Life, Lately

I think I've got a lot to look forward to this year. I recently secured a place in Detroit for myself and am beyond thrilled with the space, location and the surrounding community. Classes are back in session tomorrow and I wanted to post one last post before my life becomes even more hectic than it has been.

Throughout the past year a number of professors, new found friends and certain situations I've been put in have refined my perception of what it means to live a good life, as opposed to mere survival tactics that strive to keep afloat some elusive idea of what a good life and success is believed to be. A number of great people have touched my life in ways I hadn't thought feasible at this time. I truly believe that each person we encounter has the opportunity to make some sort of significant impact on us and find it foolish to not acknowledge or reflect upon that. 

a   q u i c k   t h a n  k   y o u  [ ! ! ]

Extending a quick thanks to those who I've looked up to for guidance and who've been a huge inspiration to me: the Kheibari + Amini family, my cousin Niki Jackson, my own family, the Browning family, the Bowery + Arent family, Leon Johnson of Market Studio Kitchen, Megan O'Connell of Salt and Cedar, artist and musician Leander Johnson, philosophy professor mark wenzel, artist and architect Fritz Haeg, sculpture professor Eric Troffkin, Katie McGowan/Greg Baise + the rest of the staff at MoCAD, PhD Mame Jackson of Art Corps Detroit, graphic designer Claire Ondillo, friend Maddie Coyle, the staff at Great Lakes Coffee in Detroit, Nathan Williams + contributing artists within the Kinfolk community, artists Andrew + Carissa Gallo, photographer Millee Tibbs, photographer Miranda Clark, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, magazine editor/blogger Joanna Goddard, and graphic designer Bri Emery to name a few. I'm so grateful and appreciative for each and every one of those mentioned above, as well as a number or other individuals. The list could go on and on! I'm thanking you here because things have been quite chaotic lately, and I don't want anyone to feel like I've been intentionally dismissing them in any way, shape or form.

Life isn't slowing down anytime soon. I'm becoming more aware of that and trying to deal with it as best as I can. My new years resolution is to get more organized and work on time management skills, something I haven't been the greatest with in the past. New opportunities and adventures in 2013, here's to you!

Homemade Peppermint Cocoa

Each year during the holiday season I try to set aside extra time to make homemade peppermint cocoa for friends and family. I just realized that I forgot to add a very important first step on the tags, and that is to mix together the entire contents in a large bowl before scooping out the 3 heaping table spoons. Hopefully my forgetting to include that part didn't cause any confusion.

Last night, my younger sister Catie and our friend Maddie got together to catch up over warm mugs of the peppermint cocoa, which was quite nice. We also found out that you can make an even better cup by substituting soy milk for the water it called for. 

If you're interested, I do sell the jars upon request since I don't have them available for purchase on etsy (yet!), but will definitely blog about my future shop once I have more free time. I'm still trying to work on perfecting my time management skills as all of my work, school and personal projects have become increasingly time consuming. I keep this blog updated as much as possible with new projects and such, so be sure to keep an eye out and check back for news with regard to what I've got going on.

Creating The Slipcover

Now that the semester is almost over, I finally have time to post about what I've been up to the past couple of weeks. In my Detroit Methods class we've all been quite busy preparing for our final event that took place at MoCAD on Sunday, December 9th. In addition, we've been keeping documentation of all of our projects and events throughout the past few months and decided to put a class book together, which is still currently in the works.

Last week the "graphics team" of the class — Julie, Bianca and I — got together with Megan O'Connell of Salt and Cedar Letterpress to design and create the slip cover for the book. Prior to heading over, we picked up a couple of baguettes, brie, mascarpone, honey and a bottle of Chilean wine to sustain ourselves, which worked out well since we were there from noon till about 10pm.

New York City

November 2012 in New York, NY.

Favorite eats:
Le Gamin, open-face brie baguette with caramelized onions
Five Leaves, kale salad and the beet root ricotta ravioli
Insomnia Cookies, serving up warm cookies until 3am, go for the snicker doodle
Murray's Cheese Shop, seasonal cheeses such as River's Edge Chevre, Up in Smoke and whole walnut preserves by Harvest Song

Favorite bar:
No Name Bar, great dj and atmosphere, laid back attire, not overly expensive

Favorite shops:
Seven Wonders Vintage, a small, carefully curated vintage shop
Eastern District, fresh baguettes, Grady's Cold Brew, a wide variety of cheeses, beers and specialty food items
The One Well, locally made artesian goods, loved the card selection

Rouse The Senses

This past weekend I hosted an intimate gathering of some of my closest friends. Although the premiss of this dinner was a class project, it turned out to be more of an excuse to delight in an evening filled with locally grown homemade food, good company and an endless amount of shared stories and laugher. The dinner preparations were a bit hectic due to my car breaking down, and me cutting my finger with the new mandolin I purchased earlier that day, but all of this only resulted in everyone pitching in to help out, making the whole process a successful and collaborative effort.

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a few more links:

-the official kinfolk mag site

-dinner series video, philadelphia

-dinner series video, brooklyn

-recipe for the (vegetarian) 3-onion soup

An Appetite For Autumn

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven

What does autumn mean for you? 

For me, it's a time to lace up a pair of oxfords, tuck in a sweater covered flannel, bury yourself in a book, scrub out pink stained fingers from peeling pomegranates and relish in the freshness of the new season. 

Find solace in the warmth of your wool socked feet, sugar a steaming cup of dark roast coffee, rummage through dad's music collection for anything by Billie Holiday and early Saturday mornings spent at the farmers market—sifting through crowds of foodies—in search of deep green leafy kale, cloves of fresh garlic, and a handful of carrots for the new found recipe of curried carrot soup. 

A time to reflect on summers end and surrender to the new bursts of muted colors that envelope you.

A Housewarming Gift

I recently took a day trip to visit my friends Athena and Carl at their new home in Indiana. They moved there for grad school a few weeks ago and are still getting settled in. Prior to my arrival, I had planned on making them a real home cooked dinner since I love to cook and they're not too into that sort of thing—yet. 

After realizing that they barely had enough food let alone utensils to cook a proper meal, we headed to a nearby grocery store to pick up a few essentials. In all honestly I may be a little overly picky about what I use in my cooking; it just kills me to use standard table salt as opposed to sea salt. Regardless, I found the items needed to prepare the meal I had planned—a gnocchi dish with mushrooms and a gorgonzola sauce, which they absolutely love. I made a mental note of a few things they could use around the kitchen while I was cooking and ended up buying them a spoon rest since I dirtied up their stove so much. 

It's a start.

Congrats, Athena

My dear friend Athena just graduated from U of M and I couldn't be more thrilled for her. Through all of life's ups and downs her persistence towards her collegiate career rarely faltered, and she will be greatly missed once she moves away to Indiana for grad school this September. I only have high hopes and wish her well as she begins this new chapter in her life.

Throughout the past 10 years I've known Athena, we have been through a fair amount of high highs and possibly some even lower lows, which have only brought us closer and made our friendship stronger. I think of her as family more than anything else, and I'm certain that her move will not compromise our friendship or our closeness (especially thanks to skype & instagram). And hope that her and her Carl don't mind an extra house guest once in a while :).  

Light Summer Snacking

With summer being right around the corner and school coming to an end, I've been making an effort to choose healthier food options. I find it odd when so many people hold the ideal of healthy and organic foods being less flavorful, less appetizing and less filling. What these 'healthy' and 'organic' foods are lacking, however, are the high amounts of calories, (bad) fats and chemicals contained in the majority of foods found on grocery store shelves and in restaurants serving your typical American cuisine.

A couple of my favorite foodie blogs filled with delicious recipes (many of which are vegetarian and gluten free) are mynewroots and greenkitchenstories.  Finding  healthy and delicious meal options are much more accessible these days, and the photos below the cut are some of the dishes I've been preparing for myself.

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a few favorite cookbooks and blogs that promote healthy eating:

-greenkitchenstories, written by david and luise promotes vegan and gluten free cooking.

-clean food by terry walters is a cookbook categorized by season and highly regards locally grown produce.

-tastespotting's search option comes in handy when looking for a specific recipe, and the imagery doesn't hurt either.

-if you're interested in my personal choices, I tend post what I'm eating on my instagram, or check out my food + drink pinboard for more inspiration.

(photo source)

Minimalist Make Over

Before I moved into my new house, I was contemplating whether I should change the style of my new room or keep the same sort of feel as my previous one (think cozy, pottery barn-ish), but after getting more settled in I realized how much of a change I longed for. As you can see from the pictures above, I decided to give it more of a minimalist look. It's a start but still have a lot to go.

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two books I picked up for inspiration and ideas:

Space: Japanese Design Solutions for Compact Living, by michael freeman
The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Living Guide, by francine jay

An Intimate Gathering

Reading Kinfolk magazine has inspired me to host my own small gathering with a few close friends. My sister Catherine and her best friend Maddie came over last night for a homemade dinner of penne pasta mixed with fresh, locally sourced asparagus and mushrooms in a creamy leek soup base, an artisan baguette from the local market accompanied by a petite cheese plate consisting of smoked gouda, and a few mini babybel cheeses.

After opening up a bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, we began our small feast. Both Catie and Maddie adored the simple and colorful set up, and I was pleased to hear how much they enjoyed my cooking as well. Nothing was too overly contrived, which I feel adds something special.

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A few notable passages from Kinfolk:

On starting a new tradition- start a new tradition, not centered on travel or shopoping or working toward a new year, but focused on creating a time to enjoy the comforts of those closest to you. Whether with a sibling, a friend, a parent, or a lover, greet the frosty morning before the sun, no matter how much your body may plead to stay beneathe the quilts. Rub the sleep from your eyes as the kettle boils. Then, with piping mug in hand, curl up on the front porch and share a quiet sunrise. 

(p. 54, words by Elise Yetton)

On Why I Cook-  To create something beautiful together, to share nourishment, is fulfilling on levels that go far beyond fueling the body. We live in a hectic, traffic-jammed, competitve society. So often we sacrifice traditions based on preparing and eating real food for the convenience of drive-thoughs and freezer dinners, convinced that by saving time in the kitchen, we'll get ahead in some other way. My mission is to encourage people to slow down and to experience the simple joys of cooking, and to focus on nourishing our bodies and spirits. 

(p. 81, words by Sarah Britton)

 On Entertaining Details- The simple intimacies that surface naturally in our preparations for company provide an unimposing uniqueness to our gatherings. The way the cloth napkins twist upward on a solitary corner, for example, or the bow of the apron ties and parcel strings. Appreciating these organic occurrences magnifies the beauty of the unplanned, and eliminates an all-too-common air of superficiality. It's time to enjoy the details of entertaining.

 (p. 17, words by Andrea Gentl and Martin Hayers)

(photo source: 1 / 2)