Pink of Perfection

I have long thought that one of the biggest obstacles to making a house feel like a home is all those blank walls. That’s why we made this giant horse silhouette way back when, why I hang album art, and why I frame vintage sewing patterns. But there’s a project I did awhile back that I never told you about, and it’s the kind of crafting I love: pretty fabric + junk you have laying around the house = something pretty to hang on the walls. Instead of framing fabric, which is a lovely idea, I wrapped box lids with fabric (as you would a present) and hung it right on the wall. This was originally conceived as a grouping of box lids in complementary fabrics (kind of like a quilt for your wall). I can’t quite remember how I ended up with just the pink birds, but either as a solo piece or a grouping, the project is equally successful — it’s just another way for me to great colorful, cheery fabrics into my home without having to haul out the sewing machine.

Continue reading “Shoebox Art” »

If there’s one thing worth loving about winter, it’s how right red wine tastes when a cold wind’s at your door. To keep this habit from breaking the bank, I’ve developed a bit of a script. I walk into a wine store and say, “Hi. I’m looking for a great [insert desired wine varietal here] for under $10. Oh, and I want it to go really well with [insert what we're having for dinner here].” Wine store clerks love a challenge, and this is how I’ve found so many great wines, like the outstanding #4 below. To get you a really great list, I also turned to my friend Dan, who you may remember from his quick 3 course Italian feast, and who knows a thing or two about sleuthing out a great wine. Bottoms up, friends!

1. Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon, $9
2. Alamos Malbec, $10
3. Colores del Sol Malbec, $10
4. Lancatay Cabernet Sauvignon, $9
5. Two Brothers Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, $11
6. Santa Cristina Sangiovese , $10
7. Trapiche Oak Cask Malbec, $9
8. The Footbolt Shiraz, $13
9. Cline Cellars California Zinfandel, $13
10. Campo Viejo Tempranillo Rioja Crianza, $10
11. Jaboulet Cotes du Rhone blend Parallele 45, $12

I have realized in the past several months that so much about the economy of cooking at home is about volume and frequency. With a constantly rotating list of ingredients in the household (leftover parsley from one recipe, leftover ginger from another), you have at hand a greater array to work with (and to experiment with) than if you are always buying ingredients for one or two recipes a week. Unfortunately, it seems to me one would have to eat a lot of chickens to have the means to make stock for all the recipes that call for it. That’s why I’m not a purist when it comes to stock. If a recipe calls for a cup or less, I use Better Than Bouillon, but if I’m making a stew or soup, I”ll use up the homemade stock I have frozen in 4-cup portions.

Growing up it seems like there was always a chicken carcass simmering away (the Silver method below) in a tall stockpot on the Russian fireplace. And as children often do, I kept making stock just the way my mama taught me until I learned how to cut up a chicken. Turns out, making stock from the leftover backbone (Gold) makes a super flavorful broth and is now my favorite method.  I’ve never made stock from whole chickens (Platinum), though I hear it is irrefutably the best. Each household just has to find the method that’s just right for them. But undoubtedly, the best tip I ever got about the process beyond the chicken itself came directly from all of you: keep a stock bag in the freezer and stuff it with papery onion skins, carrot nobs and peels, and odds and ends of vegetable scraps. Since I can’t compost in my little apartment, this achieves that prairie girl desire to have zero-waste.

Do you make stock with one of these methods below, or some other way? Do tell!

Continue reading “4 Ways to Make Chicken Stock” »

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” »

Don’t fret little elf. If you’ve waited until the last moment, don’t bother with the mall. It will only make you want to scratch your eyes out. Why not just put together some very simple handmade gifts from the heart? It’s much more thoughtful than a cable knit sweater with a gift receipt, anyway. Gifts like this can help us remember the true spirit of the season, anyway.

Monogrammed pillowcases, bags, and handkerchiefs If at this point in the holiday game the idea of taking up needle and thread makes you want to call the whole thing off, remember that embroidery is not the only way to personalize gifts (and people love a personalization). Craft stores usually have a large array of iron on letters, or you could use fabric paint and stencils to paint on a monogram in a jiffy.

Coupons One of the most sought-after presents of my childhood were the handwritten paper slips, edged with pinking shears and the size of a business card on which was written, “Get Out of Trouble Free Card. One Use Only!” But I also loved getting the ones that said, “Redeem for lunch with mom and a trip to the Science Place.” The gift of your time is usually the most precious present there is. Give your friends and loved ones coupons they can redeem for a tarot card reading, a trip to the movies, or an afternoon of snow angels and hot chocolate.

Homemade bath products The Wake Me Up Scrub has already won raves from its early recipients and my guess is you have nearly all the ingredients in your pantry as we speak. Forget fancy homemade labels and elegant packaging if you’re running low on holiday juice. Just mix up the scrubs or bath salts in leftover takeout containers or empty jam jars and gussy them up with odds and ends from your sewing basket.

Delicious nibbles I truly love receiving a plate of cookies or a container of homemade pimento cheese (wink, wink) as a gift. I mean, what could be more elemental that a gift of nourishment? My mom, in fact, has already requested cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning and a weekend dinner of spicy kidney bean curry. But one of the ideas I love most of all is giving your friends a jar filled with dried beans and herbs so that after all the cheese, booze, and rich desserts, they can make themselves a pot of soup that’s wholesome and sustaining.

Required holiday reading:

10 Ways to Enjoy the Holidays That Have Nothing To Do With Buying Presents

image via erix!

I thought you might need this today, tomorrow, next week, or really, any time you’re feeling frazzled. This meditation comes from Sally Kempton at Yoga Journal.

A Holiday Meditation

Sit in a comfortable upright posture. With your eyes closed, let your awareness drop into the center of your chest.

Breathe naturally and imagine your breath coming in and out through your heart. Let each inhalation caress and soften your inner heart space.

Become aware of a golden flame in the center of your chest. Your might visualize it or simply feel its warm, glowing presence.

With each inhalation, the flame glows. With each exhalation, it radiates light through the heart—front, sides, and back.

Rest your awareness gently in the flame; inhale and it glows, exhale and it radiates. Keep softening and relaxing the inner heart, spreading the glow of your inner flame throughout your body and out into the room.

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:

Draw closer, dear readers. I’m about to share with you a gem from the recipe treasure trove.

There are some foods I make and write about on this blog that are weeknight-worthy. Simple cooking is very often the most delicious, and putting dinner on the table each night with care and consideration is, in my opinion, one of the most artful acts on earth. But every once in a while, I raise my sight line from ground level to the stars. Perhaps, let’s say, when a friend is coming over for a drink and a nibble. Then I remember something so show-stoppingly delicious, I wonder how it could have even fallen out of my repertoire for as long as it has and moreover, why I have kept it from you for all these years. Forgive me. I’m about to pay it forward, win you admirers, lovers, and friends for life, all with the following recipe.

This chicken liver paté is the reason I wanted a food processor of my own. It has accompanied me to holiday parties and book club (hi ladies!), and it is always met with delight. Perhaps those who don’t like organ meats stay quiet, as they should, frankly. People who like paté will love this. And as you know, I don’t make a lot of high-minded, definitive proclamations, but if I’m sure of anything in this world, it is how truly fabulous this paté recipe is.

As for the kir, need I mention anything more than it is a favorite of Poirot? Together, these two make for a posh happy hour, the ever-so-slightly syrupy kir a perfect match for the rounded, rich saltiness of the paté. I like to imagine MFK Fisher in the Dijon years wearing a pencil skirt and dreaming up ideas while eating sipping and eating in the company of a very good, very wise female friend.

Come to think of it, perhaps this is just what we need to get in the holiday spirit. I don’t think it could hurt.

Continue reading “Happy Hour at Home: Kirs, Chicken Liver Paté and Maple Apples” »