Summer has its all-star lineup—tomatoes, corn, peaches, watermelon—but spring is all about the excitement of things in the world coming back to life. It’s no coincidence that so many spring vegetables I love are green: scallions, lettuces, asparagus, snap peas, and herbs galore. I like to look for recipes that celebrate the vibrancy of the season—the bright, herbaceous flavors, the crisp snap of a just-picked stalk of asparagus, the fresh aroma of a minced chive—but also make use of easy-to-find, ‘year-round’ ingredients. Here's what's been on my table lately.
THIS MONTH'S GUEST EDITOR
Lidey Heuck
RECIPE DEVELOPER · COOK · FOOD WRITER
Author of Cooking in Real Life, a regular contributor to The New York Times, and the person behind @lideylikes— where she shares the food, home, and life things she's excited about.
FROM MY KITCHEN
Spring-inspired recipes for easy hosting, busy mornings, and cooking with the kitchen windows open.
I renovated my kitchen this winter and kept both cooking and hosting in mind as I made design decisions. I wanted the kitchen to feel cozy and welcoming so it blended seamlessly with the rest of the house, rather than feel like a separate, purely functional space. After all the dreaming, planning, and renovating, it's been fun to put the design to the test and host in the new space this spring. Here are easy ideas for giving a kitchen a warm, lived-in feel and setting the tone for casual gatherings all year long.
Spring is fleeting and often feels like a stepping stone to summer. Rather than skipping ahead, I try to soak up each passing week and the long daylight hours with open windows 24/7, fresh herbs in drinking glasses like little flower arrangements, and simple dinners inspired by the season.
As always, I love hearing what you're making. Find me over on Instagram and let me know what's been on your table.
-Lidey
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Everyone has a short list of menu items that their brain scans for. For Tad, it’s the words bolognese and beets. For my friend Merrill, it’s ricotta and rosé. For me, it’s anchovy, tonnato, and zucchini when it’s in season. So local Ojai favorite Rory’s Place had me defenseless with its “Romanesco zucchini tonnato, anchovy bread crumb, pickled mustard seed.” I will be working on a recipe for it to share this summer.
In other summer prep news, my friend Anna told me about this amazing bug catcher (and releaser). There are a lot of bugs everywhere in summer, so stock up on this humane and well-designed tool, which is Tad-approved. Ojai is full of spiders, and he’s the spider-catcher in the family. I’m the shrieking spider-spotter. The catcher tool even has a built-in magnifying glass should you want a close look at a spider’s pedipalps.
Tad delivering lunch from Poppy’s at mile 16; the Great Saunter route went by my favorite NYC building.
More scintillating inspo in this week’s Homeward:
Our return to NYC
A guide to outdoor furniture: what we did for outdoor “rooms” and seating areas in Ojai; which products we chose; and why outdoor furniture feels so disconnected from the rest of the design industry. (There wasn’t enough room here to include my 50+ picks, so head over to Rec League to see them all. A reminder that free subscribers get 15% off with this code. Paid subscribers, scroll down for a special discount.)
We returned to New York for the summer. To pigeons nesting on our bedroom air conditioner, loudly cooing every morning. To fireworks awakening us at midnight (a special feature of living in Brooklyn Heights). To a bathroom that needs major wall and cabinetry repair due to a leak while we were away. And to a kitchen drawer that refuses to stay closed and sneaks out to stick at 7 inches open (I measured).
Jojo Feld and Virginia Sin celebrating the opening; a singular SIN lamp.
That said, we’ve also been reminded of New York’s unparalleled energy. On our first day back, I went to an opening for SIN, a ceramics brand created by Virginia Sin, whose porcelain paper plates I bought back when her business was her side gig. The Greenpoint location is Virginia’s first brick and mortar store, and it’s like a shoebox filled with treasures. We have her square, woven flushmount sconce in our Ojai house.
My Saunter-mate Shauna and one of the Saunter staff, herding the cats.
I joined thousands of walkers for the Great Saunter, a 32-mile (34 with the odd detour) loop around the shoreline of Manhattan, then spent the next 24 hours horizontal. I ate a cardamom bun from Ferrane and a cruller from Daily Provisions. I walked a packaging trade show at the Javits Center, and learned that New England still boasts a number of paper printing companies that were started in the 19th century—which grew out of its textile printing industry.
Daily Provisions yuzu cruller and caramel chocolate cookie (dessert while watching season 3 of Industry).
My neighbor in Ojai texted me a photo of the “moon water” she’d made (moon water is like sun tea but made with water, crystals, and moonlight instead of water, teabags, and sunlight), and I felt very far away from Ojai.
Our Backyard Design
As it’s getting “warm” in New York and many of you are probably starting to think about opening your windows and dusting off your grills, it seems like a good time to show you what we did for outdoor furniture in Ojai. We worked with Terremoto to create a landscape with lots of separate areas and modes. Then we collaborated with Reath Design on clusters of seating areas. Here’s a zone-by-zone lay of the land: ...
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