The temp has dropped here in Seattle and now it really feels like fall. I am learning how to build a proper fire and chop wood. The wood chopping needs some work but it is super satisfying. I snapped this shot on my way out yesterday…
You can’t see them well in the photo above but my super cool Vans are these from Hedley & Bennett…
We have this beautifully simple, made-in-Seattle Filson log carrier to haul all that freshly chopped wood…
Over these last several months at home, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I didn’t make any big decision, it just happened. And when I thought about it further it became clear that my desire for a cocktail to mark the evening or enjoying a beer after working all day in the yard was about the ritual or celebration and not the alcohol itself. However, most non-alcoholic beverages seem to lack that special something that a proper drink has when it comes to marking an occasion.
With perfect timing, Julia Bainbridge’s excellent book Good Drinks came out last month…
She writes in the introduction: “It can be difficult to snap a backbone onto a mixed drink without wine or spirits. Alcohol provides structure and complexity, and it’s often pleasantly bitter and bracing. Remove it from a cocktail, and you’re left with sugar, acid, and some cold water…Until recently, nonalcoholic mixed drinks have been treated as afterthoughts. A higher level of effort and care anoints them as proper drinks. Good Drinks.”
“You get something sweet, tart, in some cases savory, and in some cases tannic, all in one pour,” says Ricker. “You don’t have to make a simple syrup or add a botanical to it or muddle anything.” SOM and soda make a fantastic savor-worthy beverage…
A few other things bringing me joy these days…
YNAB! You Need a Budget. I wrote about YNAB here four years ago and have mentioned it a few times since. I am an unabashed YNAB pusher and think everyone should use this amazing life-changing tool…
We are going through a lot of soap these days and this everyone foaming hand soap is our favorite for the bathroom…
The Dream Pant from Everlane is really good. Soft, midweight fabric and an excellent cut makes for great loungewear that is really pulled together and smart looking…
Over the summer we made a lot of pizza. We’ve had a little Ooni pizza oven for the last few years but only really pulled it out one or two times a year which was a shame. It is so easy to use and we really put it to work this summer. Even with the cooling temps we plan to keep her firing all through the fall and winter.
We have an older model but this Ooni Koda is comparable…
And Joe Beddia’s Pizza Camp is my pizza bible. The perfect dough, sauce, and technique are all found here. In fact the technique he teaches uses a standard home oven so if you don’t have a pizza oven definitely don’t let let that stop you. We use both the Ooni and our kitchen oven with excellent results.
One of the many restaurants to close in our city due to the pandemic is the acclaimed Tilth. I thought chef Maria Hines’ words in The Seattle Times were beautiful…
But Hines also holds hope for the future. Of “the heart and soul” of an enterprise like Tilth, she says, “My love and my creativity and my desire to share happiness with the world through my craft - all of that still is there. It’s just that the vessel is going to change. Whatever form that takes, you can’t take that away.”
Seattle fans who’d like a last taste of Hines’ shared happiness in its current incarnation can still try for takeout or day-of patio reservations, weather permitting, through Oct. 30. Then Tilth goes dark. But Hines calls the restaurant’s last days a celebration. She continues, “There’s this sense that it’s ending - that there’s a finality to it… we really need to look towards the light, and think about all that light we still have in us. Don’t let the temporary darkness block that out.”
Ken Lambert - The Seattle Times
And I’ve been thinking about this quote…
“Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—realists of a larger reality.”
Like many others, I have spent the last several months contemplating all the things, and thinking about the shape of my life. My home and family life, my work. Asking the question, is this how I want my life to look? And if not, how can I reimagine it so it does? I love this Daily Stoic from a few month’s back on how much of what we do and say is not essential.
“There has never been a better time to go through your life and ask yourself about all the things you do and say and think, “Is this necessary?” “Is this essential?” “Why am I doing this?” “What would happen if I changed?””
— Ryan Holiday
It’s been a wonderful exercise and it is amazing how asking those questions regularly really brings our priorities into high relief. I’ve also found the central Stoic tenet that the only thing we have control over in our lives is the way we respond to be deeply grounding and liberating, and I would argue, vital in times like these.
In addition to all this reflection, I have been using this time to get as creatively inspired and recharged as possible. I spent most of the summer working in the backyard with my husband. Pouring over all of my Piet Oudolf books and trying to follow his example. It has been a true labor of love transforming the slope between our house and the studio, which for the last decade has been overrun by weeds and blackberries…
I’m so proud of how it turned out and can’t wait to see how it looks next year when it fills in and looks more Oudolf Field-like…
Now that the yard project is done I’m largely filling my time reading, including Ryan Holiday’s newest…
Even more enjoyable than reading for myself right now is reading aloud to my son. We just finished the The Golden Compass, the first book of Philip Pullman’s triology His Dark Materials. I don’t know who is more excited each night to read together, him or me. He is a stellar reader on his own, but there is something kind of magical about being read to (and something magical in being the reader as well).
To go with all this reading, I am so grateful for my Caddis Readers which make a huge difference. They are also blue-light blockers which is something to consider since many of us are sitting in front of computer screens more than ever these days…
I’ve also noticed that I’ve been gravitating toward things that I find deeply moving and poignant. Things that remind me how beautiful it is to be alive, and be human. I’ve been listening to a lot of Max Richter. I’d really like to watch the film on his 8.5 hour work Sleep…
We finally watched Jojo Rabbit. It has been a long time since I was so touched my a movie. If you watch on HBO, make sure to watch the short “making of“ clip following the film and listen to director Taika Waititi talk about creating the film through the eyes of a ten year old boy…
The sun didn’t rise until 7:44am this morning and the sun will set at 4:18pm this afternoon. It definitely feels like December and we’ve been enjoying a quiet weekend cozying up to the fire and drinking mezcal hot toddys with our neighbors. Our sweet little Christmas tree is up…
My favorite Vince Guaraldi Trio “Holiday” Pandora station is on during every waking hour…
And now I am checking off holiday gifts and making a wishlist of all the cool things I love starting with this butter ornament for my tree…
I can think of a number of rad women I’d like to give this “Women Supporting Women” tote to…
Ayako & Family jam is still one of the things I gift most year-round. Teachers, neighbors, hostess gifts. I got this stack of different plum jams from DeLaurenti in the Pike Place Market…
I just bought myself these Outdoor Research Stormtracker Sensor gloves. I love how low-profile they are and while they are not waterproof, they are well-suited for the damp cold PNW winter conditions that we’ll be in until April…
I adore this Casper Glow Light which I wrote about back in September. It has been a complete game-changer especially with the dark winter mornings and I have not set an alarm since I got it. My friend Omar loves it too…
After several weeks of rain the sky has cleared and the temperature has dropped. If the forecast holds, we are looking at pretty perfect conditions for trick or treating this Thursday…
Both soups mentioned above are also pureed which means they are perfect for sipping out of a mug (which comes in handy if you want to deliver something hot to your rad construction crew on a cold day)…
I have a pair of black patent leather Loeffler Randall boots from a few seasons ago that I would like to put into more regular rotation. I just ordered these white Everlane straight leg crop pants to create the look below…
One of my clients told me about this No. Green deodorant from Corpus which is my new favorite. It smells amazing, works like deodorant should, and has no white residue…
These little Mighty Patch hydrocolloid patches are amazing. If I have a blemish that needs extracting (or I pick at my face more than I should) I put one of these on the "wound” before I go to bed. They prevent unsightly scabs from forming and they speed the healing process…
Those little patches work so beautifully I added these hydrocolloid bandages to our first aid kit…
I’ve been creating more time to read these days and recently finished Deep Work by Cal Newport. I first learned about Cal several years ago when he was an MIT student and wrote about deliberate practice on his blog. Deep Work is full of well articulated ideas that you’ll want to write down and think more about like this one…
“People who multitask all the time can’t filter out irrelevancy.”
Last week we broke ground on a long-anticipated dream project, the building of our backyard studio, which will be a work/art space for my husband. Our little one car garage was demolished to kick it off…
Speaking of cake, Simple Cake by Odette Williams is a wonderful book and one I’d highly recommend for your library whether you consider yourself a baker or not…
I’ve had a lot on my plate the last few weeks and my advanced food prep has been lagging. Thankfully I’ve found a go-to protein powder that I love and helps me get by if I have nothing to grab before walking out the door. I mix one scoop of this Amazing Grass Protein Superfood and two scoops of Vital Proteins Collagen with 12oz of orange juice and whip it up in the Vitamix for an easy and satiating breakfast. And on really long teaching days when I don’t have a break between clients I will make a double batch and bring it to the studio in this 32oz insulated Klean Kanteen…
My husband and I both carry around this Memento Mori as a daily reminder to be present and focus on what really matters.
“Meditating on your mortality is only depressing if you miss the point. It is in fact a tool to create priority and meaning. It’s a tool that generations have used to create real perspective and urgency. To treat our time as a gift and not waste it on the trivial and vain. Death doesn’t make life pointless but rather purposeful. And fortunately, we don’t have to nearly die to tap into this. A simple reminder can bring us closer to living the life we want.”
One of my favorite parts near the end of the conversation:
When I say, “The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives,” it’s because I do think that the bonds and the connections that we forge with others give us a greater sense of meaning and happiness and wellbeing than just about any other thing — when it’s good, because it can be exactly the opposite, huh?
“And now it’s like, how much are you investing in your relationships? And I find that, often, people don’t. They talk about “my partner is my best friend,” and they treat them like shit. They talk about “my friend,” and they haven’t seen that person or talked to that person in years. It’s like, no, you can’t just do it like that. You can’t be lazy. You can’t be complacent about this and put all your energies at work and bring the leftovers home — and all of that stuff.
Or I have this question I’ve been playing with lately, and I just asked it in Sydney. I was like, “How many of you go to bed, and the last thing you touch is your phone? OK, stand up. And how many of you, the first thing you stroke in the morning when you wake up is your phone? Please stand up. And how many of you are doing this while there actually is another person lying next to you in bed?” That’s ambiguous loss, by the way. I’m like, seriously? Seriously?”
So that’s what I am trying to address at this point; it’s like, interestingly, we don’t look at relational health enough. We don’t connect it to mental health. We don’t connect it to our overall physical health. And we certainly don’t connect it enough to our societal health, if we want to really go bigger. It’s not the freedom that is our problem. It’s not the fact that we have choice, but they have always gone together with responsibility, with accountability.
You can see more of Esther Perel in her TED talk from a few years back and read her book Mating in Captivity.
School is out for the summer and we couldn’t be more ready for it. I’m thrilled to have a break from making school lunches and am looking forward to more leisurely mornings.
We had a real scorcher into the mid 90s this week and I’ve been grateful to have these bamboo roll up shades on our exterior west facing windows to cut the heat. They really do the job but I also love the diffused light they create inside the house too…
It’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything here because I’ve been spending most of my free time reading (or sewing). A few months ago my son D got hit hard with the reading bug and on a family trip to Palm Springs he brought a book wherever we went. Waiting for his food at the restaurant, waiting for the rental car, sitting poolside. My husband and I exchanged knowing glances of “It’s happening.”
I’ve been waiting for this day and as children often do, he is helping me to be my best self. His new love of reading has helped me make time for my own love of reading and I’m making it a priority and letting some of the less important things on my to-do list slide. Together we are in deep with Harry Potter and these illustrated versions are just beautiful…
D was also just gifted these super rad Gryffindor Vans from his very cool aunt and uncle…
I can sit here working away for hours without eating or thinking about anything else. I’m so enjoying the process of learning something completely new and remembering how wonderful that feeling of “flow” is…
I have long wanted a Japanese style pinafore apron and this one from Rough Linen is perfect. It even comes in a petite option. I’d love it in the charcoal…
My side table is already stacked with books but I think if I had Educated I’d move it to the top of the pile…
How to be a Good Creaturewould have been on my list if I could have waited and didn’t already purchase it for myself…
And I have long wanted to learn how to sew and here in Seattle, Drygoods Design is the place to do it. A gift card here might ensure that I finally carve out some time in the new year to take a “This is a Sewing Machine” class…
It is December! We don’t have a tree yet and I haven’t started playing holiday music but I think today might be the day it all begins. And with that, here are some ideas for giving this year…
Billecart Salmon Champagne is my most favorite thing to imbibe ever. It is special and only makes an appearance once or twice a year around our house but I can’t imagine a more elegant gift…
Chocolate from Askinosie would make another lovely hostess gift. I have my eye on many of the CollaBARation bars and this coconut milk chocolate. If you don’t know about Askinosie Chocolate read their story here…
This delicious and assertive G. Day body wash is great and reminds me of a more unisex and a cleaner (read: no SLS, parabens etc) version of the Molton Brown Black Peppercorn wash my husband has long favored…
My brother worked on this Brooks shoe and I wore it for the first time at the studio last week and nearly every client wanted a pair for themselves. They are that cool.
My husband has a pair too that are equally as cool…
I cannot recommend Pamela Salzman’s cookbook highly enough. I’ve mentioned her on my blog many times. She has an incredibly resourceful blog and teaches countless cooking classes in the LA area (and now online classes too). She is a natural teacher and her recipes are always accessible, reliable, healthy and delicious. She is my go-to.
New this fall, Ottolenghi’s Simple is fantastic. I’m gifting it to several friends this year.
I LOVE these balm sticks from Olio E Osso out of Portland, Oregon. I have them in several colors and they give a beautiful flush of color and feel wonderful on the skin. I buy mine from Ayla Beauty in San Francisco. It’s a wonderful little shop that I like to support and they carry so many of the lines I love like Marie Veronique, BioRecept, Kosås and others.
For a young girl or boy in your life a subscription to Bravery Magazine…
I love these beautiful tattoos which are pulled from Oliver Jeffers’s gorgeous books…
I gave his book Here We Areto all the children in our family last year, though I’d recommend it for adults too…
Also, consider giving to an organization you believe in. I will be giving to On Being…
Last Friday I had the day off so after we dropped our kids at school, my friend Megan and I had big plans…a 1000 piece puzzle and making Samin’s salad from that last episode. M dubbed it “Friendship Salad.” There is a lot of joy to be had in cooking side by side and sharing a good meal. It was a fine day.
I love this puzzle by the way. I’m a sucker for fonts in general but these collage puzzles are super satisfying because you can constantly make progress - the perfect balance of challenge/reward. I just picked up this one too…
I am excited to host a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year and have been starting to think about what I want to cook. I like to roast chickens instead of turkey and am going to go heavy on the vegetable sides this year. I just bought these gorgeous Staub baking dishes in matte black that I can’t wait to put on the table…
Before Thanksgiving, I’m putting one of them to use to make this dreamy cauliflower from David Tanis. He’s so great and I love his latest cookbook Market Cookingthat my friend Rita gave me for my birthday…
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
I also just bought a second Instant Pot, an 8 quart this time, to keep up with my stock making this year - though I’ll have no trouble putting two to use for more things than stock. Homemade stock is a game changer for everything and the Instant Pot really makes it quick and foolproof. I love Melissa Clark’s chicken and vegetable stock recipes. They are included in her newest book, Comfort in an Instant, as well as her original Dinner in an Instant…
I’m also starting to play with baking gluten-free bread and this is a great starting guide…
From making stock and baking bread, I’m all about cooking for cooler fall weather. But I also love dressing for fall too and have happily transitioned my wardrobe. My uniform is pretty much always a sweater, jeans and either hightop Vans or ankle boots. And my most favorite jeans right now come from AGOLDE. Even if high-waisted jeans go out of fashion, I will never go back! These are perfect…
Samin Nosrat’s book Salt Fat Acid Heat was one of my most favorite cookbooks last year and I have given it as a gift several times. She is a talented teacher and I loved watching her four-part series on Netflix this weekend. I especially loved the last episode where she prepares a gorgeous roasted vegetable salad at home and hosts friends for dinner. I am so inspired I have revisited her cookbook and am reading it cover to cover…
It was only a matter of time - I caught my first cold of the fall/back-to-school season last week. Time to start taking daily immune support. This one is my favorite…
I also consumed a lot of strong ginger and lemon tea with raw honey. You can make a big batch of ginger juice in the blender, but now that I have a proper ceramic ginger grater it is easier than ever to grate ginger in seconds. I can’t imagine not having this little tool in my kitchen…
Re-inspired by Samin I have spent the bulk of my weekend in the kitchen. Making chicken stock in the Instant Pot, our favorite cookies and a batch of the best granola…
I have also made this caramelized onion and lentil pilaf from Nigella Lawson twice this week. It is so easy, economical and delicious. I would happily eat it for breakfast, maybe with some sautéed spinach…
While in the kitchen I’ve been listening to a lot of Bach, a perfect companion - particularly if Yo-Yo Ma is involved…
“These are the kind of things we need for the tired spaces of our world. This is the way we need to move forward in a world that is so interested in being comforted by the damp blanket of bad stories. We need stories of belonging that move us towards each other, not from each other; ways of being human that open up the possibilities of being alive together; ways of navigating our differences that deepen our curiosity, that deepen our friendship, that deepen our capacity to disagree, that deepen the argument of being alive. This is what we need. This is what will save us. This is the work of peace. This is the work of imagination.”
— Pádraig Ó Tuama
We spent last weekend in the hills outside Santa Cruz at a family wedding. It was an incredible party and there was an amazing band so we all threw down and danced the night away. I finally got a chance to wear this gorgeous dress from Doen…
