Something beautiful for your day...

Music
by Anne Porter

When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother's piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold

And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying

Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country

I've never understood
Why this is so

Bur there's an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow

For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest

And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country

We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams

And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows

Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.

"Music" by Anne Porter from Living Things: Collected Poems. 
via Deborah's FB profile

Barbara Cole for Anthropologie May 2009

It's funny how Anthropologie appeals to almost every woman out there in the way that it captures the imagination.  It's some very powerful brand management that communicates a single, cohesive idea: a well-lived and beautiful life.  Everything from the whimsical details (flowers and pearls on a cardigan?) to the lush weight of the fabrics to the jewel-box setup of of the stores works together to create this feeling of romance, creativity, and luxury.  And yes, I love their clothing--but can only afford to buy it on sale.

So whichever marketing manager came up with the idea of teaming with self-taught fine art photographer Barbara Cole ought to get a raise.  What a stroke of genius!  When the gorgeous May 2009 catalog landed in my mailbox, I was intrigued by how Cole's style brings the clothing to life.  And the cover looks almost like a painting, reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites, fairy tales, and the Lady of Shalott.  

I don't know a lot about the photographer herself, but I poked around her site a bit and found some more arresting images of dreamy water-color fabrics and burnished floating hair.

To see the "making of" video, visit Anthro's website.

Posted simultaneously to: wearability.posterous.com 

Foodie Tuesday: Garlic Aioli FTW!


Some may remember the sad story of the time I broke the aioli I was making for Thanksgiving.  It was the first time that ever happened to me.  Key takeaway: don't get greedy.  One large egg can emulsify just about 1 cup of oil and that's it.  Fin.

I redeemed myself last week by making this beautiful aioli to serve with crudite at a dinner party.  What is aoili, you ask?  Think of it as fancy mayonnaise - the only difference really is the addition of garlic and the type of oil you use.  It helps if you have a powerful stand mixer for this one, though a regular hand mixer may work just as well.  I do not recommend doing this totally manually.

Ingredients (roughly)

1 large egg yolk
1-2 cloves garlic
approx. 1/4 tsp mustard (or mustard powder)
approx. 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 c. good oil (olive, or mix of olive and vegetable)
herbs to taste
salt to taste - a little goes a long way!

I start with the yolk in the mixer and add the garlic, mustard and lemon juice before turning on the mixer.  Slowly bring the mixer up to speed.  Start dribbling the oil in a drop at a time, allowing it to mix thoroughly before adding more.  This takes patience and upwards of 15 minutes.  I like to use a relatively high speed to get a nice stiff peak to my aoili - I don't like it runny.  At some point, you can probably start pouring the oil in a very thin and steady stream.  Stop every once in a while to taste it and add a few shakes of salt.  Be careful not to overmix or add too much oil, lest you break your aioli like I did.

Foggy Sunday: Brunch & Fortune-Telling

It was the perfect way to spend a quiet, foggy Sunday afternoon: a gathering of ladies for Albanian treats, fruit, tea, and Turkish coffee.

This was the first time I drank Turkish coffee - there's a whole process to its preparation and how you use the grinds for fortune-telling.  We don't take the fortunes too seriously but it was fun, and a bit like cloud-watching, to read into symbols we saw and try our hand at interpreting them.

Canan brought the coffee and the cezve (special small pot) all the way from Turkey.  Hava added ground coffee, sugar, and water and placed it over the burner until it started to boil and foam at the top.  She poured it into tiny coffee cups and we had it with baklava.

After each of us finished her coffee, we placed the saucer on top of the cup and swirled it three times, clockwise, then turned the cup over onto the table.  We had to wait about ten minutes for the grinds to cool and dry against the cups.  Canan told us we could place metal jewelry or a coin on top to speed the cooling.  When each cup was ready, Canan carefully turned it over and began the reading.  My fortune, she said, was very clear, with not a lot of distortion or confusion (strange, because I've certainly felt a lot of confusion in my life).  Keep in mind she is not very practiced at fortune telling, and anyway it's all up to individual interpretation. =)
  • The first thing she saw was a very clear road leading to a V (which looked a bit like a Y): Could I think of a person or place that starts with the letter V?  Or is it a long road to eventual victory?
  • She saw a tiny bear paw: plans to commune with nature?  Interesting - I have plans to visit Portland soon!
  • A heart with someone talking over it: indeed, I had just spent about six hours on Friday talking about relationships, with a friend.  Though now that I look at it again, it looks like a snake trying to attack the heart, but there are two hands protecting the heart.
  • A camel: no idea what this means.  Any guesses?
  • The number 2
  • Anything else?
Check out this blog that is all about Turkish coffee, including common symbols and their interpretations!

Meet: My blue pumpkin.

My coworker Sangeetha is taking a ceramics class with her husband.  She brought all these little pieces he made to work and a bunch of us got to take our pick.  This was one of the last ones left (I assume because it's not "useful" like some of the cups and saucers that other people took), but I love it.  It is so weird and fantastic, like something out of a Tim Burton film.  

It's got a wonderful heft, and I think it will make a nice desk denizen, paperweight, or random objet.

Posted simultaneously to: homing.posterous.com (I'm now a contributor to my friend Jena's home design blog)

Not your average engagement photos

Engagement photos normally make me feel a bit nauseated, though modern-minded photographers these days are really trying hard to come up with new and original poses/backrounds/angles to make the photos seem fresh.  I came across this album my friend Erika (who, incidentally, lives in Singapore, though she's not ditzy like the girls featured in my previous post) posted on Facebook, and I had to do a double-take.  I'd never seen "engagement" done like this before!

I really like that they had so much fun with the shoot (done in her native Bali, Indonesia), dressing up, splashing around, hamming it up for the camera, and not taking themselves too seriously.  I especially love the first and last photos.

Announcing wearability.posterous.com!

I never forsaw the need to create more than one Posterous... until now.  One of my favorite things to do on this blog is submitting items and getting people's opinions on them before I decide to buy.  It really helps when I am debating between different styles, colors, cuts, lengths, etc. ad infinitum.

I've decided to move all these posts to a new site - wearability.posterous.com.  There you will find all posts on "Which _____ should I buy?" along with most of my Fashion Friday posts.  If you'd like to continue reading these posts, please subscribe there!

I'd like to see how far I can take this - to do this, I'm going to need some help!  I'd love to get other people contributing posts to this site, things they might be considering.  And I know there are a handful of readers who always give their sage advice on crazy purchases!  If you want me to add you as a contributor to Wearability, drop me a comment w/ your e-mail!  I'll try to delete the info right away so it's not floating about in cyberspace.

See you on the flip side.

Just about the easiest thing you can do for your mom.

No, I don't get any kind of commission or cut of this.  I don't even really like Hallmark cards.  But someone sent me this Hallmark promotion and I was impressed with how easy it was (and to be truthful, kind of fun to personalize it!).

Not to mention, it's free.  Don't forget your mom this Mother's Day!

Hallmark.com is offering a free 5x7 paper card that will be mailed to your mother with personalized wishes. Postage is also included. Just in time for Mother's Day.

Hallmark is offering Free 5x7 Card for Mother's Day. Choose and customize a card, register & checkout. Enter promo code CARD4MOM to receive $3.91 discount. Shipping is also free.