I recently had the honor of putting together this instructional infographic for The Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club.
If you live in New York and you haven’t been yet, GO! The space is beautiful and shuffleboard is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
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Now that the episode has aired I can finally share this!
Last November my talented (and gorgeous, HELLO) friend Becky was selected to participate in the first ever episode of Underground BBQ Challenge, hosted by Chef G. Garvin.
This is Becky
With only a theme, a location and $1000, she and a team of 3 of her most reliable dudes threw a party with live entertainment for 100 people. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, she was competing against ANOTHER Brooklynite for a $10,000 prize!
I participated as one of her party-goers and I even got to help with the decor by painting a carnival sign before the big event. As evidenced by my display of teeth below, I was very excited to be a part of the fun.
If you didn’t catch full episode when it aired July 15 on the Travel Channel, you can watch the teaser trailer for Becky’s part of the show here.
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Here’s another peek at the Small Thyme Cooks project that I’m doing with Trends on Trends!
http://instagram.com/p/qe-xUjyT1o/
I could totally eat a chocolate bar right now.
Also, check out Trends on Trends for more gorgeous food photography and other fun stuff!
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I recently bought a wood burning tool to make a gift. I would have rather borrowed one but apparently there is a dearth of loanable wood burning tools in the NYC metro area.
No 7 restaurant in Fort Greene celebrated their 5th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. Because wood is the “traditional” gift of 5 year (wedding) anniversaries my idea was to design a wooden spatula to give them for the occasion.
I bought a bag of wooden kitchen utensils and practiced first on a spoon.
Here are some more pictures.
Then I got to work on the spatula. First I burned their logo onto it.
Every time you touch the wood burner tool to the wood a puff of campfire-smelling smoke rises up. It was a rather pleasant way to spend an hour or so, even if it made my eyes burn a little.
Once it was all done, I shortened the handle and then set it into a shadow box frame.
It was on display at the restaurant during the party!
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Tada! Friends Ashley Albert and Jonathan Schnapp finally got approval from their community board for their liquor license for the Royal Palms. It will be a 17,000 square foot shuffleboard parlor in the Gowanus/Carroll Gardens area of Brooklyn, and it’s been getting a significant amount of local press. The poster I made for them was to try and help ahem… ILLUSTRATE all the concessions they were happy to make at the behest of their neighbors’ concerns about the change.
Here they are after getting the good news!
Congrats, friends!
I tackled the 15-foot behemoth at 4th Down to give it a fresh look over the last weekend.
That weird thing in the middle is a light-up hockey mask.
it glows
Here are some detail shots.
I was using recalcitrant Bistro chalk markers and practically gave myself carpal tunnel during the process, but they look about 1000x better than regular chalk. MARVY UCHIDA, MAKE MORE COLORS WITH A WIDER TIP WOULD YA? Also, a note to others that want to use the same, this stuff stains chalkboard paint. There is no erasing it, you have to repaint your surface and start over.
What is a shot-ski, you ask? Barring significant height differences, it’s a quick way to you and 3 of your best friends wasted frat-bar style.
image borrowed from shot-ski.com
Yaaaaaay.
As a tattooed person, I get asked for New York tattoo shop recommendations from time to time. Since my two favorite artists (Gene Coffey and Jess Versus) work within walking distance of each other I decided to draw a little map for anyone who wants to know where I think they should spend their tattoo dollars.
In other news, I’m now writing the Friday column for the Surprisology blog. My posts focus on surprise in design and I couldn’t be more thrilled as it is giving me an outlet to share all the cool stuff I bookmark online all the time.
Coincidentally, I have a new post going up today!
“Like” Surprisology’s Facebook page for updates.
Here’s a chalk sign I whipped together for 4th Down. I’d take a better picture of it but last I saw, it had been left out in the rain…
We all know what this means…
someone is getting tattooed!
I was finally able to use the gift certificate my fiancé had given me for my birthday in October. I was getting my elbow tattooed so I tried to time it when I wouldn’t be carrying around any nieces or nephews or repainting any floors, because any of these things would suck hard with a bum elbow.
The timing worked out that I’d be starting the new year with a new tattoo and I think there’s some sort of symbolism in there that I can get into.
tattoo artist gene coffey
We got started after working out the stencil size and placement for about 30 min. Gene had me lay down which was awesome, kind of like nap time with someone applying a belt-sander to your elbow.
in progress
I picked a trillium design as homage to my time spent in Oregon. While it is not native to Oregon alone, it grows there and that’s where I learned about it. Trilliums also bloom in an eggplant purple color but I thought the white would read the best. I also thought the white would hurt the least so that worked out well.
Other facts about trilliums: they only have 3 petals and 3 leaves, they only bloom every 3 years and if you pick one, the whole plant dies. DON’T PICK TRILLIUMS.
the finished tattoo
It didn’t even make me puke or crap my pants (fair standards for success, no?). Actually, the tattoo went really well. I’d psyched myself up but it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. Also, a couple of years ago, I suffered through several hours of an excruciating side piece and relative to that, this was totally tolerable.
So, my best advice to people who want to get their elbow tattooed is to undergo a root canal without any numbing or stand in front of a moving bus. Once you recover and get your elbow tattooed, you’ll be able to take it like a man and impress all your friends.
JK, but I did feel totally awesome when Gene told me I’d been a champ. I love exceeding my own expectations.
close up
I was so stoked to see the final product. This tattoo turned out a million times more awesome than I’d ever imagined it. Gene is the best, check out his awesome portfolio. Also, I’d like to give a big thank you to Jocelyn for taking reference pictures for me. Without her this tattoo would probably have happened… whenever I found a decent image on GIS, but it would have been less meaningful.
Afterwards, Kat and I went to Mike’s work where I had victory nachos and a victory margarita.
So now the healing period. They sent me home with A + D ointment and a plastic wrapping to keep it clean. It has swollen quite a bit but I managed to take a nap with my arm over my head which helped drain some of the fluid out.
fat elbow
That whole fluid drainage thing was pretty gross so I’ll just leave on that note. Sorry.
Happy New Years!
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