Art - Current Project - 27 John Street Kitchen - Cellardyke, Scotland

Bulthaup B1 kitchen installed. All white.
Simple look for the wee house. Generous window to the Firth of Forth.

Next: steel ladders & the floors.

Art - Mother Nature

Roses straight from the garden. 

Food - Lunch at Craig Millar - St. Monans, Scotland

Want a great lunch? Here in the East Neuk we not only celebrate events, but we eat Saturday lunch at Craig Millar because it's just. so. Good.

 Begin with 44 degree Shetland Salmon - miso caramel, oyster and parsley sauce.

 Continue with Cod - butterbeans, spinach, spiced langoustine bisque.

Finish with
Panna Cotta - apple puree, caramel ice cream.

All made in house. All created by Craig Millar, the man with the inventive mind, the luxurious taste buds.

Have this Saturday lunch while you gaze at the weather movie going on outside, The Firth of Forth and The Bass Rock emerging from the storm.

2 AA Rosettes.

16westend.com

Sublime. 

Art - Current Project - 27 John Street Cellardyke, Scotland

27 John Street

There is John Street and James Street, and then of course George Street. All the houses are built tight into the winding narrow passage. Number 27 is one of the few with a stairway, and like a Haiku, so small they constitute one mighty move. This move will be to blow open the view to the Firth of Forth: 2 floors, a loft and a Bulthaup kitchen.

The living floor from the front door before the wall is blown out....from the Front Door - it is small.

The Forth is calm, for the moment. It's said one's neighbors begin calling up the street as the dolphins move west. 

Bed and bath level with fireplace for Danish wood burning stove.

Space for office looking over the Forth.

Area to the left will be main bath.

Wall gone.

View back from the garden.

The "wee hoose" from the beach in the village of Cellardyke, another brilliant spot in the East Neuk of Fife.

Autumn 2015 in The East Neuk of Fife

From  the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Tay lies the Kingdom of Fife, an arm of Scotland that juts into the North Sea. The East Neuk is lowland with small hills that make it easy to see great distances.

The A917, a two lane road, runs a ribbon east-west through the coastal villages of Elie, St. Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther and Crail to the eastern point of the Balcomie links. A footpath links the villages.

Before I begin on the new cottage, the new library, the new life, I'll set the scene:

Here is Pittenweem Harbor, the village where I am staying, the shore with the tide in, the taste of what Autumn looks like through the trees on the road to St. Andrews, the home of golf and the St. Andrews University where Prince William and Kate Middleton met...but I'll get to that later.

To live through Autumn, as the light changes and the night comes earlier, as the temperature cools considerably, is a glorious childhood memory, something real and ever changing...daily...

as if God's paintbrush was flicked over the hills and left yellow, orange, gold and red in watercolor and dabbed, smeared and brushed into shape.

Art - J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free at The Getty Center

J.M.W. Turner produced his most important work after age 60, and now on view at The Getty Center are over 60 paintings and watercolours in a glorious array of galleries for only 3 short months.
Go. See this. Experience it. Marvel at the way the first room's yellow becomes white and surrounds every viewer in what can only be called the magic of art. 

Edward Goldman has a wonderful review in yesterday's KCRW Art talk
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/art-talk/mr-turner-aka-mr-storm 

We are lucky to have The Getty Center http://www.getty.edu

                              bang in the middle of our vast city - for a regular trip to the Gods.

Food - The Best Chocolate Dessert - Angelini Osteria

Once again, it's ANGELINI OSTERIA to the food rescue.

OH. MY. GOD, the chocolate soufflé with it's soft chocolate pudding center, the warm melding with the cold ice cream and the raspberry sauce.

Sheer heaven.

Totally unexpected and one more reason why Angelini is the go to place for precision, flavor and fantastic value.

We love it.

Thank you.

http://angeliniosteria.com/menus.html

On the Road - The LA ride - Santa Monica Antique Market

1st and 4th Sunday of EVERY MONTH….

I drive around Los Angeles and love to hit the Antique Market at the Santa Monica airport.

Now in it's 20th year, this interesting show is easy to walk, has free parking and the best quesadilla going.

There are Vintage, Retro & Antique Dealers, Victoriana to Mid Century Furniture, Chandeliers, clothing, Jewellery, Art, Rugs, China and silver.

Next show…Sunday February 1.

Always something to discover. Noted as one of the top ten flea markets in America.

Next show Sunday February 1.


http://www.santamonicaairportantiquemarket.com/home.html

January 1, 2015

"It's not what you know you're going to do - it's what you discover in the act of doing it."

….so says Jack Grapes,  http://www.jackgrapes.com award winning poet, playwright, actor and teacher of word juggling extraordinaire. And guess what….he's right…there are so many unknowns to the unknown and how can one ever know how it will unfold until the unfolding begins…

Did J. M. W. Turner know he would paint exactly this when he stood before the blank canvas? http://www.william-turner.org 

It's January and time for the annual watercolour display at the 

Scottish National Galleries…

 https://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/on-now-coming-soon/turner-in-january-2015

and so a new year begins, slightly cold, unusual in it's loneliness and heart speak and time travel and the digital age and the warp speed with which it all travels. Now is the time to read Marcel Proust, take in season 5 of Downton Abbey, and remember …."it's what you discover in the act of doing it."