Nordic Winter Party

Melissa, stay focused. I tell myself. Maybe just stick with recipes or design or writing. You’re all over the place. Or don’t. The or don’t seems to keep winning, as if I have no control over what I do. (I do.) Because we just threw a party, hosting the first annual Nordic Winter Party in the Twin Cities, hopefully the first of many. These parties have happened before on a very, small intimate scale, and the consensus after each is that we need more things like this in winter. More low-key, merrymaking gatherings to look forward to. Places to connect with something warm to drink and cozy to eat.  Read more

I’m pretty bad at goodbyes. I’m also the last one to leave every party or gathering. Wrapping things up isn’t my forte. I’m best at lingering. As I watch the cursor blink, blink, blink, bumming a desk space at the studio as I write this post, I’m having trouble wrapping up this project too. The Pinch of Yum Studio, a project that began 6 months ago, has come to an end. I’ve learned so much, mostly learning how much I’ve yet to learn. What is it they say—the more you know, the less you really know? And yet, I’m so proud of what we created. And proud, too, that I took my own advice, to play, and figure out where The Faux Martha is headed in the future. OK, without any further awkward lingering at the front door, come on in. I’d love to walk you through the Pinch of Yum Studio Kitchen and Dining Room reveal, where the magic happens, especially that magic green sauce. (PS—Here’s the office tour in case you missed it.) Read more

Toasted Golden Oatmeal from The Faux Martha

I fell in love with a little prepackaged turmeric oatmeal cup on a trip to Seattle. Kev and I ate it in our hotel room every morning to save money. He’d bring up filtered water from the workout room, 3 floors down, where I swear I heard weights dropping to the ground at 5am. Bump, bump. Bump, bump. Bump, bump. We were still on central time, awake before the hotel and the city, before the sun and the birds. Read more

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Quiche from The faux martha

Every time I make a quiche, every time, my mind goes to the restored kitchen of a bed and breakfast, like this one. The one we dream about running when we’re old and grey, when our kids are young but grown, when a 10-inch quiche is too much for our table of two. I’ll stockpile handmade pie dough in the freezer and blind bake the crust each night. We’ll fill it with the freshest eggs and whatever else is in season.  Read more

Overnight Orange Cardamom Rolls

Like religion and politics and tradition, there comes a point in adulthood when you decide what to keep from childhood and what to revise and what to frame for a shelf. These questions go through rounds of editing when two become one and then three and almost four. The Coleman family Christmas traditions are a slurry of his, mine, and what is starting to become ours. But the overnight orange cardamom rolls and cutting down a tree and going on a carriage ride and decorating a gingerbread house and cookies, the new things, they all felt a little fraudulent at first, like trying on a romper when you’ve always worn jeans. Do they fit us right? Only time will tell. Read more

Sometimes, my yes is fast. Maybe too fast? A couple weeks before they asked the question, Kev and I were sitting on the kitchen counter talking about what’s next. I had finished designing our home and was itching to keep designing. Not a week later did our friends ask if I’d be interested in helping design their new studio space. “Yes!” I said without hesitation.

I thanked my lucky stars that Kimberly, who works with me, was along for a new ride without a paved road. Somehow, we did it. (I couldn’t have pulled this off without her.) Or without IKEA, who partnered with us to furnish the space. Or without Bjork and Lindsay, who believed in me enough to ask. And without further adieu, I’d love to share my fast yes and slow execution with you; the Pinch of Yum Office reveal is below. Thank you, too, for being along for my many rides—from dinnertime to the dinner table to the Pinch of Yum Studio. Read more

We’re really close to wrapping up the Pinch of Yum Studio design project, a project that started a whopping 6 months ago. A project that began with me asking a lot of personal and professional questions that seemed to keep running into each other, begging for answers. I took the one-word advice I’ve given to others with a pile of questions that need answering: Play. That’s just what I did. In this case, play looked like designing a space outside of my home, for a client other than myself and Kev, thankfully for friends. It’s been messy and amazing, fun and hard. I’ll tell you more about all this playing another day. A couple weeks ago, I shared the office design plans and the aesthetic for the studio. Later this week, I’ll share the final reveal of the office spaces (!). But today, I’m sharing the kitchen and dining room renderings. Read more

Simple Winter Cheese Board from The Faux Martha

We can do big, hard things. This is sort of becoming a mantra at our house. Though most of our big things are small things and our hard things are not-so-hard things, but they are for us. You know, things like saying good-bye to mom before getting on the bus to school, or planning ahead and using a calendar, or saying no instead of overcommitting. And then there are other big-hard things like making a cheese board for a party. Ask me to design a whole house, and I’ll leap with glee. But ask me to create a winter cheese board, and I’ll sweat faster than a cold block of cheese in a warm room. Read more

 
 
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