sarah in nyc

Our shower curtain had seen better days, lots of better days. It had actually gotten sort of disgraceful.   I have been on the lookout for replacement fabric. The other day I thought that I might approach this problem of a needing a new shower curtain like a regular American and just go buy one.   I went shopping. The shower curtains I found in the two stores I visited just looked depressed to me. If I didn’t hate them so much I might have bought the two that we needed. I am very aware when I make something for the household, as opposed to making a garment for myself , that I have to think not just about what I like but what the people who live with me would like as well. It just isn’t fair to have something frilly if I share my house with my sons and my husband.   Fabric Mart had black and white seersucker gingham on clearance. Seersucker can be awfully sweet, but the black and white  saves it from being too adorable.   I ordered six yards of...

Yesterday we had a few hours before an afternoon commitment. So we went to this pier on the Hudson and went kayaking. You can’t take on the whole river, but you are welcome to paddle  between piers 95 and 97. A few minutes before you would have seen my husband and me paddling around. Seeing both the city skyline and even New Jersey from the surface of the river was pretty wonderful. Then we wandered our way home. Eleventh avenue is where all of the car dealerships in Manhattan  are. After we crossed 11th avenue one of the windows had a wonderful display of model vintage cars. On our walk east to the subway we passed this really ugly building. It’s awesomely bleak, and yes, it is public housing. It probably could have been made less awful without spending more money. Now that Manhattan is beginning to turn back towards the waterfront, there are now several buildings that look like ships facing the water. This is just one of them. I was able to peek inside the open...

I swear, it tastes like it is made with cream.   But this pictorial recipe will show you how to make this incredibly delicious dessert.   In a pot, place a few pods of cardamom add sugar, 1 cup salt, 1/4 tsp or the amount that fits in that tiny space in your palm How much you ask? That much. And yes, the full can.   Then Simmer for about 30 minutes.   Then, let it cool for a bit, puree in a bender  and put into an ice cream maker. That’s it.  If you don’t let it cool, then you risk some of the hot liquid jumping out of the blender top like mine did today and burning my wrist. Yes,It tastes really decadent and mysterious and very, very milchig/dairy. It is worth the burned wrist. You’re welcome.

The answer to that implied question is Lokshen mit Kaese noodles with cheese made with kale noodles. My youngest is working as a counselor at the camp my husband attended fifty summers ago. The same camp where my sister worked as a baby sitter and as a counselor, where my aunt worked as camp librarian and teacher and where my cousin worked as a teacher. I worked at a different branch of the camp for two summers. I believe that my son took the job purely for mercenary reasons. What I think my son didn’t expect, and I certainly didn’t expect is that this job as a counselor to rising fifth graders made him grateful  for his parents and his teachers who were mostly patient with him during his years of maximum bone headedness.  I think my son now gets why we yelled at him, now that he has to explain to a group of ten year olds why using a Super Soaker is a really bad idea inside the bunk. This is not what I expected from this summer. It was delightful seeing him last n...

Well, not counting the three dress shirts, it’s five table cloths. They are from top to bottom,  A 1940’s era printed cotton  60 inches square, from my mother in law. The print is of pots and pans. A circa 1970 hand woven cloth that had been my mother’s. Another 1940’s era cloth from my mother in law. I have mended it several times. It is a large scale vaguely Hawaiian floral print. A table cloth I made out of blue and white printed home dec fabric. I had stained it badly and dyed it with Rit dyes to mixed success. I don’t love the dye job. A heavy cotton waffle weave. It is a bear to iron. I bought the fabric. I have no one to blame but myself for this choice. It looks good on the table.   Why so much ironing? Because it was hard to get it done from the ER last week. Why do I bother ironing my table cloths? It’s a matter of storage. Un-pressed clothes are space hogs.  If I didn’t press the cloth...

Growing up my parents used to regularly take us to visit museums and galleries in Boston. it was with the same reverence that they used to take up to visit Design Research in Cambridge.   The late 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time when really wonderful innovative design was coming out of Scandinavia. Visiting DR (as the store was called) was a heady visual experience.   One of the joys of our visits was checking out the Marimekko fabrics.  My mother had basic sewing skills and used to buy a half yard top cover a square down pillow she had inherited from her mother. My mother would hand stitch  the simple cover.   In the early 1970’s one of my sisters learned how to sew and my parents bought her a sewing machine.  My sister decided that she wanted to make herself a dress out of Marimekko fabric. It was an expensive endeavor. Today a yard of Marimekko fabric costs more than $50 per yard. I seem to remember the cost as being $25 per yard, althoug...

    In addition to all that is going on internationally, things have been busy here on the home front as well. This is my oldest. Monday she called me saying that she was experiencing chest pain, numbness in her left arm  shallow breathing and dizziness. She had gone to a walk in health center who checked out her vitals, did and EKG and suggested strongly that she go to an ER.   I met her at Mount Sinai Hospital.The ER there is busy. The gurneys are stacked three deep in each little curtained cubicle.  Other gurneys with sick folks are stashed away in hallways.   The ER staff first determined that my daughter was not just having a panic attack and began monitoring all of her vitals and began testing her heart in various ways. The episodes my daughter kept having looked like what in the 19th century might be called The Vapors, . if she were a fragile sort of a girl I would have not paid a whole lot of attention…but she is a tough cookie, a st...

It’s hot out. I have been making spring rolls. basically it’s a salad wrap. Finding the rice wrappers is pretty easy in my neighborhood. I lay the wrappers on a wet dinner plate for a about a minute before I fill it up, This batch had shredded cabbage, carrots cucumber, basil leaves, alfalfa sprouts and marinated tofu. Last week I had made rolls with fake shrimp and some cold cooked fish along with the shredded veggies. Last night we dipped the rolls in Hoisin sauce.   Eating the same vegetables might be a bit dreary. Wrapping them makes them into something of a party.   Tonight we are having London broil with a coffee rub. This is the coffee and spice mixture. As far as I can remember I put in coffee, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne and coriander and cloves. After cooking it looked like  a charred lump. Once it is fully cool I will slice it up and put it back in the oven for reheating with a sweet/savory sauce.   My son made the...

Series is perhaps too grand a word for three.   The text comes from this שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת‏‏ מַלְאֲכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בּוֹאֲכֶם לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בָּרְכוּנִי לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאָכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא ☼ צֵאתְכֶם לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאָכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא This liturgical poem is traditionally sung before the Friday night meal. This is the translation Peace upon you, ministering angels, messengers of the Most High, of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. Come in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. Bless me with peace, messengers of peace, messeng...

Yesterday my husband and I went antiquing. I found this and this. Enameled tin dollhouses. I had one when I was a child. I believe that we had the ranch house, but not the one pictured. The dollhouse came with molded plastic furniture. I loved the idea of a dollhouse when I was a kid.. I hated this one. See the metal tabs that attach the roof to the house? They are perfect for slicing  the tips of little children’s fingers. I found the interior design of the rooms to be hugely depressing. This is the entire layout of the Colonial home. The grey living room rug always seemed to me a particularly depressing decorating choice. Were they worried about dirt on the fake rug?   I worried because this house had no staircase. How did the residents go up and down stairs? Perhaps you would have to live your life either entirely downstairs deprived of a bed or a bathroom, or perhaps you would have a place to bathe and sleep but no way to eat. Once you put the p...