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NYIGF January 2012, Part 5

Today we’re wrapping up coverage from the January 2012 NYIGF with two final posts.  First up, a perennial favorite – Bailey Doesn’t Bark!  In addition to gorgeous ceramics (which you can see from the August show right here), I love RJ’s beautiful and minimal stationery, tea towels, and accessories.

 

Super cute tea towel packaging!

Bailey Doesn’t Bark

It was so nice to finally meet Rumi from the Japan-based Winged Wheel at this year’s NYIGF!  Rumi made her U.S. tradeshow debut with a stationery collection that mixed classic design with fun modern elements like pops of neon and die cut card shapes.

 

 

Love the pops of neon!

 

Winged Wheel

Finally on the stationery front, the bright and colorful booth of 9SpotMonk!  The ladies of 9SpotMonk had some seriously hilarious letterpress thank you cards printed on kraft paper, along with letterpress wine and gift tags.

 

 

9SpotMonk

I’ll be back with more from the January 2012 NYIGF soon!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

NYIGF January 2012, Part 4

I’m back with more from the January 2012 New York International Gift Fair!  In case you missed them, you can find the first three recaps from NYIGF right here.  First up for today, the always fab Aesthetic Movement rep booth, where I caught up on the latest gorgeous letterpress stationery from Kim of Austin Press and swooned over the amazing ties from Forage.  I also totally fell for the barware and flasks from Izola – I can’t wait until the cocktail shakers become available for purchase next month!

 

Austin Press

Forage

 

Izola (they also had awesome soap packaging)

Next up, the fun textiles and stationery from Girls Can Tell out of Philadelphia.  From coasters to notebooks to onesies, this booth was full of awesome and quirky pieces.  I particularly loved the drinking glass and cookware tea towels!

 

 

 

Girls Can Tell

Next up, the lovely ladies of Albertine Press, May Day Studio, and Carta, Inc.  I always love the beautiful cotton ribbons and twine from Carta, Inc., and this year Angela is also introducing a beautiful collection of vintage international postage stamps (love!).  Kelly from May Day Studio had gorgeous journals in beautiful new patterns, while Shelley from Albertine Press just introduced a city-theme notebook collection.

 

Carta, Inc.

 

May Day Studio

 

Albertine Press

Last up for today, one of my favorite new finds from the Handmade section of NYIGF – a New York-based company called Ortolan.  I fell in love with the graphic black and white chevron blanket below, but the entire collection of napkins, pillow cases, and reclaimed wood mirrors is seriously gorgeous.

 

 

Ortolan

Check back tomorrow for the final posts from the January 2012 New York International Gift Fair!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Friday Happy Hour: Oaxacan Sunrise

We recently expanded our bar by adding a bottle of Mezcal, a smokey Mexican spirit closely related to Tequila.  Mezcal is delicious but not the easiest thing to mix into cocktails, and there are some (but not many) great Mezcal cocktail recipes out there to try.  So, we played around a bit and came out with (what we humbly think is) a fantastic Mezcal Sour – one that we’re calling a Oaxacan Sunrise.

Read below for the full recipe!

Oaxacan Sunrise

2 oz Mezcal
3/4 oz Pomegranate Liqueur
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Combine the ingredients and shake over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and enjoy.

 

Mezcal, like Tequila, is made in Mexico by fermenting and distilling the agave plant.  Mezcal, unlike Tequila, is made by first roasting the piña, or heart, of the agave plant in earth-covered pit ovens for a few days before fermenting.  This imparts a powerful, delicious smokiness that evokes Scotch whiskey, though Mezcal has a much deeper vegetal flavor.  It’s probably not for everyone, but it’s worth giving it a try.

Here’s what our Oaxacan Sunrise tastes like: smokey, vegetal and fruity, sweet and tart, delicious and refreshing.  It’s like a sweet tart campfire.  Mezcal is a strong flavor that can easily overpower a drink but we think we’ve found a pretty good balance here.  If you prefer a sweeter drink, you could replace the pomegranate liqueur with pomegranate molasses or grenadine, but the tartness of this recipe helps to keep the smokiness of the Mezcal under control.

 

We haven’t tried it with this recipe, but we’ve had great success with Mezcal Flips at some of our favorite local watering holes.  If you’re feeling adventurous and want to turn this into a Flip, add about half a raw egg or egg white to the mix and shake nice and hard to blend smoothly.  It won’t affect the flavor much, but the resulting texture will be rich and silky.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

NYIGF January 2012, Part 1

Whew!  Between NYIGF and the Louie Award judging, the last couple of days have been quite a whirlwind.  There were more stationers exhibiting at NYIGF than ever before, which means I have a lot of fun stuff to show you!  Unfortunately the hotel wifi here in New York is kind of terrible, so I may need to wait until next week to share the bulk of my favorites from the show.  But today I’m starting off with two of my favorite booths – both of which happen to be two of the largest booths packed full of stationery awesomeness and which also made their NYIGF debut this week!

First up, Rifle Paper Co.!  I look forward to their beautiful booth at the National Stationery Show each year, but they also did an amazing job with their booth for NYIGF.  Anna and Nathan also have a ton of fun new products coming very soon – from magnetic shopping list notepads to beautiful gold foil and floral pocket journals to new greeting cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rifle Paper Co.

Next up, Crow and Canary – making their NYIGF debut with a booth representing a collective of several stationers.  Although this was technically a single booth, it was packed full of gorgeous stationery from several of my favorite designers!

 

Pie Bird Press (left) and Two Trick Pony (right)

Red Cap Cards

 

Paper + Cup

 

Susy Jack* – including gorgeous new paperweights and writing sets!

 

Dear Hancock (left) and Gold Teeth Brooklyn (right)

 

The Great Lakes (left) and Enormous Champion (right)

The Great Lakes

 

Sapling Press

 

Ghost Academy (left) and Greenwich Letterpress (right)

Ghost Academy

Greenwich Letterpress

I’m afraid that’s all for now, but I’ll be back with lots more soon!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Friday Happy Hour: The Stone Fence

This is a very simple, three hundred year-old drink, just updated a bit with the addition of bitters. The Stone Fence pre-dates the United States, made by colonial farmers with what they had easily at hand: apple cider from their orchards and rye from their fields. Rye was the grain and drink of choice until settlers made their way into the Kentucky Valley, discovered they could grow more corn there than they could ever eat, and made bourbon into America’s spirit.  This is an old drink, but don’t dismiss it as an antique: this is the sort of drink that wins battles.

 

Read below for the full recipe!

The Stone Fence

2 oz Rye Whiskey
Apple Cider
2 Dashes Angostura or Aromatic Bitters

 

Combine the whiskey and bitters in a highball glass filled with ice, then fill to the top with apple cider and give it a stir.  Garnish with a bunch of bruised mint leaves and enjoy. 

 

Bourbon works here, and dark rum would be historically accurate too (rum probably predated rye in the Stone Fence), but the spiciness of the rye is a nice balance to the sweetness of the cider.  If you want to really recreate the original version of the drink, use hard cider (just drink this one carefully).  The result is a drink that is sweet, tart, spicy, and as refreshing on a summer day as it is warming on a cold New England night.

 

So here’s the bit about winning battles: on the morning of May 10th, 1775, Ethan Allen led 83 of Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys to capture Fort Ticonderoga from the English.  Allen’s plan?  Rush into the fort and see what happens.  The lone sentry fled, the Green Mountain Boys began rounding up the sleeping English soldiers, and Allen charged into the officers’ quarters.  Allegedly a giant of a man, he demanded they surrender “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!”  At least, that’s the legend.  The English promptly surrendered and no one died.  Where did they get their courage to charge into the fort, guarded by professional English soldiers backed by canons, and audaciously demand its surrender?  Allen and his Boys were up all night on the 9th planning the attack and drinking Stone Fences.  A few hours later, on the morning of the 10th, they were almost certainly still drunk out of their minds.  Allen’s men then looted all of the fort’s liquor and probably kept on drinking.  So goes history.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper