Welcome Ryan!

Tags

milk & honey, milk and honey, milk and honey luxuries

Eric Kelley Photography

Fourteen years ago, my husband and I worked together. We weren’t married then, and truth be told I’m not sure he knew I existed at the time. He was a bartender and I served cocktails on the weekends while I was in school. Getting to see him made work that much more fun. Nothing passes the time quite as well as being a smitten girl with a crush. And now, eleven years of marriage, two children and ten million I love you’s later, we are working together once again. Ryan has joined me at Milk & Honey!

He’s been such an important part of my business for a long time now. His unwavering support of me and genuine pride in my successes has quashed any self-doubt I might have felt in the past two years. At night while he cooks dinner, I pour the wine and we talk about our days. So often when I have an idea that I can’t quite pin down, he is the fresh set of eyes that immediately sees what needs to be done. When I get overwhelmed in the busy seasons, he will calmly write out a game plan for me (ranking my tasks by time frame and cross-referencing by importance…), a sort of rough draft to my work day that I can’t seem to create while under pressure. His significant background in business has been invaluable to me as well. Accounting is not my strongest suit, and I find taxes a bore, so he has lent his expertise which allowed me more time to focus on creating. Just as in our marriage, our differences have complimented each other in business as well.

Eric Kelley Photography

This past week, Ryan took time off from his 9-5 job to learn the complete ins and outs of running an Etsy shop, but more importantly, to finish work on his first line. Because lately, his own artistic streak has re-emerged. His grandfather worked with wood, creating everything from children’s toys to furniture and Ryan learned from him as a child. Ryan would drill holes and sand the scrap pieces of wood while his grandfather worked on larger projects. This background has given him the foundation to take his creative ideas and turn them into something tangible that you can hold and enjoy. His work is as functional as it is beautiful and I can’t wait for it to launch this week to share his talents with our customers.

Eric Kelley Photography

So what does this mean in terms of change? Very little, beyond the addition of Ryan’s fantastic product lines. If you’ve ever peeked at my Etsy ‘About’ page, you would have noticed him listed as occasional administrative help. When things got busy in the shop, Ryan would jump in to return feedback, make post office runs and fill out sales tax forms. Now you might also hear from him directly, answering your emails or returning your phone calls. All hand stamping will still be 100% created by me (I love doing it too much to share!), as well as anything that involves sewing (my grandmother was the seamstress, his grandfather the wood worker). You won’t see a change in the products I already make, but you will notice beautiful new products showing up here and there, and you will know by reading the product descriptions exactly what was made by who.

Eric Kelley Photography

We are a family company now, and I am still slightly in shock that my beloved pastime has grown to the point that it allows Ryan and I to work together, side by side again. I know that it would never have been possible without Milk & Honey’s amazing customer base, so I thank all of you for making it possible for us to continue to create for you, together.

And now, for no other reason than I could not narrow down my favorites from our recent photo shoot with the wildly talented Eric Kelley, here are a few more shots of Ryan and I in idyllic Charlottesville, Va.

Balsamic Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Tags

bruschetta recipe, food and drink, hedonism, heirloom tomatoes, how-to, milk & honey, milk and honey, party food, photo tutorial, recipes, vegitarian food

image via sunset

Sorry I haven’t been around in the past week but I do have a very good reason: it was my birthday! True to my hedonistic nature, birthdays are never a one-day affair but a flurry of dinners, celebrations and gatherings with plenty of friends, family, wine and food.

This year started on my birthday eve when I my husband took me and the kids out to our favorite sushi restaurant for The Love Boat (a two foot long wooden boat, complete with sails, covered in over 70 pieces of sushi and sashimi). My kids think it is the most amazing thing they have ever seen and would prefer if every restaurant served their dinner on Japanese warships.

The main-event of my birthday celebration will be a day spent touring the Charlottesville wineries with a big group of friends and family next month. But even though schedules didn’t allow for it on my actual birthday, we still didn’t let the day (or excuse for a party) pass us by. We had our extended family over to barbecue. It rained all day, but that doesn’t stop us from having a ball (after the second bottle of Pinot I doubt anything was going to stop us from having a ball). My husband grilled fresh oysters which he served with his homemade mignonette sauce (best tip- use champagne vinegar instead of the plain white variety). And I made my current obsession: balsamic heirloom tomato and goat cheese bruschetta. I’m certain there is a less-wordy name for this recipe. Ambrosia works well. Or perhaps just “heaven”.

Here’s the absurdly simple yet absolutely sublime recipe. Please excuse the image quality on this post but the sun refused my party invitation so these were all taken inside.

First things first; get your grubby mitts on some heirloom tomatoes. We found ours at The Fresh Market but if you can get them at a local farm-stand, all the better. They are ugly, misshapen, gnarled little buggers that come in a rainbow of odd colors. They are the epitome of wabi-sabi in that their imperfections are exactly what make them so perfect. Next you’ll want to whip up some poor-mans pesto. If you happen to have a dashing man hanging around your kitchen, as I did, ask him to pull the leaves off the basil and finely chop them. Or you could do it yourself, but then someone else would have to take the picture. After chopping the basil, put it in a little bowl with a good amount of chopped garlic (the jarred refrigerated kind is fine) and drown it with extra virgin olive oil (don’t measure it, just pour it on for a few good glug-glugs of the bottle), then crack black pepper and sea salt over it, mix it up and set it aside. While he’s chopping basil, make yourself useful and chop up the tomatoes. When you slice the tomato in half, use your (hopefully washed) fingers to dig out the seedy pulp from the insides. You just want the meaty part of the tomatoes for this. Chop them up into whatever size chunks you prefer. Then dump your pesto mixture on top and mix well. Then drizzle heavily with balsamic vinegar and stir it through. Set it aside to do its magic (ie: marinate). In the meantime, get some good crusty french bread and slice it into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Lay them out on a baking sheet and put under the broiler until barely toasted.

Next get your goat cheese out. I like the plain crumbled kind with this recipe. They also come in thick, creamy, flavored varieties that are delicious on steak. but for this, the tomatoes are the star, so the plain works best.

Drain the tomato mixture if needed, or just use a slotted spoon to transfer the mixture to a clean serving bowl. Spread a piece of the warm bread with the crumbled goat cheese then top with the bruschetta. Divine.

This was a big hit at the party, but I also love to whip up a batch to nibble on while we drink wine on the deck. Hopefully the heirlooms I planted in the raised garden bed will keep me in bruschetta heaven all summer long. In my constant (losing) battle to institute “Meatless Mondays” at our house, so far this recipe is the closest I’ve come to victory.

Spring Bada-Bing Craft Show

Tags

craft show, milk & honey, milkandhoneyluxuries, spring bada bing

Don’t get me wrong, I love selling on Etsy. I mean, where else can you go to work in your PJ’s with a cup of coffee in hand, blaring your own music as loud as you want and in the course of a day have meaningful email interactions with people not only across the country but across the world. It’s 8am here on the east coast and I’ve already chatted (well, via email) with a great customer in Taiwan and one of my favorites in Australia. And I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.

That said, there is nothing like actually getting to talk to people face to face, and in this business (since I have no plans of opening a brick & mortar shop), that means craft shows.  I’ve only done a few so far, but every time I learn so many new things. Online you’ll see an item get 40 or 50 views, but no one favorites it and you wonder why. At a craft show, people will actually tell you (nicely) all sorts of things about your creations and the comments are worth their weight in gold. I used to make a lot of spoon handle necklaces until at a craft show last fall several people  came by my booth, handled the necklaces thoughtfully, then told me or told the person they were shopping with “wouldn’t this look great as a key chain?” I’m sure you can guess the ending of that story- spoon handle key chains are now one of the more popular items in my store.

Great product advice aside, it’s also immensely gratifying to be able to thank someone in person and to see them light up when they see something you’ve made that they just have to have. Not to mention the other artisans at the show. Meeting people who, just like you, have started a small business based on a passion for their craft and their belief in themselves is exciting and inspiring. One of the first things I do after setting up my booth is to walk around to the other vendors and collect their business cards. I follow them on twitter, bookmark their blogs and favorite them on etsy because when I’m shopping for a gift, whether it be letterpress birthday cards, handmade clay bowls, baby tutus, knitted goods, what-have-you, that’s where I’m going to look first. I don’t want to say, “look what I bought you at Target.”, I want to say, “I got this from Jane, an amazing local artist I met last year at a show. She makes her ink from vegetable pigments that she grows herself. I saw this print she created and knew you’d love it”.

This year when I was researching spring and summer shows, I zeroed in on the Spring Bada-Bing craft show. It’s put on by the Richmond Craft Mafia and their motto is “rubbin’ out the mass produced”, and is held at the Plant Zero art center (amazing place- artist apartments, studios, exhibition areas, restaurants and common areas, all under one roof).  I absorbed every word on their website, looked at pictures from past shows, then stared at the application form in terror for about 5 minutes (they get far more applications than they have booths), took a deep breath, and applied. Last night the email came through I got in!

Here is the info for anyone in or around the Richmond area, and I will be posting more as we get closer to the event. Click anywhere in the FAQs to be brought directly to their website.

“FAQ

Who: The Richmond Craft Mafia

What: “Spring Bada-Bing: The BOSS of all craft shows” is an independent artist craft show in Richmond, Virginia

Where: The show will be held at Plant Zero, a creative indoor artist live-work space.

When: Sunday, April 17th 2011 from 11am to 5 pm

Why: Because, after 6 years, we still want to bring unique, innovative shopping to RVA!

 

Where & what is Plant Zero?

Plant Zero is one of the coolest creative spaces in town, and has been home to the Spring Bada-Bing for 4 years now.

Plant Zero is located at 0 E. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23224. This is directly off of Hull Street in the Manchester District of Southside Richmond. (Note: some mapping software gets confused by this address–if you encounter this problem, you can use 7 E. 3rd St, which is the secondary entrance to Plant Zero.)

Is there an admission or ticket price for shoppers?

Heck no! Free, baby, free.

I know there are about 5550094301 “What You Need To Know For A Craft Show” blogs out there, but I will likely raise that number to 5550094302 later on this summer after I’ve done a few more shows. In the meantime, hope to see you on April 17th!