Seattle Weekly Holiday Gift Guide.

Found out last week that my Silver Rivet Necklace was featured in the Seattle Weekly's Holiday Gift Guide in the Nov. 30 - Dec. 6 edition! Here's the digital issue!

You can find the necklace at Paper Hammer's online shop as well as the brick and mortar store in downtown Seattle.

Krampusnacht.

I recently heard about Krampus the Christmas demon. He's the dark companion of St. Nicholas and his job is carrying off bad children in sacks to devour. It's a tradition in Austria and northern Italy for people to dress up and parade through the streets as Krampus, scaring kids and amusing onlookers! I love this! Wish I could participate. How ridiculously fun it would be to rattle some chains and lurch around with giant goat horns and furry cloaks!

There's a great website called Krampus.com that has some great vintage images of our jolly Christmas demon. Here are my favorites:

The snowman's face makes me laugh.

Oh la la, what is this- an assignation with the Krampus? 

Bathing... the Krampus? What? The indignity.

The kid: "This horse is NOT big enough for the both of us."
Krampus: "Wheeeeee! Giddy-up!"

I think this is the same guy who was getting washed by the little girl. He's been through a lot, okay.

Be good, everyone, and have a happy holidays!

Pin curls and red lipstick.

It's been gray and drizzly for the past week in Seattle, and I've been having a ball watching Youtube tutorials for vintage hairdos (in addition to making lots of jewelry for the upcoming White Elephant Art/Craft Fair).

Right now, my hair is the longest it has been since I was 18, so I'm having so much fun playing around with it! I love short hair and have had practically every short style- shaved completely, mohawk, fauxhawk, pixie-cut, bob. All attempted at some point in my life. But there's nothing like long hair to make me feel like some mythical sea creature.

Yesterday, I tried out some pin curls and am really pleased with how it turned out! I followed these two tutorials:

And here's mine! Of course, I had to throw on some red lipstick and a faux beauty mark to get in the mood:

White Elephant.

I will be participating in FICTILIS Gallery's White Elephant Art/Craft Fair on 

Thursday, December 1st 

from 5-10 pm 

during the Pioneer Square First Thursday Artwalk!

There will be paintings, prints, photography, jewelry and more. Great if you want to pick up some interesting and artistic gifts for the holidays. Please note: cash and check only!

I'm super excited to be included, because one of my favorite jewelry artists will also be participating - 

Julia Harrison

She makes the most quietly stunning, sensuous and evocative wood jewelry I've ever seen. And she's a fiend for sweets from all around the world.

Working goats!

A few weeks, I came across a herd of goats busily munching away at a patch of brambles by my house. Turns out they are hardworking goats hired out by Rent-A-Ruminant as a way to clear the thorny area in an eco-friendly way. It was too adorable and I took way too many pictures...

Goats chewing!

This goat had no ears. Is he just a breed of ear-less goats that I never knew existed?

I don't think he was supposed to have been doing that...

Red velvet cake.

My boyfriend requested red velvet cake for his birthday and I was happy to oblige, since it's also my favorite cake! I adapted Bakerella's recipe for both the cake and the frosting.

Sift the following dry ingredients together:

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (gives it a nice nutty flavor)

2 cups white sugar

1 heaping Tbsp Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Then mix the following wet ingredients together:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 oz. red food coloring

Fold in the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until combined. Pour into two well-greased round cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. 

The frosting recipe:

8 oz. Neufchatel cheese

1/2 cup softened butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat cheese, butter and vanilla together and then slowly add sugar. Beat until creamy! Frost the cakes after they've cooled.

So much food, so little time.

A few weeks ago, I watched an episode of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on the Food Network and was introduced to the Portland Thai restaurant Pok Pok (though it really isn't a diner, drive-in or dive). My obsession with the flavors of Thai cuisine, which had been spawned by my trip to Thailand a couple years ago, came roaring out of dormancy. I wanted Pok Pok, which promised so much goodness that Seattle couldn't offer. I wanted it bad. So Rob and I decided to drive down to Portland for a little weekend of eating.

We had to wait a little bit so Rob had a beer and I tried their signature drinking vinegar in the pineapple flavor.

SO delicious. The pineapple flavor was really fresh and juicy tasting and the vinegar gave it this little oomph, like a sour gummy bear. It also really whetted my appetite for dinner. I need to find my own supply of fruity drinking vinegar so that I don't die of yearning. Uwajimaya this weekend, I think.    

And then dinner. We had the famous fish sauce wings, stir fried brussels sprouts with Thai chilies, a spicy forest mushroom salad, Northern Thai chicken curry noodle soup and a fried golden tilapia with a green chili dipping sauce. All of it mind-blowing. Everything was the perfect complement to everything else. Oh, earthy, nutty brussels sprouts! The keffir lime-y/lemongrassy/cilantro-y taste and textural symphony of the mushroom salad! The savory richness of the curry soup and the tenderness of the chicken! The perfectly crisped skin of the tilapia in that bright, kicky sauce. And those wings... oh my. Best wings I've ever eaten.

Pictures don't do it justice, so you'll just have to imagine it. 

On the bright side, pictures DID capture the Voodoo Donuts for which we waited in line almost an hour. No regrets!

Nom nom nom, donuts everyday!

Oh and here's a sweet kitty we met:

What is like ice but burns like fire?

I have been watching Puccini's last opera "Turandot" on youtube and it's great fun! This particular production was filmed in the Forbidden City in Beijing and was stage directed by Zhang Yimou, probably the most famous director in China. 

The story is about a cold and clever Chinese princess named Turandot who has decreed that she will marry no man but one who can answer her three riddles. If they fail, off with their heads. Of course, there's a prince who wants to win her and a maidservant who loves the prince, who sacrifices herself so he can be with Turandot. The princess herself is not even in the first half of the opera (other than for one imperious flick of a hand) but the pageantry and cruelty surrounding her makes me wonder about her character. Obviously she's supposed to be this inscrutable, villainous bitch, but why would she create such a terrible trial for her suitors? Maybe she just really doesn't want to get married.

I was also reminded of Antonio Marras' Fall/Winter 2006 collection for Kenzo, one of my favorites in terms of how I'd like to dress myself on a daily basis. Marras was inspired by "Turandot" and the clothes are so tactile and richly colored and lush. I actually tried on a sweater with that rose print at the Kenzo store in Paris and it was the coziest, softest thing. 

Can I just... put my face in that velvet?

I just want everything here. Everything.

  

Transformer

This is a great video introducing the work of Isabelle de Borchgrave, the Belgian artist transforms white sheets of paper into unbelievably detailed recreations of clothing and costumes from famous paintings and various times in history. I wish I could've seen her Pulp Fashion exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco but alas, it came down in June.

Austra

Can't. stop. listening. to this song.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

September 12th was the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday that must be celebrated by the eating of delicious mooncakes! I'm a fan of any reason to eat sweet pastries, so of course I had to pick up a box to enjoy with some tea.

They are filled with lotus seed paste and salted duck egg yolks - definitely has the sweet and savory mix going on that I love. It's a perfect companion to green tea; the richness of the mooncake flavors becomes mellowed and rounded out by the light grassy taste of the green tea.

Legend has it that messages were hidden inside mooncakes by Han Chinese rebels who wanted to overturn Mongolian rule in 14th century China.

Of course, one can't celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival without telling the story of Chang'e, the lady in the moon. She was married to an expert archer named Hou Yi, who shot down nine of the ten suns baking the world to a crisp. As a reward, he was granted a special pill that would confer immortality onto whoever swallowed it. As time passed, Hou Yi became a huge tyrant. So instead of letting him become immortal and ruling the land forever with his despotic ways, Chang'e secretly swallowed the magic pill herself. She flew to the moon with her favorite pet rabbit and there she lives now, watching over the world.   

I've loved this story ever since I was a kid, but always wondered why Hou Yi didn't take the pill right away? I suppose immortality is something one must choose very carefully...  

Heavy Metals

Seattle Magazine's September issue features my Fig pendant necklace in the Heavy Metals section of their cover story on local fashion, accessories and gifts! I'm so proud to be included with such creative and talented  designers. I love that wheat cuff by River Song Jewelry and the Defenced bracelet by Zuzko Jewelry. My only nitpick is that the back of my pendant was photographed instead of the front.

So here's the front!

Bumbershoot 2011

Mighty Tieton

Rob and I went to Tieton this weekend to check out this exhibition, where I have a piece on display. There were lots of interesting pieces to see, in all different mediums and styles, so be sure to check it out if you're going to central Washington sometime this month!

The old warehouse turned gallery space, artist studios and printmaking center!

Another reason to head out to Tieton: apples and peaches and pears, oh my! These vintage fruit ads were part of another exhibition about American journey stories and the history of Tieton.

We also caught the last day of the Highland Community Days celebration and finally checked out the bookbinding and letterpress studio where all the products are made for the downtown Paper Hammer store (ahem, which I manage).

Catalogs for the 10x10x10 exhibition after gluing and binding!

A stack of blank notebooks (a custom order)

Handset type 

Book stitching machine! So beautiful.

The smaller paper cutter.

Donkey rides for kids for $5!

Then we drove out to the Wilridge Winery where Rob had a little taste of the wine and I took pictures:

Hawthorn tree!

Swing under the hawthorn tree!