Some random music I’ve been obsessively listening to lately:

Luke Temple (of Hear We Go Magic) – Ophelia, from his upcoming solo album (yay!)

Beirut – Goshen. NPR is streaming Beirut’s amazing new album, The Rip Tide, and this song may be the loveliest song I’ve heard in a long time. It makes me swell with emotion, in a good way. This is inspiring me to make a mix of strictly very beautiful songs. Soon.

Thao & Mirah – Eleven. Despite owning ever Mirah album ever released, it took me forever to check out her collaboration with Thao. I don’t know why, I’m lazy? I’m forgetful? Either way, it’s now on constant rotation.

Thank you all for the wonderful responses to the blog redesign! I’m so glad you like it. As a token of my appreciation, how about the world’s greatest cookie recipe in return? When I say “the world’s greatest cookie recipe”, this ain’t no hyperbole my friends, this is the real deal. The holy grail of cookie recipes. The once in a lifetime chance to have access to what my friend Shirley describes to me as “The Only Chocolate Chip Cookie I Will Ever Need to Know How to Make For The Rest of My Life”.

Let’s step back for a second as a recipe like this don’t just show up on your doorstep unannounced. A few years ago, back when we were living in the Lower East Side, Will and I swapped apartments with some friends in Seattle (the greatest thing you can ever do for a vacation, by the way). Upon arriving at their apartment, we discovered an adorable plate of chocolate chip cookies set out for us that Shirley had baked, displayed in a way that would make Martha Stewart proud and any tired traveler thank the gods. See evidence below:

Not only did we inhale them (I couldn’t even wait to take the photo before inhaling one, obviously), but we discovered a bag of extra dough in the freezer, which we shamefully inhaled some of as well. Needless to say I found these cookies to be magnificent. They were the perfect consistency -not too cakey or soft, a little crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. Caramely and rich, with a sprinkle of sea salt on top. I dreamed about these cookies later. I dreamed about these cookies for almost three effing years until last weekend, trying to figure out what to bring to a potluck, the thought occurred to me to ask Shirley for the recipe. Why I didn’t ask sooner is beyond me. I guess maybe at the time I wasn’t really as into baking as I am now and I thought she just possessed magical skills that caused these cookies to be so good, rather than secret tricks. So I emailed her, and within hours I had the beast of a recipe below in my inbox. I asked her if I could share the recipe on my blog, let the secret out, and she said, “Of course. I don’t want anyone to deal with  a mediocre cookie ever again. Why? The tragedy can be avoided!” Indeed.

I’ve put Shirley’s recipe along with my own notes in italics. I baked two batches and tried different things, which I note below. (Best blog research ever?) Don’t let this recipe intimidate you. The only thing it requires is a little patience due to the refrigerating, and some planning to get everything at room temperature before you dive in. This is no “I want cookies in my mouth hole asap” recipe. This is a “I want the best damn chocolate chip cookies that have ever graced this earth and I am willing to practice some patience to get them in my mouth hole” recipe.

by Shirley Hendrickson, adapted from Leite Torres (Kate: I totally had this link and recipe wrong before, sorry about that!)

Secret 1: The use of a mix of cake flour and bread flour. Cake flour is finer, and bread flour has gluten, both important. Use them and no other.

Kate: I’m fairly certain this is one of the keys to this recipe being so great. It took me ages to find cake flour at my huge grocery store as it’s not super popular and they hid it on the top shelf that I had to have someone help me get down, but dig dig dig as it’s necessary!

Secret 2: Chilling. This is key — KEY! — to cookie texture success. The reason is that letting the dough rest allows all the eggs and the butter and the liquids to ooze and soak and hydrate into all the dry goodness. 24 hours is minimum, 36 is preferable (and noticeably better).

Also, the flavor gets crazy! Deep, caramel-y, toffee-y, and they bake up so much more deliciously brown. Plus, it lets the outside get crisp and crackly and keeps the middle almost underdone when you pull them out — they set up and turn into soft, chewy heaven.

Kate: I baked one batch after only four hours of chilling and they were great – like SO great people begged me for the recipe at the potluck. Then I tried 12 hours, 24 hours, and 36 hours. While 36 was DEFINITELY in-freaking-credible (so true about the caramel-y-ness), if you can only wait four hours, it won’t be the end of the world. This also makes SO many cookies that you could make half and then half later, like I did.

Secret 3: All ingredients. Room temperature. Do it. (Note: The misconception with room-temperature butter: it actually doesn’t mean letting it sit out until it’s supersoft and melty. You should be able to press a slice of butter with your finger and easily make a dent, and it should crack faintly.)

Secret 4: Did you know? People make their cookies way too small! It’s silliness! If you make them too small, they dry out too quick, and they get too crunchy. We want gooey and chewy! The way to achieve that is to scoop your dough out into golf-ball sized — or slightly larger — portions. I use a 1/3 c measuring cup for extra big cookies.

Secret 5: The chocolate. Sorry, Toll House. And don’t even think about the generic supermarket brand. I only use Ghiardelli 60% Cacao chips — they’re pretty widely available the best chips you can buy at a grocery store. However, if you run across anything that is 60% cacao, it’ll be good.

Secret 6: The sprinkle of salt on the top. Makes all the sweetness sing.

Secret 7: Wait. I mean, sure, have one piping hot out of the oven, but the flavors actually meld and deepen once they cool. These are definitely cookies that get better the next day.

Secret 7 1/2: Always err on taking them out too early rather than too late – also essential for middle-softness. They continue to cook on the sheet for a few minutes, so don’t overdo it – underdone is better than overdone, every time (and you can always pop them in for a minute more if you like).

Stick to these secrets, and you will ace chocolate chip cookies forever.

2 cups minus 2 Tbsp. (8 ½ oz.) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 ½ oz.) bread flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. coarse salt, such as kosher
2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups; 10 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups (10 oz.) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (8 oz.) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, preferably about 60% cacao content, such as Ghirardelli
Sea salt or kosher salt for garnishing

Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well; then set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. (Unless you have a plastic guard that sits around the rim of the bowl, this will make a big mess at first, with flour flying everywhere. I found that carefully holding a dish towel around the top of the bowl helped a lot.) Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly to incorporate. Press plastic wrap against the dough, and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator, and allow it to soften slightly. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

Using a standard-size ice cream scoop – mine holds about 3 fluid ounces, or about 1/3 cup – scoop six mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, making sure to space them evenly. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool a bit more.

Kate: my oven is a class-act pile of junk, so one batch was cooked at 400 for 15 minutes and I think it turned out the best! One was cooked at 300 for 25 and it was kind of mediocre. So, in my opinion, hotter and faster seems to be better. At least in my crazy oven.

Repeat with remaining dough.

Yield: About 24 (5-inch) cookies. Kate: Mine made more like 18. But I have a cookie dough eating problem.

Go forth and make cookies, people.

a neighborhood walk | first swim of the summer | dog blur | that California light | lemon tree | NYC-style pizza | retro soda | a wonderful gift | a little gibson tuck | a good face rub | an Asian feast with good friends

This weekend I felt the inspiration and creativity that had been drained from me in the past year flood back into me. I’m not sure exactly what caused it as there’s been so much change lately in my life, but everything feels like it’s settling into such a good place, and that feels amazing. I may be a few bucks shorter, but necessary resourcefulness makes me feel accomplished. It also felt like the first real weekend of summer to me, with a pool dip and a night of eating a feast under the stars with friends.

Hey guys, welcome to the new For Me, For You! I thought it was beyond time for a more professional looking facelift, especially with the timing of me striking out on my own in the design world. I want to thank Greg (Kristen’s husband!) for his work with the back-end – he did an amazing job and I so appreciate him helping me despite blog programming not being the usual small sized job he takes on.

There are still a few minor spacing things we’re fixing that you perfectionists may notice, but if you notice any major glitches let me know!

Thanks for your support, friends.

1. Pretty things in the new online shop Mrket.
2. I really want to try one of these Royal Rose simple syrups. They have such amazing flavors, like lavender-lemon and cardamon-clove.
3. A stunning look at Alaskian glaciers by Lisa Teso.
4. I really want this sweatshirt. It keeps creeping into my life from various sources, reminding me of its awesomeness. It’s the same brand that makes Will’s rad fish tank.
5. A good looking pair.
6. I love these cool rugs made from reclaimed materials by Home Terrain.

This week was a lot better. I’m settling into the feeling that this is the new normal, and allowing myself a little freedom here and there, which feels great, I almost feel spoiled. I like that I can get up at 7am and work til 4 and call it a day. Or that I can just take a few hours off and then pick back up later when I can. I try to ride my bike every day, and we’re getting to know this awesome neighborhood better. I finally met up with the lovely Jennifer for brunch at Square One, and Will and I explored Los Feliz more. Sure, the weekends have a different meaning now without the traditional M-F routine, but I’m learning to enjoy that. There are plans to go swimming on Saturday, and I’m nervous to pull out my bathing suit for the first time in a year…eep!

While our new neighborhood is certainly less eventful in the non-stop circus of crazy people department as Venice was, it still has it’s moments of colorfulness. Every night around 9pm a guy walks around with a boombox playing lovely jazz music. We’re not annoyed because it sounds so dang nice. It sounded so familiar to me but I couldn’t remember who it was, so I held my phone out the window last night and shazam‘d it. Isn’t technology amazing? We laughed forever about it. So, every night at 9am, this guys bumps some Yusef Lateef, and boy is it the best possible thing to force me to listen to.

After completing my first DIY desk using hairpin legs, I instantly dreamed about making a round dining table. I had to wait months until we moved, but I never stopped daydreaming about how perfect it would be, and even started buying supplies before we moved into the new place. Ian of hairpinlegs.com generously offered to send me some legs to make my day dreaming come true, and I was floored by his kindness. The legs came, just as beautiful and perfect as the last set, and I had to agonizingly wait to build the table while the stress of moving set in and plans were foiled week and after week. But alas! It’s finished, and it’s amazing.

I followed the same steps as last time, but this time practiced a little thing called patience and actually followed directions while staining – sand, stain, wait overnight, sand, stain again. Wait. Wait. Wait. Attach legs. Then of course the screws I had were too long and the thought of going back to the hardware store and waiting YET AGAIN destroyed me, so I just used bolts. You can see them from certain angles, but it doesn’t bother me one bit.

Then last week I found some fantastic vintage chairs for crazy, crazy cheap on craigslist and met a wonderful woman to pick them up and found out she has an Etsy shop and also sells at the Melrose Flea Market. How often do you meet cool, sane people off of craigslist? I have the most terrible craigslist luck and never find anything cool, so I was excited. The upholstery is in need of an upgrade, and seeing as my family owns an upholstery shop I think I can somehow swing that one of these days. We also have these amazing industrial metal pendant lamps that I really wanted to hang over the table, but those plans were ruined after we discovered that our ceiling is made of cake or something because no amount of trickery will get a screw to stay in that baby. Sad face.

Despite crushed lamp dreams and that semi-fug sage green wall I need to repaint soon (thinking a warm grey), I’m pretty excited about the dining area. It’s small, but cozy and perfect for two.

Details:
Round wood, 36″: Fisher (this was tough to track down! It was about $20)
Hairpin legs, 28″ 3-rod raw steel: hairpinlegs.com
Stain: Minwax PolyShades in Antique Walnut

I’m not sure how I forgot to mention this in Bits Of My Weekend, but my brain is all over the place right now, so, you know. On Saturday night we saw The Future at the ArcLight (I want to see every movie there now), followed by a Q&A with Miranda July and Hamish Linklater. Jessica is the one who tipped me off to this, and I’m SO glad she did. I actually had to BEG Will to come with me because he hates going to the movies, and ended up dragging his reluctant ass into the car to get there after a long day of work for him. The film ended and he turned to me and said, “That was the best movie I have seen in a long time. Thank you so much for making me come.” Score! I was jazzed. But it was true, the movie was amazing, the music was amazing (Jon Brion! I had no idea), everything was amazing. And then made even more amazing (so many amazings in this post) by seeing her talk afterward, which helped me separate her as a real person from her character. Although people asked the dumbest questions that made me squirm in my seat (the guy who lead the questions asked her to talk about the gender reversal of the cheating and betrayal that happened in the movie. As if only men cheat and betray? What does that even MEAN?!). Will also said that the movie made him love Wendy more and accept her issues after living in a vet clinic for six months. Which is so adorable it destroys me. Anyway, I can’t recommend it enough, and Miranda even gave out these rad buttons that I will cherish forever because I’m a dork like that.

plant nook | a comfy spot | homemade chai from my step mom | bang trim | bookshelf | a picnic in Elysian Park

Someone told me that freelancing would change the weekends for me, and it’s so true. Even though I’d been busy doing freelance on the weekends before, the lines between week and weekend mean nothing to me right now. I went to a lovely picnic on Sunday put on by wonderful internet people, and talked to other freelancers who said that you were always in work mode because you just can be. You can just stop working and go do something, and then randomly at night pick up where you left off. You don’t leave work at the office because everywhere is your office. I can see the pros and cons. I’d heard about this a lot and it’s interesting to actually experience it.

I would love to meet up with more freelancers in LA. It felt so great to talk to people on Sunday and realize what good advice and support is out there.

But despite the always-on mentality, I did slow down this weekend a bit and had a good time. Being on the east side is proving to be pretty great, being closer to friends. I also baked the world’s most amazing cookies after being gifted the world’s most amazing recipe, and I can’t wait to share it with you guys.

(I decided to start semi-describing photos in my posts now because clicking on the photos for more info on flickr is just not everyone’s thing.)

1. I love Poketo’s new garden section, with pretty ways to display plants.
2. How amazing is Amy Merrick’s new website? I love the story behind it as well.
3. Pony Swim by Marissa Textor, a beautiful graphite drawing. via Macon (who designed Amy’s site above!)
4. YUM! That’s all I have to say about that.
5. Sunken Cities of the Ancient World.
6. Love Scout & Catalogue’s El Mercado shop. I’ve never been to Mexico and need to change that, being so close now.

This week has been surprisingly difficult. It’s been hard to set a schedule for myself while at the same time allowing myself a bit of freedom that I had been wanting so badly. It’s hard to find a good balance. I know I’ll figure it out, it’s only been a week, but it’s put me in a pretty grumpy mood in the meantime. I worked out of a shared office space yesterday and that was helpful, so I need to force myself to get over there more often to get some work done!

Have a wonderful weekend!