New Haven Museums - Day Trip

Last week I took a day trip to New Haven to explore two small but significant art museums - the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.

The Yale University Art Gallery is housed in a 1953 building by modernist architect Louis Kahn. It's open, loft-like, and filled with everything from paintings to furniture to artifacts, like these works seen here in the African art section:
There are old classics, like General George Washington at Trenton by John Trumball:
And there are modern masterpieces like this Untitled painting from 1954 by Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollack's Number 13A: Arabesque:
There's also a sunny, quiet sculpture garden out back. It was the perfect place to stop, sit, and relax for a bit:A fun fact - the museum's exhibits are curated by students. I thought they did a flawless job.

Admission is free. For more information, visit the Yale University Art Gallery website.

Just across the street is another Louis Kahn building, this one from 1977, that houses the Yale Center for British Art. The building is magnificent -- it's got thick concrete walls, tan oak trim, and a glass ceiling that lets just the right amount of soft light in:According to the little information pamphlet I picked up at the front desk, the museum has the largest collection of British art outside the UK. Impressive.

There are scores of portraits in this museum including some of Lucian Freud's controversial, surrealist portraits to Thomas Gainsborough's pretty, traditional ones:Admission is also free. For more information, please visit the Yale Center for British Art website.

Each of these museums took me a leisurely hour or so to see. Combine the museum visits with a long lunch at the upscale Union League Cafe or a quick scone and coffee at Atticus Bookstore & Cafe and you've got a lovely day trip to New Haven.

Cocktail Cheers - Mercy Madras

A few months ago I went to a launch party for super beverage Mercy...

Mercy is a gently effervescent, naturally flavored drink that contains a blend of amino acids, antioxidants, and vitamins. It's meant to restore your body's nutrients and eliminate alcohol toxins so that hangover symptoms don't have a chance to set in.

Basically it's a hangover cure that's also a cocktail mixer. Score!

Here's a Mercy cocktail made especially for MCM readers...

Mercy Madras

Created by Master Alchemist Alexander Ott for Melissa Morris on behalf of MERCY

2 parts vodka
3 parts cranberry
2 parts pineapple
4 parts Mercy
1 lemonPour vodka, cranberry, and pineapple into a cocktail shaker with ice.

Shake ingredients (excluding Mercy).

Pour mixture into an ice-filled highball.

Top off glass with Mercy and garnish with a lemon wheel.


I enjoyed my pretty pink Mercy Madras poolside:Cheers!

For more information on mixologist Alex Ott, check out this recent feature on him in the NYT.
For more information on where to buy and drink Mercy, visit their website.

Vanilla Roasted Peaches with Raspberry Kirsch Sauce

I brought a bunch fresh fruit home to CT from Sissy's Farm Stand in Wainscott after my Hamptons weekend. I had ripe peaches and fresh raspberries and decided to combine the two to make a simple, summery dessert. Enjoy this sweet treat before the end of peach season...

Vanilla Roasted Peaches

1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped
4 firm but ripe peaches, cut in half w/pits removed -- I remove the skin from two of the peaches and keep the skin on the remaining two. I think the difference in texture provides a nice contrast.
recipe adapted from Martha Stewart1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small glass baking dish, combine the melted butter, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean/seeds.

2. Place peaches in dish and turn a few times to coat thoroughly with butter/sugar mixture. Place peaches cut side down in the baking dish in a single layer.

Here are mine ready to go in the oven:3. Roast until peaches are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes total. While cooking, baste peaches with pan liquids every five minutes.

4. Serve peaches - warm or at room temperature - with a spoonful (or two) or Raspberry Kirsch Sauce, recipe below.

My peaches, post-roasting. Yum!:
Raspberry Kirsch Sauce

1 cup fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons kirsch
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
recipe adapted from epicurious.com1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Puree.

2. Run pureed mixture through a strainer to remove all seeds. Spoon over ice cream, Vanilla Roasted Peaches, or the dessert of your choice.

Raspberry Kirsch sauce - in the most perfect shade of pink:

Monty Monday - Wainscott Weekend

The three of us headed out east this past weekend for a delightful Hamptons getaway.

We took the Bridgeport-Port Jeff ferry there, and Monty had fun exploring the ship's top deck, meeting/greeting fellow dog passengers, and flapping his ears in the breeze:
Chappy looks so cute here, but Monty was totally fed up with the wind blowing in his face by this point. Note the dirty look for the blustery conditions:We arrived and went straight to Wainscott Beach where the weather was calm and perfect.

The beaches in the Hamptons allow dogs after 6PM, and I was thrilled I could take my buddy with me on my daily exercise session. He loved it:
The boys enjoyed some late day sunshine together:
And Monty spent a lot of time sitting, staring, and contemplating the sea:
The next day little Monty preferred to lounge poolside... Check him out all perched up on the chair at the end of the pool:
He was king of the back garden for the day:Monty also ate lots of fresh blueberries from the farm stand and spent hours (unsuccessfully) chasing geese in the corn field next door.

After all of that Hamptons fun, he needed a nice, long nap in Chappy's lap on the way home:It was a super successful Wainscott weekend.

Rope Bracelets by Miansai

I'm all about string bracelets in the summertime.

I used to make, swap, and wear friendship bracelets when I was younger, and now I've found a suitably grown up alternative for my wrist -- Miansai's rope bracelets.

These colorful cords come in a handful of designs. I bought the Beacon and the Hook.

Here are my two hook bracelets, in red cord and purple cord:They're completely adjustable, so they'll fit everyone from the teeny tiny wrists like mine to giant man wrists.

I prefer silver for summer, but you can get the hook in silver or gold. Whatever color you choose, each fishing hook is hand caste:
The Beacon bracelet is a little thicker and is a double strand of string:I bought the red rope and the blue rope. These also have a hand caste silver closure:They're sized (XS, S, M & L) and run a bit big - even the extra small is a little large on me, but I stack them to make the size work.

Miansai also does a take on the classic Nantucket fisherman's bracelet. I've got my eye on their natural with silver hardware and blue cord:I wear two leather bracelets all the time, and I like to mix in a little color with Miansai's rope bracelets depending on what I'm wearing.

Here's a shot of my wrist today -- I've paired the purple hook with the blue beacon:To browse and buy these rope bracelets, visit Miansai's website.

NRA Basic Pistol Shooting Course

I'm out of the gun firing business for now, but earlier this year I took - and thoroughly enjoyed - an NRA Basic Pistol Shooting Course.

A friend of mine from the Junior League is big into guns and gun safety. She organized a group outing to the local shooting range (...and you thought us Leaguers were all cashmere twinsets and lemon squares).

There are two parts to the NRA's full day course - classroom time and range time.

Simon Oram of Oram Security Consultants was our instructor for the day, and he lead the group through a classroom session first. We learned the right way to handle a pistol, all about the gun's ammunition, how to clean/store a gun, and so on. It was an all you ever wanted to know about safely and properly using a pistol lecture.

Then we went off to the shooting range, Wooster Mountain in Danbury, CT. This was my first time ever to a gun range and I was a little intimidated when we set up shop next to this group of young men and their GIANT weapons:My pistol looked like a water gun next to that serious firepower.

Here I am with Simon the instructor going over the proper grip and stance:And in case you were wondering, yes, I was the only one at the range wearing a pastel colored Vineyard Vines skirt.

Before shooting, you have to figure out which is your dominant eye. Once you've got that set you can get your aim lined up. I'm left eyed and almost ambidextrous, so I started out aiming with my left eye and shooting with my left hand:But I kept shooting high and missing the bulls-eye of the target, and that was pretty hard to do -- as you can see, we began our shooting very close to the targets:So, I switched to shooting with my right hand but kept on aiming with my left eye. That worked much, much better.

Simon talked to me about controlling and timing my breathing so that I could coordinate it with when I pulled the trigger:It was a little strange to spend so much time concentrating on my breath outside of yoga class, but I went with it.

The gun I used was a SIG SAUER. It's big and burly, and it had quite a kick after firing it. I think if I got more into pistol shooting I'd probably get something a bit smaller.

After about a half hour of instructor Simon's help with my aim, stance, grip, and breathing I was golden -- and shooting bulls-eye after bulls-eye.

My NRA-loving, bestselling author buddy Jen Lancaster captioned this final photo best...

"Here's what I think of people who don't RSVP!":

The Vintage House by Mark Alan Hewitt and Gordon Bock

I've been happily reading a ton as I rest and recover from spinal surgery.

A highlight of my recent bookfest was W.W. Norton's 'The Vintage House: A Guide to Successful Renovations and Additions':The book is a how to for historic preservation-minded homeowners that are renovating and/or adding on to their old homes.

We have an older home and did extensive work on it... oh, how I wish I'd read The Vintage House before we began renovations on our Georgian Colonial. This book covers everything from how to find space within an existing footprint to how to add new windows without destroying historic character -- two issues we grappled with during our renovation.

There are chapters on conservation, making new spaces in old places, and additions that stay in tune. They're all packed with before and after floorplans, drawings from well-known architects, and scores of color photos.

Here are a few snaps from the book....

This is a post-renovation shot of an updated front hallway in an Arts and Crafts home:The hall has been opened up from side to side and front to back. The flow is better now, but the Art and Crafts bones and character still remain.

Here's Architect Allan Greenberg's addition to an eighteenth century house in Guilford, CT - most of the new space is below the box dormer on the second floor:This was one of the first compatible classical renovations done by a modernist architect. Looks lovely, doesn't it?

This small bump out in a Victorian house gives a dining area lots of new light and space:The original kitchen of this Victorian was designed so that domestic staff could access the space separately. Now the expanded space creates a 'great room' that works well for the modern homeowners, sans staff.

So, if you're thinking about renovating an older home, or even if you're just an architecture buff like me, this useful book will teach you all you need to know about how to properly care for your vintage house.

The Vintage House: A Guide to Successful Renovations and Additions

Iceland - Part III

Here's my third and final post on my July Iceland adventure...

After a night in Hofn, we got back on the ring road and headed north. The green, lush terrain of the south slowly gave way to this spooky lunar landscape:It was rocky, brown, and barren for miles and miles. I am glad we didn't a flat tire here because we were literally in the middle of nowhere.

The land got even harsher when we came to the Namaskard sulphur pits:It smells like rotting eggs (gross!), and you have to watch your step since there are giant, bubbling pits all over (eeek!), but this extraordinary sight was well worth the stench and the danger.

Some of the pits simmered slowly, and others shot steam out hard. This one sounded like an angry tea kettle:
Next we drove to Lake Mývatn, a picturesque lake surrounded by active volcanoes:The soil surrounding the lake is super rich in nutrients so wildlife thrives there. We spotted ducks and swans galore.

Husavik, the picture perfect fishing village in the north, was a great spot to grab some food and fuel:
All over Iceland there are funny looking horses by the side of the road. They've got short legs, thick muscular middles, and long flowy manes. They look a bit like 'My Little Pony' toys:This handsome guy was extra friendly and intrigued by my camera:The Icelandic horses have evolved over time to become shorter and squatter so that they can protect themselves from all the wind and cold weather.

5'10'' me has not yet evolved to tolerate the Icelandic gale force winds:We spent a night in Akureyri, and had some surprisingly good espresso at Bláa Kannan cafe - the big blue building on the right:
Heading off of the Ring Road, we decided to explore the Westfjords, an isolated, sparsely populated corner in the northwest part of the country.

It was windswept and rugged:Our last stop was Snaefellsnes, filled with national parks and excellent hiking, and then it was back to Reykjavik for an early morning flight out.

I loved my week-long holiday in the land of volcanoes, glaciers, and the midnight sun, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading about it.

For previous Iceland entries, see Part I and Part II.

My Book About Me

Did you have one of these when you were a kid?:Dr Suess's 'My Book About Me' is an oldie but goodie. The book is a series of questions -- where do you live? what do you want to be when you grow up? and so on -- that you write or draw an answer to. It's interactive fun for young kids, and I recently found my old copy.

The MCM edition of 'My Book About Me', circa 1985ish:Mine is a little worse for wear on the outside 25+ years later, but the inside is still perfect - and remarkably, it's still quite accurate...

I had a passion for pink and pastels way back when:My spelling of 'turquoise' was a little off there, but even at 31, I'm still keen on aquamarine. And my favorite color is - and always will be - pink.

On the fastidiousness scale, I selected the 'I am very neat' option at 5 years old:If there were a 'I am so neat I am borderline OCD and count hand washing and closet organizing as great sources of joy in my life' option, I would so check that off right now.

As for academic subjects, I liked music the best and thought math was the worst:I support these solid choices. And I still love an oboe and loathe a fraction.

I'm especially fond of Russian classical music (and not just because of Gergiev), and one of my earliest memories was listening to a recording of Peter and the Wolf with my father. Each character had a different instrument or melody, the narrator would read the story, the orchestra would play, and my father would teach me all about the different instruments.

I liked that recording so much that I selected Peter and the Wolf as my favorite book - even though it was more of an audiobook than a book book:Prokofiev still floats my boat big time, although now I think I'd take Dance of the Knights or Piano Concerto No 3 over Peter and the Wolf.

Apparently I had quite the discerning palate as a 5 year old because in the favorite/not favorite foods section I selected 'Lonedn Broil' (close enough to London Broil) as the 'least favorite, I can't stand it' food:I've since learned how to spell London, but I've not grown out of my anti-flank steak status.

I got a kick out of re-reading this book 25 years on. It's too bad there wasn't a section on 'do you like a repeating motif of small critters on your pants, wastebaskets, and needlepoint loafers' to identify the future preps out there.