In or Out?

Roy Lichtenstein's House I, 1996.

Do you prefer to cook at home or to dine out?  I like both. But, growing up, eating out was a treat. We must be in good favor, my sisters and I would think, if we were headed out for dinner.  For my daughter, who eats out far more than I ever did as a child, the preference is always to eat at home. Actually, unless there is a playdate somehow woven into the plan, she often complains about going out. Funny, how times have changed.

Below are 10 images that I snapped of food. Some are photos of food that I cooked at home and others are of food prepared in a restaurant.  Can you tell them apart?

Spicy Ceviche with pureed Avocado and Yams

Gnocchi 

Vietnamese Steak with Rice Noodles and Herbs

 Pizza

Tuna and Endive Hors d'oeuvre

Ceviche and Avocado

Endive with Smoked Salmon, Orange & Ricotta 

 Ricotta Cheesecake 

 Pasta Bolognese

String Beans with Garlic and Shallots

Chicken Fajitas

Chilled Summer Soup 

Answer Key:

All the of the photos, except one, are of food prepared at home.  

Which one was prepared out?

If you guessed the first one, you are right. The first picture is from my new favorite lunch spot in Manhattan, Mission Ceviche. Located at the Gansevoort Market in the fashionable Meatpacking District (353 West 14th St, Manhattan), Mission Ceviche delicately mixes the flavors of fresh fish, flash cooked in lime, with the perfect balance of hot pepper, red onion and micro cilantro; and each dish is made to order.  Popular with the budding tech crowd (the east coast offices of Google are just around the corner), Mission Ceviche proudly flaunts its Peruvian cuisine, and all the South American culture that goes along with its staple dish. 

Next time you are in the area, check it out! 

By the way, you can find the recipes for all the other dishes in prior Natty Dad posts.

Balancing Contemporary and Traditional Spaces

Interior Interests

Pairing our Anichini upholstered headboard and bed clothes with our new, contemporary, but somewhat featureless, apartment.

We recently sold our traditional, detail-dripping townhouse in Park Slope and now temporarily live in a modern Brooklyn Heights penthouse.  What a difference! While I miss our large, rambling, stately home -- very close to Prospect Park (below) -- I am enjoying our full-service building, complete with porters, doormen, and basement-level parking -- all within walking distance to our daughter's school.

When we first took on this move, I worried about the marriage -- of our mostly graceful, neoclassical furnishings to a contemporary, blunt apartment, more suited to mid-century modern. Surprisingly, however, the relationship was stronger than I had anticipated -- everyone gets along swimmingly!

The parlor level of our Park Slope home in Brooklyn

Right now, my thoughts on interiors seem to be somewhat scattered -- I am nostalgic about our past homes with all their charm and splendor, I am pleasantly comfortable enjoying our current modern space with its full-service perks, and I am becoming engrossed in the planning and  renovation of our future Brooklyn Heights townhouse (we just signed contracts). In all this, I keep finding myself thinking about the origins of my interest in design, of what motivates my schematics, and why some people, more than others, have a punctilious eye.

Without realizing it at the time, from a young age, I have always had a bend toward interior design.  But, being raised in upstate New York (way upstate), there wasn't anyone to mentor me or anything to inspire; well, aside from the idyllic and breathtaking Adirondack Mountains, or perhaps Lake Placid's rustic but upscale establishments. Oh, and of course, there were all those Anglo, Federal style churches -- surely there was some influence there!

But, the influences were nothing compared to the exposure a young person has when living close to a major metropolitan area. So, when I was 14 years old, I took it upon myself to be inspired with what I had on hand -- my childhood home. It was not uncommon for my parents to come home from work to find their living room completely rearranged, or the rugs shifted across the house, or pictures taken down and rehung, or the dining table silver centerpiece polished, buffed and repositioned somewhere else entirely.  Actually, it is still not uncommon for me to rearrange items in my house, or, better yet, if spending time with friends, in their houses too!

I am constantly rearranging our "knick-knacks," in this case, our Simon Pearce blown glass.

Strangely, fashion wasn't the path that I took professionally, After college, I darted to New York City and fell into a fairly successful career in advertising.  As I approached 40, our daughter was born, and I decided to dedicate all my energy to raising a well adjusted child.  Unfortunately, the results of those efforts won't be in for another good 20 years.

I adore color, an element missing from modern design, of late. 

I am about to undertake another house renovation and I have been taking notes, on the benefits and pitfalls of living in a newer space. For me, the biggest issue when moving from a classic, urban townhouse into a contemporary space is dealing with the "open floor plan." I don't like open floor plans! Both our current penthouse and our future townhouse have open floor plans on the parlor level. I will need to deal with this. Unless I am at an airy beach house, I prefer individually stylized, comfortable rooms over jumbled open living. Everyday life is better suited to compartmentalization -- we weren't meant to dine in the same space that our bills are paid, or worse, where we watch TV.

Fresh flowers -- always a suitable design element!

Another challenge of contemporary spaces is the seeming lack of color. As clearly shown in the photos in this post, I adore rich colors -- strong hues of gold are always attractive to my eye. Did you notice that  there is something gold in nearly all of today's pictures!

I purchased bolts of these bold, rich fabrics at a Brunschwig and Fils sale a few years back and look forward to using them in our new Brooklyn Heights townhouse.

The good news is that color and tradition and classic lines work well with modern spaces. In fact, they may even work better, since they aren't competing with overt existing detail. While traditional interiors may favor stronger patters, more texture and richer colors, so do contemporary spaces. Living in a contemporary space has taught me that the clean lines associated with modern, open spaces help traditional pieces to pop, to sing, and sometime to even jump. So, if a renovation is in your future, go ahead, blur the lines, create your own style, mix it up!

 In the coming months, as I transform our new space, making it shine as originally intended over 100 years ago,  I look forward to sharing our progress here on The Natty Dad, and hopefully, I'll be able to pass along some useful tips along the way.

Cozying up to one of my plush, golden, tasseled, velvet pillows. 

https://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/sale/index.jsp?sale=true

http://guydads.blogspot.com

5 Interesting Gifts For a Host

Gifts that any host will enjoy..

...other than wine!

Have you ever gone to a holiday party with a carefully selected premium bottle of wine and soon after giving it to the host discover that your gift was plopped dismissively in a back corner (behind a heaping pile of coats) with 25 other festively wrapped (but, cheaper) bottles? This happened to me a few years ago, and from that point on, I vowed that I would always try to bring personable, long-lasting gifts that the host will appreciate and remember long after the party has ended.

If you are stumped with what to bring to your next holiday party, consider the following:

Gift ideas that are suitable for any host:

Holiday Ornaments

Holiday Ornaments can be enjoyed immediately, throughout the holiday season and hopefully, for years to come.  And if you are still bent on bringing a bottle of wine, a holiday bulb pairs nicely, and can even charmingly hang from the bottle!

Holiday Bulbs -- so easy, so memorable. 

Air plants

Arriving at a party with a large bouquet of flowers always leaves a lasting impression.  

Recently, however, I changed it up a bit, and brought two delicate small glass jars of air plants (below) to a host of a party that I did not know that well at that time.  Air plants are incredibly whimsical plants that do not need soil, just some water every now and then.  It was a huge hit, sparked all kinds of conversation, was placed at the center of the table, and are still thriving at the home of the host.  Home Run!

Tea

Without repeating myself from previous posts, teas are all the rage!  They combine natural, earthy goodness with exceptional varities of flavor to form a perfect healthy gift. 

 Earlier this week, I was invited to the opening of a new tea shop, T2. This shop, popular in Australia, 

 just opened here in the United States, with one of its first shops here in Brooklyn. I found upbeat, colorful teapots and teaware, infusers and delectable tea leaves in every flavor combination imaginable at this Moroccan inspired shop. Anything from T2 would be suitable to bring to a party --  and will be appreciated for some time.  You can find them online at:

http://www.t2tea.com/tea

Herb Jar

If your host is a cook, consider bringing something for the kitchen. A few months ago, friends brought me a tasteful  box of Herbs of Provence that they had purchased on a recent trip to France. I think of them each time I use the herbs.  

But if you haven't been to France lately, consider an ingenious Herb Jar.  These self-watering kits in adorable jars are a stylish, yet easy, way to grow herbs. The jars utilize "wicking," a passive hydroponics technique, to bring water up to plant roots. The vintage mason jars are outfitted with a net pot, a soilless grow medium, plant nutrients, polypro wick, and organic seeds. To start growing, simply add water and set in a sunny window.

Herb gift set includes 4 herb planters: basil, parsley, oregano, and cilantro. You can find them here:

Herb Jars

Personalized Baked Good

We have all done it -- made a promise to whip something up but inadvertently run out of time and end up  buying treats at the local bakery. But, this does not mean that the treat can't be personalized.  I enjoy baking pies (and make a killer pie crust), but rarely have time for it.  The three berry pie (below) is from Briermere's Farms in Riverhead NY and is absolutely delectable.  Whenever I bring this to a party, I personlize it.  I take it out of the cheap, flimsy tin and put it into a more suitably elegant french ceramic pan that can be used by the host for years.  
Looks like I spent hours making it!

Also, if you are able to bring homemade treats, it helps to put them onto a newly purchased dish that can be left with the host.  At the end of the party, no one has to fret over washing  the dish and returning it to you. 

For more gift ideas, check out Sur La Table. 

Enjoying the incredible tea selections at
T2 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
Happy Holidays!

A Hampton Classic

For most, with Labor Day quickly approaching, the summer season is coming to a close.  Beach houses are being packed up, back packs are being purchased, and fall ensembles are being picked out. But, before saying goodbye to the Summer of 2015 in New York, there are two splendid sporting events that finish the summer season elegantly and spectacularly, The US Open and The Hamtpon Classic.

All dressed for the Classic

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon enjoying one of these splendid events -- The Hampton Classic. Helping to take the sting out of the end of summer, The Classic is as tony as American sporting events get. But, this is not a typical sporting event (a far cry from a Mets game);  at The Classic attendees get dressed, really dressed -- women and men alike are truly natty.  For me, this is half the fun of it. For for my daughter, simply walking around the stables, where we hung out with all things equestrian,  petting horses and other animals, kept her contentedly amused.

As one of the largest outdoor horse shows in the United States, The Classic is a grand event unto itself, for both horse enthusiasts and casual spectators alike.  It is a bit like a beautiful outdoor fair, albeit a very civilized one.  At its core, it is ostensibly a horse competition. But don't be fooled, it is much more than just that.  It is an event -- with the Bridgehampton countryside as the backdrop, where celebrities walk around anonymously, where high end shops set up booths, where equestrian skills are showcased, where delectable food can be savored, where exciting polo matches can be observed and where animals trot about freely in an unthreatened environment.

If your summer plans didn't include an outdoor equestrian leisure show such as the Hampton Classic,
here is a quick pictorial look at an event that , of the like, hasn't changed much since the times of Downton Abbey:

Stables are decorated impeccably, complete with boxwood plantings. 

Lots of glamorous style at The Hamptons Classic

Our daughter taking a break from the horses, with an iced cold lemonade at the Ghurka shop. Her dress is from CrewCuts.

My vote for the BEST pop-up shop:  Galet  -- luxury shoes handmade in France...

After finishing a long day of jumping, horses trot back to their well appointed stables.  And for us, it was time to get home for dinner.  Until next year, so long Hamptons Classic. 

Enjoying our last few nights by the beach.