Screaming Goats

This is probably my favourite thing on the internet right now…

Beavers

A-dorable beaver – the end.

Holidayz

With passport in hand, this morning I left at the crack of pre-dawn, when most normal people are happily REM-ing – for two weeks to see family in New Zealand.  I was supposed to be stopping for a few days to see friends in Napa but what with Hurricane Sandy doing her darndest to ruin my trip, after changing my flights only had a 6hr layover in San Francisco before flying out to LAX and on to home.  I made good use of my time and high tailed it on BART to Tartine Bakery where I had heard their croissants were legendary.

Believe the hype.

Flakey buttery, dense croissant with superb Four Barrel coffee.  All I can say is thanks Tartine for making it impossible for me to enjoy another croissant ever again…like flying business class it’s impossible to go back to coach.

Pickled

I used to hate pickles on my burgers and then I tasted fried pickled red onion rings and my opinion of them went 180….so I went over to my friend Sierra’s house (it’s hard to believe that she and her boyfriend live in Brooklyn with such a well stocked garden) with the intention of pickling onions and peppers.  I think I sliced two onions and then I got swept away with some rum concoctions her boyfriend was plying me with and I just sat back and took photos.

Sierra in her amazing garden

#nofilter

bees!

simple recipe adapted from Momofuku

simple ingredients

with the exception of the onion, all of this was out of their garden – amazing!

go Sierra go!

after chopping my onions I was thirsty…

filler up

layering

Jace getting ready to do some bee stuff

oh boy – how good are these going to be!

so pretty!

all my hard work…well Sierra’s really

Blooming Hill Farm Visit

So last week it was my birthday and this joyously collided with Diner Journal’s Farm Dinner (which will be featured in the upcoming Fall issue) at Guy Jones’s farm  – Blooming Hill - Blooming Grove, NY.  It was a short hour and half trip from NY and a welcome break from August in general – I’m doing Capsule NY this year! everyone at work seems to be taking holidays that I’ve helped fill in for! it’s been real muggy!

Anyway, I was supposed to be working, but that was done by the chefs and Diner Journal staff.  So I pretty much poured myself a beer on arrival and did my best to munch my way through the bounty of peaches that were overflowing and took about a million photos.  Seriously, it was difficult editing it down to even this many!

We ate amazing food, we drank fantastic wine, we camped and we snuck through fields to swim in the neighbours pool around midnight, we sang around a camp fire and had doughnuts for breakfast.  Pretty much a perfect night away from home.

packing the essentials…

gps I love you

boxes ready for packing up produce

i loved the ‘legal’ part of this notice

barn decoration

mmmmmmmm

punch list

eggs!

nature!

whaaattt?

word

rules

hunting for frogs

Fay working that babydoll

the bridge on the way to our tent

cooking dinner

marinating the lamb

charring the veg

Frank getting the oven ready for the flatbread

carts!

where do i sign up?!

beer makes the work go faster – fact

menu for the evening

stenciling

Becky’s steady hand

setting up

edible centre pieces are my favourite

best (pre-birthday) dinner EVER

and home again…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean Tweets

Jimmy Kimmel gets celebrities to read mean tweets about themselves.  Whoever worded Larry King’s was hilarious – I mean terrible…

Long Forgotten Olympic Events

I did a search around for some of the events at Olympics gone past that didn’t quite go the distance – so to speak.

good old fashioned tug-o-war.

club swinging ??

la canne – like fencing but with canes…

swimming obstacle course – like, do they put objects in the lanes?

12 hour bicycle ride – straight up boooorrrring

rope climb – too gym class?

Happy Mother’s Day!

This is a photo of my mum who after completing her kitchen table in woodshop class I can imagine the scenario was something along the lines of “let’s celebrate and someone take a photo of me reclining elegantly across it”.

Mum is a maker from way back, some of her more memorable projects and careers that have stuck in my head are cheese making, pottery making, renovating several childhood homes with my father, cooking and bottling (preserving) just about anything, artificial breeding technician on cows (I’d forgotten about that one), choral member, musical actor and currently she’s a owned her own restaurant(s) for some 15 years now (Bach on Breakwater yo!).  Her general spirit of being interested in many things, of trying anything that comes her way and whether its running a business, trying to beat me in tennis  or finding the perfect fudge recipe she does everything at a 110%  and taught me to do the same.

Happy Mother’s Day Mum and to all the mothers!

Backing a Winner

Sheesh, it’s been three weeks since I last posted…oof that’s poor form! Can I explain that a stream of friends from years ago and what feels like other lifetimes ago have been visiting and it’s been amazing if not extremely distracting…I will now commence regular living.  With that, may I introduce you to This Must Be the Place which was the art space that allowed me to shoot my SS12 lookbook for free.  The old adage of there not being such a thing as a free lunch was exempt in this instance.  T.M.B.T.P is run by Diner Journal and they are doing a Kickstarter project to keep the space alive and free for creative ventures.  They have some great rewards up which include good karma, dream catchers, guitar lessons, cyclops drawings, Breton bags and extravagant dinners.  Check out their project HERE and be a part of something great!

Gah, I can’t figure out how to embed their video so you can check it out.  You’ll just have to look at the screenshot, be intrigued and click my link above.

Eat Your Greens – ah Okay!

If only…photography by Wendy van Santen