It's always better with a little salt!

This is the logo for my friend's herbed sea salts that she sells at both Blue Barn and We Olive, (a great dinner party gift) located on Chestnut St. in San Francisco. Recently, I helped create the marketing materials and put on a cocktail hour where we served drinks and yummy bites highlighting fresh summer veggies, California olive oil, and sea salt. The party was a hit, I think due to the intimate atmosphere and my skills as bartender. Everything was delicious; we served raspberry mojitos and cucumber cocktails, roasted red peppers, summer salads, early girl tomato ragout, and sea salt sugar cookies dipped in chocolate. Below are the recipes for my favorites from the evening. Enjoy!

Cucumber Cilantro Cocktail

Ingredients for 1 cocktail

1.5-2 oz. white rum

1 oz. cucumber-cilantro syrup (recipe below)

frozen cucumber

crushed ice

club soda

Fill an old-fashioned glass one-quarter full of crushed ice. Then add the cucumber-cilantro syrup andrum. Top off with club soda. Put in frozen cucumber slices. Garnish with lime slice and sprig of cilantro.

Cucumber-cilantro syrup (makes enough for 4 cocktails)

1 cup fresh cilantro

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

½ jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

juice of 1 lime

1/4 of a medium cucumber, chopped

Boil the water, adding sugar, 1/2 the cilantro and jalapeno. Let cool, then put in blender or food processor with the lime juice, cucumber and rest of cilantro. Refrigerate until ready for use.

Warm Goat Cheese and Carrot Salad with Marjoram-Honey Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1 large log goat cheese, cut into 8 equal-size medallions

1 cup olive oil, for dredging

1 cup bread crumbs, seasoned with sea salt and pepper to taste

6 to 8 carrots, peeled and julienned

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Dip each medallion of goat cheese into the olive oil, then press it into the seasoned bread crumbs.

Place the breaded cheese on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake until the cheese has softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Toss the carrots with the Marjoram-Honey Vinaigrette , salt, and pepper.

Serve the carrot salad with a medallion of warm goat cheese on each plate.

Marjoram-Honey Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1/3 cup champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2/3 cup grape-seed oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Let stand for 30 minutes. Slowly add the grape-seed oil to the mixture in a steady stream while whisking vigorously. Season with the salt and pepper.

The dahlias are here!

I think these look like chinese lanterns. I would love a garland of them

this one reminds me of coral

So, I think all SFers will agree that this Indian summer has been a doozy. Its a good thing I spent most of the Summer back east because that may be the most sun I get all year. The one great thing about this past wet year is the fact that the gardens are blooming. Each morning I run through Golden Gate park I'm rewarded for my efforts by being entranced with the beautiful rose garden. (And then I start reading the signs and get jealous because I think naming types of roses is up there with naming nail polish.) Also, the dahlias east of the conservatory of flowers are outta this world. Here's a little treat.

linoleum printing

Yesterday I went down to Potrero Hill with by friend Gordo to check out an event--the Roadworks Steamroller Street Fair-- put on by the SFCB (San Francisco Center for the Book). Block printing is one of the oldest and simplest forms of making mainly copies of the same image. Recently, we have seen a resurgence in the Bay Area craft community where linoleum printing has become quite popular. I believe this is because there is such a strong DIY culture here and printing (linoleum or block) still allows the hand-drawn aesthetic. At the fair, both established artists and newbies had their images printed using a large steamroller on Rhode Island blvd. I saw two artists whose work I liked;
www.coffeencream.com (website under construction, but she also makes really cool books)
www.dandylionpress.com
Both are local to San Francisco.
 I have been really into block-printing recently as Gordo and I made some of our own just last week. Not as professional looking as the ones we saw yesterday, but still very fun. Im going to incorporate my flying sheep into my sketchbook for the sketchbook project.

I pine for...

As you may or may not know, in 3 three weeks I will be relocating back east, eventually to NYC but initially a short stint in Bucks County, PA--a small, but artsy community. This is one of those moves where I have to really purge, and pick and choose what I love and need as I start my life over. Moving became a reality for me when i packed up my pine cone collection. For the past few years I have been finding and gifted various sizes and shapes of the beautiful wooden sculptures. In manifesting my future life, I find myself daydreaming about a better setup to showcase my collection. I keep thinking I want to build something that replicates an old postal shelving, with lots of different  cubbies so none of them get overshadowed. Heres a  small a small glimpse of what I had.

the moss fits in nicely

Today, when I was bopping around design sponge, I saw this photo, which is to showcase the lights but really caught my attention because whoever created this, also shares my love of pine cones.

This picture reinforces that my collection needs to be displayed properly.