The Silent Friends is a film about trees, and how they possess the virtues we seek in those close to us.’ Whatever our landscape, they are there: friends and sanctuaries that help us navigate our world. It’s a visual ode, really, that you can also read.
Read MoreSalt-Roasted New Potatoes with Crème Fraïche and Cracked Coriander
Roasting new potatoes buried in salt transforms them, yielding an extraordinarily pure flavor and creamy interior. Creme fraiche, cracked coriander and snipped chives gild the lily.
Read MoreHidden Wonders in ‘Dullness’
In a video about the Dull Men’s Club, an online community of men wishing to just be ordinary, and novelist Nicholson Baker’s wise writing about dullness, we discovered the thread that runs through both is gratitude and curiosity.
Read MoreWhy You Should Do Whatever You Want to Your Hair (Mira Keras + Solonge)
Hair has been both a prison and a means to empowerment for women since the beginning of time. Empowerment is at the fore —going blue proved a deeply expressive statement for me—and Solange’s ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ nails it.
Read MoreClever Textile Ideas to DIY from a Restored Tuscan Convent
We found a number of simple ideas for textiles in photos of a former Tuscan convent restored by designer Holly Lueders and her daughter. Our favorites are this very do-able paneled bedskirt and a pillow cover fashioned like a gift.
Read MoreMeditation 101: Failure is Actually Success
This 2-minute video is the perfect guide to meditation for beginners and the meditation-averse. It gives a simple method and the science of why meditating for five minutes daily will change your life. And unlike anything else in your life, in meditation, ‘failure’ is actually success.
Read MoreLeaping in Poetry, Art and Life (Robert Bly + Maria Robledo)
Leaping In Poetry, Art And Life (Robert Bly + Maria Robledo)
10.17.16 | 2:38am
Maria Robledo, from the Schneider Collection
Maria Robledo, from the Schneider Collection
While we were researching how we often don’t know just how big the leaps we take are, we came across poet Robert Bly’s theory of leaping poetry. He says that leaps are inherent in many works of art
Never-Fail Roasted Fish + Five Quick Sauces
When jittery cooks confess their fear of cooking fish, I recommend a foolproof, tried-and-true method I perfected decades ago. It renders fish tender, succulent and evenly cooked. It works fine for a variety of fish, and is perfect paired with of these five favorite simple sauces.
Read MoreAnnals of Healing: 30 Ways NOT to Say ‘Pussy’ + Tweeting REAL
Among the best responses to Donald Trump’s now infamous “Grab them by the pussy” are Samantha Bee’s brilliant riff on improvisional pussy slang and Kelly Oxford’s powerful twitter question. Both antidote shame.
Read MoreDIY or Buy: Kitchen Knife Holder
We saw this knife holder in a friend’s kitchen and thought: seriously clever. It’s simply a tall, narrow box filled with vertically-standing wooden skewers. The skewers hold the knives in place without dulling the blade. Although we tracked down where you can buy one, the formula for making it yourself is simple…
Read MoreRepair Strategy: Fierce Intention
After I did a sloppy job trying to disguise a torn seam in a prized sweater, I realized that seriously bold stitching would be a better solution. Turning a repair into a fierce intention works on all sorts of flawed and broken things…and people.
Read MoreJohn Cage’s Transformative “Question of Taste”
You can open John Cage’s A Year from Monday anywhere and find a snippet that will turn your head around. Like this clarifying view of TASTE, and the opinions about style that are so much a part of modern life:
Read MoreThe ‘Ah’ of Seeing (H is for Hawk)
This perfect, luminous passage from H is for Hawk reminds us to SEE miracles hiding in plain sight.
Read MoreKitchen Gold: Red Wine Essence
One of the most extraordinarily extravagant and extraordinarily delicious sauces in my repertoire is Red Wine Essence. Because it will keep for months in the fridge, the powerful sauce is my secret weapon to call upon at any time I want to transform simple foods into complex dishes.
Read MoreA Few Tools for Getting Unstuck + Amy Friend
Getting STUCK, whether in a relationship, decision-making process, or career path, is very much part of being human. In our productivity-obsessed society, it is an especially big concern. Here are some approaches we’ve found that work.
Read MoreUseful Analog Method for Visualizing Designs + Patterns
We’ve long been enamored of quilter Denise Schmidt. Her minimalist work is rich with color, geometry, presence, and tends to be hung on wall as art works rather than put on beds. In her workshops, she teaches an analog method for laying out pattern that can be applied to home design as well.
Read MoreLeap (William Wegman) with Haiku
One of the best titled leaps we’ve seen (in our vast collection): William Wegman’s For a Moment He Forgot Where He Was a Jumped into the Ocean. THAT is how we would love to live our life:
Read MoreArtful DIY Minimalist Aprons
This startlingly simple apron by Maison Martin Margiela suddenly made us SEE aprons for what they really are: a piece of cloth with ties to hold it snugly against the torso. And it gave us lots of ideas for making them, some done on-the-fly.
Read MoreJohanna Under the Ice: With One Breath, We Are Part of It
Hoping to recover from a serious biking accident, free diver Johanna Norblad tried an extreme and challenging therapy: diving under the frozen Arctic ice. The astonishing world she found led to her discovery of a new field of exploration and changed her life. I
Read MorePasta Fries (French Fry Meets Mac+Cheese)
Inspired by the crispy satisfaction of oven fries, I baked leftover tube pasta with grated Parmesan to make something like the chewy-crisp noodles on the top of baked pasta casseroles. Pasta fries make a fine midnight snacks, side dish or hors d’oeuvre, and especially lone-dog supper.
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