An Ode to Autumn

I love the word "autumn." It captures the beauty of the season...the change in the light, the crispness of the air, the colorful foliage. Unlike "fall," which evokes images of endless leaf raking and the trading in of blissful summer freedom for homework and early bedtimes. 

So autumn it will be on this blog. 

This is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it: the weather, the scenery, the clothes, the food and the promise of holidays just around the corner. I'm a bit sad to see summer go...it was a short one this year for me. But I've moved on now. Bathing suit, what? Hand me that sweater.

I am already thinking about decor themes for Thanksgiving and contemplating what hearty new recipes to try. In particular, I've been thinking about all the ways I can use squash in my cooking. My thought process as I fall asleep is akin to Bubba's from Forrest Gump: baked squash, grilled squash, squash soup, squash hashbrowns, squash kebabs...

Squash, to me, is the ultimate comfort food. With such a widevariety of flavors and textures, it is one of my superfoods: butternut squash soup, pumpkin pie, zucchini bread...need I say more. This versatility, fortunately for me, means I can put it in almost anything I make. Sadly, my boyfriend does not share my appreciation for this culinary chameleon. My mission this autumn is to change his mind, one squash at a time. 

I will start with familiar territory: pumpkin pie. Although I am a huge proponent of cooking from scratch, taking a pumpkin from gourd to pie-plate has always seemed a bit extreme. However, today I bought a pie pumpkin and will be turning it into a real, homemade pie soon (stories and pictures to come). 

Next I plan to lure the boyfriend into a false sense of security by using spaghetti squash as a pasta substitute, smothering it in italian sausage, sundried tomatoes and a sage-brownbutter sauce. If that doesn't do the trick I don't know what will.

The Land of Misfit Projects

Every crafter or nester has a “limbo” collection...recipes we can’t bear to part with but always seem to complicated to commit to, half-formed project ideas, craft items we bought but haven’t figured out how to use yet, etc. I call this limbo the Land of Misfit Projects.

My most recent goal is to clear out my nesting limbo pile before the New Year. Here are the projects at the top of my “to do” list: 

1. Finally bake the peppermint meringue layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting featured on the cover of Bon Appétit magazine’s December 2009 issue. 

2. Figure out a creative way to use all the flag patches I’ve collected from the countries I’ve traveled to. Something unique...something fabulous...something that does not involve sewing them on a backpack. 

3. Find a way to preserve/use/display the petals from a rose I was given at a historic genocide trial in Guatemala. Something meaningful...something original...something my cat can’t access (she loves to eat potpourri and other dried botanics). 

4. Experiment with making quail. I love quail, but never think to use it in my cooking.

5. Make a holiday wreath a la Martha Stewart using materials found in my natural environment. I love to forage. It’s one of my favorite past times. In fact, last Thanksgiving I create a lovely tablescape using beautiful fall leaves, acorns and pine cones I had collected. I also love Martha’s homemade wreaths. This is the year they come together! 

6. Put my crafting skills and abundant supplies to use this holiday season and make gifts for friends. What good is being a  nester (or having a great nesting supply closet) is you don’t share it with other people? 

7. Make a baby gift for my friends’ second child. I made their first daughter a book and want to do something special for baby numero dos as well. Just can’t figure out what yet.

I want to greet 2012 with a clean project slate.  Time to tackle the complicated recipes and figure out all the projects that have been stumping me. Time to dust off the old pink milk crate and do some post-spring cleaning. Perhaps this will inspire you to do the same!

The Rainbow Connection

The sound of wedding bells is in the air. I’ve gotten to the age when most of my friends are either married, engaged or about to be engaged. I have been to a lot of weddings in the past two years and there is no end in sight. I have several bridesmaid dresses hanging in my closet (hint: if you REALLY want us to be able to “wear it again,” maybe satin...the fabric of prom and weddings...isn’t the way to go). 

I find that weddings are generally not all they are cracked up to be, especially for those getting married young. Bad food, cheap booze, a so-so DJ, and a hotel or country club reception room “spruced up” with some white tulle pretty much sum up the majority of weddings I have been too lately. Snoozeville.

Perhaps even worse is the burgeoning trend of over the top weddings, where brides are expected to act like overprivileged brats and guests are supposed to be “entertained” with fire-eaters and contortionists and booty shaking dances performed by the bridal party. I feel like there will eventually be a reality tv continuum for girls: toddlers and tiaras as a child, My Super Sweet 16 as a teen, and Bridezillas as an adult (for the 1st wedding, then on to The Bachelorette as they hunt for groom #2).

What has happened to the wedding industry? How do you combine the class and sophistication of Will and Kate’s royal wedding with our desire to personalize EVERYTHING to the extreme (hence the need for David Tutera)?

The lovely Ms. Gomez recently brought to my attention and interesting situation in which a girl she knows wants to wear rainbow sequined shoes with her wedding dress, as part of an overall rainbow theme, and this is causing fits with her family.

From the get-go, I am on the side of the bride because a.) she is the bride and, provided the groom has no serious objections, it’s her day and b.) I like sequins. I happen to own a pair of pink and red sequined heels myself. 

HOWEVER, let’s add some fine print. 

1.) No tacky platforms or ridiculously high heel for said sequined shoe. These can carry it from fun to trashy in about a millisecond.

2.) The shoes should be incorporated into the bride’s ensemble in a tasteful manner. So, if the bride is wearing a sophisticated white dress, there should be no problem. If it’s a fluffy hot pink, rhinestone encrusted affair, the rainbow shoes are a no-go.

3.) The rainbow theme needs subtlety. No dressing the bridesmaids in different colored dresses to make them look like the rainbow. No crazy electric colored table linens. No multi-colored cummerbunds on the groomsmen. No rainbow painted stretch limo. No crazy rainbow eyeshadow. Etc.

Call me old fashioned, but I think weddings should be both fun AND classy. Weddings should invoke Lady Diana, not Lady Gaga. Rainbow sequined shoes have a place in this schema, but only to a certain point. For those visual learners, let’s illustrate the “do”s and “don’t”s of rainbow weddings:

NO crazy wedding party looks:

  

YES a little subtlety that still supports the theme:

NO overall rainbow pattern:

YES small details for a clutch or belt: 

NO oompa-loompa cakes:

YES fun yet sophisticated food:

NO clown-like decor:

YES decor suitable for adults:

And that concludes our tutorial. Obviously, the same basic principles can be applied to any theme and for any event in which the primary objective is a serious one (weddings, funerals, baptisms, bar and bat mitzvahs, etc.) For these meaningful occasions, let's keep some propriety people. 

Tightening the Belt

One of the perks (did you know that’s actually short for “perquisite”?) of working in a home goods type store is that it’s Christmas every truck day. I run the truck at our store, meaning that every Wednesday I drag myself out of bed at 3:45am to go spend 8 1/2 hours hefting very heavy things. Not only is an excellent workout, but it means I get to see all the new goodies before everyone else does.

All our new furniture and gift items and dinnerware and decor passes through my little fingers before the rest of the world gets to see it. Recently, I was unpacking some new napkin rings when my sleep deprived brain had a brilliant idea. Why not use some of the napkin rings as belt buckles? 

You may be thinking “not so much, Eliza...sounds weird” but think about it: belts are expensive. Vintage is back in style and interesting belt buckles can make a real statement, so you end up with a zillion black or brown belts that you bought just for the cool buckle! And that means a lot of wasted $$$$$$. But what if you used a regular belt like this one:

And just made interchangeable clips for it, like these? 

No one would ever suspect it was the same belt. Napkin rings are pretty cheap, especially if you can find them on sale (or if you have an employee discount *eyebrow waggle*). A pair of wire cutters, some wire and an inexpensive clip from the craft store and ta da! A clip-on piece of flare to cover the original, boring belt buckle.

I put my theory to the test and wore my new flower belt buckle to a wedding. And guess what? No one asked me why I was wearing a napkin ring. In fact, I received three compliments on it.

So would you rather pay $15 for a new belt or $3 for a napkin ring? And the best part is, it’s so much easier to store one belt and 5 interchangeable clips than it is to store 5 belts. Your closet and your wallet will both thank you.

Every nester needs their signature. Martha has her poncho, but I have my bling belt clips. 

Guatemala

Hola readers!

Today’s post is a bit of a change from the usual (though of course nesting is still involved). Today, I talk about my OTHER passion: human rights. 

I just spent a week and a half in Guatemala, a country I’ve studied intensively for a number of years but never actually been to. As a specialist in genocide studies and lover of all things Español, the human rights situation in Guatemala has been on my radar for quite some time. For those of you unfamiliar with the history of this Latin American country, here’s a brief overview:

Guatemala has suffered from a history of military coups and dictatorships in combination with conflict over land rights and conflict between its Maya and ladino populations. From 1960 to 1996, tensions boiled over and Guatemala was embroiled in what is now called the Internal Conflict, or La Violencia. During this time, 200,000 people were killed or disappeared during this time and hundreds of thousands were displaced. In a report filed by the Historical Clarification Commission in 1999, 93% of the atrocities were committed by the military and 83% of the victims were Maya. Between 1980 and 1982, a scorched earth campaign was conducted in the Western Highlands, a primarily Maya region. It was later found by the international community that the actions of the military constituted genocide. During the internal conflict, violence against women, particularly sexual violence, was used as a tactic of “war.” 

In the years since La Violencia, many of the military leaders responsible for the genocide have continued to hold positions of political power, and one of these men is currently favored to win Guatemala’s primary elections this September. This culture of impunity is one of Guatemala’s biggest problems.

Today, levels of violence in the country are as high as they were during the Internal Conflict. Domestic violence and femicide are growing problems, and as the price of nickel, oil and other natural resources continue to rise, foreign extractive companies are pushing indigenous people off their land, displacing thousands of families in often violent, brutal ways. Women, and particularly indigenous women, often pay the heftiest price during these confrontations. Community leaders who stand up for their communities’ rights put themselves in grave danger, and many have been threatened and/or brutally assassinated.

I went to Guatemala to flex my anthropological muscles. After a year of being unable to find a job in my field, I was feeling disconnected from the subject I am most passionate about. When the opportunity arose to join a human rights delegation sponsored by the ever wonderful Guatemala Human Rights Commission (based in Washington, DC), I jumped at it. 

Myself, six other delegates and two GHRC employees spent 9 days in Guatemala meeting with Guatemalan human rights groups and indigenous leaders to learn more about their struggle against femicide, genocide, sexual violence, misogyny and the culture of impunity in modern day Guatemala. Seven years of studying genocide is nothing compared to 9 days of first person meetings. Reading the transcripts of genocide survivors’ testimony can never compare to hearing it straight from their lips. Studying about the land ownership struggles indigenous communities face cannot compare to meeting with displaced communities who have lost everything. 

We met some incredible men and women, people who put everything on the line because they care about their communities, their families and their country. We talked with women whose terrible ordeals helped them become stronger, more empowered and more conscious of what it means to be a feminist. They are redefining what it means to be a woman, a mother, a wife, a Maya and a Guatemalan. We laughed and shared meals with these people, listened to them sing and watched them dance, played with their children and left hoping they felt a little less alone in their fight for justice. 

On the last day of our trip, we took a mini vacation to Antigua, the ex-capital of Guatemala. Antigua is a beautiful city filled with cobblestone streets and lovely green spaces. For a few hours, we could pretend we were tourists too. I wanted to buy myself a souvenir, something that would not only remind me of how amazing Guatemala is, but the reason I went there. I finally settled on a little half-apron. Guatemala is known for its textiles, so the weaving and embroidery will always remind me of the country. In addition, I realized on this trip what a blessing it is to be free to choose to be a nester. I am not forced by cultural restraint to be domestic. I do not have to serve the men in my family or ask permission to go to the store or the park or to work. My home and body won’t be violated just because I live on resource-rich earth.

My little apron is a reminder of all these things. When I wear it, it reminds me why I continue to pursue a career in human rights work. Perhaps most unexpectedly, it reminds me that being a feminist is something I have always taken for granted, and shouldn’t any more.

For more information about the history of Guatemala and the current human rights situation there, go to: http://www.ghrc-usa.org/

It's a Dog-Eat-Shoe World

This past winter, my boyfriend adopted an adorable Boston Terrier mix from an animal shelter. Tara is about 2 years old now and has the body of an adult dog but the energy of a puppy. When my boyfriend runs with her regularly, she is an angel. When he doesn't, she's a whirling dervish of bouncy playfulness. Lately, my boyfriend has not been running her.



This morning I woke up to discover that Tara had chewed up my good work shoes. This was a first. She has been known to eat chapstick and pencils, but has never shown any interest in shoes before. The real travesty is, since I didn't catch her in the act, there's not much I can do in the punishment arena. Phooey.

At my job, I'm on my feet nonstop for eight hours. When I first started looking for work shoes I refused to cave in and buy any of the overpriced "practical," aka ugly, shoes I saw everywhere. Instead, I spent three weeks scouring the city to find a pair of comfortable, supportive, well-priced yet cute flats. Compounding the problem was that I have funny toes, a wide foot and narrow heel. Finding a comfy pair of flats is very difficult for me. And now, after all that work, my work shoes are destroyed...the perky bows chewed off, the patent leather toe fanged, and the rest covered in general doggy slobber. Have I mentioned I'm a cat person at heart? I do love that bad little doggy though, darn it.

Of course, the store I bought my shoes at doesn't carry them anymore, so I can't just buy another pair. And I really don't want to conduct another city-wide search, so I've decided to put my craft skills to good use and fix the mauled ones. My plan is to removed the mangled bows and find a patent leather flower or something to affix to them instead. The fanging on the toe isn't too noticeable, and the worst of it would be covered by the flower. With that and a thorough cleaning, I'm hoping they can be revived.

It's a dog-eat-shoe world out there, and we have to be prepared for such inevitabilities. But with a little creativity, I think my shoes might just pull through to see another day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my shoes in the closet.

On to Pie

My last posting was about cake (metaphorical, but still...). This one is all about pie.

I love pie as much as I love cupcakes, which is a lot. Especially cream pies. However, the multitude of backyard BBQs I've been to this summer have failed to impress me in the pie arena. No offense, but cream pie, to me, does not equal store-bought crust, instant Jello pudding mix and whipped topping. I think I'm just spoiled.

There is a little diner called Stott Brothers on the highway between Upper Hillsborough, NH and Stonington, CT (where we have relatives) that makes HANDS DOWN the BEST cream pies in the world. I mean 5lbs of tender, flakey crust, thick homemade pudding and real whipped cream (NOT out of a can) good. I grew up eating this pie. Jello just doesn't cut it for me.

After yet another instant pudding based "pie" appeared on our break room table at work yesterday, I had a hankering for a real pie. Plus, I really wanted to use my coveted Emile Henry (pronounced "Emeel Onree," not "Emilee Henree") ruffled pie dish. I dug out my mother's tattered copy of James Beard's iconic cookbook and got to work.

The end result wasn't very pretty, but it was delicious! For all you perfectionists out there, I suppose I should have cleaned up the edges of the (beautiful!) pie plate before photographing it. But this isn't some Stepford Wives blog. This is about real people nesting. And real people have messy pie plates. Right?

Next stop? Banana cream.