Art Inspiration: Native American Pottery

I went to Stanford University's Cantor Center for the Arts the other day. Although the exhibition for SFMOMA's Pop Art Collection was still under construction (such a bummer! I really wanted to see it! Hopefully, I will get a chance to see before I leave...but it's difficult to schedule in), the closing gave me a chance to become very inspired by the geometric designs in the Native American pottery exhibition. I love the harsh edges and super modern patterns.

Asymmetrical, minimalist feel. Use of negative space very effective.

Typically, circles don't really work well in an art piece because they draw so much attention, but this somehow manages to complement the other rectangular elements.

Contrast with solid colors, repetitive lines. Varied Textures.

Love how they added a fantastical geometric shape in the center of the animal. You can still tell what it is, but the diamond makes it unique and interesting.

I think I'm often so caught up with modern or post-modern pieces that I forget to appreciate the more rustic roots of where a lot of these artistic ideas come from. I can't wait to add some of these geometric patterns into my future sketches! 

Foodspiration: Siggi's Icelandic Skyr

I was in Whole Foods dairy section, and I literally couldn't find any yogurt that had less than 20g of sugar in a serving. In my frustration, I finally stumbled upon Siggi's Icelandic Skyr, and decided to give it a try.

The first reaction I had upon trying this was WOW THIS IS SO THICK, and it's hard to eat in large quantities. You have to savor the flavors in your mouth. I tried the ginger orange (or orange ginger?) and loved the feel of real ingredients inside, but thought that the ginger was a little bit too overpowering (especially because I was consuming it on a hot summer's day).

I think I'm definitely going to keep going with Siggi's because of its low sugar content and all the health benefits (see here) of the different cultures in the yogurt. I was also super inspired by their beautiful story, starting out small in a farmers market and now taking over the world! Well, if not the world, my stomach at least. I really want to have a stand in farmer's market and influence healthy food culture someday, so this makes me hopeful. (:

The price is a little high, but it has the content to make up for it. I'm just wondering if plain yogurt with my own fruit toppings could match up with this lack of sugar?

Art Inspiration: Anthropologie Window Display

I have basically stopped shopping, but I had to go to Santana Row yesterday because the rest of my family enjoys walking around the area.

What caught my eye was the window display art at Anthropologie! They're so beautiful. 

My mom hiding in the corner! The reflective glass creates a cool effect, but makes the art harder to see.

I love the use of the drip technique that allows the 3D string to flow and continue the unity within the piece. Mix of textures (contrast with thin paint and thick cloth attachment) and bright colors (orange/blue/green) make this piece pop!

J.Crew Diversifies Summer 2014 Catalog!

When I was browsing through the J.Crew Catalog, I was really surprised to see an Asian male model for the Men's section. It's nice to see J.Crew being more progressive about hiring different races and ethnicities, effectively rejecting the unsexy Asian male stereotype.

look at that little eyebrow raise ;)

I was trying to look up who he was, but couldn't find it. So, who is this man? I guess there is a pretty great incentive for stores such as J.Crew to diversify their catalog. With still mostly white models, the brand extends their consumer base while retaining their original customers. With an awareness of this, I looked at LLBean's catalog and literally everyone was white. I saw one African American in the entire catalog and that was it. As an American brand, I would really think that they would try to at least embrace diversity somewhat.

Fashion often runs the fine line between celebrating different ethnicities and cultural appropriation/reinforcing stereotypes, but I think J.Crew does a good job in this instance. I would like to see more Indian or indigenous models in the near future, as they often get even less coverage in fashion and are more stigmatized in society. 

How to Make Wontons

My grandma taught me how to make wontons the other day! They're a bit intricate, but also fun to make, especially as a bonding event with someone else.

Aren't they cute?

Making the Filling

Ingredients 

Ground Pork

Rice Wine

Salt

Ground Pepper

Sugar

萁菜 （Qi Cai）or Bok Choy

Mix the Ground Pork and Rice Wine together and let it sit for a while. Then add Salt, Ground Pepper, and Sugar for taste, mixing it all together. Chop the vegetable in miniscule pieces (as small as possible) and mix it in with the Ground Pork.

Wonton Folding

Ingredients

Pork Mixture

Wonton Skins (Store bought, but I'm sure there are some recipes online)

Water bowl

Put about a 2 teaspoons of the Pork Mixture in the middle of the Wonton Skin. Fold Wonton skin from bottom to top (hiding the Pork Mixture), leaving a little gap between the edges (bottom edge should be about 1/2 centimeter lower than the top. Fold the top edge down to the bottom again and join the bottom corners, using the water as a "paste" to glue the corners together.

Making the Soup

After freezing the wontons for a while, and then boiling them in water, add them to this soup mixture: 

Ingredients

Premium Soy Sauce

Sesame Oil

Salt

Ground Pepper

Zha Cai (Preserved Mustard Tuber?) 

Hot Water

Architecture Inspiration: Alvar Aalto

Finnish.

Romantic Functionalism.

Aalto.

Curved ceiling design for acoustics. Municipal Library in Viipuri, Russia.

Aalto's own studio in his home. I love exploring how architects design their own houses. 

Aalto's self-designed living room.

Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, Finland. Simple design that is just so appealing. Love the black accents.

Baker Building in MIT. Actually got to live in here when I came to visit! I love the curves of the building, which create ample study/social space. The rooftop views at night are also gorgeous.

Experimental House. Interesting how they actually took the resources to make an experiment. Super avant-garde, but very beautiful. 

Municipal Library in Viipuri, Russia. These door handles are so beautiful! 

Photos taken from book "Aalto" by Louna Lahti. 

Watermelon Smoothie

Summer is so great for refreshing watermelon smoothies! It's often hard to finish a whole watermelon, but this will make them go surprisingly fast.

Luckily they're so easy to make.

Ingredients: 

1/4 medium sized watermelon

1 cup water

Cut the watermelon into little squares (try to get a little bit of the light green part of the peel!) and refrigerate for an hour. Take out and add water & watermelon slices into blender and go for about 30 seconds on medium~