Hello Sunflower,

We live in town, as the locals say. After two and a half months of rural country life—bears demanding food next to the kitchen window, mid-slumber bat encounters in our bedroom, a round of rabies vaccines for the humans, and longer drives to get anywhere—we wondered if perhaps we needed to be living in closer proximity to people and amenities. And so Romaine, Gaston, and I moved to Brattleboro, a quirky little town in Southern Vermont, at the beginning of August. While living in the school house in Grafton was cute, I'm grateful to begin a new chapter as homeowners. Since we left our home in Brooklyn in 2019, we've moved nearly every year, living in two apartments in Paris, one bell tent/tiny house in Putney, a log cabin in East Dummerston, and now a Victorian cottage built in 1880 overlooking a brook. 

We moved into the cottage earlier than expected, on Romaine's birthday. We had a lovely day planned to celebrate, but after waking up at 1:30 am to another bat in our bedroom, it was time to go. Luckily, we'd closed on our house a few days earlier and had a place to move into. We postponed Romaine's birthday celebrations, frantically packed a few essentials, rented a van, drove to our storage unit, grabbed a mattress and couch, and moved into our new home. Our life in Chez Kim-Martin en ville began with a little drama.

Experiencing significant transitions and life changes can be challenging. I tend to forget how chaotic and stressful the process of moving is. During these times, I find myself digging deeper into getting things done. It's a strength and a weakness. I can put on blinders and fully commit to and immerse myself in whatever I’m doing. I research, create a strategy, and work. But, I forget about life and the world around me—I don't eat, care for myself, tend to my relationships, or rest. In accomplishing a goal, I become more intense and consumed by the deep desire to get things done—to achieve. It's exhausting, especially since we've been in transition since May when we found out we had to unexpectedly move out of the home we'd been living in for two years. 

Getting lost in work can feel isolating, and I struggle asking for help. But our friends reached out, showed up, and supported us. Some brought sparkling wine to celebrate, a birthday cake for Romaine, a homemade dinner, and our dear friends helped us stack firewood. One friend in particular, Tim, dropped by with food, snacks, and treasures from his garden and helped us prep and prime our walls, paint our kitchen with us, cut wood with his circular saw, clean our walls, paint, and create our kitchen pegboard. Our friends and family who do not live here, from Virginia, Texas, California, and Australia, checked in to see how we were doing, sent us housewarming gifts, and showed us we are loved and supported. I feel so much gratitude for our loved ones and am immensely grateful for these relationships. Thank you! I love you all very much.    

In prioritizing what to do in our new home, we set up our kitchen and bedroom to nourish ourselves and rest well. When designing our kitchen, we decided to work with the space as it is. We’ll eventually renovate, but want to live with it first and get a feel for the space. The challenges we needed to overcome were getting rid of the unpleasant paint color, “Billiard Green”, which made the room feel smaller than it was, and working around the old drawers that felt like a struggle and an upper body workout every time we opened them. For paint, we went with a neutral gray and decided to add color with the ceramics we make and the cookware and tools I have a penchant for collecting. Since we have plenty of wall space, we went retro and installed pegboards (shout out to This Old House) to hang our kitchen tools. I set up my pantry, organized my spices, placed an industrial maple-top work table to the middle of the kitchen for workspace, and added a rug for warmth. Next, we need to figure out lighting.

Our kitchen is nearly finished, in time for colder weather and heartier cooking. As the days become shorter and the nights cooler, the leaves change from summer greens into various golden and red autumn hues. The farm stands are glorious, and we're seeing the abundance of the season's fruit and vegetables: apples, plums, peppers, winter squash, cabbage, and beans. I'm eating as much sweet corn and fresh tomatoes as I can. In my kitchen, I've brought Loretta Levain, my sourdough starter, out of hibernation to bake bread. I have lacto-fermented chilis I need to blend into hot sauce, and I've made a jar of kimchi because we've been without it for four months. This kitchen has a great flow because of how intentionally I’ve designed the space. I’ve tried to keep only the things I need and enjoy using, and have placed them where they make sense to live based on how often we use them. Oils, salts, tongs, spoons and other crucial things I reach for when cooking by the stove, serveware and less frequently used items like the mandoline, ice cream scoops, and citrus juicers on the pegboard. Cooking feels so much more pleasurable in this space. I adore my sweet cottage kitchen! 

We still have so much to do. Our dining room looks bizarre: it has a stripped ceiling from when we haphazardly decided the popcorn ceiling had to go, bins of things with no place to live yet, and abstract patches of paint from the time I got too zesty with paint samples. But I'm learning to live with a little chaos and to give myself grace. Our home is evolving, and I want to be present and find joy in building it with Romaine. Owning a home is a milestone for us, a celebration. I need to remember that. I'm back at my desk writing, getting into the clay studio to create, and connecting with myself again. Above all else, I’m excited to host dinner parties again with the gorgeous souls we love and cherish. 

Thank you for spending time with me today.

Warmly,

Jen Kim

Moments of Everyday Opulence

Small things that make my day to day feel more luxurious

I’m a list maker, planner, and a mediumcore stationary girlie. The Hobonichi Techo is my planner of choice and I’m excited because they just dropped the 2025 lineup. I’ve ordered mine for next year, and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. 

My large jar of emotional support vanilla. You can see how I make it here and maintain it here. 

Baking simple delicious things like this chocolate bundt cake and sourdough focaccia.

Eating all the heirloom tomatoes while I can on bread smothered in kewpie mayo and sprinkled with furikake.

Fresh flowers in ceramic vessels that Romaine and I’ve made over the years.

Watching Pachinko (and sobbing) - I’m looking for new shows, please share your recommendations! 

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