When we first moved into our home, I talked about my fondness for the Dieter Rams’ Universal Shelving, sold by Vitsœ. And we came quite close to calling the company to get started. You might recall that I said they made a great case for starting small with the “starts-cheap-but-gets-exorbitant-quickly modular system.” They really did. But I still couldn’t do it. The shelves and E-track were reasonable, but the drawers (which I really wanted) started in the $800-1000 range (each).
Lo-and-behold, Ikea came through again. Their STOLMEN closet system bore some striking resemblances. The only issue: the shelving system is designed as a closet system, so everything is centered along long axis poles that you fix to the ceiling or wall, to allow for hangers extending out on both sides. However, if you’re hoping to store books on the shelves, you want those shelves to back up flush to the wall to keep things from falling backward into a large gap. If all of your shelves are the same width, no problem. If you want to include deeper drawer units, here’s how you might avoid this…
No matter that it’s a constant, I’m always a bit surprised when I think about winter as citrus season. Citrus fruits are so bright and cheery—nothing like chard and kale and cruciferous vegetables; and lemonade… what could say summer better than that? It’s a gift of winter, really, that lemons and oranges start to pile up at the market. And here, where winter is relatively warm, it’s nice to see their bright colors on the trees.
Just before we left Sardinia, we stopped at a bakery and I found this slice of (ever-so-lightly) candied orange, set so perfectly on a light and crispy bit of pastry tartlet with just a thin layer of creamy custard beneath it. The balance of bitter (from the rind and pith), sour (from the orange), and sweet (from the glaze and the cream) was incredible. It’s not often you find desserts that involve such bright and bitter notes alongside the sweet. It was so… Italian!
I would love to replicate this. Perhaps this weekend would be a good time to try David Lebovitz’s recipe for candied oranges? (And while I’m at it, that cake he pairs with them too.)
What are your plans for the weekend? Some incredible girlfriends are throwing a little party to celebrate me and the baby girl! Can’t wait!
It’s funny how little I’ve thought about actually delivering the baby this time around. I never put together an extensive birth-plan last time, but I did watch videos and read books about labor—and think about (and sometimes dread) it, a lot. The impression I left with—not all-together too surprising—is that labor rarely happens the way you anticipate, and that (hopefully) the baby will be arriving in his or her own time and manner no matter what you try and predict or plan.
The hospital bag seems almost metaphorical in that sense. It’s almost comical to see how long the potential packing-list often is (and I’ll share one such extensive one here), because—when all is said and done—if you had to rush off to the hospital or birthing center with no such bag in sight, you’d survive just fine!
That said, it’s nice to feel prepared (and comfortable), so here’s an extensive—hopefully exhaustive—packing list. (I suppose I should get going on this… As of yesterday, the baby is full term!)
