Balena.

My Dinner Club went to Balena last week. I absolutely love this space*, so I was glad I got there early for a good look around and a drink while I waited for people to arrive. For starters, I have to say the specialty cocktails were probably my favorite thing any of us ordered. Since I've been on a brown liquor kick I was deciding between the Francesco and the Mirto. The bartender wouldn't pick one over the other so I chose the Francesco. I had two. But I tasted several others and with one exception (the Dark&Stirred), loved them all. 

So awesome – we decided to just order a bunch of stuff and share. The Kale "Caesar" Salad for starters. I try and try, but I do not like kale. I also do not like anchovies but I tried those again too. I still do not like either one. The croutons and dressing were fantastic. Then we had the Brussels Sprout pizza. Out of all the things on the menu, I was the most ho-hum about the pizzas. Big mistake. It was my favorite thing we ate.

Of course I had studied the menu before we went and was deciding between the Tagliolini Nero – crab, sea urchin and chili – and the Roast Porchetta with creamy polenta and parsley red onion salad. We ordered both. The crab on the pasta was super good, but the dish itself could have been a lot warmer, temp wise. I didn't distinguish any sea urchin and I didn't care. I love black pasta though, so this was a good choice overall. We got two portions of it – good thing, otherwise we'd have each only gotten about a bite. The porchetta wasn't quite what I was expecting but it was also decent. More like a thick slice of ham with a crust of bacon around it (this is probably normal, I just wasn't expecting it). The polenta side was YUM. Better than the additional side of Baked Polenta with tomato fondue we also ordered, I thought. 

Dessert. Not normally having strong feelings about dessert one way or another, I conveniently opted out of the discussion on which one to pick. If pressed I side with chocolate anything. This was the case when a deciding vote was needed between the Mocha Parma Cotta and the Caramel Pine Nut Tart. As we ordered the Mocha, Teresa snuck in the second choice tart. Both were delicious, but the Mocha Parma Cotta – I can see myself going back for just that dessert alone. It was ridiculously good. Only one other dessert comes to mind that similarly blew me away, the salted caramel cheesecake at Enoteca Roma. 

And something must have been in the air because two people also ordered Caffé Corretto + Liquor. Who knows what the other liquor choice was – she sent it back to get the Faretti Biscotti Joy had chosen. I don't want to give too much credit to this shot of a coffee accompaniment, but it prompted a passing around of the small glass and sharing stories of losing virginity. Even the server delivering it was practically drooling just from it's scent.

So basically, I'd go back for sure. But I'd like to sit at the bar for drinks, pizza and dessert (+dessert coffee!).

*Our table was under the window (and kitchen!) on the right in the top image. 

**All images are from the Balena website.

So this happened. (Not really).

It was summer. Hot and sweaty and sunny. Girls were wearing sundresses and boys with tan backs were riding dirt bikes shirtless. The sunlight was so bright and thick you could see the yellow rays, and every color on the street was a richly saturated version of itself.

I was walking in DUMBO, looking for an art installation I'd heard about. Some creative housewife in Brooklyn had enlisted other creative housewives in Brooklyn to do a monthly "exhibit" in spots along the overpass. Each woman had a section she was responsible for designing and maintaining. There was a stairway leading to the top of the bridge, and each new theme was written in red chalk, on the vertical section of the step so it wouldn't get rubbed off by foot traffic. The first theme had been written on the bottom step. They were on the 11th theme.

Themes were single words, like SPRING or YELLOW. The current theme was SKY. One woman's section had about 100 light blue helium balloons, tied down with dark blue string, floating in the breeze.

I was noticing street signs looking for Freemont. The sign before Freemont said Magnolia, so I knew I was getting close. There were people everywhere. Sprinklers were spraying, doors and windows wide open, music playing out of speakers on the street. To my left was the overpass and to my right were the buildings, similar to homes you'd see in San Francisco. They appeared to balance on an uphill slope. Some had very tall, steep, narrow staircases to get to the front door, with garage doors underneath at the street level. Besides wanting to see the installations I was visiting a friend who lived there, Nicole.

When I got to Nicole's place, it was totally wide open. I could walk right in the front door and there was a large foyer with red Oriental rugs on the dark wood floor and the plaster walls and trim were painted in varying hues of turquoise. There were textures and fabrics draping the windows and doorways and pieces of antique furniture sparsely placed here and there. There was also a ping pong table. Then a college-aged girl stumbled in and she said Nicole wasn't home but did I want to see her room? And I also realized I was me, but my college-aged self, and of course I wanted to see her room. The house was an elaborate maze of interesting rooms, similar to a Wes Anderson film. We passed a few hippy-like kids laying around. A light breeze blew gauze-y floor-to-ceiling curtains.

Her room was pale yellow and the window faced the street. She had built a loft on the front wall and we climbed up it to get to the closet door up there, where she kept all the art she'd collected from a club she was the president of. You had to be asked to be a member to this club – it was very exclusive – and all the pieces that made it into the closet were very special. We sat up on the ledge of this loft leafing through large sheets of thick paper with intricate drawings on them.

Suddenly I had to go, and as I was making my way through the house I bumped into Nicole. People were sitting around smoking weed in a circle and we were both passing through the room from opposite doorways. I said, "You live with all these people?" Nicole is married and I found it odd she cohabited with about a dozen college students – I was back to my adult-aged self – but I also thought it was so cool. Anyway, I was in a hurry to meet Katie at the harbor for a ride on the boat she'd rented for the summer.

The boat turned out to be more like a ship. An ocean cruiser? It was massive and we were sitting on the deck at the top and there was enough room for several couches (they were made out of a woven natural fiber and covered in thick navy and white striped fine cotten upholstery) and space enough in the middle for a small dance floor. Katie's parents were sitting on one couch and her daughter Sarah was laying on the deck playing cards. Some people were fishing off the back.

I was sitting on the edge looking out at the water and trying to decide if it was littering to throw some of the pumpkins that were in a display near me into the ocean. I was debating in my head whether sea animals would eat a pumpkin, even though there was no way they'd ever have eaten or seen one in their habitat. Would they recognize it as food? Whether it would decay enough that little fish would nibble on particles or whether a whale would just pop the whole thing in it's mouth. And furthermore, would adding a thing like a pumpkin to the ocean be considered polluting the water?

Then I didn't care and I just started pitching pumpkins overboard and it was great. They would hit the water many yards below and surprise me by floating. It was so pretty to see the deep dark navy of the water, with white sunlit reflections bouncing on the waves, in contrast to these bright orange pumpkins bobbing. Some people were yelling at me for doing it but I ignored them.

Then I was back at Nicole's house. It was much more quiet and vacant than it had been earlier. I was tip-toeing back to the light yellow bedroom. When I got there it was empty and I snuck a drawing I did into the sacred closet. As I was leaving I ran into the girl and when she asked what I was doing there I said, "Just looking for Nicole," and then I got the hell out of there. I was climbing over the latched gate at the top of the stairs, and heading down the steep steps to the street and the sun was setting. The bright, vibrant street during the day was starting to fill with filthy dirty homeless people wearing layers of soiled clothing, pushing shopping carts loaded down with their stuff. They were setting up camps in between the SKY installations that the housewives of Brooklyn had actually origionally created in order to bring them some beauty. But I was afraid of them so I started to jog home. Past Freemont, past Magnolia.

Ruxbin

We had Dinner Club at Ruxbin on Thursday. I loved this place.

I read about it a little online and of course studied the menu beforehand. I loved that they don't take reservations. I loved that it's BYOB. I loved their "house rules". I loved their rooftop garden. I was so excited to go.

Then I got there and one of the chefs was just hanging out outside. Totally nice. Totally approachable. I recognized him from the blog and felt awkward at first – but was quickly put at ease. So nice. I was glad I'd read about their seating policy and how our whole party was supposed to be there, but then I wasn't quite sure what to do/where to go – he was kinda blocking the door. It was nice out so I just decided to sit down on this – I don't know what to call it? – Structure? It was kind of a salvaged patio, kind of a train car, kind of an uncovered covered wagon? The seats were made out of plastic crate pallets, the end tables old elementary school desk tops, there was a "bar" with sliding glass medicine cabinet doors. The roof was simply a criss-crossed string of lights.

The other DC members started to arrive and we all sat out on the benches with the other people waiting for their complete parties to get there. It was a diverse group of people. The chef/greeter/"bouncer" went over the entire menu in extreme detail with one girl who was waiting. We listened. We drank cans of beer. At one point Jason let us know we could wait upstairs, inside, but we stayed put. (Upstairs on the landing there's a stainless steel industrial table and wooden bench on a balcony for waiting, a bathroom to the right, and an open doorway blocked with a deli-style refrigerator case and a view to the little kitchen with the chefs cooking behind it. Above the opening was a chalk board with the housemade sodas of the day: some kind of citrus passion fruit tea and a lavender lemonade (we had both, yum!)).

So before I talk about the food, I have to describe the bathroom. Remember those photography class dark room doors? That are more like a cylindrical can, and then the door spins around as you turn it and next thing you know, you're inside? That's the door to the bathroom. "VACANT --->" and "OCCUPIED <---" signs show you how to get in and if it's in use. Super cool and great. Then the walls were wallpapered with concert flyers and it was dark inside and lit by candles.

Ok, and the decor is all random and vintage and salvage and wood and metal and the overall effect is cozy and warm. Light streamed into the intimate tight dining room from the large picture window. All kinds of interesting lighting, shades, beams, bars, and colors filled the room. The ceiling is papered with pages from cookbooks.

There were five of us and we decided immediately we'd just order and share. We got four appetizers (tuna, beet salad, octopus, and garlic french fries). The octopus (grilled chickpeas, pickled green onions, radish, black soy bean, grapes and a ginger-scallion vinaigrette) – I think he said is marinated in wine for two days before it's prepared – was my favorite. But I don't think you can count the fries. Because the Fries. Were. Amazing.

For entrees we got the Tomato Tart, Sea Scallops, Amish Chicken, Pork Loin and Salmon. You can read the details here while the menu lasts. I loved it all. I think the consensus of the table, if we had to order them, went pork/chicken, tomato tart, scallops, then salmon. The dishes kind of rolled out staggered as they were prepared. Our server let us know/asked if that would be ok. We said yes.

Which leads me to, I thought the service was excellent. It was kind of service by everyone. Different people took our order, delivered plates, cleared empties, opened wine bottles. You could tell everyone there worked as a team and truly, they seemed to all genuinely love what they were describing, preparing, and serving. When we asked our waitress what her favorites are, she literally basically ended up listing everything on the menu!

I didn't get any shots of the actual food!
It was like the plates were cleaned the minute they were set down.

After dessert – we got both the berry shortcake and the pretzels & beer – we felt like we needed to beat it out of there to open up our table. So we took our leftover beer and wine and headed back to the "patio" out front for our after dinner cocktail. I have no idea if this was allowed or not, but nobody stopped us and nobody seemed to care.

Anyway, like I said originally, I loved this place. I can't wait to go back.

PS: The blog, which I kind of can't stop reading, is a thorough account of concept to creation to the opening of this restaurant. You can tell everyone involved loves it, which is probably why the people that go there love it too.

Nellcóte

Went Thursday with dinner club. AWESOME atmosphere. Adored our server (some girl with dark hair). Becker asked her if it was the old Marche (it is) and it launched into her taking us on a tour of what they are developing out back. There's a full champagne tasting room. All dark wood and marble. Then you walk out these french doors. They have this back actual alley that's been blocked off. Cobblestone-y, brick patio alley. Old French style poster ads are kind of plastered on garage doors and light strings illuminating the area. They plan to have tables back there. You access that area not thru the crazy bustling restaurant but down a little cobblestone pathway? I have no idea if this is true or not, but it also literally looked like a Hollywood set it was so perfect.

Seeing that was the highlight for me. We got 3 pizzas (margarita, sausage and mushroom (fave), truffle and fried egg); the asparagus salad; some skate fish thing (with persimmons I think?), to me too salty but a great consistency; and the steak (ribeye?) thing with pearl onions (yum!). Fancy shaved asparagus with dark walnuts and shaved parmesan. I'd like to try to recreate this at home. It's the kind of thing I could eat a huge bowl full..

Crazy friendly staff. Did not care at all that we were easily 20 minutes late for our reservation once everyone got there. Before dinner drink service was SLOW, but I guess if you order a specialty cocktail, the kitchen staff gets involved and well -- so duh, it takes longer. BUT yum. My "vodka" cocktail was delicious. It had mint in it. Not sure what else. Awesome contemporary music was kind of blaring (our server said it wasn't as loud as usual – Serious?) overhead. It is a huge, high-ceilinged place, with chandeliers and large pillars, and the poor acoustics are the only drag result of a super cool, simple, modern and antique architectural space.

So it was noisy. Our table of 8 turned to 6 was unable to hold one conversation. One solution is to go with a way bigger party, so it doesn't matter you can't hear everyone. But I would love to go back for an early dinner with a party of four or to sit at the bar for appetizers and cocktails right after work. Or brunch! Then watch the place fill in and leave when I couldn't hear anyone anymore. Although, I do think some time around midnight is when it's heightened sound and not being able to hear a single word anyone is trying to tell you, is part of what makes it so much greater.

And anyway, then there was this floor to ceiling wall of individual fresh lavender stem vases. Sorry but that's cool. Sitting outside in the summer would probably give you the perfect mix of music, vibe and talk-ability. I'd totally like to go back.

Kane Country.

On Monday I went and visited my friend Karen and walked around her yard a bit to get some inspiration for my own. The varying colors, textures, heights and patterns were wonderful to soak in. Disappointed I didn't take a shot of the flowing rocky creek in the backyard. The property is beautiful and also peppered with interesting wood and iron sculptures.

On Sunday I plan to visit the nursery and have Jose over to estimate some planting. I am leaning toward putting in 3 evergreens and a colorful deciduous in the back left corner, and possibly some hydrangea for the back right. This will be the big push this year in addition to dragging out the railroad-tie border and then extending and reshaping it to create a more organic flow.

Tullis Brothers Encore.

Happy St. Patrick's Day courtesy of the Tullis boys. I look forward to this card every year. They are awesome.

NYC Friday Night.

The Red Cat. This little vestibule was filled with glowing candles, yellow forsythia, red lilies, a basket full of green apples, white hyacinth, and tulips that were yet to bloom. So pretty.

Awesome atmosphere. Great food. We feasted on Crispy Asparagus in phyllo pastry and roast tomato-sherry vinaigrette, Seared Diver Scallops with spring mushroom hash and green garlic puree, Grilled Pork Loin with white beans and spinach, Eggplant Parmesan with garlic fettucini, and got a complimentary order of Tempura Green Beans with spicy mustard sauce because our service was so slow. Delish!

Afterward we walked up to the Hotel Chelsea so I could get a peak inside. It was nothing like I'd imagined, but filled with beautiful artwork. It would have been nice to see during the day to get a snap of the balconies, which looked so neat lining the facade.


Even though this wasn't what it looked like in the 70's, it was still fun to imagine Patti Smith hanging out writing in the lobby while Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix walked on by.

Maude's Liquor Bar.

Maude's Liquor Bar finally opened! I've been following the progress of this place getting ready to open their doors for a few months now on their blog. The pictures they've taken on the blog, of both the food and atmosphere, are so much better than what I was able to capture here... you should definitely take a look if you're interested in such things. Watching the place evolve from bare bones in August to a fully functioning restaurant today is also very cool. My Dinner Club went tonight.

I think to say the place was hoppin' is a bit of an understatement. It was packed. Great vibe and plenty to look at... and we never even saw the bar upstairs. I kinda can't believe I didn't make the effort, but it's a great reason to go back. We started with that dish above, the French Onion Fondue (carmelized onion and gruyere) and basically devoured it as a starter.


Then we ate, all sharing, Steamed Mussels, Escargot, Faux Gras Torchon, Lyonnaisse Salad, Pomme Frites, Blackened Brussel Sprouts, fresh bread, and the Shaved Vegetable Salad. You can view the whole menu here.

I'm a sucker for atmosphere, and I loved the whole look and feel of this place, down to the bathroom lighting above. I seriously think I'm developing an affinity for the chandelier!

I'm not necessarily a big fan of creme brulee, but this one was great. And huge. Of course we finished the entire dish full. (Also worth noting, if you get coffee at the end of the meal, it comes in your own individual-serving French press!). I want to go back for sure and try some more off the menu, but I will probably never skip the Brussel sprouts or that onion fondue. Amazing. Can't wait for the next time, and to maybe belly-up at the bar.

Random Field Trip.

On my way to the movies the other night, I happened to notice windows full of chandeliers. It was dark at the time, and full stories of the building were lit up and it just glowed with these ornate hanging light crystals. So I decided to walk by the place (it's like 3 blocks from my office). It's open to the public. The space is huge. I want to say there were four floors filled with these hanging light fixtures.

I'm not really a chandelier-kinda girl, but something about seeing rows and rows of them struck me as really beautiful. Then once I was inside, I had to wonder, Who's in the market for these? How do they choose one over another? There were at least 8 people working in there with no customers?

It was funny to notice how some were really amazing. Even the small ones could be intimate and beautiful. I have a new appreciation... but I may have to go back to take a shot of my initial view from the street at night because actually, that's where the real glowing magic happened for me.

Show's Over.

And I'm totally burnt out by it. It felt like going-going, list-making, running-around the three days leading up to it, right down to the last minutes before it all started, and I feel: Over it. I know from past experience that it's the build up to, and planning for, way more than the event itself that makes it worth doing. But it's possible that knowing this ahead of time somehow shadowed it too. It's interesting to see what you "take away" from something like this, and I think I spent a little too much conscious time looking for it.

I thought the stuff hung well in the space, and that it all really did come together nicely. But I'm having a hard time looking at it anymore!

Do-over.

Made the difficult decision to paint over the first one I did of this series today – one I did last summer. My method changed while painting the other ones this year, and the inconsistency really bugged me. The problem was I really liked this one as it was. But being true to my process across the board when thinking about showing them as a group felt important. So far I am happy I did it.

I also headed out on the highway to get some final shots. After trying and trying to work with what I had, I knew I needed some new subjects. I really hate having semi trucks going by a couple feet away at 70 mph. The wind gusts are intense! It's also pretty terrifying to be reversing on the shoulder as they come barreling at you. But again I am glad I made the effort. Really like the images I got and it's way more motivating to look forward to painting what's meaningful rather than just making due with something that just feels average.

Leah Giberson.

I had to order one of these prints. Can you guess which one I picked? The Jealous Curator has been knocking my socks off lately. When I saw this artist (and others – this spider web repair is unbelievable) on her post recently on SF Girl by Bay, I just got lost in the looking. Blogs, flickr pages, personal sites, etsy... The world wide has made so many artists out there accessible and I truly love the internet for connecting me to all these amazing creative people and their work.

Pool season, summer, is slipping away from me, and glancing at this little reminder of good things to come might help me get through the winter ahead. Love that the pools appear to be empty.

It's dark again when I wake up and I keep thinking as my eyes are opening, It must be because it's raining. But then the sun rises through the window in the shower and I feel a little despair. Oh how I love Summer. The light, heat, humidity, cicadas singing, bonfires, fruit and vegetables, and an excuse to let all things just... SLACK. Thank god for September, who lets us ease into the holidays slowly. I'm actually looking forward to you too!

Bricks.

I don't know why walls like this one make me happy but they do.

Favorites.

This is one of my favorite trees in the city. Isn't it great? The house behind it is also one of my favorites. I have to stop and look at it every time I pass by. See how it's wedged between new construction on both sides? Developers tried to buy up the whole block but this one person would not sell. There is – no joke – at most about 2 inches of space separating it from walls on either side. Walls that now block windows, on all stories, the full length of the house.

The tree basically blocks any light that might get in the windows out front. But what a beautiful tree! You can stand under it's canopy and peek in the windows and imagine what could possibly go on in there – what kind of character lives there. It looks like there could be a museum full of treasures inside. And a little old lady with terrific stories.


I also love love that it's August and there are still Christmas wreaths out front. Isn't that wonderful?

One down...

Grass. 30"x 30". Acrylic, oil pastel and graphite on canvas.

Only 8 to go – 5 are currently in the process. Here's a new painting and a photo I took of the place that inspired it (my commute).

Chris Payne - Asylum.

My friend Ruth turned me on to this photographer Chris Payne and his Asylum images a couple weeks ago. The colors are amazing. I really love old, abandoned buildings so much for some reason. This is a room of old file boxes...

I think the peeling paint is beautiful... some of the details in the architecture, amazing. This marble staircase...

And these Eames chairs kill me. What a collection of colorful seating in this abandoned autopsy auditorium. You could design a whole house based on the color palette of the chairs alone. I'd love to raid a place like this to see what I might find.

Isn't this bathtub so Girl, Interrupted? All these pictures are so creepy, but beautiful. They evoke an almost physical response in me.

So, it was an odd coincidence to see this next one hanging in my boss' house at a party last weekend. Her's was by David S. Alee. Two different artists, but capturing very similar images – of asylums as the subject. Apparently they photoshop'd a gurney out of this one, as it was off-putting to potential buyers, which I find a shame. If I remember correctly, this was a pharmacy.

The central glare is from my camera flash, but on my computer at least, the rest of the colors are pretty true. Oddly pretty and interesting.