We love this impromptu-looking curtain tie made of a strip of leather. Ribbon would be swell as well. It reminds us of our improvised hotel room strategy for calming down curtains with busy prints…
Read MorePauline Oliveros: Deep Listening is My Life Practice
“Deep listening” was sonic pioneer Pauline Oliveros’ life practice. Here is her simple instruction for doing it yourself (with music).
Read MoreSaul Steinberg: How to Find Something New
We’ve found A LOT of great stuff in Sandra Davidson’s book The Calder Family and Other Critters, Portraits and Reflections, about the many interesting people who surrounded her famous father Alexander Calder and the family. This lesson she learned from the great Saul Steinberg is WAY more than about making a portrait.
Read MoreTasting Spoons: Essential Kitchen Tool and Welcome Gift
A tasting spoon is an essential kitchen tool, allowing you to add flavor experiments directly to the “taste” to see if you like them. Over the years I’ve collected —and given — quite a few tasting spoons. They make great, unexpected gifts. Here’s a roundup:
Read MoreWabi-Sabi Lesson: Broken Blossom with Rubber Bands (+ haiku)
At dinner at photographer Ellen Silverman’s house, I noticed a beautiful on-the-verge-of-flowering Amaryllis plant on her kitchen island…and next to it her clever, fast save of a cluster of buds that had broken off. It was as beautiful as the plant itself and embodied the elusive quality of wabi-sabi.
Read MoreRobert Royston: The Healing Power of Creative Work
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…
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