We've relocated to:
See you soon!
xx
Friday, December 16, 2016
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
bar fausto's farro salad + do something nice!
I’m a
relatively upbeat person, but recently I’ve been feeling a bit low and external
forces are largely to blame for my malaise. The Germans have a single word that
captures this sort of emotional experience- weltschmerz- which loosely translates to feelings of melancholy and world-weariness, the result of how the
physical world stands in contrast to how you imagine it can or should be.
I work from
home and public radio provides a constant and steady voice in the background,
which I had found comforting. Now I don’t know where the “Firefighters Rescue Cat Stuck in a Tree” kind-of-segments have
gone, but they have been replaced by a constant stream of stories that highlight
the very worst elements of human behavior. The line-up a few days ago was
predominantly: xenophobic voices from the political sphere (both here and
abroad), the Syrian Civil War, the unstoppable refugee crisis, the curtailment
of constitutional guarantees in a handful of states…and Miami, being inundated with sea water, is staring to sink. It’s
a tough world, but there have to be some narratives that highlight our best
selves. So…
Today I’d like
to share a random act of kindness I witnessed while pulling out of a Trader
Joe’s parking lot. It happened a few months ago, but it really touched me and
I’d like to tell you what happened, so please indulge me.
Like I said, I
was in the parking lot, about to turn onto Colorado Blvd. when I saw a woman (probably
in her early 90s) driving a large car. There was a wheelchair icon on her
license plate, her reverse lights were on, and she was waiting for an
opportunity to pull out of her spot. Naturally I gave her the go-ahead gesture
with my hand, because you have to be a real POS to hit the gas pedal in a
situation like that…
Several
minutes passed, and I was still
waiting behind the woman’s car. It became clear to me that she was too scared
to make the turn (there are 4 lanes of traffic in each direction at this
particular intersection of the boulevard). Drivers behind me started honking
their horns, some people started shouting out of their windows, and the whole
area was quickly getting backlogged.
I put my car
in park, but instead of going up to the elderly woman to see if she was okay
(which I now regret), I went to the car behind me. I explained the situation and
told that driver we should start making u-turns and back traffic out onto the
side street, which she agreed was a good idea.
As I was
getting back into my driver’s seat, I saw a burly muscular man (maybe 6’ 3” or
6’ 4” and I’m guessing ex-military from his appearance) walk up to the elderly
woman’s car, at which point my heart started racing. I can’t explain my initial
reaction, but I started to panic. Was he angry? Was he going to bash her window
in? Shoot her? Maybe I’ve watched too many movies - like that Michael Douglas
one where he looses it on the highway and goes “postal.”
Anyway, the
ex-military guy gently tapped on the old woman’s window. She rolled it down and
they spoke for about a minute. Then the man walked across Colorado Boulevard and
stopped all four traffic lanes by
putting his hands up and waving them above his head (it was really hard to miss
him). The traffic came to a halt, a complete stand still. The man then turned
in the direction of the elderly woman and gestured for her to start driving
forward, and after a few seconds she made the turn and was on her way.
At that point,
everyone in the parking lot started clapping and cheering and it wasn’t because
we- who had been stuck in the lot for the better part of a ½ hour- were now
free to exit. It was because we witnessed something we don’t see enough of:
someone helping someone else, in this case a perfect stranger. Everyone in that
parking lot witnessed a random act of kindness. And the incredible feeling from
that morning’s event stuck with me all day. See, now I’ve got all the feels J
Which brings
me to this salad…
A friend of
mine had been having a tough time and we thought it would be helpful to provide
her and her family with a bit of nourishment. We brought over a main dish, some
wine, dessert and this salad. I know this small little act meant the world to
her because she thanks me (profusely) every
single time she sees me, and it’s been going on for weeks!
It’s not that
I think I’m such a wonderful person because I do a few nice things, but I do understand
how small acts can have a large impact because I was the recipient of this sort
of generosity a few years back. During my father’s last year of life, it was
the kindness of others that helped me through the worst parts of his illness
and subsequent death. There were calls, letters, play date pick-ups, flowers, texts,
emails, airport drives, and home cooked meals- nourishing food- for our family.
Each of those small gestures meant something so much bigger to me. And now, helping
where I can, is my way of paying it forward.
Where am I
going with all this? Do something nice for a friend who needs it, or even a
perfect stranger. Call up a new parent who seems overwhelmed and offer to give
him or her a break. Share. Care. Volunteer. Be kind. Get out there! Do
something! The world will be a better place for your efforts. And maybe, just
maybe, your act of kindness will be so great that it will make the evening news
and provide a nice contrast to those other stories broadcast on our airwaves.
xx,
B
Bar Fausto’s Amazing
Farro Salad (Printed
with permission)
Thank you Emily,
of Bar Fausto, for generously sharing this recipe with me.
Serves 4
people
For Salad
2 cups cooked Farro
½ Cucumber medium diced
1cup radishes sliced
1 medium carrot sliced
½ red onion sliced
¼ cup mint chopped
4 cups arugula
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and add ¼ cup (or
desired amount) of Sunflower Golden Raisin Vinaigrette.
For
Sunflower Golden Raisin Vinaigrette
Yields ½ Gallon Vinaigrette (This will last you a very long time! I
halved the recipe below and it was more than enough, with plenty left over.)
2 cups Golden Raisins
2 cups Champagne Vinegar
2 cups Sunflower seeds
¼ cup Sugar
1 cup Lemon Juice
1 cup Shallots Brunoise
1 tablespoon Salt
½ Tablespoon Black Pepper
½ Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
6 cups Blended oil (I found my bottle Costco.)
In a blender, combine the golden raisins and champagne vinegar. Pulse
until raisins chopped up into smaller pieces. Combine all of the ingredients
into a mixing bowl and whisk to incorporate the flavors. (The vinaigrette will
look “broken” and will not emulsify.”) Store in a container and whisk again when
ready to use.
Inside Bar Fausto. The image (above) was generously provided by Lauren DiFillipo
(@regretscoyote).
You can see some of her work in Life & Thyme or on her website.
Thank you, Lauren!
Sunday, May 1, 2016
modern monday: favorite modern (nouveau) toile wallpaper
About 4 years ago I came across some photos from
the then-new Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. The design was incredible, the
anchoring restaurant looked terrific, but what really caught my eye was the
custom wallpaper: a nouveau toile (designed by Dan Funderburgh) featuring
illustrations that paid tribute to the industrial past of the historic hotel's
structure. That was the beginning of my obsession with modern toile (and
in case you're wondering how to say toile, it's pronounced twäl)…
Toile, or really Toile De Jouy, literally
translates to a cloth from Jouy-en-Josas, the French town where the printed
fabrics were first commercialized. The pattered style of linen or cotton, which
became in vogue during the 18th century, usually featured a bucolic country
setting, pastoral scene or contemporary mid-1700s life. The toile could
have floral motifs, maidens or heroes in typical landscapes, and
the colorways were often limited to red, blue, black or green.
Today the narrative of toile fabrics and
prints has grown. While there are still many contemporary companies who favor a
more traditional pattern, increasingly there are modern designers putting a twist
on the classic look. In the modern toile, the landscapes have been updated, the
colorways have expanded, prints incorporate more inclusive depictions of city
life, and some have even woven powerful social commentary into their work.
Toile is even inspring digital installations at LACMA!
Toile is even inspring digital installations at LACMA!
Here are some of my favorite toile, y'all!
xx,
Batya
Sheila Bridges' "Harlem Toile De Jouy" - a satirical piece that lampoons (some of) the stereotypes deeply woven into the African American experience.
Bay Area Toile by Matt Ritchie and JormaTaccone
featuring Too $hort, Humpty Hump and Mac Dre, Alice Waters, Joe
Montana, and Angela Davis.
I FLIPPED out when I saw this custom wallpaper at the Henry Howard Hotel in New Orleans. I lived in the city for 6 years and fell in love with this design faster than beads fly off a float during Mardi Gras! Here, take a closer look:
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
hawaii
About a decade ago Ayelet Waldman wrote “Motherlove” – a controversial essay that ignited a firestorm and outraged those in the parenting community. The piece (reprinted in the New York Times column “Modern Love”) explored the nature of intimate spousal relationships and set forth a simple premise, one that was hard for some to digest. Waldman wrote that her children were not the center of her world, that “they were satellites, beloved but tangential.” That was the controversial part. Though Waldman proclaimed her love for her four children, she said “if you focus all of your emotional passion on your children and you neglect the relationship that brought that family into existence... eventually, things can go really, really wrong.”
Now don’t worry, things aren’t dire on this end, but I have been thinking a lot about how to balance life’s demands, which include work, marriage and motherhood. I don’t agree with all of Waldman’s points (Otis and Theo, you’re not satellites to me!), but there are parts of her essay that resonated with me. I agree with the idea that marriages need nurturing, and in our fast-paced world, quality time can be elusive.
Raising children has lots of rewards,
but it can also be exhausting. I love my boys dearly, but by the end of the day
I’m spent and it seems like the only thing I have energy for is scrolling
through Pinterest (or some other activity that doesn’t require a lot of brain
power). Once I pick those little energized bunnies up from school there’s
cooking to do, books to read, baths to take, lots of cleaning (I’m very
particular), laundry to be folded, and
I’ve got to identify and remove the foul and mysterious odors emanating from
the car. By the time everything is done it’s about 10 p.m. and I’ve got very
little gas left in the tank, no pun intended.
Look, this is part of the life I wanted and it’s what I signed up for. However, I have come to recognize the need to reorganize things a bit and shift priorities a little. I definitely need more quality time with my husband. It’s sometimes hard to carve out the hours needed to reconnect and remind us why we decided to couple in the first place. But where’s there’s a will, there’s a way!
With that in mind….
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)