Austin Hot Sauce Festival 2012

This past weekend Conner and I went to the 22nd annual Austin Chronicle Host Sauce festival.  As an east coast girl, I'm a novice when it comes to anything hot.  The hottest I ever ventured was a little bit of wasabi on my sushi, a temporary burn that targeted my allergy-rattled sinuses and provided a minute of relief.  After living in Texas for about 5 years now, I've slowly begun to enjoy the different kind of burn that hot sauce provides. 

When we first got to Fiesta Gardens, slightly rugged from the night before, it rained a bit and cooled everything down, all the better to start raising one's internal temperature with hot sauce.  There was live music, tons of tortilla chips, and of course rows of hot sauce, separated into Red, Green, and Special Sauce.  We started with the Special row and after a jar of queso, I dove head-long into the first jar.  Big dollop of something red.  And I was a goner.  It was so ridiculously hot!  It made me get the hiccups and I felt lightheaded with no water.  I want to say that it was named something like SV 900 but I honestly don't remember.  I'd go again in a minute--this time with lots of water.

All photos by John Anderson.  More photos at Austin Chronicle.

Kimbra: Good Intent

Kimbra - Good Intent (HD) from Edward Goldner on Vimeo.

The Research Trip: Las Vegas

My two good lady-friends and I are meeting up soon in the fabulously decadent city of Las Vegas!  I'm heading to the Vision Expo West optical convention all in the name of eyeglass research and have corralled my friends into coming with me for a much-needed ladies weekend.  I can hardly wait to see them! These are some of the activities we have on our list:

Cocktails at the Vesper Bar at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.  The Vesper is said to be a James Bond-tinged oasis from the chaotic streets of Vegas and a man named George is reportedly the best mixologist in town-the Mayan is highly recommended by The Minty.

photo by James Medcraft via Architecture Meme

A Cirque Du Soliel show at the MGM Grand.  Someone told me they recently saw KA and that it was amazing.

Spa day at the Mandalay Bay is a must as well.  I've heard that if you get a spa treatment--whether a massage or just a manicure--you get to hang out by their amazing pool all day long; there's this tranquil indoor soaking pool and the over-the-top outdoor pools (including a wave pool and a lazy river).  I'm thinking that an afternoon at all of the pools is an absolute must.

The Neon Museum is also a must.  One of our crew is a photographer and there's just no way we can't miss visiting a beautifully dilapidated part of Vegas history on her behalf....oh the photos to come!

Summer Cocktails: Jalapeno Margarita

Conner and I have decided to get our act together and put our noses to the grindstone (well, as much as possible in this Texas heat), and have implemented a "no drinking on a school night" policy.  It's an effort to save money and regain some of motivation that is soon lost once the Lone Star beer starts flowing. 

In addition to saving money and regaining our groove, our weekend fun has another nice side effect by helping me to become a better bartender.  I figure if I can only imbibe on the weekends, I shouldn't waste my time and money with sub-par booze; so I pick out one awesome looking beverage per weekend and learn how to make it. 

It all began with this lovely picture I found on Pintrest:

via My Life as a Mrs.

A Chili-Lime Margarita.  It's supposed to raise your internal body temperature so that the outside summertime heat feels like a cool breeze.  At the blog My Life as a Mrs., Kristina has a lovely made-from-scratch recipe for this amazing drink.  I however, fudged and cheated with some store-bought items.  This is my version...

Jalapeno Margarita

2.5 ounces silver tequila, I tried Espolan because it had a pretty label (not very scientific)

1 cap full of Gran Marnier

Margarita mix, I like Tres Agaves

1 jalapeno

keylimes

1. Slice the entire jalapeno and let soak in 1.5 cups of margarita mix for a minimum of 5 minutes.
2. Salt the rim of a glass by running a slice of lime along the rim and dip in salt.  Fill with ice and add tequila, Gran Marnier, and top with margarita mix.  Squeeze 1-2 keylimes and pour a small amount of jalapeno juice into the drink and taste.  The juice gets amazingly hot and a little goes a long way. 
3. After a quick stir, top with another wedge of lime and a jalapeno slice.  Enjoy!  It's awesome.

Window Greenhouse

My man and I are venturing out tomorrow morning to finish taking down a dilapidated little greenhouse at a friend's house.  She's trying to get rid of it and I've got a picture in mind of what I envision the potential of that little greenhouse to be.

Months ago I found this darling structure on The Selby at the home of hair dressers Stephen and Lucy Marr, in Auckland, New Zealand.  All at once my heart was won over!

Maison Bonnet

Paris-based, Maison Bonnet, makes handcrafted eyeglasses using precious materials such as horn, turtle shell, and acetate.  This is a family affair beginning in the 1930's with Papa Alfred and continues on down son-by-son to Franck Bonnet who currently runs the luxury eyewear house.  Former French president Francois Mitterrand, architect Le Corbusier, and former first-lady Jackie Onassis are all fans.

Takeuchi made with black acetate

 

St. Louis made out of dark cherry shell

 

Thomas E. made of out black acetate with gold gloss using the kintsugi method

 

Elena made with dark marbled shell

There are a couple of things that I learned while looking over their About Us section:

1. Morez - fabled land of spectacle production.  On the border of France and Switzerland, near Geneva, a place which I simply must travel to one day.
2. Kintsugi Method - a Japanese method of artfully repairing broken ceramics.  The aim to to highlight the cracks and not hide them using gold dust mixed into tree sap as an adhesive.  It's so beautiful! "A master mends poetically"via Photonicsmedia

Yarn Bombed: An Olympic Themed Scarf

A 150ft scarf now adorns the eye-catching historic pier in North Yorkshire.  The scarf shows representations of Olympic sports from rowing, synchronized swimming, and weight lifting.  Who made this here pier decor, also known as knitted graffiti or yarn bombing?  No one know, it's a mystery...
via Ecouterre

Super Sunglasses

Started in 2007 in Italy by brothers, Simon and Daniel Beckerman, Super eyewear focuses on manufacturing handmade acetate sunglasses.  These seem to be the go-to sunglasses for all the top pop stars of our day; Kanye West, Daft Punk, St. Vincent, and The Kills.

Manufacturing Super from retrosuperfuture on Vimeo.

Capital Eyewear

Handmade in the USA from Capital on Vimeo.

Capital is a handmade eyeglass manufacturer based in California.  They intentionally remain a small business, make all of their frames by hand, and have a super cool blog to boot.

Packaging Ideas

I'm slowly getting closer to go-time for this project I have in the works. While it may be getting closer, it still doesn't feel like I'm moving fast enough.  My main motivation right now - and it's getting to be more of a motivating force lately - is dreaming of the life that I want and the life that I currently have (ie. my day job, a very good motivator to try and work for one's self).

So anyhow, I've been checking out packaging ideas.  I love how clean and uncluttered the first two ideas are but I adore how vintage and cheeky the last two are.  

 Martin Fek Homebrew Beer

The Welsh Rabbit

via That Kind Of Woman

Sheaff Ephemera