Having no hidden rooms in our apartments, we have written a number of posts mulling ways to make an “instant”, impermanent guest room in our space. They are usually along the lines of something a kid would make, since secretly, we love the feeling of forts, teepees, treehouses. We are always on the lookout for materials with which we might quickly rig such a private space in our big open room, to enclose a guest bed, be a meditation room, a hideout.
So we were smitten when we read about Fort Magic, a kit full of PVC pipes and connecters and clips with which you can make Tinkertoy-like structures to attach sheets or fabrics. Designed for kids but it see,s perfectly suits our adult fantasies. read more…
Spoon straws are metal straws that have a spoon bowl attached, so you can use them to both stir and sip a cocktail, ice tea or ice cream floats and shakes. Although we’ve collected them over the years at flea markets, we had no idea that we could buy new ones that were both inexpensive and great looking: a perfect summer house or dinner party gift.
In honor of our giveaway of a signed, first-edition of Sally’s A New Way to Cook, we thought we’d publish 3 recipes for summer that are both crazy-simple (one has only 1 ingredient!) and dazzling. They make up just a fraction of the book’s chapter on fruit desserts. It includes a guide for improvising flavored syrups for making quick, memorable fruit salads, which is what’s happening in the photo above. Think Vanilla Bean; Cherry Eau-de-Vie; Rosewater; Basil and Cinnamon; Rosemary, Lavender and Honey; Whisky and White Peppercorn syrups to adorn peaches, aprictos, melons, cherries, berries, mangos…
To enter, just comment if you’d like a copy of A New Way to Cook and we will pick a winner at random on June 19th.
And now, here are Three Crazy-Simple Fresh Fruit Desserts: read more…
(Video link here.) When we checked in on Pascal Anson’s YouTube Channel and saw a video called “The Present”, we thought we’d see Anson demonstrating a clever way of BEING present. Well, we did, sort of: Pascal Anson’s inimitable way of…giving real presents/presence.
Soon summer will be here, bringing with it a crop of cucumbers (and countless other vegetables) just waiting to be pickled. But for those who are intimidated by the process of water-bath canning for shelf storage (or who just want a crunchy fresh pickle!) there is an easy solution: spices, water, vinegar, salt, and two weeks in the fridge. We love the simplicity of Kate Payne’s Fridge Pickles 101. And that’s just one of many great, fun recipes included in her fab The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking. If you haven’t read about it already, we’re doing a free book giveaway this month. So if you’re hungry for more of Kate’s tips, simply leave a comment telling us what project around the house or in your garden you’re most looking forward to tackling this spring/summer. Make sure you do it by midnight on March 19, at which point we will randomly pick a winner.
Then an image we saw in a Remodelista post about cold frames got us thinking about another kind of ALT Easter eggs. We discovered that halved egg shells are sometimes used as starter pots for seeds to sprout in (supplying the plant with a nice dose of calcium). We thought: wouldn’t a carton of eggs with little seedlings growing in them be a wondrous and surprising Easter gift? Why not?
The process is pretty simple: crack and empty the eggs*, fill with potting soil, add the seeds… Instructables has clear directions and a PDF. If you start planning now, we figure you’ll have some charming little shoots in time for Easter, on April 8th. (See packages will give you a sense of how long a particular seed takes to sprout; beans and cucumbers only take a few days.) read more…
Carol McDonnell sent us an email about her very cool, very impromptu wrapping paper:
Now that the NY Times has beautiful large full color photos, I decided not buy paper, but use it to wrap several books. The giraffe and the donkey head from the Whitney make a charming way to recycle . . .
I’m nuts for both these shots . . . and am going to use them as wallpaper for my laptop and phone.
A recent CHEAP, GREAT Ikea find: the Smarta bowl. We bought the 8″ one for $6.99 and then went back and bought the 10″one ($12.99), great for big salads. They’ve got a lovely, very modern shape and looks much more expensive than they are. We’ve found a million uses for them, like plunking in hyacinth bulbs with dirt and roots right out of their ugly plastic container (Spring is coming!)
A friend once told us that when she was young, she learned to draw from Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book: Make a World. We recently checked it out, and loved how Emberley breaks down a drawing: using simple shapes as building blocks, you create objects and faces one piece at a time. Even those of us who aren’t artistically inclined can follow along. read more…
(Video link here.) Although we’ve spent decades improvising in the kitchen (figuring out ways to cure hams in a city apartment and make souffles in iron skillets and teacups) we haven’t embraced molecular gastronomy in our everyday cooking. We enjoy its magical qualities on forays to the restaurants of inventive chefs like Wylie Dufresne and Daniel Humm….and now on YouTube with Alinea’s edible helium-filled balloon. We WOULD love to experience this triumph of fun, imagination and beauty (especially knowing that it started with Alinea chef Grant Achatz asking himself “What if…” and then figuring out how to do it.)
While we find we can go pretty far pushing the limits of ordinary cooking equipment, there is one esoteric tool we have found truly useful: The Smoking Gun. It’s a battery-powered pistol that turns hardwood sawdust like cherry, applewood and hickory into fragrant smoke with which you can infuse all manner of food read more…
We’ve long loved Dutch architect and designer Gerrit Rietveld’s elegant, elemental, iconic wood furniture. When we read that there was a book of his built-it-yourself furniture designs, we were thrilled….until we discovered that it cost $145 new and $78 used at Amazon. Darn. (Curious, a few days later we found that it IS available on Amazon though we had searched and searched before…)
So we went on a hunt. And found it! How to Construct Rietveld Furniture is available for $39.95 at Tools for Woodworking. Here’s its enticing description:
Rietveld’s furniture is really easy to make. The joinery is well within the skill of even a rank beginner, and you come out with world class 20th century furniture…The designs range from his famous chairs to tables, stools, a magnificent sideboard, a few pieces scaled for children, and some lamps from his more architectural work. read more…
Early this morning we received an email from a friend who was about to make chocolate truffles for her Valentine, and wasn’t sure how to transport them. The email was sent in the wee hours of the morning, and we realized that for many, today means a last-minute scramble to get ready for Valentine’s day – TOMORROW. So here are some suggestions we’ve found in our morning surfing, or that we include in our personal arsenal.
We love the cut-and-fold d-i-y cards Made by Joel came up with. They are meant as a kid’s project but we think they’d make a swell grownup valentine: the template ever-inventive Joel Henriques generously included as a pdf has an appealing abstract look that is great unto itself… read more…
Valentine’s Day is next week, which leaves us thinking about gifts that break the chocolate-and-flowers mold. We were suddenly reminded of an email we received from Virginia Del Giudice, a reader in Argentina, who used my simple Lemon Olive Oil recipe from A New Way to Cook to make Christmas presents. We thought this would be a lovely homemade Valentine’s gift as well, especially for someone who likes to cook.
Virginia went the extra mile and made beautiful labels for the bottles:
“I designed the labels with my computer and printed at home on a thin green paper I kept a long time in a drawer. It had some wrinkles but I found that nice and didn’t want to correct it! It has a feeling of old times. In small text I wrote your suggestions for usage.”
Virginia was kind enough to share her labels, which you can find here. They’re in Spanish, but you can always fill in your own English text (or keep the Spanish, which is lovely and adds some flair). I was thinking that all dressed up like this, this oil would make a lovely untraditional Valentine’s Day gift for someone who loves to cook. Chocolate is always great, but who doesn’t love something a little different. read more…
A satisfying find from the recently-redesigned Remodelista: Anthropologie’s Ephemera Clip. Made of distressed iron (wonder if it will rust…then it might get REALLY beautiful), with a hole in one handle so you can hang it, it is like a little sculpture…Endlessly useful for clipping together receipts, papers, closing food bags…
@ $1.75 a piece OR 
for $6.)
and we will pick a winner at random on June 19th.
. If you haven’t read about it already, 
. We recently checked it out, and loved how Emberley breaks down a drawing: using simple shapes as building blocks, you create objects and faces one piece at a time. Even those of us who aren’t artistically inclined can follow along. 
though we had searched and searched before…)
