(Video link here.) There is something very moving about watching artist Motoi Yamamoto painstakingly make his intricate, lacelike installations out of salt…perhaps because they are at once so intricate and so ephemeral. We discovered that the ordinary material we all have on hand is, in Japanese culture, a traditional symbol for mourning and purification. And that Motoi Yamamoto…
Read MoreButtermilk Mashed Potatoes 12 Ways
This is my favorite basic mashed potato recipe: wonderful as is, or as a base for the many embellishments and improvisations listed below, including the astonishing Sage Oil and Crispy Garlic. You can modulate their richness and texture according to whim or the ingredients you have on hand, making them perfect for the Thanksgiving Feast.
Read More2 Minute Meditation: Breathing with the Earth
(Video link here.) We are stunned by this incredibly beautiful animation from NASA of the 12-month cycle of the Earth’s plant life, on land and in the ocean. As the year progresses, we see plant life following the increased sunlight northward or southward causing the Earth’s greening to move as though it were breathing…
Read MoreGeometric Painted Wall: Keep the Pattern, Change the Color
We are smitten with Parisian antique dealer and interior designer Florence Lopez’ website and its many interiors showing her extraordinary use of darkish, saturated color, especially deep blues and greens (all with a little black in them). Of note, this geometrically patterned wall in greens and cream in her showroom and the other iteration of the same pattern
Read MoreLinda Rodin on Finding Style in Aging + Face Balms Mixed in a Coffee Cup
Linda Rodin, a late-sixty-something former model and fashion stylist is known for her signature style that revolves around a simple three element-formula: her long silvery gray hair, oversize glasses and red lipstick — always. She created her popular Olio Lusso Face Oil, which sells for $170 per ounce, by mixing the oils she used frequently “in a coffee cup…like salad dressing,…
Read MoreMorning Practice: Reading a Poem…..Again
For some time, our morning practice, before email or anthing digital, has been to read a poem aloud (sometimes with a friend). Recently, we decided to try reading the same poem every morning for a week. We discovered that each day, we’d hear it differently and find something new in those same few lines, as…
Read MoreHanging Paper Blooms Can Change a Room
One image in a photo essay about a Scandinavian house renovation caught our eye: a kid’s room with tissue paper pom poms hanging from the ceiling, like some sort of celestial blooms. They’d be lovely in just about any room. So we hunted them down to discover that they are a common wedding decoration, readily available on…
Read MoreMadonna on Why We Go On In Spite of/Because of…Paris
(Video link here.) At her concert in Stockholm yesterday, a visibly-shaken Madonna addressed the very difficult question “…why am I up here dancing and having fun when people are crying at the lost of their loved ones?” Painfully, sadly, she gave the very wise, life-affirming answer before launching into Like a Prayer at 7 mins-in…
Read MoreHow the Eiffel Tower Peace Symbol Came to Be
Shortly after the attacks in Paris hit the news, an image of the Eiffel Tower as peace symbol was tweeted and posted on Instagram. It is the creation of French graphic designer Jean Jullien, who described how it came about in a moment. “It was a reaction…The first thing that came to me was the…
Read MoreThe Words We Found for Paris 11/15
We are heartsick about the attacks in Paris a city that, after one visit, makes a person feel like it is somehow theirs, so perfect are its memories. We have been casting about for some words that shed light on what seems like a time of such profound darkness…
Read MoreApple Cider Syrup + Jam
The other day, our friends at Essex Farm laid a windfall of apple cider on us: pure liquid apple with pleasingly earthy undertones of seeds and stem, or perhaps a wooden cider mill. It was beautiful stuff but too much to consume before it would start fermenting. How to capture that “apple” for the rest of…
Read MoreYonic is the New Phallic
We have the word phallic in our repertoire, an appropriate word we can use at museums when pointing out that the artist was clearly obsessed with dick, but what about its counterpart? When you look at something and the folds are just so familiar and we all know what we’re looking at…What’s that called?
Read MoreRugs Comfort +Transform, from Haute Moderne to Refugee Tent
This mid-century moderne room of colorful flat-weave rugs laid end-to-end breaks from the usual restraint of moderne decor. Patterns of rugs create a space that is welcoming, cosy, colorful, and mutes the difference between seat and floor, no matter where you are. They emulate nomadic Arabic tradition, where rugs are used to create spaces to gather upon, and even the walls of shelters.
Read MoreWhat If You Could Talk to Your Younger Self?
(Video link here.) Stoney Emshwiller was 18 years old when he recorded himself interviewing his older self in 1977. Thirty-eight years later, a 56-year-old Stoney answered his younger self’s questions, on film. Here’s a trailer of “Later That Same Life“, the astonishing film he is raising money to finish.
Read MoreMadonna Improvises with a Hand Dryer
Desperately Seeking Susan was Madonna’s debut film. We hear she improvised this brilliant moment on the spot: “Susan”, arriving at the seedy uptown Port Authority Bus Terminal on 181st Street, prepares for her entrance into the city by using the restroom’s hand dryer in an unconventional way… We will never view hand dryer’s the same way…
Read MoreThe Subtle Violence of Busyness (Thomas Merton)
Almost 50 years ago, Thomas Merton, a wild young man turned hermetic Catholic monk, wrote these astonishng words. The full quote is below, and really shows how extreme busyness can become a kind of violence.
Read MoreBooks for A Good Night’s Sleep
Want a good night’s sleep, or help falling asleep? Reading a relaxing book really does help to shift your mind out of the day. Recently, our friend Merete Mueller told us her strategy…
Read MoreGet Up Offa that Thing!
It’s a new week….Need help getting offa that thing? We found this works great!
Read More200-Year-Old Mechanical Gifs are Like Mandalas
In 1829, a Belgian physicist devised a form of animation that is akin to our modern-day gifs: a spinning disk patterned with small repeating illustrations, attached to a handle that allowed it to spin and “animate” the imagery. Due to the rapid progression of technology, phenakistoscopes’ popularity lasted only a couple of years, yet they yielded…
Read MoreLazy Dog Cooking: Roast Winter Squash with Their Seeds = Delish!
After we published our roasted delicate squash recipe, a reader reminded us that the seeds are delicious too and can be roasted along side. Being lazy and hungry, we wondered if we could just roast squash slices with seeds intact. The result was addictive tender caramelized squash with crispy-chewy seeds.
Read More