The temperature is finally dropping close to freezing at night here in Rome, which is actually one of my favorite times of the year. I love keeping the fireplace going and burrowing under a pile of warm blankets on the bed, and most of all I love winter foods. I thought a very hearty soup…
A friend of mine hosts a Christmas cocktail party for his staff and their families at his home each year, with his son as the bartender. He is in the throes of organizing this year’s party, and as we talked about how the event would all come together, it gave me the idea for this…
“Less is more” certainly seems to be the dictum guiding many of this year’s Thanksgiving Table features—and our final two tables in the series are no exception. Armed with simple dinnerware donated by West Elm, photographer Matt Armendariz and blogger Jennifer Hagler have designed beautiful, minimalist Thanksgiving tables that fall on opposite sides of the “monochrome”…
Last week, we relaunched our Thanksgiving Table series and asked some of our favorite artists, designers, and bloggers to send us their interpretations of the classic Thanksgiving table. To prove that you can get creative even with the most basic items (and to add a little bit of a challenge to the mix), West Elm gifted each…
Thanksgiving is synonymous with pie, to me. I know a lot of people think of turkey, but I think of sweet potato pie. Yes, I am in the sweet potato pie, not pumpkin pie, camp as that is what was always served in my family at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I try each Thanksgiving to feature…
There’s no denying that we have a sweet tooth here at Design Sponge. Dessert is definitely my favorite part of Thanksgiving, and most holidays. A pie or cake are also easy dishes to bake and take if you’re a guest during the holidays, or even if you just want one (or a selection!) for your…
Ever since I discovered Dabito’s blog, Old Brand New, I’ve been an unwavering, obsessive fan of his work. A graphic designer by day and a photographer/thrifter/decorator/super hero by night, Dabito has a killer eye for composition and light that lends itself to stunning photos and interiors. Both sophisticated and playful, Dabito’s interiors pair modern simplicity with…
Thanksgiving kid’s tables can be a little bit controversial at times. On one hand, you don’t want to alienate the youngsters and make them feel unwelcome amongst the adults, but on the other—sometimes you just want to enjoy the company and conversation of your more grown-up friends! I know that personally, whenever I was placed…
Last year, when tasked with the duty of coming up with a Thanksgiving Table for Design*Sponge, lifestyle expert Eddie Ross didn’t hold back. His lustrous turquoise and gold table was a veritable cornucopia of ornate splendor, spilling over with Ross’s trademark mixture of new and old, classic and modern. This year, however, Eddie has found…
Susan and William Brinson (of the fabulous House of Brinson) share something in common with me. We are all totally out of our minds and just purchased scary old fixer-upper homes in Upstate New York. For anybody who is in the midst of a large-scale home renovation (or just struggling to make their living space—er—livable), having people over or…
I love being able to feature non-American cuisine on this column as a reflection of how I myself eat, but also because I think there is so much out there to taste and try, I hope to inspire our readers to be as curious as I am. Bethany Kehdy, the blogger behind Dirty Kitchen Secrets…
Let’s be real—Thanksgiving, for all of its familial merrymaking, can be pretty darn stressful. Between trying not to scorch the turkey and making sure uncle Ralph doesn’t drink too much bourbon like last year, it can be easy to forget about the little things. Little things like setting the table, perhaps! In an effort to…
I have tried for so long to get some traditional British cooking here on the column and finally I’ve done it! We have over the years had the Eton Mess, the traditional English meal, and today we have bacon and thyme Yorkshire puddings, by blogger Izy from Top with Cinnamon. I love the tutorials that…
I have managed to be swept into the cocktail fold by virtue of editing and producing the Behind the Bar column. I have started to taste new spirits, and have started exploring any cocktails made with ginger beer, starting with my favorite Dark and Stormy. I was therefore quite enticed when Talmadge from Pharmacie sent…
Kylie Antolini, the blogger behind The Baking Bird, put together a recipe for a honey thyme apple crisp this week to celebrate the arrival of autumn and to give an alternative to the typical apple pie recipe you’d expect to see this time of year. Kylie also chose the crisp because it’s quicker than apple…
If you’re anything like me, Halloween has a tendency of sneaking up on you like Freddie Kruegar in a nightmare. One minute, you’re installing your air conditioner in May and all of the sudden —BOOM— there are trick-or-treaters at your door. I have no idea how this keeps happening to me (early-onset dementia, perhaps?), but…
A few weeks ago, we ran a recipe for a Monte Cristo sandwich with fried egg, and I shared a bit of my own personal enthusiasm for the versatility of the egg. This week’s recipe for baked eggs by Food52′s Amanda Hesser, takes eggs back to basics, presenting them in one of the simplest ways…
Biscuits. I don’t think this week’s post needs any other intro! OK, so maybe just a few words… This week’s recipe for classic buttermilk biscuits is the family recipe of Carrie Morey, owner of Callie’s Charleston Biscuits (named after her mother, Callie White). The recipe is the centerpiece of her new cookbook, A true southerner,…
“The idea for the magazine Kinfolk,” Nathan Williams writes in his introduction to The Kinfolk Table, “was born in the course of trying to describe those evenings spent with friends when the hours pass effortlessly, conversation flows naturally, cooking is participatory, and the evening ends with a satisfying sense of accomplishment.” We’ve been huge fans of Kinfolk ever…
This week, we’ve been sharing some non-traditional takes on one of our favorite parts of Halloween: carved pumpkins! On Monday, we featured blogger Molly Madfis’ glamorous gemstone-patterned jack-o-lanterns. On Tuesday, we shared the embroiderer extraordinaire, Jessica Marquez’s carved pumpkin, a design inspired by a Danish pattern. Today, it is with great pleasure that we present…
