Meditation: Cooking single-y

One of my very best friends recently moved into her own apartment after cohabiting for quite some time. She's very sweet, smart, funny, and gorgeous-- she'll be perfectly fine very soon. But for now she's got a quandary- what should she eat?

Cooking for oneself can be liberating and fun- you can eat whatever strange things you'd like, at whatever times of the day you wish. But cooking for one after cooking for more than one can be a little lonely. We talked all this over the other day and I started thinking about what sorts of things I loved to make and eat when I lived alone- and what I'll eat when I live alone (albeit temporarily) again. Matt is deploying next month and he'll be gone for almost a year. All this thinking made ME a little sad. But I cheered up a little bit once I started compiling some good things for my friend to eat.

Some good-to-great recipes, when you're eating alone:

Wonderful salmon, but it will stink up the house- This is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. I learned about M.F.K Fisher from this book and she's become one of my favorite writers.

Something I've written about before-- French Meatloaf. This makes excellent leftovers and sandwiches. 

Brussels sprouts in a bowl are always a favorite. If I have bread on hand (and I try to always have good bread on hand) I'll have some of that, warmed and dipped in olive oil, sea salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. 

I always love daal and you can double the recipe- it freezes very well. It's got maybe 200 calories, costs about fifty cents to make, and is filling and spicy-- the perfect meal. 

This Nigella Lawson recipe is hands down my favorite comfort food. For some reason, I don't think I've ever made it for another person. I eat it all up by myself, lounging on the couch, just as she directs in the recipe. 

I usually try to roast a chicken on Sundays, especially when I'm by myself. It will last for a few days, you can make salads or sandwiches with it and your house will smell like a (delicious) home. When I really want to indulge myself I buy a bag of frozen french fries and make some curried mayonaise (to make: stir curry into mayo). You can also use the carcass to make stock and then freeze it- it's good for stir frys, soups, whatever. This Grant Achatz recipe is my very favorite. 

Meditation: Sweet Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of Sweet Heartland-- a year ago I was living in Cleveland, waiting for Matt to return from Afghanistan, ensconced in good friends, eating, cooking, music and the small wonders in life that make it worth living.

This time last year, I went to The Cleveland Museum of Art and saw the amazing White Stripes documentary Under the Great White Northern Lights. If you are trying to make anything at all- music, a novel, a cake, a life- this is an inspiring film to watch. It inspired me to begin this blog.

This time last year I had this song in my head on repeat:

I usually have some sort of song obsession on my mind, and this was it at the time. I love the yearning bittersweetness of it- and isn't this time of year a bittersweet season?

The soundtrack to this fall is all about this:

It's been a good year- things are very different now in the very best way. Thanks for reading Sweet Heartland all this time-- a big "cheers!" to another year spent exploring the people and things that make life (in Kansas City and all points beyond) sweet.

Home, part deux

Ink Magazine came by a few weeks ago to talk to Matt and I about our house:

http://www.inkkc.com/content/at-home-with-matt-pickett-elizabeth-gimbel/

It was fun, and nice to have professional photographs taken of something we've worked so hard on, and put so much thought into.

All this made me think about past houses that have been undocumented- I've lived in an apartment in Miami, three apartments in Brooklyn, and three apartments in Cleveland- I have pictures of almost none of them. A photo of my couch in Miami (but not the amazing art deco fireplace next to it), literally no pictures of any of my New York apartments, and bits and pieces of my places in Cleveland. When I have trouble sleeping at night, I revisit all these places (and mentally redecorate some of them).

Meditation- House Tour

 Matt and I found our apartment in a very unique way-- since neither of us could make it to Kansas City to look at apartments before his posting began, we had to search online and rent sight unseen. Matt found ours using Google Street View- sitting in his office in Afghanistan he "walked" down streets in the neighborhood we wanted to live in, Googling addresses of buildings he thought looked interesting until he found ours. The real estate agent thought we were nuts, but looking at the pictures of our new home, I knew it was our place. The first time I walked in, I knew I was right.

Moving in together can be a tricky process- the two of you have too much stuff, or ugly stuff, or not enough stuff. We didn't have enough stuff- the furniture I did have had been destroyed by my cat or was just old and Matt sold all his furniture before he deployed. So we bought basic pieces from West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and CB2 and filled in with objects we already had or that we've found together.

I love the result of all the thought we've put into our space. I think it's really the perfect mix of both our personalities. Best of all, when I walk in the door there is that "aaaahhhh" feeling-- this is home, this is my nest.

The apartment has two lofts, and we've designated this the "guest loft". The CB2 daybed folds out into a queen-sized bed for when friends visit. The desk was on sale at West Elm and the chair is one of my favorite things - a maybe-real Eames wire chair I found at a vintage store in Cleveland.

Another view of the guest loft- The chair is from my Papa Seymours house in Forest Hills, Queens. I've been carting it around with me for 10 years. My gold pig (a Christmas present from my sister) resides under the chair.

Matt and I bought these little silkscreens (mounted on reclaimed wood) in Kennebunkport.

Looking down at the kitchen from the guest loft. The other flight of stairs goes up to the "library". The curtain next to the stairs is the entrance to my bedroom. This is my favorite kitchen I've ever had- the only thing I wish I could change would be a gas stove instead of a cook top.

another view of the kitchen

Matt traded his camera for this 200 year-old rifle in Afghanistan. I like to think the little pitcher next to it holds a genie, but more likely it was used for oil.

The view from the kitchen into the living room. Since Matt and I both love music, we've collected all our concert posters into this room. It makes it very cozy.

More posters (from L-R Royal Trux, Battles, and Passion Pit (which my friend got for me when they played at House of Blues in Cleveland). The chair is from my sisters old apartment in Brooklyn. We found it together at the Housing Works thrift shop in Manhattan and it's vintage Heywood-Wakefield.

Looking from the living room into the kitchen- we use my moms old steamer trunk (from when she went to summer camp in the Berkshires) as a coffee table. You can still see my Nana Harriet's handwriting on the shipping label!

This is the bar cart for parties. It's a vintage typewriter table we found at Thistle, a pop-up furniture shop in my neighborhood.

The bedroom is a work in progress and I will photograph it when it's finished. We did just buy matching owl lamps (from West Elm) so it's definitely going to have a sort of woodland-y feeling.

These Inuit drawings were bought at a Native American craft show by the trends group where I work. I got them for free! and they will go up in the bedroom.

Roberts favorite lounging spot under the stairs, going up to the "library" loft. 

The second loft is dominated by a portrait of "The American Lion" Andrew Jackson. This was in Matt's DC apartment and it's one of my favorite things of his.

The rest of the loft. The coffee table and love seat were in my Cleveland apartment and the love seat is Roberts "cat nest". He perches on the back and keeps an eye on all the comings and goings. I have coffee up here most mornings and Robert usually joins me.

So that's my home so far. I will update this when I finish the bedroom- I just got the first real bed of my adult life, so I'm very excited to work on that room. Thanks for coming along on my house tour!

totems (or, the roof is on fire) *UPDATED*

I was reading this article by Rob Walker this morning and it got me thinking about the notion of stuff. It's interesting how people view stuff. One friend told me I live like a monk, but when I moved to Kansas City I felt like I had SO MANY things. And these were mostly books- 15 boxes of books....

But I digress. Rob Walker comments that many of the items listed on The Burning House are self consciously hip, or at least say something pretty definite about the writers aesthetic. Looking at the site, this is mostly true- most of the list seemed to be making a statement more about the way the person wants to be perceived than an actual personal statement and that's pretty boring. Rob Walker (and me too) would like to know more about the reasons things are being taken out of the fire. When you can only save some things, those things are elevated to the status of a totem. What makes them totems?

I took an unofficial and small poll. Matt said the things that are most important to him- his photos and music are saved on the Amazon Cloud so he doesn't need to worry too much. He would take:
1. Thom Brown for Brooks Brothers suit
2. Other Thom Brown for Brooks Brothers suit
3. cigarettes
4. sunglasses
5. Samsung Nexus S (his phone)


Matt is one of the most unsentimental people I know. His suits are irreplaceable, the rest are kind of necessary items (though, what are cigarettes if not totems?)

Here's an update on Matts totems, almost a year later:

It's easy to imagine what five things you'd grab in a fire when your house is *always* on fire.

Matt lives sparsely in Afghanistan, so three totems are probably ideal.

Jane (my sister) said she would take:
1. Our mothers wedding ring (why does she even have this?)
2. Barkus (her childhood stuffed animal)
3. Chanel bag
4. Our Nanas (my grandmother Harriet Schussler) wedding ring
5. Wedding poem my parents friend wrote/read to them on their wedding day
6. Photobooth picture of my parents at Disney World (I've never even seen this!)

Here's what I would take:

1. Emily (childhood friend)
2. Robert (another friend, and very uncooperative in this photo shoot)
3. Papa's (My grandfather Seymour Schussler) watch
4. The Laura Ashley quilt I've slept under forever
5. An antler- maybe the most totem-ish thing in the photo. I love deer and I have a few of these antlers, which were actually shed by deers and picked up from the ground.

Looking at what I've chosen, it's clear to me that these are what I would need to build up my new house from the ashes of what's burned down- my cat, a quilt to keep me warm, the antler-totems, and some comforting old things.

Anyone else feel like making a list? I would love to read it.

meditation on gallery walls.

I've been doing some deep thinking lately. About gallery walls. Gallery walls, I've found, are as controversial in interior design as color-coded books (in my world, at least). I love them both. I'll leave my strong belief in the beauty of color coded books to another post though....

Anyway, gallery walls. Controversial, because they clutter walls up. Difficult to create because you need a sense of color, proportion, and a lot of materials. And a large wall. I think they are beautiful and can be done in different ways. Here are some of mine, and my sisters gallery walls.

Very low-res image of my sisters apartment-- maybe Jane will send a better image after seeing this. This gallery wall is brilliant, though not boy friendly (my boy, anyway). It perfectly reflects my sisters personality, and I really love how she's taking ownership of having a small space- she's using every inch. It's hard to tell from the picture, but her sense of color is amazing- she takes the crazy palette (her couch is red, you can see the yellow table and pink chair) and makes it whimsical and perfect.

The gallery wall in my Ohio City apartment- this wall had a lot of potential because it spanned the length of the apartment. This is pretty much what my current gallery wall in Shaker Heights looks like.

Part of my gallery wall now. Again, needs more. I really love my silver antlers- I found these for $5 at Urban Outfitters. I have some other antlers at my house, and I'd like to have them mounted to use in a wall composition.

My new apartment- I'm excited to play with this space. Former workers housing, it looks like a gallery to begin with.

It's got two levels, I think the gallery wall should be on the second level in the "reading nook" we are setting up. I will follow up once we actually move in.

Other thoughts on gallery walls in the comments?