Fourth Quarter Dining and Such

Everyone agrees that 2016 was a tough year on the grand scale, but on a personal level, for me, it had a lot of high points.

We ate and drank some fantastic things. I tried new places and hung out with food friends as often as possible. We drank tons of Hazanas Rioja. Cooper and I spent an interestingly large chunk of the year inside distilleries, both in the U.S. and in Ireland (one day I'll write about the rest of that trip). Dixon and I started collaborating (those articles are so fun to write). It was a good time.

But now, here it is in 2017 and I haven't written about some of the meals I ate in October. That's embarrassing.

So let's take care of that. Here's a look at some of our end of year highlights:

Towson Tavern

Towson Tavern got a new chef this fall - Josh Vecchiolla, the former sous from Parts & Labor. I've always liked it there, but under Vecchiolla's guidance, the menu has gotten a meaty upgrade that's really strong.

We had dinner there in late October with our friends Will and Karen. The drinks were excellent, as always, but the best parts were the stinging nettle dip and this chicken, which was seasoned perfectly, cooked in a cast iron pan, and just great all around.

Visionary Arts Museum Food Exhibit
The new exhibit at the AVAM is all about food, so we, obviously, had to go. It's pretty cool.

I mean, how could I not love this? A note about celebratory meals, posted right over a book called Muskrat Cookin'. That museum, it is the best.

Henninger's

The last weekend in October, we celebrated Bill's birthday with dinner at Henninger's (always the best - I could go there every night) and after dinner drinks at Cat's Eye Pub.

It was Halloween weekend and the weather was gorgeous, so Fells was wild. We made some friends - including an older guy who was dressed as "half naked" (literally, he was half naked). And I remembered why Cat's Eye is one of the best bars anyplace.

We barely took any pictures, but for whatever reason, I did snap this pre-dinner shot of Cooper and his duck lips. Why? Who knows.

Bar Vasquez
Foreman Wolf's new Argentine spot, Bar Vasquez, opened in the old Pazo space this fall and in early November, I had the chance to try it out with a fun group of food friends. It was so good. So good.

I've been recommending it right and left - it's an absolutely perfect place for a special occasion dinner, or even just to meet up with friends if you're looking for something a little more sophisticated than your average Baltimore evening. It's expensive, but between the food, the space, the drinks and the service, it's well worth it.

These potatoes were spectacular, but then, everything was. The duck I had for dinner might be the best duck I've ever eaten.

Figs
I made fig-rosemary jam! I had to. Our fig crop this year was hilariously large and it hung on until...well, it's January and there are still figs on the tree. I doubt they're good, but they're hanging on.

No Kid Hungry at Food Market
Also in early November, Cooper and I went to a dinner at Food Market, benefiting No Kid Hungry. Charm City Cook Amy organized the event, which involved a bunch of local chefs and raised a boatload of money for the organization.

We were thrilled to be a part of that, but we were also thrilled to be on the receiving end of some incredible food. One thing this city does well is a chef-driven charity dinner. I have heard stories of boring "rubber chicken" fundraiser food. Seems to me, Baltimore has risen above that.

Our table was an absolute blast; whoever did the table assignments was a rock star. And every course was terrific. This, venison lasagna by Bryan Voltaggio, was more like a napolean than like lasagna. Incredible.

Wicked Sisters

Wicked Sisters, the new spot in the old McCabe's space in Hampden, opened earlier this fall. It's the latest effort from Charlie and Lori Gjerde and Carrie Podles, who own several other local spots, including Papi's Tacos.

Cooper and I found ourselves with an unexpected Dixon-free Friday night in mid-November, so we stopped in to see what it was all about. It's casual and fun and we liked the food a lot. We started with Brussels sprouts (solid) and I had an excellent burger.

After dinner, Charlie handed us this glass full of Winecream, and we couldn't say no. I mean, they're a local company. Who doesn't want to support that?

Mock Thanksgiving 

Our annual pre-Thanksgiving party was a small affair this year, with just a few friends and their kids coming over for dinner on the Sunday before the big holiday. I made a mess of the turkey and I might not be ready to talk about that yet (or ever), but the night was an overall success, thanks largely to Piper and Hadley, who came over early and set a mean kids table.

Those two design stars have started their own YouTube channel and Facebook page. If you're a fan of short videos of hilarious girls, I strongly suggest you follow them.

Clavel and WC Harlan
After Thanksgiving, we jumped straight into the busy holiday social season.

The first weekend in December, our friend Stacey came down to visit us from New York. Alicia and Mary and I took her to Clavel and WC Harlan. We knew she'd love them both - who doesn't?

Stacey took this picture!

Carol and Crawl
For the ninth year in a row, we spent the first Saturday of December with our friends, celebrating the holiday season with way, way, way too much booze and a lot of off-key singing. Not caroling - despite the name of the party, there is no caroling. If there's any crawling, it's done after the party has officially ended, when people are trying to make it to their beds. It is a fun party. With lots of mozzarella sticks.

Also, this year, lots of ridiculous outfits:

Buck Buck Moose at Volt
Cooper and I spent one day after the Christmas party licking our wounds, then we got back into it, heading to Frederick for a book signing dinner at Volt. Hank Shaw, the blogger behind Hunter Angler Gardener Cook and the author of several cookbooks that we love, was at the restaurant, and Bryan Voltaggio was in the kitchen, cooking recipes adapted from the book.

It was our first time at Volt and we took Cooper's cousin Sarah, who lives in Frederick, with us. Dinner was great - fun and interesting and delicious - and we were especially happy to have another go at the venison lasagna from the No Kid Hungry dinner was just a warm-up. That stuff is so good.

R. House
This fall also marked the opening of R. House, the food hall in Remington.

I've been twice now - once on opening night with Nikki Marks (of Madame BBQ/Mindgrub fame) and again before seeing the Hampden lights with Mike, Alicia, Maggie and Dixon (Cooper was sick, so he stayed home).

They've done a great job over there. It's casual and easy and the food is good. Technically, it's a food court, but it's such a cool one!

I've tried a bunch of different things so far and have liked all of them. The only thing I've photographed, though, is the shawarma from ARBA. It's great.

Clavel at The Charmery
After R. House but before the lights, Dixon, Mike, Alicia, Maggie and I dropped by The Charmery, where they were in the middle of a busy Clavel pop-up. Mexican cinnamon ice cream, wedding cookies, Mexican hot chocolate, lots of other things that were great - unsurprisingly, this was a collab that worked.

McGarvey's
I turned 41 this year, which means I've been celebrating my birthday at McGarvey's for 20 years straight. TWENTY YEARS.

This year was a fun one, even though bad weather and illness meant a lot of people couldn't make it. But still, a bunch of high school friends joined Cooper and me for oysters, crab dip and Aviators at McGarvey's, oyster shooters at Middleton's (pictured), quite a bit of Irishness at Galway Bay and a mildly sloppy close to the evening, featuring good red wine and French whiskey at Harry Browne's.

We always close out the night at Harry Browne's, which is by far the nicest place we go, and we're always a little unruly when we get there (not too unruly, but still). The bartenders there, though, they are fabulous. The one working during my birthday celebration was a total pro - keeping us engaged and put together and having fun. He was the best.

Matisse/Diebenkorn and Parts & Labor
Earlier this year, when word got out about the Matisse/Diebenkorn exhibit at the BMA, my brother and sister and I hatched a plan to meet there while they were in Maryland for Christmas. And we actually made that happen!

The Friday before Christmas, Dixon and I met Tom and Cail and Erin and Clark at the museum. The first thing we did was head to the exhibit itself; I was completely blown away.

I love both Matisse and Diebenkorn; I wrote college papers about both painters (though not about them together). They're two of my favorites, so purely from an aesthetic sense, I enjoyed the exhibit. It's pretty.

But even if I wasn't a particular fan of either of the artists, I would've been impressed. It is so smart and hangs together so well. It reminded me why art history fascinates me. I'm planning to go back again - this time without a 10 year old boy (who was not quite as enamored as I was). I could spend days just soaking it in.

After the exhibit, we wandered through the Cone Collection and the Contemporary Wing; Tom and Erin hadn't been to the museum since they were kids and Cail and Clark had never been. Dixon had a blast in the contemporary collection, taking pictures of the pieces with his iPod and getting really into it. I'm not sure I realized how interactive it is. It's great for kids and I loved watching him have fun with the art.

After all of that, we headed over to a very busy Parts & Labor, where I got their version of a pit beef sandwich and it was killer. Highly recommended!

New Year's Eve
Christmas Eve, Christmas day and the few days after passed in a bit of a blur. Cooper and I both end up working a lot during the week between Christmas and New Year's, but we also always have friends in town, so we're out a lot. This year, that meant seeing people from Denver and Seattle - and also doing a lot of work.

New Year's Eve, we had friends (with kids) over here for a dinner showcasing various cuts of meat from the Jack Straw Farm cow we split with friends. (Oh yeah, we have a freezer that is jam-packed with beef right now.)

The meat was very good, as was the Barefoot Contessa sauce I made with it and the Barefoot Contessa cake Alicia made for dessert. Ina is everywhere these days.

But the highlight of the night wasn't on our plates - it was the kids. Piper, Hadley and Maggie went live on Facebook a couple times and made tons of videos, including one at midnight, when Cooper sabered a magnum of Champagne.

In retrospect, we probably should've opened that big boy earlier. Everybody went home at like 12:15. Because...kids.

Overall, it was a big quarter. On New Year's Day, all we could pull ourselves together to do was order some Chinese food. We're exhausted.

But we're not slowing down. This weekend, we'll be celebrating Kyle's birthday at Bar Vasquez. And after that...who knows. I'm sure it'll be something good.

Chef Dali

How did I not know that Salvador Dali wrote a cookbook? And threw "lavish dinner parties" with his wife, Gala?

Well, I know now...and I also know what I want for Christmas. Taschen is publishing Dali's 1973 cookbook, Les Diners de Gala...and I want a copy. It sounds insane and fabulous and exactly like what you'd imagine Salvador Dali's cookbook + 1973 would, could and should be.

Buy it (for me) here.

Stuff They Love: Kinderhook Snacks on Golden West

Just about a year ago, I had the very sweet opportunity to write about Katie Horn and Marie Stratton, the ladies behind Baltimore's Kinderhook Snacks.

If you haven't had the snacks, you should. They're so good - my favorite are the macaroons - and it's a bonus that Horn and Stratton are super, super nice.

When I asked them to talk to me about something they love in Baltimore, they had a million glowing things to say about the food, beer and - most importantly - the staff at Golden West in Hampden.

Golden West has been a part of the Hampden community for years and people love it for a lot of reasons. For Horn and Stratton, it's a port in the storm when they get busy. "Since we started Kinderhook, we've had so many long days and late nights in the kitchen, after which we are needing a good beer and good food. Golden West has been our most favorite place to go in these seemingly dire situations and the staff there continually lifts our spirits," they say.

"They recommend great beers, they don't judge us when we finish off an entire Green Chili Cheeseburger and fries (in fact, they congratulate us) and they always seem to know when we need a shot of tequila."

The Kinderhook ladies love that not only does the GW bar staff feed them burgers and tequila, they also have interesting creative pursuits of their own. David Spelce is one of their favorite bartenders, they say, and "a wildly talented artist."

And Edan Perrigo, Stratton and Horn's former Charles Village neighbor, works behind the bar and is also part of Great American Canyon Band, a Baltimore indie-folk band releasing a new album this spring. The band has already released one video from the new album, which I'm sharing (with permission from them) here:



This is some of what I love most about Baltimore. It's the kind of place where you can find a home at a restaurant because you like the food...then discover that the people behind the bar are talented artists and musicians and great bartenders. And you never know - maybe the people on the stools next to yours make great snacks, too.

Stuff I Love: Papercuts and Pressed Flowers

Pretty papercut and flower pic courtesy of Annie Howe

I love pretty, intricate things, so it's no surprise that I am all about both papercuts and flower arrangements. They both involve close attention to detail and a straight up appreciation for beauty.

Here in Baltimore, we have some wonderful people who not only make these pretty things, they teach other people how to make them, too. So generous!

On February 11th, Annie Howe, of Annie Howe Papercuts, is teaming up with plant designer Liz Vayda from B. Willow for a papercutting and pressed flower arranging workshop at Trohv.

If you haven't seen either of their work, check them out right now. What they do is really special.

I talked to Annie about what she loves about being a papercut artist and teaching workshops like this one. "It gives me a chance to connect with people on a personal level and help build appreciation for papercutting and the many exciting possibilities it has artistically," she says.

She's especially excited about collaborating with Liz - their joint workshop is something new and promises to be really cool - and about hosting the workshop at Trohv, which she says is a great place for a class. Of course she loves Trohv. Who doesn't?!

The ticket price includes the instruction, of course, but also all the supplies and framing materials you'll need - and workshop attendees will also get a 15% discount at Trohv before the event.

Plus, there will be cocktails and snacks. Everyone loves cocktails and snacks. And flowers. And paper!

Papercutting and Pressed Flower Arranging Workshop with Annie Howe Papercuts and B. Willow Interior Plant Design. February 11, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Trohv, 921 West 36th Street, Hampden. $120. Buy tickets here.

Stuff They Love: Mobtown Fermentation on Dovecote Cafe

Gorgeous frittata photo courtesy of Dovecote Cafe

This is the first in a new series of posts called "Stuff They Love." For each post, I talk to someone doing something cool in Baltimore – and find out what they think is cool.

Baltimore is filled with people making the most of whatever they're passionate about, from cookies to art to woodworking. It's an exciting time to be here – and every time I hear about something new that's happening, I'm even more thrilled to be a part of this city.

For this first post, I talked to Adam Bufano, Sergio Malarin and Sidharth Sharma, the guys behind Mobtown Fermentation, the Baltimore City company that makes Wild Kombucha. Mobtown has earned tons of fans for its locally brewed, flavored kombuchas, which are sold in cafes, markets and yoga studios all over the area.

The Mobtown guys get fired up about what they do – and about what they see when they're out and about in the city. One of their new favorite spots – the place they chose to highlight – is Dovecote Café, which opened last month in Reservoir Hill.

"They have made an awesome little cafe in the heart of a residential neighborhood in Baltimore," says Sid Sharma. "They have an incredibly fun environment and kind staff." 

Aisha Pew, who came to Baltimore by way of Brooklyn, New York and Oakland, California, co-owns the café and runs the front of house. Her mom and uncle do the cooking – and have already earned a boatload of fans from Reservoir Hill and beyond. Pies, breads, muffins, frittatas…they all look fabulous. The pecan pie, Sharma says, is "to die for."

And, of course, there's coffee, which is sourced from a variety of roasters, including some local companies, like D.C.'s Café LosSuenos.

The Mobtown Fermentation guys love the café's atmosphere and that the Dovecote team goes out of its way to promote other local businesses. Dovecote sells Wild Kombucha and other good local stuff, like the awesome W00T! Granola and candles by Letta Moore's Knits, Soy and Metal.

Dovecote is also all about the art, with local artists on the walls and the work of featured authors in the cafe – and the spirit of art is just kind of in the air. Last weekend, the café hosted its first #ArtistsShouldntStarve event, bringing together the community and the artists featured on the walls of the café. Right now, the walls are covered in work by Stephen Towns and Jonathan Brickous and the featured writers are Michelle Antoinette Nelson (aka LOVE the poet), author of Black Marks on White Paper and Nia Johnson, author of LesB Inn. On Sunday, Dovecote's artists packed the house with an enthusiastic crowd.

A great café is more than just a place to grab coffee. It's a community hub – a place to gather and share and that has a personality of its own. The Dovecote crew gets that - and the Mobtown Fermentation guys love it.

Wild Kombucha/Mobtown Fermentation, mobtownfermentation@gmail.com

Dovecote Café, 2501 Madison Avenue, Reservoir Hill, 443-961-8677

Kindergarten Crafts, All Grown Up

I can't stop thinking about Trohv's holiday window.

A couple years ago, I found myself semi-obsessed with the big paper pom flowers made by Etsy-ist Pom Love. I bought tons of them - they made perfect decorations for baby showers and wedding showers and also my basement.

This year, everywhere I look, I see a different sort of paper decoration: the kind that's created from something I probably  have laying around my house.

Like the paper plate snow in the window at Trohv in Hampden. They're amazing.

Or these coffee filter garlands from Food 52. So fluffy and pretty.

Or this unbelievable flower/snowflake thing made from cut up toilet paper rolls, of all things.

Paper plates, coffee filters, toilet paper rolls - these are the tools of preschool teachers, right? But in the right hands, they're so sophisticated.

That fits, really, with overall trends toward simplification and "handmade" everything and the homespun aesthetic. But none of these examples are overly twee or hipstery. They're just interesting and look cool and they're kind of sweet.

They'd all make solid additions to a New Year's brunch table, too.

Pretty Boozy

Minimalism + Deep Color + Information + Cocktails?

Oh, Nick Barclay. You had me at hello.

I Make Grocery Lists

Lots of them. But my lists don't look like this:

Because I am not Michelangelo.

Flag It

This is cool:  

 Filed under: things I wish I thought of first.

Artsy & Meaty

Meat as art. Literally. This is such blog bait for me.

Best parts about this:

1. The artist, Dominic Episcopo, and his wife ate the meat after the photography, which is a) ethically sound and b) economically smart. That's a lot of meat.

2. This:

 

Just awesome. What a perfect pun.

 

[Photo credit: Dominic Episcopo]

Late Night at the BMA

Last Saturday night was the party celebrating the opening of the BMA's new contemporary wing. Cooper and I were there and it was kind of wild. So many people, so much chatter.

The wing was extremely cool, too. One of the new artists, Sarah Oppenheimer, has created these interesting architectural nooks that allow people to look through the galleries in unusual ways (like windows that allow you to see three galleries at once). The effect is really cool - for me, it's interesting thinking about how the people curating the exhibit had to consider the way the art would work not only with the other pieces in the room, but also with the visible pieces in the other rooms.

I gave a little talk - to a very small, but engaged audience - on the intersection between food and art. I stood next to the work on the left - a 2010 photograph by the artist Elad Lassry, called "Cherries, Raspberries, Blackberries (Marbled)".

Below, I've included the text of my talk. It's mostly culled from things I've already written here...turns out, I've written a loooot about food and art!

Food and art has always been a favorite topic of mine – there are so many similarities between the food world and the art world and much overlap between the two.

I find art history fascinating. Studying art is such a good way to explore a culture. When you look at art from a particular time period, or from a certain place, you can learn so much about what’s going on there politically, economically, socially.

It’s a window to the culture.

Food is the same. Looking at what people eat, how they cook, how they get their food, how they share meals – it’s a great way to learn about a culture or about a period in history.

So I’m standing here in front of this photograph, called “Cherries, Raspberries, Blackberries (Marbled).”

It’s a 2010 work by Elad Lassry, a 35-year old Israeli-born artist who has lived in LA since he was 20.

Lassry works primarily in photographs, with some film thrown in. He photographs a diverse range of subjects – food, animals, portraits, objects.

But he does have a few consistent signatures – the painted frames and the size and shape of the images. Lassry confines himself to traditional magazine dimensions.


His images are representational, but he plays with effects to modernize them. In a 2011 Art AsiaPacific article, writer William Pym described Lassry’s works as “twinkling with formal effects.” I think that’s a good description of what you see here – the fruit does seem to twinkle.

A work similar to this one – the same fruit arrangement on a stark white background – Pym described as “a study in the palette of blood colors.” And about this work, he said Lassry “plays the same glossy bruise colors against a smeared red.”

I love the phrases “blood colors” and “bruise colors” – when I look at this photograph, I see the colors of life. The fruit is bright, vibrant, full of vitality. There’s a very easy “food is life” metaphor in the photograph. This photograph depicts life in its ripe prime.

But in the next room, an Untitled work by Zoe Leonard uses the same metaphor but in a different way. The artist ate fruit and sewed the skins together, leaving them to decompose. The message is one of decay – the end of life.

Leonard and Lassry’s works are part of a long history of featuring food as the subject of art. From still lifes to parties to meals, food as been a regular subject of artists forever. Even the earliest artists – cave painters – drew animals. Their food.

But there are also twistier ways that food becomes art.

On her Tumblr “Low Commitment Projects,” artist Brittany Powell featured sandwiches designed as tributes to her favorite artists. It’s funny and cool. My favorite is the Mondrian. Slices of cheese and meat create his famous grids. It lends itself surprisingly well to a sandwich. It's less surprising how well it lent itself to the internet.

People all over America look to famous artworks as inspiration for cakes, and cookies. I’ve seen Rothko cookies and van Gogh cakes. They’re great.

Brooklyn artist Vik Muniz created a Mona Lisa out of peanut butter and jelly.

What Muniz did isn’t new, either.

During the Renaissance, there was an organization called the Company of the Cauldron. It was sort of a sophisticated, artsy dinner club, with members like Michelangelo and da Vinci. The club had legendary parties and to get in, you had to bring a type of “edible art.” Art, created out of food, designed to be eaten.

Something like the Company of the Cauldron is uncontroversial in the art world. Everyone understands that the artist is using food to create art and no one takes it too seriously.
 
But when you move into the food world, where the chef is the creator, there’s more drama.

There are two camps in the food world. Those who consider food food – sustenance – and nothing more.  They may respect it, but they do not intellectualize it.

Then there are those who think food has the potential to be more. To start conversations. To be intellectualized. To be art.

Food is a functional substance – we need it to survive. And anytime function comes into play, things get messy.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a furniture maker here in Baltimore, named Sean O’Harra.

Sean makes beautiful tables and benches and bowls from reclaimed woods and metals. He studied sculpture at MICA and furniture design at VCU.

During our conversation, I asked him if he considered himself an artist. He said yes, but sort of laughed.

He told me that during college and grad school, he got some pushback because his furniture was so functional. That not everyone considered it art, just because it served another purpose.

Chefs deal with the same attitudes.

Pastry chefs create gorgeous, architectural masterpieces, and don’t always get the credit they deserve for being creators.

And then there are chefs like Ferran Adria.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Adria is a Spanish chef who, until recently, was the mastermind behind the restaurant El Bulli. He’s considered a father of avant-garde cooking.

At El Bulli, Adria deconstructed food and reconstructed it, creating dishes designed to provoke conversation. They tasted good, but made people think and talk.

I think of Adria as something like an artist from the school of minimalism. Not because his food is minimal, but because like minimalism, some people just don’t get it – and don’t want to get it.

And though you can appreciate the taste of his food, or the look of a minimalist painting, without knowing the history of the artist or the chef,

Both are easier to appreciate if you know the backstory – how minimalism fits in art history and how Adria’s approach to food fits in food history. They’re both easier to appreciate if you understand the creator’s intentions.

In the art world, you see trends come and go – the Renaissance to Baroque to Neoclassical, or Expressionism to Minimalism.

The same happens in food.

Right now, theory-driven chefs like Adria are fading a bit.  Adria closed El Bulli’s doors in 2011.

At the same time, we’re seeing a renewed interest in classic comfort foods and regional flavors – especially southern American cooking. A return to roots.

Which brings me back to Lassry and his photography. He’s described photography as “a language that’s so exhausted and opened up, so deceased in a way.”

But he uses this “dead” language and the strict confines of traditional magazine dimensions – things that are familiar – to create something new. With his effects, he creates a fresh experience for the audience.

The same thing is happening in food.

I’m not sure how many of you have been to The Food Market in Hampden. If you haven’t been, you should go.
At The Food Market, the chef – his name is Chad Gauss – serves traditional American comfort food, like fried chicken. When you order that fried chicken, it’s completely recognizable.

But next to it on the plate, there’s a dish of jalapeno-infused cream sauce. And there’s a smear of black hot sauce.

Both a slight twist on familiar flavors – familiar but new.

Which brings me back to how food and art are – in so many ways – the same at their cores.

In both worlds, what’s old and familiar can feel brand new and fresh, with just a bit of a tweak.

Sean O'Harra's Cool Furniture

Over the weekend, I had an article in the Sun about Sean O'Harra, a local furniture-maker who's really more sculptor than craftsman.

I spent some time with Sean in his workshop, an enormous warehouse on the western edge of town. It's filled with crazy pieces of wood, ancient tools, and a couple of Airstream trailers (not his).

I liked Sean and I liked his work - very much. He pairs really intersting pieces of older wood with metal (also often reclaimed) to create benches and tables that are part rustic, part industrial. He also makes smaller objects, like these amazing decorative bowls that remind me a little of Enric Rovira's chocolate scupltures.

In Baltimore, Sean's stuff is available at Trohv in Hampden.

Late Night at the BMA

The Baltimore Museum of Art's renovated Contemporary Wing reopens next weekend and the museum is hosting a bunch of fun activities to celebrate. Including a short talk by yours truly!

Next Saturday night, November 17th, the museum is hosting a "late night" in the newly revamped wing. It includes a cash bar (yay!), music, dancing, interactive projects, and a handful of (very) short talks about art+other topics. My topic, unsurprisingly, is food.

I've written a ton about the relationship between art and food - it's a subject of endless fascination to me. So I'm super excited about this opportunity (I just have to wrangle my thoughts into a 10-minute talk!)

I'll be speaking at 10:15 p.m. in front of one of the museum's food-related works. Details on exactly where, and what else is going on, will be available at the museum that night. And more information about the event as a whole can be found right here.

Keep Calm and Carry On, Version 2.0

It's a sentiment I can get behind. Buy here.

Sandwich Artists (And Not the Kind from Subway)

Spring break with a sick kid means that I'm killing a lot of time with Tumblr today. And that is how I came across this Flavorpill slideshow showcasing artist Brittany Powell's sandwich homages to various artists.

Of course, Mondrian is one of my favorites:

Other favorites include Rothko and Christo, but they work better in the context of
the whole slideshow vs. as standalone images.

The slideshow is over two months old. How am I just seeing this now?

[I found the Flavorpill link via Kate Spade. And the photo is by the artist, Brittany Powell.
She and her art school friend Tae Kitaka keep a blog called Low Commitment Projects, which is pretty cool.]

Rothko + Cookies

Seeing this brightened my day considerably:

(Via Design Public on Facebook)

Artsy Wednesday: Christopher Niemann Lets It Dough

This is just one of about 20 images created by artist Christopher Niemann and featured on his NYT blog. Believe me when I say it's worth clicking through - it's one part funny and one part very sweet and all very Christmassy.

(Thanks to Joyce for posting this on Facebook!)

Trendy: Angular Food Shots

Has the age of the sloppy food photograph already passed us by? I think we might be in for a new wave of photos designed with more precision, less slop and here's why - I saw this on Hollister Hovey today:

And doesn't it remind you of this shot, which made the blog rounds a couple of months ago, courtesy of IKEA?


If the Hollister Hovey photo is a sign of things to come - and I think it is - I'll be happy. I've been over messy food porn pics since before Bon Appetit's covers started oozing. I'll take my food magazines photography carefully styled, thank you. I see enough messy food at home.

Want: Wooden Eames Blocks

You know what these would've helped with?

This travesty of Christmas past:

And just one more shot, so we can all remember what a ridiculously overambitious pastry chef I am:

Still filing that one under "seemed like a good idea at the time..."

In any case, those blocks: aren't they cute? Wouldn't they make a fantastic baby gift for someone with designy parents?

Humanity from Above

Last week, my brother sent me a link to a Boston.com feature that's actually not about Boston at all, but instead is about Florida. It's no secret that Florida real estate is a little bit crazy - since the '60s, it's been the home of massive planned development efforts, many of which never actually made it to completion.

As a result, Florida looks pretty crazy from above. If you can manage to forget about all of the waste and the sheer weirdness of living in an overly-planned environment, it even looks sort of beautiful, in a graphic sort of way:

All of the maps above come from Google maps, so for a bit of perspective, I Google mapped the neighborhood where I grew up, along with the neighborhood next door. I think it's from approximately the same height:

There's planning there, obviously, but there's a major difference: my neighborhood, which was built in the 1940s and '50s, was developed over time and built to suit the geography of the land, instead of flattening the land to accommodate the building. Both Ben Oaks, where I grew up, and Pointfield Landing (next door) are built on hills, with streets circling the top of the hill. They're also both built to make the most of the waterfront, with streets following the shore. And they were obviously not built in an effort to cram in as many houses as possible.

I'm partial to the Ben Oaks version of planning, of course, and it's making it hard for me to see any benefits to the Florida-style approach. Are there any?