A desire to get things moving on the decorating front, plus a free five minutes on a Saturday morning prevailed over the sensible solution of waiting for two strong guys to come along and move the blue sofa out of the great room and into my office. Lift and slide was the answer - and muscle power, baby!
It fits perfectly on the wall opposite my desk, perfectly that is for a random cat - in this case Hermes - to take a nap
or for me to lounge, and work my way through that stack of magazines I haven't gotten round to reading. Somewhere in that pile is the final edition of Metropolitan Home...
*Borrowing this title from a comment by Why S in yesterday's post
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Facelift*
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Framed Up
Recycled picture frame ceiling - an exercise in colorful creativity, and thinking outside the box - from a house built using other peoples' trash. Recycle, repurpose, reuse taken to a whole new level. From the New York Times.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Peepster!
Steve Jobs Presents iPeep Nano. My favourite diorama from The Washington Post's Peeps Contest 2009. Enjoy!
Friday, January 23, 2009
News from the Neighborhood
Are we getting new neighbors? Newsday is reporting that Brangelina will be renting this two-helipad pile, complete with fallout shelter, just across the bay. Not quite next door, but still in the same zip code. Maybe we'll bump into the celebrity duo at the local market this spring?
Seriously though, the place has been on the market for a couple of years at an asking price of $60,000,000. I'm guessing the exclusive prestige market has taken as much of a hit as the rest of the real estate around here and renting out is the only way the owners will be seeing any money from it in the foreseeable future.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Healthy Eating?
Okay, this is an absolutely hysterical post from the NY Times Blogs.
Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.
1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.
It was first published back in June 2008 and they re-published it this weekend. It's funny not only because the suggestion for incorporating two of the 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating into your diet is to add butter and proscuitto to them. I mean, what food doesn't taste better wrapped in pieces of pig or slathered in butter? But it's the comments that slay me. These - all 54 pages of them - are brilliant.
A sample
Well, we eat all these foods except #11, (canned pumpkin? Yak!) regularly and I really don't think we're "healthier" than any of our friends or neighbors. But I do have a suggestion for #5. Mix with vodka and garnish with a few #10s.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Where there's life there's....
... a Belgian takeover of one of the icons of American popular culture. Allez les belges!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
BHG re-upholstery guide
Better Homes and gardens have step-by-step instructions on how to re-upholster a slipper chair. With 5 yards of fabric and a few other odds and ends including a camera you can turn
this boring brown chair
into this beautiful blue asset.
There are more how to upholstery guides here
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Reminiscing
Yesterday we were interviewed by a journalist writing an article about Andrew Geller who was the architect of our house. Talking to her reminded us of things we'd forgotten while we've been updating this house. Forgotten or maybe suppressed.
For example, I'd completely obliterated from my memory the large rat sized whole in the garage and the unmissable odour of rat urine that permeated the area. Steven can't remember that the first things we put in the dumpster in July 2004 were several large closets that framed the back of the garage, to try and get rid of the smell. Several buckets of bleach and hours of scrubbing did the trick, but we had to repeat that over the course of many months.
Then there was the day that first winter when we went into the city and returned home to find that the previous day's snowfall had begun to thaw and water was pouring into the house from every window onto the newly laid bamboo flooring. That continued for the next few weeks. That's when we discovered that we didn't just need to replace a few windows, we needed a new roof as well.
I'd forgotten, too, about the hole in the window frame in my office caused by termite damage that we covered in plastic and duck tape for months while we tried to get replacements for the single pane, single hung windows. I won't forget, however, the trauma of selecting the replacement windows - trying to balance code with modernism and keep it affordable. ("Of course they'll match the existing windows, madam, they are custom made"). And then having them look just a little too much like double hung windows, after all... A bad day, better forgotten.
But there were good times, too. Like when we pruned the bushes by the bridge and revealed a pond and a stream under there. Or the day Verity moved into her bedroom and discovered the secret room at the back of her closet. Or the first morning walking down the back stairs when a shaft of sunlight shone through the window in the girls' bath and illuminated the tiles on the floor. Just like walking through a cathedral, it took my breath away.