Summer Outdoor Rug Thing

Every time I see this photograph of a garden festooned with vintage rugs, I want to beam myself there Star Trek-style and lounge, reading, drinking tea, napping, with friends or alone. It reminds me of Morocco where the hot, dry weather encourages making outdoor environments with rugs. We can create them too. at least for a party’s worth of hours.

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How to Discover Unique Flavor Pairings (with a Trove of Recipes)

When a friend tasted the wild plum that had been fallen in pine needles, she “got” plum and pine and by association ROSEMARY. I’ve used the technique of tasting foods that sat side by side “just to see” for many years to discover new and often unlikely flavor pairings. Here are 10 favorites, including a Plum and Raspberry Crisp with Lavender.

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The Lunar Magic of Solar Lanterns + Solar Cell Stars

On the heels of our post about Staging a Summer Party with Modest Means, frequent contributor Susan Dworski sent this email about Shoji Solar Lanterns, an essential, inexpensive, mood-enhancing element that are, in her words “Pretty damned lunar at night”: Ironically, I just replaced my tattered red Shoji solars yesterday with the familiar bluebird ones. They are…

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Permanent Hopscotch for Spontaneous Skip + Jump

Photographer Virginia del Giudice has been sending us sightings from her travels in Amsterdam of random brilliant “everyday” improvisations the Dutch have come up with. Here’s a favorite: numbered tiles formed into a hopscotch grid and placed permanently on the sidewalk, for a quick spontaneous skip and jump on your way to do an errand or go…

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Urban Taxi Farmers 2014

Five years ago we began profiling an intrepid group of urban farmers, all of whom have the day job of taxi driver. They’ve “borrowed” pieces of unused open land in various corners of New York City and turned it into bread and butter – or rather into corn, beans, tomatoes, grapes, herbs and whatever else they can…

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