04 January 2009

Behold the power of threes



In interior design (and in a thousand other disciplines), we rely on a series of simple rules of thumb, the most basic of which is called the Rule of Three. In essence, we use it to achieve balance. Three repetitions of a given element is generally considered to be balanced. The Rule of Three is a basic, easy guideline. For the most part, it's just that: a guideline. It's hardly some kind of a universal law. However, it's not some arbitrary thing pulled out of a hat.

Human beings' brains are pattern-seeking machines, each and every one of us does it automatically. So much so that I doubt it's possible to look around and not see patterns. Pattern-seeking is the key to our survival as a species and to a human brain, three is the simplest pattern there is.

Threes are fundamental to human culture and they show up everywhere from the three little pigs to the Holy Trinity to the Three Stooges. Threes mean pattern more than symmetry and I use odd-number patterns to achieve balance in all of my work. I get accused of worshipping symmetry but that's not really true. What's true is that I love, love, love odd-number patterns.

Here's what I mean. I just took this photo of three old candlesticks.


Now watch what happens when I take one away and have two old candlesticks sitting on this table.


When there are three, the candlesticks own the space and look like they belong there. When there are two, they seem to be overwhelmed by the table.

I'm bringing this up because I found a kitchen design online that I'm going to critique later as soon as I calm down. This room's ignorance of the Rule of Three is actually the least of its problems as you'll see tomorrow. But simple adherence to things like the Rule of Three when you don't know what to do with a space can save you a lot of heartache. Not to mention a bunch of blistering critiques on the Internet.

03 January 2009

Hard Times centerpiece



So in the spirit of the current economic mess and in anticipation of the worse mess to come, I put together a centerpiece last week on the cheap. So much so that I'm including it in my growing library of cheap fixes. Check this out:

I took a plate I already had and set it in the middle of my dining table. Then I filled three jars with sand. I'm forever soaking the labels off of jars and never using them for anything. Well, now I found a use for three of them. So the jars were already in my cabinet and the sand is what passes for soil in my part of the world. I sank a taper candle in each jar. I bought 8-inch ivory taper candles in a package of four from a dollar store. So at a quarter apiece, I'm up to 75 cents out of pocket for this thing so far. Then I pulled some mistletoe out of an oak tree in the alley and just broke off the sprigs and piled them onto the plate. Ta-daaa! Instant centerpiece and I collected compliments for the entire time it sat on the table. 

75 cents?! Martha Who?


02 January 2009

Embarrassing recipe: the back story

Over dinner on New Year's Day, the conversation turned to those Rolo Pretzel things I wrote about earlier.  One of the assembled mentioned that they are nearly crack-like in their appeal --it's not possible to have just one of them. One taste brings about a Rolo Pretzel madness and a compulsion to eat all of them. He then reminded me that the originator of the recipe was lost to the haze of actual addiction some years ago, the poor thing.

Anyhow, since it's a holiday weekend and I've granted myself a free pass to write about anything I bloody well please, here goes. The whole drug addiction thing reminded me of a video I came across a couple of weeks ago that I find hilarious. Tragedy begets comedy folks, it's a tale as old as time. Besides, this video stars none other than Kristin Chenoweth, one of my favorite stars of stage and screen.

Embarrassingly simple Christmas recipe


I bake like a man possessed on holidays and take great pride in the fact that I still make things the hard way. I suppose it's my Scots heritage, but in my mind taking shortcuts is cheating and I won't have it. I may be the only one at the table who gets it that my pie crusts are authentic and that my cookies are the real deal, and a lot of times that's all that matters. Baking without pre-prepared shortcuts makes me feel like I'm carrying on a dying tradition --I feel like I'm keeping alive the memories and traditions of my grandmothers. It gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction to share the results of those efforts with the people I love.

Though it pains me to admit it, probably the most popular thing that comes out of my kitchen at Christmas is a confection that every fiber of my being tells me is all wrong. It's embarrassing to put them out on the table and I wrestle with whether or not to make them every year. My public demands them and who am I to stand up to popular opinion? Besides, they're good to the point of obscenity. I'm referring to something called a Rolo Turtle. A Rolo is a chocolate-covered caramel that's not anything I've give a whole lot of thought to under ordinary circumstances. Combine a melted one with a pretzel and a pecan half though, and the humble Rolo is elevated to something that defies description.

An old friend of mine who's a huge fan of shortcuts brought them out at a party a couple of years ago and despite my inclination to turn up my nose and scoff, I couldn't get enough of them.

Here's the recipe but please don't credit me if you make them yourself. I have a reputation to maintain.

ROLO TURTLES
 
Ingredients:
 
1 package small square pretzels
1 13-oz. package Rolos 
1 package Pecan Halves
 
Directions: 

Preheat oven to 250 Degrees.Cover a cookie sheet with 
aluminum foil and place pretzels individually to form 
one layer only. Place one Rolo on top of each pretzel. 
Bake at 250 degrees for 4 minutes or until the Rolos are 
softened. Immediately remove from the oven and quickly 
place a pecan half on top of a candy and push down to 
squish the chocolate into the pretzel and flatten out. 
Cool for 20 minutes, then place uncovered in refrigerator 
for about 20 minutes to set. Transfer to a decorative platter.


01 January 2009

2008's greatest hits, volume two


So yesterday, I started a Greatest Hits of 2008 list and I ran the first part of my list. Well here's the other half. Pardon the self-indulgence, but it's a holiday.


So as I look back on 2008, I'm looking forward to the challenge and adventure that awaits in 2009. I wish all of you the best for a happy, healthy and successful new year.

Kitchen and Residential Design

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