All three of my passions in one place!

The brainchild of Spanish design firm Gabriel Corchero Studio, Poncelet Cheese Bar is the perfect place for a design hungry Cheeseaholic.
The trendy cheese shop’s interior is reminiscent of a Gastropub with communal tables, eclectic décor, and a mixture of Scandinavian and contemporary furniture. An integral focal point of the expansive dining room is a 300 square foot living wall.
This place has it all...#1 Cheese, hello! #2 Beautifully designed interiors and #3 Beautifully designed branding!!  Heaven!








Stuffed peppers recipe!



Turkish Food - Biber Dolması
Biber dolması
A Turkish Recipe For Fırında Bulgurlu Biber Dolması
This recipe makes seven bell peppers. You can either cut the peppers in half, lengthways, and serve them open (as in the photo above) or you can cut off their lids, stuff them with the bulgur filling and bake them whole. We did a mixture of both. Either way, scoop out and discard the seeds from the peppers.

For The Filling
Spices For Biber Dolması
Toasted spices
We're going for an Eastern flavour for this filling so it contains pine nuts, dried fruit and spices.
  • First of all, toast a small handful of pine nuts, a pinch of cumin seeds, a pinch of coriander seeds and a couple of cardamom pods. You can do this by putting them in a pan over a low heat. Keep swirling them round and when they start to release their aromas, remove them from the heat. 
  • Separate the pine nuts from the spices and keep to one side for the moment. Smash the rest of the spices with a pestle and mortar and discard the pods from the cardamom.
Filling For Biber Dolması
  • Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a pan. Chop a medium-sized onion and a medium-sized aubergine and add to the oil. Saute them for a few minutes until they begin to soften.
  • Deseed a medium-sized tomato and add that to the onion and aubergine along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes. You want the tomato to stay firm.
  • Remove from the heat, add the smashed spices, pine nuts and a small handful of chopped, dried fruit. (Image 1) We used dates but sun-dried figs would be good, too.
  • Fill a coffee mug with fine bulgur wheat until it's roughly three quarters full. Add it to a large bowl and now fill the same mug with boiling water and a dessert spoonful of biber salçası (this is red pepper paste but you can use tomato puree if you can't get pepper paste).
  • Stir until the salça has mixed in and pour over the bulgur wheat. Cover with a tea towel until all the water is absorbed by the bulgur. (Image 2).
  • Once the water is absorbed (about 5 minutes), add a drizzle of olive oil and fluff your bulgur up with a fork. (Image 3).
  • Now mix the bulgur with your mixture. Add a few freshly chopped parsley leaves and a sprinkling of dried mint. Season to taste. (Image 4)
For The Peppers
Now it's time to add the filling to your peppers. Begin by preheating the oven to 220 degrees.
Stuffed Peppers
Pepper prep
And, while the oven is warming up, add the filling to your peppers and place them carefully onto an oven tray. Drizzle with a generous coating of olive oil and place them in the oven for around 30 minutes until the peppers soften. (Even better if they get a bit charred here and there).
Turkish Food - Biber Dolması
A serving of fırında bulglurlu biber dolması

Read more: http://www.turkeysforlife.com/2012/11/turkish-recipes-baked-stuffed-peppers.html#ixzz2RoUgvgTn

Renegade Craft Fair!!


The 3rd Annual Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market in Los Angeles will be held on December 8 + 9, 2012 from 10am-5pm each day at the Los Angeles State Historic Park! Get ready for hundreds of today’s best indie crafters, hands-on workshops, music, food trucks, booze + oh so much more.
As always, we’ll be presenting a curated collection of some of today’s best + brightest indie makers from Los Angeles and beyond. You can see the line-up here! Check out the official map of the fair here!

You’ll love the cozy craft village that is the LA Holiday Market, and walking through all the booths is sure to be an inspirational and festive time. If you’re feeling crafty yourself, you can hang out at Renegade’s own DIY Gift Wrap Station and make your handmade gifts even fancier with stamps by Yellow Owl Workshop! Help out LA’s four-legged friends at the Second Acts Animal Rescue Booth
Don’t forget sweet and savory treats from some of LA’s best food trucks, including Crispy Waffle & Frite, Greasy Wiener, Brasil KissLudo TruckGreen TruckPalazzolo Truck, and India Jones Chow Truck, and libations available for purchase at our bar. Add a free-to-use photobooth by Magnolia Photobooth Co. and some sweet shopping jams by KXLU, and it’ll be a great way to spend a weekend!



What is the Renegade Craft Fair?
The Renegade Craft Fair (RCF) is a large scale marketplace event, showcasing the work of contemporary indie-craft artists. Featuring hundreds of artists at a time, vendors travel from all over to sell their handmade goods and original artwork. RCF is held in urban epicenters of creative indie-entrepreneurship throughout the US and abroad – including Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and London (UK).

What makes RCF unique?
The Renegade Craft Fair differs from traditional arts and craft fairs by focusing on DIY and indie-craft culture. Each individual fair is juried from hundreds of applications to purposefully feature a curated, eclectic array of young and emergent designers producing original and handmade goods in a wide variety of media. We feature artists with a Do It Yourself spirit – creating innovative work using traditional craft methods, but not based on preexisting patterns or products. Each event features paper goods, housewares, ceramics, bath products, jewelry, craft kits, accessories, clothing, comics, knits, curios, collectibles, artwork, and so much more!

What kinds of things does Renegade have to offer?
All of our Fairs are juried separately and each fair features a unique line-up of artists.  While we have some returning vendors and some artists who travel to participate in each and every event, we always welcome new applicants!  RCF draws thousands upon thousands of attendees – shoppers, arts and crafts enthusiasts, media scouts, bloggers and tastemakers all make a point of turning out to see what’s new and to stock up on unique artist created goods.










SHOP LOCAL This Season!

SHOP LOCAL AND SUPPORT THE MUSEUM SCHOOL
at the Local Color Craft Fair
Saturday, November 17, 11am – 7pm
The Glashaus Art Studios in Barrio Logan
1815 Main Street (between Beardsly & Crossley) 92113


ADMISSION IS FREE. RAIN OR SHINE.


Come have some FUN at the Local Color Craft Fair! Support local artists, crafters, and the Museum School. The Glashaus artists are opening their studio doors to everyone, amazingly talented crafters and artists will be selling their work, kids will be crafting in the Kid Zone, MIHO will be cooking, you will be eating amazing baked treats and the middle school kids will take care of your gift wrapping! Get your picture taken in Jen Jansen’s vintage style photo booth or get your portrait drawn in Flo Pacho’s whimsical style. Fun for the whole family!









Local Color Craft Fair is a fundraiser put on by the Friends of the Museum School, a non-profit 501 c3 organization to benefit the Museum School, a K-8 free public charter school in Banker’s Hill, San Diego. Visit museumschool.orgfor more information.



The Glashaus is a beautiful artist collective studio, gallery and event venue in Barrio Logan, San Diego. Visit their Facebook page here. Thank you to the Glashaus’ Matt and Morgan Devine for donating their space to this event.



Yarn Bombing

In case you haven't noticed, there's a craft revolution happening. I love this spontaneous guerrilla knitting. Here's some of my top favorites.
















Portals, Doors, Entry ways...

I have long had an obsession with Doors/Entryways to apartment buildings, mostly in Europe. Southern California doesn't have anything like it that's for sure. I've photographed some of my favorites in Copenhagen, London, Bordeaux, and San Sebastian. Unfortunately, I did not take these photographs, wish I had. Enjoy!


Swiss architects Bureau A have created decorative steel gates to discourage nocturnal 
“illegal activities” in the entrance to their Geneva studio.


The elaborate designs draw inspiration from textile designer William Morris and 
artist Kara Walker, and are laser-cut into the 10 millimetre-thick steel.


Photography is by Federal Studio.

Starbucks?

Starbucks has come a long way since their first stores opened. I am happy to see them trying to be more sustainable. They are trying to do so with their architecture. I've found some surprising examples recently, have a look..



 In Tukwila, Washington


Drive through made out of shipping containers





Starbucks in an old Dutch bank vault.




Not sure if it's ecofriendly, but definitely beautiful!



Portland, Oregon.




Store in Thailand where all furniture is made from recycled coffee grounds.