Printer & Piemaker: October 2010

28 October, 2010

18 October, 2010

Okay, there is no way I am going to be able to catch you up on all the weekends I've missed posting about. Suffice it to say that, among other things, I attended two "underground" dinners, went to Oregon for my family's annual trip to the Shakespeare Festival (this year's production of Hamlet was incredible, and I scored some great antiques in Medford), went dancing with a bunch of bros, ate several amazing meals, attended a barbeque called "Carnage Fest 2010" (self-explanatory, really), went to two ballgames, saw a couple of friends' shows, tried speed dating (ouch), got a new tattoo with my friend Kara, went on a bunch of dates, attended the Oakland Underground Film Festival (Thunder Soul was one of the best docmentaries I've seen in a long time) and the Eat Real Festival, went to the beach, saw Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler talk, got a spray tan, went to a vintage ephemera sale, exhibited at Renegade, ate food cooked by Samin Nosrat and Michael Pollan while getting dating advice from Novella Carpenter, went strawberry picking, hosted two dinner parties, and danced my butt off to tranny hip hop at a Big Freedia show. Here are some photos from the past couple of months that may or may not have anything to do with the above.

16 October, 2010

Weekend!

Tomorrow I'm going to post more about the past few weekends, but THIS weekend was pretty amazing in its own right. On Thursday night I attended the release party for The Exquisite Book, created by fellow RISD alums Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, and Matt Lamothe, at Rare Device. My friends Susie Gharhemani and Eunice Moyle were there drawing live along with Caitlin Keegan, Tom Neely, Lorena Siminovich, Kelly Lynn Jones, and Lisa Congdon.

I met up with my friend Jessica at the party and we headed over to the Great American Music Hall to see the ever awesome Wrong Words open for the Hoodoo Gurus. Yes, the Wrong Words are also friends of mine, but they make really incredible music and you should definitely check them out before they become megastars so you can say you were fans of them before they became famous. After the show we were hungry, so we went over to Nopa for dinner at the bar, which was delicious!

On Friday morning, I met Susie for breakfast at Plow, a new restaurant in Portrero Hill that was wonderful. After breakfast we went on an adventure, first checking out Warm Water Cove ("Tire Beach") and then spending some time at Scrap, one of the more dangerous places on Earth for those of us who are pack rat-inclined. Susie scored some great paper, and I got a case full of paint chips and some millinery fruit which I will probably never use, but couldn't resist.

Tiny Furniture Trailer from Lena Dunham on Vimeo.

That evening, my other friend Jessica picked me up and we drove up to Mill Valley for a couple of films at the MVFF. We saw Most Valuable Players, a documentary about high school musicals which was great, and then quickly drove over to San Rafael to grab some dinner at Sol Food (our favorite Puerto Rican restaurant- the platanos maduros are like crack) before going back to see Tiny Furniture, which is so incredibly excellent... I'm sure it will be playing at a film festival near you and it is definitely worth watching. Really, really good.

On Saturday I got to sleep in (you'd think I'd get to do that more, being self-employed, but you'd be surprised) and then I went into San Francisco to stop by the opening party for the pop up store Stacy Pancake put together at Pancake & Franks, in which my products are featured. Stacy had done a great job of setting things up- I loved the way everything was merchandised! I was able to browse a little before going to a very memorable dinner at Benu.

I have a friend who is a food critic, and he invited me to join him for the thirteen course tasting menu at Benu. We also had the wine pairings, which made some of the courses really shine, like the eel fuille de brick with creme fraiche paired with my favorite beer of all time- Hitachino Nest White Ale- and the chestnut custard, cranberry and mace ice cream, paired with Royal Tokaj. YUM. Also, he got me excited about my book idea again (one day you will hear more about this), which was great. Thanks, Mr. Miller!

On Sunday morning I got up early to make a pie for the Mission Pie contest. There was a good showing (21 entries) and I heard some great comments about my pie, but I didn't win. My friend Elka came along to cheer for me, and while the judges were deliberating we walked down the street to the El Perol in the Mission Market for an amazing pan con chicharron (a Peruvian sandwich with roasted pork, grilled sweet potato and marinated onions) and a pineapple agua fresca.

After the contest we drove out to the Marin Headlands, where our friend Michele was one of many artists holding open studios. It was nice to see some work outside of the gallery context; I feel like I don't have that experience that often now that I'm no longer in art school. I particularly loved the glass piece below by Helen Lee (she does some letterpress work and this is a play on "Lorem Ipsum," for those type nerds out there), and a painting by Leo Bersamina that I am not going to show you yet because I am hoping to buy it!

Then we stopped by Park Life to see my friend Marina before going back to the Mission for an extremely tasty dinner at Bar Tartine. Everything was so good but I think the highlight for me was the quince tart tatine with honey and buttermilk ice cream, accompanied by a glass of Moscato d' Asti, my favorite guilty pleasure.

Whew!

08 October, 2010

Garden Party!

A year ago, my backyard was a bit of a wasteland. Weeds had taken over the lawn, and any plants without very deep roots had withered. And then I met my friend Christine, who helped me tranform it into a wonderland! She finished landscaping in February and I've been enjoying the fruits (literally) of her labor ever since. Every beet I pull, every raspberry I pick, every bouquet of flowers I give to a friend seems like a treasure. I grew up with a beautiful garden that included dozens of fruit trees planted by my green-thumbed father, but I never seemed to catch the gardening bug. And now suddenly, I am finding myself kneeling in the dirt, planting broccoli and herbs, sprouting sweet potato slips and bean plants in my windowsill, feeling the urge to pop into the nursery every time I walk by. And as I know from my childhood, nothing tastes better than produce you've grown yourself. The tomatoes, beets, carrots, lettuces, herbs, raspberries, persimmons, lemons, walnuts, wild strawberries and flowers I've grown this summer have been amazing, and I've snapped a lot of pictures of them, so I thought I'd share some here. Enjoy!

Pop Up Shop!

Pie Bird Press has been invited to participate in this wonderful pop up at Pancake & Franks. If you're in the SF area, you should check it out! It's a great opportunity to get started early on holiday shopping. In addition to the opening party on October 16, the shop will be open Wednesday-Saturday, 10/16-11-6, from 12-5pm.

Please join us for the Pancake & Frank's Pop-Up Shop.

We are offering all of Stacy Pancake's favorite things at this unique sale of artwork, vintage furnishings,

rare books, architectural jewelry, exclusive fragrances, graphic apparel and, of course, a large selection of stationery products.

OPENING PARTY! with the Skylite Snowballs Truck (12-3PM)