RL at Home | Issue 5 | World of RL | Ralph Lauren
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RL at Home

 

A gathering place for inspiring stories,
helpful advice, and more

RL at Home

A gathering place for inspiring stories, helpful advice, and more

“Home for me has always been a place of warmth and security and enjoying simple moments with my family. During these times of uncertainty, I’m thinking of you and wanted to share some of the things that I love, that lift our spirits, that keep us connected, that give us hope—that make us happy.

Welcome to RL at Home.”

 

Ralph Lauren

Comfort Zone

Advice and ideas to bring warmth and coziness to your home

LIVING

The Sum Is Greater
Than Its Parts

There’s nothing quite like the artisanal beauty of patchwork. What it means for the World of Ralph Lauren—and how to bring some of its DIY magic into your home

ADVICE

Blue & White

These two hues are essential on their own, and iconic together. Combine them in unexpected ways and infuse your home with a dose of summer energy

Ralph Lauren has always been inspired by the calming interaction of blue and white, from the elegance of vintage porcelain ginger jars to the faded blues of chambray and denim to the crisp cotton of a bengal-stripe shirt. For him, it’s a soothing palette equally at home in every lifestyle and every season. If your home could use a refreshing lift, a touch of blue and white on our beds, sofas, and even on our table settings could be that perfect balm.

In designing his Spring 2018 Collection, Ralph Lauren was so moved by the foreverness of blue and white that he made it the entire theme of the season. To emphasize that beautiful simplicity, he sent models down the runway barefoot.

Freshen up a sunny breakfast table with layers of blue and white stripes like romantic petticoats.

Ralph Lauren introduced his first home collection in 1983, with a bed made up with sheets and pillowcases inspired by his love of blue-and-white striped button-down shirts.

The intricate motifs of porcelain ginger jars and platters take on an artful charm transferred onto pillows, sheets, and coverlets. Don’t be shy about mixing disparate patterns on your bed, especially when they’re all shades of blue and white.

You don’t have to paint your walls and floors blue to enjoy the pure romance of an all-white bed. (But why not give it a try?)

Don’t forget to brighten up a table with all shades, textures, and patterns of blue and white on plates, cutlery, and linens … and nature’s own—a little bowl of blueberries.

When the time comes to open your doors to friends once again, welcome them with the freshness of white paint, a comfortable bench upholstered in blue, and if possible—a couple of baby pups!

From Our Kitchen to Yours

Recipes, treats, and rituals

COMFORT FOOD

Just for Mom …

A blueberry-banana pancake recipe for Mother’s Day that’s both delicious and simple enough to be made by kids!

A note to all the junior chefs out there … This recipe is adapted from Ricky Lauren’s book The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History, and we can honestly say it makes the best pancakes we’ve ever had. You could always make yours from a box, but if you ask us, on Mother’s Day, only cooking from scratch will do! Plus, who doesn’t love a recipe that gives you a chance to smash up a banana!

Here’s what you’ll need:

 

  1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1 teaspoon salt
  3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  4. 1½ teaspoons baking soda
  5. 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  6. 1 ripe banana, mashed
  7. 2 cups buttermilk
  8. 3 large eggs
  9. 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted and allowed to cool
  10. 2 cups blueberries

Here’s how to make the pancakes:

 

  1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix gently with a whisk.
  2. Mash your banana in another bowl, then whisk in the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter.
  3. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients bowl, and stir gently until it’s all mixed together.
  4. Heat up a frying pan or griddle to medium-high heat and add some butter.
  5. Using a ladle or ⅓ cup measuring cup, pour the batter onto the griddle or pan, then sprinkle each pancake with a handful of blueberries.
  6. Cook until bubbly, then flip over and cook until golden.
  7. Serve with butter, your favorite syrup, and more berries!

An Appreciation

Not Just For Kids

If you’re anything like us, being cooped up at home has helped you learn to reappreciate the delicacies of your childhood. Here’s to the good old-fashioned PB&J! Plus the hot dog, and mac ’n’ cheese, and …

Mac ’n’ Cheese

For a good two decades, from the ages of 12 to around 32, I don’t think I had a single bite of macaroni and cheese. This was very much by design. The navy blue box, those oddly curved little noodles, the nuclear-orange cheese powder—there’s a reason we leave all this behind when we start to develop a bit of culinary sophistication. But when you’ve got a 2-year-old at home, sophistication isn’t always on the menu. So you bust out the mac ’n’ cheese.

When I became the parent at the stove, I skipped the blue box and started making big pans of it from scratch and freezing individual, kid-size portions. My kids are a bit older now, but I dusted off the recipe the other night, and I’m happy to report it was a hit! (I think the kids liked it, too!) After dinner, as I was putting those individual portions into the freezer, I couldn’t help but notice I’d perhaps not-so-subconsciously made the portions a bit larger than your typical kid size. I’ll do my best to save some for them ...

—Tyler Thoreson

Chocolate
Pudding

I’m 10 years old standing in front of my Grandmother “Gaga’s” fridge in her Richmond, Virginia, kitchen. I open the door slowly, and there they are—six little Pyrex glass custard cups filled to the brim with chocolate pudding. Each one is covered with perfectly cut pieces of wax paper. It will be a few hours before Gaga sets them in front of us and we dip our spoons carefully through the thin layer of chocolate skin that forms as they’re cooling.

Though it was made from a boxed mix, it tasted like it was made from scratch. Sometimes we’d pour a little milk on top, which turned it into something closer to a chocolate milkshake and made it last a little longer. When I get a yen for that favorite taste of childhood, I mix my own and pour it just like Gaga did into my own set of little glass Pyrex bowls found at a flea market many years back. It never tastes as good as Gaga’s, but that memory of her wearing her gingham-checked apron (like the one I now wear, seen at left) standing in front of her Hotpoint stirring that dark concoction oh-so-carefully with her worn wooden pudding spoon is almost as good.

—Mary Randolph Carter

PB&J

Peanut butter, jelly, bread. How can such a simple combination be so irresistible, so … the kind of thing you never, no matter how much you eat, seem to get sick of? It’s not the mix of savory and sweet, or at least it’s not only that. Nor is it really the bread, which is but a mere vehicle for more intense flavors. The secret, of course, lies in the peanut butter itself. Because—as I’m rediscovering through all these weeks quarantined at home—that stuff is magic. It makes virtually everything better. Apples? Yes! Bananas? You know it! Saltine crackers? If you must! And I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to that snack-time staple of celery with a few raisins on top—better known to kindergarteners as ants on a log.

These days, every hour or two I seem to find myself wandering into the kitchen for a drive-by. I tell myself it’s to take a screen break, but the real reason is that I’m looking for something to put a schmear of PB on—ideally a fluffy slice of bread, topped with a generous slather of strawberry jam. As a result, I’d have to say my PB&J intake has roughly quintupled over the past few weeks. And you know what? I’m OK with that. There are countless ways I’m longing for my life to return to “normal,” but this isn’t one of them.

—TT

Family & Kids

The joys of being together, plus fun ways to keep your kids happy and busy

FAMILY TIME

A Conversation
With Ricky Lauren

David Lauren talks to his mom about family, food, and her favorite memories of four decades on Long Island’s East End

ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

The Best Things
in Life Are Free

… And to prove it, meet young collector Mary Stufano, who started foraging for nature’s gifts at age 6

Great Escape

Books, movies, TV, and more of our favorite diversions

LIVING

A Walk to Remember

There’s nothing quite like the artisanal beauty of patchwork. What it means for the World of Ralph Lauren—and how to bring some of its DIY magic into your home

DIGITAL

Art for Art’s Sake

The world may be on pause, but that hasn’t stopped the creators from creating. Here, six members of the extended RL family share their latest at-home passion projects

 

Learn more about the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation’s $10 million commitment toward COVID-19 relief efforts

 

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