How to Make the Most of Every Season

I have 2 related problems.

One, and this may be because I am a lefty -- we are visual organizers, apparently -- I can't remember to do a thing unless it's written right there in front of me.

Two, I devolve into panic as each season ends because I havent done all the things I intended to do and life is slipping away inexorably and soon I will be dead or dying and wondering why I didn't fit in one last swim at Beaver Dam before the weather turned and condo developers took over the site?

So when I went to my friend Heidi's house (a Victorian mansion in Oak Park, Illinois) I was delighted to see a piece of butcher paper tacked to the kitchen wall with all these very summer specific activities listed on it. She explained that at the onset of each season the family makes a list of all the things they want to do (and have to do: ie, read summer school books) before the next season begins. Whenever the kids are at a loss ("I'm bored!") or the family is wondering what to do with their weekend, the List is right there, ready and wiling to tell them.

So let's all do that! Tack up your butcher paper, get your pens out, and start writing.

Fall is fast approaching.

Here is my list, which I will shortly transfer to paper. (share yours in the comment section so I can crib from your list)

Go apple picking

make apple pies

carmelize the last of summer cherry tomatoes and freeze for sauce

slice and freeze peaches for pies

hike old rag mountain

help out at a winegrape harvest

clean my gutters

sweep my leaves

make carrot potato soup with dill and cheddar

make a chocolate cake and invite friends over on a saturcday afternoon for a walk and cake

go to the museums (they are free in DC, its awesome)

walk to brunch at the Tabard Inn

hike Old Rag mountain

go to the Brimfield flea market

make fires in the fireplace

make chili

paint my dining room chairs

knit a scarf for my niece

have an apple fritter party

make donuts

make cheese fondue

go to a corn maze (the last time I totally freaked out and ran for my life and sprained my ankle)

go to a pumpkin patch and pick a pumpkin

make one of them martha stewarty gorgeous pumpkins

do something scary at my house for halloween (or just hide inside with the lights out)

go to trapeze school

ride a horse out at Desert Rose winery

buy/make xmas presents in advance

deep clean every room

learn arabic (I keep saying that)

plant baby lettuce

spend the day in Baltimore

eat crabs before the weather turns

make popcorn

A new favorite blog. OK blogs.

dornob.com



click on architecture. the rest of it is a little too inaccessible for me. But the tree houses! the prefabs! oh my word. observe:

and if you haven't discovered it, check out manhattan-nest.com.

The boy is a CHILD (a sophomore maybe at NYU) but is both brilliant and hilarious with impeccable taste and none of the terrible snobbiness that afflicts many design bloggers. He just is, and I love.

How to Master Vinaigrette

People.

Listen.

Do not invite me over and serve an undressed salad and give me a choice of bottled dressings.

Bottled dressing is hideous. Overly acidic, full of weird emulsifiers (truly: do this. Pour a little bit of bottled dressing on your spoon. Place contents of spoon in your mouth. Hold it on your tongue. You will feel it first, rather than taste it -- it will feel thick. Then slowly you'll get a hit of acid -- probably citric acid. Then it will feel viscous again and you'll start to get the honey-mustard-oregano-Russian whatever it is you bought it for).

STOP IT.

This is a waste of money and an insult to Ms. Life, not to mention green leaves everywhere.

Your delicious little leaves deserve the utterly minimal effort of a homemade vinaigrette, and they deserve to be dressed ahead of time, lightly. You wouldn't want your host putting you out in front of guests naked, would you? (Maybe you would. I don't know you.)



Nothing worse than tossing your own salad (stop it!). Individual salad bowls do not have the room to do it yourself at the table, so some leaves are covered and others are dry. Totally unacceptable.

If you are a remotely interested cook, and I mean remotely, you probably have everything you need on hand: It's three parts good olive oil to one part acid - vinegar or citrus, or a mix of the two. That's it.



Got it? pour three tablespoons of cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon acid -- balsamic vinegar is sweet, red wine vinegar less so, cider vinegar works on and on. OR squeeze in a lemon (not the whole thing, just a tablespoon, or maybe a hair less). Whip it together with a fork until its thick and cloudy (this is called emulsifying... the natural way). That's it. You're done. Less time than opening the fridge and plunking that nasty cold bottle on the table.

You can gussy it up with all sorts of stuff -- I usually add a touch of Dijon mustard (not regular mustard). You can grate in citrus zest. The juice of a tomato. A wee bit of honey. A tiny bit of coarse salt. Lime juice (fresh only). You can put in grated ginger and replace a little of the oil with sesame oil (then add in just a splash of soy sauce). Minced garlic. Minced shallots or scallions. But let them all float in a sea of three to one, olive-oil to-acid.

Put this mixture in the bottom of a salad bowl. Not too much -- too much and your salad is limp and wilted and you don't taste any green. Put your cleaned greens on top (I am partial to JUST greens -- a mix of baby lettuces, especially arugula, maybe purslane, snipped herbs -- basil, tarragon, dill -- edible flowers for gorgeousness (try the lavendery basil flowers you snip off your herb garden). Toss gently, scooping up from the bottom. As the leaves touch the bottom of the bowl they will get a nice touch of dressing.

If the salad is too dry, add a bit more, toss gently.

BANISH THE BOTTLE. In this case, it shall be I who thank you.

("You're welcome, Pam!")

OK, I know I promised Special Face But I have a Half-Assed Craft to Share: Industrial Swing Arm Lamp

IMPORTANT EARTHQUAKE UPDATE:

MY POORLY MADE NO ADHESIVE AT ALL ITS NOTHING BUT SPIT AND GRAVITY SWING ARM LAMP WAS UNAFFECTED BY THE EARTHQUAKE.

MY LAMP RULZ

Ta Daa!

The Problem: My marvelous bed (handcrafted not by me of 4 industrial pallets from the 1920s with a canvas dropcloth canopy) is under the eaves of my roof. We like to read in bed. Affixing sconces to the limited headboard area not an option... you would smash into them at night. Bedside lamp is on my side and I usually close my book first, so then it would shine in my eyes.

The Solution: In Los Angeles a couple of years ago I absolutely fell in love with these Jean Prouve swing arm lamps. There is an excellent DIY tutorial online to make a reasonable facsimile but I am too lazy for it. It requires a blow torch and bendy tools and steel. Fergit it.

http://onefortythree.com/home/?p=445

I like things easy, like Tonka Toys and Lincoln Logs.

I also like things cheap.
So I hied on over to Fragers Hardware, most fabulous hardware store in the US, and started piecing together copper pipes, elbow joints etc. Then a nice lady found me a lamp kit and I searched and searched and finally found a silver-tipped lightbulb -- necessary so as to avoid blinding.

Here's how you make it!

Purchase:

-One length of copper pipe. You can use the other kind but I think its heavier .. they call it white or electrical pipe. It's silver.

-One pipe cutter. It's like a little ring thing that works like a pasta machine, sort of. You afix it to the pipe where you want to cut it, then turn 1/4 turn, then clamp it down a little harder. Repeat all the way around the pipe a few times until the pipe is cut.

- 2 elbow joints in the appropriate width for your pipe (mine is 1/4 inch I think)

- a pendant lamp kit (no harp)

-2 c-shaped copper things that you screw down to hold the lamp to the wall.

-4 screws

- a drill

-a screwdriver

-a sliver-tipped lightbulb

- all your moxie because you are about to be a light-making bad ass.

Directions:

Simple!

1. Cut your pipe into 2 pieces. One will be the swing arm, one will be the "base." Measure how far you want the lamp to swing (3 feet? 4 feet?) and proceed thusly.

2. Thread your lamp cord through the base piece of pipe, letting the plug swing free like a little bird.

3. Affix one elbow joint to the top end of the base pipe. Pull the cord through.

4. Now screw the swing arm into the other end of the elbow joint. and feed the lamp cord into it. You'll have a floppy L shaped bit of pipe.

5. Continue feeding the lamp cord through the pipe. When it comes out the other end, put on another elbow joint and pull the cord through.

6. Follow the directions for threading your lamp socket. It's easy. But you'll need a screwdriver.

7. Now you'll have a finished lamp socket hanging out of your copper pipe. You're almost there!

8. Decide where you want the lamp to go on the wall. Put the lamp down. Hold up one of the C-shaped thingies on the wall where you want it to be and mark the spots where the screws will go.

9. Drill holes with a bit more narrow than your screw. Hold the lamp in place and place C shaped thingy over the holes. Now screw in srews with your screw driver. This works best if you've found a wall stud. If not, buy anchors for your screws and follwo the direction on the package. It will probably involve a hammer.

10. Repeat with second c-shaped thingy. Lamp should now be firmly affixed to wall. It will rotate on the elbow connected to the base (you'll want to make sure those have a snug fit).

11. Read in bed, and swing that bad lamp outta your way when its time to sleep.

Observe!

lamp in action over bed.


How it attaches to the wall. See? C-shaped thingies.


Total Cost: $30.00

You're welcome.

(yay I'm back!)


(I got the copper to tarnish/go verdigris with a mix of salt and vinegar. didn't take but an hour or so to turn green)

How not to Play Blackbird. Also, My Mysterious boyfriend.

If you've ever wondered if I can play Blackbird poorly, here's the proof.
Also, I've been very busy with the magazine and my Insanity workouts (ha, not really). So. Hello again! Next up: How to Look Good in Pictures. It's called "Special Face."

Ciara and Jason's wedding: My pitch for Black and white stripe and sunflowers and black-eyed susan and then I will forever hold my peace

The stripe pictures come courtesy of my brand new favorite wedding blog:

enchanteddreamweddings.com

seriously look at this:

http://www.enchanteddreamweddings.com/blog/2011/03/ideas-inspiration-take-it-outside/

I should also state unequivoally here that I don't like round tables at weddings because everyone has their backs to everyone else -- each table is self contained. I like me a long table or two. Nothing more wonderful than seeing people sitting like that eating with wine glinting in their glasses. With outdoor chandaliers overhead.

Discuss.

How to Make the Other Best Appetizer Ever and: Crowd-Sourcing a Wedding

Behold the perfect picnic appetizer!

BLT on a Stick!

But let's back up. My friend Jason proposed to my friend Ciara last week in a veeery Washington (I mean this in a good way) manner: through pulling some personal strings, he arranged an exceedingly rare tour of the Capitol dome. That is, up in the dome, next to the frescoes and the windows, and on the balconies around the dome... places most people don't get to see, unless they are a senator. Gorgeous views, rarefied air, and a romantic, on the knee, will you spend the rest of my life with me thing.

The Affianced

Ciara, thank heaven, said yes. This came at the end of a long week of planning. First there was the tour to arrange, then the ring to procure, and then, of course, a surprise (for her) cocktail picnic in the summer house on the grounds of the Capitol for a handful of close friends. That, as you might imagine, was my department. I have long dreamed of being an elf like this -- setting up something gorgeous and wonderful and public. So public that this happened in the middle of it:

A posse of Segway riders came trundling through, lululu. Very strange. Don't you like my dress? it has polka dots. Pay no attention to the foot wear. I was busy and carrying A LOT.

But back to the important part: the best hors d'oeuvre ever: BLT on a stick

1. Get yourself some slab bacon. This is not necessarily an easy task. Whole Foods didn't have it, but Canales Meats in Eastern Market did. I got a pound of unsliced bacon. Took it home, cubed it, then roasted it at about 350 for 30 minutes, till it was crisp.


2. I drained it on a paper bag, then speared an organic grape tomato, some lettuce leaves (baby lambs ear) and cube of bacon. Voila! I made an avocado mayo to go with (pureed ripe avocado, a little lemon and a bit of mayonnaise to smooth things out).

3. I laid it out on a bed of more lamb's ear lettuce. Super hit. Delicious. Make. You can do it while you're watching the Barefoot Contessa on your couch.

Let's see some more pictures, yes, before we get to crowd sourcing their wedding? Because they are getting married in August at her family's home in Rhode Island (yes, there's a sweeping green lawn, shingles and a water view). They figure just get er done so they can go to Sudan or wherever.

Happy Couple


Where the deed was done. In the background! Way up!

The Summer House, a Frederick Law Olmstead folly. Lovely and cool and a little sheltered in case the threatened rain came, which it didn't.

A view of the party

There they are again. It's like it's about THEM or something, instead of my BLTs On a Stick.

The last of my peonies and globe allium, tucked in front of the grotto (above the food, for some decorations).

In case you're wondering I also made FABULOUS dates stuffed with goat cheese and marcona almonds and wrapped in prosciutto. Sweet, salty, soft, crunchy. Yum. a great make ahead nibble.

There was also shrimp in a grapefruit, avocado and serrano salsa (homemade, of course), a smattering of pates and cheese, parmesan palmiers and plenty of champagne.

So now on to the crowd sourcing.

Ciara has NEVER even thought about a wedding, so she and Jason are forming a Tiger Team (its a State Department joke, ha) to plan it (instead of having bridesmaids and groomsmen, they have the TT.)

So: start throwing out ideas!

Resolved:

• the wedding will be at the end of August in Rhode Island


• They love love love good food


• They (I think) want it to be more of a party than a traditional wedding, take off the garter thing (I think)


• They don't want a nautical theme


• The rehearsal dinner, however will likely be a crawfish boil/clambake in honor of both their roots.


• The expect around 120 to 180 and it will be a destination wedding for most people.

Here was my first pass at ideas. You guys throw out your thoughts -- with links to helpful pictures -- in the comments please, and I'll piece them together for a separate post. Jason and Ciara are depending on you! Deploy your best ideas! They are reading!

1. They need to start somewhere -- maybe with the menu they want to serve, and let that dictate style -- or with a color palette, or a flower (sunflowers?). I'm currently pulling for black and white stripes, with sunflowers and black-eyed susans. Or maybe dahlias in orange and hot pink? That would be kind of fun and mad hattery.

2. write the seating chart on a giant chalkboard (made with chalkboard paint). I love chalkboards.

3. write the dinner menu on a chalkboard. I can't get enough chalkboards.

4. serve ginger limeade or lavender lemonade to guests during and before the wedding. It will likely be hot and they will appreciate it.

5. have paper parasols for guests. pashminas if its cool.

6. do guest photos as stop action video -- they pose for stills in front of a set back drop with props -- picture frames, vintage umbrellas, what have you -- photog strings those together at the end as a stop action movie. v cool.

7. use luminarias and lanterns everywhere

8. have a lounge seating area with a fire pit nearby for relaxing during the reception

9. have a good solid cocktail hour with lots to eat. everyone is always starving at weddings

10. convince the caterer they really want to grill dinner on site. chicken? sliced flank steak? whole sides of salmon with fresh salsas? Much better than old meat steaming away somewhere. And lots of room temperature side dishes that take advantage of local produce. great tomato salads, corn salads, grilled veggies. flavored butter (honey? strawberry?) for breads or biscuits.

11. wild flowers in mason jars
12. they are not wedded (ha) to a wedding cake so maybe a dessert table of homespun pies and cakes and cookies?

13. toss lavender blossoms instead of rice

14. have the ice cream truck come by during the reception. Open bar !

15. sparklers make for great pictures

16. they have to have kettle corn. it's a thing for her.

17. set up an old typewriter at a table with a long roll of paper in it for people to type their wedding wishes. pieces together and framed later it will make an awesome piece of meaningful art.

Your turn! Congratulations Ciara and Jason! and thank you for letting me be a wedding elf. SO FUN.