Monthly Archives: December 2010

Total Blend

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I went out last night during the blizzard to take some photos and ended up at Total Blend.

I asked for some heated coco bread. Which is a soft and buttery type of bread. Many West Indians eat it with their meals. Just like a lot of Italians eat schiacciata.

My camera lens is wet from taking photos outside. That’s why it’s a foggy look to the photo.

Brunello Cucinelli

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Brunello Cucinelli

379 Bleecker Street

Somehow the artist found a way to mix winter with summer.

The wheat colored wreath can be taken for a beach tube and the colors on the manicans (navy blue and white) give a nautical feel. Yet, the boots and the fur vest tells us its winter.

Cucinelli’s window display is fantastic!

Grade: 10

Fear can hide joy, and hate can hide a need for love. Brunello Cucinelli in Dawn of a better world (http://www.brunellocucinelli.it/index.php?id_pagina=97 )

Brunello Cucinelli

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Brunello Cucinelli

379 Bleecker Street

‘“Work, which is considered an expression of a person’s value, also becomes a part of one’s spirituality and achieves the higher aim of the Supreme Good” Brunello Cucinelli loves to remind us.’

This quote was taken from Brunello Cucinelli’s website. I have never heard of this designer until last week. I was in the village taking pictures and came across the boutique. I had an idea about the quality of the clothes and the prestige of the name brand but had no idea until I visited the website ( http://www.brunellocucinelli.it/index.php).

Apparently, Brunello Cucinelli is a designer whose mission is not only to create comfortable clothes for human beings but to remind us that money making is not everything, it’s nothing if you do not apply goodness to what you do. He basis his business on his belief that quality cannot exist without humanity.

I am not sure if I am correct, but to put his beliefs into practice, he gives back to his community.

He is from Umbria, Italy and his business is ran in a village called Solomeo.

From looking at the map and other photos, it is in the center of Italy and it is very hilly. It seems very small and the community seems to be knitted together.

Brunello Cucinelli is a philosopher himself. If you visit his website, you will come across an archive. In the archive, he wrote about different cities within Umbria, in a philosophic way.

He gives the reader a historic, present, and religious view and most of all leaves the reader with something to think about.

“You must be perspicacious, meaning you have to know how to gather your thoughts and learn from experience: to think…Cucinelli said in the archive titled Simplicity, Beauty, Truth, You must select, choose, and summarize.”

The following was taken from his website. I hope it gives you an idea of what Cucinelli’s mission is:

…“the people who work here, regardless of their job, participate in the life of the company: each person knows that his work is an indispensable element for common growth. “Our Integral Quality is the result of the quality within each person”. Combining old and new, corporate objectives and people’s needs is the secret to a company whose innovativeness is admired by many and is a case history in modern economy studied by prestigious universities.

After a visit to his website, I created a deep desire to visit the town and his shop in Umbria to see exactly how a person who is a designer and philosopher can create a company on such strong doctrines. It would be something if all designers did their art with a strong purpose like Cucinelli.

“We know, however, that there is a connection between simplicity and beauty. Beauty is not always simple, and yet simplicity is always beautiful. And since philosophers have proven that truth and beauty coincide, it follows that beauty and truth coincide in the concept of simplicity.”

Brunello Cucinelli

Yellow!

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I was running down the stairs and stopped when I saw this gentleman sitting on the railing and the other man with a banana on the back of his coat.

I ran back up stairs to take this picture.

It turns out they were apart of a quartet.

They got on the train and were singing oldies. Sounded good too.

Try Something New

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Last night I put together a little menu for the saints to eat after church: spaghetti, salad and ground beef.

As promised to myself, top in my list was the salad. I wanted make it exactly like the one that I tasted at Gustiamo.

Martina’s daughter fixed a salad for the staff at Gustiamo and when I tasted it, I said to myself, I am going to put this together for the church.

Well, after church, people came streaming into the kitchen and asked what was on the menu.

When I served the salad, many asked the same question I asked when I tried it:

What is it made of? What type of leaves are these?

I told everyone that it was spinach leaves, pears, and pecans.  And they all liked it.

These are folks who are used to soul food. Some wanted salad dressing but for the most part, they enjoyed the healthy snack.

Kudos to Lenzel who put the salad together and my dear Mother Cherry, (a fantastic chef from Jamaica)  who helped the meal become a success.


White House Black Market

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White House Black Market

136 5th Avenue

I never heard of this store until Michell Obama wore that black and white dress she had on when she made an appearance on the View.

Ever since then I’ve been seeing more of White House Black Market and have been interested.

This photo was taken at the beginning of December and I think the window decorations make the store unique from the other stores in the neighborhood with it’s beads, colors, figurines, and mini statues of Paris Eiffel Tower.

Grade: 10