a very long week

holy shmongolian, I'm exhausted...

 I've been at the restaurant almost everyday this past week, testing, tasting, testing, tasting, testing, tasting. It's been fun, but exhausting. What was exciting though was that on Friday, we started serving a few of the desserts I've been working on: cinnamon churro thumbs with a side of raspberry coulis and chocolate ganache; gougeres (cheese puffs with bacon and gruyere); and toasted banana bread with chocolate peanut butter spread. Please stop by and say hello.. later this week we'll be adding more sweet treats, like cookies! (chocolate chip, peanut butter, white chocolate chip-macadamia-cranberry... all your favorites!) Jo's 264 Elizabeth, just south of Houston St. The space is cozy and rustic, and the food is rich and delicious. Maybe I'll be there and I can come up and say hello : ).

On top of all the restaurant work this past week, my cousin, Michael Joo, had his opening at the Anton Kern Gallery in Chelsea on Thursday night. (click on the image to the right to get Gallery information) I met up with my special friend Don and we hopped on the bus to get to the gallery for the opening show, then to the opening dinner at Malatesa Trattoria in the West Village and Bongo West for the After party. It was a long night, a lot of mingling, eating and wine consuming, but it was all very lovely. The most interesting thing happened too... During dinner, I was seated next to one of the owners of La Esquina, my absolute FAVORITE taco place in the city, who also happened to be good friends with the owners of Jo's, the restaurant I'm working at. What a small world...

This weekend though, I got to take a break from the restaurant... but not the kind of break where you get to lay in bed with a book or movie while it's pouring outside... I was actually outside, getting soaked while roaming the streets. Went to a premier of an independent movie, In Search of Sound, profiling different musicians mostly of the electronic genre. I then had to show Don all my favorite shops in my old neighborhood on Avenue A... Exit 9, the Giant Robot Store, Alphabet.... And I made some of the best purchases I've made all year.....

This book is absolutely AMAZING. It's very informative and it has the best illustrations! I highly recommend it! $6, Exit 9 on Avenue A

I love candy... and the little pacman ghost candy tin had the best surprise inside...

the candies were actually shaped like the outside tin!!!

They're just a thousand times more fun to eat when they look like that.

The rest of saturday was very wet... got to my friend's birthday dinner at Grape and Grain sopping wet, but with the food, company, and wine, I didn't mind so much.

I've also been trying to slowly work on some new craft projects for my etsy store and to hopefully sell at a holiday craft fair... I'm looking into "Gifted" which is hosted by the Brooklyn Flea people, and this year they're teaming up with Lucky magazine and hosting the fair in the city! More information on that to come... but here's what I've been working on today...

some fabric flowers... The fabric is a shopping bag that I cut up and my roommate was going to throw away.

a tooth (nursery rhyme themed fleece) with pocket....

for the toothfairy

fleece eggs!

I love eggs. Maybe these will be keychains...

and this carrot print is from Lena Corwin's screen printing class from a couple weeks ago. I posted about it here. Maybe I will make a small tote bag with this Linen..... I'm still brainstorming my options, but I also love just having it hung up on my wall to look at....

I am so pooped beyond belief. It's a bit past 2 am, and I have an early start at the restaurant tomorrow.

Time to crawl into bed and read my new poop book until I fall asleep...

Goodnight world : )