New Art Book Acquisitions

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The Table Comes First

"Having made food a more fashionable object, we have ended by making eating a smaller subject. When ‘gastronomy’ was on the margins of attention it seemed big because it was an unexpected way to get at everything — the nature of hunger; the meaning of appetite; the patterns and traces of desire; tradition, in the way that recipes are passed mother to son; and history, in the way that spices mix and, in mixing, mix peoples. You could envision through the modest lens of pleasure, as through a keyhole, a whole world; and the compression and odd shape of the keyhole made the picture more dramatic. Now the door is wide open, but somehow we see less, or notice less, anyway. Betrayed by its enlargement, food becomes less intimate the more intensely it is made to matter.”

Adam Gopnik from "The Table Comes First"

NYC Hurriquake Week, Shop

So, I was working in NYC last week, surviving the earthquake and flying out just before hurricane Irene. But there was still plenty of time for fun. I'm divvying things up this time, shop first, eat second, because I'm still digesting.

My new favorite store is Kiosk – the entrance pictured above. It's a wonderfully curated selection of items from around the world. Almost as if I picked them out myself – everything from German nun tonic to Japanese powder coated steel toolboxes. I picked up a Kaweco Sport Pen as my expandable Rotring finally fell apart.

To go with my pen, SB picked up a Whitelines notebook for me at Sam Flax. White grid lines (or ruled lines) on a light gray paper instead of dark lines on white. Genius!

For some reason, I had never been to the Strand bookstore – "18 miles of books." The entire second floor is the art section. I picked up Luc Sante's Folk Photography: The American Real Photo Postcard 1905-1930. Now that I know they have a website, I might have to pick up the other books I put down in the store that day.

Needing a friendly neighborhood drug store, I wandered into Thompson Chemists just down the street from my hotel where I was able to find both generic Claritin and Marvis toothpaste.

Lastly, a great store called Love, Adorned that carries beautiful handmade items – especially jewelry. And they had a shoe-maker in-residence making custom moccasins.

Small Bites #6

New online resource for vintage books and magazines at High Valley Books. Ranges from high art to kitschy on subjects like photography, fashion, interior design, typography and hairstyles. Nuprinboy, they're in Brooklyn!

The New York Public Library's online digital gallery has an interesting collection of menus from the 1850's.

Download the "100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die." The nice thing is, they include lots, if not mostly, small eateries from all over the state like Pop's Char Burgers. So, it's not only useful if you're going someplace in Alabama, but also if you're just driving through and need some kind of pie to keep going.

cookin the books

from DEzeen. here's groovy piece about a food company presenting it's annual report that can only be read after BAKING the book. It uses some nifty thermo-reactive inks (lemon juice maybe?) that darken with heat. fun fun in the ktchen.

CHECK IT OUT