discovering colonial america

Its no secret to anyone who knows me that one of my favorite pastimes is visiting historic homes. There are many values in visiting places of historic significance in your area, but it seems to me especially significant this year. I recently attended a lecture at the New York Design Center given by Elle Decor Editor in Chief, Margaret Russell and Elle Decor editor at large, Mitchell Owens as part of the New York Design Center's program "What's New What's Next @ 200 Lex." Also in attendance was Eddie Ross. While the lecture sought to highlight the design trends of the moment, Michell Owen's reminded all in attendance, "the future of design is in the past."   

Owens presented a compelling series of images of designs from the past and their contemporary counterparts. As a teaching assistant of Architectural History in college, the connections between structures of antiquity and the structures that ensued fascinated me. Every design responds to a collective history in some way - whether by reinventing a precedent or reacting to it. While a plethora of connections can be made at a critical level of investigation on this topic, the uniquely American take on designs at the turn of the 19th Century remain especially relevant today.

These photos are from a trip in September to Tryon Palace in New Bern North Carolina. While the style is borrowed from English taste, what I love about them is the spirit of invention they posses. The photo above, for instance, shows true American ingenuity of using flush mounted wood planks in lieu of more expensive stone. The nearly two centuries that have passed since this New Bern home's construction have revealed the materiality of the wood siding and the real charm of this home.

Borrow the idiosyncracies, pieces, forms, and colors from a historic home. Many styles integrate suprisingly well with contemporary, even modern, lifestyle. A shaker bench might blend perfectly in an urban loft. These pieces warm and enrich our homes and give a sense of place and history.  The historic homes in your area are a design treasure chest to be plundered.

lincoln center out of doors

Why brave the heat and the humidity of August in the city? The even hotter free concert series at Lincoln Center Out of Doors which began  on August 5th and ends next Sunday August 23rd.

I checked out Raul Midon on August 7 and most recently Brooklyn Qawwali Party and Susheela Raman on Wednesday the 12th...

Check out http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/lc-ood for more info.

swordfish

 

Still abuzz from the July 4th festivities the day before, Pamela McBride - an Architect who works in the tradition of Robert A.M. Stern, Carol Adams - owner of the shop "Excentricities" in Westhampton Beach, New York Interior Designer Garrow Kedigian, new friends Bob & Peggy Dillmeier, and myself enjoyed a casual lunch by the ocean at Swordfish in Westhampton. Delightfully kitsch, Swordfish remains largely unchanged from the 1960's. From the brilliantly painted turquoise wood swordfish arching over the entrance, to the garage door fronted "cabanas" which open out to the ocean, the entire compound assumes the feel of a piece of pop art. The view from the cabana as we enjoyed a picnic lunch was spectacular, but a quick jump into the ocean afterwards greeted me with an icy-cold chill, keeping all but the hardiest swimmers out of the water.

summer in the hamptons

Come summertime in the city, New Yorkers head east to a small group of villages on the tip of Long Island known as the Hamptons. For a few blissful weekends, they trade in the cacophony of the hot and crowded city for the picturesque village streets and sandy beaches of the Hamptons. While a famed playground for celebrities and the wealthy, the Hamptons also play host to a simpler, quieter life celebrating summer spent with family and friends, fresh ingredients, a passion for all things green, architecture, historical preservation and crisp modern style, and days spent out of doors. The resulting mix is a style and feel that is truly unique to this remarkable collection of villages. 

Clad in ubiquitious cedar shingles, the beachouse in East Hampton sets the tone for a relaxing day at the beach. 

Laying out a blanket field-side and enjoying a picnic lunch with other spectators is the perfect way to take in a polo match. Teams from all-over the world come to compete at the six week long Mercedes-Benz Polo Challange.

inspiration strikes

Following a dinner of a delicious chicken club sandwich (bacon, tomato, and chicken with guacamole on a baguette) at the classic Upper East Side Institution, "EJ's Luncheonette", I decided to catch the 7:30 of "Julie & Julia." Expecting a slightly saccharine tale paralleling the stories of now famed blogger Julie Powell, and the legendary Julia Child, the movie turned out to be just was I was craving.

The endearing charecter of Julia Child, as played by Meryl Streep, admits early on, "Its hard not to love me," and could not have been more right. Its not new news she endeared herself for years through her books and television programs teaching Americans how to eat, cook, and "master" the previously daunting world of French Cuisine. This week, five years after her death, Americans are reminded why they fell in love with her in the first place, and fall in love with her all over again.

Amy Adams plays the spunky Julie Powell. Through her challenge working with "Aspics" (yes they can be just as bad as they sound) I am reminded of my experience in my sophmore year "Food Science" class working through my food science binder chapter bearing the same name. I was assigned, with my lab partner, to concoct a somewhat strange gelatinized version of a chicken salad which which bore the moniker "Chicken Little Mold" and which I hope to not experience again anytime soon.

Julie Powell also reminds us of the joys of cooking and eating, yet perhaps even more importantly, that there is no time like the present  for setting lofty short-term goals to aspire to every day. Leaving the theater, I returned home to see an old copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" stacked on top of my shelf of cookbooks. While I occasionally thumb through its pages, prepare a recipe or two, and hope to one day seriously study and cook my way through it in its entirety, my ultimate inspiration was not to begin my own "Julie / Julia" project. Rather, I felt inspired to truly begin work on this small journal and see where it may ultimately lead.

Exactly one year after moving to New York, it seems to me that now is the perfect time to begin recounting this adventure which is already underway, take stock, shape, and focus it, and set some short term goals which with any luck will one day make the "big goals" seem somewhat within the realms of possibility. Now if that's not abstract enough for you, I'm not sure what is.