My conversation with JC Miller yielded a remarkable lesson about creativity and healing. It came via his mentor, Robert Royston, one of California’s foremost Modernist landscape architects.
Read MoreIkea’s Stylish Frosta Stool is BACK to Hack and Embellish
I have had a set of four Ikea stacking stools for years. The $14 version of the iconic $500 vintage Alvar Aalto stool has done stylish double-duty as extra seating, side table, surface for projects… in a number of spaces I’ve had. In my new space I built a nook just to store a stack of them…
Read MoreJessamyn Stanley’s Liberation Yoga: ‘Fuck Comparison’
In a short demo session, body-loving yoga master Jessamyn Stanley undid my shame about not being perfect AND set me straight why we NEED yoga. She is a force of nature, who is making yoga accessible.
Read MoreEssential Secrets About Living (Bill Murray)
In this rough video, Bill Murray is asked how his unique way of living came about. Here are “some of the secrets someone told [him] early on about living”. They are incredibly helpful.
Read MoreGifts for Eaters and Cooks via Sally and The Splendid Table
Wondering what to give cooks and eaters on your list over the holidays? Check out my interview with Melissa Clark on the great Splendid Table, airing around the country this week. To read more about the swell time-tested finds — both bought and made yourself —, follow these links.
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving from Improvised Life (w Pablo Neruda)
Along with our wishes for a very happy Thanksgiving we offer the perfect poem, best read aloud.
Read MoreThanksgiving Special: The Alien Comic Counts Blessings
What should we be thankful for this Thanksgiving season? The Alien Comic, one of the most original, whole-hearted and daring people I have ever met, gives us a full run down, bringing new appreciation to things we almost certainly take for granted.
Read MoreTwo Cranberry Sauces, One Complex, One Simple
Although I’ve had many cranberry sauces in my food-wandering days, I am partial to cooked ones that exploit cranberries’ best qualities: an abundance of tannic red-fruit tartness and pectin that releases when the fruit softens to form a thick, jammy sauce. Here are two favorites.
Read MoreHow to Gratitude, From a Two-Year-Old
With our tumultuous political climate and Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s an especially good time to remember gratitude. Gogo, my spunky two year old, has a cool practice she came to all on her own.
Read MoreA Blessing for Creatives for All Kinds (John O’Donohue)
A gift via email has fueled us ever since we received it: a blessing from poet and philosopher John O’Donohue’s superb book Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. We find it to be the perfect first-thing-in-the-morning reading, and deeply heartening and calming anytime, so we’ve made a pdf you can download.
Read MoreDry-Brined Butterflied Turkey: A Short Roast to Perfection
The combined techniques of dry-brining and spatchcocking (butterflying) makes for a quick-cooking turkey with moist tender flesh, crisp skin, and a good deal less than the usual anxiety.
Read MoreMove Shit Forward Even If You Don’t Quite Know What You’re Doing
‘Move Shit Forward’ can be a great practice if you don’t know what you’re doing or where you need to be.
Read MoreHow to Have Patience (Mira Keras)
Last summer I fought long and hard for a new prosthetic leg after a surgery drastically changed the shape of my residual limb. Getting a new prosthetic required dozens of hours of phone calls and pleading with insurance company phone reps. I was waiting in doctor’s offices and waiting on hold with my insurance company…and all this came while I was really waiting to heal. This extended lesson in patience actually helped me to be more patient with others.
Read MoreForaged and Transformed: Branch Coat Rack
Find just the right branches, dry ’em out, trim to size, paint…. A hunk of forest indoors…
Read MoreRipped Linen Room Divider, Tablecloth, Napkins…
Leafing through a file of good ideas, I found this image of a ripped linen room divider by Ellen Silverman. Ripped linen is so beautiful, there’s no need to hem it…witness this tablecloth and napkins…
Read More‘When one window closes, another opens’ (Kay Ryan +Susan Dworski)
From an island farm in the Pacific Northwest, Susan Dworski relates her post election strategies and one small miracle, with poem.
Read MorePost Election Improvised Politics: Actions to Take, Things That Help
If this election has done anything, it has pointed up the grave flaws in our government and political system. We HEAR that many people in our country feel forgotten and uncared. We’ve witnessed extraordinary levels of fear and its companion, anger and hatred. And we see that we are not a one person/one vote nation. It is truly dispiriting. So we’ve compiled a few things to do to keep moving toward the positive.
Read MoreFragrant Pears in Red Wine, Cardamom, Bay Leaf, Anise and Coriander
Over the years, I’ve learned a huge amount from wine connoisseur and cook Josh Eisen, including essential lessons about the many things you can do with “ends” of bottles of wine left after a meal. These pears are one of my favorites.
Read MoreClarifying Questions to Start Every Day
Over the past few months at Swiss-Miss, we found two related ideas that really hit home and made us think hard about what we really want.
Read MoreLoom Chairs, Tables…Reminders of the Adjacent Possible
We’re smitten with this chair by Pascal Anson, a wire frame with one thousand pieces of ribbon, rope and string that were individually tied it, creating upholstery and wondrous visuals. (And metaphorically, it is a reminder of the possibilities in the everyday, which we need right now).
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