Saturday, June 4, 2011

Book Review:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
With Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

You know you have a busy schedule when it takes you over two months to read a single book! I hate to admit thats the time frame it took me to work my way through Mrs. Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but it's the truth. Instead of diligently reading away everyday, I let all those fun life things interrupt instead: I cooked, I traveled, I worked, I played, I did everything a carefree twenty-something girl is supposed to do, and all along I kept this little gem as my sidekick. From bedside table, to office desk, to carry-on, I made sure I was (almost) never without this book, because, like all of Mrs. Kingsolver's work, it is incredibly, poetically and lovingly written.

If you have never read a Barbara Kingsolver book, you should right that wrong, immediately. I've been a fan for a few years now and when I saw this book for sale, I snatched it right up (at full price, mind you, says the girl who's been known to wait around for the best possible bargain). Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles one family's goal of "living local" for a year. We have all heard of the Local Movement, but I don't think we have realistically thought about the amount of work that goes into making this ideal a reality. This book is a thoughtfully written account of exactly that. The long days, the summer nights lost to canning, the nameless animals raised for slaughter. I pulled one of my favorite paragraphs (yes, I marked the ones that painted excellent mental images, of which there are far too many to actually count) so that you could have a simple sample of her writing style:

"Good people eat. So do bad people, skinny people, fat people, tall and short ones. Heaven help us, we will never master photosynthesis. Planning complex, beautiful meals and investing one's heart and time in their preparation is the opposite of self-indulgence. Kitchen-based family gatherings are process-oriented, cooperative, and in the best of worlds, nourishing and soulful. A lot of calories get used up before anyone sits down to consume. But more importantly, a lot of talk happens first, news exchanged, secrets revealed across generations, paths cleared with a touch of the arm. I have given and received some of my life's most important hugs with those big oven-mitt potholders on both hands."

Now, can't you just imagine standing in her kitchen, receiving one of those oven-mitt potholder hugs? Mix in a bundle of throughly researched information on garden growing, some interesting tidbits on animal husbandry and a dash or two of life's lessons learned along the way, and you essentially have 354 pages of some of Mrs. Kingsolver's best work. As an added plus, her husband and eldest daughter each contribute sections about food politics and nutritional aspects, respectively. The perspective of three different family members, with three very different educations, but the same common goal, make this a truly great read. Sure, it may be easy to put down and walk away from, from time to time, but you can be sure that this is one book that will never be left behind. For every foodie who has ever wanted their own kitchen garden, or for the common joe who maintains a passion for eating organic, this is the book for you. By the end, you wont think twice about choosing those slightly-more-expensive cage free eggs at the farmer's market. And you will think it truly odd to see a bunch of bananas at the grocery store, in January, in the midwest. But most importantly, you will begin to see just how eating locally works, and the amount of work, love and dedication that it takes to make it happen.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Lovely Kitchens: Worktable Inspired Island

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Photo via Elle Decor, by Tom and Amy Hase

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Photo via Margot Austin

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Photo via Unknown

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Photo via Country Living


While flipping through old blog posts, I realized I hadn't featured a Lovely Kitchen in quite some time. So, I went digging through my saved images and found a group of pictures which I feel deserve a little admiring. The above images all feature one kitchen essential: The Island. Though these aren't your ordinary store bought islands. Instead, they appear to be repurposed worktables, the kind you might find in your grandfather's garage, holding up decades worth of well loved work tools and mason jars full of nails and screws. The best thing about a salvaged piece of furniture, such as a work table, is that is has earned it's well-loved dents and scratches, so you wont have to worry about treating it with extra care while rolling out a pizza dough or tenderizing a piece of meat. It's also a chic way to reuse an otherwise forgotten piece of furniture. A quick sand, a thorough wash, a bit of paint and in no time, that old work table can begin a new life: showing off your newest piece of kitchen equipment and collecting the beads of sweat dripping off your mason jar full of sweet tea, instead.

 Do you have space for a repurposed kitchen island? 
I love the idea, but I would never be able to find the space!