little red fox

a perfectly perfect roasted chicken

This is another thing for which we have Thomas Keller to thank. I'd also love to thank him for the mind-and-belly altering meal that was elegant, weird, bizarre and wacky all at the same time that we had the night we got engaged at The French Laundry in Napa Valley. It was pretty unreal. 

But this is also pretty wonderful. And a bit more accessible :)

A ladyfriend pointed me towards this recipe when we were trying to decide what to make ourselves for dinner one night. We were pretty sure it knocked our socks off but there was a lot of champagne happening that night and most everything we said and did seemed pretty magical that night. So I made it a week later when Mr. Wood got back from his trip and it was confirmed--this is utterly wonderful and beautifully simple. 

Everyone loves a roasted chicken and I feel like I've heard as many "secrets" to the perfect one as people who have made one. I've heard smothering it in mayonnaise is the only way to a crispy skin; I've heard that you have to stuff it with xy&z for it to be flavorful; and on and on. I think all those are good--but this one--this is the best one I've ever had. That is a true statement. And you do so little. The secret seems to be just raining generous amounts of salt inside and out and cooking it in dry heat at 400 degrees. I thought it was so strange that you cook it at such a high temperature for so long and it doesn't dry out--but I swear, yall--it doesn't. It's actually a moment of kitchen magic because it is so. Moist. I will say that last time we broiled it for a few minutes once it was done baking to get a richer color and a crispier skin.

He suggests you slather it with unsalted butter so we did that this time. Twist my arm. It's also totally delicious without.  

I've made this once a week for the last month and it's been basically the same: this gorgeous roasted organic chicken with quality dijon on the side for dipping, and a lemon and olive-oil arugula salad. Sometimes we'll have a quinoa something-or-other on the side and this time we had Spicy Cumin Roasted Carrots (cumin, cayenne and olive oil) but you really don't need it. This juicy chicken only needs a bright, peppery salad for the meal to feel complete. Once we're done eating, we strip the rest of the meat for sandwiches and salads during the week and make a stock from the bones. And out of that, a soup later in the week (usually of the bean variety but most recently of the cauliflower variety). I'm not prone to routines of any kind--in that I have almost never ever in my life had one--but this has been so nice having such a productive, easy, fairly inexpensive regular event in our week. Plus you feel like you're in your very own french bistro which is a feeling I can get used to. 

Are you sold or what?? The recipe is here--don't skip the trussing part! He does a good job explaining it and it seems to really make a big difference.  

think a gatsby spring: more items in the shop!

 

 

 

 

 All these pretty little items and more in my shop What Mimi Wore now!  

I can see those shoes with both the outifits here in the post...Those white oxfords with no socks and rolled-up chinos and the oversized cardigan? Adorable.

Can you see how excited I am for some officially warm weather?? 

I tend to get fired up and think of each season in thematic terms: I like to think of spring/summer in a certain color palate and theme. This spring and summer is gearing towards chorewear (as in this recent post) combined with a Gatsby theme, all in my favorite color combos of a pale green, black and ivory, an orangey-red, and bright red. I've been way into this palate for a long time but it just sings for me, what can I say. 

More to come on all this in the next few days. So far I've made drawings, bought vintage patterns and am on the hunt for fabrics for my spring/summer wardrobe...too bad I don't get paid to do all this :)

***

On a different note...I mentioned before that I've been experimenting with gluten-free recipes for both health and fun. One of my sources for some of these goodies is The Queen of Quinoa. I made her pumpking quinoa muffins the other day--a double batch, in fact--and they are truly delicious. So moist and rich, not terribly sweet, and heavenly toasted with a little bit of honey and butter. 

I mean look at this--what could you be missing? 

These have also made me fall in love with pumpkin. Its incredibly good for you--low in sugar and calories but high in fiber and vitamins. Been thinking about other pumpking possibilities...

You can find her recipe here. 

 

what mimi wore--my vintage shop--now open for business! (finally)

At long last! My vintage shop What Mimi Wore is up and running! This is something I've wanted to do for a very long time and finally got around to it. Whew. This is a very large item to cross off my to-do list. 

It will be a highly curated mix of both ladies clothes...

...and shoes...

 ...of varying eras...

...and also some fun home goods-type stuff... 

...all inspired by my gorgeous, fashion-plate grandmother, Mimi.

(This is Mimi with my mom, Betty, the tiny Cupie doll in a bow tie.)

She understood thrift better than anybody I've ever known. She was a child of the depression, and strangely--a generation removed--her varied thrifty ways have affected me profoundly. She was college-educated which was incredibly rare for that time period and that part of the country, but she was also an incredible homemaker: a seriously wonderful cook and gardener, an incredibly organized and detail-oriented person in terms of housekeeping (she ironed her sheets). That house was managed like she got a major paycheck for it--she was like Martha Stewart because she could do it all and do it all well. She was an intelligent and capable woman who learned how to make do--but she always had a real sense of personal style and pride in her appearance. All this in spite of being a Mississippi farmer's daugher and certainly never in her life a wealthy woman. She always looked absolutely fantastic and always did it on a very modest budget.

I know there's no shortage of vintage-type shops, especially on Etsy, but this was something I really wanted to do and when it hit me how much of it was actually about Mimi...it seemed even better :)  

I'll be continuing to list more items over the next few days and after that, my goal will be to list new items at the end of every week, depending on what I find. 

I'm also slightly over the moon to have an official excuse to hit up my favorite local thrift and antique shops :)

 

spicy cauliflower soup via alice waters

Love this book. It's so up my alley. It was a gift--a very thoughtful gift--from my sister-in-law a few years ago and the yesterday it occurred to me that I haven't given it enough kitchen-time. We had some cauliflower that needed to be eaten so I looked in the index under cauliflower and found this soup which seemed perfect. Even though this has been the mildest winter ever up here which makes me so happy I want to write a musical about it, it is still winter and winter requires soups. 

For this one you start by sauteeing up cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, red chili flakes and turmeric in olive oil with onions and a carrot and, you get this dark red almost paste-like base for the soup. I have a habit of doing essentially the same thing over and over to start soups so it was so refreshing to do something different. Plus the house smelled amazing and for me that's when the meal starts. 

Her recipe calls for one large head of cauliflower but I only had 2/3 of one left so instead used a large parsnip to fill it out. 

But the best part was that I had made homemade chicken stock a few days before. The recipe calls for basically 6 cups of liquid--so 4 of this was my stock, which, if you can do it, is more than worth the trouble. I like this recipe but do like 1/25 of the amount she does (??). 

I also used my beloved stick-blender to get a smooth consistency, though she only called for aggressive stirring to break up the softened cauliflower. I just love a blended soup. If you prefer a more textured soup, a whisk or a stir would leave you with a chunkier version which would be nice too. Diff'rent strokes. 

I roasted up some pumpkin seeds in cayenne, turmeric and liquid aminos to sprinkle on top. You could easily substitute soy or tamari for the liquid aminos to similar effect. 

The salad was yummy--just greens with a spicy paprika vinaigrette. But again--instead of doing my usual garlic dijon vinaigrette routine--I thought the smokiness and sweetness of the paprika would go nicely with the spices in the soup. It did and it was oh-so pleasant with a reisling we had left over from a curry dinner. We don't often have wine left over but this was one was very...multi-dimensional? and needed an equally bouncy dinner to go with it so the two held hands beautifully. I also didn't have any of the garnishes she mentions on hand but I'd be curious to see how they tasted with the soup. Yogurt isn't something I'm dying to eat a lot of in general.

This is the recipe exactly as it appears in her book The Art of Simple Food.

ALICE WATERS' SPICY CAULIFLOWER SOUP
Makes 2 quarts; 4 to 6 servings

Heat, in a heavy-bottomed soup pot: 

1/4c olive oil 

Add and cook, stirring often, over medium heat;

1 onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp dried chile flakes
salt
fresh ground black pepper

When very soft but not browned, add:

6 cilantro sprigs, coarsely chopped
1 lg head cauliflower, trimmed of green leaves and coarsely chopped (about 6 cups)
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups water

Raise the heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the cauliflower is very tender, about 30 minutes. Stir vigorously with a spoon or whisk to coarsely puree the soup. You may need to add more broth or water to thin the soup if it is too thick. Taste, adust the seasoning if necessary, and serve hot.

Garnish each serving with:

Yogurt
Chopped cilantro or mint
A squeeze of lime juice

Variations: For a richer soup, use all chicken broth. For a lighter, vegetarian soup, use all water.  

 

before and after: the mantle project

We are very lucky that, as renters, we have been allowed--by very generous home-owners it must be said--to make this house feel like a home. They are very laid back, artsy people who are not afraid of paint or wall-paper or color. That doesn't happen very often :) 

When we moved in, they had recently repainted the entire thing white, top-to-bottom for the purpose of renting it so we had on our hands a big white box. As a lover of color, I couldn't wait to get some paint on the walls. Of course I was too impatient to get any pics before the paint job but the first thing we did--the VERY first thing we did--was get paint on the walls. 

No before pics=impatient. So bad. 

So we painted. Which helped. But it still felt so undone.

The problem was that the fireplace was kind of funny--just sort of stuck into the wall unceremoniously. With the darker wall color, it disappeared in a weird way. Obviously it had to have a mantle. My dream was a giant chunk of reclaimed, beat-up, 8x8 railroad tie or something similar. However, this wall was not going to support something that heavy. About 3 feet behind the fireplace is a hallway and it appears that it is just empty space inbetween two drywalls. So it had to be lighter and it also had to happen immediately.

See? So impatient.

I googled "DIY mantle" and found this blog post, RAN to my local home improvement store and got very serious for the next few hours.  

Her blog post gives good detailed instructions but to sum up--after putting the pieces together, I beat it up good to give it a worn, aged appearance. I'm sure I could have taken the time to locate some lumber cast-offs but I really felt strongly about getting it done that day. 

I think this is a good time to mention that I'm not sure if I've ever built anything out of wood. Aside from very basic frames in painting classes, I'd say pretty much nothing. Especially nothing meant to be pretty and functional. Diving in was my only option! So, I dove. 

I assembled it, filled the grooves with putty, stained it with two coats of Minwax's Special Walnut (which would be a great name for a pet, incidentally), called my dad twice to make sure what I was doing even made sense and somehow it did, polyurethaned it, let it dry overnight and up on the wall it went first thing the next morning. (I attached a 1x2 to the wall, then attached the mantle to that.)

Makes a profound difference.

 

And! The color/texture of the mantle also inspired me to solve the mystery box on the left. The house was built in 1991 when entertainment systems where shaped very differently. So these boxes you see on the left would have worked wonderfully with your giant box-shaped TV, your VCR and your video collection. I mean...ugh. 

We started by building the sliding shelf for our giant modern TV using plywood, heavy-duty drawer sliders, and a piece of trim. 

But I could not figure out what to do with the box-space on top. Some friends said a sculpture, and I considered making something I could hang from the top like oh, I don't know, maybe a mini hot-air balloon installation! What? A little too obvious? 

It went months sitting there unfinished before it occurred to me that it needed to connect with the other side of the wall and still not feel "too important." 

I think wood is pretty much always a good solution. I love looking at wood and I love what it does to a space: instantly makes it earthy and accessible and warm and un-fancies everything.

 

The clock is from West Elm and the wonderful wooden owl is from my mother-in-law. 

 

Kinda fools you even close-up :)

Next step: framing out the rest of the fireplace. Coming soon!

chorewear for spring

I've finally been given a name for something I've loved for so long and never quite known what to call it. Some of my recent-years' clothes-obsessions have hovered around something I've called "orphan-chic" or "street-urchin style" or "depression-era chic" or I even heard something like "dustbowl style" once to describe it. But there were some things I loved that didn't quite fit under those (vaguely hilarious) umbrellas. Until the other day I heard "chorewear" and the cute little Edison-bulb in my head lit up. That's it! That's what I love. 

I found out about the above label via Ginny Branch and I'm obsessed anew: Arts & Sciences. I mean--even the name is just wonderful. Their lookbook is here but here's a few of my faves from the new Spring 2012 line (besides wanting every single piece from the first photo):

 

And then Yokoo has started a homemade label (in addition to her eponymous line of hand-knitted goods) called Mother on Etsy with similar properties, which I also love. 

Something about this idea of clothes to me as an homage to womens' work of the past, I find really moving and extraordinarily beautiful. In contrast to modernity and the place women currently hold in society and the workplace, there was a time when the very simple work of the home was her world. It's humbling to see that represented in clothes, I think. Something about that...

I also think a lot of this could be thrifted then altered into similar ideas. That is certainly the next step for me. And I'm starting with the loose, cropped jeans from the top photo.