Frank Lloyd Wright

One of the gems of Reno is the Nevada Museum of Art. Right now they have a show about architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision. I have an interest in design, so I decided to go. Wow, oh WOW, was I impressed! They don’t allow photography, so you’ll have to visualize (or visit before July 20^th).

FLW was the first American architect to take the whole organic process of design and apply it to make comfortable living spaces. There is an underlying unity and order that bring harmony into the home. He created open spaces, took away walls, had large walls of glass windows to connect with nature outside. He pioneered the green practices of passive solar, radiant heat, recycled glass, and living roofs. He basically established the kind of houses we live in today, a hundred years later.

These are the things that impressed me the most:

A tall slender “weed holder” ~ a vase for holding garden cuttings.

Light screens ~ a light box “window” made of stained glass with an edgy design.

Extremely tall dining room chairs ~ the chair backs create an enclosure around the guests, making an intimate “room” within the room.

As a side note, his personal life was tragic, but fascinating: he moved to Chicago right after the Great Fire of 1871. After marrying and fathering 6 children, he fell in love with another man's wife, and they eloped to Europe. She was later ax-murdered along with two children and others on his estate while it burned. His next wife was a morphine addict. He fell in love with another woman, had a child, and was arrested for violating the Mann Act. His home burned again.

My favorite quote: I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

The Great Wall of China

The China Pictures are on the bedroom wall (finally!). I took these photos in March, had them enlarged in April, framed them in May. Since then, they have lined the floor of the bedroom. I asked Brad to hang them when they were framed. After six months, I asked him again, as nice as I could be, whenever he got a chance, please. On Sunday, he did it.

Now, how could it take that long to do a 30 minute job? If it slips his mind, it will not get done simply because I am a wife who refuses to bitch and nag. If I see them still sitting there after three months, I bite my tongue. Because…he will do anything for me: he cooks me dinner every night, he brings me a glass of wine in the evenings with a little piece of cheese as a treat, he compliments me ten times a day. How can I whine about such a little thing?

And he does the same for me. He doesn’t complain that I am notoriously slow at finishing the office paperwork, or when the house is overly dusty. Or I spend all day reading blogs. Not a word of complaint from him.

Book Club at My House Tonight

When it’s my turn to host book club, I try to do a good job. You know, make the atmosphere inviting, light a few candles, cook some delicious food, have lots of wine available.

The temperature outside has dropped 20 degrees in the last two days, so it is feeling very fall-like here. This is perfect because our house is at its best in the fall. The wood tones, dark leather furniture, and deep mustard colored walls all contribute to a cozy mood. I spent yesterday getting out the ceramic pumpkins, pinecone garlands, and wreaths. I keep looking, and moving, and putting away summery things, changing the various vignettes around the house until I’m happy with them. Then they stay in place until after Thanksgiving.

I’m still deciding on the menu, this is very unusual for me. Normally, I will have a list a least a week in advance and most of the food pre-cooked by now. I’m thinking Chicken Saute Au Parmesan, which we’ve made several times lately and I know it’s damn good. If I roast potatoes to go with it and some people bring salads that will be good enough. This morning I found a recipe on Country Home website for an Autumn Fruits Crisp with orange flavored whipped cream, which sounds like it will be ideal.

Bringing Tuscany Home by Frances Mayes

I am sure you are familiar with Mayes from Under the Tuscan Sun. This newer book is rich in photographs and luscious recipes from her life in Italy and San Francisco. It’s wonderful to float through the pages, dreaming of what it might be like to live like that. My favorite part, written by her husband, Edward Mayes, tells about his obsession with what he calls “the jars.” On Saturday mornings he cooks and fills his jars with delicious concoctions to last the rest of the week. Examples: artichoke pesto, roasted garlic, tomato sauce, olive salsa.

Last summer I did my own version of this concept. After coming home from the farmer’s market, I would cook up whatever we had bought: roast some beets, bake a crostini with the fresh fruit, cook up some easy jam. I guess I should continue doing it in the winter too. Seems like a lovely way to spend a rainy Saturday morning.

A recipe:

Baked Olives with Garlic and Citrus Zest

2 cups mixed olives
4 garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
A few flecks of dried red pepper
½ teaspoon of chopped fresh oregano

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all ingredients and bake in an earthenware dish for 15 minutes.

Tuesday Quick Hints -- Chinese Style

Green Tea Face Mask – Dr. Tea told us what women use to firm and soften their faces. I’ve tried it twice and was amazed at how soft my face was afterwards. It’s not as messy as it sounds.

Directions:
Leave the green tea leaves in the bottom of a cup when you’re done drinking the tea. Add one egg white, one teaspoon of milk, one teaspoon of honey. Apply to face and neck. Leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse off and moisturize.

Table Runner on the Bed – In the luxurious hotel they had laid a table runner across the foot of the bed. It dressed up the plain bed covers beautifully. So easy.

Accupressure Points -- At the Chinese Medical Center we were shown the three points you need to massage every day for good all over health, to keep your energy flowing. Here's a great website that explains all the points and symptoms. No medicine necessary.

Thrift Store Clothes – one of our traveling companions, Tara, told me that she bought all the clothes for the trip at thrift stores. Then when she finished wearing them, she left them in the hotels. She assumes that they will be given to someone who needs them and she doesn’t feel bad about giving them up because she paid very little for them. That way she had more room in her suitcase for all the things she bought.

Clear Off Your Counters

I know it looks great in magazines when you see kitchen counters filled with cute cookie jars, cookbooks, baskets of fresh veggies, etc. The house seems alive and ready to cook a wonderful meal for a wonderful family. Life is not like that!

What do you have on your counters right now? I have a fruit bowl, a kitchen-aid mixer, a paper towel holder, two knife blocks, a can opener, salt and pepper shakers, a soap dispenser and a utensil holder by the stove. When people come over they say, “Your counters are empty.” How can that be? I have ten things in my tiny kitchen. All the appliances are black and chrome and blend into the background. Everything is completely practical, used daily. The exception is the Kitchen-Aid, because it’s too heavy to lift up every time I want to use it and it really looks good there, tucked away in its own corner.

Kitchen counters need to be clear to be useful. We need room to prep, cook and clean up. How annoying it is to clear the dinner table to find that every inch of counter space has been over run with all the cooking paraphernalia. Look at each item on your counter and ask if it really needs to be there. If it’s not critical, find it another home.
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Note: The comment below by flyfly3 appears to be some sort of "blog spam" that I cannot delete. Do not open it.

Cozy Up

It’s actually raining here right now, with the possibility of snow later today. My heart goes out for the people of the Midwest. After living in the Tahoe area for 25 years, I’ve been through many tough storms. Since we hardly ever get real storms here, I’m liking it. I’ve had my tea and there is a pot of multigrain oatmeal bubbling on the stove. I’m anticipating a quiet day, where I can get a lot of catch-up done this morning and head to the library and bank later in the afternoon (or not).

What I’m feeling right now is the desire to make my life as cozy as possible. Most of the Christmas decorations are gone and there are empty places to fill. There’s a warm throw on my favorite chair, some pillows on the couch, but I’d like to get more. Candles are spread throughout the house and I’m trying to remember to light them more often. I’m going to pile on another duvet to the end of the bed for pulling up on cold nights.

This pinecone centerpiece works just right for the coffee table. The base came from the basket of goodies that we got as a Christmas present. It's about 20 inches by 30 inches, and it will be a good planter in the spring, but for now it’s going to sit right here. Our Christmas tree branches line the bottom. The red berry and pinecone ropes have been around for a long time. Finding pinecones for decorations is never a problem for me, they're everywhere. I also have little pinecone shaped Christmas lights, which would look fantastic in there, but I don’t have any way of plugging them in. I wonder if there’s some sort of battery pack I could tuck in the bottom. Does anyone know about something like this?

This is your chance to take it real slow: Go to bed early. Make some soup. Try a new tea. Read something meaty. Be creative. Write in your journal or send a real letter to someone important. Bake something delicious. Make time to invite friends over for a casual dinner. Savor.

Tuesday Quick Hints--Christmas Edition

Candles and Beans: This is super easy: any container, any candles, any dry beans. I’m sure you can put together something.

Crackers: an English tradition that is catching on here finally. At the dinner table each person holds one end of the cracker and his neighbor holds the other end. Count together..1,2,3…pull! A loud pop and everyone gets a paper crown, a toy and a silly riddle to read aloud. One year we were laughing and carrying on so much we didn’t notice that the paper landed on the votive candles which set the tablecloth on fire. Talk about Christmas excitement!

Nutmeg: You’d be amazed at the difference using fresh nutmeg makes. You can now buy the whole nuts in grocery stores from McCormick spices. Use one of those rotary hand cheese graters or a microplane, but be very careful of those fingertips. Apple or pear crisp, rhubarb pie, scalloped potatoes with gruyere cheese, banana bread, all taste better with fresh nutmeg.


I haven’t really done this yet, but it seems like such a good idea:

Tin for Gift Cards: Use a rectangular mint tin, like Altoids, to wrap a gift card. You can use scraps of paper, maybe cut up old Christmas cards to decorate the top and inside of the tin lid. Use a small square of tissue paper inside to make it more like opening a present. Much nicer presentation than an envelop.

Bed Garland

I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for awhile now. I finally got to complete it yesterday. I wanted to make it as a surprise for Brad, but he figured it out as soon as he saw me eyeing the garland at the store. I think it looks wonderful. Waking up this morning under my stars made me smile.

We have had the bamboo structure over our bed for about a year now. The lights I bought at Target stay up all year. I got the garland from Home Depot -- $14.99 for 6 feet. Needed three for this project. I found the gold stars in our Christmas decoration box, probably from Dansk a few years back. It took less than 10 minutes to put together and I never want to take it down.

Autumn Decorations

I decided that I'd better get some pics of the fall decorations before it turns to winter and I put up the Christmas stuff. I love the way my house feels warm and inviting with all these pumpkins, gourds, and leaves. This house is definitely at its best in autumn.

On the coffee table there is a bronze/gold glass bowl that sparkles in the light. You can't see it very well, but it is pretty. It's so useful because you can fill it with whatever you have around as the mood strikes you. Same with the wooden boat on the dining room table. I don't believe in buying things that only serve one purpose; these can both be used year round. The bowl is from Crate & Barrel and the boat is available at Pottery Barn.

Sometimes I go on photography jags, like this morning. Digital cameras are great because I can take tons of photos without feeling guilty. Today I took 75. You could never do that with film. Also the image stabilization feature takes the wobble out of most pictures. I keep trying to get lower and closer, or else getting up on a ladder to get higher. My rule is that I have to "play it as it lays." I can move a distraction out of the background or turn up the lights, but mostly I have to keep it real. I try not to use a flash. I do goof around with all the weird settings, trying to figure out what works. The three pumpkins were taken on "vivid red" setting to enhance their orangeness.

After taking a round of photos, I like to view them on the television. It's easy to do if you have the right cable to go from the camera to the tv. You don't need a newer tv; we did it on my mom's tv through her VCR (yes, she still has a VCR). When you see them big like that, it's simple to delete the really blurry useless ones right then and there. Then it's quicker to download them onto my computer and clear off the chip in the camera for the next round. I'd rather do it that way than have bad photos taking up space on my hard drive.