On a whim, I tried using olive paste as the seasoning for a boneless leg of lamb I planned to roast for Easter dinner – I simply slathered the meat with the paste, rolled it up and tied it. The roast was spectacular, with a Provencal savor. I did not realize that the salt of the olive paste would have a tenderizing effect on the meat, in addition to giving it a subtle, pleasingly “wild” flavor. Boneless Leg of Lamb Stuffed With Crushed Olives has become an Easter tradition.
You can use “bought” olive paste or make your own: Crushed Herb Scented Olives may be made up to 4 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. It is great unto itself, spooned onto bread, pasta, crushed new pototoes… read more…
(Video link here.) Cara de Silva sent us this video with a short note: ”…there is something quite caring (and “scientific) about her approach.”
Indeed Korean Artist Jihyun Ryou cares so deeply about our relationship to food that she has researched traditional methods of food storage used before refrigeration was available, looking for ways that might be more sustainable AND forge a closer relationship to the foods we eat. Then she designed elegant, minimalist solutions -tools that are also lovely artworks – based on this traditional oral knowledge.
I believe that once people are given a tool that triggers their minds and requires a mental effort to use it, new traditions and new rituals can be introduced into our culture.”
Ryou views fruits and vegetables as being alive, and teaches ways to nourish and interact with their aliveness. We especially like “The Breathing of Eggs”, a poetic explanation of the logic of storing eggs outside the fridge and how to tell if they are fresh. read more…
After the protests in Tahrir Square, the Egyptian mlitary built walls around the Square and other parts of downtown Cairo that lead to government buildings. Using art as a different form of resistance, artists and citizens have been painting murals on all of the walls, the most stunning of which is above and virtually “dissappears” the wall alltogether. We liked the words of artist Mohamed Gad who made clear: “We’re not embellishing the walls…we’re simply stating that the streets are open.” read more…
It seems that once we start focusing on a subject, we begin to find all sorts of solutions and iterations. Lately, it appears to be shelving…
Recently on Remodelista, we spotted these clamped together shelves used at Dyke & Dean, a housewares store in Hastings, East Sussex, England. It reminded us of the clipped together cardboard box shelving we posted about a while back, that ultimately turned into a several post riff (see Related Posts, below). Basically, Dyke and Dean’s are made of simple plywood boxes, stacked in various ways, and secured with metal clamps, for clean, industrial look.
It turns out there is a whole WORLD of cool clamps, beyond the classic “C” Clamp. We’re wondering what we could do with this pulley clamp we found at Carolina Biological Supply (a source for all sorts of useful tools for off-use): read more…
We couldn’t say what it is about this man in a tutu that we find so powerful. Like a lot of art, it seems to possess it’s own language and logic. The story behind it remains somewhat mysterious: Bob Carey first took a portrait of himself in a pink tutu in an effort to express himself after he and his wife, Linda, had moved to New York.
Why? Because even though the move was exciting, exhilarating, and inspiring, it was 180 degrees from what I knew. So I took the old, mixed it in with the new, and the kept the tutu handy.
Six months later he discovered his wife had breast cancer. The tutu portraits became a way to bring some laughter and joy to a dark situation, a symbol of solidarity, and ultimately, as The Tutu Project, a campaign to raise money for breast cancer research. read more…
We’re crazy about this smudged chalkboard wall – no words – that reminds us a bit of the chalky walls in Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti. And that got us thinking about how we might mix custom-colors of chalkboard paint (for writing or not) in colors that we LOVE, like an this odd green, or a rich midnight blue or ORANGE. Then we stumbled on a couple of posts about How-to Mix Your Own Chalkboard Paint. Easy-peasy. The most reliable-looking formula is from Martha Stewart Living. The gist is simple: you mix a spoonful of unsanded grout (we have some left over from setting bathroom floor tiles) into flat-finish latex paint. Voila! Chalkboard paint. Once you paint it on, you need to temper it with chalk (easy). Here’s the method, via Martha: read more…
One of the amazing and surprising responses to our going “dark” last week were Comments and emails the came in from ‘improvised life’ readers – whom we’ve never actually met – sending words of support, understanding and gratitude for what we’ve been doing over the past year or so. It knocked us out, reaffirming what we learn daily as we post, that there is a huge vein of generosity coursing through the world and the internet is a powerful conduit and connector. We are grateful for our virtual, curiously tangible, community.
We also got a shout-out from our new blog discovery Mike and Molly’s House, just as we were planning to feature their unbelievable Snaptastic Room Divider, an ingenious modular wall made up of an array of panels that are fit together with slotted connectors. Their way and spirit are totally after our own hearts, as we appear to be to them. They nailed ‘the improvised life’ in a post called “A Little Help from Our Friends“: read more…
