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Ikat is all the rage now, so I'm sure you've seen it on the runways and in plenty of shelter blogs and magazines. I've been madly in love with it ever since I encountered my first piece in Indonesia about 15 years ago. Since then, I've looked for it in many places, with varying success. Although I always associated it with Southeast Asia, and had found different types in India and Cambodia, it was thanks to the internet that I discovered it's also a national art in Uzbekistan! The three types shown above are all from the spring 2010 collection of Dries Van Noten. The top and bottoms ones are woven ikat, and the middle one is an ikat print. They were absurdly expensive but I can't say I regret it: I am officially obsessed with ikat and know I will wear these pieces for the rest of my life. (Note to self: must not get any fatter!) What exactly is ikat, you ask? And well you might.
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I grew up in a bilingual family, speaking English generously peppered with Spanish. Although we all spent time living in Mexico and Spain, somehow I am the only one who ended up with a Castilian accent. Born to a Chicana teacher and a Jewish professor of Spanish literature, it makes sense that both of my sisters work in bilingual education of one sort or another. (I am the anomaly.) We are three daughters, linked by blood and by our inherited passion for language. My sister Susi (Susana Chávez-Silverman) has just published her second memoir, Scenes from La Cuenca de Los Angeles y Otros Natural Disasters.

Like her first one, Killer Crónicas, published in 2004, it is written in its own unique back-&-forth between English and Spanish—what she refers to as "code-switching," and others have called Spanglish. Each chapter is a “crónica,” an episode culled from diary entries and letters that trace her journey from California to South Africa to Australia and back. The prose crackles, as full of quirky charm and deep insights as my beautiful sister. I hope you get a chance to lose (and find) yourself in her lyrical writing.
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My friend Scott recently gifted me with an interesting bottle of cleaning solution. I’m very into using natural products like baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and vinegar for cleaning (see more here), but I also want something that smells naturally good, so I often add essential oil of lavender or geranium to these concoctions. Looks like the people behind Thieves products have something similar in mind. They make a special blend, combining oils of cinnamon, clove, lemon, eucalyptus and rosemary for a fresh and rather medieval scent. Turns out they took a cue from some 12th-century thieves who were able to rob the dead victims of the Plague without becoming infected. How? By rubbing themselves with a concoction of aromatic herbs, including cinnamon, clove and oregano. Needless to say, Thieves products work wonders on airborne bacteria, helping to fight mold, mildew and musty odors. Check out their website for great tips on cleaning, and to learn more about their products, which can also be used for cleaning your own insides.I'm off to Turks & Caicos tomorrow for some fun in the sun and I'm very excited to have a little vacation time. G and I have not left the country since our trip to Southeast Asia last winter. I'll probably post a few times from there but you'll have to forgive me if I'm not quite as prolific. Even gluttons need a break now and then...xoxo
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Raised between 2 religions and 2 cultures, I have retained some of both and all of neither. Dyeing Easter eggs is a tradition I hope never to relinquish. This year I will be heading to Turks & Caicos for a beachy holiday that will most likely obviate both Passover and Easter, but I may still find time to dye some eggs when I return home. And maybe even cook the meal we've begun calling Eastover, a funny hybrid that might start with a ham and finish with macaroons. Would it surprise you to know that for dyeing eggs I no longer use anything artificial? Yep, I'm going to try to get you to make your own dyes from natural ingredients! We have the ODG (Original Domestic Goddess) Martha Stewart to thank for these great instructions. I followed them last year and look at the gorgeous bowl of eggs I got out of it. I still have a big jar of beet juice in the fridge. I thought I was going to dye some piece of clothing but I never got around to it. Just like those geranium sachets I was going to make for Christmas presents. Maybe next year. Inshallah.
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Flour sacking towels are truly indispensable. I like these from Williams-Sonoma which I doubt are cut from actual flour sacks any more, but are made of a very absorbent unbleached organic cotton that is lint-free. They have an almost gauzy quality that I love and makes them very handy for myriad household tasks. I'm sure our great-grandmothers were doing all sorts of things with kitchen towels like these: drying dishes, polishing glassware, straining foods and covering rising dough. I also love to tie one around my waist as a makeshift apron. When they get a little dingy, torn up or stained, I transfer them to the "rag basket" under the sink and use them to mop up spills, for dusting and general cleaning. I use fewer paper towels this way, and find that these simple towels are super functional and incredibly handy. Get you some.
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Just managed to push the door open and pop outside to document this incredible snowfall. As you can see, huge branches have come down from the weight of the snow which has been accumulating since early this morning. It's already past my knees! I have never stepped into such deep snow. What a feeling of sinking—sort of scary but thrilling!

I think I have to go outside and properly clear the doorway so I don't get snowed in. I've already brought in a load of firewood in case the power goes out again. What a week for G to be away! I am butch-pilgrim-chick! Frontier woman! Too bad cooking for one is such a lonely enterprise because this is chicken-&-dumplings weather! Maybe I'll treat myself to some pasta...

Have you ever seen Woody Allen's movie by that name? It's among my favorites of his (along with Crimes & Misdemeanors, Hannah & Her Sisters and Annie Hall) and is sort of an ode to Ingmar Bergman. Geraldine Page is absolutely brilliant as a neurotic/depressive/perfectionist interior designer. Perhaps I could use her help in the upcoming remodel of our bathroom. It's simply got to be done. The toilet is literally sinking into the floor. We updated this tiny room in our snug cottage (circa 1935) when we first moved in 5 years ago, adding some grey paint (the same Benjamin Moore Iron Mountain that is featured throughout the house), a burlap shower curtain and a few simple, decorative touches—striped Turkish towels, a large Mexican ceramic owl, a couple of small paintings. I also feel the lack of a bathtub keenly since we no longer have our place in the city. So we’re resolved to make some changes, even though I can’t imagine how we’re going to “make do” with our bathroom out of commission. I’m pondering the idea of adding some color, even though the room is small, because the rest of the house is mostly quite neutral.
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I get so distracted with the whole cooking and eating thing that I sometimes forget this blog is supposed to extend beyond that. Let me pick my head up from my plate for a moment and share some of my other passions. I know I sound a little like Joan Crawford when I say this ("No more wire hangers!!"), but I only sleep on linen sheets. Or rather, I prefer to sleep on linen sheets only, with perhaps the odd cotton voile sheet tossed into the mix in summer. I discovered linen sheets about a dozen years ago when I went to an Archipelago sample sale. Around the same time, I began shopping at the now-defunct, much-missed SoHo boutique Ad Hoc. (One of the owners, a marvelously chic Englishwoman, now works at Aero on Broome Street.) Anyway, this made for a perfect storm of linen sheets, and I have never looked back.  I love linen's organic quality; the way it gets softer and softer; its wonderful dry hand. I would never iron my linen sheets. I like that slightly rumpled quality. I hate a starched bed. Sateen sheets make me want to vomit. (They are so slimy!) And don't talk to me about thread counts. Egyptian cotton? Puh-leeze. Want to know what the Egyptian elite were really into? In 1881, the tomb of the Pharaoh Ramses II was opened and his linen wrappings were discovered, still in a state of perfect preservation after more than 3,000 years.
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I brought this lavender and rosemary back from LA with me, stuffed into a plastic bag in my suitcase. It seems like they are growing everywhere there. Such a treat when the only living thing in our garden here is the hardy winter rye we planted to help restore our vegetable beds. For the past few days, I've been able to reach out and pinch these lovely sprigs, releasing their sharp-sweet fragrance onto my fingertips. (The smell of lavender has been proven to reduce stress.) Don't you just love having flowers in the house? Their beauty goes through so many phases, even when at last they droop and give up their petals. I especially like it when they come from the fields or my own garden. I'm dreaming even now of those two weeks in June when I'll have all the peonies I can handle. Check out these beauties from last year...
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Among the friends I count myself lucky to have in Los Angeles is Mirena Kim, the woman responsible for this wonderful pottery. She is an artist, whose aesthetic extends to everything she touches. Simple, soulful and subtle, with an underlying warmth, it is also a reflection of her persona. Not only did I get to visit her home studio, but there I was treated to a fantastic lunch. Born in Korea and raised in Los Angeles, Mirena was the person who introduced me to Korean food (and taught me what to order in New York's Korean barbecue restaurants) and first brought me to the huge Asian supermarket (and food court) in downtown L.A. We are kindred spirits who share a love of cooking, art, textiles, domesticity and a good laugh.
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