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When we were planning our kitchen and family room in Southampton, we just avoided the issue of where to put the TV. We knew we wanted one — for after dinner movies and for watching the news or Ina Garten (or now the Wiggles DVDs) while making breakfast or dinner, but we never really focused [...]
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For the sake of our planet, and, in particular, its marine life to which they pose a particular threat, I hope that thin plastic shopping bags become rare. For now, though, they’re still everywhere. Even though I try to avoid them, I still end up bringing some home with groceries and impromptu stops at the [...]
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When I was in college in the mid-1980s, I took a course in rural economics at an institute out in the country outside of Bangalore, India. It was a beautiful place. Our simple but comfortable quarters had private bathrooms, but no running hot water. Each morning, I would carry a large bucket to a central [...]
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I remember watching old movies as a kid and being intrigued by the way some impossibly suave person –Cary Grant, Ray Miland or someone like that– glided over to his home bar and poured a drink from a glittering bottle of amber liquid –removing the stopper, pouring just a splash, replacing the stopper. It seemed [...]
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For us cooks, the good news is that over the last 20 years or so good cookware has become widely available. Equipment that would have been difficult to find outside Europe when we were kids is now available in nearly any shopping mall, and mostly at accessible prices. The downside to this is that it’s [...]
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When we entertain, particularly on weekends, my partner David and I usually divide up the cooking dish by dish: one takes the soup, the other the meat, and so on. This works pretty well. Responsibilities are clear, nobody feels like the other’s sous-chef (or galley slave), and it’s relatively easy to work out the timing [...]
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I love it when style, function, luxury and economy come together in one beautiful piece of gear. A good shaving brush is a perfect example of how this can happen. I’m not advocating going all retro with your shaving kit. The safety razor is a modern miracle of performance and thrift, and traditional straight razors [...]
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Maybe it’s my advancing age, or the fact that I spend a lot of time carrying an increasingly heavy (yet adorable) child, but the strain of lugging cases of San Pellegrino home from the market was beginning to test my love of sparkling water. And the energy it took me to haul it the last [...]
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A few months ago, I was sitting across the table from my friend Jon at a cozy (that is, rather dimly lit) restaurant in the West Village, squinting at a menu I held inches from my eyes. Jon whipped out a pair of chic horn-rimmed reading glasses and carried on without effort. When I complemented [...]
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Last weekend we got the happy news that our good friends’ first child had been born, a healthy baby boy. Of course, I had been dispensing unsolicited advice for months. I remember one evening in particular. Between cocktails and dinner we had taken the couple to a baby superstore in Manhattan with the aim of [...]
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Here’s a fresh take on cooking, entertaining, decorating and other domestic arts and sciences from a real daddy living in New York and San Francisco. I’ve always had a strong domestic streak, but since my partner and I had our daughter Julia last year, I’ve learned to keep my projects simpler, faster and more fun. I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned, and I’d love to hear your ideas too.
An Homage to Hospital Jello: Minted Pomegranate Lime Jelly
Chicken Breasts with Mint, Capers and White Wine
Cow Hollow Cooler
Painting Stripes
Sunny Bedcover for Julia's Room
Turkish Coffee Chocolate Creams