More Best Recipes: a winner!

And the winner is #96, Heather! 

Here's her comment:

***Jackie, you are absolutely right!  If this doesn't prove that I am utterly asleep in the morning hours than nothing does!***

The second winner is #43, Cara!

Here's what she wrote:

More Best Recipes: a giveaway!

I have begun to hit the cookbooks, looking for fun and interesting variations to our family Thanksgiving favorites.  First stop?  Always and forever - something from my collection of Cooks Illustrated paraphernalia.  I have magazines, I have cookbooks.  I even try to catch their show whenever I can.  I love me some Cooks Illustrated. 

Why?  You may ask.  They spell it out.  Nothing is worse then being told to blanch something and all that comes to mind is Streetcar Named Desire.  I need the play by play.  Definitions, descriptions, lots of drawings showing me exactly what I need to know, exactly when I need to know it.

For the past several years The New Best Recipe has been my most beloved cookbook.  I highly recommend getting it into the hands of any graduate or newlywed you might happen upon.  Definitely my best basic cookbook.  And just out is the new More Best Recipes.  This cookbook takes things a little further.  It houses many beloved recipes but these ones are a bit more interesting then everybody's favorites in it's predecessor.

Do you know how these particular recipes end up in these particular cookbooks?  Let me tell you.  They pick a common favorite recipes.  Then choose about 50 of the most popular variations of that recipe.  And then all of the Test Kitchen Chefs go to town...they cook up every one of these recipes, several times, making subtle variations: ingredient choices, temperature, tool.  After extensive testing the chefs decide upon the ultimate recipe keeping in mind ease, cost and number of ingredients.  I have yet to have one of their recipes fail me.  No lie.

So, I have a couple of extra copies of More Best Recipes.  Want one?  Just share your favorite Thanksgiving dish and you are entered to win.  I'll announce two winners next Tuesday.

Pictorial Webster's A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities: a Giveaway!

It's a little difficult to admit this in the presence of all of my festive online peers, but I've never been so keen on Halloween.  A holiday dedicated to the gory, grotesque and fearsome?  In my world, holidays are meant to be a respite from such things.  If it were just fun costumes and candy I'd be all in.  It's just that if I see that "scream mask" one more year, I'll... you know, scream. 

But to avoid looking like a total dud, I've decided to do my own little version of trick or treat.  I just so happen to have a second copy of the new Pictorial Webster's.  It is called a Visual Dictionary of Curiosities and the name is very apt.  Filled with 1,500 historical engravings from the Webster's dictionaries of the 1900's - this volume includes everything from the simple to the strange.  It is a beautiful, alphabetical journey with maybe just a touch of a spooky element. It seems like the perfect treat for this All Hallows Eve.

If you would like the chance to win just leave a comment below with your favorite or least favorite thing about this holiday.  I'll choose a winner next Friday. 

{And yes, my kids are getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating.  Only this year the honor of escorting them will fall upon my husband's mother and sister.  Sean and I are sneaking out of town...remember?}

Johnny & June

A couple of weeks back, Sean and I were finishing up listening to our recent road trip book-on-tape, Sex God by Rob Bell. There was a chapter entitled Johnny & June that hit me upside the head while I was listening and has remained with me since then.  In the chapter, Bell discusses the renowned love story of Johnny and June Cash.  Few people's love stories stand out from the others, and theirs was marked by deep friendship, lifelong devotion and mutual respect.  Apparently, Johnny did little without first letting his wife weigh in.  Her feedback was essential to him. 

I think most want this kind of love story but far fewer want to do what it takes to have it.  I see that in myself sometimes, too tired to do the hard work.  Or other days, too offended.  At one point in the chapter, Bell refers to the kind of woman that love their spouses well when he is doing things right.  And then, in turn, love their spouse less well, when he is falling short.  I think I may do this sometimes, as well.  And hearing someone say it out loud felt like a lodged dagger.  Still feeling the sting of it, I was thinking through that idea a few days ago and this thought came to my mind:

love him like he's doing everything right, and he just might.

What this idea is not, is one of manipulation to get what you want, because that's not love.  The heart behind it is loving my spouse unconditionally.  Good days, bad days - no matter.  My kindness and affection for him look the same regardless of his "performance".  How freeing this would be for both of us, a constant love. 

And maybe, just maybe, that kind of love would free him to be the very best version of himself.  And then me the best version of myself.  It's just a thought, but one surely worth trying.  Isn't that what I vowed to do after all?  Love him fully, at all times, regardless?

I really liked Sex God, by the way, and wholeheartedly recommend it.  Don't be turned off by the title.  And now I'm itching to read Johnny Cash's autobiography.  Not to try to live out their great love story.  But maybe to be nudged into living out ours.

{image of the Johnny & June}

a million miles in a thousand years: a winner!

And the winner is...#39, Lisa!

this was her comment:

a million miles in a thousand years: a giveaway!

"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers.  You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen.  The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you'd feel robbed and want your money back.  Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful.  The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either."

These are the words from the first page of a book I started late Thursday and finished late Friday.  It's called "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller.   It's hard for me to love most books or films or television shows because I have some seriously high expectations for each.  I want to leave said experience, changed.  For me to really love any of these forms of entertainment, it has to alter me.  I know, I wish it weren't so, but it is.  I'm such a bore like that. 

So, after having said all that - I love this book.  Though it may have covered ground I've come across somewhere in the past, the perspective was so fresh that the ideas startled me.  It's a book about living our best story.  And without over stating the point, it has left me inspired to do just that.

I wish I had oodles of copies of this one to pass about, but Sean is reading my copy and I have but one to offer you.  If you'd like a chance to win leave a comment below.  Tell me what your favorite film is and why.  If you don't win, be sure to add this book to your wish list - you won't be sorry.

I'll choose a winner next Monday.

apartment therapy, the book: a giveaway!

In honor of Eva's room being featured today on Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh, I'm giving away a copy of Apartment Therapy's decor book.

Let me tell you about this book.  I think that it is my very favorite decorating book in my possession.  For the same reasons that made Apartment Therapy a cult favorite, this book has the same chops.  These people know how to pick 'em.  Real homes, real people.  These aren't professionally decorated abodes - though maybe their owners should go pro.  These are some clever geniuses.  It is truly idea and inspiration overload.  Each home featured shows a floor plan, a survey which includes advice, the story behind the home and a resource list.  This makes for some seriously good reading.  Not just pretty pictures, I tell you - real meat!

If you would like a chance to win - leave a comment below telling us your favorite detail of your home.  I'll announce a winner next Wednesday -

the Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: a giveaway!

"I read.  And as I opened Little House in the Big Woods, I no longer felt lonely or bored or unfortunate to live in the country.  I felt blessed.  In the pages of the Little house series, I found a friend and a heroine Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Her simple life, work ethic, and innocent pleasures transported me from my ranch house to her homestead.  I was caught up in all the activities of the Ingallses' everyday life: Ma making pie, Pa working a harvest, Laura studying for her teaching certificate, everyone drinking lemonade and watching the buggy races on independence day."

If you were to go waaay back to the start of this blog, I mention part of my initial inspiration in starting it was as a way of sort of channeling Caroline Ingalls.  I grew up in an upper class town and learned next to nothing about traditional homemaking skills.  I really have no idea why these things appeal to me so but I know that I want to learn them and I want to teach them to my daughters.  I picked a man with a similar sense and he wants to teach our sons the things that he never learned growing up.

I have found someone kindred in Jennifer Worick through the pages of the Prairie Girl's Guide to Life.  She too sees how fleeting the joy is of our super consumer society.  How no matter how much you buy you are always left wanting more.  There is something rich and deep in the simple pleasures of making things from scratch and even just making do.  You needn't have a prairie to be a prairie girl, it's a mindset more than anything else.  I'm not there and perhaps never will be but life has sure gotten richer with each step I've taken in this direction. 

This book is jammed packed with great insight and practical skills that are no longer considered basic knowledge.  If you would like a chance to win a copy of this book just leave a comment after this post: maybe a homemaking skill that you would like to learn or one you already have.  Or perhaps something about the Ingalls family that resonates with you as well.

I'll choose a winner next Monday - good luck!

to health & fitness: a giveaway!

I know, I know.  I already have another giveaway going on.  I realize this.  The thing is that I just discovered that the Biggest Loser Season Premier is tonight.  I love me some Biggest Loser and I already had a giveaway planned in honor of it's fantasticness.

In case you are not a fan I would like to take a moment here to speak on behalf of the show.  There are plenty of things that drive me crazy about the show - primarily the painful product placements and how they love to   d    r    a    w     the whole thing out.  It's brutal.  But I love it far more than I hate it and here's why:

1.  Bob & Jillian.  I love these guys.  They are excellent at their jobs and not bad to look at, either.

2.  I love how there is not one winner to this game.  Everyone wins.  Every contestant leaves that place far better than when they arrived.  Families are transformed and a nation is inspired.  I know that sounds pretty hokey, but if you are a fan, you may agree.

3.  Lots of health & fitness tips and huge doses of inspiration.  You look at what these people are accomplishing and think - what's my problem?  It's awesome.

4.  America needs some serious help in the weight department and I believe this show has made a dent.  That's no small thing.

So...in honor of the season premiere I am offering a little giveaway to add to your personal motivation arsenal.  This is a two-parter.  First the winner will get a copy of Jillian's latest book: Master Your Metabolism.  This goes far beyond Jillian's typical grueling workout regiment and also hits upon some of the hormonal reasons why woman can have trouble staying slim.  I have read this and thought it was super helpful and informative.

I am also throwing in an Omron pedometer, one of the greatest purchases of my life.  I love this thing.  It is a great, super reliable pedometer that can even track your steps when tossed in your purse (so long as you carry that purse when you're walking about!)  This has been one of the most effective "steps" in my own journey to health and fitness.  I feel like I am playing a game - attempting to reach 10,000+ steps each day.  It makes the whole thing fun for me and I choose to take several trips up and down the stairs to distribute laundry rather than trying to fit everything into the laundry basket for one trip.  Really, I love this thing.

To win both the book and the pedometer, simply leave a comment with something that has helped you or inspired you on your own health and fitness journey.  I'll choose a winner next Tuesday. 

Pictoral Websters Dictionary

I'm not sure which I love more - dictionaries or great illustrations.  Isn't it wonderful not having to choose?

Head over here to Chronicle Books and enter to win this "visual dictionary of curiosities".

cold tangerines: a giveaway!

The sentiment on the last envelope of my anniversary gift to Sean was inspired by Shauna Niequist's wedding vows which she wrote about in her first book, cold tangerines.  I have been gulping this book down as quickly as my heart can stand it because, you see, this is one of those books.  The kind that feels like it was written specifically for me, in this instant in time, to grind me to dust and then put me back together again far better than when I began.  This book is about the discipline of celebration.  It has the capacity to change the way I live.  I hope I let it.

Here's the part where Shauna is talking about her wedding vows and about becoming a family with her new husband:

"When I said to him on our wedding day that when I was with him, I was home, I did not mean, "Let's move to Michigan and see if I'm right, okay?"  I meant, "I love you so much, let's stay in Chicago where my parents and my friends are, how about that?"  But I said, before God and seven bridesmaids, that Aaron is my home, my partner, my number one, and so now I live in Michigan.  The moral of the story, I suppose, is that, if at all possible, you should make your wedding vows very noncommittal and easy to keep.  Things like, "If you have an idea, I'll consider it, most of the time," or "If it doesn't interfere with my own plans, I'd be happy to hear your request."  I, however, was quite naive and promised to live, no matter what, with and for and deeply connected to this other person.  Thank God.

September 11, 2001, was a Tuesday.  Aaron and I had been married for two weeks and had arrived home two days before from our honeymoon to Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef.  And I'm using the word home loosely.  Aaron was moving into my little house, and I had not made any space for him or his things before the wedding.  The floor of the loft was covered with wedding presents and ribbons and torn wrapping paper, and every available surface was littered with one or another wedding related item - leftover programs, clothing for the honeymoon that didn't make it into the bag and needed to be returned, favor ideas gone awry.  All of his earthly belongings were piled into the basement and the garage, and I remember secretly thinking that that wasn't a bad place for them, given the limited space in the house.  The bathroom and the closet were of special concern, and he lived for a few days like a college student in a dorm, with his toothbrush and razor packed into his shaving kit, toting it in and out of the bathroom. 

Immediately before the wedding, I had acted on an ill-conceived idea to use the tiny dining area as a sort of Roman, reclining-and-dining area, with two enormous but extremely uncomfortable wicker-ish throne-like chairs, each with an ottoman.  I guess that I thought that rather than a little table for four wedged in between the kitchen and living room, this would be a more interesting and less conventional use of space, and I liked the idea of us curled up on these palatial chairs, watching the news and talking about our days.  They were so big that we had to turn sideways to get to the kitchen , and so uncomfortable that Aaron boycotted them almost immediately.  The only reason that I remember them, I think, is that on September 11, we sat on them and watched the news for hours.  Later that week, the chairs went back to the store at Aaron's insistence. 

I remember coming home from work that day and having the clear sense that that night, the evening of September 11, was one to be spent with family.  At that time, and at our age then, we didn't totally understand the implications of what had happened.  No one did, of course, but perhaps least of all us, who had grown up in an age of so little violence and war, at least to our awareness.  We knew, though, instinctively, that that was a night to spend with family, and we realized with a jolt that that's hwat we were.  We were family. 

It's hard to imagine now, now that we have been married for five years years, now that we live in another state, in our home, one with space for me and space for him.  Now we are, certainly, family.  Aaron is my first thought and last thought, the companion with whom I walk through every part of life.

But he wasn't yet, at that point.  A wedding didn't make him my family, or a honeymoon, or grudgingly giving him one half of the storage space in the bathroom (let's be honest - one quarter).  What did make him my family, though, was the decision to stay home with him on that Tuesday night, to sit in those horribly uncomfortable chairs, holding hands across their massive, prickly arms, watching the news for hours.  Our first impulse was to go home, to my parents' house and to his, and we stared at each other for a moment in the living room, wondering what to do.  We stayed in a house that didn't feel particularly like home for either one of us at that point, and I think it became a little bit more of a home that night.

That's how family gets made.  Not by ceremonies or by certificates, and not by parties or celebrations.  Family gets made when you decide to hold hands and sit shoulder to shoulder when it seems like the sky is falling.  Family gets made when the world becomes strange and disorienting, and the only face you recognize is his.  Family gets made when the future obscures itself like a solar eclipse, and in the intervening darkness, you decide that no matter what happens in the night, you'll face it as one."

I have two signed copies of cold tangerines to give away.  Trust me, you want one of them. 

Just leave a comment and i'll choose two winners next Monday.  Thanks Shauna.  Really, thank you.

Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook: a giveaway!

So the first of my "learning to cook through books" cookbook has arrived.  I am really excited about this one and it seems like a great starting place for someone who, though cooking for years, is really a beginner.  It's Good Housekeepings' Step by Step Cookbook.  I must be a visual learner beacsue the layout and thorough illustrations really appeal to me.  It's like being in a cooking class but I can be in my PJ's.  Really perfect for me.  I am so excited to get started learning...!  I 'm sure my family is feeling more than a bit excited as well...

Do you want to join me?  I happened to get a second copy just in case.  If you live in the States and are looking to learn some new skills in the kitchen, leave an answer in the comment section below.  Here's the question:

What is your go-to healthy meal that always turns out delicious?

I will choose a winner at random, next Thursday.  Good luck and Bon Appetit!

the Sartorialist: the book - a giveaway!

If you have any interest in fashion, clothing, the evolution of culture or like me, people watching - and have not been checking out the Sartorialist (aka Scott Schuman), then you are seriously missing out.  If you are part of his devoted following along with the 125,000 others that check his site daily - then you are going to LOVE his new book.  With a discerning eye he snaps photos of fashionistas and regular folk alike on their way along the streets of New York, Milan & Paris. The photos are compelling and inspirational. He also offers additional insight into some of his famous photos - the who, what, why or where.  I love how this man has taken fashion off the catwalks and models and put in on the streets - on you and me.

(The man has even inspired his own bit of satire.)

Oh, and so far as the book.  I have a copy right here just waiting for you.  Leave a comment and I will choose a winner next Tuesday.  Good luck!

downtown chic giveaway winner

and the winner is:

#9 is NKP of the GORGEOUS decor site Head Over Heels.  I know this book is going into some loving hands!  Congratulations!

books

I have a thing for books. When I was coming up with a list of favorite things for Simple Lovely, I think that books were the first item to make the list. I then, described my obsession like this:

Books -- The smell, the feel in my hand, titles, cover art, first lines, last pages – there isn’t much about books that doesn’t make me happy. Walking into a bookstore or library is like stepping into heaven. I even like to decorate with books - the ultimate utilitarian décor.

I've decided to make the things that I love most more a part of this site and books are first on the roster.  I am ever reading through 5 books at a time.  I want to begin to share more about what I'm reading and I want to invite you in.  For nearly each book I write about, I am hoping to give a copy away as well.  Yea, for books!

to read more about that groovy book cave, click here.

downtown chic: a giveaway!

There is a lot to envy about Robert & Courtney Novogratz of Sixx Design but I am going to try to keep my jealousies at bay.  First off, this family is impossibly cool.  Seven kids in (including two sets of twins!) and these parents' hip is clearly here to stay.  Did you hear that the entire family has a modeling contract with the Ford Agency?  I didn't even know that that kind of thing occurred.  And they seem to somehow have stumbled into the position of NYC (and beyond) rock-star decorators.  Not decorators to rock stars.  You see, Robert & Courtney are the rock stars and their style is all their own. 

Rarely do I read a decor book cover to cover - but theirs, I did.  Downtown Chic chronicles the Novogratz's journey from their early days as an aspiring actress &  Wall Streeter to some of the most innovative interior designers today.  They are also generous with insider tips and the book is full of sumptuous photos detailing the before and afters that have made them famous.

Of all of their projects it is their Great Barrington home that really won me over.  I would move in to that house in a heartbeat. 

 

 

I just so happen to have an extra copy of Downtown Chic on my hands.  If you want to be inspired into a style that is all your own, leave a comment below.  I'll be choosing a winner next Tuesday. 

Julie & Julia: sort of a book review

Let’s start of with the truth. Sometimes I swear. Not often and not too loudly, but nonetheless - it occurs.  The hypocrisy hides in the fact that I get easily turned off by books or films with too much swearing. Gran Torino, nearly killed me. Fantastic story. So. Much. Swearing.

And then just this weekend, I read Julie & Julia, in nearly a sitting. Not really but I did read it in less than 24 hours which means that there couldn’t have been too much standing in there. I am not coordinated enough to read & stand at the same time. It makes me dizzy. Where were we again?

Oh yes, swearing. The author of Julie & Julia makes a point out of people like me throughout the book. She snorts at us prudes that have trouble stomaching a recipe laden with obscenities. And even while I knew that I was being condescended I couldn't help but make clear within my interior which line in the sand I was standing on.

And yet, I still swear. Perhaps the difference lie within the fact that I do not like that I swear. I find it to be a nasty habit that I am attempting to cut back on. Others swear with gusto. It is a trademark or at the very least, a distinguishing characteristic of their persona. And yet, maybe this equates to no difference at all. Swearing is swearing and for all my righteous indignation I smell just like Ms. Gusto when the day is done. I don’t know.

So far as Julie & Julia goes – I was clearly compelled by the story as I did promptly finish the book so soon after beginning it. And yet, I can’t say that I loved it or would even recommend it. Perhaps I was so busy judging the heroine that it was difficult for me to simply enjoy her journey. And a day later I find myself liking the book even less but being inspired even more. Figure that out.

Today, like Julie,  I want to go buy a cookbook and work through it – cover to cover. Though in my case I would be choosing Alice Waters over Julia Child. I simply cannot conceive of ingesting that much butter. The mind reels.  Today, like Julie,  I want to risk. To step into that frightening abyss of the unknown irregardless of the consequences. I want to risk because I refuse to waste these precious days amongst the walking dead and risking is a sure fire way to pump some life into your living.  And today I want to acknowledge that I have skills and talent. Just because I am presently unaware of what those skills and talents may be does not negate the truth that surely they must be in there somewhere.

And, folks – in my world, that is quite a lot for today.

So thank you, Julie Powell - for so graphically sharing your inspiring story. Maybe one day, I too, will have an inspiring story to share, albeit with less f-bombs.

learning to cook through a book

Though I have been cooking meals for years I would never go so far as to say that I can cook. Somehow, cooking out of necessity and really being able to cook are two totally different things.

I want to know how to cook.

And though it seems like a lovely notion to be without responsibility, living in Paris, and able to attend Cordon Bleu to begin ones culinary career - that is someone else's story and most assuredly not my own. If I want to learn to cook, it's going to be through a book. Or perhaps, four.

These are the ones I've been eyeing and I think that they would make for a well rounded education - so far as the basics are concerned. Here's what I'm going for: I would like to prepare meals the are simple, delicious, beautiful & healthy. That's doable, no?

If you have been or were to be taught to cook through a book - which book would it be?

more books on food

I had the most wonderful lunch with my friend Shauna the other day.  She prepared all sorts of fantastic food: butternut squash soup with yogurt, a tomato salad with spiced chicken and feta and assorted noshes of hummus and baklava and dark chocolate.  We sipped prosecco and pretended it was normal for us to do so near noon.  And we discussed everything and everything pertaining to food: the ritual & ceremony, the meaning & importance, health & weight, and how the simplicity of this manner of love and nourishment has gotten lost somewhere along the way. 

I am far from working through my thoughts & practices on all of the above but I am sure that as Americans - in this area in particular -  we have settled for the less and misplaced the more, that is right and good and delicious. 

Shauna pulled out a couple of books while I was there and that were that night added to my wish list:

Do you like reading or eating or reading on eating? 

Yeah, me too.

the Artist's Way

If you are interested in joining us in reading through The Artist's Way - grab a book this weekend.  We're starting on Monday!  If you're a blogger and joining us, you can grab a button from my blogroll page. 

To read more about this, click here.