This weekend on public radio stations across the country, The Splendid Table, Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s wonderful food radio show, will be airing an interview with Sally about ‘the improvised life’ approach to Homemade Holiday Food Gifts. Check out Splendid Table’s website for show times in your area, download podcasts or stream the show. You’ll find Sally’s…
Read Moreatlantic’s corby kummer on ‘the improvised life’
We are beside ourselves. Corby Kummer, editor and journalist par excellence of The Atlantic wrote a big, generous RAVE of ‘the improvised life’ in his column Fresh Feeds. So we’re printing the whole thing here, because we’re so proud and thrilled, and honored: Who really wants to go shopping at the holidays? Okay, it can…
Read Morefolkstreams.net and america’s wild improvisational roots
This short clip is from a film called Medicine Fiddle, about a unique hybrid music and dance form created by the convergence of French, Scotch and Irish fur traders and trappers, with Native American tribes in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Canada in the 1700 and 1800’s. These mixed-blood people are often called Metis. Their music is rural American…
Read Morenyc bloggers do the holidays
‘the improvised life’ is proud to be included in NYC Bloggers Do the Holidays, a group blog by “the city’s coolest bloggers”*. If you haven’t already, I recommend checking out the sites below for all the fun and illuminating holiday ideas they’ve come up with… I found a lot of great non-New York-centric links while poking around…
Read Morelearning about color (a daily practice)
Do you ever feel like you just can’t figure out what colors go with what? Being great at color is clearly a special gift, but we mortals can learn to find our way with a little help. Consciously looking at wonderful combinations of color is a way of training the eye: a practice. And an…
Read Moreperfect kid’s book: mud pies and other recipes
One of my favorite recipes is called Fried Water: Melt one ice cube in a skillet by placing it in the sun. When melted, add 1 cup water and saute slowly — until water is transparent. Serve small portions, because this dish is rich as well as mouth-watering. It’s from a book I had as…
Read Moregrown-up chalkboard “art”
Sometimes when I need a diversion from writing, I poke around location scout Andrea Raisfeld’s website of interesting spaces for rent for photography locations. You can browse by type (apartment, barn, log cabin…), or description (contemporary, Modernist, Swedish…), or even by a feature (bunk bed, river, treehouse), and so on. I always find unexpected ideas there, like…
Read Moreurawaza: improvising ‘unmapped shortcuts’ at home
Urawaza means “secret tricks” or “unmapped short-cuts” in Japanese. These are innovations and solutions to life’s little problems that humble people figure out for themselves, like How to Give Yourself a Steam Facial in the Tub (sit in the tub with an umbrella open over your head)…or How to Soothe an Itchy Mosquito Bite (put…
Read Moresweet or savory cornmeal cakes for breakfast, supper + holiday celebrations (with 2 recipes)
Occasionally, I retreat to a friend’s cabin in the West Virginia Appalachians to rest and cook with what is there: a rudimentary kitchen and what the local store offers me. These constraints are a pleasing challenge that deconstruct my city self. I’ve improvised roasting pans out of tin foil, and made a soufflé with local cheese…
Read Morevideo meditation: a year in 2 minutes (or even 40 secs)
This lovely time-lapse video is a reminder that the world is going on around us, doing its own creative thing, that the constant is change.
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