food for thought___carnivorous cocktails

since my blog is about whatilike i feel like i should expand to the wonderful world of food! this may include meat, vegetables, alcohol, but usually not consumed together...in a cocktail.
Flor de Caña rum however, seems to disagree. a few days ago the nicaraguan rum company invited press in nyc to try out their new liquified boozed up versions of nyc comfort foods like the blt, pb&j sandwich and cheeseburger, ready to serve in champagne flutes.

these 'savory carnivorous cocktails,' as they call it, seem a little counter intuitive to me. why would anyone want to ingest a scrumptious, glistening blt sandwich that is dumped in a blender with some south american rum, mutilated beyond recognition and poured into a fancy glass? unless your mouth is paralyzed from fresh dental work and you can't eat solid food....in which case it probably isn't smart to have any alcohol in the first place, it just doesn't make sense.

the whole experience of biting into a juicy burger or savoring a cheese-laden slice of pizza is completely lost if it arrives to you already prechewed and processed, like adult baby porridge. now don't get me wrong, i'm all for creative food interpretations, like lay's peking duck flavoured chips in china, or sweets that look like savory food, 'spaghetti cupcakes' or 'fried egg' panne cotta, but completely disfiguring a yummy classic american dish and cramming it all down a glass tube seems so.....cold, and unappetizing. what part of sipping down a slippery, rum infused cheeseburger smoothie sounds satisfying to you?
'SLUUURRRP!' and i'm done lunch.

personally, and i apologize beforehand for my graphic imagery, the ingredients, preparation and physical appearance of these 'cocktails' remind me of throw-up after a long, hard night of binge drinking+ fast food eating, except garnished with a pretty little roma tomato. wouldn't it just be cheaper to drink up your own bile then? it's essentially the same ingredients minus your stomach acids, and best of all, you don't need to pay someone to blend it for you. your digestive system can handle that all on it's own!

but anyway, for the serious carnivores with a stomach of steel and the finesse of a cordin bleu chef (CHRISTIAN i'm talking to you,) some of the recipes can be found here. bon appetit @.@

-we-are-family-

jun'ya ishigami's 'family chairs' is a charming set of knobbly steel chairs fashioned into family archetypes like the patriarch, matriarch and baby incarnated into furniture. manufactured by living divani in italy, they first popped up on design boom in may. but now that the weather is colder, ishigami has thoughtfully refurnished his clan in some cozy couture:



for his installation 'picnic' at the interieur biennale in kortrijk, belgium, ishigami gathered all the relatives of 'family chairs' and threw them a winter wonderland garden party!
he outfitted each of his quirky-shaped chairs in warm creamy knit hats and socks and set them up in pairs and groups mimicking the social interaction of humans. some chairs huddled in the corner like sisters sharing secrets, some were placed in semi circles like a boisterous crew of aunts and uncles bickering and some were lined up neatly like a couple of grannies observing quietly from their wheelchairs. each chair was injected with a sense of liveliness and personality that the designer hoped would elevate the status of his furniture from being purely functional to having social function, to encourage humans to interact more freely like his casually arranged chairs.

seriously, i can't stop starring at the little crochet booties each chair is wearing. im pretty sure NO fluffy kitten or plump baby can be cuter than these skinny steel stems covered in yarn! is that weird?
also, although the idea of dressing furniture in 'clothes' sounds like a seniors home diy project gone wrong, somehow ishigami executes his 'light and white world' in a non-unbearably precious way. each of the five chair designs already resemble human bodies, one is squat and short ( like a beer bellied dad), one is lean and crooked (aka awkward prepubescent boy), so knitting them winter gear doesn't look contrived but actually quite fitting. and each monochromatic accessory like the teeny tiny bow tie, granny sweater with rounded collar and covered buttons, or crochet flower pin add just the right amount of charm and whimsy, never looking too gimmicky.
the more i stare at these photos the more i'm smitten by them. i'm truly inspired by ishigami's ability to breathe life and character into something as simple as a standard metal chair. how the imperfection of an uneven curvature in the back of the chair can instantly transform a basic chaise into one that looks like it's cocking it's head at you, interacting with you, so much so that putting a scarf on it makes complete sense. the concept, execution and aesthetic looks so inherently japanese; cute and poetic, austere and minimal all at the same time.
as he use to be apart of superstar architecture firm SANAA, this is probably childsplay for him. love love love junya ishigami.

don't look at me

it's impossible NOT to look at kimiko yoshida's series of slick, highly stylized self portraits, even though her current solo show at the maison europeene de la photographie in paris is entitled,'there where i am not.'
yoshida is a japanese born, paris based artist who uses herself as the subject matter to explore the themes of disappearance, transformation, gender and heredity all wrapped up beautifully in her fashion editorial worthy imagery, outfitted by one mr. paco robanne. her immaculately styled photographs from her most recent series, "painting. self-portrait" draws inspiration from historical costume and the classical works of picasso, matisse, rembrandt, rubens, delacroix, watteau, among others. however yoshida's trademark restrained monochrome colour palette and use of everyday found objects as props and costume is uniquely her own.
below are a FEW selects from her archive of over 82 portraits in the collection:








photos from 2002:



i have yet to comb through all her images in her archive... i'm kind of relishing the opportunity to do so on a rainy day when i can carefully absorb each meticulous detail in every single one of her works and ooh and ahh over them respectively ^.^

shoe porn

israeli designer kobi levi makes us redefine the term 'shoe whore'




the above"xxx" and "blow up" creations are two of levi's more successful designs from among his many kitschy conceptual 'foot sculptures' that he individually engineers by hand. these two models in particular showcase his eye for detail and the ability to abstract the essence of his idea whilst maintaining a desirable shoe silhouette. for instance, the miniature plastic stopper at the back of the 'blow up' coupled with the patent red trim on the peep toe tells the story without needing to resort to inking graphic eyes or blond hair. similarly, the sensual low cut top line + high arch of the 'xxx' pump paired with the stocky curved shape of the heel and a few suggestive imprints connotes quite clearly its naughty inspiration.

but not all his designs are quite as fluid from concept to execution. his other models like the banana split, dog, chewing gum which can all be found on his blog, are much less aesthetically pleasing. some shapes and materials used seem too literal or bulky and lack a sense of refinement and finesse. but his quirky ability to manipulate the basic components of a functional shoe like the heel, toe box, insole and shank into tongue-in-cheek imagery like a dog leg, *cough genitalia, a wheel or even a stick of gum, is definitely commendable. and perhaps his intention is not to make a fashionable shoe in the first place...he's no andreia chaves, but he ain't no steve madden either. and since his latest creations to date were his best (xxx+blow up), his work will surely only continue to...climax.

with teeth__(2) much time

too far? probably. but my love knows no limits

with teeth

one of the few perks of living in central suburbia (read:ottawa) these days, is my close proximity to one of canada's best known secrets: BULK BARN. an unassuming emporium containing every known candy, salty treat and chocolate combo all glowing out of shiny plexiglass cases filled to the brim ready for the scooping. one of my longtime obsessions at the BB are cinnamon hotlips: over sized, sweet and spicy candy chews in the mould of sensual botox injected puckers that i literally shovel into my mouth like tic-tacs.

but last week, during one of my usual trips, something happened. my seemingly undying dedication to hot lips was suddenly usurped when i laid my eyes on THESE:



milk chocolate bites covered in the most heart-stoppingly beautiful foil that was ever to be conceived. i'm not going to lie...i'm a little bit in love. i'm sure they were manufactured with the twi-hards/ vamp diarists / true blooders'/ halloweeners in mind, but i feel like they were made especially for me. so i bought some. alot actually. to have and to hold but certainly not to eat ( the chocolate itself tastes as about delicious as real blood=nasty..but points for the fangs being coated in white chocolate!)

so as i sit here typing this, surrounded by my legions of vampy-fangs, i feel the sudden urge to share my new found love with my dear friends...so if you want a pair or more, send me your addy and i will faithfully mail you a pair of my errr--teeth.

the marni mutant ninja turtle

thinking up a clever yet somewhat attractive halloween costume is a mighty hard feat. there's not a lot of selection besides looking like a ho, hobo or ho-rrifically ugly.
luckily consuelo castiglioni of marni has made it easy for us come halloween 2011 via her spring/summer collection:


all you need is a red silk scarf, brown leather belt, and of course a few thousand dollars to spare and you're set to go!
marni spring/summer' 11- style.com

forgive me father for i have sinned part II: photos