Muffin Tops

Excuse me, are those blueberries organic? Why yes they are.


Wherever you go, there you are

Waiting for the Blow Up

Last Friday was the opening of the "We Out Here" photo exhibition at Big Umbrella Studios. As per usual we had a great turnout as far as the head count goes. We had Oliver on hand helping out as a videographer. He filmed artist interviews featuring Tess our newest staff member.  Yours truly even appeared on film to talk about his own photos that were on show. I have even less personality on film than I do in person. Rick was doing a bit of live printing of t-shirts and posters using a design Rick put together. We also had the wonderful Cori from BiBimBop Bowl serving up delicious Korean eats. So far so good right? Meh, not so much. FIrst we had a visit from a girl who was clearly some kind of manic/ bi-polar / (insert some form of behavioral or emotional issue here). She showed up announcing that she was the DJ and that she was ready to go on. The only problem was that we never booked a DJ and have never seen this person before in our lives. She then proceeded to find Steph and Tess and explain to them that she was suffering an "existential crisis" and that just being there was really not good for her mental and emotional stability. Wow! I think at this point I should have stepped in as a boss and showed her the door. But, I was equal parts interested and apprehensive as I didn't want her to create a huge scene. It was only later when she started bringing in all kinds of shit and building a crazy shrine in the corner that my curiosity turned to complete shock and amazement. It reminded me of the scene from Pick Floyd The Wall when Pink loses his shit and trashes his hotel room and starts building some crazy sculpture on the floor as he descends into madness. But, in the end she was the least of our problems. As the night progressed and the place got more, and more packed some of us started getting a funny vibe about the crowd. They started becoming not at all interested in the show and more interested in drinking. Again, food for thought here but I should have stepped in and shut it down. But, I thought I'd let it play out. Anyway, after Steph, Oliver and Tess and I left it got even more hairy. Apparently, one of the revelers decided to have a pee on our neighbor's front steps. Who does that? Our neighbor was none too keen to this and called the dude out on it. I think the dude got a little bit mouthy and not at all repentant and so the neighbor busted him in the chops. I can't say I wouldn't go the same route myself in that situation. Anyway, the punchee called the cops on US! Who does that? And, then of course the drunken rabble decided that they were being oppressed somehow and started yelling at the cops. This could have become even uglier had Sarah one of the other owners not been so impressively deft in diffusing the situation. The cops quickly realized that the dumb asses did not speak for nor represent what our gallery is about. They were very helpful and ended up giving us some good advice in the end. In the end I only wish we got that on film. Anyway, the show runs throughout the month and you should probably make your way down and buy stuff.

New Show at the Gallery

We're hosting a new show down at the old gallery. It's an SF inspired photo show. Come visit us down at Big Umbrella Studios on June 10 or up, depending on what part of town you live. I'm also on board for this one and will be putting a few pieces in. Now if that isn't reason enough to go I don't know what is.

Austin in the springtime. It's effing hot!

Last weekend Steph and I went to Austin Tx. so she could vend at the Renegade craft fair. It promised to be a quick and dirty trip. I didn't want to burn vacation time on this one so we ended up leaving Friday after I got off work and I had to leave on Sunday evening. Unfortunately, we happened to be in the one Texas city that was supposed to actually be somewhat fun and I certainly wouldn't have mined a few extra days to hang out.. Mind you I have already been to San Antonio and I'm not a fan. Houston on the other hand was a decent place. In summary: Austin, it's fucking hot. It's uber humid and then it's gets a bit scorching at the same time. Ugh! The craft fair was fine and dandy. I got to swipe credit cards. We had some seriously epic BBQ. I mean amazing! Lastly, we had some delicious crawfish and a crazy maple bacon doughnut from an airstream food truck called Gordough's. One of the best parts of the trip: Eating terrible late night pizza with Steph in the room after we finally made it to the hotel and bonding with the cabbie on the way to the airport about owning the same Bauhaus T shirt and creepers in high school. Sweet! The worst part of the trip: The Austin airport plays nothing but country music and all their shops close early. Bummer.

Gallery News

We've undertaken a little bit of a DIY approach to re-imagining our little gallery, Big Umbrella Studios. It's an adventure to say the least. Only about half us are skilled in any kind of woodworking and there isn't a ton of money to invest in these updates. But, we're making the best of it. We're trying to maximize the potential of the space, to bring it a bit beyond the gallery/ studio concept that it's always been. We're building out custom fixtures for our new retail store front. We're painting the ugly, dingy, yucky floors and we've added classes and more events to list of functions our gallery serves. I'll post updates as they happen.


Last night we got our heads around the floor painting portion of the plan. It turned out looking better than we'd thought, not to mention being easier than we thought. So we got around to some hi-jinx last night and I thought I'd upload them to our new Vimeo channel.


The Stunt from Big Umbrella Studios on Vimeo.


Rick's Big Job from Big Umbrella Studios on Vimeo.


Also, we have a new show coming on June 10. I have a couple of photos in the show as well. Go, go, go!

Umami burger in L.A.


It was a hit. I'm putting it up there with Slow Club/ Serpentine and Gotts. The bun is epic.


Wherever you go, there you are

Deliciousity of the Noshings

On Saturday for Mother's day we went Steph's family to Michael Mina. I'll sum up by saying I had pork three ways and delicious wine. I have no complaints. I also got my mom the Nike/ iPod running accessory which is quite fitting as she's taken up doing half marathons, which I find really cool.

On Friday, Steph and I went to what is quickly becoming my favorite Ramen place in the city, Sawaii Ramen. I always get the spicy garlic Tonkatsu Ramen. I love that they have such nice little extras such as pork belly, which I usually get. But on this night they had pork cheek. Had to get it. It was thinly sliced and delicious. If only they would add marrow bones to ramen! Also on the menu was a cut of Himachi that I hadn't tried, nor seen before actually. Hamchi belly. I have to say it was amazing. It's wan't quite as fatty as Toro, but it still had that similar butter-like mouthfeel and it was about half the price. I'm totally sold on this cut.

On Sunday I worked on some epic gallery projects as we work to update the space. Baby steps yo!