Young Wild & Three: Toddlers birthday party

                                           
Summer quickly turned into fall and suddenly a lot of party planning begins. Among the obvious, there was Maya’s third birthday to plan for too. I decided to do my own take on “Young Wild & Three”. I just love that fierce little slogan and couldn’t resist.

Turntable Tuesday :: Homestyle Classic Rock-n-Roll

I like clean modern aesthetics in just about everything, but softness to a homestyle environment is essential too. Just as the birds and bees co-exist with hard manmade structures; textures and aromas can add warmth to a space.

LEFT: PHILIP BARLOW FABRIC, KOH-I-NOOR TOOTHBRUSH
RIGHT: STEPHANIE NG LIGHT FIXTURE, ABREEV’S CONCEPT DISH P SUP

Organic Food, Italian Markets, Gardens and Printing Inspiration

Juggling a new little being in the house has made getting back to the studio slower than I first imagined. Actually just getting out the door can sometimes be tricky. Having said that, I do add on more responsibility to my “to do list” that increases the workload and perhaps marginalizes time in my studio.

It’s baby food making mode here lately. It’s a bit of a paradox finding organic food living in Italy, and you’d clearly expect for every Italian mother to make her own baby food (yeah, 25 years ago). I mean, EXPO is being held this year, and everyone should be conscious of healthy eating habits (that should start at birth) right? Still, there are two main producers of canned baby food and a lot of mothers opt for it. Actually I think it’s probably more of a trend in America making homemade baby food, but I could be wrong.

Another paradox I’ve found is locating organic food here. Yes, we have farmers markets and yes families in rural areas generally have plots dedicated to food for big folk, but living in the north means there are pockets when there are no veggies growing in the garden and all depends on the weather. This year, for instance we have tons of cherries! And like the weather, studio time comes in pockets when I can sit down to sketch or typeset and start to think about what colors to use on the next project. 

Collisioni Festival: Pure Monkey Business

Collisioni Festival, Italian literature and music jubilee on the hills gets going 18th July in Barolo. This pretty and tiny place is perfectly nuzzled in the wine and truffle region of Piedmont in north Italy. There’s an impressive “old school” music line-up, with the father of grunge himself, Neil Young and the sweet Suzanne Vega set to appear. At the other spectrum, Italian indie musicians new to the genre should be a treat.

There are a host of detailed driven activities for just about everyone this year too. Wine/food enthusiasts (especially those on a budget) this year get fashionable food trucks serving up gourmet Italian food. Also encounters with chefs, wine producers and experts in the industry will engage with the public over a glass of top notch wine.

Interviews with authors, artists, poets and rappers will feed the brainy types, and mommas and poppas toting kids also have a space dedicated solely for bambini, Collisioni Kids. A host of demonstrations and laboratories are planned, which Pirouette Press will be at to participate! It’ll be pure monkey business Sunday...

EXPERIMENTAL LETTERPRESS ON CLOTH-handset wood type

Turntable Tuesday :: Love Dies Pizza is Forever

New Year upon us and I got to check-off the list for 2013 pizzeria ALLA LETTERA in Turin. The restaurant is dedicated to typography and in particular the typeface BODONI by Italy’s famous type designer, punch cutter and printer GIOVANNI BATTISTA BODONI. Alla Lettera's mission is put simply (like any good plate of food), “"alla lettera" significa anche "fare bene le cose", con qualità e nel rispetto della tradizione” -- “”to the letter” also means to “do things well”, with quality and respect to tradition.

Turntable Tuesday : In the Kitchen Playing, Baking and Printing

I am in the kitchen baking today. Found a terribly easy and SURE SHOT PIE RECIPE by top chef JACQUES PEPIN. Thought it would also be a great moment to then play around with food/typography and “print” a Christmas greeting. HERE are pictures of the final result.

Turntable Tuesday : Affordable Foodie Ideas for Christmas

I can’t get over the truism of the statement, "It’s the thought that counts”.
Turntable Tuesday muses over Christmas gift ideas. Final top of the list choices include food poems to memorialize our tastebuds, possible collector products or/and sad jokes to share (this one’s without a doubt).

This weeks NY MAGAZINE mentioned beloved American foods going, not necessarily out of fashion, but perhaps suffering cultural (or elbow grease) amnesia. In Vanishing: The Endangered Foods of New York and Where to Get Them While You Still Can, The Brooklyn Seltzer Boys are featured among select goods/companies which remain, small, under the guise of “old fashioned” and independent. 

Images 2&3 VIA AUTHOR WEBSITE. N.1 VIA Brooklyn News 12

Turntable Tuesday :: Keep It Seasonal, Stylish and Offbeat

Turntable Tuesday: recalls RITZY ALL BOY AMERICAN HOLIDAY TRADITIONS, plans on a SEASONAL SWEET RECIPE, adds a STYLISH WOMEN’S FOOD MAGAZINE on the Christmas list, and maybe A TOTE TO PUT ALL THE GOODIES INSIDE.

Probably wasn’t a tradition for most people, but a uniquely AMERICAN CHRISTMAS TRADITION at the RITZ CARLTON (which I might add, once included its own print shop). This ESSAY from 1956 by LOUIS DIAT, fabled head chef, writes in graphic detail how to insert truffles just under the skin of a bird (among other other classic recipes), and the atmosphere that pervaded like men only allowed in the Oyster room after Sunday mass.

"Members of head chef Louis Diat's kitchen brigade at the Ritz-Carlton New York, show off three of the hotel's celebrated French dishes: Terrine of Duckling Rouennaise, Aiguillette of Duckling Montmorency, and Pâté de Foie Gras Strasbourg.”
IMAGE AND QUOTE ACCREDITED TO GOURMET.COM

SIMPLE APPLE GALETTE RECIPE My tendency to make this has mostly everything to do with the baker’s dedication to creating delicious baked goods and amazing film photography of her work.

CHERRY BOMBE new to the scene and stylish food magazine featuring food loving women.

FASHION TOTE Belgium based designer MICHAEL VERHEYDEN quotes himself some edgy ideas on a bag.

ALL IMAGES VIA AUTHOR WEBSITES

Turntable Tuesday :: Raw

TURNTABLE TUESDAY thinks about what’s tasty, wearable and good to read for the holidays.

GENO’S FOTO VIA COOKING LIGHT, OTHERS VIA AUTHOR’S WEBSITES

CHEESY ART: This guy knows his cheese! MIKE GENO paints "seductively tasty” hyper realistic food oil paintings. Good enough for me as I go gaga for anything cheese.

T-SHIRT:  Gotta love T-shirts and can’t ever go wrong with good ones in your closet.  You can wear them with jeans or a skirt--trainers or heels! This one is molto cool: VIOLENT ELEGANCE by Two Points

BOOK: Peter Moruzzi’s CLASSIC DINING: DISCOVERING AMERICA’S FINEST  MID-CENTURY RESTAURANT sounds formidable. These tales would surely inspire anyone, including my own martini and steak affair. DINNER PARTY DOWNLOAD’S Rico Gagliano had a jokily interview with the author and delved into a little of what mid-century American Continental cuisine must have been like--like patrons partartaking in uber classic cocktails and flaming meat prepared at your table. 

Sounds like a RUSH.

Turntable Tuesday: Red For Tomato

OX HEART TOMATOES, better known as CUORE DI BUE in north Italy, is a “COMMON" big, soft, plump and super juicy tomato. I’m a big fan if you couldn’t tell!

This is not your typical supermarket tomato, which may be redder, less expensive but tasteless...  HARRY J. KLEE, from the University of Florida’s Institute of Plant Innovation, is trying to bridge the gap and make common supermarket tomatoes more tasty for the average consumer, yet easy and financially viable for the producer to get to market.  But until then, you might find something in the States like Goldmans’ Italian American tomato, which aren’t perfectly round and firm to use in this following recipe.

Our late blossoming summer has allowed us a wonderful fall "CASALINGA" ITALIAN TOMATO SOUP RECIPE and some TURNTABLE TUNES.

Turntable Tuesday :: Bon-Ton Market

On-Line MARKET - a collection of pretty objects, eats and places one can have, make or be at.

Per La Cucina: 
Time for warm soup and what better to serve it with than a LION’S HEAD SOUP BOWL?
Revol French handmade since 1789

Per La Casa:
Another French choice, Le Rocketship: A very nice concept mixing up the best of worlds--boutique & cafe in Paris.
A HANGING LAMP, which could go anywhere in your space.

Ricetta Pancake:
I usually do pancakes this time of year; I think I’ll give this one a go.
Gotta try recipe DUTCH BABY PANCAKES full recipe at Kinfolk

Dove Mangiare Amsterdam:
Gotta go to restaurant when in AMSTERDAM.
Aan de Amstel. Husband and wife team, she an illustrator, cook, book author and food stylist, he photographer.
image via iens

Turntable Tuesday :: A Dog’s Appetite

Beautiful fall weekend in Alba (known for the world renown WHITE TRUFFLE FESTIVAL).
Pirouette Press got the chance to partake in the parallel event Contaminazioni, showcasing editors, poets, writers and the like. Wonderful meeting, demonstrating and speaking about the craft of letterpress with Italians and tourists (who got a sneak peak at some new letterpress stationery).

Turntable Tuesday :: Munich Eatery Spaces

Italy is famous for espresso and perhaps even more so people clamoured up to the bar to have a jolt, but not so much to sit and sip as I found in Bavaria. I met up with my sunny Californian cousin and her Deutsche husband in his hometown Munich. I had never been and wasn’t sure what else to expect except for beer and sausage. And there was plenty of that with the infamous Oktoberfest in full swing, which we popped into and out of and back onto gentler and quieter streets in record time. And I mean quieter, strangely and reflectively quiet which I think these interior eatery spaces show.

CAFE’ MARIE

Turntable Tuesday : Taming Neenah, Menu Design

Here is a paper sample booklet by NEENAH PAPER COMPANY. I’ve had it for about 15 years, so a bit tattered. I’ve permitted myself to cut out just parts from a few pages and even brought it over with me to Italy from America. It goes to show how much I love this...well, object.

Tuntable Tuesday : Beauty On The Page - Food Photography

I’ve started "Turntable Tuesday" to edge in a word wise about food and lifestyle and spread the awesome tunes I hear on my favorite podcasts etc.. For me, these things are an integral part of living well and moving forward with projects and plans in my letterpress studio. Music is the obvious in most people’s lives and it takes little effort to plug in our mp3 player, but eating well isn’t so straightforward, I think. These images are from photographers, artists, illustrators, cooks who all have the scope of designing beauty on the page.

Turntable Tuesday : Anarchic Pasta

All pasta isn’t the same in Italy and if you’re in Genova, it’s handmade trofie (troh/fyeh) with pesto (most likely) or a seafood mix. I was hosted by friends Manolab for the weekend to learn some bookbinding techniques and we had the lovely typical Ligurian dish for a Sunday lunch. This short and twisted (by rubbing motion) pasta with a lost history is made with no eggs--kinda an anarchic pasta, huh?

Studio Tunes 

(something uncomplicated that goes well with some seaside vibes)

Stir It Up by Bob Marley and the Wailers

Social Living by Burning Spear

Perpetual Motion Machine by Vibrasonic

Turntable Tuesday : Guerilla Gardeners and J Dilla

First thing about this image to set the mood in motion is the chalkboard style lettering Food Is Free on the side panel of the minivan.  First heard about these community style gardens by way of  Ron Finley’s talk at TED and his giant effort in south central Los Angeles. Wicking bed garden technology (self watering gardens) makes community gardens sustainable and a good way to connect with people and create green edible landscapes where non would otherwise exist.

Studio Tunes: 

Very Busy People by The Limousines
and a few by Detroit’s late Hip Hop extraordinaire J Dilla

Time: The donut of The Heart  
DeWitt To Do It: J Dilla Lost Scrolls Vol.1
Ruff and Rugged 

Turntable Tuesday : Plum Delicious

Plums or Prunus domestica or double the size of a popcorn and we’ve got Empress Italian Plums. A dinner party hit to end a season and begin another. Literally have kilos of this fruit just outside the doorstep and although I love to eat them as is, why not explore everything plum?  A fun way to entertain guests and maybe even surprise them!

Turntable Studio Tunes : Hearty

As the name suggests, Turntable Tuesday is about what I’ve been listening to in the studio, sources of inspirational tunes, but I’ll start to highlight the “table" in the turntable part of the title too. What’s been cooking, as most creatives love to cook or at the least have a good bite and a glass of something nice to be inspired. Italy, has plenty of this to offer and more. Many here have awesome gardens with seasonal goodies. 

Pizza Piemontese fatto in casa

Spent a great last weekend with Anna Savino and her husband who came into town for the weekend. She’s a food, wine and culture blogger covering northern Piedmonte, and in particular the Langhe hills wine region between the Italian Alps and Riviera. She’s easy to reach and anyone coming to this part of Italy should read her blog for some amazing tips on where to go to spend quality time. So, what better way to treat our friends than with some pizza ‘fatto in casa’ (made at home. Here she guides you with an illustrated step by step on how to make the best pizza. It’s a recipe formulated over many years of happy experimenting by a Piemontese called Lino.

(photos by Anna Savino in our kitchen)