I love that name for a business! I worked with the wonderful women at Be Nourished to do something a little different at their open house. They just moved to a new space in an actual house which is so appropriate for the work that they do. It is so wonderful to work with people who’s philosophy and ideas are in tune with yours–a treat actually. Their approach to food and healing is absolutely nourishing:
We believe that the capacity and potential to change is within every person. Our passion is helping people explore how an enjoyable relationship with food happens naturally when the focus is more on nurturing the body and mind and less on dieting. We encourage a non-diet approach to food, weight, and health. Our approach helps people heal from the side effects of chronic dieting. People who repeatedly diet often experience a “diet backlash” – increased rigidity regarding good and bad foods, restriction leading to increased binging, reduction in trust of self with food, feelings about not “deserving” food, social withdrawal and shortened duration of dieting episodes.
Dana came to the luncheon I did this summer for one of her clients who is also my friend, Lacy. It was a serendipitous meeting and the pieces kept falling into the right places and I am now working with Be Nourished more frequently. For the open house they wanted a new twist on hour d’oeuvres and a way to incorporate all the senses to demonstrate mindfulness with food through an experience–as opposed to only setting out nice little canapes. So I re-created a taste-station based on the 6 Ayurvedic tastes (salty, sweet, sour, pungent, bitter, astringent) and had samples of all those foods for people to taste what they were. Then, I collaborated with my friend Nicole to come up with a variety of small canapes and snacks that would incorporate these tastes together. It was a big hit and the food was all fantastic.
I baked bread, whole wheat pitas, and made a wonderful Indian Vegetable dish (see recipe below). We used the bread I made for the canapes which included: goat cheese, salmon, and dill; goat cheese and pickled raisins; blue cheese, marionberry jam, assorted crackers, and a piece of rosemary; gluten free brown rice bread, salmon, a slice of meyer lemon, microgreens. I’d have to say the crackers with blue cheese, jam, and rosemary were my favorite–a fantastic melody in my mouth! But it was all truly good.
(goat cheese, capers, salmon–mmm)
(picked raisins, goat cheese, scrumptious)
(These sweet/savory crackers were aromatic and my favorite)
The Indian Vegetable dish actually incorporates all of the tastes in it making it extremely satisfying. This recipe is fairly simple and really hits on all the flavor notes in your mouth. Serve it with some coconut rice, spicy brown rice, or a whole wheat pita (or naan) and you will be good to go!
(Sushi rice–or sticky rice–balled up and rolled in toasted coconut! Can be served sweet or savory, so good!)
Indian Vegetables via The Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook by Amrita Sondhi
*This is actually a recipe for Samosa filling, so feel free to use it in that capacity as well! But I found I loved it over rice or with a pita too–a great addition to your vegetable recipe collection!
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 cup onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
8 curry leaves (optional–you can find them at most international or indian grocery’s)
3 cups potatoes, parboiled and cubed
1 1/2 cups peas, parboiled
1 1/2 cups carrots, parboiled
juice of 1/2 a lemon (I used a whole one, it was good)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons salt
1 small bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 fresh green chili, minced
In a large saucepan on high, heat oil, then add black mustard seeds and cover with a lid until they all pop, about 30 seconds. Stir in chopped onions, then reduce the heat to medium high and sautee for about 4 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add turmeric and curry leaves and continue to sautee for 1 minute. Stir in potatoes, peas, carrots, lemon juice, cayenne, garam masala, and salt. Mix well and cook for about 3 minutes. Turn off heat, add cilantro and green chilies and mix well. Remove curry leaves and enjoy!
I love that name. Not only because there is a character on the Simpson’s with that name, a Lovejoy street here in Portland (in which the Simpson’s character was named after), and a new bakery here in town which also dons the name (because of the street is is located on), but they are two words we don’t hear enough. I once did a project on the meaning of Joy and Love (as well as Passion, Anger, Fear, and Pain)–I was making meditation cards for one of my yoga classes as one of my first letterpress experiments:
is a sense of warmth for the self or another that motivates us to treat ourselves and others well. It gives us a sense of inherent worth.
Joy
gives us hope and a sense of abundance or “I have enough”.
. This is why I think it is a wonderful name for a bakery. A bakery feeds us physically, but sharing a good baguette, croissant, or slice of cake also feeds us in another way. Food has a way of connecting us to ourselves through memories and tastes. It is hard to feel full of anything when hungry!
I was super excited to have been asked to do an installation for Lovejoy Bakers opening, which was today. They were looking for something playful and interactive. I wanted it to be colorful, fun, and incorporate their fundamental passion and foundation of starting their bakery: a love of good bread. Really good bread. I also wanted to keep it simple and playful–so I came up with the Sample Board.
I bent spoons and hung them with colorful duct tape. On the spoons (of reaching height of course) samples will be interspersed throughout the day as a new bread or pastry comes out of the oven and is featured. Tea lights, sprigs of herbs, fresh olives, or other nibblies could be interspersed for a special event or just on a gray afternoon! The possibilities are endless for what could be put on the spoons and displayed. I wanted to set up a simple framework for them that they could interject what they needed to put on there or have nothing at all, and it would still look good.
If you are in town, have yourself a treat and a look at my installation at Lovejoy Bakery!
939 NW 10th Avenue | Portland, Oregon 97209
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going into a classroom to give a lecture about Eating Design. I collaborated with the professor in creating a wacky, zany, and definitely strange still life for her class to draw! It was a ton of fun. The concept was to modernize the still life. Her class has been looking at historic dutch still life’s, many of which incorporate food. So we modernized the food still life with an eating design twist. The day before, I had made long baguettes, ginger cookies, apple muffins, and molasses muffins to incorporate. These were foods made with ingredients that I had around–another important aspect for this project. Something that this particular class has been focusing on all semester is using what they have, re-looking at what already surrounds them, and re-appreciating what they currently possess. This theme was prevalent in the still life because nothing used was bought, it was collected from around the school and our homes.
Throughout the class, the students were given timed segments to draw what they saw. Then, they were to come up to the still life and take some of the food to eat. This constantly changed what they were drawing, forcing them to think abstractly and use their erasers a ton! Eating, incorporated into drawing, incorporated into a still life, it was really neat to see in action. The students did an incredible job keeping up with both their drawings and the eating . I was very glad to do it!
pictures via plainMade
Today is the day, folks! I am excited to announce the launch of my new business Food Loyal, a business I’ve created to bring Eating Design to catered events! Eating Design is a holistic approach combining food and design, creating an experience that communicates a story, idea, or message, as told through the event.
What if the food you served at your next event had something to say? How could you tell the story of, say, your fiftieth wedding anniversary or your company’s founding through a food experience? At Food Loyal, we create unique experiences tailored to your specific needs for celebrations, dinners, corporate events, anniversaries, birthdays, reunions, ceremonies, holiday parties, or any other day with a personal stamp! Welcome to Food Loyal!
Take a look at www.foodloyal.com for all the juicy details! And keep me in mind for any events you may have in the future, I’d love to make them happen for you!
One of my very dear friends, the lovely Chelsea, had a birthday last week. I decided a while back that she needed a surprise party–but a surprise party that was especially about her! So I set about making it happen. It was so much fun because she has so many fun interests and wonderful qualities. It was hard to pick just one. Chelsea is an artist, designer, and a wonderful gardener. She spends hours in her garden delicately tending her nasturtiums, lettuces, figs, and squash. She, like many of our generation, has had a pretty mobile life–moving from one place to the next, across the country and back, then back again, looking for a place to be for a while. But each place she settles, roosts in for a while, she immediately starts growing things. Sometimes they are in pots and if she stays for a while longer, they get a piece of her yard. Gardening grounds her. It is a way that she literally places roots in a place for herself. Therefore, the food that she eats inexplicably connects her to the very earth she lives on in that place.
Taking this love of gardening, I asked each guest to bring a botanical-reinterpretation of her. I was thinking of those old Victorian era associations and meanings they had with flowers: if you give someone a yellow rose, it means friendship, etc. One friend brought a daisy crown (perfect for Chelsea’s obsession with wearing floral crowns!), another a hand-made pin of an over sized sunflower (mirroring the ones in her garden) that she can wear, and another a painting done with scented oils. I made her a cake .
For her cake, I went with the never fail Mary Todd Lincoln recipe for a lovely white cake. This cake is amazing, light, and aromatic. I usually omit the almonds in this recipe so Andrew can eat some, but I do add extra vanilla in its place which I believe to be even better! Chelsea loves all things vanilla and really doesn’t like dark chocolate. I wanted the cake to resemble a garden of sorts (making dark chocolate perfect for icing–to resemble healthy dirt!) but I knew this would not do. So, I compromised and made a milk-chocolate french butter cream frosting. Then, I dusted the top of it with cocoa to give it a bit more of an earthy look . I even raided her garden that afternoon and clipped some lovely nasturtiums, Thai basil, and chamomile to decorate it with. Flowers on a cake always bring out the inner-fairy. When we eat flowers, it usually has nothing to do with nutrition of our bodies. Rather, it is more of a decadent act; it makes you feel special in ways that other foods can not, feeding other aspects of our selves. Flowers nourish the spirit .
On the table, I drew her favorite flower, the Paper White and wrote quotes from different poems about gardens and gardening. Some were really funny. Others, were quieter, more soft, and beautiful. I also made a ratatouille (it doesn’t get much more vegetable heavy that that!) out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, some toasted slices of baguette with olive oil, and a nice, fresh ricotta mixed with fresh thyme herbs and sea salt. We ate it all!
Mary Todd Lincoln’s White Cake
Adapted from “Lincoln’s Table” by Donna D. McCreary
Ingredients
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
6 eggs, separated (best when eggs are cold)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar
Method
Using a food processor or a spice grinder, pulverize almonds until they resemble coarse flour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt cake pan.
With an electric beater or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light yellow in color and fluffy.
Sift flour and baking powder three times. (I don’t make a rule of this practice, but with three cups of flour, it seemed like a good idea to incorporate some air and help make this cake as light as possible.) Fold flour mix into creamed butter and sugar, alternating with milk, until well blended. Stir in almonds and beat well.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they have stiff, firm peaks. (Use egg yolks for another use – French toast, possibly?) Beaters must be washed and dried thoroughly before whipping egg whites or they will not stiffen properly. Fold egg whites gently into batter with a rubber spatula. Add vanilla extract.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for one hour, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool for at least 20 minutes before inverting, then allow to completely cool before serving. Sift confectioners’ sugar on top.
Makes about 12 slices.
The Eat My Story event in Seattle was so much fun and went really well. The space was incredible–open, light, and a huge family style table. The cacophony of stories and ingredients were like eye candy. The colors and textures of the food, the sounds of our guests both filled the room with a whole new personality. They looked great with the personalized pizza peels I had made for each story too . BRITE made some great signs for the window as well as mini pins everyone was able to wear–they were so amazing to work with! I look forward to future collaborations with them!
(The pizza peels with each story’s ingredients piled on them:)
(BRITE made little pins everyone wore–I loved them!)
Each person took one of the peels–not their own story but someone else’s–and built that person’s story with the ingredients depicted on it. They were then able to prepare (chop, cut, and arrange) their ingredients, shape their pizza dough, and then have the pizza baker put it in the oven for just about one minute. Then as each pizza came out, we read the story that went with it aloud, sliced it up, and tasted it.
There was so much food there was a point most of us were sitting together at the table, waiting for the next round of pizzas to come out, and we were almost silent–like after a huge thanksgiving meal–in a food coma. We snapped out of it, looked at each other, and started to laugh–how can we possibly eat the next three rounds? Another 12 pizzas? ha! It was a ton of food.
The restaurant we had the event at was incredible. Via Tribunali is a local chain of pizza places in Seattle but originated in Naples. The recipes for their dough, their home-cured meats, pizza sauce, and even cheese is all from the original restaurant in Italy and is all made right on site. They do an excellent job! If you find yourself in Seattle, you should definitely stop by and eat there .
Cheers!
I’ve been busily preparing for a few events happening this weekend, one of which I mentioned earlier this week. Eat My Story in Seattle is taking place this Saturday and there has been a lot of great prep for it! I am making some neat pizza peels out of a stiff card board. They are an abstract version as they do not have the traditional rounded tip, but they are cute.
The basic low down for this event is: how would you tell a story on your pizza? Think about not only how it looks, but also tastes, textures, smells, sounds, and history of the ingredients you choose effects the over all story. We’ll be building each others stories, but if there is a question or a someone feels a need to add or subtract an ingredient on someone else’s story, you must ask the original story teller first. Tell them why you want to change it and how you think it would add to their story, then see if they agree! Finally, we’ll all be able to taste each others stories, creating a link between taste, tactility, other people’s ideas, and creating a memory of our own through the senses.
Jean posted some great pics of the place we will be having the event, Via Tribunali which I wanted to share with you. Thanks, Jean!
The second event–well, you’ll just have to wait and see for that one . I’ll post about it next week though for sure!
Hope you are having a great week!
I made little mailer packets as my show card(s) for the year end show. They were really fun to do! I screen printed everything, so they all have that nice tactile feeling of the screen print paint-ink on the different papers. I used a nice textured paper for the mini-bread (ha! my favorite) and on the back of it, it says “copain…”, index cards for the red circles of information, and Rolodex cards for my personal info. I then wrapped the cards in newsprint and used the stickers that will be used in my show to seal the home-made envelopes.
Along with the book I just printed for the show, I am also curating an experience-design piece by a London-based designer, Alexandre Bettler. When I discovered what he was doing, I could not stop thinking about it.
“The Bread Friend Map is using bread to improve communication. It is based on the French word for friend, ‘copain’, describing someone you share your bread with. Co-’ standing for ‘with’ and ‘-pain’ for ‘bread’, a friend is someone you share your bread with, and is the level of communication explored for this project. For Gradual, each visitor is offered a slice of a single piece two meter long rye bread, everyone sharing a slice of the same bread. In return, you are asked to add a sticker with your name on yourself and one on the Bread Friend Map, and to trace (dotted line) the link to anyone you know on the map. This will show your connection to other people who you shared the bread with. If there is anyone you fancy, find his/her name on the sticker s/he is wearing and use the map to connect to her/him or any other visitor in the room, everyone being the friend of a friend. The shorter the bread goes, the bigger the map becomes and more friends there are. It reveals the process of design – the physical act of creating – through generating and experimenting rather than finishing and polishing the work.”
For months, I would go back to the Bread Friend map, mull it over, and revel at how it not only connected with what I was doing and believe in pertaining to design, experience, and food, but how it connected on so many other levels as well. First, the entire basis of the Bread Friend Map is that it is all about connections and watching them happen in real time. Second, the map speaks to processes, in particular, the process of design and it’s ebb and flow of many participants, users, and ultimately, people as designers. Third, the connection that the BF map will make between two countries/cities/communities is really neat. Everywhere the BF map is done, it will look, grow, and feel different. This is because no two places are alike, the BF map becoming a visual representation for the differences but also commonalities we share as people. And last, the amazing connection of the internet. I found Alexandre via the web and if either of us did not have a website with our work on it, we may not have ever had the chance to share experiences like this. That is one of the neatest things I think .
As I continue to formulate my ideas around what it is I do, community is one of those things that I keep coming back to. Sometimes that word, I feel, is abused. It’s like the word sustainable, or green. It’s a buzzword that we all have an idea about what it means, but actually holds different meanings for different contexts. I define community as a group of people who share something in common: it could be anything from living on the same street or in the same country, working in the same profession, your children go to the same school, sharing in the same hobbies, or going to the same place for breakfast every weekend. Even for me, community means something different each time I think about it. But what I find most interesting about community is the individuals who make up our communities, because the individuals themselves can belong to multiple communities. Something that I’ve been exploring, especially with The Favorite meal series, is the individual who makes up our communities. I will continue to do these Favorite Meals, amassing a bunch of them while looking for connections or patterns in how we belong, interact, and change the communities we reside in. Let me know if you are interested, I am looking for a few people to do one this summer. You don’t necessarily have to be local either, that could make things really interesting!
So it all comes back to connections: what they are, how we find/make them, who is involved in the connecting, and the ways to communicate in order to make those connections are all of deep interest for me. This particular series in my Eating Design process has been about connecting people with themselves and with others. It has been so fulfilling to know more about myself throughout this process but also be able to create a framework for others to do the same.
I made that sweet potato cake again the other day. Sheer comfort food! And was it ever comforting:). I am warning you though, you may not be able to stop eating it, so if you make it, have some place to take it to or have some friends over. It’s great with coffee or tea as the nutmeg compliments both drinks. I’m going to go eat some right now. Cheers!
I finally received the proof copy of my thesis book, Eating Design, yesterday! It is so exciting to have a ‘thing’ made and materialized (and then show up at your doorstep:). Especially since most of my work is ephemeral– I create experiences, and once they are over all that is left are the memories (and some pictures). But it is so neat to have a selection of these projects and other information about my work and eating design all in one place! I am really happy with it. I decided to make a book because of the intimacy a book requires. When you read, it is just you, the book, and your interpretation of the book which I believe parallels the intimacy of the Favorite Meal series. The book format reflects this and honors the individual experiences people have, leaving room for personal interpretation.
**Update–I am so excited that this book has generated so much interest! If you’d like to own a copy, you can buy it directly from the publisher, blurb.com. I have self-published this book, so it won’t be found on a bookstore shelf. Each book ordered through blurb is printed per order and all proceeds just pay for the printing of the book. Thank you everyone for all your encouragement and support! **
woot!
(a great trail in the Columbia Gorge, part of a hike I took a while back. The image is very journey-like!)
When I first started eating design, what I knew for sure was that I wanted to find a way to to communicate messages, stories, or ideas to a broad and wide audience. I knew and even anticipated that they may not be from the same place, have the same socio-economic standing, or even speak the same language, but I firmly believe(d) in finding a way for diverse peoples to be able to access information through a common format. While thinking about this, I was simultaneously baking and cooking a lot. I realized that this was a way for me to materialize a specific memory and/or feeling; anything that was ephemeral and intangible (a feeling I could not quite put into words, or words that I did not know how to say out loud), I could make tangible through food. Do others do this? Can our thoughts, feelings, and memories become not only tangible but understandable through food? The answer I found is: yes.
Accessibility in design is not only how my path of eating design started, but what continues to spur me on today. The countless ways we can express our selves, thoughts, feelings, ideas, and concepts through food amazes and excites me everyday! Eating design functions as a mediator between the intangible and an experience, between a design that effectively communicates and a design that will knock your socks off.
Having fun and inciting interest are also hugely important to what I do and believe in. Not only do we remember things better when we are more relaxed and having a good time, but we are more open to possibilities and ideas; we broaden the scope of our problem solving abilities in order to come up with some really great ideas. Innovative teachers and educators take this approach to teaching their students new material; having fun is efficient as well as results oriented!
As students of life, we are learning new things about our selves and the world around us daily whether we realize it or not. Eating design simply points to these things, the food becoming an entry point and involving the senses (which in turn involves more of your brain and attention while experiencing) allowing people to explore the deeper message or idea. Something that I love about working this way is I have become a facilitator of thought. I am not pushing anything on anyone, but gently opening the door to a new way of thinking, looking, or remembering something. The best part is, if people choose to not go any deeper than the food itself, they still walk away with a tasty treat, snack, or meal. It’s a win win! And great design 
.
How can eating design make an impact on your life? Think of it as a framework and a new (but most importantly fun!) way to communicate something, incite interaction amongst people, or simply reflect. It is as versatile as you.
(A HUGE mushroom growing off the side of a tree stump on the same trail, I loved the color explosion effect it had on it’s surroundings!)
(Cherry blossoms were in full bloom here a few weeks back and oh so lovely)
