to lower my grocery and dining costs, whether by coupons or more eating from the pantry or just overall creativity (while not compromising quality), but I’d like to think that would always be true of me, recession or not.

Continue reading “POP Profile: Food Loves Writing” »

a fresh start in the new year

image via j_bary

the snow on the windowsills

Season 1 of The Wire

Kandinsky at the Guggenheim

trying out the best $2 tacos in Brooklyn

bath salts at home with that amazing “I’m at a spa” smell

baked oatmeal for cold mornings

image via alicepopkorn

guided meditations at meditation oasis

and you, my pretties?

Tomatoes

• roasted tomato and cheddar bread from pete bakes
• tomato and corn pie from smitten kitchen
• homemade tomato soup from tammy’s recipes
• smoky scallops with fennel and tomato from the kitchn
• stuffed tomatoes from the wednesday chef
• sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake from jamie oliver (thanks, domestikate!)

Zucchini

• roasted zucchini with green onions, feta, and basil from kalyn’s kitchen
• zucchini bread from 101 cookbooks
• chocolate zucchini cake from simply recipes
• zucchini galette from serious eats
• thai curried zucchini fritters from closet cooking
• pasta with goat cheese, zucchini and summer squash from sassy radish

Green Beans

• green beans with walnut miso sauce from bitten
• pomegranate-glazed green beans and portobellos from karina’s kitchen
• green beans and coconut milk sauce from (our) brazilian home to yours
• balsamic-glazed green beans from one hot stove
• brown butter green beans with almonds from andrea’s recipes
• garlic lemon green beans with toasted breadcrumbs from food, and other musings

Okay, so I’m using the word “taco” in the most general sense possible here. But I think there’s room on Taco Tuesday for all sorts of Latin flavors — enchiladas, fajitas, seviche, and yes, even tortilla soup.

There are certainly more labor-intensive (and authentic) methods for making tortilla soup. But when it’s 60 degrees in May and you just want a taste of lime-scented broth topped with slivers of avocado to warm you up for lunch, this is an easy way to make that happen. Much easier than, let’s say, using GPS to determine which Mexican restaurants are open at 9:55 in Asheville, NC and serve tortilla soup, the only thing you can imagine comforting your allergy-stricken sore throat. (In case you are ever in this situation, the answer is La Paz.)

When I saw the very lovely Jora of Domestic Reflections make “tortilla soup, bastardized” I knew she was a woman after my own heart. And now not just because of her drool-worthy house and ridiculously beautiful children. But because she is practical, and uses that practicality to make dreams come true. Dreams like easy tortilla soup. Bring it.

Continue reading “Taco Tuesday: Easy Tortilla Soup” »

Erin McKean is kind of amazingly cool. There’s the fact that she is a lexicographer (which means she pretty much takes the “sexy librarian” thing to a whole ‘nother level), and that she loves words and frocks so equally she has been known to make dresses from crossword fabric. But I like her most of all her for whip-smart, funny, oozing-with-personality-and-charm blog, Dress A Day, on which she makes sewing dreamy dresses look not so terrifying. In fact, she even makes it look fun.

How did you learn to sew and tell us about the beginning and evolution of Dress A Day?

My mother, bless her, taught me to sew when I was about 12 or so. We chose a pattern and fabric together. She made the first dress (pink rosebuds, slightly dropped waist, sleeveless) while I watched, and I made a second dress (blue floral) from the same pattern while she watched and corrected. Then I was off to the races!

As, for the blog, I was out with my husband Joey one night and was talking about the blogs I was reading, and I told him I really wanted there to be a blog that talked about a dress every day. And because my husband is the kind of guy that intuitively understands what you really want and then eggs you on to do it, he said “Why don’t you do it?”

I registered the domain name dressaday.com and then sat on it for a year, not doing anything. So when it came up for renewal I felt as if I had wasted a year in which I could have been doing something fun and cool, just because I was “too busy.” I figured I would never be LESS busy, so I’d just have to make time for it. I’m so glad that I did!

No beating around the bush: you’re hilarious. Who or what cracks you up?

Aw, thanks! I’m a huge fan of absurdist humor, and language-y humor. And if you don’t find something to be absurdly funny every day, you’re not paying close enough attention.

What do you think is the essence of great style?

Being yourself — and being fearless about being yourself. You should never be yourself half-assedly. (Go ahead — be entirely an ass!) Also, no one on their deathbed says “I should have worn more black, I would have looked skinnier.”

What’s some of the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

Nobody will notice (insert flaw here), and if even if they do notice, only rude people would say anything about it.

Word on the street is you’re writing a novel. Can you tell us about it?

Um, yeah! It’s about a woman named Dora who goes home to run her grandmother’s vintage shop. And it’s about being brave enough to do what you want to do and not what you think you should do. And it has “Secret Lives of Dresses” in it. And some other stuff. (But no car chases. We’re saving that for the movie.)

What or who most inspires you?

I think I’m inspired most by having an interesting problem to solve. Why can’t we do something in a different way? Why not try a new approach? The worst that can happen is that you still have the problem you started out with, only now you know one more thing that won’t work.

What’s your surefire way to unwind after a stressful day?

A novel by Georgette Heyer, Donald Westlake, or Angela Thirkell, a hot bath, and maybe some popcorn (but not popcorn in the bathtub, that’s weird). Or watching House with my husband while we hold hands.

What’s in your fridge right now?

Olives, pickles, roasted red peppers, mild yellow peppers, giardiniera (basically anything that is steeped in vinegar and comes in a jar) and every possible thing you can put on top of ice cream. I like condiments.

Last but not least: Maryanne or Ginger (from Gilligan’s Island)?

Oh, totally Maryanne, but you have to let her raid Ginger’s closet. That’s the best of both worlds. (Also, I’m totally Betty, but I wish I were Veronica.)