gezellig

Yesterday Jeff and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I told Jeff to look at the menus of several restaurants around Ottawa, and his first choice was gezellig. This restaurant (Stephen Beckta's third) situated in a converted 1950's bank, was a hit. It was our first visit and certainly won't be our last. We loved everything we ordered, from cocktails to dessert. The staff was awesome as well.

The view from our table right at the front window. I didn't realize that bench seat blocked the entire view of the restaurant or I would have made Jeff stand up from his seat to take this photo. OOPS. 

We started with a couple of cocktails. I had the Raspberry Fizz ~ Gin, soda, raspberry simple, lemon juice. Jeff had the Tequila Sunset ~ house jalapeño and cilantro-infused tequila, triple sec, fresh lime, simple syrup.

We shared this appetizer but it was so freaking good we should have each gotten our own. Seared scallops ~ pork belly, grilled romaine, spicy cashews, charred tomatoes, balsamic, parmesan polenta. While eating my last piece of pork belly I told Jeff to shut up so I could savour the moment. Seriously.

My main was ballotine of chicken ~ ballontine of black truffle/fresh figs/chevre, steel cut oat salad, napa cabbage, chanterelle jus. I don't frequently order chicken but this was among the most tender I have ever had. (The only other time I have had chicken this moist and delicious was at Absinthe about a year ago). I had the wine pairing with this - a Pinot Noir from New Zealand - reeeeeally good. 

Jeff's main was barbecue pork loin ~ boneless pork loin, barbecue demi, cheddar grits, smoked rib, collards. The grits were heavenly. 

Jeff's dessert was the best he has ever EVER had. “butter finger" ~ peanut butter, white, milk & dark chocolate, graham cookie, chocolate anglaise. The guy next to us ordered it as well and agreed it was spectacular. I would go back just for this. 

My dessert was cherry cheesecake ~ filo wrapped black cherry filling, liquid cheesecake, toasted pistachio, cookies & cream gelato. Glorious. 

siiso

The very talented Canadian artist Yangyang Pan is one of our new advertisers and I am so stoked to have her on board. Her Etsy shop siiso is packed with stunning giclee prints of her oil paintings, and while I am typically not a big fan of abstract art, I take exception with Yangyang's as the colours are gorgeous. 

(my favourite above)

Abyss

Chelsea Wolfe rocks my world. Literally. Her new album Abyss is coming out August 7th (YASSS!!!) and she released the song and video for Carrion Flowers a few weeks ago. I swear I have listened to it 85 times. 

Herman Miller: The Picnic Posters of Steve Frykholm

Check out this cool video (of some VERY cool screenprints) that Dan sent us: I'm writing to share a new short film we made about Steve Frykholm a man whose screen printed posters, for the legendary furniture company Herman Miller, hang in permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art. The Picnic Posters offers a rare glimpse into Steve's meticulous archives unearthing sketches and stories over 40 years old, alongside a visit to reprint his first picnic poster from 1970.

Herman Miller: The Picnic Posters of Steve Frykholm from Dress Code on Vimeo.

New around the house and miscellaneous other things

Wow it has been a while since I added a post to this page. :( I thought I would share some new things around my house, as I have acquired so many awesome bits and bobs, mostly from craft shows that I have participated in with my husband's Daff Design speakers. Most of the items I have picked up lately I have not had a chance to do anything with yet - I blame the 2 jobs and feral cats for the most part. ;) I will take more photos as my house progresses. it has been really slow these last few months but I am hoping to pick things up at a much faster pace this summer. 

A little while ago we spent a few hours in Almonte touring some of my favourite shops. I bought 8 enamel-looking ceramic mugs from Tin Barn Market (I always need cute mugs in my life), and at Lola Dot Studio I found the beautiful handmade ceramic mug (in front) and the resin photograph by Ronny Ritschel

I found this capiz shell pendant light at the Almonte Antique Market for $45. I think I might use this in my upstairs hallway. 

A couple of weeks ago was the Handmade Harvest show. I helped my husband out with his booth so I spent 2 full days surrounded by crafty goodies! I ended up picking up the goodies above from several local favourites and some new folks - Top Shelf Preserves, Hollow Clayworks, Really Horrible, Split Tree Cocktail Co., Zoe's Corner, brokenstick.ca and gillybglass

At Handmade Harvest I also picked up these 2 pillows by Montreal shop Fotofibre

And lastly, this adorable print from ButterBean Design that I put in a 50% off frame from Michael's. Speaking of framing...

I went to Michael's and Ikea and stocked up on frames for all of the art I have purchased lately. Most of it I found frames for (wish there were more shops that sell decent priced frames in this city). The art above is by Kate Zambrano, Road Trip Creative, Fernbeds, Casstronaut, Décadisme.

Kate Zambrano is the queen of portraits. 

I spent an afternoon and very little money fixing up some of the yard. Everything needs a serious overhaul (new porch, new driveway, all new landscaping of front yard, all new landscaping of backyard and a gazebo) so I needed an interim solution. I dg up a whack of ferns from the backyard and filled in the front yard on either side of the porch. With some black mulch added and some potted plants, it looks a bit more put together and less ghetto. 

The garage is unsightly so I added another pot in front of it along with some driftwood to try and hide some of the ugly. 

One weekend we went to my favourite lighting shop Architectural Antiques and found this really cute stained glass light to hang in our vestibule. LOVE this!

Last weekend we went to the Ottawa Makers Market to scope it out and Joel of Antiquus Goods has this stunning Santa Rosa de Lima painting. I think I need to do a Mexican wall somewhere in this house and include this and all the crosses etc I have bought in Puerto Vallarta. 

I also got this adorable silver creamer filled with tiny succulents by L'Orangerie. 

One more - this walnut stone bracelet by VanDerZee. And OMG 11 days ago I got this rather large tattoo of lace on my arm by Delphine Noiztoy who came to Montreal from London for a convention (my soon-to-be-40 coping mechanism)

I keep telling my husband to design cat scratching post/houses because they are ugly and very limited selection here (but it never happens - I think I would rahter he build me a new dining table anyway). I found this in Montreal while killing time before my tattoo appointment. It was only $200. I need to find a better spot for it.

Last Sunday was ManMade, the first ever Ottawa handmade show geared towards men. We had a booth there for Daff Design and it was alot of fun. I ended up taking home a walnut topped, steel based bench by Matt Wallace, and a lighting blot sign by Scott of Gaslight Electric. I'm thinking about putting the bench against the only real wall in the dining room and hanging the lighting bolt in a grouping with some art above it. 

Scott also had these really cool letterpress prints so I picked up one of each. 

That's about it. I am now BANNED from craft shows. I have no will power when it comes to handmade goodies. LOL