emilycurtin.com

Watch My Home Be Torn Apart

2009-03-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

The Great Curtin Kitchen Remodeling begins, and you can see all the horrible details (including eerily smiling demolition men) at The Curtin Kitchen Remodeling courtesy of my dear sister Sarah. Enjoy!

Snowflakes Add Up

2009-03-04T10:43:00.001-08:00

Here is the official Tribeca snow report (7 inches in the back yard):

And here are the most beautiful cupcakes I've ever seen, each one unique, like a snowflake (see, that's how I've tied these two photos together):

They were made with love by a great nanny (not me) and although I did not eat one (willpower!) I know from a reputable source that they were delicious.

First Sign of Spring

2009-02-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

I wasn't even looking for it yet, but all of a sudden this afternoon I saw snowdrops! It's only a few short steps from snowdrops to bikinis, right?

Working on My Jewelry Wardrobe

2009-02-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

I only just began to wear gold. Up until last year I thought I only looked good in silver jewelry, but it turns out I was wrong. While fantasizing about having a few hundred dollars to snap up a rare pair of Ted Muehling earrings on ebay (right), I found the online shop of Peggi Li, a jewelry designer who's work has been featured in TV shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Without A Trace and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. She has created a very affordable version of the Ted earrings that you can find here.

I was thrilled to find them and I love to wear them--but as all my other jewelry is silver (and I don't enjoy the look of mixing silver and gold) I never had anything to wear with them.

Until now!

Many of you know that I love Etsy. I have dreams of operating my own Etsy shop--but about zero time to feed that dream, so my little (well designed, thanks Ocean Front Studio!) shop lays empty. But everyone has time to shop on Etsy, so last week that is what I did.

I picked up three "layering" necklaces from Edor's Etsy shop--all for under $20 a pop! In the picture above I'm wearing all three necklaces, but I think that I'm going to save the little "Fleur" charm to wear alone because I think it makes things look too cluttered.

The two round ones look perfect layered, I think, and they're the perfect balance to my earrings. Yeah Etsy!

Sweet Emily's

2009-02-19T18:53:00.001-08:00

When and if I go off my diet this weekend it will quite likely be caused by "the simple comforts of a well-made cocktail" or the yummy decadence of " American comfort food with latin influence" . . . or at least that's my plan. Last week Sweet Emily's opened in Hell's Kitchen and I've been itching to go try out my namesake's food and libation. According to Eater

Sweet Emily's hopes to appeal to the Hell's Kitchen/Theater District neighborhood with its savory cuisine, genuine hospitality, and budget friendly prices (all entrees are under $20). Menu highlights include Bacon Mac & Cheese Croquette, Shrimp Mojito, Plaintain Crusted Tilapia and Smoked Pork Chops."

I will report back as to whether the restaurant lives up to my great expectations.

Heather Ross: February Girl-Crush

2009-02-18T05:22:00.000-08:00

I've hauled out Amy's sewing machine for a refresher course because next week I'm starting a three week skirt sloper class at Purl! (A sloper, in this context, is a template, unique to one person, from which a whole range of different patterns can be created.) I'm excited about the prospect of making my own clothes (especially since I'm almost as thin as I was in college again!) but I'm also delighted to be taking a second class from one of my own personal girl-crushes, Heather Ross.

Heather is an amazing fabric designer and illustrator. Above is one of my favorites from her Mendocino fabric line from Free Spirt. All her work is sweet and whimsical with absolutely nothing pretentious about it.

I met Heather when I took her class on making a simple sundress last summer and after the 3-hour workshop I could have easily hung around for 3 more hours just listening to stories of her childhood in rural Vermont and all of her experiences since then working with amazing craftswomen like Natalie Chanin. Heather encouraged me to buy the Alabama Stitch Book because of my love of hand sewing and (although I haven't actually completed a project from it) the book is amazingly inspiring.

Ms. Ross has a new book out this winter which I'm anticipating getting my hands on this weekend. It's called Weekend Sewing and it's described on her website this way:

Heathers first book is a guide to integrating sewing into ones home and lifestyle in a stylish and practical way. Among its 40 projects readers will find an entire weekend wardrobe, including more than ten dress and skirt styles as well as some basic fashion design lessons about proportion, fit, and fabric.

I gather that she and her husband have recently transplanted themselves from the California coast to New York City. While the prospect of having her here to learn from on a more consistent basis is appealing, her work and her presence make me want to run off to some quiet little cottage in the woods with a good internet connection so that I can still read her blog and buy her fabrics.

Maybe next year . . .

Recession Chili

2009-02-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

So, I recently lost 25 lbs. in a relatively quick time without doing much more exercise than normal (other than my usual walking everywhere). It wasn't very hard, but I realize it's not for everyone because in order to make it work you have to like keeping obsessive records like this:

But, one thing that everyone can do is cook more of their own food which allows you to control what's going into it by picking organic produce, using sources of fat that are low in saturated fat, and reducing the amount of sodium. This also fits in with the very now trend of being economical. (It makes it more fun if you think of it in the same category as 'what all the kids are doing these days', like sexting. That's aimed at you, Ms. Freund).

My mother has become obsessed lately with Super Suppers, and I understand the appeal. However, as I'm just one person, not a family of 4, I just do it on my own at home on a smaller scale.

Behold, First Grade Chili:

The recipe is pretty simple, and it may seem odd to use tomato soup instead of actual tomatoes, but the recipe is aimed at getting children to like a food that is often spicy and intimidating to neophobic palates (hence first grade chili) and it's dear to my heart.

First Grade Chili:

1/2 lbs. ground chicken or turkey (lean)

1 large onion

1 can condensed tomato soup

chili powder, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste

garlic powder, to taste

salt & pepper, to taste

1 can kidney or chili beans

1/2 lbs. chopped carrots

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 bag frozen corn

any other veggies you have on hand

Brown the meat with the onion and season lightly. Pour off any fat (although there probably won't be much, especially if you're using chicken meat). Season lightly with chili powder, garlic powder, Cayenne, salt & pepper (you'll be layering the seasoning, so think of this as just a first go). Add the soup, beans, and one soup can full of water. Cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add the carrots and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Add the peppers and continue to cook on low an additional 15 minutes. Taste & adjust seasoning. Add the corn and simmer just until heated through (unless you're using fresh corn it won't need to cook much more).

Now, it's ready to eat--but it's a lot of food, so here's what I do to enjoy chili in perfectly portioned increments. I calculate the nutritional information (you can skip this step if you're not crazy like me). A great resource for this is the USDA Database of Food. Then I create little labels in Excel that I print out onto sticker paper.

That way, even if I'm take some chili out of the freezer months from now I'll have the info I calculated about it today readily at hand.

Once I've cut out all the stickers I use my food scale to portion the chili out into freezer bags.

And then I lay them flat in the freezer to freeze while ignoring the Hagen Dazs.

To thaw I tend to just take a bag out and leave it on a few sheets of paper towel in the refrigerator overnight, but if you want to get it done quickly, just 10 minutes or so in some hot water should do it. Once defrosted you can just heat, garnish (I recommend pepper jack & avocado) and eat.

Morning in Washington Heights

2009-02-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

It sucks to have to leave beautiful things behind on Monday morning, but perhaps these will still be blooming and fresh on Friday. I can hope at least.

February 14th: Lost & Found

2009-02-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

(text: My Dears, The garbage goes in the garbage can. This is a Relay Box. Thanks)

Found this note on my street this morning. I don't know if it's a coincidence that it's attached to a latex glove. You may draw your own conclusions.

Chocolate Mocha Charlotte

2008-12-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

This was my contribution to Christmas Dinner. It was my own take on the Dessert of the Month in December's Martha: the Coconut Chocolate Charlotte. Several people in my family (most importantly, me) aren't wild about coconut, so I replaced the coconut custard with a mocha mousse.

My Father, aka doubting Thomas, believed my cake, custard and mousse creation would end up as a "puddle on a plate" once it was sliced into. My faith in Martha was strong and my creation was solid, rich and so very yummy. Next year I think I could greatly improve the presentation, and perhaps I'd do white chocolate custard as a contrast for the dark mocha mousse. All in all, however, I was quite pleased with dessert.

Thank you Ms. Stewart!.

Kim Likes Beer

2008-04-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Although she did her best to taste the undertones of apple and berry, Kim ultimately prefers a nice cool bottle of Yuengling Lager to wine almost always. So, while tasting wine at Francis Ford Coppola's Vineyard Rosso & Bianco, we asked one of the locals to recommend a place for a casual dinner in Healdsburg. His first suggestion perked Kimmy up immediately.
He pointed us to The Bear Republic Brewery where you can get excellent, simple food and you can taste all of their micro brews for $1.25 a pop. Kim tried Special XP Pale Ale, El Oso, Racer 5 and 3R Belgian Ale.
Her favorite, oddly, was the El Oso, although she was very disdainful about fruit in her beer. Her least favorite was the Special XP Pale Ale, which also surprised me. But really, what do I know about beer? Or Kim, for that matter?
Kim also vowed to try new and different food while in California. Who would have guessed that Fish and Chips would fall under the category "new and different"?

Oh, and Obie, that green vest is mine, and yes, the red sweatshirt is Phillies Red!

San Francisco Days 3 & 4

2008-03-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Time & internet connections have been scarce at times over the past few days, so I apologize for not posting more. Even today we're pressed for time, as there are tooooooooo many vineyards and never enough glasses.

Here are some highlights from the past few days:

The Columns built for the 1916 World's Fair at the Palace of Fine Arts
Kim and I on the Cable Car
Kim-No-Evil (Union Square)
Cable Car Turn-Around
CRAB!!
Mikael Gorbachev's House (Your tax dollars at work!)
The Golden Gate Bridge
Bank Building in Chinatown
Hopefully we'll have time to post more tonight when we're recovering from whirlwind wine tasting.

San Francisco, Day Two, Alcatraz Edition

2008-03-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

The weather report said that it was 52 degrees yesterday morning, but if that was true, it was a 52 degrees unlike any other Kim & I have experienced in our lives. In line to board the boat, we both shed all the layers we'd dressed in (as instructed by the Alcatraz website) and stood for an hour slowly getting both sun and wind burnt (and enjoying ourselves, somehow). The ferry ride itself was rather short and before we knew it we were pulling into the dock at Alcatraz.

The first building you come to is the Barrack/Apartment building for Alcatraz staff. There's a prominent sign announcing the island as a US Penitentiary with red writing scrawled across that saying "Indians Welcome". This mystified us until we actually got on the island took the tour. The Island was apparently the sight of an American Indian uprising in the 1960/70s. A group of Indigenous People took over the island for approximately 19 months and claimed it as Indian land. They were eventually removed, but the occupation did lead to changes in the US policy toward Native Americans.
We saw way too much to record here, but a few highlights include: Kim in a cell:

Kim in the Hole!

And later, Kim stuck in a pot:

You can check out more photos on my Flickr page.

San Francisco, Day Two (Part One)

2008-03-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Kim and I got each other moving pretty early today so that we could make it down to Pier 33 for the boat to Alcatraz. We continued our fabulous run as Urban Warriors! and mastered the cable car system.

The cable car ride was amazing, and not only because it saved us crawling on our hands and knees up the truly ridiculous hills. We jumped up to try and capture the view, especially at Lombard Street:

Although, we know we haven't completely done it justice and we definitely intend to try and walk it (on foot!) tomorrow.

We toured Jefferson street and the Fisherman's Wharf at a brisk pace, so that we could get to our boat in time. Once we were safely in line (and I got a second cup of coffee) we felt free to look around and relax a bit. Sadly, relaxation does not necessarily heighten either of our intelligence, as we both stared at this sign wondering what could possibly be on our cell phones that might be considered contraband by the Alcatraz boat crew:

Luckily, we quickly figured out our mistake (with the help of a park ranger). On board the ferry to Alcatraz Island, we couldn't help but be amazed by the view of San Francisco:

I'm afraid our photos don't begin to do the city justice.

More to come, but for now, DANCING WITH THE STARS is on!

San Francisco, Day One

2008-03-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Kim and I arrived this afternoon at the San Francisco International Airport. It will remain a total mystery how my dear sister survived 7 1/2 hours without a cigarette, but let me tell you, she burst out of that plane once we'd reached the ground and made her way as quickly as possible to the fresh air for the sole purpose of polluting it:

We mastered the BART and arrived at our hotel without incident because we are Urban Warriors! After a nap and wine and cheese in the common area (both staples of the Urban Warrior lifestyle) we went out to explore Chinatown. We turned down several interesting dinner choices:

and settled instead at bar Vesuvio on Columbus Ave. in North Beach, a favorite hangout of the Beat Generation. We enjoyed their signature drink, the Jack Kerouac and relaxed a bit from the challenging walk.

Kim continued her tradition of photography without irony:

On the way home, despite dragging a bit because of the time change, we managed to take in a little "culture":

And all of this only in the first 12 hours!

More tomorrow!

Merry Christmas, 10th Street Style

2008-01-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

Long, long ago I decided (because it was a very pressing issue) that if money were no object, I would live in a townhouse on 10th Street between 5th & 6th. There are many reasons for choosing that block, including the house that has matched its shutters to its Vespa, and today I've added another: Inspired Christmas Decoration!

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

That, my dear friends (the three of you who currently read this practically non-existent blog--hi mom!) is a clean slate. It's the number one cliche I think of on New Years Day, especially when I'm lucky enough to have not begun the new year with a massive hangover.

So, what does the clean slate mean for me? Well, some fabulous things right off the bat like a new apartment with TONS of space where I can practice the time honored art of ~~covering the floor of one's bedroom entirely by discarded items of clothing~~ keeping everything in it's place and enjoying the peace and serenity of an ordered life. Also, I know that this year will be filled with exciting trips to places like San Francisco, Italy, Colorado, and the Virgin Islands--and that's just to name a few!

So, I hope that everyone else is as excited about the new year as I am. I'll be keeping the blog better updated now that I've gained a decent amount of momentum with other writing, so it won't be three months before I post again, I promise.

It is Better to Give Than to Receive

2007-11-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

So, if you'd like to feel good this holiday season, you can get me this:

The Altec Lansing inMotion iM3c iPod speakers with remote.

Where Did the Weekend Go?

2007-10-16T17:18:00.001-07:00

Well, a large portion of mine went into FORT BUILDING! Check out Cakerocket to view the photos. And, just in case more of you are going to inquire (as some already have) no (illegal) drugs were involved in either the building nor the motivational process that led to said fort.

"It's not your cooking, it's your genes!"

2007-10-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

I have long believed that children's relationship with food was pretty much ingrained and not at all a product of environment or upbringing. Finally there is a research study out that proves me right. The cover article in yesterday's NY Times Dining In section is titled Picky Eaters? They Get it from You and it details the research done by Dr. Lucy Cooke at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in August.

I love reading studies that took time and a great deal of money to prove things that a lot of mothers just instinctively know. For example the article relates that:

"Most children eat a wide variety of foods until they are around 2, when they suddenly stop. The phase can last until the child is 4 or 5. It’s an evolutionary response, researchers believe. Toddlers’ taste buds shut down at about the time they start walking, giving them more control over what they eat. “If we just went running out of the cave as little cave babies and stuck anything in our mouths, that would have been potentially very dangerous,” Dr. Cooke said."

But for kids who don't really come out of this phase, there really isn't much that can be done other than accept that mealtimes are going to be a headache until they go off to college. You can't just decide that you'll only feed them noodles, because I'm pretty sure that developing scurvy is pretty good grounds for the state to take your child away, so you just have to keep pressing new things on them (within reason) and listen to the moaning and bitching. That's just your job as a parent (or nanny, in my case) and it's somehow supposed to be a reward unto itself.

Romantic Hand Knits: Some Like It Hot

2007-10-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

I recently bought Annie Modesitt's fabulous book Romantic Hand Knits and this weekend I began my first project. I bought the book for the Silk Stockings pattern, but I thought I'd begin with a project marked "Easy", so I chose lace opera-length gloves. (I know what you're thinking: that doesn't sound easy . . . you would be correct.)

I have this sinking feeling about the whole thing, I'm ashamed to say, I haven't done much knitted lace and I'm very worried that the gloves are really not headed in the right direction. However, I'm committed to seeing the project through to completion, even if the completion is unwearable. And who knows, perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised. Stranger things have happened.

I think once I struggle through the first glove things will be easier, and perhaps I'll just end up making three gloves and save the first (read: flawed) one as a souvenir.

I'm using Sirdar's Snuggly Baby Bamboo, which really may be a mistake. It's so soft and warm, but I'm beginning to suspect that it just doesn't have the memory necessary for a project like gloves. I think that as I become a more experienced knitter I will learn to listen to what the salespeople in the knitting stores tell me. What is it about people (read: me) that makes them want to learn things the hard way as opposed to profiting from the wisdom of others?

So, wish me luck. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

The iPhone: Two Weeks In

2007-10-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

How long does a honeymoon last when it's between you and a major piece of daily-use technology? For myself and The iPhone, the answer is about two weeks. Don't worry, though, the honeymoon maybe through, but I feel as if the marriage in general will be a long and happy one.

Here are a few things that I'd love to change about my new partner-in-crime:

CUT-AND-PASTE for F**K's SAKE!!!
Really, what more is there to say than that? For the record, I did know about this little quirk before I went ahead and purchased the phone, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. But it's such a normal part of regular computer use it seems absolutely asinine that they left it out. I'd gladly trade some of the cool, but basically useless, features for this simple, but rather important, one.

ADAPTIVE PREDICTIVE TEXT
Maybe this is a bit much to wish for, but since The iPhone has clearly appropriated names from my contacts list into the predictive text feature, I don't see why it can't learn that I frequently use the shorthand "w/" for "with" and stop trying to change it to "a". Everyone has their own personal slang and if the iPhone could just accept you for that and stop trying to make you conform to it's idea of how you should write then I think we'd all be happier.

ZOOM FEATURE FOR THE CAMERA
I don't think I need to elaborate on this one other than to say that when I want to take pics of John Stewart on the street I should be able to get as close up as possible without violating the restraining order.

Oddly, the camera feature's failings have led to some pretty cool pictures, like this one from my favorite cuties' 3rd Birthday party:

If I wanted to create an effect like this on purpose I'd be completely inept, but The iPhone has a mind of it's own, which is sometimes a good thing.

Coming Soon . . .

2007-08-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

The launch of emilycurtin.com is imminent. Prepare yourself!