Easy: Blueberries, Feta and Herbs

For summer and blueberry season: Mindy Fox’s riff on the classic, ever-surprising, utterly-refreshing combo of watermelon and feta cheese: Blueberries, Feta and Mint from Mindy Fox’s Salads: Beyond the Bowl.  Sometimes we replace the mint with basil, a hint of thyme leaves, fresh oregano, rose geranium, or even black pepper…to taste.

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The Many Surprising Uses of a Kitchen Hammer

Matthias Wandel is a clever improviser whose YouTube channel is full of good ideas. Our favorite: a kitchen hammer, something you rarely see on any “kitchen essentials” list. We use ours — a rubber mallet— for variety of general household whacks, where a hammer would be too harsh. We hadn’t thought of Wandal’s great use, done with…

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Cecil and Merl Bitters’ Vibrant Flavors INSPIRE, Drinks to Desserts

Of all the artisanal bitters we’ve sampled over the years, Brooklyn-based Cecil and Merl’s totally blew us away. They managed to distill clear vibrant flavors of fruits, vegetables and herbs with a subtle bitter afterfinish that goes well in all manner of cocktail, culinary and wellness applications. Given their sublime flavors and endless uses, they are a perfect house gift.

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What You Can Do When You Are Too Challenged To Do Anything

Last week I was supposed to write some articles for Improvised Life and couldn’t do it. I am a few weeks post-op from a serious surgery. Healing at am unexpectedly glacial place is wearing away at my normally very high optimism, physical energy and focus. I’ve talked openly on Improvised Life before about “being myself in a…

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CrowdFunding to Save an Endangered Art Form

Lately, it seems like many one-of-a-kind art forms are struggling to find their footing in an increasingly strange new world. One close to our heart is the Big Apple Circus, modeled on the European-style one-ring tent circus tradition. For nearly 40 years, it has thrilled audiences around the country with wildly imaginative performers, like the great Bello Nock, above. Check out his wild, beautiful act.

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Take a Holiday From Being Human

It’s curious that about the same time Thomas Thwaites was figuring out how to be a goat — finding human personhood stressful and narcissistic — Charles Foster was trying his own experiments “becoming” various animals, including a badger, an otter, a fox, a deer and a swift. Both had come to existential crossroads.

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Rosemary, Lemon and Pepper Focaccia

There is probably no hors d’oeuvres more universally loved than focaccia: really good chewy pizza dough baked with flavorings that excite the appetite.

Focaccia is easy to make, the possible flavorings infinite. My all-time favorite is this Rosemary, Lemon and Pepper Focaccia I learned from Kevin Taylor when he was chef of Zenith American Grill in Denver years ago.

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