bricolagelife

big flavors: dutch baby and a side of bacon

i was just thinking last night about giving comfort.  everyone needs it sometimes and everyone needs a different kind.  i'm the sort of person who wants to fork over just the right dose of comfort when someone i care for needs some.  is it big warm hug, a cup of tea, a safe place to land, a good laugh or a sympathetic ear that's called for?  i don't always know for sure but i do what i can.  

when i found myself in need of a little comfort today i ended up in an old familiar place i hadn't been to in years.  the long curved counter with the row of swiveling stools, the smell of coffee brewing and the gleam of the harvest gold vinyl upholstery calmed me the moment we walked thru the door.

we shared a side order of bacon and two styles of pancakes.  the coffee (with real cream) tasted exactly as i remembered it.  the magic of melting butter with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a spoonful of blackberry preserves worked as well as it used to.

 

it seems that every so often the right form of comfort presents itself at just the right moment.  even when you weren't asking for it.  the frustrations, anxieties and thwarted intentions melt away as someone you love passes you one of their potato pancakes and reaches across the table for a bit of the giant popover on your plate.

 

works for me.

dutch baby

potato pancakes

thinking about... apple pie

 

 

first we think about apples.  then we discuss them.  then we buy a few, taste them, (photograph them) talk some more about that pie we intend to make.  it's on our minds.  and it should be in our oven some time next week.

tis the season :)

all about apples

they're good for you

apple pie

apple crisp

apple tart

giving it a rest

i've been wondering for months if michael pollan might be wrong.  not entirely, of course, but maybe just a bit.  basically i think he is brilliant and i am all for the changes he wants to see in modern agriculture, grocery stores, the food industry and my kitchen.  this is about that nyt article he wrote that declares people are watching tv cooks cooking, but not cooking anymore at home themselves.  obviously michael and i travel in different circles.  everyone i know, both my virtual and real life friends, cook more and more at home.  and they are cooking beautiful, inspired and ambitious dishes on a regular basis.  and loving it.  tho the habit is not new to me, i am loving it more, too.

as someone who literally learned how to cook well from watching great cooks instruct me from a tv screen, beginning with julia child and including nigella lawson, ina garten, giada de laurentiis, jacques pepin and jamie oliver.  being the kind of person inspired by seeing, i get up from the couch after a good cooking show to tie on my apron, start a shopping list or dig thru a cookbook.  watching cooking makes me want to cook.  watching project runway makes me want to sew.  walking thru an art museum or gallery makes me want to paint or collage or build something or take more photos.  that's how my brain works and maybe i just assumed everybody else's does the same.

upon reflection, i agree with his observations about the competitive shows.  watching top chef does not make me want to cook.

which brings me to another thought, on one of the lessons i learned from those great cooks i was watching... resting.  if no one had ever taught me to let meat rest after the grilling, roasting or searing it had been thru, i wouldn't have come up with the idea myself.  i wouldn't have known instinctively to fold a foil tent and tuck the pork loin, steak or chicken under it, to sit still for five or ten minutes (continuing to cook and holding in juices) before the eager knife blade did it's work.  

so now we let everything rest.  the pizza with the bubbling, browning cheese (and lethally hot tomato sauce), the soup just off the boil, cookies from the oven and even the lattes.  no small feat for two ravenously hungry cooks most days.

how much more delicious everything tastes when it's temperature cools from inferno to a pleasing warmth.  how lovely to distinguish each flavor without scalding our mouths.  gradually we look around us and begin to apply the concept of letting things rest to more than just the cooking.  and we are pleasantly surprised by how well it works in almost every application.

well, that kind of rambled on and on... i think i'll give it a rest now.

on collecting

the thing about collecting is you often find yourself standing still with an object cradled in your palm and you just aren't sure if you should throw it away or start another collection.  you might be able to make something/use it/repurpose it someday.  and it's really good looking.  much too good for trash. and the next thing you know you are filling a clear container with beautiful wine corks while the water boils for coffee. and wondering where to display them.

isn't it magical when mundane things are transformed simply by being collected?  a favorite here and one here.  that abbey sure knows what's good :)

just puttering around at home

the british say pottering, we say puttering, but when i looked it up in the dictionary i wasn't really sure it's the most accurate word.  the definition is "to work or move idly or ineffectually".  when i use it i mean to move at my own pace, with my own vague agenda.  i get things done but in a pleasingly wandering sort of way.  it's one of my favorite ways to spend the day. i repotted the herbs and they are so happy now in a pot too big for the windowsill.  carrying them up to the sunniest spot i realized there was a gift to wrap on the table, which took me past the place that needed to be swiffered, then into the kitchen where my coffee cup was waiting and a little lunch was soon prepared.  it may appear i am moving about aimlessly but i am rarely ineffectual.  i accomplish plenty.  just not in a straight line.  all the while my mind is busy working thru some other things on my mental list, coming up with creative solutions to odd problems or planning new projects.  if i want to i may stop to take a photo, or read a short story or write down an idea.  i'm occupied from waking til sunset but if someone calls and asks what i'm doing i usually say "nothing".  or "just puttering around".  perhaps next time i'll say "everything".

my kitchen hutch on apartment therapy!

when friends come by for coffee we stop in front of the hutch in the kitchen so they can choose their favorite cup from my collection.  conversation ceases for a moment while they consider the sweet moomin cups or the handleless marimekko tumblers... or maybe the ochre colored heath ceramic cup and saucer.  it's not easy to pick just one, but it's always fun to see which cup each person likes best.  i was thinking about all of the friends i've made here and on flickr when i took my solitary cup from the shelf the other morning. wouldn't it be swell to open the doors and invite everyone to choose a cup for a virtual coffee since we can't get together for the real thing?  choose yours here. (sign in and click the add note option)

beth at bneato liked the organized aspect of the cabinet when she saw it and used it in a feature about open shelving over at apartment therapy!  thanks, beth!  she and i both like the idea of using a bright color inside - but my landlord would not.  so i'm thinking of adding an innocent strip of wallpaper, mounted on the back with this.  that'll work!

the comfort in planetary behaviors

while navigating my way around our newly depleted cable channels recently, i discovered a weekly horoscope show that i may be revisiting regularly.  i am not so much a believer in horoscopes as i am a collector of them.  the expressive language used to describe the effects of the planetary behaviors gives me endless inspiration for my projects.  and i find the uncanny connections between what the planets are up to and what's going on around here... strangely comforting.  

what i learned was that mercury has been retrograde since january and will remain so until the 30th of may. although i am familiar with the havoc mercury can play on technology while retrograde, it is also responsible for slowing down all that we virgos have been trying to propel forward.  the feeling of being stuck.  the sense of pushing the rock uphill.  seems it's a good time to rest the mind and reflect. well, that explains a lot.  

the good news is the planets keep on shifting.  i'm told june will bring a new energy and things will set off in a positive direction.  this includes jobs and projects!   i'm getting ready.

ah... i love it when it's not me.  it's the planets :)

together and apart

that's the way it goes sometimes.

the mesmerizing, inspiring effect of rivers and tides has been re-confirmed.  and re-recommended as a good family film.  i'm re-peating myself, but it is so worth a re-viewing.

and my tiny porcelain star pendant has been reported by a recent wearer to have proven good luck charm properties!  the news made me so happy :)

making stuff : perishable prints

standing felt frame with original photo printed on velum, stitched to linen scrap. with antique cotton tassels.

photo printed on velum, stitched to linen scraps, stitched to paper weaving, stitched to wool felt, hung with embroidery thread, stitched to pussy willow branch.

lately i have been ruminating on the concept of perishable prints.  and the frames i can make for them, from the scraps i have at hand.  as i work i ask myself; what if the inks may run, or fade... or the papers disintegrate or tear, or the fabrics fray and curl up at the edges?  what if the materials were not archival, but like a living organism may wrinkle, age and be naturally altered by time and the elements?  might not the changes over time enhance the visual interest of the piece?  would the anticipation of the unpredictable but inevitable erosion become a part of the pleasure of living with object?

these questions are leading to much new work... keeping me very busy in my little clubhouse/studio.

holding history in my hands

this is not the kind of history that forged a new nation or claimed an already inhabited territory as its own land.  this is the small personal history i am so attracted to.  the sort of object that compels me to pull over at the sight of a hand lettered sign reading garage sale today.  the quilt piece i found many years ago was stitched by hand during the great depression from the plain and printed cotton feedsack cloth collected by american women for their sewing projects.  sewing projects of necessity that they managed to make pretty as well.

the colors are still bright after so many decades in storage.  the squares and triangles seem almost random until the four foot by four foot top piece is unfolded and the pattern is revealed, so balanced and pleasing.  the fact that it is unfinished makes me love it all the more.  it's story has no ending.

when turned inside out i see each tiny stitch she made with her needle.  and the threads still cling in a broken line around the periphery where she once added a border, then changed her mind and clipped the seam out.  

i wonder if she found this work pleasing and if the hard times wore her down.  did she always plan to finish the quilt she started and to lay it over her bed?  what kept her from completing it?  and how many hands had folded it and tucked it safely away in a drawer or cabinet until finally it landed in mine?

and whose hands will hold it next to possibly finish the quilting or to give it new life as a wall hanging, pillow cover or embroidery base?

we may never know.

the story continues here.