Season 8
Our olive basket that my dad helped me turn into a light fixture to hang over our dining room table.
Many of us have become more intimately acquainted with our homes in the last year. Recently, I found myself thinking about the items we keep within those walls and why we choose them. Our daily lives are a constant dance of people and thoughts and objects we interact with on a daily basis.
Our hopscotch rug inviting guests into our home with a little whimsy and play.
The rooms within our home are containers for moments that enrich and inspire and also embrace the realities of life that are found in loss or disappointment. I’m know my kitchen has seen it’s fair share tears: joy, sadness and overwhelm.
Our homes without the people in them, are like a still life of sorts with our collected items, each with its own story to tell. I’m pretty sure that’s what I’ve always loved about photography. It’s a chance to capture a moment just as it is, never to be replicated in that exact way. A photograph is a memory to recall later (which is helpful as mine seems to be lacking more and more every day!)
This week I’m diving into how we cherish those parts of life that are simple or even mundane, but part of our daily ritual in our home. The elements of our home suggest that THIS is a day worth exploring with fresh eyes and a curious albeit slightly wary heart. The objects we use in our daily lives trigger memories of people or experiences. Whether it is the coffee cup from a friend warming your hands for the hundredth time or the book that has remained on your shelf long after you’ve read it might be there for a reason. It is part of your story.
*The Importance of Home Life - A video by The Cottage Fairy
Share in the comments below the objects in your house that hold meaning for you.
*If you see an asterisk next to a link, it links to a video with sound. Just a heads up in case you need to turn the volume down or pop on your headphones.
These are the drawers of my “Narnia” wardrobe I found on Craigslist many years ago. The creative Craigslist post caught my attention stating that the “back of the wardrobe might just lead to Narnia.” I was instantly sold on it, and our good friends helped us pick it up and take it home. The drawer labels are original to the wardrobe. The wardrobe, which we now just call “Narnia”, has a magical charm that only objects with age and wisdom can possess.
HOME
Our mixer was a wedding gift many years ago and has helped create many of our favorite baked goods.
Curled up on the couch together from the time my son was little, we would watch cooking shows together. It all began with Giada DeLaurentiis and The Great British Baking Show.
This week we began watching Nadiya Bakes on Netflix. I absolutely LOVE her passion for baking and her colorful kitchen! From her beginning at The Great British Baking Show, Big Family Cooking Showdown, Nadiya’s Family Favorites, and Time to Eat, her joy just radiates through the screen.
I recently pre-ordered Nadiya’s memoir ($) and cookbook. ($) It will be a few months before they arrive, but I’m eagerly anticipating reading both.
A mixing bowl given to me by my grandmother
Our little handmade lucky clay pig I purchased over lunch with my mom at a restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina.
You can get a sneak peek at Nadiya’s recipes from the show here and be sure to check out Julia Jones and her food art ZOOM classes. Nadiya highlights Julia’s work on her show as well as the creations of other pastry chefs and bread bakers.
Our kitchen sink light fixture inspired by the one at Lucky’s Bakehouse in Boulder, CO.
Pati Jinich’s shows have also been a staple around our house for many years. Whether I am watching her shows on PBS or Netflix, I constantly have a smile on my face while she guides us through the regional cuisine of Mexico. I love that she travels with her sons and cooks with them regularly. She wrote an article for The Washington Post recently that really hit home for me.
Cooking together as a family is important to me. I find I am most drawn to cookbooks that focus on family, recipes that bring people together and cooking traditions that are passed down from generations like the new cookbook from Thai Fresh, a local favorite of ours.
Cookbooks are mostly eye candy and inspiration for me and I read them as I would any intriguing novel just like my paternal grandmother, Tutu. I go to them at times to remember a seasonal favorite or to be inspired to cook something new, but most of my weekly recipes are now in a binder by season.
Warm, comforting recipes are in my fall and winter binder while fresh, cooling favorites are in my spring and summer binder. Some of this shift in seasonal eating was informed by my Ayurvedic cooking classes, yet primarily listening to what my body is craving in each season and produce available in farm box or at the farmers’ markets and in our garden.
Our oversized utensils from an estate sale years ago hang in our kitchen
If I’m on top of things, I’ll use my seasonal recipe binder to meal plan for the month, but I almost always have a plan for the week. Fewer decisions at meal time mean I have more brain space for creativity and the people I love. Here’s a good place to begin if you’re new to meal planning: The Lazy Genius Meal Plan. I also use Kendra Adachi’s tip from The Lazy Genius Way ($) to do one thing that creates forward momentum that will have you thanking yourself later. Set out the pot you’ll boil the noodles in later. Prep your veggies. Set out the recipe. Thaw the meat. Anything you can do to make the process moving in the direction of a delicious meal.
Remember that flexibility is the name of the game. One of the joys that comes with cooking seasonally for many years is the ability to know which ingredients can be switched out when something doesn’t arrive in the farm box as planned, you forgot to pick something up at the store, or you’re out of a pantry ingredient. Cooking is an opportunity to be creative. Yes, you will have plenty of failed experiments just as I have, but that’s how we learn. Usually the worst that happens is a meal that tastes good but doesn’t look great, and even if it doesn’t taste great, there’s always breakfast for dinner to save the day!
If you have a favorite go-to recipe for this season or a family favorite, please share in the comments below!
GARDEN
After the incredible winter storms that wreaked havoc on Austin last week, I’m cautiously hitting the restart button on the garden. It’s sort of a depressing brown out there right now, but I just try to think about the spring green hidden in all those stems and trunks that might spring to life in time.
My new flower supports arrived last week and they have me thinking of creating some more trellises for the fence behind the garden beds like these made with a wooden frame and chicken wire.
In the mail this week were my Floret Farms seed packets . I will sprinkle these little seeds into pots and add them to our little greenhouse as soon as there is room. Growing these new varieties will be an experiment for me in adding a little filler and texture in cut flower bouquets throughout the warmer months.
WELLNESS
Years ago I read a quotation by Henry David Thoreau.
"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."
Thoreau’s quotation is a good reminder to take a little time sitting in each chair of your life.
Consider what is important in each chair, what your role might be in it, if you find enjoyment there, and whether or not you could use a little help to even find the chair at all.
While I would probably call my chairs “time for myself”, “time for friends and family” and “time for community”, the quotation reminds us all that we all have these areas of our lives that need tending to throughout the year.
CREATIVITY
Our home’s friendly armadillo mascot
I heard about the One Second Every Day app on the Lazy Genius Podcast during the end-of-year holidays as I found myself wondering how I am going to ever organize the ridiculous amount of photos I have stored in iCloud…yet again.
What the decision came down to for me was the idea of curating a photo or two a day to mark what was important that day whether it was just a normal day, a celebration or even a moment that wasn’t so great.
The One Second Every Day or 1SE app app has a reminder feature so that you can decide a time (or pair it with a task like waiting on curbside delivery or waiting for your coffee) to upload your photo or video of the day.
If you would rather choose something you can hold in your hands or give as a gift, choose a photo a day and name the file with the date it was taken, add the photos to a yearly album folder on your computer or phone and record them in a yearly photo album.
The result of these daily actions is that they will culminate into a movie or photo library by the end of the year. This plan sounds a whole lot better than the situation I’m in now which is regretting the year’s-worth of photos I need to cull in semi-organized folders.
A scarf woven and heart created by my son in elementary school
BOOKSHELF
This week’s crown-themed book selections are inspired by the petition I signed for The Crown Act this summer.
Creating a
Respectful and
Open
World for
Natural Hair
I was reminded to check in on its progress in an article about Crown Legislation in Texas. Only seven US states have adopted the legislation, but there are many more who haven’t. Be sure to see if your state is on the list. As I write this blog post, it is legal to discriminate in schools or workplaces based on natural or protective hairstyles (braids, locs, twists or bantu knots) in all states EXCEPT California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, and Maryland. Call or write your state representatives and send them these resources to get started.
I believe it is essential to our humanity to share our cultural heritage in the way we dress, wear our hair, cook our food, or speak our language. We can learn so much from each other and inspire other ways of seeing the world when we are open to letting everyone just be themselves.
You Should See Me in a Crown
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
In case you are looking for book recommendations for kids (or yourself!), gift ideas for all ages or want to peek into my TBR List for 2021, head over to the 52 Seasons Book Shop on Bookshop.org. ($)
Many Texans are still trying to recover from last week’s winter storm. If you would like to help, I encourage you to donate to one of the following organizations.
A lone calendula flower blooms after the harsh winter storm in Austin last week.
"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." - Desmond Tutu
If we all make a difference in our communities, that change will begin to happen on a global level. Caring begins at home. Caring is what we teach our families and IT MATTERS.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read 52 Seasons. I’d love to hear your feedback and ideas so that we can grow together.
Check out some of my favorite resources here.