Pink of Perfection

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.

In addition to cozy, my love (and yours) of which we’ve discussed at length, I have a thing for wholesomeness. This is why, I think, I find myself so drawn to My Antonia, Anne of Green Gables, and fresh baked cookies. There’s something about them that just seems so guileless and innocent, how could there really be anything wrong with them? Who cares about the loneliness, Matthew’s death, or all that butter?

This is also how I feel about a certain sort of cake. It’s a cake with fruit it in and a dense crumb. The kind of cake that goes magically with a cup of tea on a dreary afternoon. The kind of cake that a mother — real or imagined — ought to bake. And the kind of cake that is just right after a rich and boozy dinner. It will soak up all the wine and cream sauce, brighten the air with citrus, and set things right again. Oh, how I wish at this moment there were still a slice in the kitchen.

Continue reading “Orange Walnut Cake with Greek Yogurt” »

I am writing this dispatch from the thick wooden counter at my local coffee shop. Out the window is an apartment building with snow-lined sills and fire escapes. My toes are a little wet from the walk here and climbing over the mountainous snow piles on the corner (what to do when your beloved winter boots become un-waterproofed?), but there’s a heater underfoot and warmth is on the rise. The barista’s got Os Mutantes on the stereo and all together, I’ve decided that one of the best examples of opposites attract on earth is Tropicalia-meets-winter. This also includes, of course, the cuisine of a warmer, spicier clime, and these meatballs, right here, are the perfect antidote to a Nor’easter.

Continue reading “Lamb and Prune Meatballs with Moroccan Tomato Sauce” »

image via LIFE

This is the time of year in which homebodies are at their peak. The weather outside is frightful and if you really want to, you can use it as an excuse to get out of just about anything. Snowing? I don’t think I can make it to that event after all. Bitterly cold? I might be coming down with something and wouldn’t want to make it worse. Then you can stay on the couch in your comfy pants, watching dvds and feeling snug as a bug in a rug. And is there a problem with this?

Lately I’ve been thinking of my homebody ways. I live in a really vibrant city, one in which there is a fabric store that deeply delights me, 100-year-old butcher shops run by men in sharp paper hats, and the kind of imaginative home design and clothing boutiques that can inspire great ideas. But I would rather not brave the elements, schlep to the subway, and battle shoppers in SoHo. I would rather, from the comfort of my silk bathrobe, order things online and have them delivered to my door. Is this being a homebody? Or profoundly lazy?

Continue reading “The Homebody Season” »

do you guys know about poladroid? i’m kind of obsessed

One of my favorite places to go in New York City isn’t a dimly-lit speakeasy cocktail lounge or a gargantuan structure that houses works of art from every corner of the globe; it’s my friend Alison’s apartment. When I walk into her home, I am always embraced first by my friend and then by a deeply comforting, relaxing fragrance. Alison understands the allure of fragrance. The scents are never overpowering or noxiously artificial — they are subtle, soothing, and mysteriously unplaceable. Is that orange or verbena or cassis? Who knows, it is just, simply, marvelous.

Scent is one of our more overlooked senses, I think, and one of the most powerful. And because fragrance is so evocative and personal, it can really tap into a whole ‘nother sense of ourselves. I always feel, for example, that if one is wearing a forgettable black dress coupled with a heady fragrance, one can feel herself transformed into the alluring, purring ne plus ultra of sex appeal. Can’t one?

The power of scent can be as transformative in a home. But ever since a boss pointed out to me that buying scented candles is literally burning your money, I haven’t been able to enjoy the spendy scented pillars quite as much. What I’ve substituted instead are lots of cheap tealights all around the living room with a quietly simmering saucepan of aromatics in the kitchen. Everything you need for a little home fragrancing can be found in the grocery store. And if you’ve ever purchased essential oils for DIY beauty recipes, dilute several drops of essential oil in a simmering water and you’ve got instant aromatherapy.

Continue reading “DIY Home Fragrance on the Cheap” »

Can we talk about cookies yet?

I know you’re all eating tofu and baby bok choy and feeling like lean, virtuous tigers of unbounded energy, but consider the cookie. So perfectly portioned, sweet, buttery, a little salty. The perfect nibble, really, with an afternoon cup of tea when you feel your will to look at another spreadsheet flagging. And even though I can’t think of a way to convince you that a cookie is the gold standard in nutrition, you can’t deny how utterly wholesome these devils are. What do you think Laura Ingalls Wilder ate on the grassy plains when she sat cooling her heels in a cold brook? What did Jane Austen use to fortify her mind while considering the proper twist to bring Elizabeth and Darcy back together? I cannot prove that it was cookies, but I feel quite certain that the chances are good it was.

Necessity inspired a revelation with this particular recipe. All I happened to have in the freezer was salted butter, undoubtedly something my mom sent me home with in a “your not eating well enough” care package. Here, take four sticks of butter. Anyway, I followed the recipe to a t, using the salted butter and then absentmindedly stirring in additional salt as well. The results were addictive: flat, rich cookies, crisp on the edges, soft in the middle, studded with saltiness. A cure for the Mondays? I won’t make any promises, but it’s worth a shot.

Continue reading “Peanut Butter Cup Cookies” »

There is something intrinsically magical about a Christmas tree. Maybe it’s how out of place it is, a forest figure transplanted into your living room, carrying on its branches whispers of moss and gnomes. As a girl, I brought my My Little Ponies downstairs and hid behind the tree to play. Lighted boughs were a richer backdrop to the drama of a pegasus than the brown carpet in my bedroom. And the times we’ve carried a tree home to our apartment in Brooklyn and strung it with lights, the magic happened when we could sit on the couch, quiet with a glass of wine in hand and a Christmas record on the turntable and feel as transfixed as if we had a new fireplace in the living room. The tree cast a bit of majesty, and in its presence we could just be.

We didn’t get a tree this year. The prices seem to creep skyward each year, and we could use $40 on something else. But I couldn’t help but wonder if not having a tree was affecting my holiday spirit. Channeling Maria’s curtain playclothes ingenuity, I decided to try to make a tree substitute. Besides, I told myself, isn’t it really the lights that make us most happy?

Last night, after watching Anne of Green Gables and cutting pretty things out from magazines, I finally felt the holiday spirit take hold. Setting out to make this glowing creation sealed the deal.

A nearby florist was selling bunches of white branches for $2 each, but you could just as easily grab some free fallen branches at a local park (and spray paint them white, if you’re so inclined). I put the branches in a vase anchored with lots of spare change and then twisted the lights all around. Easy as pie.

More Crafty Holiday Ideas:

tater tot turkey casserole

I blame the weather, as well as my pocketbook (and the fact that I just used the word “pocketbook” should prepare you for the retro flavor of this post), but all I want to eat are casseroles. In the past week I’ve hauled out Fanny Farmer and our two favorite 70’s cookbooks. I made something called Tomato Macaroni Pie on Monday and have been dreaming of something called Beef Noodle Skillet. This from the girl who served duck breast on a weeknight?

But casseroles have so much going for them: they can be elegant (just call it a gratin), they can be healthy (if you insist), they can be cheap, and the leftovers reheat beautifully. For the past hundred years, women carrying Pyrex dishes into church basements knew as much. When you don’t grow up with potlucks and hot dish and you take physics instead of home economics, you find yourself learning these things backward. I was drawn first to the glamour of making pâté and shaking martinis than the art of putting three square meals on the table each day. But eventually, because of that pocketbook, you come around.

• King Ranch Chicken
• Apple, Leek and Butternut Squash Gratin
• Hamburger Stroganoff
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Tamale Pie
• Mediterranean Tuna Noodle Casserole
• French Baguette Casserole
• Cauliflower, Bacon, and Potato Casserole
• Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
• John Wayne Casserole (corresponding reading material)