Jamaican me laugh

me: (walk into kitchen, sees Chef Dan scooping flour) Whatcha making?
Chef Dan: (stops scooping flour) No, I'm American. (maintains steady eye contact)
me: ...
Chef Dan: (still maintaining steady eye contact)
me: (turn around and walks away)

Sorry, Lindsay.

but I redesigned the Virtue cards. 

Not going to lie, I was fairly bummed out when this happened. 

Now, what you hear is not a test

I've just decided that I'm going to make a video of the EGFG holiday party antics, and I'm going to call it:
Me, The Grain, and my friends are going to try to move your feet.

Yeahhhh, I'm excited, you excited?, you should be excited.

That time I spent twenty minutes giggling over designing a hot dog in a Santa hat tangled in some lights.

Nota bene, Virtue brethren: Hot Dog Sam is smiling.

Get ready, Artisphere. Re:collective is coming.

Marzia: Are you ready for a re:collective tour de force?
me: Heck yes. Shoot, I might wear pants on installation day.

pé na éstrada

Smiles p.1 (clapclap) from the flashdance on Vimeo.

A. Happy Monday, my darlings.
B. You don't even want to know how many times I've listened to this cover of Ray Charles's Hit the Road Jack.
C. You better believe I'm going to make fun videos for the restaurants. There are storyboards and thumbnail sketches involved, aka this is not a drill.

gimme little sugar

Side note, Jimmy Savile reminds me of Uncle Fester in Addams Family Values when he had on that ridiculous wig:

being Buddhist

Caleb: Beer went well, I drank 1/2 of one and fell asleep on the floor in front of the couch. Basically, I party hard. 

still in peaceful dreams I see

'night.

A Jabba Thanksgiving

Oura & Ruby: father & daughter baldness

The kids were holding hands for the Thanksgiving blessing, though they did not know why. 

Dinner. 

and how I felt after dinner. 

for the full Flickr set

Ah yes, Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone had a pleasant and turkeyful Thanksgiving. Mine was fairly traditional - lots of food, lots of Sananikone shouting (don't even get me started about the yelling during the Redskins game), a tryptophan-induced nap, and a marvelous pinot/fruit jello mold. 

This year, and I'm not entirely sure why, was the year that everyone decided to share all the things they were grateful for on the Facebook. A. I'm only now writing that list. B. I don't want to be seen as some Johnny Come Lately and C. I wouldn't put it on Facebook anyway - so here you go, in no particular order, all the things for which I am thankful: 

• I am thankful for my family, also known as that crazy-ass bunch of people who like to yell, eat, and sing. Bunch of weirdos. 
• I am thankful for having a job that I love - the job that feeds me (and feeds me well. Well, just for that, I'm going to throw you some LL action.), the job that surrounds me with an amazing group of people (I like them all so much. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't gotten on their nerves yet. Well, heh, then I'm grateful they haven't told me that I've gotten on their nerves), and the job that allows me to stretch my creative muscles each day. Design today. Photograph tomorrow. Eat Good Food always. 
• I'm thankful for my baby - Otis, my camera. I love that guy.
• Speaking of inanimate objects that I've named, I'm thankful for Boris, my car. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get your oil changed. I was busy. 
• I know I said this last year, but I am thankful for GPS and Google Reader. One takes me where I need to go (although that bitch Gloria needs to stop recalculating), and one organizes all my blogs. We all know I'm grateful for blogs. 
• On that note, I'm thankful for organization. I heart all my Moleskines. OH OH OH, thanks to Sofia for showing me the Moleskine app. There's nothing finer than a black notebook filled with to-do lists and doodles. Don't even get me started on that back pocket. Now it's on my phone? Be still my heart. 
• I'm thankful when no one sits in my chair at Society Fair, so that I do not have to eye them with contempt as they unknowingly hog my prime wifi. 
• I'm thankful for my friends. They're all too wonderful for words. 
• I'm thankful for dresses with pockets. 
• I am thankful for you. 

Happy late Thanksgiving, y'all. 

photo via WWJCD

This girl.

Newdorf: I went shooting yesterday! I shot all kinds of guns, one was big and had to go against my shoulder - now my shoulder hurts today! I felt like such a Republican. 

Cheezus crust, boar sausage, and general derping

That time we got a free coconut cupcake and expressed our gratitude by way of Post-It drawing. 

Whas that? Oh oh oh - that's the card for my (ok, re:collective's) upcoming show at Artisphere! 

Our album is due next May. 

Boar sausage, roasted eggplant, and confit with goat cheese. 

the rachel, the ahna, and the lyds. love those gals. 

You're my situation

I was humming this all yesterday. Dat hair.

You Can Can. We did did.

Oh-so lovely three hour lunch with Ms. Stephanie T. at Can Can Brasserie in RVA. There were jazzy instrumentals, sparkling rosé, strawberry crème brûlée, steak sandwiches  and spinach crêpes, and long aprons. Most excellent. I'm fairly sad (and relieved) that Can Can isn't closer so we could spend more time there.

Foodgasms

[meanwhile at Society Fair..]
Older gent in blue plaid shirt: (sits down next to me with a slice of coconut cake. takes bite.) mmmmmmmm.
me: Isn't it good?
Older gent in blue plaid shirt: Don't you know better to interrupt a man when he's making love to cake?

Oh, I'll cure your gravlax..ladies.

You want to hear me snickering on the set? Casually throw in the sentence, “if it lasts for longer than three hours, see a doctor,” while you're discussing gravlax. Tell people that ladies love lobster because it's creamy and has a good mouthfeel. Giggling. Giggling from Chef, giggling from doctor, giggling from host, giggling from cameramen, giggling from Jason and Andy, giggling all around. 

late Sunday evening, very early Monday morning

sounds like: Mayer Hawthorne making the moon grow thin, Imagine Dragons foot stompin', Paul McCartney not wanting to get out of bed, and the lovely Kat Edmonson not knowin'.

tastes like: fresh apple cider doughnuts dredged in cinnamon sugar, taro cake and steamed shrimp dumpling dim sum, savory gravy and fried cheese curds, and jasmine tea. Copious amounts of jasmine tea.

feels like: a lazy Sunday.

smells like: dry yellow leaves and cold cobblestones, sandalwood and orange blossoms, and new books.

photo via JSTN

this.

One of  my favorite parts of Old Town - the cobblestone stretch of Prince Street on the walk from Society Fair to Virtue. 

Baker Nathan making cinnamon marshmallows. 

I mean, why wouldn't I photograph a random Stormtrooper at a tattoo convention? Come on. 

Killer album cover from when I was digging through the vinyl with Stephanie at Plan 9 in RVA. I love seeing the pure joy on her face as she flips through jazz standard 45s. I also keep buying records when I go with her, and have a nice little collection of Hank Williams and Nat King Cole records. I don't own a record player. 

The butterscotch pudding at Society Fair. Took me two hours to eat this jar of pudding. It was that sweet. Crazy delicious, but too much sugar for me to handle on an empty stomach. I was ready to fight crime after each bite. 

That's a damn sexy line. 

Baby on a beetle. Duh. 

I'm not going to tell you what I got yesterday, but this should give you a hint.

[on watermarks for the store]

Mark: There is a way to add some information to the image, right? I think you can add authorship directly in the jpeg - is that something you do? Might be something done automatically by your awesome camera.

me: Yessir, you can add author information directly into the EXIF data. Damn near blew my mind when I read the manual.

Mark:

Come hither, Chemex coffee.

A Chemex Method from hufort on Vimeo.

Banh & Binh

[meanwhile at Society Fair..]
Binh: Hey, vina. I'm here to try the banh mi sandwich!
me: Oh, cool!
Binh: Yeah, but I have something to say to you: the menu says bahn mi. It's [proper Vietnamese pronunciation] banh me. The H is on the end, like my name!
me: mmm, I didn't write that menu, Binh.
Binh:  I even looked it up! I thought, I don't speak Vietnamese, OH WAIT yeah I do! It should be banh!!

Here they have a lot of fun, puttin' trouble on the run

Sam Cooke was the first one to lean back. Take that, Fat Joe.

All hands on deck!

Last night's Alexandria Chamber of Commerce event. I heart my people.

Monday. Let's do this.

May be getting sick.
Fuck that.

For the longest time, I didn't remember that I had even made peach cupcakes.

comic via Rachel Draws

Justin: My mother just asked me if I had a hair dryer. When I said no, she said, “why not, you're a gay man with hair!”
me: ...thanks, Mom.

Steph gave me homemade butter. That's pure friendship right there, that is.

“Too late, too late” will be the cry when the man with the bargains has passed you by.

Right. Let's sort the buyers from the spyers, the needy from the greedy, and those who trust me from the ones who don't, because if you can't see value here today, you're not up here shopping. You're up here shoplifting. You see these goods? Never seen daylight, moonlight, Israelite. Fanny by the gaslight. Take a bag, c'mon take a bag. 

Get stuffed

I enjoy a nice stuffing. Stuffing stands proudly and reservedly on the battlefield that is the Thanksgiving dinner table. Stuffing is not as flashy as the turkey, nor in demand as the green bean casserole. Stuffing is not sexy; you're never going to see stuffing on a food porn blog or hear someone say, “Ooh baby, gimme some of dat fine stuffing.” Well, heheh, when you put it that way..

Stuffing is reliable. Hell, stuffing is the best part. I love making stuffing. You sauté some aromatics, throw in some sausage, a little tart apple, maybe some oysters, few handfuls of day-old bread, a splash of cognac, a pour of broth, and throw it in an oven for half an hour or so. You're left with a hearty & homey dish that's so effing comforting. That's it - stuffing is the warm scarf of comfort food. 

What? I need to go. I just called stuffing a warm scarf. Waxing poetic about stuffing. Get out of my face. 

We don't mincemeat words around here.

Mincemeat smells of Christmas, I love it.

I don't believe in competition, ain't nobody else like me around.

Tonight! Gary Clark Jr. @9:30 Club. You should be there because I will be there.

Benavidez: I just spent five minutes cleaning veal juice off Chef's meat fork.

You know, just because. 

me: Well, I need to head out; I've got to go to Target. 

Jeffrey: You're going to Target? 

me: Yeah, you need something? 

Jeffrey: ...well, Petsmart. 

me: I'm not buying rabbit food for you!

Jeffrey: Hay! It's hay! And I closed Sunday and opened Monday - I didn't have time! You want me to tell my rabbit like, “sorry you have no hay, vina wouldn't go to Petsmart and buy some.”

me: Ok, I'm leaving now.

arts & craft

Did I tell you my gown was lavender?

me: My Best Friend's Wedding is on. Now I want to go to a wedding.
Justin: And dance with devilishly handsome gay men? Hmmm let me see when I'm free..



...but, by God, there will be dancing!

Things are changing

Saturday evening

sounds like: Biz Markie on Celebrity Ghost Stories, the leaves on the street rustling in the wind, Poolside, and Koop. Oh, and stores are starting to play Christmas music. I have mixed feelings about this.

tastes like: Vietnamese drip coffee with condensed milk and pho for breakfast with my sister, spicy papaya salad while I organized the books, fresh mangoes, and more coffee while I was being interviewed by that man for that thing.

feels like: It's the weekend; yesssss no alarm clocks. Damn it's cold; I should buy more leggings.

smells like: vanilla candles and wool sweaters.

photo via this isn't happiness

We hungry, yo!

David: Where my shrimp cocktail, bitch?
Chef Cathal: You're going to wait an hour, bitch!
David: Dat some bullshit!

That time I was a panda

This Halloween I learned that it will always be cold in my corner at Society Fair, even when I'm wearing a panda snuggie situation. Society Fair is a freezer, Virtue is a furnace. Damn near stripped in the walk-in.