Elle Ji's Profile

I like starting my steel-cut oats the night before on the stove. After toasting the oats in a little butter and adding the liquid, I bring them to a boil and let them cook to the point of just thickening. Then I leave them covered on the stove all night. In the morning, they have absorbed the water and milk and just need reheating. For a treat I snip dried apple rings, prunes or apricots into them during that initial cooking, and a sprinkling of mace is lovely too.

I have been using David Tanis's version from A Platter of Figs for years, and I agree with him that you just can't hurry polenta. The flavor mellows tremendously in that hour of cooking. His recipe makes so much that there is plenty leftover for breakfast and even another dinner. If you're going to spend the time making it, may as well make a lot. The enormous amount of butter might have something to do with why it's so good...

A++++++++++++. Kristin nailed it when she said that surrounding the family with the beauty of art in all its forms provides inspiration for all who live there, in everything they do. Our kids have said the same of our house--that their surroundings, whether art, books or music, collected though life, affect them profoundly in the way they think and act when they are out in the world. Proof that we need soul in our homes! Visually-sensitive people seem to do this instinctively.

Absolutely. Bloody. Perfect. You are a truly gifted designer, and we are all responding to it! This is how mixing periods is supposed to look! Unique, personal, not a bit trendy, and so fresh. Thank you!

My parents don't drink, but we kids drink like fish. We picked up our love of '50s alcohol culture on visits to our grandparent's. At their house, there was a special chime to play for Happy Hour. Gramp would get home at 5:05 from the car dealership and make cheap scotch and sodas or gin&tonics for himself and Granny, and bring me gimlets, which were somehow considered a baby drink to them. How great they tasted as I sat listening to Sinatra records on the Hi-fi. Happy Hour is alive and well in all our houses to this day, though on weekends mainly. Classic, top-drawer cocktails made with Gramp's old Bar Boy jigger are the drinks of choice.

Tyler--nice El Cam on your website! You have done extraordinarily well to let go of your mod tendencies and partner with K on this gorgeous place. Key to domestic harmony. What a joyful statement this house makes, with quality at its heart. I would ditch my dreams of a case study house for this gem any day of the week. Fantastic work guys!

Divine througout! That archway makes me want to blast Pink Martini and get the party started. We have family in Denver, so we'll drop in next time we're in town. Oh, and I prefer Botanivore Gin, it if's not too much trouble...

If you're lucky enough to have your own rhubarb (my great-great-grandmother's is finally producing in my yard where I heeled some in two falls ago), the season keeps going till fall. And you're dead right, that syrup is glorious mixed with vermouth and seltzer while you're making a lovely spring dinner. A kind of home-grown aperitif likened to Aperol ro Campari. City folks, try growing some in a big pot on the fire escape. May take a while to bear but the leaves are gorgeous. Just don't eat 'em!

The matzo is inspired! And I should think saltines' saltiness would be most welcomed here. I remember separating those peanut butter layers of the Little Debbie's when I was little and sprinkling them with salt. No reason not to lightly salt each layer of peanut butter with a little kosher salt, maybe even some cayenne if you're feeling frisky. The texture of the matzo still seems most like the original wafers. I'd never eat a Little Debbie now (well, maybe if you paid me. Actually, no), but I'm fixing to make these.

Chad, you sure were in the right place at the right time when they were throwing out Trudy. She's my favorite Getty image of all time. Great re-purposing for the old gal! Hope your head can fit through the garage door after all these, ahem, comments. Perhaps you should think about getting an agent. Amusing reading, anyway. Even your dog got hit upon!