The other morning, I opened the blind just as the rising sun was turning everything golden and a double rainbow appeared over Harlem. It got me thinking about the word “miracle” and another citing of miracles by a 6 year old I know. And Walt Whitman’s mighty list.
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We know lots of wonderful poems of gratitude but only one that manages to express thanks amidst the very hard things that befall us in life. It is by W.S. Merwin and called simply “Thanks”. We find it remarkable and hard and heartbreaking and heartening, all that complexity of feeling, which echoes so perfectly that which we are living now…
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Over the years, we’ve found many ways to express thanks. Close to our heart is this W.S. Merwin poem that finds a way to say thanks in the midst of our beautiful, frightening, wounded, wounding world. We offer it with a big hunk of beauty from a Mexican forest.
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Improvised Life has published A LOT of recipes in its long life, many geared to the holidays. We’re figuring that for many people, this year’s holidays are still going to be improvised and untraditional. Here are a few ideas for whatever form your fete takes. There are lots of ways to celebrate.
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Many months after coronavirus radically changed our world, we don’t know anybody that is not having a difficult time. We turn to the greatest balancing mechanism we’ve found to find out way back to fullness, “enough”, clarity, joy.
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If you’re still wrapping your head around pulling Thanksgiving dinner together, here is our toolkit of Improvised Life’s best ideas from Thanksgivings past.
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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.
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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.
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(Video link here). For the lazy days of the long Thanksgiving weekend, here’s an entertaining riff of every gadget provided to James Bond by Q of Q Branch in every James Bond film, in chronological order. After our own improvised life hearts…
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In the run-up to Thanksgiving, we often get calls from friends anxious for easy, foolproof strategies for the big meal. Here’s our updated tried-and-true, “best of” recipe traditions that lend themselves to tailoring and improvising.
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This is my favorite basic mashed potato recipe: wonderful as is, or as a base for the many embellishments and improvisations listed below, including the astonishing Sage Oil and Crispy Garlic. You can modulate their richness and texture according to whim or the ingredients you have on hand, making them perfect for the Thanksgiving Feast.
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Here are my two favorite strategies for producing a perfect roast turkey: dry salting and wet-brining.
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Thanks to the word that gives thanks. Thanks to the gratitude for how excellently the word melts snow or iron.
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Recently, we were stopped in our tracks by this yellow exclamation point. It is by artist Richard Artschwager, whose work is the focus of a retrospective at the Whitney. Knowing nothing about him, we poked around and found this potent snippet about his amazing !. …Artschwager’s “blps,” black punctuation-like marks..are intended to make their immediate…
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For the past couple of days, we’ve been getting calls from friends asking for recommendations for the Thanksgiving meal: the best way to cook the turkey, what side dishes, what to drink. So for all our readers who may still be at odds with what they are going to make tomorrow, here’s our round-up of…
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(Video link here.) We were happy to see clever Snoopy pulling out a folding ping-pong table for his Thanksgiving crowd (along with an assortment of mismatched chairs). Covered with a cloth or kraft paper, nobody would know the difference. He isn’t the only one cobbling together a table. It’s a yearly scramble for many people…
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