Animal of the day:
Polar bear. Ursus Maritimus. Isbjørn. Nanook. Ours blanc. It has many names, names only classify, they speak nothing of personal talents; for example these furry white creatures are excellent swimmers, carnivorous and solitary, they are stealth hunters, polygynous by nature, insulated with layers and layers of underfur.
That’s me today, the furry arctic queen and snow is my domain.
I’m gonna channel my inner polar bear self because; pending snow storm aside, I have a meeting to attend, laundry to do, alterations to pick up, butternut squash lasagna to make, and website to do, which also means I will be doing the Brooklyn-Manhattan-Brooklyn trip for the umpteenth time.
Oh and because I have laundry to do which I’ve put off to the absolute very last minute I have nothing but a short skirt, sweater, and thick woolly tights to wear, this explains reasons for nursing a persistent 3 week cough…short skirts in winter certainly doesn’t help recovery.
As promised, exterior shutters. Energy efficient. Operable and no-fuss. Just a really effective, aesthetically pleasing, reasonably cheap way to control and maximize daylight and wind conditions.
Now to resume my reading of the IPCC Report- Summary for Policy makers; all gloriously dry 22 pages!!! Historic preservation and global climate change is the topic of the day, but why oh why must I read this report???
a.m. architectural thoughts
I should consider buying curtains as flashing subway riders and passersby really isn’t an option. But those that know me, also know I’ve got an aversion to curtains/shutters as they, in my humble opinion, take away something of the aesthetics of a room. I understand the practicality behind curtains but to me they have always felt oh I don’t know either a bit western, or fussy, or frou-frou, or a bit like an afterthought tacked onto a room for it’s privacy and light absorbing properties; and perhaps that only makes sense to me, point is I really dislike curtains/interior shutters/shades. I just think shutters work best when integrated as part of the whole rather than serving as an ad-hoc post design feature. There are effective ways to integrate curtains into a building succesfully. Here are a couple of examples, and yes one is from Shigeru Ban. Later on I will post examples of shutters as part of the structural system, for now I am off for I am late! Again! Some things never change…
Food!
The brain isn’t the only organ requiring food, stomachs also need their sustenance, plus I’m a firm believer that good food contributes to the learning process.
Unfortunately I’m so busy these days that my dinners consist of salads, yes salads, don’t scoff, I assure you these legumes/fruits are far from boring and laughably easy to make so I’ve included two of my favorite experiments, using ingredients at my disposal. Both recipes are easy to execute and can be prepared in under 10 min. I should preface this with a warning, I don’t think in quantities, or volumes when cooking, everything is flavored to taste and quantities are approximate.
Recipe 1 (pictured below in a not-so-good image, bowl on the right): I had this with yellow thai curry and homemade shrimp/pork potstickers, the first round, it was shared with friends back home. Second round I had it w/butternut squash soup, to which I added spinach, shallots, and a bit of prosciutto.
Edamame and avacado salad:
1/2-3/4 cup fully cooked and lightly salted edamame
1 avocado cubed
1/4 cup red onions, sliced thin
1 tbsp.+ good quality soy sauce
1/4 cup organic mayonnaise
1 tsp. wasabi paste
salt to taste
lime zest
Mix together mayonnaise, soy sauce, wasabi paste, and lime zest. The sauce should be of a smooth consistency, if too thick add a bit more soy sauce. Combine sauce with avocado, edamame, red onions.
Note: You can soak red onions in water for a milder taste. Also avocado could be substituted with extra-firm tofu. Edamame can be found frozen, or ready to eat, I had the frozen kind which required boiling time.
Recipe 2: no pics sorry
1/2 bag of favorite Mixed greens (I like champs-elysees blend from Trader Joe’s)
handful of grapes halved
1/4 c. heirloom cherry tomatoes
handful of walnuts
pomegranate molasses (new favorite ingredient, available at whole foods)
extra virgin olive oil
feta cheese cubed or crumbled
coarse sea salt
Toast walnuts over medium heat until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes and set aside. Combine salad mix, grapes, tomatoes, walnuts. In separate bowl combine olive oil, pomegranate molasses and salt (I used slightly more molasses than oil) and mix into salad. Top with feta cheese.
On why I’ll never ever become a jedi knight
A little background info: I had this painfully annoying muscle strain, it’s not my first but this one was particularly burdensome because it kept me up at all hours of the night (and lord knows I don’t need help staying up).
So moms in her attempt to be helpful emails some very specific instructions:
1.Go find your comfortable zone and close your eyes.
2. Focus on breathing and the area where it hurts and you’ll find that in focusing on the breathing you’ll have forgotten about the pain.
My response-Thanks mom, will try. I head upstairs to my generous bed, close my eyes, breathe in breathe out…so far so good. “Hey it works!”
Outside-Go Phillies!!!!!! WHOOOO! More happy drunks, helicopters overhead, bus stopping and going, next door dog barking, sirens, more drunkies…
My two part solution:
1.Give up. Check what netflix sent me. “Oooh Rosemary’s Baby!” I say this as I open a bottle of Riesling.
2.Take two advils, settle down for the movie, finish the bottle, knock out….
