Fall Food - and Halloween Spider Treats

Irwin Weiner ASID - Happy Halloween, all you gremlins, ghosts, and ghouls out there in the blogosphere! We wanted to give a nod to everyone who's feverishly planning their party costumes (I just dropped a bundle on accessories to go with my 1980s-themed costume - and they're pretty hideous, if I do say so myself).

But "not hideous" is the concept of eating seasonally - eating what's grown locally and deliciously natural to celebrate the season. (No fair splurging on out-of-season food that's been jetted-in from Timbuktu, with a carbon footprint the size of Manhattan.) Carpe Season is a food blog that celebrates seasonal food, like the delicious Corn Chowder with Chilies (see top photo) ... and Minnesota blogger Liz has a way of photographing and writing about favorite recipes that she discovers in cookbooks. Check out her Fall Menus to enjoy some seasonally-appropriate food with a twist - I also loved her My Fall Cooking Playlist (music she likes to play while cooking during this gloriously crisp season) - and enjoy the following video with the Carpe Season duo of Liz and her husband Eric creating some spookily delicious (and totally junk food) Halloween Spider Treats!

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Favorite Fire Pits to Keep You Toasty Warm in Autumn

Irwin Weiner ASID - People living in all different types of climate areas are making increased use of outdoor living spaces to extend the entertainment, relaxation, and hangout options of their homes. Fire pits help to bring warmth, coziness, beauty, and an exciting focal point to patios, pools, and backyards. We've picked some of our favorite pre-made fire pits from the outdoor furniture specialists at Home Infatuation. (You can build your own pit, of course, but sometimes it's easier to order a stylish pre-made model, like the Ak47 Design Zero Outdoor Fire Pit in the top photo.)

Barefoot Beach Fire Pit from Artisan Rick Wittrig

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Ghost Nest Customizable Cabinet Knobs

Irwin Weiner ASID - We like home goods that are simple, beautiful, well made, and utilitarian. I guess you could say that Ghost Nest makes products that fit those rigid criteria as their customizable cabinet knobs - or "pulls" - are definitely useful, they're durable (as shown in the torture test video below), and simple in their no-nonsense acrylic way. The beauty element comes into the custom image, round or square, that you can have inserted into your own knob or pull. Here are some custom photo knobs, for instance, that look great for a closet or mud room space, perfect for hanging up all the family caps, dog leashes, and coats. 

Decorating for the holidays is done in a subtle way, too. Try changing some of your drawer or cabinet pulls or give festive new life to an old chest of drawers by switching out everyday knobs for holiday themed pulls (see top photo).

Check out the Ghost Nest website for pre-made artist knobs - including some cool Halloween and Zombie themed knobs ... but the real fun is having GN customize your image onto the knobs. Try turning your kids and teens loose designing their own knobs!

I can see taking wallpaper fabric or color swatches from wall paint and carrying out patterns and colors into your furniture hardware. Wallpaper fabric knobs against the wallpaper - pattern on pattern - would be ideal for

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STEVENSON Unveils New Art from Conrad Botes

Irwin Weiner ASID - On a recent visit to my native Cape Town, South Africa, we visited the ever-changing Woodstock neighborhood. Once a bit on the seedy side, its small factory, warehouse, and shop spaces are being taken over by designers, artists, and galleries. One gallery we visited was STEVENSON, and the fantastic Conrad Botes exhibition "The Temptation to Exist." Botes twists traditional religious beliefs and posits a world where God creates the human race as a vile byproduct ... well, I won't get too specific, but it's not quite appetizing. What IS delicious, however, are his self portraits and other works showing tattoo-like markings that reminded us of Basquiat and Keith Haring. In the South African artist's visual parlance, however, they represent "the ideology and hatred that inevitably contaminate the human condition." We spent quite awhile admiring Botes' sculpture, painting on canvas, and reverse-glass paintings.

 

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