July | 2011 | Door Sixteen

Raindrops from Zakka Nouveau.

Jul 28, 2011

Hooray! My “needle in a haystack” raindrop tea towel from Zakka Nouveau just arrived in the mail, and it’s even prettier than I’d imagined. They’ve been out of stock for quite a while, and I couldn’t place my order quickly enough when they returned to the shop. Now I want the other two colors, too.

You know when something turns up in your mailbox and the entire process of opening it up and rooting through the packaging is almost as fun getting to the thing itself? Opening this envelope was like that. Thick vellum machine-stitched with pink thread, cotton string and a screen-printed label. So nice.

I discovered Zakka Nouveau (you can read about the name here) when I was writing this picnic post for SFGirlbyBay, and it was love at first sight. Beyond the obvious (it’s no secret that I’m a fan of raindrop shapes, after all!), I like how soft and feminine everything looks without being cutesy or little girlish…and while still being graphic and bold.

Store owner and designer Satsuki Shibuya also maintains a really wonderful blog for Zakka Nouveau full of both beautiful images and inspiring writings about creative expression, work, and life in general.

My beautiful new tea towel is now at home in my apartment bathroom. Thank you, Satsuki!

This morning on the A train.

Jul 27, 2011

Music + Movies + Books
New York City

29 comments

Amy Winehouse.

Jul 26, 2011

Health
Music + Movies + Books

39 comments

Photo via AmyWinehouse.com

When I heard the news on Saturday that Amy Winehouse had passed away, my impulse was not to write about her death…or her life. Although I am a fan of her music and have followed her over the years, I don’t know if I’m capable of deeply connecting emotionally with musicians that I’ve discovered as an adult. No, that kind of ability to attach ended for me when I left my teens, I think.

I think the saddest part of hearing that she’d died—and I’ve heard many others say the same thing—was that I didn’t have any sense of shock. I was stunned, yes, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that it was inevitable.

That isn’t true, of course; it’s impossible to chart the course of a person’s life based solely on addiction or tabloid new coverage. Everyone follows their own path—no fate was etched in stone for Amy. But here we are. She’s gone, and the world doesn’t get her back.

Amid all of the belabored chatter about the (in)significance of her age (enough, already) and her last performance and all of her many troubles that played out in front of the world, there was this article, written by Rabbi Shais Taub, who works toward recovery with Jewish addicts:

There is a lesson to be learned from every death. To anybody out there going through the living hell of active addiction—whether you yourself are an addict or you are someone who loves an addict—here is my message to you. Please know that it’s not that you haven’t tried everything there is to try. It’s not that you’re not good enough, strong enough, smart enough, determined enough. You could multiply your efforts and your will power by literally a million times, you could have the whole world on your side, and still face the same heartbreaking outcome in the end.

So who knows if this was inevitable, really. We don’t know. I do think Amy wanted to live, and I do believe that if she’d managed to get herself straight again she’d have given us a whole lot more music to enjoy. Let’s remember that no person should be defined solely by a tragic death or by an addiction. As it is, though, she’s gone, and we’re left with what managed to get out of her heart before she went down.

Almond butter blondies.

Jul 22, 2011

Food + Drink

25 comments

It’s insanely hot in New York (and across much of the country) right now, but late last night Evan and I were struck by cravings for dessert so intense that we decided turning the oven on for while was worth the increased temperature. Despite being limited by the meager contents of our pantry, we managed to put together a pretty tasty treat—almond butter blondies!

(This recipe is a variation on Isa’s recipe for peanut butter blondies. I’ve never tried making them with peanut butter, but I’m sure that’s awesome too!)

ALMOND BUTTER BLONDIES (vegan)
Makes 12 blondies (or 4 if you have a generous “slicing hand”)

3/4 cup unsalted almond butter
1/4 cup grapeseed or canola oil
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup almond milk (soy or rice milk would be fine, too)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350°F. If it’s already a million degrees in your kitchen, have a refreshing beverage on hand.

Since there was no way I was going to hand-stir refrigerated almond butter at 10PM, I used the food processor. I have really weak arms, though, so if you’re stronger (or if you’re willing to wait for your almond butter to soften at room temperature), you could just use a fork/spoon and a bowl.

1. Combine the almond butter, oil and sugar.
2. Add the milk and vanilla.
3. Mix in the flour, salt and baking powder.

The dough is going to be really thick, almost like a paste. Spread it into an 8×8″ baking pan (very lightly oiled if it’s not non-stick), and put it in the oven for about 25 minutes. When the edges are looking crispy and the top is bubbly, it’s done.

LET IT COOL COMPLETELY. Not warm, COOL. No, really. I mean it. I know it’s late at night and you really want to have a blondie NOW, but don’t do it. We made the mistake of trying to cut and eat ours after only half an hour last night, and we had a goopy, greasy mess on our hands. We should have been patient and waited.

Here’s my advice: Make the blondies at night and let them cool down. Before you go to bed, cut them into squares and wrap them up in paper towels and foil and stick them in the fridge. In the morning, you will be greeted by BLONDIE AWESOMENESS. Isa describes hers as being kind of “fudgy”, and she’s not kidding. This is serious business. I had a sliver this morning with an iced coffee on the side, and…yeah. Pretty much the best breakfast ever, if not the healthiest.

The view(s) from my sofa.

Jul 20, 2011

Four Legs
Newburgh
The House
Work

25 comments

I’m working on an awesome freelance project—which you’ll get to see very soon!—at home for the next few days, and that means I’m camped out on the sofa with an iced coffee (and a couple of cute puppies) at my side. Here are the four views I have from my “desk”. I like the last one best, of course.

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Raindrops from Zakka Nouveau.

This morning on the A train.

Amy Winehouse.

Almond butter blondies.

The view(s) from my sofa.

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