The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Sally Schneider

Sally Schneider brings new meaning to the words, keeping it real. On her website, 'the improvised life,' she calls our attention to the beauty, wonder and richness of our daily lives and helps us to see it with fresh eyes. Finding her site was such a revelation and I'm indebted to her for inspiring me in numerous ways. In her site's manifesto, Sally explains why improvising is the perfect operating system in today's world. "Improvising," she says, "is an antidote to I can't." I am beyond delighted to have Sally and her authentic style on Real Food Rehab...




WHO Sally Schneider is the creator and writer of ‘the improvised life’, a website about improvising -- inventing, being resourceful, making-it-up-as-you-go-along – as a daily practice. She has worked as a journalist, editor, syndicated columnist, radio commentator, teacher, stylist, small-space consultant and professional chef; she once wrangled 600 live snails for an Irving Penn photograph. Her very improvisational work has been the laboratory for her posts on ‘the improvised life’, her column Home Cooking on The Atlantic Food blog, and consulting and speaking about creativity and home design. Please check out her award-winning cookbooks The Improvisational Cookand A New Way to Cook.
















THE GIFT Everyone I know has SO much, and does not need another object, so I’ve devised an alt-holiday gift strategy. I give a card saying I’ve given a donation in my friends name to a charity; this year it will be Maira Kalman’s beautiful angel.













I often bundle the card with a little something: like this swell $4 tasting spoon from Branch, which is the ideal shape for cooking; long and thin and slightly odd.

























Or, I’ll give them some food gift I’ve made a big batch of, like some easy-to-make exotically flavored chocolates, or Alt-Malted Milk Balls, or some Dried Apricots in Cardamom Syrup. I make these in big batches to package as gifts (often with found/re-use jars, boxes, tins or gift-wrap) or to use for my own impromtu parties. (photos courtesy of Ellen Silverman)

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? New York City





WHAT INSPIRES YOU? New York City inspires me endlessly: all you have to do is walk out on the street to discover something interesting, an anonymous creation, like the tiny grafitti written on a rusted door that said “know hope”.

But what inspires me most, way beyond the city, is the idea of improvising, which is all about possibility: unexpected answers and solutions to be found in what we have right now.













GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF?

My go-to survivalist dish when I’m alone and working flat-out is a fried egg on something with some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano in between. That something can be just about anything: spaghetti, steamed asparagus, crushed boiled new potatoes…The soft-yolk egg mixes with the cheese to become a sauce. For breakfast, I throw a fried egg on some greens like watercress or arugula.

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Fred Bamesberger

The way Fred Bamesberger and his family live is something I aspire to. There's a warmth and thoughtfulness in every detail of their surroundings. Everything he designs is decidedly modern but his materials are of the earth and his techniques are often those of centuries-old craftsmen. Sharing a meal at their home is always a treat because Fred applies the same resourcefulness and skill to his culinary endeavors as he does to his design practice; his meals are rich in organic materials and always impart the most delicious workmanship. Take it away Fred....

WHO Fred Bamesberger is an architect who designs everything from buildings, to furniture, to objects and jewelry. His work reflects a commitment to optimism and the power of creative architecture to affect change. He creates spaces that offer their inhabitants a balance of serenity and playfulness, comfort and discovery. Above all, he wants his work to contribute to the lives and landscape that will come after our own. To that end, he is conscious of creating durable and environmentally sensible solutions that last.

THE GIFT I always struggle with the gift. You want to give something special, personal, authentic, but not too expensive. My wife Leslie and I usually make gifts for friends and family from our garden. Some of the past years' gifts have included Bosc pear butter, hot pepper jam, or limoncello from our very missed lemon tree. Other years it's more complicated, like the walnut tray with an inlay of cut whole walnuts. This year is a bit different. I'm recommending the new Momofuku Cookbook. It's fun, and well written in a style that accurately and authentically reflects the attitude of its author David Chang. He shows how to take something as humble as ramen and turn it into Art.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Valparaiso, Indiana

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Everything inspires me. I'm inspired everyday by the landscape and nature surrounding me, and I want to share the things that move me. I try to take time every day to walk and see and listen to the flora and fauna surrounding me. Gardening and teaching my daughter Ruby to get dirty, inspires me. We recently rehabbed an old farmhouse nearby and share this with people who want to slow down and recharge. When we need a break from the slow-life, we head to NYC to relax. This past trip we were inspired by the Pork Buns at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? I like to grab some of our oven roasted tomatoes. We take the surplus heritage tomatoes during peak season in the summer and roast them with salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil and fill up the freezer. A pack of these can turn into a pizza, pasta sauce, salad, or a simple side dish of its own.

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Ryan Robinson + Brian Sidney Bembridge

Talk about your power couples. Talk about dynamic, creative phenoms. Talk about love. Real love. Talk about unparalleled generosity. Talk about two gorgeous hunks of man flesh. Well, then you must be talking about Ryan Robinson and Brian Sidney Bembridge. These gentlemen are my personal heroes and dear friends. And I just want to call this one for posterity: I predict one day in the not too distant future, Ryan will be as well known as Annie Leibovitz and Brian will be on stage and in all of our living rooms, accepting his Tony. You heard it here first...

WHO Ryan Robinson is a photographer based out of Chicago. Born and raised in a small farm town in Illinois, Ryan is best known for his brightly colored portraits peppered with humor, wit and a little irreverence. Ryan’s growing list of advertising clients include AT&T, Discover Card, Statefarm Insurance, National City, SC Johnson, Hampton Inn, Bosch Tools, Crains Chicago Business, Arts & Business Council and his images have appeared in TIME, Maxim, GQ, Chicago Magazine, Time Out Chicago, ESPN, Runner’s World, UFC and numerous others.

Brian Sidney Bembridge is an award winning scenic and lighting designer for theater and film. He has designed over 200 shows; everything from a Muppet Movie to Chekov and Shakespeare. His work has been seen in almost every main stage in Chicago as well as many regional theaters across the country. Brian just received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his Scenic Design of History Boys, making him a five time JEFF Award recipient.





RYAN'S GIFT
I’m a bit OCD when it comes to doing the dishes: organization is key. We don’t own a dishwasher, but that isn’t such a big deal when you’re placing your squeaky clean dishes and stemware on a sexy dishrack from Black + Blum of London. I recently gifted this to myself in hopes of enlightening our dish-doing experience. A dishrack as a gift? Yes. It’s a perfect place for delicate crystal stemware or heirloom dinnerware that cannot be thrown in the dishwasher.






BRIAN'S GIFT
This is such a simple gift, but it keeps on giving all year long . I am a magazine whore. I buy them for research, for shows I'm currently designing and for future projects. I get ideas for our home, our kitchen, the theater, decorating for the holidays, green ideas, shopping...the list is endless. I love to pair up a subscription with a friend that might be something they wouldn't buy for themselves, but I know will enrich their lives. Past favorites are Dwell, Wallpaper, Surface, and Martha Stewart Living. But there are so many ideas out there: art, cooking, travel, decorating and children's magazines. I remember getting Sesame Street Magazine when I was a young tyke. I was so excited every month to get something addressed to me and then open it up and read the articles and figure out the puzzles. It is still great fun!

WHERE DO YOU (BOTH) LIVE? Fulton Market, Chicago, Illinois




RYAN, WHAT INSPIRES YOU? my husband, quirky news reports, the weather, architecture and salvage yards.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? Homemade pizza. I’ve perfected my crust this year from a recipe I found over at Smitten Kitchen. The trick? Patience and olive oil. Also, baking the pizza only on parchment paper and in a 500˚ F oven. For toppings, nothing beats freshly snipped basil (mine is still kickin’, even in December), farmers' market tomatoes, mozzarella and freshly shaved parmesan. Simple, fresh quick.








BRIAN, WHAT INSPIRES YOU? curiosity, water, people that give, how small we really are (I just realized this on our trip to Kaua'i).

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF?
Liquid concoctions. I love to make the martini, sweet or savory, strong, and bold.

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Laura Letinsky

Years ago, I went to art school to study photography and the school's museum had a world class photo collection; everything from André Kertész to Garry Winogrand and Barbara Kruger. You could make an appointment with the archives, slip on some white cotton gloves, and request to have a private audience with any piece in the collection. It was there I was first struck by Laura Letinsky's work. To me, her still lifes were like Dutch paintings with their exquisite modeling of light, color and texture and I loved the way they stirred curious imaginings in my head, like, "What exactly happened at that table?" Years later, we met through a mutual friend and I discovered she's a serious eater and cook. I will brag and say she once made me bouillibase and garlic aioli from scratch. I am thrilled to introduce you to both Laura's work and her excellent taste...

WHO Laura Letinsky is an artist and a professor at the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Art. Her ongoing photographic still life project examines what is “after the fact,” what (ma)lingers, what persists and by inference, what is gone. Her pictures have been shown at various museums and galleries including The Cleveland Museum, Michael Sturm Galerie, Stuttgart, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Casino Luxenbourg, The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, and the Nederlands Foto Institute. Laura is represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York and Monique Meloche in Chicago.
(I encourage you to click and enlarge these images)



THE GIFT For me, there's a long list of requisite eating associated with this time of year transitioning from summer’s ceviches, cold borscht, and lime drinks into fall’s butternut squash ravioli and concord grapes to winter’s pomegranates, egg nog with rum, Manhattan's, citrus in all guises and finally, cassoulet. But when it comes to the holidays I’m a traditionalist and eschew most innovations. I’m more of a salt-aholic, but a Christmas treat of Vosges Bapchis Caramel Toffee has become an essential. It's sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy, chocolate-y, nutty, caramel-y (you get the idea) perfection.
In close competition are two childhood treats, Poppycock and Terry’s Chocolate Orange, definitely not on par with Proust’s madeleine, but nostalgic nonetheless. In my mind this relates to a well-trod dilemma, the conflict between aesthetics and ethics in the sense that while Vosges is superior by any evaluation, I remain faithful to enacting an experience that despite all rational, still connects me to the way it was back then. And, if you can follow the tangent - that is why I’m a photographer.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Chicago, Illinois

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Kids, husband, garden, porcini, pork belly....

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? It is my habit, addiction, and joy to cook almost daily for me, my family, and friends. Over the years I’ve come to rely on a range of dishes, primarily Mediterranean-influenced, that emphasize good ingredients and simple preparations such as trofie pasta with oil-roasted cherry tomatoes (from my garden), garlic, oregano and sheep’s milk feta. Or, octopus that has been simmered for a couple of hours in wine, lemon and herbs, then cut into sections and sautéed along with Yukon Gold potatoes, garlic (my garden!), parsley, and olive oil, til the edges of the potatoes and octopus get crispy, then served atop a bed of balsamic and olive oil-dressed arugula (and for its weed-like behavior, I am profoundly grateful).

The Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide: Louisa Neumann

Welcome to the Real Food Rehab Holiday Gift Guide! For the next three weeks you'll be introduced to a group of artists, authors, chefs, great home cooks, au courant shopkeepers, food artisans, farmers, food writers, bloggers, entrepreneurs and restaurateurs from around the country and around the world. I've asked them to submit, in their own words, their picks for a food-related gift they'd love to give or receive this holiday season. These are people I respect and admire, not only for their excellent taste, but for the brave and beautiful work they do in the world. Taking your creative gifts, passions and beliefs and turning them into successful business ventures takes fortitude and courage and each of these people share that in common. And now, without further ado, I bring you The Gift Guide...

WHO Louisa Neumann is a cooking instructor and recipe developer living in Portland, Oregon. She was taught to cook by a woman in Burgundy, France and a few others in Louisville and Boston. She enjoys blogging on Stumptown's emerging wild and crazy food scene at her blog, The Portland Pickle.

THE GIFT Let's face it: We're all broke this year, right? So do yourself a favor and lay off your battered and bruised Mastercard this holiday season. I'm all about being cheap but not seeming cheap this year. That's why this idea at Twig and Thistle caught my eye. For your kids' favorite teacher, coworker, or the neighbor who collects your mail while you're away consider this DIY gift. For just a few bucks assemble your own S'mores Kits. Put a finer touch on it by using high quality chocolate and make or buy artisan marshmallows. Have fun with the packaging, too. Use colorful ribbon and clear boxes to show off your goods. If you're not into s'mores, try your hand at canning. Consider canning sweet meyer lemons, which are in peak season right about now. Preserved meyer lemons are the secret ingredient to many Moroccan dishes, so why not include a few recipes with your confiture gift.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Portland, Oregon

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? I'm inspired by the fact that I'll never know it all and also by my students, old and young.

GO-TO DISH WHEN COOKING FOR YOURSELF? I love preparing delicious dishes with otherwise humble ingredients. I tend to make something and run it into the ground - I recently did that with Nigella Lawson's zesty pasta with mushroom, garlic, lemon and thyme. It's the easiest and most refreshing pasta. I love it, love it, love it. But I need a break from it.