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Category Archives: Uncategorized

Thanksgiving pre-party

Written on November 23, 2011 by alyson in Uncategorized

Apparently I’m just holiday hopping here on the blog. The time between Halloween and now has, not surprisingly, been spent getting all my pigs in a row for the holiday season. Things like ordering holiday cards, organizing art vendors for the New Taste Marketplace, preparing for possible tea towels, posting advice over at Rena Tom’s blog, making new posters (hello, Chicago!), launching the first ever Drywell calendar, and creating super top-secret exclusive art (more details next week). Add in a lovely and warm November wedding in Boca Raton and , well, that’s where November went.

But tomorrow I’m looking forward to taking a day off, stuffing myself silly with turkey and gravy, and spending time with family. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Halloween Hangover

Written on November 2, 2011 by alyson in Uncategorized

obviously this one was mine….it was a hit with the parents.

We moved to San Francisco in October 2007. We loved our adorable new neighborhood (Cole Valley), full of dogs and families, and cute French bistros, and especially loved our tree-lined street. When meeting our new neighbors, invariably, the first thing they asked was “Do you know about Halloween here?”

Not even crowded yet. Seriously.

See, we live on Belvedere St. Those of you who live in San Francisco, especially if you have kids, you know what this means. Every year, the residents of Belvedere Street block off our street and throw an amazing Halloween block party – basically the Castro for kids.

ghosts

There are garages turned haunted houses, tons of decorations, live bands, animatronic spooky shows, live dancers dressed as Disney and Pixar characters, movies playing on outdoor screens, tons of jack-o-lanterns, (perhaps some adult beverages for the adults dealing with sugared up children…) and oh, the candy.

Kung-Fu Panda dancers, from 2007

See, kids are brought here from all over the city. The little ones start around 4, and after that, it’s basically a rapid countdown until the bags upon bags of candy you bought are gone.

The swarm at our front door.

This year we went through 1800 pieces of candy, plus a huge bowl of candy corn in 3 hours. It was…. a little intense. But fun, and one of those special only-in-SF kind of events.

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photoshoot fresh

Written on October 21, 2011 by alyson in Uncategorized

my studio, with photographer. a vegetarian photographer…

Sorry to say, but there’s no Friday cocktail to tempt you this week … though I will be having some later tonight at a happy hour and then a dinner party inspired by one of the meals in the new Ferran Adria cookbook, The Family Meal.

This week has been hectic, with the photoshoot and all. Oh, I didn’t mention that? A short interview and photo may be featured in an upcoming piece in an online SF magazine. I’ll give more deets when I know it’s actually going to be up and published.

But between getting ready for the holidays, and preparing my studio and myself for a photographer all. up. in. my. face, I’ve been too busy for cocktail-concocting. But not too busy for drinking, as I checked out the new Biergarten SF by the Suppenkuche folks in Hayes Valley (verdict — it’s awesome, but slow with only 6 taps) and a necessary scotch last night after enduring TWO, very shaky earthquakes in one day. Blurghs.

But today is calm so far, and I hope everyone has a great weekend! Team Drywell is off to Santa Cruz to soak up the last of the “summer” sun, check out the fishies at Monterey Bay Aquarium, and just chillax for the last time before the holiday craziness.

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eggs and bread and butter, oh my.

Written on October 18, 2011 by alyson in food, Uncategorized

While arranging anniversary flowers* this morning, Steve commented that “It looks like a Martha Stewart photoshoot up in here.” (Which was odd, because I just had a dream that I was sitting next to Martha at a class reunion. But that’s neither here nor there..) So, I clearly had to snap a pic of my breakfast, right?

Fried egg with Outerlands bread, hot tea in the kitchen with flowers and Lucky Peach magazine. Yeah, I’m reading about eggs while eating eggs. I have a problem.

Besides eggs, these days have found me obsessed with that ridiculous Outerlands bread and Meyenburg goat butter.

Outerlands has transformed into one of my top 5 restaurants in SF. It’s a magical place, full of driftwood, twinkling lights, and down by Ocean Beach. The food is creative without being fussy, and man, that bread. Originally based on the Tartine bread recipe, it’s now morphed into an artisinal sandwich bread. And the best part? $5 a loaf! We’ve been eating it for a week.

And that goat butter? Thick, creamy, bright white, and with a slight goat gaminess, in the best way possible. We won it playing foodie trivia at Omnivore Books (yes, we dominated. thank you for asking.) but I’ll definitely be buying more when our stash runs out.

Excellent when topped with We Love Jam Blenheim apricot jam. It’s crazy good, and run by a super nice couple who started the business when a family member’s apricot tree was laden with fruit. We’ve been buying it for years … the first time was out of a car trunk, drug deal style in a parking lot off of Masonic. They’ve become more legit since then – you can buy the jam at Williams Sonoma.

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Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder…

Written on October 13, 2011 by alyson in my artsy stuff, Uncategorized

original watercolor and ink illustration

Yep, more beer art.

Back in August, when Drywell Art was in LA for Renegade Craft show, Benjamin at The Bruery was ridiculously kind enough to give us a personal tour of the brewery in Placentia. While we were there, he mentioned that they had begun a collaboration with Dogfish Head Brewery, another crazy inventive beer place, to create a Japanese-inspired beer. He sent me the ingredient list and told me to get cracking on new art for them. (Not really, Ben is way to nice to say that).

Fast forward to this week, and the collaboration beer, “Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder (Gradually, Quietly, Steadily)” was released at Far Bar as part of LA Beer Week. The beer is inspired by Japanese shichimi togarashi, 7-spice powder. The traditional version includes black and white sesame seeds, cayenne pepper, seaweed, orange rind, ginger, and either poppy seeds or hemp seeds.(If you haven’t used togarashi powder on your popcorn before, you are seriously missing out. Go, right now. Make it happen.) This collaboration beer uses kumquats instead of the dried orange rind, and sake yeast.

This beer is also a fundraiser, with $1 of each bottle sold going towards Japanese relief efforts for this year’s tsunami and earthquake. AND, it sounds pretty delicious.

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chickens are hot, y’all

Written on October 3, 2011 by alyson in my artsy stuff, Uncategorized

Maybe it is the popularity of urban homesteading, but man, I have been getting some serious requests for chickens this year! Between the frequent requests at craft shows and the flattering pleadings from the team at Ragazza, I’ve received the message: chicken are hot.

Drywell HQ is a’flutter with holiday preparations, and rest assured, some new chickens will be making their debut soon!

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friday o’clock

Written on September 30, 2011 by alyson in drinks, recipes, Uncategorized

It’s time for a cocktail, am I right?

A few weeks ago when Steve and I embarked on the Great San Marzano Canning Experience 2011, we procured a bottle of lemon juice. Apparently lemons vary considerably in acidity, so most canning recipes suggest using bottled lemon juice. The recipe only called for a few tablespoons, so we’re left with a mostly full bottle of lemon juice. Oh, and I had bought thyme to make the mythically delicoius Zuni roast chicken. What to do?

Make one of my favorite cocktails of all time. This was one of the first cocktails I ever drank, and it is still awesome. Many recipes use a 1:1:1 ration of brandy, cointreau, and lemon juice, but my tastes lean away from something so cointreau heavy. Using less means that you need to make up for the loss of sweetness with simple syrup or gum syrup, but the result means a cleaner lemon-y cocktail. But play around with the ratios to your taste.

And the thyme? Crazy good.

It’s About Thyme, Sidecar

makes 1

2 oz Brandy
1/2 oz Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice
1 teaspoon gum syrup (this stuff is amazeballs. Use whenever you’d use simple syrup, especially in citrus based drinks. Gives a smooth mouthfeel. I have a locally produced one from Small Hand Foods)
few springs of thyme
sugar and salt*

1. If you’re using fresh squeezed lemon juice, take a wedge of lemon, cut a notch in it and rub it on the rim of your glass. If you’re usingbottled juice, it is messier, but pour some juice on a shallow bowl and moisten the rim of your glass

2. mix equal parts salt and sugar on a plate or shallow bowl, and dip your moistened rim (yeah, I know) into the mix.

3. Combine all other ingredients in cocktail shaker, including a spring of thyme. Shake it. Shake it good.

4. Strain into old-fashioned glass. Add a sprig of thyme to be beautiful.

*very untraditional I know, but adding the salt gives this a little something special. You want to be special, right?

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meat into food, part II

Written on September 30, 2011 by alyson in Uncategorized

It’s a miracle. I’m turning meat (art) into food. AGAIN.

I announced this plan back in January, and posted my quarter one results here. And now the grand totals from quarters 2 and 3 are in, and donations have been made! In ascending order….

drumroll…..

5. Brooklyn – $30.00 to the St. John’s Bread and Life food pantry in Brooklyn (Come on, Brooklyn, you have Fleishers Meats now – get in the meat game!)

4. Portland. $37.50 to The Oregon Food Bank

3. Seattle. $45.00 to the Northwest Harvest food bank in Washington.

2. Los Angeles. The newest addition to the “Meat My City” family really brought it. $52.50 to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. That’s $262 of food that can be distributed to needy families in LA!

1. San Francisco. And, yes, again atop the winner’s podium is my home city. $214.50 to the San Francisco Food Bank. That means the SF Food Bank will be able to distribute $1290 worth of food to needy residents of SF! Amazeballs.

The next quarter’s donations will be announced in early January. I’m hoping for epic, epicness and holiday generosity people.

If you’re from one of these cities and think that another food bank needs the donations next time, just drop me a line and let me know. Thanks everyone!!

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back to work

Written on September 27, 2011 by alyson in Uncategorized

the last minute trip to Dallas and DC kind of took it out of me. It was great fun, but now it’s time to buckle down and get to work. Only a few weeks before the holiday rush begins!

(click on pics for more info…)

cocktail hour at my parent’s house // vintage clock faces // hipster Caroler // closeup of Byers Choice caroler// Glen Livet box // vintage candlestick for mom’s Etsy shop, vlooienmarkt // dad made homemade sausage patties // 1st grade report card // color neater homework // horseshoes at Fraternal Order of Eagles, Dallas // motorino pizza at Il Cane Rosso, Dallas//old friends at The Saloon, DC // Sunday beer at Marvin’s DC// late night Marvin’s//Allagash Curieux at Monk’s Kettle

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snippets of stuff

Written on September 9, 2011 by alyson in city life, food, Uncategorized

Some snippets of life in the last week, which after making a last minute ticket to Dallas and DC, mostly involved harried cooking and socializing.

From top: view from our roof / canning san marzano tomatoes from Mariquita Farms / $25 “mystery box” haul from Mariquita Farms / lunch at Russian River Brewing with Nosh This chocolates (and, uh, Nosh This (Kai) himself, along with Steve and Kimra) / limited edition posters commissioned by Fleisher’s Grass Fed and Organic Meat for their new Park Slope store / plum torte / cocktail hour on our roof / raw chicken pose / impromptu dinner party with Zuni chicken / chicken and waffles and yam tater tots at Criolla Kitchen / cocktail hour with the parents in texas with lemonbird handmade jam / and oh yeah, i bought some art! the top one to be specific.

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