Diamond Life

The New Blog

2010-12-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

This Blog has moved to:

www.ethanstern.com

2010-11-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

The Diamond Life Studio Blog has moved!
You can now get updated with the Diamond Life and Ethan Stern Design all in one place.
bookmark www.ethanstern.com now

Allure has left the building

2010-06-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

My most recent commission project was officially completed this morning when the four sculptures that I created for perminant installation on the Royal Carribean's latest ship "Allure of the seas" were picked up.

These four pieces were based on earlier designs, but are more than twice the size of the originals. This body of work created for the Allure was directly inspired by my time living in Australia. I traveled extensively and was taken by the rich culture and art of the Aboriginal people. These artist’s ability to communicate information through symbology and color was truly inspiring to see.

In my own work I use pattern and texture in glass to create compositions and graphic detail, but creating a narrative with simple shapes and pattern seem to give them new strength. These four objects; “Dream Path,” “Clap Sticks,” “Water Hole,” and “Path” all allude to experiences that I had or objects I experienced while on my travels. Carving these narratives into blown glass forms has brought new life to the memories of my experience.

"Clap Sticks" 2010 26.5"h x 15.5"w x 4"d

"Dream path" 2010 20"h x 15.5"w x 5.5"d

"Path" 2010 19.5"hx22"wx4"d

"Water Holes" 2010 22"hx15.5"wx4"d

Glass Uprising//// Louisville Kentucky

2010-05-25T10:40:00.001-07:00

Crow and Squirrel

2010-05-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Today I provide you only with this link.. Two of my best friends riding hand-made bicycles around Czech and beyond. What an adventure. They're coming home soon so I'd better clean up the studio. http://crowandsquirrel.weebly.com/index.html

To solve the puzzle

2010-05-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

"There are no straight lines in nature, only a quality of life force. We invent uniformity and patterns. We have the possibility of infinity.

Limitations are human not actual."

Stephen Procter

///Garden Update///

2010-05-04T06:17:00.000-07:00

The Garden is doing well. I'm still waiting for the sun to shine, but spring is definitely here. I have tomatoes, cucumbers and basil in the closet and their looking good too. This is a leaf from the Marketmore Cucumber that is kicking ass but I cant put it outside until it warms up a bit. I have been getting lots of feed back from the neighborhood and people seem to love it. I think I inspired a few others to get their raised beds in shape and grow some food. This radish was the first thing harvested that I planted from seed in the garden. We have been eating the Lettuces and Kale but those were starts that I bought from the Seattle Tilth edible plant sale in March.

Stuffin cups

2010-05-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

I'm blowing glass for the next three days. I can't do it everyday because it costs me a lot of money, and I cant do it by myself because there is to much going on at once. Today we make the color cups, than Tuesday and Wednesday we stuff them and make some pieces. I don't blow glass that often, so I like to document it in pictures when I do.
So here is an important checklist if you are going to blow glass:

1. Don't be late to light the glory holes in the morning.
- If you light up after 6 you wont get really rolling until 7:30 and you will have to take lunch at 11:30 instead of 11 which shortens your afternoon and/or you end up working until 3:15 (which doesn't make your team happy.)
2. Get a team
-Its not 1968 anymore (though it may look like it) and blowing glass by yourself can be boring, so get a bunch of other artists to help you make stuff and the possibilities become endless.
Today's team members: Granite, Danny and Sean.

3. Get Pho for lunch
-Yeah its pretty much the best glassblowing lunch. Its hot, salty and spicy. With a little fresh Basil and Lime you cant go wrong (this Vietnamese soup will require coffee after lunch).

4. Bring Coffee
-Yeah... you're going to need it.

////N//Y//C////

2010-04-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Off to the Urban Glass Auction in the Bowery.

I cant say the bidding was great but the party was excellent.

////N//Y//C////

2010-04-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hot Lamp! Dolphino.

////N//Y//C////

2010-04-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

I arrived in New York City yesterday afternoon. All I can say is that I love this city, the people, the architecture and the concrete beauty.

We caught a great Henry Darger exhibition at the Museum of Folk Art across from this old library building in mid-town. The exhibition was amazing and a little twisted.

My travel companion, Kait Rhoads, and have been gallivanting around all day today. We have a fancy SOFA opening to go to in 45 minutes... time to get the schmooze shoes on and go back underground.

New Work

2010-04-13T16:24:00.001-07:00

Just finished some new work for various things. This piece will be at SOFA New York at the Park avenue Armory April 16th through the 19th.

Red Zoom 2010, Blown and Engraved Glass, 14" x 14" x 3"

This second "Zoom Trio" will be exhibited in a group show in Louisville, Kentucky at the Zypher Gallery opening in mid May; to coincide with the Glass Art Society Conference.

Zoom Trio 2010, Blown and Engraved Glass approx 13" x 13" x 3" each

Left Loop 2010, Blown and Engraved Glass, 16" x 16" x 3"

Pacific Building

2010-04-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

The William Traver Gallery has placed some of my work, along with that of two other artists, in the Pacific Building, at 3rd Ave s. & Columbia st, downtown Seattle. This building houses lots of different businesses including architects and designers. Sean Oneill, Nick Mount and myself have a few pieces displayed in a case in the main lobby. If you happen to be in downtown Seattle, which I'm sure most of you aren't (mom), go check it out.

///wwwo///

2010-04-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

My photographer, Robert Vinnedge, came to the exhibition in February at Traver and took some photos. Here they are:Just finished some new wall pieces for SOFA New York. I am leaving for the show on the 14th and I can't wait to be in the city once again.

Ruby Glyphs 2010 10"h x 3"w x 28"l

"Susonami" 2010 16"h x 3"w x 20"l

A couple of other things going on and about to go on:

I have few pieces in a group show at the Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, MA.

Glass Quake Again 2010
March 12th - April 24th, 2010

Glass Quake returns for another inspiring exhibit featuring the creative and colorful glass works of both world renowned artists and emerging talents. Whether slumped, cast, sculpted, blown or crafted into fine jewelry, each glass object is a brilliant example of this challenging art.

Coming up I will have some work in another group show at the Zypher Gallery in Louisville, KY coinciding with the Glass Art Society conference happening there.

Open May 21st through June 26th.

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Submission Deadline JUST 6 Days Away!

2010-03-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Bemis building Spring Art Show

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Submission Deadline JUST 6 Days Away!

Show your work at the 2010 Spring Art Show on May 15.

We're excited about all the submissions we've been receiving!
There has been a dramatic increase in submissions in the last week. So, if you've been holding off, now is the time! Find out more here.

The Bemis building has joined forces with (at current count) 6 additional artist venues to promote a neighborhood art event here in SODO. We are calling it: SODO ARTS Presents: Battle Royale Bout 2! This show is promising to be one you won't want to miss!

NorthWest Profile #2: Jesse Bean Goodman & Anderson Baily

2010-03-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

From 2003-2005 I was acting Artist in Residence at The Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, Tennessee. While being one of the only Jews in the buckle of the bible belt I met a couple people that would forever change the face of creative energy and spirit as I knew it. Anderson Bailey and Jesse Bean Goodman hail form the Dirty South, Anderson from TN and Jesse from Mississippi.
They both received B.F.A.'s from the Craft Center and then transplanted to the Northwest. I am constantly inspired by these two artists because of their honest approach to material and creativity. It is important to live through your art and feed it while it feeds you. Jesse and Anderson do this with humor and character in a fascinating way.
Jesse, who legend has it is an amazing wrestler writes:
"I was born in the deep dirty delta lands with cotton fields, feral cats, and an attic full of curiosities to keep me entertained. After a stint in Tennessee, where I learned how to create magical objects, I slowly began to move in an upward direction until I ended in Portland, Oregon. To me this city has become known as the land of no thunder, and home to no lightning bugs. Facts like this could slowly break my heart, but I have been keeping my hands busy... yes!"

Anderson on the other hand began as a potter. He dabbles in glass, though the mud is his calling. His functional ceramic work is filled with subtle texture, clean lines and minimal forms. It seems that the challenge of creating objects that show the hand of the artist with a sense of recognition and integrity is overcome in Anderson's useful objects.

From the Sugar/Creamer sets, to lidded jars and even the mug I use almost every day in my kitchen, these silky surfaces; with lips, feet and love handles beg to be handled, filled up and incorporated into our lives.

Beyond the objects that these two create, they are great humans and bring a smile to even the most degenerate souls.

Unfortunately for us, they have left the Northwest. Back in the fall of 2009 Jesse and Anderson left Portland, Oregon and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee. They now reside in the dirty dirty once again and apparently are loving every minute of it. So if you are looking for a good time and happen to be passing through Chattahoochee, look them up, you will not be disappointed!

Royal Shire Dr.

2010-03-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

I just spent some time in Dallas, Texas with my beloved Grandmother, Ruth Stern. She is moving soon and I wanted to spend some time with her in her house before she re-locates. Grandma Ruth is an amazing woman, from stories of building munitions in a factory while Grandpa Eugene was a marine in the pacific arena during WWII, to raising three kids in the 50's in Dallas, she always makes me smile.This visit was bittersweet as I have spent many summers as a young kid at her house in the Dallas sun, going to camp, learning the breast stroke and kicking my sister while drinking diet chocolate soda.Just walking through this house now as an adult, so many memories and emotion run through my mind; the light, the smell the textures and objects hold so much sentimental value.

Imaging all the times my father Robert, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Allen, Grandpa Eugene, Sister Danielle and Mom Corrine have touched this light switch; too many to count.

I am putting together a small book of images that I took at the house to capture the feeling, the sense of time, a family and its history.

Guerilla Garden in the shadow of the Bridge

2010-03-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

As a distraction of epic proportion, I have decided to create a small garden this year in a spot by my apartment. I do not own this spot, matter of fact I don't know who does.
Maybe the city, maybe Paul Allen, maybe Eddie Vedder, regardless Its growing and its growing fast.

I have five raised beds and have planted Lettuce, Kale, Carrots, Beets, Radishes, Snap Peas, Chard, Strawberries, herbs (legal of course) and some edible flowers. Inside, in my closet I have three kinds of Tomatoes, Cucumbers, more Carrots, Basil and Cosmos under a light.I am excited that I will know exactly where my food is coming from this spring and summer, because most of the "veggies" at the grocer have lost their personal identity.
Something about the I-5 bridge looming overhead makes me happy. Thousands of people traveling from Vancouver to Mexico on this West Coast main line pass by my pea patch every day.

The rest of the show

2010-01-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

"Simple Symbols" 10x10x2 each, blown and engraved glass

"Glyphs" 10x10x2 each, 9' total length, blown and engraved glass

"Stencils" front view, 17x12x2 & 16x12x2, blown and engraved glass

"Stencils" back view

"Light Loop" 11x12x3, blown and engraved glass

"Loops" 16x12x3 & 14x13x3, blown and engraved glass

"Zoom"

2010-01-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple more images from my up-coming show, opening at the William Traver Gallery next Thursday, February the 4th from 5-8pm.

"Zoom Trio" 2010 blown and engraved glass approx 13x15x3 (each)

"Polka Dots" 2009 blown and engraved glass

"Scape" 2009 blown and engraved glass

The Hot Sheet!

2010-01-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

I've been hibernating for a while now, but I thought today would be an appropriate time wake up. No really I have been working on a show that opens next week at the Traver Gallery in Seattle. The opening is from 5-8 on Thursday February 4th. If you're in town (the collective you of the Internet) you'd better come.

Drop Duo 2010, blown and engraved glass approx. 18"hx16"wx3"d (each) Photo: Rob Vinnedge

Here is a couple links for you: An interview for the Glass Quarterly Blog "The Hot Sheet"
and a review of a show that I am in, at the Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery in beautiful Pittsburgh PA.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T12:06:00.001-08:00

Good bye 2009...

Hello tuna sandwich

///wwwo///

2009-12-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Who said cold working wasn't fun?

R.I.P. Anthony Maglalang

2009-12-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

Anthony Maglalang will be remembered not only as amazing sushi chef, but a passionate artist who fed on love, music and friends. His passing last week was a shock to the community and fills us with great sadness.
I met Anthony in 1999 at Pilchuck Glass School, he was working in the kitchen and I was the driver. Over the years we would see each other here and there, sushi party at his house or the Chilhuly X-mas party in the Space Needle. Anthony was mostly cool as a fan, some times when he would take gathers of glass bigger than his head you could see his raw passion. He was a musician and a poet, his expression was always from the heart. Anthony had a way of being so real in a world where people ride on their fake emotions and actions everyday.
The last time I saw Anthony was this past August, he was up at Pilchuck with the Chilhuly team to blow some large Venetian's. Anthony was taking the gathers, I got the furnace door, cooled his pipe and shielded his hand while he blocked. We chatted about how hard the man had him working, he loved it, I could tell.

Anthony, we love you and miss you with all our hearts. For you it's Sonic Youth all week here in the Diamond Life Studio. I'm fucking blasting it!

Skid Row

2009-11-24T10:48:00.001-08:00

I love November!

If you thought Skid Row was only an amazing band from the late 80's, think again.
This is the original Skid Row. It's called Yesler Way. The top of the hill, as far up as you can see, used to be covered with giant old growth trees. Thousands of them. Yesler's steep incline leading into Pioneer Square served as the perfect place to slide the freshly cut timber down into Elliott Bay and onto ships. The logs were mostly destined for budding metropolises along the west coast. The skid was notoriously muddy, dangerous and full of riff-raff. No place for a kid.

The original sea wall used to be about where those two green lights are in the picture above. At some point the city of Seattle thought it would be smart to fill in part of the bay with garbage, sawdust, and other waste. This created first and second avenue, providing more land to build bars, churchs, brothels and now, regretfully, Jimmy Johns garbage sandwiches. Actually, Smith Tower, that tall building on the left hidden by the trees, was for a time the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

///WWWO///
(what we're working on)

weird?

Urban Tide Pools #2

2009-11-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

Not just water anymore.

Bob's Sax

2009-11-20T11:07:00.001-08:00

Since its Friday, I thought I would do something special. As some of you may know, my father passed away in 2001. He was an amazing man. A baseball card dealer and a professor at Cornell University, where he rocked tweed sport coats with leather elbow patches. Some say he defined the "Ivy League Professor" look. This is a drawing that I did for him as a Valentines day card in 1988.

As a teen, he played the saxophone in the Hill Crest High marching band, in Dallas TX. Long story short, my mother has been doing a little winter cleaning and decided to send me his beloved sax. I took a few lessons when I was a kid, so I thought i would try it out.

I 'd like to dedicate this video to Cathy.

Urban Tide Pools

2009-11-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

This time of year in this part of the country the weather is wet. Its grey, its windy and its wet. People say Seattle is always like this, but its not. They say that so more people won't move here, there's already to many glass blowers as it is.* (yes my blog now includes foot notes)
On that note I present to you my latest project. "Urban Tide Pools" These small bodies of water are created after and in between the rains that soak the northwest to its core.Like the tides of the Puget Sound nature has its way of creating little ecosystems in the street.If these pools could talk I don't think they would.

* Just kidding

/////New Section//////

This is the first installment of a new section of the Diamondlife blog, its called:

What We're Working On or wwwo

I know it seems like all I do is blog (lame), but actually my studio mate, April Surgent and I spend most of the day making Art. The name Diamond Life studio was my idea, she wants it to be "Biscuits Engraving," so we might use both.April and I both have shows coming up in February. Her's at the Bullseye Gallery in Portland, Oregon on the 3rd, and mine at the William Traver Gallery in Seattle opening on the 4th. We are both busy beavers, cutting glass like our lives depend on it (cause they kind of do).

Manifesto

2009-11-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

I'd like to start today's post by thanking China for creating low quality, low cost goods at an alarming rate and selling them so cheap that local companies cant compete. Yeah for capitalism! The effect of this can be felt in the glass industry ten fold. Pictured is Manifesto, a local glass studio that up until this spring created high end, hand blown lighting for interior designers and companies like Starbucks and Tully's. If you walk down almost any street in downtown Seattle you cant blink without seeing Resolute lights hanging in the windows. This company's approach to making hand-made functional objects is unique because of its meticulous quality, custom colors and thoughtful modern design. As most American families lose touch with the objects they use in their homes and buy more disposable and plastic goods, Manifesto's parent company Resolute lives on. It is no longer producing hand blown lights as frequently as it did in the past but its other products are flourishing. So next time you walk into a Starbucks, turn around and walk out. No really, next time you walk into a Starbucks no matter where you are in the world, look up. Those hanging lights used to be hand-blown by a Seattle company.

Manifesto's connection with the Seattle glass community was a very strong one, countless independent glass artists were at one time employed by this company. It served as a gateway for young artists like Nancy Callan among many others, to get a footing in the community and gain experience in a quality shop. For years Lino Tagliapietra made his work in Manifesto's hot glass studio.
Manifesto will be missed!

On a lighter note, I will be teaching a class this summer at The Appalachian Center For Craft in Smithville, TN called "The Hot and Cold Context." It will be a three week intensive course investigating glass blowing and carving glass for sculpture. The dates are June 14-July 2. Its gonna be hot and sweaty! It will mostly be BFA students, but is open to anybody. It will be an intermediate level class so glass blowing experience is needed. If you're really nice to me and you want to learn to blow glass in 95'F heat in the hills of Tennessee, shoot me an email and we may be able to work something out.

Northwest Profile #1: Jennifer Elek

2009-11-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Each week, the Diamond Life Studio blog will be presenting a brief profile of artists practicing in the Northwest. Not all use glass or glass alone, but all are part of a large network of creative peoples working in this part of the country.

The first artist in this series is Jennifer Elek . Her exhibition "Signals" opened Saturday at the Traver Gallery in Tacoma, WA.

Jen's newest work is composed of sculptures on the wall and on the pedestal. Brightly colored blown shapes assembled in compositions of color, light and form. The "Butchigiri" series 14"h x 19"w x 14"d (above) stands alone, full of popping color. It has a molecular structure that looks like an enlarged gobstopper from Willy Wonka's factory. Each composition of balls is different in their jolt out into space, but similar in their animated vividness.

Jen grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and studied sculpture at Alfred University, receiving a B.F.A. in 1994. Her rich vocabulary of material has always been a strong point in her work. An early investigation of painting and metal fabrication has informed her tremendously, and is apparent in her most current sculptures.

In "Blanket" 36"h x 60"w x 17"d (above), blown glass oblong pill-shaped pieces arranged in a grid formation create a pattern like one cut from a giant sign on the Vegas strip. It creates a visual language based on our brains reaction to color and its interaction with each other.

"People, the relationships we have with one another, and the places we occupy, inspire my work. Making art acts as a translator, helping me process messages presented by modern media."says Elek.

"Favorite" 14"h x 12"w x 15"d (bottom right), is an example of Jen's mix of a clean, minimal aesthetic and a certain humor which most of her work seems to use to develop an instant relationship with the viewer. In a quote about this current showing in Tacoma Jen says: "Signals is a meditation on the primal communication that is color."

Jen Elek and husband Jeremy Bert both make spectacular art with various media. You can check out more of their works here in clay, glass, steel, neon and more.

I was born tomorrow in 1978

2009-11-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, tomorrow is my birthday and yes that is a gluten free chocolate cupcake. Probably the best one ever created. There is more where that came from so if you're interested let me know and Heather and I will ship you one (maybe).
A small party was had; dancing, cocktails and pu-pus ensued and the attire was cocktail casual. Dirty Martinis, Old Fashioneds, G & Ts, V & Ts and sweet tea vodka w/ lemon were cradled in the hands of friends. There was a dance performance that tantalized the crowd and left everyone a little weak in the knees. Heather, (who's birthday was Saturday) will be teaching Blues dancing classes with this fellow, Jared, starting in December:

I am continuously shocked at how fast time flies and how it just keeps getting faster and faster every year. Happy Birthday all you Scorpios out there. (Corinne Stern, Heather Kraft, Pat Bako) A lot of people must have sex in February.

Look for the first addition of the NW Profile in tomorrows post featuring Artist Jennifer Elek.

Coffee Cup Chandelier

2009-11-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

Making glass is fun............but, sometimes its hard to feel inspired when you are not only making art but running a business. I don't want to run a business, I want to make art. Unfortunately the two can sometimes go hand and hand into the land of rent, groceries and $200 jeans. In response to the phenomenon that is the art making business I began a project which had nothing to with glass, my business or making money.

I have been collecting used take away coffee cups since the spring. I have had my friends save theirs, asked coffee shops to collect them, found them in trash cans and on the street. On my bicycle commute through downtown every day I can usually reap a small stack. Its astonishing how much waste these cups create. Some are compostable, but most are not. Like a Starbucks cup that has some sort of plastic in it, making it non-biodegradable.
The original intent was to construct shapes out of the cups. I started with the sphere.
Just finished the first piece:

The Unexpected Object

2009-11-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

This past August I taught a course at The Pilchuck Glass School out in Washington state. The class was called "The Unexpected Object" and it focused on the fine line between experimentation and premeditation in making sculpture. We learned to blow glass and to carve it. What I found so interesting was that no matter your age, your profession or your depth of artistic vision and experience, learning to blow glass takes you back to square one. Every student gets put on a level playing field and has to step up to the furnace, open the door and stand in front of 2150' F. to gather the glass out. This process takes doctors, C.E.O.'s, surgeon's, punk rockers, architects and Violin makers back to a place they may not have been since their first kiss or or their first time driving a car. The class had 10 students from 19 to 66 years old, mostly first time glass blowers.
Once every one got comfortable gathering we focused mostly on group projects. Working this way seems to be a part of a trend in glass education that is based on teamwork and collaboration. Getting the students to work on ideas together saves material and gets the students to interact with each other. Each taking leadership roles and developing critical thinking about design and execution. Along the way we had some hang ups like the glass blowers inevitable initiation, "The Jack Burn." Next time you see a glassblower ask them to see the back side of their right arm and you are sure to find something like this:

But don't worry, its not as bad as it looks.

We spent all of our free time in the cold shop grinding, cutting, blasting, carving, cracking, smashing, engraving and polishing glass. The students excelled fast in the cold shop, because the process is much more approachable than blowing. Turn on the water, turn on the machine hold the glass to the wheel and bam, you've made a mark. Before you know it you've become and engraver and your off and running down the path of creative fulfilment and writing the book on your own little psyche. Its that easy! All said and done we had a blast, giant stumps, Pilchuck sunsets and class photos. What could be better?

Look out for the new section in this blog coming soon. "Northwest Profile" each month I will attempt to feature a new artist working with glass in the Northwest. The community is ripe with art here in the rainy part of the country. There are many new great artists that may not have gallery representation or many exhibitions under there belt. In an attempt to broaden all of our minds and get these artists some exposure, (probably just my mom at this point) this blog will feature an artist a week. Look for that in the coming days. I leave you with a sunset from the hill above the hot shop at Pilchuck.

Bemis Co.

2009-11-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is the Bemis building. Its an old paper bag factory with refurbished warehouse space and artist lofts. I share a space on the bottom floor between the two garage doors on the right with April Surgent. She is also a glass engraver and an amazing artist. Some how we co-exist , and we love it.
Here is a couple pictures of the pieces that sold at SOFA.
Ruby Flag, which is headed to Palm Desert California and Amber Intercoastal, which is staying in Chicago.
O.k. i gotta get back to work, this blog stuff is distracting.

The SOFA re-entry

2009-11-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

Every year after SOFA there seems to be a period of re-entry into the studio for me. It takes a day or two to get the brain tied back to the hands. Chicago was good this year, though the concrete floor in the exhibition hall was a little brutal. I sold two pieces, so I cant complain. They were good ones too. I will post images asap. You can also checkout the Glass Quarterly blog with a play by play of other things that sold at the show.
While in Chicago I went to a restaurant called "Pane Caldo." In Italian that means "hot bread," I think. Anyway, it was excellent. I had Red Snapper ceviche, Salmon, and caviar for my apris, followed by beautiful chicken with spinach, gorgonzola, and prosciutto.
Who knew that the boy who loved string cheese and pickles from the jar would end up in a fancy-pants restaurant in Chi-town scarfing down three courses, wine and parmiggiano reggiano with fresh raisins still on the vine (I know, crazy right?) for dessert.
You know, I used to put the string cheese in the microwave for 10 seconds just to make it soft and almost melted. Now, if i do happen to have string cheese, I lay it across the top of the toaster and can achieve almost the same effect, but I have to catch it in time or it melts down into the slots and makes a grand mess.

Well this is my first ever blog entry so if you are reading it, thank you and look forward to many more.
Oh yeah.. "Short Shorts and Sweaters" party we went to a few weeks back... HOTT!
and.... don't forget to check out ethanstern.com