Tifmurray

Chicago-based artist Stephen Eichhorn combines the flora with the fauna in his series of cat collages that he says started a couple years back as an inside joke with himself. The imagery comes from a collection of bizarre cat books, both contemporary and vintage, that supplied a plentitude of cat portraiture in true glamour-shot fashion.

With exacto knife in hand, Eichhorn starts by diligently prepping his components, sometimes spending upwards of eight hours a day meticulously hand-cutting the collage material. He says this collection process can take anywhere from a couple of days to months, so when it comes to finishing a piece it’s hard to tell how much time has been invested into the object. The actual adhering and finishing work onto panels takes about 12 hours, after which Eichhorn’s newly-transformed felines with cleverly placed plant-life are complete. A selection of these pieces are available as prints here.

I was immediately stunned by the work of artist Cecilia Paredes. Born in Peru, Cecilia currently resides in Philadelphia where her modern take on camouflage is making waves in the art world. Using body paint she and her assistants spend at times upwards of seven hours blending Cecilia into the most lovely surroundings. Can you imagine the patience and attention to detail required to get a single shot?!

(via the Tory blog)

Keep in touch! Instagram // Twitter // Tumblr // Facebook // Pinterest

Another great recipe from our CSA (Driftless Organics) this week. I’ve been trying to make a very conscious effort to eat more healthy and make better food decisions over the last few weeks. I really want the kids to grow up with healthy habits. It’s hard to get them away from the mac n’ cheese and hot dogs, but I’ll do me best to incorporate veggies and healthy alternatives into their daily diets whenever I can.

This is a super delicious and flavorful meal, use whole wheat pasta and it will be pretty low in calories too. It’s definitely the recipe to use if you don’t want any of those healthy and nutritious veggie tops to go to waste.

The recipe indicates that it serves 6-8 and it does. Instead of making one big meal, I only used a small amount of the pesto for a meal for two, and saved the rest in a jar. Make sure you cover the pesto with a good layer of olive oil and it will keep for weeks.

Related posts:

• Happy Birthday Elsa!
• Twin Cities Bloody Kit
• It's Cocktail Time : The Portage
• CSA Recipe : Cucumber & Sweet O...

A trip down memory lane!  That’s what it was when I saw food writer Casey Barber’s new cookbook, Classic Snacks Made from Scratch.  This week’s recipe for Suzy Qs with Coconut Cream and Cherry Filling is a variation on a popular snack cake to fit the cherry season upon us now, the kind of recipes that are in Casey’s book.  There are many great things about this recipe, starting with the chocolate cake, which inevitably you will use for other recipes, or just to eat on its own.  The most interesting however, is how to make whipped coconut cream, which I never knew you could do!  All it takes is the right brand!   I hope you will be able to have a plate of these ready for your 4th of July celebration, if you’re in the US.  I think a homemade Hostess snack cake is pretty American!  -Kristina

About Casey:
Casey Barber is the editor of Good. Food. Stories. , the author of Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats, and a freelance food writer and recipe developer whose work has appeared in Gourmet Live, Better Homes & Gardens, Leite’s Culinaria, ReadyMade, and other publications. Though Casey loves her adopted state of New Jersey (not just for its proximity to New York City, but for its deep-fried hot dogs and sour cherry orchards), she’ll always be a Pittsburgher at heart.  See Casey’s drunken spaghetti and clams recipe in our archives.

See Casey’s recipe after the jump.

(more…)

When we were shooting images for In the Small Kitchen, our photographer, Josh, took a step back while photographing the umpteenth chicken recipe–the Mediterranean Baked Chicken in the Dinner Party chapter–and said, “So, you make as much chicken as my mom always did.” (Josh grills a mean chicken himself.)

So it goes: chicken is easy to buy and quick to cook. It’s filling and pretty healthful and an all-around go-to for cooks, harried or not, and that’s probably why it’s been a home cook’s favorite for generations.

Anyway, just because I cook a decent amount of chicken doesn’t mean that I cook it in the same way as someone’s grandma. The chicken recipes on BGSK are often exotically spiced, baked instead of fried, or marinated for a long time to boost moistness and flavor. No dried-out chicken breasts here, I promise. (FYI, I usually like to use whole chickens or skin-on thighs or breasts from my local butcher, Fleisher’s.)

**Everyday Chicken Recipes for Weeknight Meals**

1. Seared Chicken Breasts with Cherry Tomato Pan Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella. In this dish, there’s a sweet, tart explosion of juice that comes with heating cherry tomatoes in the oven, turning them into a pan sauce for quickly seared chicken. Melty wedges of mozzarella are icing on the cake.

2. Chicken Curry Wraps. The curry ramps up the mayo in this salad, the celery and shallot add an awesome crunch, and the raisins provide a haunting sweetness that in turn makes the curry taste even better. This incredibly tasty chicken salad becomes the filling in make-ahead wraps brilliantly suited to dinner in the park.

3. Green Chile Chicken. Filled with vegetables, this south-of-the-border chicken stew makes the most of pantry ingredients, though you may need a special supermarket run for the can of green chilies. As soon as you find fresh corn at the market, throw the sweet kernels in.

4. Ginger-Honey Chicken Wings. Baking chicken wings turns them crispy and rich, almost as if they’d been fried (but without the mess or the added fat). After baking, a teriyaki-inspired sauce coats the wings. Snack on these whenever, or make them the main course of dinner by serving them on top of rice with some greens on the side.

5. Indoor Grilled Chicken with Kale-Rice Salad. A marinade is one way to ensure that your chicken is moist and deeply flavorful without worrying about a pan sauce. Herbs and mayo conspire to give these chicken thighs extra value, and a flash in your grill pan does the rest.

6. Whole Wheat BBQ Chicken Pockets. Yes, I got inspired to make this recipe after reading a suggested use on the back of a grated cheese packet. That’s okay. The gooey, barbecue-flavored wraps may be an easy win, but who said dinner had to be sophisticated?

7. Chicken & Leek Stir Fry with Snow Peas. This recipe uses thinly sliced chicken, snow peas, and luscious leeks in an easily duplicated stir-fry format. You can sub in almost any vegetables that sound good to you, keeping the sauce and chicken as they are. Do all your prep work in advance–as with all stir fries, the actual cooking moves lightening fast.

8. Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie. This recipe is as good the first time you make it as it is when you eat it for days in your lunchbox. The rich chicken filling is a perfect contrast with the also-rich and crisp pot pie topping. Be warned: this is a little bit of a project to put together.

9. Chicken Curry with Bananas, Raisins, and Peanuts. While there are a million curry chicken recipes, this is the one I’ve been making recently–creamy with coconut milk and sweet with surprising but just-right bites of banana.

10. Chicken Parmesan. We grew up having this for dinner at least monthly. In a small kitchen, you have to be super organized with your prepwork and frying, but you’ll be ecstatic when your pan of golded, sauced, cheesed chicken emerges from the oven–I promise.

11. Chicken Tikka Masala. A classic. With Indian restaurants a little inconsistent in New York City, we’ve been satisfying our cravings with homemade tikka masala for years. Best of all, it’s really not all that hard to make, though do leave a little extra time for marinating if you can.

12. Healthy Chicken Chile with Barley. I developed this recipe to deliver the glorious satisfaction of chili but to be a lot less work, more nutritious, and lightened up with grains and vegetables. On summer nights, this could definitely become the filling of simple corn tacos–just top with yogurt, cheese, and avocado.

13. Greek-Style Roasted Chicken with Potatoes. Everyone needs a roasted chicken recipe to rely on, and this is mine. The chicken is flavored with lemon, oregano, garlic, and thyme. But watch out, chicken: the potatoes that cook beneath the chicken, in its juices, compete with the meat for MVP.

14. Chicken, Avocado, and Hearts of Palm Chop Chop Salad. If you’ve gotten in the habit of roasting a couple of bone-in chicken breasts every week, it’ll be a cinch to throw together this low-carb, totally tasty, and exquisitely fresh chicken salad. Round out the meal with good bread.

Here’s a quick update to bland white track shelving: Paint brackets and uprights black (or buy them that way), and stain wood planks a rich, dark color. Normally only boasting a “funcional” look, the black metal and stained wood gives a more permanent, intentional appeal that even works in a living room.

I don’t remember how I stumbled on the work of Laurie Close, but thank you to whoever shared it. Her paintings, done in gouache, acrylic or oil, are a combination of layered lines and curves in thick and thin single brush strokes—the kind you only dream of being able to create with one swoop.

Most of her work explores depth and color layering, something most abstract paintings do but there’s something about Laurie’s that reminds me a bit of colorful illustrations you might find in sophisticated children’s books. There is no hesitation in the lines, a display of confidence—something that can be appreciated.

You can shop her paintings on Etsy.

The art of Jeff Koons captivates me, not because of the price, his life, or his factory-like process. For me, the “art” is in the unworldly perfection of his objects, a level of quality so unbelievable that it can only be experienced or explained from 3 inches away.

At his current two-gallery exhibition in New York City, Design Milk was granted the rare opportunity to photograph the artwork at extremely close range. If you still don’t believe what you see, I highly recommend a visit to both Gagosian Gallery and David Zwirner Gallery, where the work will be on view through the end of the month.

Gagosian Gallery boasts the larger of the two exhibitions. The first room contains photo-real paintings based on digital collages of historical art, with such care and precision that brushstrokes are undetectable.

JEFF KOONS “Antiquity 1″ 2009-2012. Oil on canvas. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

“Antiquity 1″ (detail). © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

“Antiquity 1″ (detail). © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

The only evidence that these are NOT high-quality prints on canvas is a peak at an unframed edge.

“Antiquity 1″ (detail). © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

JEFF KOONS “Hulk (Wheelbarrow)” 2004-2013. Polychromed bronze, mixed media and live flowering plants. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

This incredible “Hulk” is not plastic. Though he holds a wood wheelbarrow with real living flowers (perhaps a reference to the artist’s famous “Puppy”), the Hulk himself is entirely painted bronze.

“Hulk (Wheelbarrow)” (detail). © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

“Hulk (Wheelbarrow)” (detail). © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

Though the sculpture weighs a thousand times more than a real inflatable, there is no visual difference between it and the toy EXCEPT the tiny inflation valve on the back:  on a real inflatable, this valve is translucent, but here it must be painted to LOOK translucent.

JEFF KOONS “Gorilla” 2006-2012, Black granite. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

This 8-foot Gorilla, an enlargement of a tiny zoo souvenir, is neither plastic nor bronze. From inches away, what first appears to be dust is actually the speckled grain of the black granite (similar to my kitchen countertop) from which it was carved.

“Gorilla” (detail) © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

“JEFF KOONS: New Paintings and Sculpture” at Gagosian Gallery. Installation view. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photograph by Robert McKeever.

Koons’ most famous work is undoubtedly his massive “balloon animals” made from stainless steel. The high polish and transparent paint coating create a convincing illusion that you can see through the “balloons” when viewed from farther back in person. Up close however, each sculpture (a blue swan, a red monkey, and a yellow rabbit) function as funhouse mirrors for their neighborhoods, drawing attention to the flawless surface of the metal.

JEFF KOONS “Balloon Swan (Blue)” (detail) 2004-2011. High chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

JEFF KOONS “Balloon Monkey (Red)” (detail) 2006-2013. High chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

JEFF KOONS “Balloon Rabbit (Yellow)” (detail) 2005-2010. High chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

“Jeff Koons: Gazing Ball” at David Zwirner Gallery. Installation view. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Five blocks away at David Zwirner Gallery, Koons presents his newest work: exact copies of ancient Greco-Roman statues made from fragile white plaster, adorned with room-reflecting glass “gazing balls”.

Because the original statues were hand carved and weathered over more than two thousand years, the accuracy of his reproductions is more difficult to judge… so he proves it with a snowman and a mailbox in the same room.

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Snowman)” 2013, Plaster and glass. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

This “inflatable snowman” is 100% solid white plaster.

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Snowman)” (detail) © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Mailboxes)” 2013, Plaster and glass. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

My favorite piece of both shows is this set of mailboxes. There is no metal, there is no wood, and most incredibly of all, there is no wire in the handle of the bucket. ALL of it (except the blue glass ball) is 100% solid plaster. Its extreme fragility made this the most nerve-racking piece to photograph up close.

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Mailboxes)” (detail) © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Mailboxes)” (detail) © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Mailboxes)” (detail) © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball (Crouching Venus)” 2013 (detail). Plaster and glass. © Jeff Koons. Courtesy David Zwirner Gallery

Only after a memorized inspection of every detail on the plaster mailboxes did I wander back through the exhibition to truly appreciate the ancient reproductions, now confident that every chip was intentional and every imperfection… was absolutely perfect.

What: Jeff Koons: New Paintings and Sculptures
Where: Gagosian Gallery, 555 West 24th St, New York, NY
When: May 9 – July 3, 2013

What: Jeff Koons: Gazing Ball
Where: David Zwirner Gallery, 525 W 19th St, New York, NY
When: May 8 – June 29, 2013

Unless otherwise noted, all images were photographed by the author, courtesy of Jeff Koons Studio, Gagosian Gallery, and David Zwirner Gallery.

The following post is brought to you by Ketel One® Vodka. Our partners are hand-picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

Back in February we posted a call for entries for The Modern Craft Project, presented by Ketel One® Vodka in partnership with Wallpaper* magazine. They were looking for modern craftspeople who push the limits of traditional craft, true innovators who could also represent Ketel One’s tradition of making high-quality products. The winners would receive a portion of the Ketel One® Legacy fund to use to refine their skills and take their work to a new level. We are excited to talk to all three U.S. winners about their craft and experience. 

You might not know Magda Sayeg’s name, but I’m sure you’ve either seen her work or the work of those influenced by her. She was one of the first “yarn bombers”—she who creates street art except instead of using paint, she uses yarn. She knits and crochets contrasting patterns and colors all over just about anything you can think of from cars to street poles to tree trunks. Quickly recognized for her work, Magda has been called on by companies such as Etsy, MINI, and Gap to do projects for them. I thought it would be cool to ask her more about the yarn bombing phenomenon and how it all started for her.

Where did the interest in knitting and crochet come from?

Not sure exactly. I often joke that I compensated for my mother’s absolute disinterest in all domestic duties. Anything handmade was completely foreign to me so when I saw anything handmade—sewn, knitted, crocheted… it was all very fascinating.

How does one even get started or recognized for yarn bombing? How did it evolve for you?

The timing was right on. When I look back at this whole experience, the DIY movement had begun and there was a renaissance happening in all crafts. But it was a newer, fresher interpretation. Street art was changing as well. There was more than just the spray can that was used. Now if you asked me this same question 10 years ago when I began putting my knitting out on the streets, I would not have analyzed it this much. It was really a selfish pursuit… wrapping that first stop sign pole just felt right. I didn’t understand or foresee the broader implications of what was happening here.

How much time does it take to make one of your larger installations? Do you have a team?

It is all about the team. I used to do these projects all on my own, and I had no life. When I brought in more skilled people, I realized the value of speed and efficiency. There are two parts to any project I do: the first phase is production of material and the second is installation. This entire process can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks….which is really insane when you see the amount of knitting that is done. I have managed to produce hundreds of square footage of knitted material in a matter of weeks. Most projects have tight deadlines that clash with the normal speed of knitting and crocheting. I have solved that problem by bringing in a team of knitters when needed. If one knitter can yield X amount of footage of material what can 2, 3, 4, or 8 people yield at the same time? That is how stuff gets done when a company like Gap calls you up and needs you to cover an entire playground in NYC by next week. It’s not magic, it’s good project management.

Do you get inspired by a color scheme or pattern or do you let the place you’re installing be the inspiration?

Color schemes, patterns, color combos… I am constantly aware of this in my daily life. I have a file I add to almost daily. My favorite part of this process is seeing a color that isnt that appealing but when combined with another color or colors, it’s beautiful. Color schemes and patterns have to be decided long before installation so usually I am already done with production by the time I arrive at the site. Most of the time I discover a color scheme and pattern I am excited about so I figure out some way to bring it in to the next project or future projects.

What do you like better: crochet or knitting?

Good question! I knit more than I crochet but I prefer crocheting to knitting. Crocheting is like sculpting. I can take any random object, like my skulls, and crochet every detail rather easily. Knitting isn’t like that—I would lose all the details. BUT I can produce knitted material faster than crocheted material. There are knitting looms and machines that speed up the process. As far as I know, there are no crocheting machines.

How did you find out about Ketel One’s Modern Craft Project and why did you decide to submit your work?

I believe I saw something about the project on a blog. When I read that Ketel One was looking for people who celebrated craft with a modern approach… I was like THAT’S ME!

I don’t usually enter competitions so for me to actually submit work, there has to be screaming flashing signs that push me to act upon it.

What was your reaction when you learned that you were one of the winners?

I was in Australia, and I remember getting a call at 3 AM, which usually isn’t a good thing, but the time difference was around 14 hours ahead of the States. I was told I was short listed, and they would call me next week if I were chosen. Next week came by, and I assumed it didn’t happen. Then, they called at the end of the day and told me. It was like Charlie Bucket finding the golden ticket in the very last Wonka bar. No one was around except my bulldog, Stella, so she is the only one to witness my victory dance… thankfully. I may have tried to high five her as well.

What do you plan to do with your part of the Ketel One Legacy prize fund?

Make more stuff! Especially the expensive prototypes. I think this is dilemma I find myself in—I make work for specific projects… always feeling a bit unsatisfied that I never have time to experiment. I have a dream list of things I want to do. This prize will definitely put a dent in it FINALLY.

What do you think about the stereotypes of women who knit and crochet and how do you feel you’re breaking through those boundaries?

This craft, which is strongly associated with women has, in the past, been delegated to a domestic existence where it has been undervalued and under-appreciated. I love that, in some way, I have contributed to showing the strength of this craft—knitting and crocheting doesn’t have to be functional, it can be subversive, renegade—even illegal in certain cases. It’s bad ass! And it makes me proud, as a woman, to be a part of something that is so powerful. Taking this craft that is female dominated onto the streets graffiti style, which is male dominated, is what is appealing (or not) about yarn bombing. As long as it evokes some emotion, I believe it is good. Even if you don’t care for yarn bombing, it is undeniable that this has spread globally. I may have started this, but I certainly don’t own it anymore. Tens of thousands of people—men, women, children are doing this now. There is even a National Yarn Bombing Day. With the increasing mass appeal there is always a downside… I see a lot of bad work out there… or the corporate world tries to package it for their own profit in a way that feels contrary to the spirit of the movement. But I still see a positive side, especially when a grandma emails me to tell me she tagged her friend’s mail box… this will always make me smile :)

What is the creative process like for you?

When I am first approached to do a project, I always dream big. As the project develops it is usually downsized to something more palatable, manageable, or affordable. I am constantly thinking about what is next. In an ideal world, I get to do exactly what I want, but this is rare. Actually, I believe it is part of the creative process to be able to understand obstacles and compromises and still make something I am proud of in the end. I also like working with a project manager. That way I can focus on the creative process and keep my head free of all the usual details. I am very visual. I explain myself better through images… even my own work/profession is hard to explain with out some visuals. When I say I am an artist (which I am reluctant to say) people instantly assume I paint. And when I say I work with yarn, mainly knitting and crochet, they instantly think I make baby blankets… that’s when the iPhone comes out.

The creative process never stops for me. In my downtime, I look at blogs and save images for anything from designing my house to experimenting with lighting. So when something comes up like designing a chandelier for someone I have a lot of notes and images to start the process.

Collaboration with photographer Dave Mead

What are you currently working on at this very moment?

At this very moment, I am demoing my house, but when I am not inhaling fiberglass, I am making products. I love the collaborations I am doing right now with ceramist Ryan McKerley and the weaved pieces I am making with my friend and talented photographer Dave Mead. I love the spirographs and am looking for an opportunity to make one that is super sized like 20-50 ft in diameter. I always dream big—can’t help it.

And I am working on a community project that may be my favorite one yet… it’s a little hush hush for now but I believe it will be one of the most meaningful projects I have worked on.

Collaboration with Ryan McKerley

We aren’t able to attend the Dwell Home Tours during Dwell on Design this year, but they were generous enough to photograph the homes on the tour for us. First up on the West Side Home Tour 2013 is the Garten + Reid Residence, a redesigned 1940′s bungalow with a 1969 addition that the architect herself lives in with her sculptor husband. Architect Molly Reid renovated this three-bedroom, 2,500 square foot, Venice, California home and studio as a work/live residence to suit their creative lifestyles.

The residence is a series of four spaces that include: the front garden room, the redesigned house, the rear garden, and the garage/studio.

The living spaces easily transition to the outdoors giving the family the best of California indoor/outdoor living. The large mahogany doors slide open to double the space of the living room.

A semi-transparent wavy, wooden slatted sculpture wall creates a separate between the kitchen and the dining and living room areas.

The backyard studio used by sculptor Cliff Garten, the architect’s husband.

Photos by Tara Wujcik.

Every so often, I feel like a college student. When I wear a backpack. On nights when I procrastinate by staring into space instead of doing the work I’ve planned to finish. At midtown lunches when I walk in with messy hair, wearing flat sandals and chipped nail polish and everyone else sports cute wedge espadrilles and structured skirts. Events where there’s free food and I feel the urge not only to stuff myself silly but to wrap fresh rolls in paper napkins and scoop good guacamole into a plastic cup and stow the booty in my pockets and my purse and my backpack for some unidentified later.

I’m not doing work for teachers anymore, so procrastinating is doubly silly. I like flat sandals and chipped nail polish and messy hair, pencil skirts be damned. I love carrying a backpack, especially when I bike. But the food thing is just weird.

I’m lucky enough to have a fridge so stocked I can eat good-quality food almost whenever I want, and I don’t have to bogart the fresh dinner rolls or good guacamole when offered, at least not the way I did my senior year of college when I catered events for hungry students (aka me) and ate as much of our spread as I could before returning to the glum trays of the dining hall. Back then, every third Friday, the day of the events, my co-cook, Lisa, and I would drive to the local bread bakery at 8am to buy dozens of loaves–for tea sandwiches, mini grilled cheeses, and crostini.

At the bakery, we would breakfast on samples. No matter that it was 8:30am, Lisa always went straight for the Sun-Dried Tomato & Feta dip sitting beside whichever bread the bakery had put out for us to try that day. I would feast on the dip with her. It was salty, rich, and full of umami. On the car ride back, our exhales reeked of garlic.

One day, we ventured to ask the clerk what was in the dip. Perhaps we could serve it at our events, we thought. If only we knew the recipe.“Feta and sun-dried tomatoes,” he said.

We soon recreated the dip. The two–count ‘em–ingredients morphed into a bowl of delicious, not just delicious when free of charge. The salty creaminess of the feta mingles with the chewy, intensely flavored tomatoes, becoming something better than either. (You can make your own sun-dried tomatoes by following along here.) As you might expect, this is insanely easy to make. The dip could be part of an antipasti spread or whipped up when unexpected friends stop by. Leftovers are awesome on a vegetable sandwich.

Never miss a recipe or tip: subscribe to the weekly Big Girls, Small Kitchen newsletter, and find me on facebook and twitter. Best of all, buy the book!

**Sun-Dried Tomato & Feta Dip**

Sun-Dried Tomato & Feta Dip
Serves 6 as an appetizer

Use sun-dried tomatoes that you like the taste and texture of. I adore the ones from Fairway.

Ingredients
About 3.5 ounces sun-dried tomatoes, plus some of the oil from the jar or container
1/4 pound feta cheese
Crackers, bread, or pita for serving.

Cut the tomatoes into a medium dice and place in a small bowl. Crumble the feta into the bowl. Add a little bit of the oil from the tomatoes. Stir to break up the feta and combine the ingredients. You want them to become one dip, but no need to turn the whole thing into a puree. Add a little more oil as you go.

Serve with crackers or bread.

When was the last time you made an icebox cake? This retro dessert stands the test of years: turns out it’s not only delicious when you’re a kid but also when you’re all grown up, like us. It’s also still plenty fun to make by layering ultra-thin cookies and sweet whipped cream and then leaving the two-ingredient dish to “cook” overnight in the fridge. By morning, there’s a delicious cake just waiting to be sliced and eaten at summer dinner parties and birthdays.

I made this Peanut Butter Icebox Cake for First We Feast using chocolate wafers and delicious peanut butter whipped cream. Find the recipe and check out my step-by-step photos over in First We Feast’s slideshow.

The night I learned to make cous cous from scratch, I fell in love with a carrot salad. The grains of fluffy, fresh cous cous were the best cous cous I’d ever had, but the carrot salad that the team from NY Shuk served us alongside the slow-roasted lamb shoulder stole the show for me.

I have been a fan of glazed carrot coins since day one of my life. Carrots grow tender and sweet when lightly steamed. This Middle Eastern carrot recipe seasons those tender carrots with herbs, oil, spices, and a little bit of lemon, fragrant and addictive seasonings that suit the vegetable perfectly. As addictive as glazed carrots, this salad is ten times more sophisticated than that childhood favorite.

Is fusion still sophisticated, too? Sometimes I think turning anything into tacos is so last year, a food trend grown obvious and dull. At least that’s what I thought til I heard a little bit of wisdom from Rick Bayless at the kick-off event for this year of Sargento flavor journey-ing. Bayless said that food trends were worthwhile, because they got people interested in food who wouldn’t otherwise care, and that some of those people end up in the kitchen, cooking at home. That maybe it takes a cronut (or a fusion taco) to get a non-foodie interested in food, but that the cronut might be the gateway towards making dinner at home into a habit, a habit I can get behind.

And so I turned the carrot salad into a filling for simple vegetarian tacos, gooey with melted mozzarella and topped with creamy avocado. They were a win. Even if you’re skeptical that Middle Eastern-style carrots belong in a taco, I hope you make them soon

This sponsored post is part of an ongoing collaboration with Sargento, called Flavor Journey. Throughout the year, with the support of Sargento, I’m exploring Middle Eastern cuisine–at home, in Brooklyn, at cooking classes, and wherever the flavors may take me. You can see the whole series here. Sponsored posts let me do some of my best work on this blog, and I only ever work with brands whose values and products mesh with the content I love to produce for you. Here’s my affiliate disclosure.

**Recipe**

Middle Eastern Carrot Tacos
Serves 4
Carrot salad adapted from NY Shuk

Ingredients
8 small carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots)
1 small bunch parsley
Salt
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin or 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
3\4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1\8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons safflower or olive oil
Zest of 1 whole lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus more for the avocado
1 cup shredded Sargento mozzarella
4 small corn tortillas
1/2 avocado, cubed and sprinkled with a little lemon juice

Place carrots in a steamer basket with sprig of parsley and sprinkle of salt. Steam for 5 minutes. Remove and toss the parsley sprig

If using whole cumin, toast in a dry pan over medium-high hear until fragrant, 3 minutes. Chop the parsley leaves very finely (you’ll want about 3 tablespoons). Combine the warm carrots with the parsley, toasted cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne, oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add a few pinches of salt and mix together. Let rest for about 10 minutes so the flavors meld. Taste, adding a little more salt as needed.

Heat two skillets over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Place a tortilla in the center of each. Top with one-quarter of the shredded cheese. Toast for 3 to 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is golden. If you cover the pan, the cheese will melt more quickly. Repeat with the second two tortillas. Pile one quarter of the carrots on each tortilla and top with a few cubes of avocado.

You can never find too many ways to incorporate plants, gold, and currently, faceted shapes into your decor. Rachel at A Beautiful Mess has done the hard part of figuring out the easiest way to DIY these prism planters. Now all you have to do is hit the craft store for some plaster and follow her instructions!

Corn, it’s one of those vegetables that says summer is here. Any which way you have it, grilled or boiled, on the cob or shaved, plain or with butter and salt, it’s a sweet and crunchy delight that you really can’t go wrong with. It’s especially great on top of this cast iron skillet pizza. The bold combination of spicy jalapeño, sweet corn, tangy lime, and fresh cilantro brings together pops of unexpected flavor in each bite. By cooking it in a cast iron skillet, it creates the best texture in the crust (crunchy on the outside, light and airy on the inside.) This is a fantastic way to pile on the veggies, beans, and chicken to have a complete meal…and you won’t feel guilty afterwards for having another slice!

KEEP READING FOR THE RECIPE… 

Cast Iron Skillet Pizza
the ingredients

• Lime Chicken Marinade (recipe below)
• Spicy Cilantro Lime Pesto (recipe below)
• 1/2 of a red onion sliced
• 1 Tbspn brown sugar (optional)
• 1 premade pizza dough
• 6-8oz. mozzarella cheese shredded or sliced
• 2 ears of corn shaved off cob (boiled or grilled)
• 1/2 can of black beans
• 1 tomato sliced
• 3-4 mini sweet peppers sliced
• cilantro, chopped to garnish

Lime Chicken Marinade
yield 2 chicken breast

• 4 Tbspn honey
• 4 Tbspn soy sauce
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 3 limes
• 1/2 jalapeño diced (optional)

how to make the marinade…
Mix all ingredients in medium bowl.  Place chicken breast in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 20-30 min or marinate overnight. Pan sear or grill 4-5min each side. Remove chicken from heat and let sit for 1min. Shred or cut chicken into cubes for topping on pizza.

Spicy Cilantro Lime Pesto
ingredients

• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2 1/2 Tbspn toasted walnuts
• 1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 2 limes
• 1 jalapeño seeded (leaving seeds in will make it hotter)
• 1/4 Cup grated parmesan cheese

how to make the pesto…
Combine all ingredients into blender, pulse until smooth consistency.

how to make the pizza…

Prepare Lime Chicken Marinade, set aside. Prepare Spicy Cilantro Lime Pesto, set aside. Over medium-high heat in a small skillet, caramelize red onion and brown sugar until translucent, set aside. Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly oil the bottom of cast iron skillet and flour (or corn meal) the bottom and edges to prevent dough from sticking. Roll out pizza dough on floured surface to just slightly larger than cast iron skillet. Gently place dough in skillet, and let the excess hang over the edges. Using a spatula, spread a thin layer of Cilantro Lime Pesto evenly over the dough. Add toppings; mozzarella cheese, chicken, corn, black beans, caramelized onions, tomato, and sweet peppers. Fold over remaining dough to create a crust. Brush top of dough with olive oil. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (or 5-10 minutes longer for extra crispy). Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

**Note: If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, the same process can be done with a regular sheet pan although cooking times may vary.  Rather than using premade dough, I’ve also used baked Naan bread or pita bread for individual size pizza.  

(recipe + photos by leslie grow for designlovefest– want more food posts & restaurant guides? go here!)

The Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General released a report on Monday on the agency's Landover, Maryland warehouse. The 70,000-square-foot facility is used to store inventory from the EPA's Washington headquarters, but what the inspectors found basically sounds like a cross between a frat house and your grandma's attic.

Here are the six weirdest things discovered in the warehouse:

• multiple "unauthorized personal spaces" that were "arranged so that they were out of sight of security cameras" and included televisions, refrigerators, radios, microwaves, couches, pin ups, clothing, books, magazines and videos
• two pianos
• new appliances received in 2007 still in the original packaging
• dirt, dust and vermin feces were "pervasive," and several items were described as "rotting and potentially hazardous"
• an exercise space that included weights, machines, and other exercise equipment that, unlike most of the rest of the warehouse, "appeared to be well maintained"; the report also noted that "agency steno pads were used for recording workouts"
• a big box of old passports

(h/t National Journal)

Along with her reputation as a crusader for the middle class and scourge of bad banks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also has a history as a personal finance guru. In 2005, the former Harvard law professor, who is worth between $2.8 and $12 million, co-wrote with her daughter a no-nonsense, no-magic-bullets financial advice book called All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. We've cross-referenced Warren's recently released financial disclosure forms with the book to distill the essence of her financial planning wisdom. Now you, too, can invest like a populist defender of the public interest.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Get debt free: "Drain your savings account, empty your checking account, and sell any stocks or bonds," Warren writes in All Your Worth. "Cash out the bar mitzvah money, crack open Mr. Piggy, and shake out the cushions from the couch… It's time to focus some laser-beam intensity on paying off your debt." What about credit cards? "Okay, we're not fanatics (although we're close). One credit card may be okay for emergencies."

Warren has followed her own advice—she has essentially no debt: no mortgage debt, no credit card debt. She is paying off a $15,000 student loan, but—get this—it has a zero percent interest rate. "Wouldn't everybody love to have that?" says Chris Farrell, the economics editor of American Public Media's Marketplace. When you're worth millions, he says, "That's more of a rounding error rather than a liability!" Other senators' financial disclosures list hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit card and mortgage debt.

Don't buy a sailboat if you work at Wendy's (or are a journalist): Fifty percent of your income should go to Must Haves, Warren says—that is, things like food and housing. Thirty percent should go to Wants. Examples from Warren's book include: light beer, dinner at Olive Garden, a hamster, a Madonna CD, and a pot of begonias. The remaining 20 percent should go to savings. If this formula means you have to sell your car, so be it, Warren argues.

Pay off your mortgage if you have one: Once you're out of debt, take 5 percent of your monthly savings and use it to pay extra on your mortgage. "You may think that paying a couple hundred dollars extra every month is like trying to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon. But you may surprised just how far that little extra can go."

HERE'S HOW TO INVEST

Visualize: "Take a moment to savor your dream. Picture the sunlight reflecting on the lake while your husband proudly holds up a string of trout. Imagine Katie, all grown up in her robe and cap, proudly accepting her diploma."

Create a retirement fund: Now, steer 10 percent of your monthly savings into an individual retirement account (IRA) or 401(k). "If you have a retirement account and you are putting money in it, then you have just made it into the upper half (financially speaking) of all adults in the US. Hot dog!"

According to Warren's financial disclosure forms, she has between $96,000 and $265,000 invested in various retirement funds through the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), a financial services organization that is also the leading retirement provider for people in academic fields. She also has between $15,000 and $50,000 of her retirement savings invested in a Vanguard mutual fund. Farrell approves of the amount Warren has tucked away for her golden years and the companies she has chosen to invest with, which he says are "low-fee and transparent." Warren "is going to have pretty good retirement income," he says.

This page in Warren's financial disclosure shows a few of her retirement funds: 

Invest prudently in the stock market: Take the remaining 5 percent (or 10 if you've paid off your mortgage) of your monthly savings and invest it in the stock market. "Picking an investment is not so different from picking a car. There are people who love nothing more than searching for an exotic car," Warren writes. "They dedicate their days and nights to studying muscle cars and antique cars, and maybe after all those hours, they drive something really cool. It is even possible that some of them make a little money when they happen upon something really special that they can buy for a good price. Then again, most of them lose their shirts at the repair shop." It's probably a better idea to "buy something safe and reliable with good gas mileage and enough room for the groceries."

Warren recommends investing in an indexed mutual fund, which buys stocks from hundreds or thousands of different companies, so that even though individual stocks fluctuate, over the long-run you're probably safe. "The index fund is essentially the Honda Civic of the investment world."

Warren has a total of between $1,517,000 and $6,180,000 invested in several accounts through TIAA-CREF. She has the largest share invested in an annuity, which is a payment to a life insurance company that then is distributed back in fixed payments to the buyer later in life. And she has money in various mutual funds and variable annuities, which work a lot like mutual funds. Sean O'Shaughnessey, a private investor and author of the book The Confident Investor, says the way Warren has invested her money is a little too conservative for him, but calls it a "prudent investment strategy." Farrell says Warren has a "low-worry" portfolio. "She has pretty much set it up so that she doesn't have to worry," he says. "I like it." Here's a list of Warren's biggest investments:

• $1,000,000-$5,000,000 in a traditional annuity account in which TIAA-CREF assumes the risk for the performance of the underlying stocks, and pays out a guaranteed amount per month later on.
• $250,000-$500,000 in a variable annuity that invests mostly in common stocks of a diversified set of companies, such as Apple, Exxon, PepsiCo and Wells Fargo. Variable annuities are annuities in which the investor, not the insurance company (in this case TIAA-CREF), takes on most of the risk for the performance of the underlying stocks. That is, their value rises and falls with the market, like a mutual fund.
• $100,000-$250,000 in a variable annuity that invests in stocks of foreign and domestic companies, with a focus on companies that are "shareholder-oriented." Some examples: Nestle, BNP Paribas, Royal Dutch Shell, Johnson & Johnson and Toyota.
• $100,000-$250,000 in a mutual fund that invests in various types of real estate around the country.
• $50,000-$100,000 in a mutual fund that invests in US companies like Visa, Goldman Sachs, NewsCorp, Monsanto, and eBay.
• $15,000-$50,000 in a mutual fund that invests in government bonds and mortgage-backed securities held by government-supported mortgage financiers such as Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mae.
• $1,000-$15,000 in a variable annuity that invests in the same things, as well as corporate bonds, including those of GE, Comcast, and AT&T.
• $1,000-$15,000 in a mutual fund that invests mostly in US Treasury notes that are tied to the inflation rate (so you don't lose money).

Here is the page of Warren's financial disclosure forms showing her investments in annuities and mutual funds:

Not everyone can expect their portfolio to look like Warren's. The senator has been able to pack away a significant amount of money because she has made a pretty penny teaching and writing books. At Harvard, her annual salary was $430,000; in 2012, she took in $9,000 from the school as an emeritus professor. Last year, Warren got about $64,000 in royalties and salary from Aspen Publishers, which has published many of her academic books. In 2011, she took in around $700,000 total from Harvard, book royalties and consulting fees. As a Senator, she earns $174,000 a year.

Oh, and avoid investing in these:

• Gold.
• Prepaid funerals.
• Collectibles such as "Franklin Mint medals, autographed footballs, [or] rare stamps."

AND IF YOU GET NERVOUS ABOUT ANY OF THIS

Here are some ways to avoid "negative-thinking traps":