taking in beauty in all things

whiskey with my water
sugar in my tea
my sails in rags
with the scatters and the jags

i dream
a highway
back to you.
(lines from a gillian welch song)

this photo was taken by my friend matia kelly, at her dad's ranch in eastern oregon. myself and jessica by the pool after a day of hiking, drinking wine and lovely conversation. oh and naps....
i left my camera the other night at a friends house, on her porch, it will return shortly. until then:

poetry
Las Vegas
105 degree weather
new love?
rain on my tomatoes
and very sound sleep....

seeking nourishment

mouth seeking nourishment:
seeking something soft and wet
something healthy
seeking a cooler today, so things might have been different.
seeking strength

belly seeking fulfillment:
all the peach crisp in my kitchen
and i can't take a bite.


picture of joni mitchell to inspire my spirit and remind me to eat...

a good bye dinner

making peach cobbler from scratch...
oh the bounty of summer! the way tiny tomatoes burst in your mouth!
I grew basil on my balcony this summer and made really garlicky pesto! and then made pesto pasta. here are all the stages...yum


my friend Eliot Rose moved to Berkley California to attend grad school, and we ate fantastically as always in his presence to send him off to new friends, adventures and learning.
Eliot is pensive about something....and Jeevan is wondering who is making the mojitos.
my friend jessica made lemon feta a few days before, and I decided to try my had at it. i soaked the feta and oil with lemon rind and whole lemons.
Eliot made tilapia fish tacos with delicious accoutrement...

a green sahara

Mike Hettwer / National Geographic Society

Archaeologist Helene Jousse holds up a belly plate from a soft-shelled turtle found in a Tenerian garbage dump.

Scientists uncover skeletons thought to be as old as 10,000 years, when monsoon rains created a 'green Sahara.'

wowow!

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-sahara15-2008aug15,0,583067.story

beast, oh my god

i have the menu,
and I will enter it in tomorrow. now it is 12:33 am, and I just rode my little brown raleigh bike home from the best dinner i have ever eaten.
it was at beast, the fixe prix establishment operated by Naomi Pomeroy, and I have been there 2 times before, but this blew it out of the water!


i am excited like the breeze cooling down my room on this sweltering august night!
the food made me blush like a thousand roses in bloom!
the wine pairings danced in my mouth with grace and precision!

pictures and menu and story to come later.....

oh
my
god.
yum!

Kir

On First Friday on east Burnside, Matt, Abe and I walked around to a few galleries and stores. The drummer for Love Menu, Emily Baker, opened a boutique where she sells her wonderful jewelry and other lovely things. I had a few watercolor paintings on the wall.
After looking around and saying hello, and eating homemade tartlets, we walked over to a new little wine bar called Kir, that is in the old space on 7th and NE Burnside where L'Astra used to be.
I went to the opening a few weeks ago with my friend Natasha who knows everyone.
above is the trout salad.
Matt really loved the red wine that the sweet owner suggested.
Abe got the same one. yummy.

1920's soiree

Matia and I in the women's lounge

Jessica Moskovitz is one of those wonderful women who always has put the right amount of thought into the details. For her birthday this year, she asked everyone to join her at a prohibition inspired speakeasy called The Secret Society Lounge on N. Russell above Toro Bravo.
She asked for no gifts(with the exclusion of good booze), but she did request all invited to dress the part. She did not call the bar to let them know that her entourage would show up dressed to the 9's in our 1920-1940's regalia.

The cocktails at the bar were all prohibition era, and with the recently legalization of Absinthe, and a local distillery, Integrity Spirits, making beautiful artisanal bottles called Trillium.
www.integrityspirits.com

The drink I imbibed was titled: The Corpse Reviver #2.
This drink is direct from the 1800's and was suggested to be a fantastic hangover remedy. So I could have one for breakfast?
here are the indredients for the yummy cocktail:
Aviation Gin
Lillet
Lemon juice
Trillium Absinthe

I suggest you seduce all your friends to dressed up, and either head to this bar, or make your own prohibition party and celebrate our freedom to drink!

I just got off the phone with the sweet manager of the Ballroom and Lounge, she told me it was her birthday yesterday and they also celebrated there.

Sean R. MgGrath is a local comedy writer, actor, and all around wise guy...can't you tell?

blood orangeses, or "if it feels good..."

summer begins in my mouth

we woke up early (for us, which was around 10:30) on a sunny saturday and rode out bikes to Pastaworks to pick up things for an afternoon picnic.
dolmas, feta, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, pickled onions(we made by marinating the onions in red wine vinegar for about an hour)
then our friends Nathan (who plays violin in many local bands: The Maybe Happening, Nick Jaina, and others), and his lovely lovely lady Ingrid who works at the Portland Art museum and loves to play cribbage, invited us over for a BBQ.

we attached the spread of yummy food onto my bike basket and we rode the 20 blocks to their house in SE.
we all drank rose' and white wine out of mugs and Nathan grilled corn until he burned a little hole in the front deck....
the wine made Matt and I sleepy so we went upstairs and took an hour long nap in Ingrid and Nathan's bed, until we were awoken by the claps of thunder and a downpour.
this is portland in May afterall....

lovely ladies surprise with lunch

my friends Erin(not pictured), Annie, and Jeevan showed up at my apartment on this pleasantly warm May afternoon for lunch and fresh baked scones.
homemade scones with fresh apricot preserves. the scone recipe came from wholefoods. the dishes are from the goodwill, the one on the left is handpainted!
Annie and I somehow totally matched without planning it. grey sweatshirt, white dress, charcoal tights, and brown boots. wow.

Cannon Beach

we were invited to a weekend at the beach. this is the view from the house. yes, there is haystack rock, made infamous in the cult movie "Goonies"
while a few of us planned and prepared dinner, the rest of the group watched Planet Earth on the tv. here they are watching me for a moment for the picture.

we made sauteed radishes in butter and salt, and lasagne, and one girl made the most delicious tequila shrimp. we had all the ingredients together for the lasagne, zucchini, ricotta, loads of mozzarella cheese and a slow cooked red sauce. the oven was hot, and then it was not.

we decided to improvise and heated up the grill. it worked! we covered the lasagne with tinfoil and put the glass pan on the top shelf of the grill.


here are the shrimp marinating in lime and tequila!

Korean In NYC

I arrived in Nyc on April 6th. The red eye flight, the early morning cab ride argued with my stomach. A small nap, and then off to a trunkshow at a boutique called Kaight in the lower east side. i sold a fair amount of clothes, and that made the long long day seem a bit better. 

My hostess in Greenpoint is a lovely woman named Eileen who also runs an eco-showroom called Origin 23. 

we met only briefly in LA a few weeks before and she was so gracious to put me up, bring me tea when I was not well, and introduce me to her favorite haunts. 

one of these places was a Korean spa in the shadow of the Empire State Building. 

At 10:30 pm we met her friend Isa at a little market where we bought tall jugs of tea, and then descended into the basement of a tall tall building and into a tiled room where there was a small asian man who took our $30. 

we spent 3 hours scrubbing ourselves, steaming, sauna-ing, and lazily talking about our lives. 

after all of this, we were starving, and they took me to a cheap and delicious 24 hour spot called Dou Wip or Wha Doop or something...the food was more memorable than the name....

Bands eat.

from left: Steve, Emily, Bob, Bobby. 

My band, Love Menu (also the title of this blog), was in Olympia recording our first album. 

These are the things we ate. 

How we get through the day

Tradeshows can be long, boring and fruitless. I was working at my booth in the Cooper building during LA market, trying to sell my clothing line. but it was very slow in the Eco showroom we were in. I made friends with Mark, who co-designs an incredible collection out of San Fran called Turk and Taylor.

He was the best part of the week. and every morning he brought homemade bloody marys. yum! at the end he said: "making a new friend is better than writing 20 orders". well, yes to the heart in that.

After, Gretchen and I ate at a hipster Silverlake vietnamese place on sunset blvd. i have eated there a few times, and this time, we sat next to a guy that Gretchen went to college with in Colorado. small world.

Yum! Ginger!

Sushi in LA

After the night before cooking for many people, we decided to get sushi at a place in Silverlake that one of our friends recommended. unfortunately when we arrived they were done seating, so we got takeout.
every bite was so delicious and fresh!
another night of eating at the house on Portia st!

Sushi Love

A last minute party. 

Matia and I called people on Friday night and by Saturday we had 10 friends ready to eat lots of sushi. 

Pearl unfiltered Sake from a local producer, yummm. raw fish the color of smiling gums. 

 

LA, the standard, and old friends

My friend Gretchen and I were staying in LA for the Fall fashion tradeshows. One night of our stay was sponsored by a showroom we sometimes work for. they paid for us to stay at the chic Standard hotel. this picture is Gretchen standing over the HUGE bathtub.

i tried to convince the concierge to give us the best room and he told us to go to the 7th floor. we walk into the room, and there is a man in his underwear on the phone! Oops!
we laugh and turn around as the concierge comes running up to us. he made a mistake. and he has our real room.
won't we come with him.
he takes us to the top floor. when we open the door we see this incredible bathroom, and she and I wish we were lovers just for the utter romantic possibilites in this place.

after a shower and change we head to Echo Park, to my good friend Zachary Leener's house.
he lives near an asian market where we somehow buy enough groceries for a 6 person dinner party for $20.
we decide to make Pad Thai and we we starving! My friend Nicholas, who i have known since highschool, and then again at art school at MICA in Baltimore now lives in LA with his wife Melody, who was my college roommate. they joined us for dinner.

Everytime i go to LA, i find myself cooking something delicious in this big kitchen in a large 1910's house. It has made my experience of the city that has so many labels, one of comfort and friendship and good food.

Breitenbush hot springs late night meal

At Breitenbush Hot Springs, about 1.5 hours east of Salem, they serve organic vegetarian food in the dining hall daily. 3 meals. there is a bell that rings at 8am, noon, and 6pm. that is when you eat.
all you really do while there is eat, sleep, and soak in the healing hot springs.
this was the 1st time I ever went as an adult and stayed in a cabin. it was pretty romantic.
at the end of the last night we were there, after hours of soaking, eating dinner, napping, making out a little, we were hungry again.

and we ate cheese and sausage and drank some wine. it was great. it felt so decadent.

Brunch at Navarre

go there and eat.
Navarre. 28th and NE Burnside. they also have a fixed price dinner which it totally reasonable.
YUM!!

make up

I bought this beautiful and tasty organic tomato at the Alberta st. CO-OP. 

It was in the half off bin because of a tiny bit of bruising, the heart-shape tugged at the sentimentalist in me, and I wanted to make a sandwich with a little extra love.