In the often-surprising “Lives” page of last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, Robin Black told the story of how her family’s dilapidated home was scouted by a reality tv producer for a show about houses so “spectacularly unkempt” that they make their neighbors mad. At first Black and her husband are shocked and somewhat embarrassed,…
Read Morestrategy: cool un)plywood storage cabinets
Years ago, New York photographer Maria Robledo designed this simple, functional and really cool-looking storage for her studio. A few hours before she moved to a new space, I ran over to photograph them for ‘the improvised life’ because they are so smart and great, even though she’d emptied them out. They once held an impressive amount of…
Read Morea sky full of ‘yes’
sea differently
This simple photo gives an unexpected shift of view – perfect for a new year. It’s from Scattered Light a participatory photo project and exhibition designed to “re-acquaint the viewer to his/her surrounding environment and introduce another way of seeing and interpreting the things around them.” It is the brainchild of ASDF: a series of posters generated from photos…
Read Morea new year’s call from the future
The best way we’ve found to feel the old year pass into the new is at the Big Apple Circus‘ New Year’s Eve show. This is an old-fashioned one-ring circus that began in 1977 as the dream of two young street jugglers. The acts are RIGHT THERE in front of you, vivid and thrilling. You can see…
Read Morethe potato chip improvisations + recipe: real onion dip
After discovering the unlikely and delicious combination of leftover mousse of foie gras smeared onto potato chips (we were out of toast), I started making mental notes of the delectable combinations you could make with this ordinary ingredient. Good potato chips – cut slightly thick, fried in olive oil, and seasoned with sea salt –…
Read Morethank you!!!!!
Voting for the Homies Home Design Award nomination has ended and ‘the improvised life’ was officially nominated, thanks to your votes, though it didn’t make the finals. No worries; we did great! Your steady barrage of votes kept ‘the improvised life’ on Apartment Therapy’s Hot Movers list for a day and a half, right up front.…
Read Moretravel the known universe
The Known Universe is an amazing video that takes you from the Himalayas to the far reaches of space, to experience the afterglow of Big Bang, constellations, planets, quasars, the Milky Way, our solar system, and more… It is compiled from the Digital Universe Atlas, a four-dimensional map of the universe maintained by the American Museum…
Read Moreplease vote for ‘the improvised life’
ApartmentTherapy’s Homie Awards honors the best in home blogs for 2009, and I’m thinking “Why NOT see if the 6-month old ‘the improvised life’ could have a chance for a nomination at the last minute. The voting for nominating a blog ends on December 29th, so there are only a couple of days to get…
Read More‘a new way to cook’ : “one of the decade’s best food books”!!
On Christmas day, I received a totally unexpected and mind-boggling gift: an email alerting me that my 2001 cookbook A New Way to Cook is included on the Guardian’s “The Best Food Books of the Decade” list. It is such an honor; please bear with me for tooting horns and telling a tale. From UK foodwriter…
Read Morethe perfect day
wishing you: joy!
This is ‘the improvised life’s first Christmas and we’re going to take off starting NOW, Christmas Eve, to wander around the city and look at all the wonderful hoopla, have a cocktail, cool out, count blessings. We’ll be back on Monday for the run-up to the New Year… Until then, we are wishing you a…
Read Moresecret world changers?
The theme of current New Yorker is “World Changers” and the magazine is fat with mind-expanding reports. The gist of the issue, and of vast creative streams and ideas that seem to be appearing everywhere these days, are expressed in its amazing cover by Javier Mariscal. Sometimes when I’m sitting on the subway looking at…
Read More‘the improvised life’s holiday resource guide
Yikes! Christmas is on Friday?!!! With New Year’s soon on it’s heels… If you are as unprepared as I am, here’s an annotated list of some past posts from ‘the improvised life’ to help with the holiday crush… from recipes and gifts to strategies, and decorations…
Read Morealt (wall) Christmas trees
At the farmer’s market this weekend, Keith Stewart was selling beautiful Christmas trees from his farm, as well as “wall trees” which are tall sculptural branches cut from huge trees. Keith recommended leaning them against or affixing them to a wall and decorating them like a regular Christmas tree (at much less cost). There are lots…
Read Morea toast to giorgio carbone, prince of improvisers
Giorgio Carbone, known to his loyal subjects as has “His Tremendousness” passed away in November in Seborga, the country he created through a masterful feat of improvisation. In 1963, Carbone, a former mimosa farmer, was seized by what the NY Times called “a glorious vision:” that Seborga, five square miles nestled between the Italian Riviera…
Read Moreoddly brilliant gifts + following your own odd brilliance
In an attempt to figure out what I might like for Christmas, my sister Susy sent me a list of fun, oddly brilliant gift ideas I would never have thought of: -cable tv subscriptions for premium channels -night vision binoculars or goggles -flash paper to make sparks fly from your hands -devices to measure volume,…
Read Morehomemade food gift: alt-malted milk balls
Our Alt-Malted Milk Balls have been featured all week on The Splendid Table, the terrific public radio food show hosted by Lynne Rosetto Kasper. They are a recent improvisation on Homemade Chocolates for Improvising, a really easy method for making shards of chocolate flavored with whatever crosses your mind, from Marcona almonds to curry powder. Mixing…
Read More‘everything is so amazing, but nobody is happy’
This clip of the comedian Louis C.K. riffing on Conan O’Brien’s show is a rare combination of REALLY funny and totally wise/smart/true. It is about looking around at what we have, recognizing miracles, counting blessings… (To jump to the essence start at 2:35…)
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