Unsettling Times

Life Goes On When the Sky Falls

There are a number of economic and political ways to explain what has happened to our economic system, nationally and internationally. And there are, likewise, multiple ways to respond to this situation that faces most all of us.

Downsizing a Standard of Living

With out any doubt, we are facing a decline, even if temporary, in a standard of living in the US and worldwide. Yes, there are people who are insulated somewhat in the US and elsewhere because of their type of jobs, with assets even a disaster can't erase, but let's face it: we are all in this together.

Could I sensibly argue that now is the time to spend money on remodeling, building, and interior design?

No, that would be the opposite of what our clients are doing---they are doing nothing extra and neither are we. Yes, we are personally and professionally experiencing a dramatic slowdown, and as a result are leaving behind some of our assets and investments. Yet, we are also experiencing something else: a sense of calm, renewed focus on friends and family and an appreciation for what is around us.

Upsizing the Quality of Living
Here's what we are doing, as life goes on, and of course, it does keep moving:
1. Holding Dinner parties at home instead of eating out.
2. Bringing an Orchid plant to our city condominium, instead of bouquets.
3. Adding A small pot of an herb, we have thyme, at the moment.
4. Expressing thanks and appreciative of what is in our lives -- people and nature and culture.
5. Viewing Foreign films for half the price of the commercial movies.
6. Reading books, borrowed from friends, and the library.
7. Volunteering to help others.
8. Finding joy in each day.

So we wish you the same enthusiasm for an enhanced quality of life that we are pursuing, and while you are at it -- rearrange that room, move accessories to a different spot, start to use that living room -- turn off the TV and add conversation.

Guests in our Home

Guests: Invited and Wanted

This does not mean that guests are wanted as in a search warrant is out for their arrest. Instead, there is a way to show guests they are welcome, because we are enjoying their visit as well. It takes organization, smart thinking about how to entertain, and being at ease ourselves.

Invitation to our Homes

Such a long time now since we have posted to the blog, time does go by so fast, but we can report we have been practicing living well, with friends in our home, and dinner parties, future dinners that were auctioned for a fine educational charity on the Big Island through the creativity and generosity of the Ohana Foundation established by the residents of Hualalai for the benefit of employees, their families, and other service providers at the resort.

So on the way home from this last fundraising event, in which two groups bid and won a dinner for eight at our Waimea White House, each bidding over $4,000.00 then we asked ourselves, what do you serve for a four thousand dollar dinner? We have the menu already planned, will tell you about it when the events take place (don't want to spoil the surprise), but it will be such fun to have eight people around our teak kitchen table, enjoying fresh produce and delicious food, all with laughter and goodwill.

The last two ingredients are definitely part of any menu. It all depends on how well planned the hosts can be, how uncomplicated but delicious the food, and the guest list. These may not be the typical aspects of a cookbook, but that's a secret we are sharing with you. Be relaxed and prepared and guests will enjoy the experience with fond memories and so will you.

Weddings as Wonderful Events

We also over the last lengthy interval since the last posting have had a wedding at Waimea White House, as well as the reception dinner. The celebration event was for wonderful friends, here from France and so their families and close friends came from Europe.

I performed the wedding, yes, I have that license, and we also gave the dinner as a gift. It was well organized, I can report, with anti-pasta styled appetizers already prepared and ready to serve on large platters, with grilled vegetables, including red peppers, marinated artichokes, hummus, and crostini (prepared from thin slices of french bread, dried in the oven at a low temperature, then stored in an airtight container and in the case of Hawaii with a higher humidity, in the refrigerator until needed).

The main course was a pork ragu, prepared over the week before, then frozen, defrosted the day before the wedding, and heated on the stove top in cast iron dutch oven pots. We also served quartered potatoes cooked and browned in the oven with rosemary twigs from the garden, plus asparagus.

This was blanched quickly in salted boiling water, then drained, shocked in ice cubes for a few minutes, drained, and cut into two inch pieces. Put into a container these were kept cold into the refrigerator, then quickly sauteed in a pan with butter, as guests enjoyed the appetizers.

There was a simple cheese course, and then the desert was frozen small cream puffs ( yes, from Costco), still partially frozen with warm homemade raspberry sauce (made ahead and frozen then defrosted and warmed) and chocolate sauce, also warm.

The wedding and dinner for approximately twenty people, was nicely organized --there was no way to perform the ceremony and at the same time be in the kitchen cooking! Everyone had a lovely time, and we all felt like guests at a wonderful wedding.

Go Away World

I recently read an advertisement for a gated community in Hawaii of residential lots and homes that used this phrase "Go Away World." I suspect the advertisement was trying to reach and appeal to people who want privacy and to be left alone, so suggesting as a solution to buy a lot in a gate guarded community. To each his own, of course, but there are ways to both have guests, including wedding guests, as well as treat ourselves as guests. There's a secret to that as well, and it doesn't require a lock and key on the front entry gate.

Treat Yourself as a Guest

Even in our own homes, we can find ways to treat ourselves as guests, from planning time to just relax, not do chores, have a plate of fresh fruit and cheese in the refrigerator ready to enjoy, all that kind of thing.

Of course for many of us, there are always chores or paperwork to do that keep us from relaxing at home, even if we have outside or live-in help. Personally, I feel like an international housekeeper sometimes, since as we travel from location to location to meet with clients, I also get my indoor aerobic exercise from cleaning and outside from gardening. No, I don't travel with a "swiffer" in my brief case, but there are lots of opportunity to clean.

Clean is good, so is uncluttered since when our homes, including our private spaces such as dressers and bathroom cabinets, are clean and presentable, its also more relaxing and enjoyable to read a book, enjoy simple delicious food, lounge on a sofa with conversation with others , and enjoy the garden.

Get Away Weekend at Home

For so long, the get away weekend was a way to leave the endless list of chores and half completed tasks behind, at least out of sight for a few days. Now with travel more expensive, cumbersome, and delayed, the secret is to find ways to relax at home and to stay longer at a second residence. For the latter, it means for our clients that there are fully functional resort homes, with good chairs and sofas for comfortable sitting, good lighting for reading, beautiful interiors that are on a parallel with the main house, all of these kinds of thing.

To relax at home is perhaps something new for many people, but with a well kept home, good interiors, comfortable furniture (Its amazing how many clients have never experienced a wonderful sofa that is supportive but also comfortable; we have used the same manufacturer for these kinds of sofas and chairs for nearly thirty years.)

With a comfortable and attractive home, you can enjoy inviting friends over for lunch, to play croquet, have a sing-a-long, afternoon tea, brunch, and a stroll through the neighborhood park.

All of these can be wonderful ways to treat others and ourselves as guests.

Then again to be a guest in your own home, without company, can be delightful too. The idea and secrets shared are to enjoy your life, treat others as guests in your home, and treat yourself the same way, as a guest who is welcomed, treated well, enjoys the beauty of the personal surrounds, and is refreshed by it all.

Be your own guest at home, welcome others the same way too. That will add to your life as it does to ours.

A New Year in Waimea

Sun with Liquid Sunshine
The days are cooler, especially at night, in Waimea where we have the seasonal rain (liquid sunrise) so that an evening meal of soup is often appealing. I made a good chicken stock from a rotisserie chicken, after slicing the breast for a luncheon salad.

• Simply put the bones in a deep pot with cold water to cover,


• add some celery (I often use the leafy top of the ribs (we often call them stocks) along with carrots, roughly chopped, along with a bay leaf or two.


• Bring the pot over medium heat to a simmer and turn the heat down to low. After several hours, the stock will be a nice golden color.


• Let it cool, refrigerate overnight, spoon off the fat that has hardened on the surface.

With this stock, there are so many good soups. Vegetable soup is one: saute chopped onions, carrots, and celery ( a traditional french mixture called mire poix) along with fresh parsley if you have it, which is one of the nice things to grow in garden pots. When the onions are translucent, cool the mixture, add some of the chicken stock and puree with a hand held wand or in a blender or food processor. Add more chicken stock, reheat, turn off the heat for a few minutes, add seasoning, including a few drops of fresh lemon juice.

Other soups and even cooking pasta in the stock are variations. Yes, cooler days even on the Kohala Coast lend themselves to relaxing evenings enjoying the sunset and with nourishing meals. Include a spinach salad, a chilled white wine, french bread, and a fruit dessert with a few drops of a liquor, and you can easily prepare a dinner for friends or treat yourself.

A Balancing Act: Soup to Furniture to Spirit
Whether its soup to finish a day with a larger lunch or many other aspects of our lives, a balance is a delightful way to live. In furnishings, its interesting, because editing and creating harmony produces a wonderful room and home for us all. We have reorganized client's homes on occassion, moving accessories and furniture from one room to another, eliminating some items too. In a luxury model home, we were asked to finish what another designer had done and the results were very pleasing by using editing, balance, and rearranging.

On a personal level, socializing with friends but also going for a walk alone or with a companion in shared silence creates a balance in life, as does exercise and relaxing.

Food, both the simple and elaborate, is another example. Our lives are filled with these balances and there are opportunities everyday to practice this secret of good living and a life of goodwill and thoughtfulness.

Recuperating

Self-Care
It may not be so fashionable to mention having a cold virus, but indeed that was my unexpected, and of course unwanted, present for Christmas. Certainly we all have times of being under the weather, and it was my turn.
So it is chicken soup, good rest, and as I have gotten somewhat better, short walks. But it is remaining on a schedule of going to bed on time, drinking lots of liquids, and reading that gets me through. I will admit, readily, that I am not over this one, even after three weeks and visits to several doctors along the way, as we traveled during December and now January.
Tranquility and Peacefulness
Now how does an interior designer rest? Of course by reading design magazines and books, mostly we enjoy Southern Accents and Canadian House and Home, these days.
Also I enjoy simple meditation, by relaxing and thinking calm thoughts and gentle breathing. Its not mysterious or culturally based, but just follows the principles of relaxation.
Wishes
Comfortable surroundings are appreciated on an everyday basis and yes even when we are recuperating. I like our Honolulu apartment with its harmony of golden marble floors, walls a bit deeper, chaises in a nice chenille, and four lovely paintings we have collected.
Wishing you good health and goodwill to share in the New Year, this year 2008.

Traveling Over the Holidays

Away from Home
There is always the excitement of going somewhere away from home, even with the fatigue of travel by air or road or sea. For us this time of year, it is a trip to Victoria and Vancouver, both in British Colombia, Canada. We often travel through Seattle, stay overnight, often to listen to jazz and have a nice dinner, a good night's sleep, and then by boat to Victoria. It is the leisure mixed with the rigor of travel that is a secret of living well.* Do you agree?

*That plan went well, though we have to say an overnight flight from Honolulu to San Francisco is never my favorite but I try to eat well before the trip, eat moderately on the plane, even in first class. All went well, but in Seattle it was cold and rainy so we chose to skip the jazz and have an early dinner. Sharing a main course at the well known gourmet group of restaurants (whose initials at this downtown Seattle location are PK) and each having an appetizer was a good idea, not too heavy, though the main course of butternut squash ravioli with cream sauce was just too rich, would have been better with beurre noisette, a lightly browned butter sauce, but that becomes an inspiration for cooking at home.
New Year's Resolutions: Food as Art
There was a time when I made resolutions and was successful at keeping them too. Now I focus on the same resolutions but with variations on a theme, so make effort to keep them even before the new year. Eating well is part of my French heritage so this evening it was a nice onion soup, with frozen organic green beans mixed with the onion slices sauteed to a slight golden color. I removed about 3/4 of the green beans with some of the cooked onions for another day, then used organic chicken stock in a carton, strained after simmered with the onion cuttings including the onion skin which add a nice flavor and coloring.
A few thin slices of Gruyere cheese to float on top of each filled soup bowl, with a bagel crouton made a fine main course, after a simple appetizer of pickled carrots (just put small baby carrots into the remaining brine from a jar of pickles or pickled vegetables), a few vegetables, and a plump green olive. A tart, acidic appetizer stimulates the appetite, a nice secret to remember as well.
So it is the combination of heavier celebration food balanced by simple but delicious home cooking, or at times food preparations found in small restaurants, that makes for a wonderful holiday season.
For New Year's Eve, we are celebrating at the Union Club in Victoria, with formal attire and what is sure to be a wonderful dinner and champagne celebration. (I always think of the nifty books by Mireille Guiliano, French Women for All Seasons and French Women Don't Get Fat,
when I think of champagne and celebrating by balanced eating and exercise).
The Simple and the Intricate
Whether its food or furnishings, there is something wonderful about combining natural parts with sophisticated aspects. More on the design part of this in future reports. We wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year in Living Well.

Living Well

A New Beginning: Shared Ideas for Living Well

This is a start of an open journal, a notebook really, to be shared, with ideas on living well. That is really what our 30 plus year business in interior design, in Carmel, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Seattle, Washington, and now for 10 years in Hawaii, is all about: Living Well and Creating Homes with Harmony and Beauty for our Clients, where they can relax, entertain, find harmony, and live well.

Expression of Thanks
At this time of year, it is expressing thanks for friendships, family, faith, and freedom. In this new year of 2008, we will explore ways that we have developed to entertain with style and ease, design the interior and gardens of homes with sophistication.

Our professional and personal desire is to share the secrets of living well that we have developed. We are grateful for the inspiration, advise, and creativity of our many interior design clients who have added to our own lives and creativity.

So, here is to 2008 as a year of sharing goodwill, good spirit, thoughtfulness and in a manner expressive for each of us in living well, with creativity and thankfulness for life.

Eventful Lives
Excuse delays and irregular entries, for we are working with projects in early January in
Canada, then visiting with family in Newport Beach, then returning to Hawaii to create the homes that our clients dream about -- their retreats and social spaces, their homes in Hawaii.
For a preview, take a look at our design website: http://www.furnishingsllc.com/ which features homes throughout Hawaii.