Do You Follow the Recipe?

This past weekend, we visited the Farmer’s Market.

Walking among the stalls, I was thrilled to see the colorful rows of fresh produce –a sure sign that Summer is here.

Later in the day, as I inspected my selection of fresh asparagus, baby beets, snow peas, and lettuces, I wasn’t sure how they’d be combined for the evening meal.

We ended up with soup.

I kind of tossed everything in the pot – well, except for the beets and lettuce. (Beets are probably not a good idea – they’d probably turn the soup red).

So anyway, I didn’t follow a recipe.

I didn’t need to.

The next day, as I was preparing a salad for a potluck dinner, I was following a recipe. That’s when I realized I was missing a key ingredient.

At first, I panicked.

Then I decided to make do with what I had, including my  Farmer’s Market finds from the day before.

It was strangely relieving.

And made me think about our typical approach to Rules and Following Recipes, and the like.

Specifically that, much of the time, it isn’t really necessary, although we might think it is.

Unless you’re a beginning cook, or new to the gluten-free lifestyle, being free to add lib in the kitchen is half the fun, and also wakens your creative self.

Designing a home is also a creative endeavor, and in many ways it is not much different from cooking.

You’re just working with a different set of ingredients.

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GOING GLUTEN-FREE

“Food, wonderful food, glorious food.” … from the musical, Oliver

 

Food is such a sensory experience.   

Inextricably woven into the fabric of our lives, it evokes feelings of both pleasure and comfort on a daily basis.

We taste or nibble, and sometimes devour, depending on our moods and level of hunger. If we are really mindful and aware, we savor every morsel.

Our daily meals are as basic to our existence as taking our next breath.

Yet, when you add Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance or Food Allergies into the mix, things aren’t quite so simple.

Along the way, life gets a little more interesting, and a lot more challenging.

For this reason, I’ve decided to share with you my personal philosophy for designing a Gluten-Free Life, while embracing my twin passions for Food & Design.

Yes, I also happen to be an Interior Designer – hence the name Gluten-Free Designer! (You can visit my website at www.harmonydesignstudio.com ).

My own story started out simple enough, beginning with an article I read about nine years ago on Celiac Disease.

Up until that time I had never heard of Celiac Disease, but then I’d also never heard of gluten. I had no idea there was a name attached to the debilitating symptoms I’d been dealing with for years.

Yet something about the article caught my attention. I read it all the way through, then read it again. What I read in that article described me exactly – including the stomach pain and discomfort I experienced on a daily basis with no obvious explanation.

To think that all this was attributable to a single protein called Gluten was astounding, almost exciting!

Now – one of the unfortunate facts about Celiac Disease (or gluten intolerance or sensitivity, or whatever you want to call it) is that it can take on average years to diagnosis.

Perhaps this sounds familiar.

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TAKING A GAMBLE

Does your home speak to you?                                       

Does it have a story to tell?

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of re-visiting the Gamble House, a turn-of-the-last century Craftsman style home in Pasadena, California.

This 100 year old gem of a house was designed by the architectural geniuses Greene & Greene.

I have to admit, I admired this home just as much the second time around, both for its turn-of-the-century simplicity and its incredible attention to detail.

I use the word ‘incredible’ – yet, this doesn’t adequately describe what the house has to offer.

Astounding is more like it.

The effect of these rooms bathed in a golden light, is almost magical. It literally takes your breath away.

From the moment one first steps into the darkened entry, you realize you are in for a treat as your eyes gradually become accustomed to the light.

You notice first, the lovely image of an oak tree etched into the leaded glass panes of the front door, its limbs stretching far and wide into the transom and side light windows.

You notice it in the smoothly rounded edges of the polished Burmese teak, framing the grand central stair.

You notice it, too, in the delicate silhouette of a lantern in the shape of a crane, a bird that – in Japan – represents longevity.

You notice the repetition of certain motifs – trailing vines and the ever-present Chinese ‘cloud-lift’ – everywhere you look.

It’s present in the leaded glass light fixtures, the carved mantle and friezes, in the stair rail and even the carved inlays on a bed frame.

Good design relies on repetition.             

Designers and architects alike know this, and rely heavily on such simple tools to create an innate rhythm of beauty and celebration throughout a clients’ home.

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