Parlor Profile: eCreamery Ice Cream and Gelato

My sister and I found this creamery in Omaha, Nebraska, just around the corner from her friend's house where we were staying during our drive from CA to PA last month. Omaha was surprisingly hip, especially the Dundee neighborhood where we stayed. And a good creamery is just icing on the cake for me, so to speak. Luckily two of my best friends are moving there soon, so I will get a chance to go back and hang out there more (in Omaha, not the ice cream store specifically, though that might happen as well).



Name: eCreamery Ice Cream and Gelato

Location: Underwood Ave, Omaha, NE



The Scoop: The tag line for eCreamery is "For a life less vanilla," how great is that? This is a mostly online business where you can control all aspects of the ice cream creation. You pick the flavors (anything you want, they once made lobster ice cream for someone), the packaging, and even the name on the packaging. This is their only store location and all of their ice cream is made in small batches in this store. The store was painted bright green, which I love, and the menu and mural behind the counter were both done in colored chalk by a local artist.



The Flavors: We tried Pumpkin Dulce de Lece, White Chocolate Hazelnut, and Sweet Cream.





The Price: We got three single scoop cones for $8.



The Verdict: The flavors in the store were not as adventurous as I wanted, although they did have Stout flavored ice cream, which tasted just like a beer float, mmmmmm. The ice cream was creamy and dense, definitely fattening (you could almost taste the butterfat!). The Pumpkin Dulce de Lece was like eating cold pumpkin pie filling (aka, amazing), but the Sweet Cream was kind of bland. All in all, a 6 out of 10. But I could see the rating going up if I ordered a custom flavor that was more adventurous, maybe something like chocolate with raspberry and lime swirls and brownie bits?

Gee Whizzes

Last weekend M and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a special installation - Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt. He went to the museum with his family over Thanksgiving and they all came back and told me that there was some special quilt exhibit there. "Gee's Bend?!?!" I exclaimed, with a dramatic gasp. I have been dying to see this exhibit and I didn't even know it was right down the road!



Gee's Bend is a town in Alabama full of women who have been making quilts since the 30s or earlier. The quilters all have a very specific style, and the community as a whole produces quilts that are entirely unique. A lot of them are variations on the housetop block or a combination of blocks and strips, so the patterns are very boxy and geometric. The color combinations are phenomenal and often unexpected too.





The exhibit was very well curated to display the uniqueness of this community of artists. Each room emphasized a different aspect of Gee's Bend quilt making. For example, a lot of quilts were made out of old work clothes, some with the pockets still on. There was an entire room full of these quilts, the well worn spots creating a pattern-within-a-pattern on each quilt.



Another room was full of quilts made out of green, brown, and yellow corduroy from the 70s, scraps from a nearby pillow-making factory. It was amazing to see the variety of patterns produced from exactly the same materials.




("Housetop" 2003 by Nancy Pettway. I love this one to bits.)

This travelling exhibit is the second showing of Gee's Bend quilts; the first one toured in 2002. Many of the quilters had long-since stopped quilting by the time the show began touring but were inspired to start again and many of the quilts in the second exhibit were made in the years since the first exhibit. The patterns and striking color combinations are still evident in the more recent quilts.



I apologize for the poor lighting in these photos; I was sneakily taking them from chest level while walking through the exhibit. I'm sure it's downright illegal but I honestly could not help myself. And I didn't use a flash, so I really don't see the harm in it. Enjoy them now, before I'm forced to remove them from the internet!

For more crafty inspiration come to the weekly Artists and Fleas craft fair in Brooklyn this weekend! My fellow crafter Jessica will be selling there and I'm sure the whole thing is going to be a huge drain on my wallet.

My Newest House

Welcome to my new house! It's a row house on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia. A lot of the streets in Philadelphia are named after trees and I'm proud to live on one of the wierdest of them. Walnut? Spruce? Pshaw! Give me Osage!



It's unassuming from the outside but it rules inside. Each room is a different color and we have wood floors, a sun room, and a basement. Come in!



The sun room is painted yellow and is full of plants and bikes, perfect. The plants are my little touch, of course.



Here's our sitting room, with my new painting. This room is light green with darker green trim and a fancy floor.



The dining room is bright red and full of records. Two of four walls are covered with records because I live with a DJ. And that DJ is M. That's right, I'm officially cohabitating (eeeeee!).



Our kitchen is beige with dark green trim and marble countertops! We also have a separate uninsulated pantry through that back door that leads to the alley and our parking spaces! Sorry about the excessive exclamation points. I'm just excited.



Upstairs we have three bedrooms and a bathroom. We live with M's brother and another friend, whose rooms are bright blue and bright green. The bathroom is also bright green.



Our room is dusky purple. We have a lot of stuff. You might recognize some of the artwork pictured here . . .





I'm very proud of my closet organization skills. That will last, um, three days. I also added some hidden William Wegman prints for inspiration.





I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I spent a few days in NJ with my family, and then on Sunday M and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see a very special installation. More on that later. Right now I'm going to make myself some tea and settle into my new surroundings.

well hello there

I'm safe and sound in Philadelphia, after spending two weeks driving across the country with my sister and a friend. Here are some highlights.



The Salt Lake (Mormon) Temple, Salt Lake City, UT



Red Table Cafe, Fort Collins, CO



New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, CO
***This is the coolest place to visit, don't pass it up if you get a chance. Wind-powered, employee-owned, amazing beer, free tours***







Omaha, NE
*** This town is way cooler than you think. And we ate at Warren Buffet's favorite restaurant (apparently he always orders the 22oz. T-bone steak with double hash browns and ice cream for dessert, dang).***



City Museum, St.Louis, MO
***This is basically an art installation/playground for kids and grown-ups made out of materials from within the city limits of St. Louis, including two abandoned planes. Amazing***



Chicago, IL



The 55th Carnegie International exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

So now I'm back here in Phila - moving in, eating turkey leftovers, and trying to get back into the swing of things, whatever those things may be.

Now it's time for a break

An empty bottle of champagne sits on the table as I write. YES WE CAN! And I seem to have packed and sent off the chord that would allow me to upload photos to this here computer. So with a sense of hope and creeping moving- and interview-stress, I am going to take a break from the blog. I have a going-away party to plan, a drive across the country, and a move into a new life. But you'll see me again soon, don't worry.

School Garden Profile: Pioneer Elementary

Another adorable school garden in Davis, Pioneer Elementary School. The garden coordinator, Carrie, showed me around this great little garden which won a Youth Garden Grant 2006.

Fun features of this garden include this little stage area, which is covered in veggie vines during the school year (so it looks like a little cave!). A great place for the kids to sit and listen to the garden topic of the day before diving into the soil, and a great place to store tools.



Hand-turn composters!



Potatoes growing in old tires!



A sweet little greenhouse!





And a wonderfully organized shed, with so much character!





It's amazing what you can do with a little start-up money. This garden is completely self-sufficient now; they make their money for the year at the annual scarecrow auction and by selling rosemary wreaths during the holiday season. So after an initial investment of capital and hard work, a garden like this can take care of itself. Inspirational.

Fire Truck Cakes!

Check out the matching cakes my housemate Crys made for her friend's twin boys! OMG!

Parlor Profile: Tara's Organic Ice Cream

I went to visit my friend Emily in Oakland last weekend and she took me to Tara's in Berkeley. There are a few more ice cream parlors in the Bay Area that I would really like to profile, including Mitchell's and MaggieMudd in San Francisco, and Ici in Berkeley. But since I'm moving in, oh, a WEEK (eek!), I don't think I'll be able to do it. But now you all know a few places to go for your ice cream fix in the Bay Area!

Now, on to Tara's:



Name: Tara's Organic Ice Cream Scoop Shop

Location: College Ave, Berkeley, CA



The Scoop: Tara's was started in Santa Fe, New Mexico and produces ice cream in small batches. Most of their business is done on a mail-order basis (you can purchase pints online). This is the only scoop shop they have as far as I can tell. All of the packaging for shipping, as well as the cups, utensils, napkins and all of that stuff in the shop are biodegradable.



The Flavors: We tried Kaffir Lime Leaf, Comote (sweet potato), Rosemary Pear, and Sweet Corn.



The Price: We each got a small cone with two scoops, for $7.20.



The Verdict: We got black sesame waffle cones, which were very sweet and crunchy, in the best way possible. The ice cream also had a kind of crumbly quality to it with large ice crystals, almost like ice cream that you've mistakenly melted then refroze and eaten anyway (or is that just me?). If ice cream can be light, this is light ice cream. And the flavors taste exactly like what they are supposed to be. Like sweet corn? If you took a can of corn, added milk and sugar, blended it and froze it, it would taste just like this ice cream. There were actually small peices of corn in it. We got to taste a whole bunch of other flavors too, like Basil, Lemongrass, Black Sesame, and Pink Peppercorn (I'm not sure why I feel the need to capitalize all the flavor names). All taste exactly like you would expect, surprisingly. All in all, an 8 out of 10!

Happy Halloween!

The carved masterpeices, from left: Hege made a silouette of her three cats (Fred, Henry, and Alf), Paula made a "bullcat," I made a grinning face (scroll down, it looks better in the day time), and Crystal made a headless horseman.









Here's my grinner. She's happy because she turned in her thesis that morning. Crys (the newest housemate) made a running girl.



And check out these amazing embroidered felt nature buttons. Jaja found them on the internets and shared, thanks Jaja!