Vanves discovery. I miss Paris.

I don’t know of anyone who has seen Jenny Odell’s work and not been completely engrossed and amazed. I can barely get enough of her art. The top image is of landfills, the middle one is of waste and salt ponds, and the last one is of nuclear power plant cooling towers. Check out more here.

We went for a little mushroom hunting walk in the woods a couple of weeks ago and this is what we found. The colors and textures amaze me. Unfortunately, none of these are particularly edible. If my father is reading this: Dad, please know that we absolutely draw the line at eating any wild mushroom that has a close cousin that will either make us sick or worse! Anyway, we have a favorite wooded spot along a small creek which often plays host to a bloom of hedgehog mushrooms (Hydnum repandum). Hedgehogs are a distinctively meaty variety that have little spines instead of gills. And they are prized for both their taste and their texture. We didn’t find any that day. Maybe this weekend we’ll get lucky. The last image is from the farmers’ market at the ferry building in San Francisco. Fantasy land.

I love this town! Walking in the east village yesterday, I wandered into an Indian dry goods shop called Dual Specialty Store. I’ve been in there any number of times before, but clearly never ventured much beyond the register or the wall of beer which, I must say, is impressive. On the back wall of the store are endless bags of spices. The midsection of the shop is taken up with every possible condiment and rice and grain you could ever hope to find. Turns out, “DSS” supplies a lot of Indian restaurants, not just in NYC, but all over the country. I am a longtime fan of Kalustyan’s. And Patel Brothers out in Jackson Heights should not be missed. But definitely add this place to your list of spice meccas.

I know this is a long post, but it wouldn’t be as fun if it were just a few images. Incidentally, these are not my photos, they are the work of Leandro Lattes, an industrial designer and one of the founders of El Vivero, a design studio based in Madrid. He has authored two books that beautifully document many of the less homogeneous design details of Madrid — things that are heading towards obsolescence from the urban landscape such as bar stools, door knobs, signage, facades, store displays, and on and on. The on and on part is what I love!! These intercoms are some of my favorites. Please note that these pictures are but a small percentage of the total for this particular category. Do yourselves a favor and check out the rest of the books. Do it here.