Our O'keefe and Merrit lights up!

One of the cool things about our apartment is that most of it is vintage.  I think the building must have been built in the ’50s and it seems that nothing has really been updated since.  Everything was really well-made, so most items have stood the test of item, namely our stove.

The stove is vintage O’Keefe and Merritt.  It’s a mightly 40 inches wide and comes with two sides – one side is an oven and the other is a broiler.  I think the people who rented this apartment before us were raised by wolves.  I say this all the time to my boyfriend as I go through the apartment and clean it.  You don’t even want to get me started about the laundry room. I’m bringing this up because before we actually used the stove, it had to be cleaned.  I cannot tell you how much dirt was inside of this thing.  

But now that it is clean, it is a BEAUTY.  It oozes vintage-ness.  As my friend, Michelle, put it, “It looks like you should be wearing cone boobs and heels” when cooking.  I was just thinking pearls and heels, but cone boobs would be fun.

Our first oven adventure - the onion tart!

My inaugural dish on this baby was a homemade onion tart.  I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  It was also my first time making dough.  I would say that I need to practice, but the finished product was highly edible.  Hooray!!

Ray and Charles Eames

Last night, my wonderful boyfriend got us tickets to see the new documentary about Ray and Charles Eames at the Laemmle in Beverly Hills.  We arrived early, so we took our “evening constitutional” and then went in.  Honestly, it looked like we were in the middle of a retirement village reunion when we walked in.  We couldn’t figure out how everyone knew each other.

The doc was awesome.  Ray and Charles were awesome.  I didn’t really know much about them, except that I completely covet  their LCW and a leather lounger.  Charles, like most great male artists, was a philanderer (sorry to make the generalization, but I’m right, no?).  Ray was also a great artist, but was the stoic creative force who suffered in silence in order to preserve the creative collaboration she had with Charles.  And it seems that she completely adored him in spite of it all.  Their studio in LA seemed nothing short of magical.  I want to visit their original house in the Palisades.  Add that to my list of stuff to see in LA.

After the viewing, there was a  Q&A with the director and their grandson, Eames Demetrios.  Turns out that most of the folks in the audience used to work with the Eames’!  So cool!!

Afterwards, we went across the street to Kate Mantilini and ate COMPLETELY overpriced appetizers and dessert.  But it was quite grand, this whole experience.

My Civic arrives in LA!

My Honda Civic lands in LA!  Here she is, coming off the truck.  She arrived a few days before me.

I’m deep in the throws of packing, and let’s face it, packing totally sucks.  So instead of focusing on the boxes, I’m dreaming about the delicious artwork that will grace my walls.  Of course, I’m hankering for an original from Michelle Armas.  Michelle’s got a kickass show right now at Gregg Irby Fine Art in Atlanta. Michelle is an absolutely genius with color, so I can’t wait to have her create something to go above the Conner sofa in my living room.  And then maybe something for the bedroom, hehe.

- image courtesy of Michelle Armas

After a few weeks of sofa shopping, we finally settled for the lovely Conner sofa from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams.  I would have loved to have it in this color, but due to Fabio’s rather black hair, I figured a darker upholstery would be mucho less maintenance.  I would up ordering in a medium gray tone, although I almost caved and ordered it in a deep indigo velvet at the last minute. Mmmm….that would have been delicious!!  Hopefully Conner will arrive by Christmas!

I’ve been craving hot chocolate like it’s going out of style for a while already – and this morning I finally got some……..from my herbalist of all people. Yum!

And my hot chocolate comes on the eve of a lunar eclipse and the Winter solstice, so I take this as a magical sign from the universe.  I’m not sure what I’ll do tonight to honor this magical moment, but I may just set my alarm for 1 a.m., brew up a new pot of hot choco and set my intentions for the new year.  It feels like an auspicious to re-awaken dreams and to let go of the past.

What will you be up to?

Last night my flight was delayed out of Des Moines, so Jennifer and I went to grab dinner at Lucca in Des Moine’s East Village.  The restaurant is very minimalist, mostly all white with an exposed kitchen in the center of the dining room – and gorgeous brick walls.

The menu, a $30 prix fixe, allows for one selection from the primi and secondi.  The menu is quite small, but the choices are fantastic.

I was quite happy with my selections – the gnocchi in a thyme-butter sauce, and the steak in a gorgonzola sauce, set atop thinly sliced potatoes and a little spinach.  The gnocchi were little fluffy clouds of delicousness – absolutely perfect.  And I honestly did not mean to eat all of my steak – but I did!  It was perfectly cooked and tender.  Our hunky waiter only added to the experience, so next time you’re in Des Moines, look up Lucca.

They don’t have a website, but their addy is:

420 E. Locust Street, 243-1115

Image from Metromix Des Moines

I’ve been gluten-free for about 3 weeks, based on the advice of my herbalist.  It’s been really easy, actually.  I have been eating buckwheat, rice and quinoa, so really haven’t missed wheat all that much.  The temptations are the worst at restaurants.  And of course, there’s dessert.

Last night I went to Murphy’s and they, of course, threw down a gorgeous basket of bread before my dinner arrived.  I resisted, but it was hard!

Before this whole gluten-free episode, I was really getting into baking bread.  I had figured out a pretty awesome blend of wheat, rye, flax, buckwheat and oatmeal.  But now, what to do?  I have a breadmaker that doesn’t really have a gluten-free cycle, so I have to experiment.

I’ve been looking around for recipes and all of them seem pretty complex.  Bread is supposed to be pretty simple to make and I’m used to my 5-ingredient recipe.  But these gluten-free breads are, um, complex.  Take for example, xantham gum.  What the hell is that?  Why would I want that in my bread?

Well, turns out that it’s a binder.  Although it’s not toxic or anything, it just seems so highly processed.  As do most of the wacky ingredients in gluten-free bread.  Although it’s not that big of a deal, sometimes I just want a piece of bread.  I guess I just need to surrender to the long ingredient list and give it a whirl.

I’ll keep you posted.

As you probably know, I’ve neglected my blog for quite some time now.  Blogs take time and I lost my mojo somewhere along the way.  But the good news is that I will be back…in a new format.  I won’t just be blogging about health, food and wellness-related stuff.  I’ll be blogging about design (because I love it so), my own personal musings (let’s hope their good) and my travels (there are many coming up).  So please stay tuned.  I’m overdue for a new look, too, so onwards and upwards!

Have any of you been substituting agave nectar for sugar, thinking that it’s better for your health?  I have to say that the marketing around this product has been brilliant because even I wound up buying some.  For one reason or another, I liked that it was “raw” and “organic” and somehow that led me to believe that it was a milder sugar.

For the past year or so, I have been reading quite a few articles that have made me realize that agave nectar might even be worse than regular table sugar.

As an amazing article from the Weston A. Price Foundation points out, “In spite of manufacturers’ claims, agave “nectar” is not made from the sap of the yucca or agave plant but from the starch of the giant pineapple-like, root bulb. The principal constituent of the agave root is starch, similar to the starch in corn or rice, and a complex carbohydrate called inulin, which is made up of chains of fructose molecules.Technically a highly indigestible fiber, inulin, which does not taste sweet, comprises about half of the carbohydrate content of agave.”

The article goes on to say, “Agave syrup is a man-made sweetener which has been through a complicated chemical refining process of enzymatic digestion that converts the starch and fiber into the unbound, man-made chemical fructose. While high fructose agave syrup won’t spike your blood glucose levels, the fructose in it may cause mineral depletion, liver inflammation, hardening of the arteries, insulin resistance leading to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and obesity.”

I think the message is clear.  Stay away from Agave!

If you need something sweet, have a piece of fruit or even some high-quality dark chocolate.  Bon appetit!