So this came out last October, which makes this little blog entry pretty far behind the ball, but I only just had a chance to check it out (welcome to my life!) and I think it remains as relevant now as it was a couple of months ago.

Good magazine is all about people who are actively doing things to help make the world a better place in all sorts of disciplines… education, design, politics and food, to name a few) It’s goal is to create a community of like minded people all of whom, in their own ways, to save our planet from the certain disaster it is headed for if we just sit around and do nothing.

The Good 100 is their list of the 100 most important people and projects going on right now that we should all know about. If you go to the site, each icon (some are pictured above) corresponds to a particular item on the list. A simple click will tell you all about ilovemountains.org, which is helping to fight against mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia, or Emily Pilloton who designs impactful stuff like educational playgrounds in Uganda and North Carolina.

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During this time of strange and unpredictable ups and downs, it can be easy to become complacent, or just to decide that keeping your head in the sand is the only way to go. Checking out a few of these projects can help us all to get our butts off of our chairs and start making a difference.

And that’s all good.

I have known Lara Meyerratken for years and years and she has never stopped making music. Sometimes for herself, sometimes in other bands (like Ben Lee and Luna, for example) she has been tinkling away on the keyboards and singing her heart out for as long as I’ve been aware of her existence. And now, finally, she has her own full length CD which I stumbled upon when reading her blog one night (when I should have been sleeping.) The limited edition hand screen printed version (you can order it electronically, but why would I do that when there’s actual artwork to be had?) arrived in my mailbox this weekend and it’s been on high rotation ever since.

I’m terrible at describing music and have no idea why I think I can start now, but here goes… My husband says she reminds him of Suzanne Vega, which I kind of get in that the subjects of the songs are all intimate and very real, but the harmonies and the arrangements, while blissfully simple, are more lush than the Suzanne Vega that I remember. I’m thinking this music is not unrelated to the Brian Wilson aspects of the Beach Boys, but with a distinctly female and modern sensibility that is most evident when you buckle down and really listen to the lyrics. It’s kind of sun-is-streaming-through-the-window-on-a-lazy-Sunday-afternoon kind of music.

And what could be better than that?

See below for links, etc:

To listen to some of Lara’s songs, go here.

To buy the CD, go here.

To read her blog, aptly titled “In Everyone, Diamonds”, go here.

My husband sent me this link a little while ago, partially, I think, as a joke– though he knew it would appeal to a certain crazy paranoia I have about how much video surveillance there is of everything. But is it really crazy? Evidently, in a modern urban environment, a person is on camera 85% of the time they are out in public. Which to me is outrageous no matter how you slice it.

I am clearly not alone in my distaste for this fact. Enter the folks of iSee, a site that has plotted where the video cameras are out there (well, at least in Manhattan) and will help fellow kindred spirits to plot the route of least surveillance. All you have to do is click on the start and end points of your voyage and they will highlight the least videoed way to get there.

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This web-based application is brought to you by the good people at The Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA), which in their own words, “was founded in 1998 as a technological research and development organization dedicated to the cause of individual and collective self-determination. Our mission is to study the forces and structures which affect self-determination and to provide technologies which extend the autonomy of human activists.”

I love the fact that there are people like this in the universe. And I also love the fact that the route I’ve been taking quite a bit recently (highlighted above), from the subway over to SoulCycle’s tribeca studio, just happens to be the least videotaped one.

Phew.

My husband is the real chef in the family, with a gift for just picking up random ingredients from the store and then inventing some kind of delicious restaurant caliber meal off the top of his head. I’m not bad in the kitchen, but I do require step by step instructions, even if I do riff off of them every once in a while. Tonight, however, I managed to make a delicious meal (curried tilapia and collard greens) and I figured I’d share it with you all, not least of all because the recipe comes from a brilliant website called No Take Out, that is dedicated to promoting more home cooked, healthy, family style meals.

They’ve got lots of great recipes (a new one every day!) and a good percentage of them are vegetarian. The preparation is always simple and the results have never been less than delicious. Plus the most brilliant thing about them is that they give you step by step instructions to make the complete meal, from “walk in the door and put a kettle of water on to boil,” to “here you have a few minutes, go set the table and put the bread on.” Which is super helpful, as timing the various dishes is one of my weak spots when planning a meal. If you actually do what they say, you’ll end up with a perfectly timed, healthy flavorful meal. They even make wine and dessert suggestions.

Which is never a bad thing.

recipe below:

Here it is, from start to finish. Super cute, super easy, super delicious. You can even sign up for their mailing list and get the menu of the day sent right to your inbox!

Shopping List

2 shallots

1 bunch collard greens

4 large russet potatoes

1 bunch chives

1/4 cup currants

1 pint heavy, non ultra-pasteurized cream

4 good-sized Tilapia fillets

Dry white wine (Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc)

Pantry Items

Curry powder

Extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves

Red pepper flakes

Sea salt

Unsalted butter

Tools

Chef’s knife

Large saucepan

Measuring cups and spoons

Mixing bowls

Nonstick fry pan

Paring knife

Small saucepan

Spatula

Tongs

Vegetable Peeler

Wooden spoons

Suggestions

Wine: Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc  (whatever you used to cook the fish…)

Dessert:  Yogurt topped with honey and walnuts

Game Plan:

When you walk in the door

Refrigerate the fish fillets

Get out Pantry Items

Get out Tools

Assemble the ingredients

Put a small pan or a kettle of water on to boil

Open the wine and refrigerate it

Prep

Peel and dice the shallots.

Rinse the collard greens.  Coarsely chop them.

Peel the potatoes and cut each into 8 equal pieces.

Peel and thinly slice the garlic.

Rinse and pat dry the chives.

Put the currants in a heat-proof bowl.

Start Cooking

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and just cover with water.  Add 2 tsps. salt, stir and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium and cook the potatoes, partially covered, for 12 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, pour boiling water over the currants and let them plump for 15 minutes.

Set the table now.

Put 6 tbsps. oil in the small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring once in awhile until it turns pale gold, about 10 minutes.  Don’t let it get too brown.

Check the potatoes – they should be firm in the center but getting soft.  Add the collards, cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes, checking once in awhile and stirring.

Check the garlic.

Now you’ve got a minute – pour yourself a glass of wine and check your email.

Melt 1 tbsp. butter in the nonstick fry pan over medium heat.

Add the shallots and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes.

Add the fish fillets to the pan in one layer.

Pour 1/4 cup wine around them, season with salt and pepper and cover the fry pan.  Cook for about 7 minutes until the fillets are opaque.

If the garlic is golden – it probably is – remove it from the heat and stir in 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes.

Drain the currants and pat them dry.

When the fish is cooked, transfer it to a platter.

Add 1 cup cream and the currants to the pan.  Stir, and reduce the heat to low.  Simmer the cream for about 3 minutes.

Stir in ½ to 1 tsp. curry powder, and taste the cream.  Adjust the seasoning.

Check the potatoes and collards, they must be done by now.

Remove them from the heat and put in a bowl.  Pour the garlic and hot pepper oil over them, toss, season with salt and pepper, and take to the table.

Mince the chives.

Put a fillet on each of four plates.  Cover each fillet with sauce and sprinkle with chives.

Dinner is ready. Take the plates and wine to the table!

Wow that was fast, let’s eat!

I am sorry to have been so MIA lately but I have been finishing this HUGE installation of what we like to call polaroids (but are actually Fuji instax film photos) for the brand new flagship, opening tomorrow, indoor cycling studio called soulcycle.

I am so tired that I cannot even go into detail now, other than the fact that I am thrilled to have been able to orchestrate the piece and that it looks f*cking awesome.

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More details, photos of the piece installed, etc etc to come. Most likely over the weekend. In the meantime, it’s nice to be back with you all.

So with all good new things (2010! Woo hoo!) must come some sadness… My favorite neighborhood restaurant, Silent h, a brilliant delectable casual inventive take on traditional Vietnamese home cooking has closed it’s doors for good. So local that we could pretend it was an extension of our living room, so mellow that the brilliant chef/owner, Vihn Nguyan, gave my daughter the run of the place, so wonderfully delicious that nary a week went by without a lunch and/or dinner there. Revered by the grownups in the local press (and by local, I mean the NY Times, among others)…. and yet, the evil evil economic meltdown was too much for it, and a truly great eatery is no more.

All is not lost, however. Vihn is hard at work with a couple of partners on a new place that will open, like a phoenix, in the same, albeit renovated, space. The type of cuisine is a closely held secret, but one who’s revelation  I am eagerly anticipating.

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I’ll keep you all posted… The new spot is due to open in the early spring. My mouth is waterning just thinking about it.

Here’s to new ventures in the new decade!

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out! Not that we all didn’t have all sorts of wonderful moments during this stressful and eventful year, but man I must admit to being very excited for the better times that I am sure lie directly ahead in the form of a rosy 2010.

So here’s to less stupidity, more peace and creativity, and above all more time to enjoy the people and incredible moments that make life on this earth worth all of the struggle (and the overcrowded subways…)

A champagne toast to you all. I’m looking forward to showering you with all kinds of great ideas in the next year. Keep in touch!

And Happy New Year!

A highly qualified holiday wish for you all:

May your days be merry and bright (and prosperous and fulfilling and memorable and fun and enlightening) and may all your Christmases (and Hanukahs and Kwanzaas and Ramadan and whatever other holidays there are around years end) be white (and by white, I mean clean and clear and full of possibilities.)

Thanks for hanging out with me.

Here’s to more in 2010.

So I was trolling around the Soul Cycle website and I came across this gift guide on their blog. And it’s great. Like it features the above beautiful object that is, believe it or not, a humidifier. Go figure! And then go check this list out. Stephen Mack, the brains behind the goods, is clearly far more than just a technology consultant.

Just another example of why this particular excersize studio is attracting so much attention!

Ok grandparents and other secret and not so secret admirers, let us all take a moment out and think about how cute our favorite little scorpio would look in this sweater. That is currently being sold at my favorite neighborhood kids’ store, Sweet William. Probably the most brilliant curation of singular, often handmade (but NEVER hokey) and always tasteful clothing for kids from zero to six, this store is always a pleasure to check out. And I’m going to have to say that I wouldn’t mind owning  just about every single thing in the place.

My daughter has a crush on Bronagh Staley, the wizard behind the cutain at this place, and who could blame her? This native of Ireland has brought a wonderous world of beautiful things to Williamsburg and doesn’t seem to mind near daily visits (and shop redecoration) by the various children of the neighborhood. Future shoppers in training, I suppose.

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And if the exquisite clothes aren’t enough– there is a great selection of the kind of toys even the most particular of parents can embrace. At reasonable prices, too.

Oh if only we had space for a life sized stuffed deer…