Turning My Kitchen Into Gem Home
Your weekly guide to becoming the Creative Director of your house, including: a weekly menu, recipes, and other whimsical takes on the mundane. This week is inspired by the Lower East Side's Gem Home.
Oh my gosh, it’s a very happy Friday!! I have 2 insanely fun things to tell you…okay, actually 3. WAIT…4!!
I designed A T-SHIRT! We are, naturally, calling it the “Summer of Whimsy” t-shirt. I collaborated with a very sweet independent clothing brand based in LA called Things Between. The owner is so creative, generous, and an amazing mom (of adorable kids). The team has been so incredible to work with, and I feel like a big design dream has totally come true! We launched the shirt yesterday, and we only have a limited run of tees available. You can use the code JENNAISFEELING15 for 15% off the t-shirt and anything else on the site. (I recommend pairing it with some cute boxers or a Piper cardigan!!) The shirt design is basically a tangible version of my Substack you can wear all summer.
Casually dropping here that I started a YouTube channel! Literally last night! AH! “HUH?! What?! Why?” you say? I am a writer married to a documentary filmmaker. We are long-form people. Connor and I had a long conversation about making things that are joyful to create. We want to document life in our twenties so we can show our kids what we were up to. It’s a lot of making food, working, and spending time with a cast of characters you will meet in the first episode. It’s a collaborative effort (like we used to make in Journalism class), but really Connor makes the movie magic happen. I’ll be sharing vlogs that are a compilation of my whole week, filled with creative endeavors, silliness, and warmth. I am so grateful for this life — it feels vulnerable to welcome you in, but exciting too!
If I could be one person’s YouTube “comfort show,” the goal is achieved. Here is the first episode (it features all the food in this article!) and I really hope it’s fun for you to watch!
Just a note that this week’s recipes were a huge creative & culinary challenge, and I hope you love this post. It includes printable recipe cards so we can DIY a Feeling cookbook together!
I’m adding a new segment to the magazine called “Scrapbook” that will be a casual, friendly weekly diary of feelings, outfits, NY finds, thoughts, and advice — kinda like we are friends chatting on FaceTime. I hope you like that too! Catch it Monday in your inbox.
Summer of Whimsy shirt!
A quick little “About this Dispatch” in case you just stumbled upon it:
What if your home felt less like a to-do list... and more like a creative project? Every week, I will send out a paid subscriber-only post that functions like a Creative Director’s Briefing for your space and your heart! It's a curated mix of both organized structure and unexpected delight (my sweet spot).
You can read more about the heart of the idea here.
I think pursuing joy and whimsy is an act of hope. And I really hope I can help you in that pursuit!
⋆⭒˚.⋆ THIS WEEK:
The June 29-July 10th theme is: Gem Home
My efforts to turn my kitchen into my favorite restaurant this week were ambitious and flavorful — I loved the challenge. I drew inspiration from Gem Home.
Gem is a beautiful café and home decor store in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Mott Street. Their warm design echoes flavors of the East Coast with an international twist.
Chef Flynn McGarry opened Gem Wine when he was just 19 years old. He was a chef prodigy who started his first series of dining pop-ups when he was only 11 years old, studying culinary in his room (which they turned into a part-commercial kitchen) while he homeschooled. A small start-up budget inspired his creative innovation, and he designed and decorated Gem Wine himself, even crafting some of the furniture. McGarry opened Gem Home next, a café concept, with a pastry case and grocery and homeware section.
I discovered both Gem locations and was immediately drawn into their design. It epitomizes “homey” storytelling — both in environment and menu. The location is coated in cream and butter hues, with rich linen textures. The fresh produce sits alongside objects in a way that feels like the vegetables are decor too.
This week, I brought Gem’s magic into my apartment!
I drew inspiration from the tone, ingredients, and meals on their summer menu and developed my own version.
I worked within a few constraints:
Budget — I tried to source the inspired ingredients that I could use across multiple dishes. Unlike a real restaurant, we are just eating for two!
My own dietary restrictions — I altered some dishes to be less-inflammatory and non-dairy (but you can easily include dairy if you can eat it!)
This was a really fun and challenging creative project to get better in the kitchen. I ended up with recipes I LOVED to eat, I’m so proud of these. We ate GOOD!
✶ Set the Gem Mood:
Start with lighting a herby candle to make your place smell like the Gem environment. Smell House’s Juice Hoax scent has notes of Celery Seed, Apple, Spearmint, Greens, and Tomato. It’s like standing in the produce aisle when the little sprinkler goes off.
Make the cleaning part on-brand for Gem too. I have a clean yuzu & lemon balm scented dishwasher detergent that I am super impressed with, and it feels like the Gem vibe.
✦ Color of the Week: Marmalade
Hex: #D9903D
Somewhere between golden citrus and tea-stained linen, Marmalade (#D9903D) is the color of sticky spoons, sun through a dusty window, and something bubbling on the stove.
It shows up in:
— The soft edge of a roasted sweet potato
— A drop of passionfruit syrup caught on the counter
— The scratches on a well-loved wood table
— The golden halo around a jammy egg
— That one old linen towel that’s been washed too many times, and is somehow softer for it
✦ Flavors of the Week
Passionfruit + Earl Grey – tart and floral, dressed up with fizz
Toasted Coconut + Olive Oil + Chocolate – caramel, but make it pantry
Meyer Lemon + Chicory – café salad energy, with a citrusy bite
Pistachio + Rhubarb + Jam – breakfast meets bakery
Garlic + Tahini + Roasted Fennel – the base note of every good dinner this week
✶ WEEKLY FRUITS
Kumquats – tiny, tart suns that get sliced whole into spritzes or cooked down into syrup
Passionfruit – floral and sour and perfect for spooning into anything that needs a little drama
Rhubarb – technically a vegetable, but we’ll let it play, simmered into jam and swirled through coconut granola
Lemons – for vinaigrettes, marinades, and the top note of everything
Red currants or raspberries – jewel-toned toppers for chia pudding, muffins, and soft eggs on toast
Citrus odds and ends – Meyer lemon, orange peels, a few stolen slices of grapefruit — tossed into salads or dropped into hot tea like a spell
It’s a week for “wait, what is that flavor?” surprises.
✶ WEEKLY FLORALS
This week’s floral mood is subtle, steeped, and mostly edible.
Chamomile – dried into tea, blended into a mocktail, or steeped into a simple syrup that makes everything taste like golden hour
Earl Grey (bergamot) – the backbone of our syrup this week, citrusy and perfumed
Lavender (optional, restrained) – maybe in a cookie, maybe in the air, maybe just sitting in a bowl looking like it belongs
Fennel fronds – not a flower, but they behave like one; delicate, lacy, and perfect as a garnish on meatballs or soup
Mint – a single leaf pressed into a glass, a sprig in a carafe of water, a pinch of green among the ginger and lemon
Homemade Tea & Coffee Recipes
✦ Earl Grey Matcha
Layered, creamy, citrusy-green comfort in a cup