Saturday Randomness: Food Porn, Farm to Table Livin', Ferris Bueller and the Congo Free State

It is H.O.T. in Omaha today ---- a sticky 98... which means that all of the sane people are inside air conditioned spaces or sitting next to large bodies of water --- which means that NO ONE is shopping or looking at art or um, pretty much anything else that would require you to go outside and move. It's been super quiet at the shop (actually, it's been quiet all week...) and I've spent the past 5 1/2 hours sitting at my desk thinking about the 1,000,000,000,000 other things I could be doing today instead of being here alone clicking through every page of the NY Times' website.

*sigh*

So I thought I'd take a minute to check in and share some random thoughts -- which I haven't done in a LONG time because I've been, um, obsessing over a few other little things.

First off ---- I wanted to share a little food porn with you! I've been reading Aran Goyoaga's amazing dessert blog, cannelle et vanille, for months now and am more than a little bit in love with her. She just launched a site dedicated to her photography --- and it's so, so, very beautiful: http://www.arangoyoaga.com.

This morning, I realized that I haven't baked anything in FOREVER -- which is really just insane. I need to get my ass back into the kitchen this month. Now that I think about it, I haven't really done anything I love to do in ages... no sewing or cooking or traveling. I have not been having very much fun this year --- and that needs to change. Pronto.

Speaking of kitchens ----- I've spent the past week working on the one at the apartment and it's just about done! I fixed up the floor (the old linoleum was a cracked, burned mess) with leftover tiles from the Benson shop and painted it a crazy ass shade of 70s-inspired yellow that DOES NOT lend itself well to fluorescent lighting. Oh my god! I'm all about being as green as possible --- but I had to swap out the bulbs in the kitchen because the walls were making me feel (quite literally) nauseous.

I just realized that I haven't told you guys anything about the new apartment! It's wonderful! I'll post some photos once it's not just a maze of boxes... but I really love it. The rooms are starting to come together and it feels more like home every day.

Living with Tim full time has been great... altho, I will admit that he's not the tidiest of people -- which makes me batshit a wee bit crazy sometimes. We have completely different tastes when it comes to decorating -- but I'm trying to compromise. I got a yellow kitchen (a color he pretty much hates) and he's getting a navy blue (navy blue? really?!) dining room. He claims to have seen one in a movie called Le Cercle Rouge -- which I haven't seen.... but one that he's dead set on recreating. I'm thinking that if I can mix in some yellow accents to tie it back to the kitchen that it will work.

Something kinda like this:
I dunno ----- I'll keep you posted and will upload some shots of the space soon. Promise.

What else ....

Tonight's the opening party for my friend Elle's Empty Room project -- Clean Plate. She's going to running a farm to table restaurant for the next month -- and I'm so very excited about it (you can learn a bit more about it here). Tim and some friends will be playing music at the event tonight -- it should be a great time. I'm really loving all of the focus on slow foods and eating locally... it's something I've been interested in for some time now and I'm really happy that Elle's creating a space where people can learn more and see how feasible it is to just live this way.

Last week --- this older man came into the shop and struck up a conversation with me.... his name is Erick and he lives on a farm in western Iowa -- about 2 hours from here. We had the best conversation about eating locally and farm life -- I learned a ton from him. The next day -- he came back and gave me a cotton bag full of the most beautiful reddish-purple carrots (I'd never seen anything like them before). They were *amazing*... he invited Tim & I up to his farm -- I'm hoping to get out there before the Fall.

A few other random bits....

• While clicking away at The Times this morning -- I found this op-ed piece, which really hit home for me and I wanted to share it: "For the Time Being".

• I still cannot believe John Hughes died this week... his movies were such a huge part of my teenage life -- it just blew me away. I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can quote damn near every line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

• I hate to admit it -- but I've been feeling a little obsessed with the story of Diane Schuler and the horrible accident that happened in NYC last month. It creeps into my head in the middle of the night and is still boggling my brain... I just can't wrap my head around it all.

• I've also been a bit obsessed with this site. If you click on the search button without putting data into the box, it brings up 70-some pages of AMAZING photographs... which then led to an obsession with The Congo Free State -- something I (honestly) never even knew about. WHICH -- has got me thinking a lot about just how little I know about the world after nearly 20 years of catholic school history classes.

Okay ------ that might do it for today. I have two more hours to go --- and I should probably clean/organize/rearrange something with that time. Maybe?

Catch ya next week.............................. xo!