General Washington, Ben Franklin & the gang!

Our trip to Philly this weekend was wonderful. We saw lots of historic landmarks and the weather could not have been more perfect (on Saturday, at least). I think my favorite was Elfreth's Alley, the oldest, contunually residential street in America.


It all looked so colonial, I felt like I was Felicity. (Yes, the American Girl. Yes, I read all of those books as a child. All of them.)

After a day chockfull of history & walking when I spotted General Washington's Tavern Porter at the Foodery I was all over it. (Who knew I was so patriotic!) Turns out it's (supposidly) from General Washington's original recipe & awesome. It was brewed maybe 15 miles away from where I was at the time and my next trip to Philly will include a tour of Yards Brewery.

*A big thanks to Jeff & Leanne for showing us around Philly!

Chicago to Philly!

I just realized that I never shared any photos from our weekend in Chicago almost a month ago! (whoops!)

We're heading to Philadelphia this evening for the weekend with some friends.

Enjoy the warm weekends while they last!

Fingerprint: Call for Entries

Fingerprint is such an inspirational book. When I'm designing I'm constantly trying to get that little touch into my designs to keep them from looking too "computery" even if I don't have the luxury of screen printing the piece... or sewing it, stamping it, etc.

Entries are due October 15th and are FREE! You can download the entry form here or here.

via mint and HOW.

Canning: part 3

I finally had some friends over for a little canning party on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and we ended up meeting at the Greenmarket in Grand Army Plaza to pick up some fresh goods before hand. We made these spicy okra, these spiced pickles and another batch of more traditional pickles via a mix that Caitlin brought. We also ended up with too many okra for what our original mix made so we decided to make some okra with the spicy pickle mix. I'll let you know how everything turns out!

The zucchini pickles from 2 weeks ago are really amazing, by the way. They are very mustardy, which I love. We still have a big jar left but I can't wait to make more.

We had every intention of making jalapeño jelly as well but found fruit pectin to be a little difficult to find that afternoon. I got some and we're all set to try our hand a the jelly later this week. (I'll share the recipe then!)

today

I wouldn't feel right ignoring today. My thoughts are with all New Yorkers, men & women in the military, and Americans—my heart goes out to you.

Back to School!

J gets kids at school today. No more long summer evenings just working on the apartment & hanging out with friends (or reading Moby Dick which still isn't quite finished!). Now the evenings will be spent calling parents & grading papers but that gives me time to work on some of my own side projects!

Good luck J, & to all of the teachers & students this year!

your mom's a pickle! or, Canning: part 2

Over zealous and unprepared. That's what happened when I went to the farmer's market on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to do some canning this week. I had some old salsa & peanut butter jars but apparently those aren't safe for true canning. (the kind that lasts for years...)

J starts school (his second year of teaching!) next week, we're leaving town on Friday for Labor Day weekend in Chicago — this translates to: busy week, not a lot of time for frivolity or canning adventures. In an attempt to not loose the zucchini I got I decided to do these zucchini pickles tonight. The farmer's market didn't have summer squash so mine are all zucchini. I also haven't picked up the proper jars yet so I'm hoping that since these are going in the fridge and will be consumed within the next few weeks that we'll be safe from some of the frightening food poisoning that I've been reading about. I have to say, the process was simple and so were the ingredients and they smelled amazing! I can't wait until we get back from Chicago to try our pickles!
On a somewhat unrelated note, we got a surprise in the mail earlier this week. Our dear friend, Winston, has returned to Texas (after living in NYC for the past 6 years) to start a farm. He sent us some good ol' Texas dirt & a Lone Star bottle cap. I put it on display in a mason jar with the letter he sent us and the Bob Hope stamp off of the package for our own little Winson time capsule of sorts. Thanks Winston, we miss you too!

*p.s. my 6 year old camera may have bit the dust. I've been using J's camera for over a month now, it's not going so well. Any recommendations on an upgrade. Something better but not super fancy?

Fashion Illustration // Garance Doré

I have a secret obsession. I love fashion illustration. I suppose I hate to admit it because the figures are so distorted, nothing like "real women" in the least bit. Then there's the fashion industry as a whole with the eating disorders, "air brushing"/photoshopping... the negative psychological affect that it's had on such a huge percentage of our population and beyond... the over all facade can be rather sickening... that's not even starting to talk about the sweatshops & 3rd world labor prices... & these are just the humanitarian concerns. The guilt goes on an on... (well, I'll get off my soap box now, my apologies. & I do realize that this is not every person or company in fashion, there are some good-guys out there too!)


What I was really meaning to say is that I've been keeping some of Granace Doré's illustrations (& beautiful photos!) in my favorites for months. Ms. Doré has just released some of her writing and illustrations for Gap's 40th Anniversary series. Beautiful. I stopped buying "graphic tees" awhile back (except for this one that I recieved as a Christmas gift from J!) in an attempt to appear a bit more professional. That said, I would pick any of these up in a heartbeat!

This last image is just because I love that tattoo. I've been itching for another for quite sometime now and fell in love with this image!

*all illustrations & photos by Granace Doré.