Summer Shenanigans with Penny The Scout

It's been a summer full of adventures with Penny the Scout: going to the beach, training, hiking, and chillaxing at the Ace Palm Springs.

Night Riding in Grand Park

Grand Park is the newest park and attraction to open up in Downtown LA. It's quickly become one of our favorite places to hang out in Downtown LA! Designed by Rios Clemente Hale Studios, the park is a much needed hang out space with amazing views of City Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. We recently took our SR Bicycles out for a night ride to beat the LA heat. A wonderful gem of a space in the middle of downtown!

Lego VW Campervan

 

 

We've been eyeing the Lego VW Camper Van since it came out a few months ago, as it combines two of some of our favorite things. It's a perfect Summer project. 1332 pieces and an afternoon later, we have our own mini Camper Van. The details to the kit are amazing- fabric curtains, an engine block, seats that fold into a bed, a folding table, operable windows. It's a pure joy to build. More pics on our flickr page.

Cedar & Salt

From the mountains...to the oceans. Dreaming of vacation but settling for soap.

Sunset over Sunset Blvd

...it never gets old.

SR Outdoor Table Sets: Summertime Colors

Our clients have great taste in colors. Love these summertime SR White Oak Table Sets!

Summertime Sunset Dining

Summertime sunset dining on our SR Outdoor Table Set. Much needed after a weekend inside the LA Convention Center for Dwell on Design 2012!

Upstate NY Part 4: Pizza Tour 2011

Who doesn't love a good pizza pie? When we lived in Brooklyn, we were right next to some of the best street pizza around from Luigi's Pizzeria.  Now that we're in LA, we have a shortlist of fine pies, topped by Mozza and followed by Casa Bianca, Mother Dough, and...well that's about it. Whenever we're in Upstate NY, pizza becomes a staple food group. Some of the best pizza we've ever had is in the Triple City region. Our visit this year was no exception in eating as many slices of pizza iterations as possible. Here's a few of the highlights:

Jim Roma's Bakery
Jim Roma's sheet pizza probably had the sweetest of all the sauces, with a light and fluffy crust that was just on the verge of being undercooked. It made for a great saucy slice that was delicious even at room temperature. They slice the sheet with giant scissors, which seem completely appropriate given the "shear" scale of pizza we're talking about.

Jim Roma's Bakery

202 North Nanticoke Ave.
Endicott, NY 13760

Mario's Pizza
Another exceptional sheet pizza is the plain cheese sheet from Mario's. The crust is quite a bit softer than a standard round pizza, probably because of the sheer volume and size of the pie. A mildly sweet sauce topped with a hearty portion of cheese.

Mario's Pizza

51 Fox Street

Owego, NY 13827

Consol's Family Kitchen

Hands down the best pizza we had that week was the "Hot Pie" at Consol's. The pies were made famous by Consul's Uncle Duff back in the mid 1940's. The perfectly thin but substantial crust with a slightly sweet sauce is topped with a nice blend of cheeses.  They also have a grilled pizza which we'll have to taste test next time we're there. The best part is how they package the pies to go- not in a box, but wrapped with butcher paper so the pies don't sweat.

Consol's Family Kitchen

101 Oak Hill Ave.

Endicott, NY 13760

Shortstop Deli
While technically not a pizza in the truest sense, honorable mentions go to the Hot Truck Pizza Sub from the Shortstop Deli, which combines the best of both the pizza and sandwich worlds. These toasted subs are made of fresh french bread baked daily on site, with options for toppings that you check off from an order form at the counter. The Poor Man's Pizza (PMP) is a standout. They even have their own secret "truck sauce" which seems to be some mixture of mayonnaise, garlic, pizza sauce, and amazingness.

Shortstop Deli

200 W. Seneca St.

Ithaca, NY 14850

Upstate NY Part 3: Triple City Carousels

With 6 historic wooden carousels, the Triple City area near Binghamton is the self proclaimed "Carousel Capital of the World". The carousels were donated by George Johnson of the Endicott-Johnson shoe company at the beginning on the 20th Century, with the caveat that all carousel rides would forever be free. What a treat for kids and kids at heart alike. We went to the carousel at Highland Park in Endwell, and even got a fun button for a spin on the carousel. More pics on our flickr feed!

Upstate NY Part 2: The Great New York State Fair

One of the highlights of our week in Upstate New York was visiting the Great New York State Fair, which is the oldest and one of the largest state fairs in the country. While most people think of the City when you mention New York, the state has a strong agricultural core, and the fair was full of agricultural exhibits including barns full of poultry, dairy cattle, hay crops, and of course a butter sculpture.

More pics on our flickr feed, including images of (almost) prized pigeons, honorary Christmas trees, a miniature circus, and of course, Hot Beef Sundaes.

Upstate NY Part 1: Upstate is Gorges

Before the devastating floods hit the Southern Tier region of Upstate New York, we spent a week in the area visiting family, friends, and seeing the sites. The landscape around the Owego, Candor, Ithaca, and Binghamton area is full of lush rolling hills scattered with small farms and roadside fruit stands. We know there's lots of work ahead to rebuild affected towns- hopes for a speedy recovery in the region!

Picnic in Elysian Park

Photos by Shannon Cottrell Photography

What is summer without a picnic in the park? We finally cleared out a weekend to co-host a picnic in Elysian Park with our friends at You Have Been Here Sometime and A Note on Design. What a lovely afternoon filled with old and new friends, piles of food on blankets, bocce ball, and a pinata shaped like a can of Modelo.

Thanks to our good friend Shannon Cottrell for taking some amazing photographs that afternoon. You can find her work on her site and weekly in the LA Weekly.  Looking forward to more summer picnics, whether they're in 2011 or 2012!

Summer at Headquarters

We've had a pretty busy working summer so far, so our posts might be a bit more sporadic than usual. Lots of fun things coming up!

Our SR garden products will be available at Product Porch starting this month at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Check out the store from the masterminds behind Specific Merchandise and The Vitrine.

We'll also have an installation as part of the HDTS 2011 weekend at High Desert Test Sites in October.  Stay tuned for updates!