Mes Accomplissements Culinaires

pour la semaine...

This next week is insane busy, but I'm going to challenge myself to 5 minute posts on the life's goings on. We're not only amidst multiple projects, but I have a yoga photoshoot this Friday with fantastic local photographers duo and friends of mine. Quixotic Pictures quixoticpictures.com.

Also, I set a goal of listening to France Radio while I design each day until Paris, for which the countdown has officially begun! 11 days!!! Must brush up on the rusty language skills!

Which brings me back to the post, which is culinary accompishments for the week, despite busy design schedule. Late Sunday night I made borscht. A huge gigantic pot of gorgeous dark red beet soup. I've grown up on it & I'm in love with the stuff. Only thing is, it's been so hot in Southern California, that next on the agenda is Cold Borscht. [which I feel is the actual name so I'm going to keep it capitalized]

My family recipe. Well, that's not exactly true. This is actually my grandfather's cook's recipe, but it's very close to our family's.

Up next, this is the carrot cake I made Monday night. It's a combination of several recipes I found online. One from epicurious and another the other from my new favorite gourmet boutique-ish cooking blog - SmittenKitchn. 

I accidentally threw in buttermilk that was meant for a glaze to the batter instead, but all for the better. The thing tasted amazing! It was for the first leg of Jason's birthday celebration, which took place last night. Some of us had the carrot cake with coffee ice-cream; a savvy, wise choice.

And this last image is my submittal to the gourmet grilled cheese-a-thon competition. I was going for somewhat rustic, somewhat home-down but with a twist. Ingredients include:

bakery sourdough

heirloom tomato

chipotle sauce [from Krakatoa, a local coffee & sandwich shop]

thick cut bacon

gouda cheese

muenster cheese

compe cheese

Ok, the time for these entries throughout the busy days will be increased to 10 minutes. As this one just took 15.

Last Minute Design Competition Submittal

Update: As promised I've uploaded a proper document of our submittal. On Monday we received an email from the jurors telling us that we've been accepted to participate and that our design is 'fabulous' !! We're really excited & grateful for the recognition, and we think the P U [P]AVILION is fabulous too. It'll be fabricated on a CNC using plywood, & on display in San Diego in October. More info to follow.

To the Bowhaus dog house design competition! This is just a screenshot. I don't think the design proposal brief is legible. I'll upload a proper PNG later, one that'll make the lineweights and colors read. This is all Hadley inspiration. And Jason, because without him the 3D model wouldn't be built using T-Splines. 

Disheveled Elegance

How many times has disheleved elegance been reinvented? When did it first start? I can't seem to fall asleep, so I'm considering the history of style until I do.

Jason's birthday g r a p h i c s

I realize there's more to architecture than pure aesthetics but I am admittedly graphics obsessed. I created this birthday invitation for Jason's 29th in about 20 minutes this past Tuesday when there were lots of projects to be worked on. Sometimes one must procrastinate, however, in order to play with typography. 

the inspiration for the subtractive type came from a museum exhibition invite

The composition below was inspired by an intersection of Jorgen Leth's The Perfect Human, Existentialism & maybe a dash of Dutch minimalism.   

A Short Trip to HorseShoe

On Sunday I took an hour out of the workday to take Hadley to the beach. It was a grueling competition submittal day so I almost didn't go. But then Jason convinced me we need a break and I grabbed Had & got in the car before there was time to change my mind.

Horse Shoe Beach. One of my La Jolla favorites.

 I chased Had down my 'locals only' passageway and had to blink several times once I saw the ocean. It was so much more bright, expansive and beautiful than I remembered. I sucked in gulps of salty air. I couldn't get enough.

  It was glorious. It reminded me how crucial balance is. I constantly get lost in design and start to rush around. Living downtown puts this false impession in my head that a break is a book and a coffeeshop. Which is nice. But the ocean was magnificent; a tiny vacation.  I told myself not to forget again that I live in a beach town, with beautiful beach cliff typography, deep gold sunsets, misty shorebreak, salty ocean air, and warm sand.

All It Takes

 Is Good D e s i g n . . .

To get me extremely excited.

I'm a serious sucker for cleverly designed stationary and zip cases made of  cool fiber and textured materials. That's why I had to share Almanac Industries, a Baltimore purveyor and crafter of letterpressed paper products and bound books. They also carry tasteful leather goods. 

almanacindustries.com

love. but can't justify the price.

plan and elevation. humble yet pleasing.

As I am obsessed with handcrafted just about everything, and love to bind books & my portfolio [a passion I picked up learning when I set out to perfect bind my thesis book in studio] I'm really impressed with the fact that they have a press and with just about all of their items for sale on Etsy.

shop.lamblife.com
my canvas zip case I picked up from Lamb, a design boutique in Grand Rapids, when
we passed through on the cross-country summer roadtrip



The hapticity of these items is just so alluring. Not to mention books have always been romantic to me; handling a rare or older book [read vintage if you happen to be a 'tween] or a matte cover design magazine leaves me elated, & brings out a sort of awe and sentimentality. Seriously.

Almanac Industries: leather enclosed notebook



It seems the arrival and widespread use of the iPad & Kindle for reading has thrust me further into my love affair with graphically pleasing and quality crafted books, [actually any physical books at this point] and letterpressed stationary. 

xpollinatestudio.com

A bit random, but the texture of x - p o l l i n a t e s t u d i o ' s cardboard lamps is 

in lockstep with the types of textures I love & of which I can't get enough.

The Time We Felt Small Victories

Last Thursday Jason Abe & I met with the owners of The Village and delivered our proposal. If you're thinking this is only a sign, then maybe I need to explain the scale. The sign's roughly 12-14' x 5'. 

intense discussions. our lamps overhead. can be found at  xpollinatestudio.com

But what was most exhilirating about the presentation is that the concept that we, along with clients Emma and Cynthia, collectively decided upon was a fusion of our three visions. It's three distinct yet intertwined ideas that layer to create the whole, which emphasizes how our varying strengths play together. 

a render of one initial proposal from the package.  

The next day was also the launch of our resource-spurred designed object series. You can check them out soon on our website. xpollinatestudio.com

cardboard lamps + graphic labels by X-P o l l i n a t e  S t u d i o