Messiness
Miami, Chamomile Pear Crumble, Hosting, Yellow Passionfruit, and Turkey Salad.
It’s 2:53pm on Tuesday, December 2nd and I’m on a flight to Miami. I’m heading out for an event during Art Basel and staying a bit longer than necessary to get some sun and relax which I hope I don’t regret.
I’ve been moving around a lot in the past two months - Maine, L.A., CT, up and around NY. We’ve done events in New Canaan for Design within Reach, The North Fork for Olson Kundig, Uptown for Spanx/La Ligne, Soho for Faherty and Rebecca Taylor, Brooklyn for Salomon, L.A. for an NDA’d client, Queens for a wedding; and now I’m en route for one of our last events of the year in Miami.
I’ve very recently recovered from a cold that had lasted over 5 weeks (in and out). It felt untimely and I’ll spare you from the conspiracies I’d drafted around it because the truth is its extension was from the fact that I didn’t give it - or myself - the time to heal and rest. I went down with a fever in Maine and rested for a solid 48 hours (by necessity and not choice) but then I bussed and planed and worked and rushed and did all the things that a typical Fall asks of me, or rather I ask of myself.
The cold did however give me some reflection in terms of what steps I need to take to create a sustainable business/life. I need to be able to take sick days, or weeks, if need be. My current structure is self-imposed - a lot of me - something I never intended to do - in fact I tried to make a point to not make this business solely about me. I knew I wanted Spilt Milk to exist horizontally, working through the hands of many.
Despite The Cold, work has felt quite structured, because I’m on it (with my wonderful assistant, Chloe), all the time. The rest of life however has felt a bit messy. Winter feels like a time for messy soups, and cancelling plans, and maybe doing it later - for little (or big) colds, and sleeping in, and loud radiators that hiss and clang. I guess every season has it’s messiness, summer the stickiness of sweat and sting of salt water on razor burn, spring has it’s dirt and grass stains and unpredictable weather, fall is for getting blind sighted by the darkness that comes earlier than expected every year and rushing to get it together in time. It’s all exactly as it should be. It’s whimsical and divinely perfect just as it is, just like us. I find myself wanting to put everything in a box, to structure it, clean it up, I wonder why this is? Perhaps it’s a distrust or discomfort with letting go of control, or maybe that just adds to the messy perfection of it all.
Anyways I’m heading to Miami, my schedule slathered with events and random work tasks I’m hoping to finish before the year ends. I Tetris around the tasks in my schedule and slot in “BEACH DAY” and then move it around again. I’ll land right where I’m supposed to.
In other news I hosted my family and some close friends for thanksgiving this year. Not a fan of the history of the holiday but it felt incredibly special to hold the people I love in my apartment.
I made a fennel and preserved lemon turkey, a pink radicchio salad with castelvetranos, citrus zest and pecorino; smashed potatoes with creme fraiche and pickled mustard seed, and brothy lemony white beans. For dessert I got a butternut squash meringue pie from Thea, and I made a chamomile pear crumble. My friends Mads, Jared, and Zyah brought a peanut butter pie and pumpkin cream cake. My sister brought the best chocolate chip cookie you’ll ever have. My parents helped a LOT and my Grandpa and I had words.
Okay I’m going to drop this before I sit on it too long, feel free to send an MIA recs my way - food and “self-care” specifically..
x Z
And cookie recipe pls 🍪
❤️ brothy beans- recipe pls-