This weekend's Netflix: The Making of Steinway L1037

Linda and I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday night's netflix; a documentary showcasing a rare behind the scenes look in the Steinway plant in NY.  Great to see these works of art manufactured much the same way they were a hundred years ago.  Bravo.

can logs be holey? I think we can help.

I've got so many logs around here that are, well, perfect for something - but certainly not traditional tables.  Although I still don't know exactly what I'll do with them, we've been having fun hollowing them out for the last week or so.  Some have metal, some are rotten, some start out quite holey to begin with.  Well, they've been sitting around for too long, and we now have the first stage of a plan for them - helping them to become holey.

walnut post and (shelves) project

Here's a first pic of a new project in the works.  It will be a massive, oversized shelves for a private residence in Tennessee.  In addition to the two massive square posts, it will have two 12' shelves along with two more smaller ones.  A flat screen tv will be mounted in the middle.  One more thing.  The magnificent solid walnut "have a seat" console will become a an entertainment center console in the project.

chainsaw cutting the inside of this tree

I don't get to back in the studio nearly as much as I'd like.  But I just had to jump inside this tree to test a new chainsaw toy.  Actually, it's a little chainsaw attachment for my Makita skillsaw.  Although it did a nice job with a controlled chainsaw cut here, it clogged up every few minutes with long sawdust shavings.

Oh, just in case you were wondering why the hollow log.  Too often when we receive urban trees, they have metal inside that our sawmill and other tools don't really seem to appreciate.  This seems to be a decent solution for a log that might have been hard to work otherwise.

Southern Delicacies - boiled peanuts

Many of us who grew up in the South, just assume that the world enjoys these same delicacies that we always have.  But, when we venture out, we quickly realize that many of our favorite southern delicacies haven't made it past the mason dixon line, more or less the county line.  There are so many southern delicacies, that we take for granted.  And I think it's time to open some doors and share some of our best.  So, monthly or so, I will try to post about what we are presently enjoying, what's in season, or an exceptional southern meal we shared the previous weekend.

Each Fall you can't drive southern county roads without smelling fresh green peanuts boiling over a fire.  I've know for a long time that this one is hard to stomach for many who weren't raised around here.  And always assumed it was southern - primarily because visitors who arrived in the Fall rarely tried a second boiled peanut, and many times spit out what they could of the first one. 

But, Linda and I were quite surprised a couple of decades ago, when walking the back streets of Honolulu's Chinatown, to smell the wonderful aroma of green peanuts boiling.  It didn't take long to find the hot kettles full of peanuts with vendors offering a small bag for sale for a dollar or so.  - My first question was how did this little southern delicacy make it's way across the pacific to chinatown?!!

Most of these vendors spoke very little English, and certainly hadn't been to the South.  This started my confusion.  Then, after tasting them I was even more confused.  They were salted very much like Southern boiled peanuts.  They were cooked just a bit less - cooked thru - but what I'd call a bit more al dente.  And they had an addition of a spice that I don't think I had ever tasted.  And, this is hard to admit, they were even better than one of my favorite southern snacks of all time.

Well, through the years, whenever it was Linda's time to choose our vacation spot, she usually chose Honolulu or one of the other beautiful Hawaiian Islands.  And once arriving, we usually headed straight to Chinatown to one of our favorite restaurants in the world - Tochau Vietnamese Restaurant (This one deserves it's own blog post), and immediately finding a vendor with these boiled delicacies to take back to the room (and beach) for a wonderful snack throughout the week.

It was fairly easy to figure out that farmers left china to work on sugar plantations in the beginning of the 20th century.  From here, I'm guessing that boiled peanuts might also be a Chinese delicacy as well, but I don't know.

But, the inspiration for this blog post, was that yesterday, as Linda repeats annually during the fall, she placed green peanuts, water and salt into a crock pot for a days worth of cooking and soaking.  But to my wonderful surprise last night, they smelled and tasted just line our Chinatown version of the delicacy.  She had read somewhere that "Chinese boiled peanuts" contain a couple of star anise.  Wonderful.  It's quite amazing, possibly a first, to see someone one up us on one of our tried and true, passed down through the generations delicacies - but it happened.  I hope I don't get run out for saying this, but Chinese boiled peanuts are even better than ours.  Obviously, this isn't the only time the've whooped up on us.  But, I really don't see it happening often.  -  What could they possibly do to improve on:  crawfish heads, grouper cheeks, greens, cornbread, Tennessee hot fried chicken, Alabama white sauce, mississippi hot tamales . . . .

museum of contemporary art

The current exhibition here at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago was more than a little dreary for me.  It was really the only "down" event of the weekend.

mies van der rohe way - chicago

Nestled right between the Contemporary Museum of Art and the Ritz Carlton appropriately lies Mies Van der Rohe Way.

Scuptural Objects & Functional Art Show

This was our first opportunity to attend the renowned SOFA show in Chicago (along with a couple of other cities I believe).  What an amazing mix of beautiful forms.  I'm already planning excuses to attend future showings. 

Shiloh

Just stopped for a sec to get a picture of this little fence at the entrance to the Park the other day.

Natchez Trace Parkway

Somehow, seems like I find excuses to drive the parkway during the Fall each year that I'm in the neighborhood.  The colors aren't quite as brilliant this year, but it's a wonderful, meditative time.

Is there anything better than a vietnamese sandwich?

We couldn't believe our eyes when we ran across this little Vietnamese sandwich shop in Greensboro, NC a couple of weeks ago.  We had heard about another restaurant we had heard about when we saw this little dive in a small dumpy shopping center on the way.  All I can say is that it was a little bit of heaven.  If you haven't tried a Vietnamese Sandwich, you are in for a treat.  I continue to be amazed by High Point and Greensboro.  Seems like little jewels every where we look.

and the winner is:

The winner of our $4000 (retail) solid walnut bench is:

Tish Fuller, owner of Pentimento, Inc, Retail Store and Design Studio.  Congratulations Tish!  You are a very lucky gal.  Tish, if we don't hear from you in the next few days, we'll round you up and plan delivery.

found another great dive this morning

We gave our home away from home a breather this morning, and branched out and found another wonderful dive for breakfast this morning, Plaza Cafe.  Interesting that (I think) it's another greek run restaurant.  Just a block from our show space at the Antique & Design Center.  Perfect egg sandwich and coffee.

Did you see Furniture Today - yesterday

Frank, our modern antique heart pine and walnut low table, was featured in yesterday's Furniture Today. Feels great for our debut to be so well received.

love this modern Showplace

This modern building here at the HP Market is sooo cool.  The glass and curves feel just right.

quite appropriately - turn onto green street in High Point

To find us in the beautiful, new Antique and Design Center, from Main Street turn on Green Street and you'll be quite close to our hand crafted, locally sourced very "green" furniture.

Forwarding a complaint to Mr. Ekornes

Yesteray I walked the IHFC interhall and a few other floors of the building.  Linda sent specific complaint for Mr. Ekornes should I be able to speak with him personally.  Unfortunately he wasn't available, so I left word with the very pleasant receptionest at the Stressless booth.  The complaint;  Linda is unable to stay awake after reclining each night in her Stressless.  Mr. Ekornes, we look forward to receiving a remedy here.

Lacey speaking yesterday

Our friend and (originally) an Alabama gal, was speaking to a packed conference room of designers and press yesterday.  Unfortunately, I arrived late, just in time for the very informative q&a session.

First impressions of our debut in High Point

We are debuting our modern, sustainable hardwood furniture at the High Point Market and these three gentlemen got a sneak peak this morning.  Here' their assesment:

found a great dive for lunch in high point

We were driving down main street a high noon in high point wondering what to do for lunch.  Linda spotted a PACKED parking lot.  Since a packed parking lot is my number one key to finding a great restaurant when we're a newby to the area, we swung in.  And man did we find the right place today.  Have no idea about the history of this place, but this isn't their first day on the job.  Just guessing, probably several decades +.  It was packed.  The waitresses were flying.  Farah knew this was our first time, and she practically ordered for us.  We had fried pork chops, fried squash, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, cobler - what else.  It was awesome.  I rarely eat fried, but this was the time to make an exception.  We'll be back, maybe for breakfast!