The table settings at an Anthology Magazine dinner echoed many of our own cheap, chic ideas.
Read MoreOur Best Thanksgiving Recipes + Improvisations
Here’s our round-up of favorite Thanksgiving recipes, along with a few notated improvisations we’ve done here and there; you could easily forge a perfect menu from them. And since we view recipes as rough formulas and idea generators, we encourage your to take them in whatever direction you want.
Read MoreWines and Beers to Serve at your Holiday Fete
Wondering what wines or beers to serve with your holiday meal? Our wine-and-spirits authority Anthony Giglio’s recommendations —and the thinking behind them— will help you navigate your local wine and beer emporium.
Read Moreroast turkey strategies: pre-salting vs wet-brining
Here are my two favorite strategies for producing a perfect roast turkey: dry salting and wet-brining.
Read Moretanks into playthings: a wish on armistice day
These children turning a tank into a toy seems a fitting if unexpected image to mark Veterans Day. It’s also known as Rememberance Day, a day we take off every year in rememberance of dear ones we’ve lost. We’ll be back posting as usual tomorrow. Image from Child’s Play by Steve McCurry Edited with…
Read MoreHappy Halloween from Improvised Life!
We love this beauty of a costume: the Horseman from 1960 Jean Cocteau film, ‘Testament of Orpheus’. And with it we wish you H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N!
Read Morebauhaus costumes for halloween inspiration
Need some inspiration for a Halloween costume? Check out this inspiring slideshow of costumes devised for Oskar Schlemmer‘s Bauhaus fetes in the 1920’s. Quelle imagination! We especially love the clever illusion, below. Could there have been florescent paint in those days?
Read More‘always maintain a kind of summer’ (thoreau)
It’s Labor Day, the tacit end of summer. I’m wondering if after all the s’mores have melted, the frisbees thrown, the lanyards woven, the barbeques fired up, the cocktail schmoozes sloshed through, and the group hikes up a trail to see the sun rise… after all these activities, maybe what’s really important about summer is simply…
Read More5 delish, affordable sparkling wines for summer
Ellen Silverman sent this image of the charming chairs her friend Lauren Malkasian‘s daughter made out of the wire cages from bottles of Champagne drunk during a celebratory dinner one evening. That got us thinking about sparkling wines so we asked our trusty wine/spirits/entertaining advisor Anthony Giglio for his recommendations. He sent us FIVE plus…
Read Morehappy 4th of july from ‘improvised life’!!!!
Wishing you a joyous Fourth! ….We’ll be back on Monday.
Read More4th of July pt 2: paella’s improvisational possibilities
Paella is a dish of great possibility, without rigid constraints. It was originally created by workers in the orange groves of Valencia with the elements they had on hand, commonly duck, rabbit and snails. Seafood paellas are a fairly recent adaptation, although they are the most popular. The only constants in paella are the rice,…
Read Morethe sf bubbleman shows how-to diy giant bubbles + why
San Francisco Bubbleman 1 by Susan Dworski @improvisedlife.com from Sally Schneider on Vimeo. (Video link here.) Some time ago, Susan Dworski emailed us about the mysterious Bubbleman she passes on Highway 101, and sent two little videos. At sunset today alongside bustling Highway 101 in Tiburon, CA, an unknown man with a boom box coaxes soap…
Read Morememorial day is our ‘memory day’
This Memorial Day weekend has us thinking about extraordinary friends who have passed away over the years, and the many gifts and resonances they left behind. For us, Memorial Day becomes Memory Day, rich with memories of lives lived BIG and generously. Each of the people we remember was completely unique, one-of-a-kind, original and taught…
Read Moredig this avant-garde easter bonnet! + happy spring!
H A P P Y E A S T E R!!! H A P P Y S P R I N G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F R O M ‘ I M P R O V I S E D L I F E’ (We’ll be back Tuesday…) “The Swiss Avant Garde” via the great Mondoblogo
Read Moresplatter-painted easter eggs and other last minute ideas
Suddenly realizing that Easter is just a couple of days away, we started thinking Easter eggs, the symbol of the day both Christian and pagan. Immediately, photographer Tessa Traeger’s egg series came to mind. All eggs collected from various birds, they provide inspiration for egg decorating from Nature. Witness Livet Hamma’s diy spatter-painted eggs below.…
Read Moresalty-sweet chocolate chip cookie for easter and…
I met New York City Baker Katherine Yang at a book party for Canal House Cooks Every Day, one of our favorite cookbooks. Co-author Christopher Hirscheimer described Katherine as having created one of the best chocolate chip cookies EVER: crisp, at once salty and sweet. Katherine is the creator of Gigi Blue a by-order seriously bakery, where…
Read Morehappy valentine’s day from ‘the improvised life’
70 improvised valentines later — still in love
Bill and Julie got married on Valentine’s Day in 1943, 70 years ago today. He was a GI who had managed to wangle a weekend pass to marry his childhood sweetheart. From the get-go,their marriage was an improv. “We didn’t have a minyan, the minimum of ten people required for a Jewish wedding,” Julie recalls.…
Read Morediy woven paper valentine + other last minute gifts
We love the possibilities inherent in the great valentine DIY we found at Mineco Co UK, made of woven paper. All you need is an exactto knife and straight edge and some nice paper. Mineco’s site tells how-to, but there’s lots of room for improvising (were thinking cut up photographs, magazines, ribbon…)
Read Moremaria robledo’s stealth valentines
Our friend Maria Robledo makes “stealth” valentines for her husband Holton to find. She stitched “BE MINE” onto a curtain, and arranged beaded necklaces into hearts on the carpet.
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