Jul 20th 2011

Renegade Craft Los Angeles

This past Saturday we went to the Renegade Craft Fair for the first time. I’ve only ever heard good things about this fair and was not at all disappointed. It was held in Los Angeles State Historic Park, and despite being rather warm out, it was nice to spend a summer day outside enjoying such great craft work. It was so inspiring to see all the creative things people are making. Here is just a small fraction of the stuff we saw.

I loved these clocks from Black Forest Clockwork.

These ceramic bowls and jars from Paulova Ceramics were just beautiful. I couldn’t decide which ones I wanted though.

There were lots of lovely terrariums. These hanging ones were from Planted, but there were also some gorgeous ones from Terri Planty with fun little figures in them.

These cross stitches from Kattuna were just too cute.

We saw this screaming bunny when we came in, and later saw a girl walking around with it. Glad he found a home, since he looks pretty grumpy.

If you are ever thinking of getting me a plant, may I recommend one of these? I kill plants like it’s going out of style. These are handmade by Shannon Gerard.

Unicorn coat hook? Amazing. Made by Architecture Jones. They also had some lovely prints and knobs.

I have always admired these paintings by Mincing Mockingbird. I bough an owl print to add to the owl art wall I’m working on.

I also bought an adorable necklace from Made by L’Moore, here modelling one of her creations.

So I possibly spent more than I should have overall but it feels good to support handmade artists (and get original stuff). I’m so glad to be living in a time where there is a resurgence of handmade things and people really value crafted goods. I’m thankful for places that promote crafting with lessons and community as well as these fairs that let so many people make a living from their work.

Afterward we stopped for some beers downtown. Shawn had a full liter of beer. Oh boy.

Me? I had a ginger beer.

Perfect way to spend a Saturday.

» events / handmade

Jun 29th 2011

A Moveable Feast

I couldn’t be more excited to share some awesome news here on Cute and Delicious, one that I’ve had to keep under wraps for a little while now. I should just get to point, yes?

Kim Garr of C’est la Vegan and I have teamed up to bring you a very exclusive vegan supper club: A Moveable Feast.

We’ll be bringing gourmet meals into a private setting for small groups a few times each year. We are designing unique menus of completely homemade dishes with seasonal ingredients.

Just about a month ago, we threw our first dinner to see how everything would come together, to much success. You can read a full review, with all the details about our next event here over on Quarrygirl.

Our first offering will be on July 9th at 7pm at a secret location in Studio City. We have only 6 available seats available. Each seat is by donation (recommended between $75-$125). Email veganfeast@gmail.com to reserve your space.

» food

Jun 28th 2011

LA Vegan Beer Fest

In case you hadn’t seen all the photos from the LA Vegan Beer Fest over on Quarrygirl, I have a few more to add to the lot. It was the quintessential summer event here in Los Angeles as the weather just decided to finally warm up. We didn’t get as crazy as last year but it was tons of fun. There were lots of superb beers and good times.

I started out with a bbq “pulled pork” sandwich from Seabirds made with jackfruit. We also had to have their infamous beer battered avocado tacos. Have I mentioned how much I love Seabirds? Love them so much.

So possibly my favorite beer of the day was the Brother Thelonius from North Coast Brewing Co. It is rich with a full flavor and just my style. (more…)

» events / food

Jun 6th 2011

the last days of Pure Luck

What do you do when your favorite restaurant and eternal hang out decides to up and close on you? You eat there as many times as humanly possible before they shut the doors for good.

Pure Luck has been a staple in Shawn and my life together since we started dating. Not only do we eat there at least once a week, it’s always the spot we pick when meeting friends. We had birthday celebrations there. We shot part of our movie there. Every time we go we run into people we know. Totally integral place in our life. And it’s closing. Ugh.

To commemorate, here are some of our last meals in all the glory. (more…)

» food

May 9th 2011

the wedding: part 2

This is the end of the wedding posts, with more photos than ever. While I’ve kept quiet for what I’ve shared before, I have a bit to say this time around. Mostly though, there are tons and tons of photos.

When we first started planning our wedding, looking for locations, choosing vendors, we found ourselves coming up against all these restrictions. In particular with venues, there were a lot of rules: from which caterer you could use, to how loud you could play music. One would think at a public institution such as The Natural History Museum, which really only does weddings on the side, there would be a great deal of restrictions, especially considering the historical artifacts they have throughout. Instead, they were the most open of any place we contacted. We were allowed to roam the museum, nearly all night. This completely shaped our wedding, as we were surrounded by history and our guests were transported out of Los Angeles into another world.

We encouraged our guests to wear vintage attire and many not only obliged, but were enthusiastic. We didn’t specify a particular time period which gave us a range of styles. It was so great to see what everyone came up with. It was as if all the ages of guests to the museum from times passed we converging again.

The one aspect of the wedding that we did not plan at all were the decorations and flowers. The whole time we imagined that the museum would be such a stunning backdrop that the details like centerpieces could be simple and still work. So we didn’t put too much thought into it. Or should I say, any thought.

About a month before the wedding, when we realized that we would actually have to come up with something, we turned to our friend Suki. We knew her from the events she had put together for The Cinefamily and as she had recently started her own event company, we thought she would be a perfect match to not only make our wedding run smoothly, but also to design a good deal of the decor.

Suki and her co-conspirator, Patsy, were able to take the minimal direction we gave them (moss & glass jars) and come up with stunning designs and arrangement. They were even able to incorporate the various pieces we had come up with along the way.

Instead of a typical guestbook, I wanted to make a quilt out of the fabric signed by our guests. I found a selection of bird themed fabrics and the ladies from the happening were able to reflect this by incorporating little nests into the decor.

Being that we live in Los Angeles, one of the most vegan friendly cities in the country, one would think finding a vegan caterer would be easy. For a number of reasons, it became the most complicated part of our planning. Luckily we found Jennie Cook, who was amazingly helpful all around and made amazing food for us. These beanie pops were delightful.

We were really happy to be able to include so many children at our wedding as we imagined they would be able to explore the museum with their families…and just look adorable.

Do you remember those stuffed animals I made? They were much loved by our guests, which made me endlessly happy.

The reception was held in the recently restored rotunda, a beautiful room from the original museum, made almost entirely of marble. (You should definitely click on that photo to see it in all of it’s glory.)

Oh and it is a tragedy that I don’t have more photos of food. We had the most amazing tomato soup. So good that it may have been a figment of my imagination. There were vegan sliders, fantastic cashew cream potatoes and a special fig and rice celebration roast from Field Roast. I ate all of these things. We took leftovers home. It was wonderful.

Kyle gave an epic speech from the mezzanine of the rotunda.

There were touching speeches and long speeches made by our dear friends.

…epically long speeches.

All those cakes I slaved over were devoured.

There was dancing.

It was glorious.

And things got a little crazy, but that’s for another day.