Issue #28: Your Castle in the Sky
Recipes for Scorching Days, Linen Pant-a-Palooza, and Good News.
It’s a balmy 78 degrees but I’m writing this missive under the refuge of an umbrella sipping an icy Arnold Palmer in the garden at the Cooper Hewitt. Almost exactly a year ago, I boarded the Amtrak from Boston to NYC to see a Broadway show with my friend who lived in the city. Before I headed home the following evening, I wound up in this very spot writing + sipping + daydreaming away, about a life where this could be my “usual” reality.
I could see it now! Me! Walking down the street swinging a casual yet totally chic tote carrying my laptop with which I’d inevitably start the book I’ve been daydreaming about since… I don’t even know how long… I’d turn the corner just before reaching the corner of 5th, where I’d waltz through the iron gates of the former Carnegie Mansion. I’d plop myself (and my chic tote) down onto one of the outdoor tables that look out at the historic and grand Church of Heavenly Rest — a quite peaceful spot to rest indeed — and type away. Finally, living my dream life.
Except, I’ve been living tucked away mere blocks from this city refuge on a tree-lined Upper East Side street since September and have visited it… not once.
This morning, I found myself nursing the blues and imposing life questions that come after a trip that seems to reinvigorate you + change life as you know it all at once, and felt a magnetic pull to visit this enchanting green square from the summer before.
I walked up to 90th, took a left, ordered my drink, and found myself living the life I had imagined indeed. My fantasy was a reality!
I was even carrying a Provencal market bag I picked up on my travels and find to be quite chic, thank you very much.
Life is taunting us constantly to look at what we no longer want, what we desperately just absolutely without a doubt need, the greener grass, begging us to do + want + achieve more more more!
How often do we take a breath and think, “I’m living my dream life right now.”
I’m sitting in the garden writing. I’m married to a person who loves me more than the moon. I live in an environment where I can smell hydrangeas greet the summer wind.
What is your castle in the air dream?
Is there a chance your castle is already being built, brick by brick? Presently firmly planted on your side of the yard?
Your dream life doesn’t simply appear one day out of thin air.
A life well lived demands we keep our eyes open, insists that we kiss the ring of the Universe when we look up and see the proverbial magnificent cathedral right in front of us, right here, often right in this very second, begging us to awaken to it.
Good to be back,
Kayli
The Garden at the Cooper Hewitt.
In the Garden at Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild // Hôtel Amour Beach in Nice // A Cappuccino at Paloma Beach // In the Mountainous Village of Èze
Since we arrived back in Manhattan, the temps have been climbing into the 90’s and when you zip out the door it feels like you’ve been immersed in a walk-in shower, except, you’re fully clothed with 8.3 million other people.
Needless to say, the more nights a week I can keep our oven off the better!
Luckily, I have a stash of zero-heat (or low-heat) recipes I keep in my arsenal.
Aaron and I both go absolutely feral for Gwyneth Paltrow’s Cucumber Avocado Soup. It has been a staple in our house since
recommended her cookbook, It’s All Good (Amazon, Bookshop), to us, + along with numerous other recipes in there, has been a hit! Serve alongside some sauteed zucchini flowers or thick sourdough slices of pan con tomate.A Caprese Salad - it isn’t groundbreaking, but it is mouthwateringly delicious with juicy in-season tomatoes. In the past, I’ve served it with a grilled lean chicken breast.
I’ve yet to meet a gazpacho that I didn’t like! While I use the extra veggie-packed recipe in the Vermont Country Store Cookbook, this one from Gimme Some Oven looks extremely similar + just as tasty! I usually serve it alongside a side salad or a lemony piece of pan-fried cod.
I took an eight-week pottery class where I spent my Tuesday mornings making lumpy small dishes, but it didn’t matter; I enjoyed mushing my fingers into the clay + attempting to make something by hand. Turns out, that creating them was good for me in more ways than one.
I love seeing that a county in my home state is making it easier for differently-abled people to hit its gorgeous trails!
And then my new city (finally) giving our public library their funding back? Okay, slaaay.
Improv comedy can make us laugh so hard we pee our pants, but its power doesn’t stop there — it can also help resolve conflicts.
The Beach Ball Sour from Torch & Crown is the perfect summer sip. Sour, refreshing, easy to drink.
This online market helps you to support refugee entrepreneurs. Amazing! Here are some of the folks you’d be supporting.
Invest in these splash guards as an “I’m Sorry” gift to your stovetop, microwave, and everything else you’ve splattered oil over in your kitchen.
I have these cropped linen pants in both red + white and they are perfect for hot summer days. Stylish yet comfortable without screaming “on my way to the gym.”
We saw Caravaggio paintings throughout Rome on our honeymoon + each one stopped us in our tracks. This article explains how he destroyed (and saved) the art.