As a lead up to Vday, I’m going to highlight one chocolatey dish each day this week. Today, we have the Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Mocha Icing from Hannah at Honey & Jam (originally from Bon Appetit), which just looks like the to have with a cup of steaming coffee. Quite the romantic pair that would make!
Leafcutter Designs‘ Lea Redmond (also behind the World’s Smallest Postal Service) together with Sam Bower of Green Museum hatched a plan to map the origins of various goods we purchase. Each circle sticker represents a different category—food, clothes, other stuff, reused/homemade—which gets placed in the corresponding country. The idea is to make this exercise one that becomes part of our culture, one that spreads near and far. For that reason, you can download a free printer-ready or editable Illustrator file here, make a donation to receive pre-printed maps, or take a peek at other customized designs. For more of their story, click here and help spread the word.
(via Leafcutter Designs)
Today marks the official PR launch of ReadyMade Inside, Out contrib Chris Gardner’s brainchild, the website ManMade. The site is about creativity and the handmade life for the laddish set, but it doesn’t draw the boundaries in black and white. In the words of the site’s ‘about’ page,
“ManMade features original how-to content, videos, and design inspiration created by both women and men. It’s for anyone that says ‘Hey, I can do that,’ and believes that sewing machines and tablesaws alike belong in the workshop.”
Here’s to that.
The site is off to a strong start, with how-tos and inspirations including how to make a manly DIY aftershave and how to make a keychain screwdriver, and it’s already started a weekly tradition of publishing handmade haikus every Wednesday. (A sample:
saw, table saw
Your cuts are sans splinters, still
you trip the breaker).
Chris is celebrating the launch by making available this downloadable poster, “Happiness Is a Warm Glue Gun.” (Oh yes it is.)
Mondays suck. Especially if you hate your job. But the day doesn’t have to be a total waste. You can now look forward to reading about ReadyMakers who have worked their way into f*&%ing awesome jobs—and maybe find a little inspiration to jumpstart your own career in the process.
Wedding photographers Jesse and Whitney Chamberlin know something about love—they’re married, for one thing—and when they shoot special events, they aim for “unique photos that capture real beauty rather than manufactured robo-photos that pasteurize originality.” Today, Jesse talks to us about the couple’s photography studio, Our Labor of Love, and their special instrument of photographic joy, the Smilebooth. (Think of the fun and spontaneity of stuffing a few of your friends into an old, black-and-white photo booth, and then imagine upping the ante with a high-quality camera lens, customizable backdrops, and best of all, standing room for even more of your buddies. Yes, it’s pretty great.)
VITAL STATS
Occupation: Photographer + Smilebooth-er
Location: Atlanta
Age: Jesse, 30 and Whitney, 35
First Job: Jesse, Librarian
Whitney, Picking up empty shells at a shooting range
Best Job: What we do now!
Greatest Professional Challenge: Trying not to overwork ourselves.
Salary During 20s: Depending on the year, anywhere from 30k to 85k
1. Hi, Jesse and Whit
Chamberlin. How did you two get that f*&%ing awesome job?
Well, it’s been a long road, but we both know where we want it to end…with us working for ourselves. Although Whitney had experienced some success with event production and I was laboring under the title ‘working artist,’ we weren’t exactly sure what our company should do; however one thing was clear: we would name it Our Labor of Love. We decided to stick to what we knew best, photography and production. We built a very basic website and managed to book a couple of weddings. We tried our bestest to attract customers who would let us be creative and before we knew it, OLOL exploded. We landed a crazy exhausting 40-wedding year schedule, cementing us as wedding photographers. On the side, we developed a digital photobooth we dubbed The Smilebooth. The more weddings we booked, the more The Smilebooth was used. We think The Smilebooth is so much fun, and now it’s a hit (so excited!).
2. What’s special about Our Labor of Love, and where’d you get the idea (and the great name)?
It’s one of those things where we just committed to doing photography the best way we knew how. We knew it wasn’t conventional in the wedding world, but we confidently stuck to our strengths. We continue to be intrigued by wedding dynamics, the variety, the details, the moments that happen inbetween staged photos. It’s safe to conclude we are not into the “robo-posed” wedding photos. (The Smilebooth is evidence of that.) We approach our photography not just with a photojournalist’s eye, but we express interest in “getting to know” who we are shooting; the end result is definitely a combination of what we are able to see and the clients’ personalities.
As far as the name is concerned, it was all Whitney. He had been carrying OLOL in his back pocket for a while, just waiting for his next entrepreneurial escapade. It perfectly suited and summed up our life’s work; there was never a debate.
3. How did you get started working in photography?
[Read more →]
To see what else you should make, check out the other posts on granola, pizza, crackers, and pasta.
If you don’t think veggie chili is exciting, boy do I have news for you. I made a pot last weekend and my head nearly exploded from how good it was, which I realize sounds impossible. I don’t know what lucky chemistry happened in the pot, but both bowls I had tasted like the best thing I’d eaten in forever, particularly as far as soup goes. I ate it with some grated cheddar on top with a slice of skillet cornbread and it was the perfect winter meal. I actually didn’t follow a recipe—somehow I knew what I wanted to go into the pot even though I can’t actually remember ever having made it before. Kitchen magic is all I can attribute it to. Make a pot this weekend, especially if you’re on the east coast being dumped on with snow.
Note: The pots of veggie chili pictured here are from Anna at Door Sixteen, who also claims to make the best veggie chili (and her pictures are much prettier than the ones I took so I decided to share some visual inspiration that would actually make you want to cook this!). I will leave it up to you to get cooking and see what you prefer!
Amy’s Veggie Chili
3 T canola oil
2 yellow onions
dash salt
3-4 medium sized carrots
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 medium sized garnet yam or sweet potato
2 cans chili beans (a mix of kidney, black and navy), rinsed
32 oz can diced tomatoes
32 ounces water
2 tsp cumin (note: I did not measure as I was adding, but I think that’s probably about right)
and red pepper flakes to taste
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Dice your vegetables. Add the onions to the pot and cook a few minutes until slightly translucent, adding a dash of salt about halfway through. Add the carrots, peppers and garlic, stir to combine and let cook until just softened.
3. Add your beans, the tomatoes, the water, the cumin and the red pepper and stir to combine.
4. Let simmer for 2-4 hours, depending on how much time you have and how thick you like your chili. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese or sour cream if desired.
Via Apartment Therapy, a rustic wooden table that tricks the eye: it’s made out of a wooden box painted black, with sticks and branch cross-sections applied to the outside, topped with glass.
To see what else you should make, check out the other posts on granola, pizza and crackers.
At least once and I’d suggest for a small group of people since one batch can be a lot of effort. BUT, I swear to you, you will be a happy eater. I’ve made tagliatelle two or three times since learning how to make it in Italy and each time it’s been entirely fantastic. Yes, it takes time. Yes, there is about 10 minutes of kneading involved. And yes you should recruit a friend to help you hold the dough as it comes through the pasta machine. But one bite (with butter and cheese, with pesto as pictured here, or with red sauce) will convince you that it was all worth it—the texture is completely different than anything that comes out of a box. And the satisfaction of making pasta is quite high, which always makes it taste even better.
Everyone loves them, everyone hates them, and everyone wants to be in them. Since we will most likely never make the pages of Vanity Fair, we have taken matters into our own hands. As part of our ongoing Society Pages, we present you with…ReadyMade’s February/March Launch Party at Jonathan Adler’s SOHO Outpost.
Great people, good drinks, and falling snow made this a night for the books.
Click here to check out the full HDYGTFAJ story featuring Jonathan Adler.
RM’s editor in chief Andrew Wagner and Jonathan Adler.
I adore Dutch designer Tord Boontje’s botanical chandeliers in metal. (See the ‘Garland,’ inset, and some of his other goods at Artecnica.) And while I often feel not so good about attempts to knock off the work of designers who are just getting started, Boontje has become a pretty big deal (when you’ve done a line for Target, maybe all bets are off…just kidding…sorta…), and when you’ve achieved a certain level of success, I think that imitation becomes more like a form of homage. And therefore, I find myself kind of intrigued by DIY Maven’s contention that Boontje’s ‘Come Rain Come Shine’ chandelier, which retails at just a little under $5k, just sort of looks like it ought to be DIY-able.
Several fabrics and fabric flowers, round metal mesh cage, 60-watt halogen bulb, comes in black, white, and exuberant multicolor. What do you think?
In three weeks, Julie from Dinner with Julie spear-headed the creation of the Blog Aid Cookbook to benefit the Red Cross and Doctor’s Without Border’s efforts in Haiti.
Twenty-seven food writers unite and respond to the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010 with a compilation of recipes. All proceeds from the sale of this book will support the people of Haiti.
Contributors: Backseat Gourmet – Blue Jean Gourmet – Celiac Teen – Chef Michael Smith – Christie’s Corner – Dana McCauley – Dinner with Julie – Emily Richards Cooks – Food for my Family – Food in Jars – Gluten-Free Girl – Healthy. Delicious. – Kitchen Scraps – Lottie & Doof – My Baking Addiction – Recipe Girl – Savory Sweet Life – Seven Spoons – Sweet Amandine – Tartelette – Tea & Cookies – The Pink Peppercorn – The Traveler’s Lunchbox – Tongue-n-Cheeky – Under the High Chair – Weelicious
The book is print on demand, so you can order yours as a soft cover (for $25) or hardcover (for $50) and all of the proceeds go to the afore mentioned nonprofits. Plus, West Canadian Printing and Blurb are offering matching donations to the amount raised and the Canadian government will match the amount raised through now and February 12th. I hear that the proceeds are already clocking in at $10,000 in the first 12 hours!
And that my friends, makes Dinner with Julie my choice for food blog of the week.
Alexa Fornoff is the assistant editor of ReadyMade, and she blogs here about art and happenings. She enjoys reading—a lot—and is currently making her way through the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions. When her nose isn't buried between pages, she likes to eat good food and drink good drinks.
Contact Alexa | Read posts by Alexa
Amy Palanjian is originally from a mile-wide town in south Jersey. When she's not creating color-coded spreadsheets, watching out for excessive garnish on food shoots and keeping the ship afloat as ReadyMade's deputy editor in Des Moines, she quilts, bakes granola and blogs about people who make things at her appropriately titled blog, Things We Make. She blogs daily about food.
Contact Amy | Read posts by Amy
Katherine Sharpe is the online editor of ReadyMade. She lives in Brooklyn, where she mostly makes food and to-do lists, but she's interested in bigger, headier creations: think Buckminster Fuller-esque architectural utopianism. She blogs daily or almost-daily about furniture, design, buildings, awesome jobs, and books.
Contact Katherine | Read posts by Katherine
Andrew Wagner, ReadyMade's editor-in-chief, has long been driven by his curiosity about how people and places mutually affect one another. After founding Dodge City Journal, and helping to found Limn and Dwell, he saw American Craft through a major redesign. His interests include architecture, design, art, music, baseball, and the ineffable yogurt/granola combination. He tries his best to post on Tuesdays about architecture, design, and cities.
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