Creative Humans - Alice Gao

Meeting Alice Gao in New York City was something of a dream. To me, she is a bit of a superhero. Her photography and blog has always been on my very high admiration list and I have often thought that I would like to be like her when I grow up. Gush I might, but I have to say that meeting her in person only heightened my keenness towards her. We met on 10th and 2nd, at Third Rail Coffee. The hour that was to follow went all too fast - probably because I was far too excited. There was green tea, talk of Alice's Chinese history (quite the inspiring immigration story), snap chatting and the very cute, featured fox umbrella. She was oh so kind and incredibly generous with her time. It's a lovely feeling to meet your super hero. Especially when they are even nicer than you had imagined them to be. I honestly believe one day we will be best friends...

I still can't quite believe that it happened. Alice Gao. New York. Goodness gracious me!!

What projects are you currently working on?

I've definitely been keeping myself busy with the new site I launched with my friend Kristy -- A Standard of Living. I'm also wrapping up a female chefs cookbook that should be out in Spring 2015. Besides that, I'm working with some new clients on fun shoots.

Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?

This city, traveling, slants of light and shadow, and my favorite books.

Why a photographer?
I'm not sure I'd be happy doing anything else.

Do you listen to music while you work? If so, would you be so kind to share some of your favourite artists?

I could really go either way, which is shocking to some people who definitely need music while they work. I'm terrible when it comes to music -- in that I'm not super picky about what I listen to. When I need to get through tedious work, I often listen to Bon Iver because it soothes me.

Do you have a morning ritual?

Yes! I am a total disaster if I don't make my daily pourover coffee. It's not so much the caffeine that I need as it is the routine and ritual of it all. Even if I have an early morning coffee meeting, I still need to make the first cup at home. Other than that, I don't care for what else happens in the morning.

What's your idea of a perfect Friday night?

Ooh that depends, but I think having a small handful of friends over for wine or cocktails and catching up all night sounds pretty nice to me.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

The Bolivia salt flats is always high on my list. 

Best piece of advice you've ever given or been given?

I think I'm too cynical to take most advice seriously hah. There was once a fortune cookie I kept that said, "The harder you work, the luckier you get." I like that.

What's for dinner?

Probably something super simple -- this summer, I've lived off rice and green market vegetables (tons of squash, fairytale eggplants, tomatoes, etc.).

The best part about being a creative?

All of the freedom it allows. And there's no real "limit" to what you can do and accomplish.

The worst part?

I can't say there really is a worst part. Maybe it's that I can never really shut off and my work takes over my life often. It's hard to remember to recharge and not overcrowd my plate.


Day or night? Night
Old or new? Old
City or Country? City
Coffee or Tea? Coffee (but I'm an equal opportunity drinker)

What do you enjoy most about living in NYC?

Well, everything. You can't slack off here. The city pushes you and it can destroy you if you let it. Or it can be the best challenge of your life.

Thoughts for the future:
Right now I'm taking it a day at a time, though I do hope there are greater travels in my future and an all-glass lake house somewhere...

Bellocq Tea Atelier

There are places, real gems of places, that are so alluring and dear that you wish you could just dissolve into their surroundings so that you could stay there forever. Bellocq Tea Ateliers is like that. When we happened upon the store front blended into an old warehouse building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I could hardly contain my excitement. Being a life long wooer of tea, I had found my heaven. 

Bellocq has a certain charm that goes beyond it's beautiful, organic loose leaf tea. The space is quite poetic, from the jungle of hanging ferns and the walls of collected copper tea pots to the chandelier hung, dusty pink sitting room out the back. There is a warmth inside and a knowing that every tea has been blended in house with admiration and attention to its natural richness and depth of flavour. Given the opportunity, Michael, co-founder and proprietor of Bellocq, will graciously tell you that. Quite easily the most generous and inviting store owner that I have ever met, it is clear that Michael adores tea. He poured us brewed tea to taste, gave us samples to take home and spoke lovingly of his favourite blends. We stayed for quite some time, smelling the teas and chatting about this and that. Never did we feel that we had out stayed our welcome. In fact, I would have loved to have sat and stayed a while more. It was time and place that happens all to infrequently. It was special, and just so lovely. We left with our samples, a brass tea strainer and a packet of my daily staple, English Breakfast tea. My only regret is that I didn't buy more and that I don't live in Brooklyn to be able to linger in the store, among the poetic charm and wafts of tea, more often.

Bellocq Tea Atelier, 104 West Street, Brooklyn, New York 11222

Relishing Simplicity

We quite often find ourselves in the mountains. It's become a lot like a second home. Sometimes Tennessee, other times North Carolina, most times we will be camping and quite often rock climbing is involved.

We are, as it would seem, nature people. The woods provide a certain placidity vital to our souls. For him it is the challenge and the rocky surfaces, for me it is the green and the solitude I find there.  Often, it is just more simple. And we like that. 

The canopy of the woods in the mountains in late August provide an escape from the heat that lays still on the flat Floridian ground. It's nice to find that. But even still, late summer in Tennessee isn't always all that forgiving. And although the foliage provides the shade, the sweat still drips, the mosquitoes still bite and the breeze quietly tends to snuff out. However, the feeling of being among that, as the season intended and without the air conditioning, somehow becomes cleansing. The uncultivated surrounds and the leaving behind of any sort of normal routine make my body relish the simplicity. I feel happier, healthier and more rested.   

There is a trail that leads down a rocky path to the river, where a swinging bridge hangs. The river flows from the waterfall. And like nothing else, we swim. The water is cold. The late afternoon heat is perfect for that. It's also perfect for a simple sandwich snack for his tattered climbing hands to hold and my hungry hiking tummy to fill up on. 

We brought the bread with us, from our favorite bakery in Jacksonville. Once, it was a baguette. I was much too excited and forgot to photograph that. 

The cheese, I bought from a small grocer in Chattanooga. A lovely local cheddar from a farm in Philadelphia, Tennessee. 

The tomato relish, I made to bring with us using the last of the seasons heirloom tomatoes, flavoured with currants, cloves and just the right hint of red chili. 

I would happily take any day by a tree lined swimming hole. No matter how icy the water or how hot the air. It leaves us refreshed of the heat and refreshed of complexities. We revive our sense of wonder at the world, and the best bit, we relish in the simplicity of summer life. 

Heirloom Tomato Relish

prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 1 hour 
total time: 1 hours 10 minutes
yields: 1 medium jar full

550 gm heirloom tomatoes (about 4), coarsely chopped
175 ml (3/4 cup) white wine vinegar
100 gm (1/2 cup) brown sugar
1 apple, coarsely chopped
125 gm currants
25 gm fine sea salt
1 tsp white peppercorns
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground cloves
finely grated rind of 2 unwaxed lemons
1 medium sterilized jar

Some people like to peel their tomatoes by blanching them in boiling water and peeling them once they are cool. But if you don't mind a more textured relish, skins and all, don't worry about it. Just throw them in, as is.
Process ingredients in a food processor to a coarse paste. Transfer to a large saucepan, bring to a gentle boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once sugar has dissolved, reduce heat to medium low and stir occasionally until thick (about 1 hour). Set aside to cool. Place in Jar, refrigerate and use within 2 weeks. 

A Simple Summer Sandwich

sharp cheddar cheese
rocket (arugula)
heirloom tomato relish
sourdough baguette 

Combine slices of cheddar, a hand full of rocket (arugula) and a good spread of relish onto a sourdough baguette. Cut into individual size pieces.

Wrap in brown baking parchment, tie up with string and bundle together in a piece of square fabric or a bento bag like this one. Enjoy.

Creative Humans - Grace Taylor | Provencial Magazine

I caught a cab to Bushwick, Brooklyn. A place I had never, ever been to before. It was Sunday afternoon. There was street graffiti on the surrounding brick walls and an outdoor bar across the road that had music blasting from its boom box. I walked to the address that I had been given and very soon I found myself in 'The Lighthouse'. The affectionate name given to a light, air filled two story apartment, fitted with a spiral staircase and a black board with the words 'PVNCL the process' written on it. Standing at the door was Grace Taylor, curator and editor of Provencial Magazine. There was an immediate contrast to the street outside. Grace warmly invited me into her home and poured me a cup of tea. We sat and chatted about all things Provencial, France and New York and our shared love of Nashville and beautiful magazines.

Grace is unfathomably lovely. She is the epitome of a driven, passionate, 22 year old creative entrepreneur. Her creative talent is the driving force behind Provencial, a magazine inspired by a trip Grace took to France last summer. The magazine aims to capture simplicity, creativity and a balanced lifestyle along with process and the beauty of slowing down - exactly the way Grace found life to be among the lavender and sunflower fields of Provence. 

After our afternoon tea together we took a walk to the subway. There, among the graffiti covered walls and background noise of the surrounding Bushwick streets, something a bit surreal happened. Grace invited me to become a contributor to Provencial Magazine. My little heart was racing. How would you be? How could this be? I was going to become a part of the beautiful direction and inspired filled pages of Provencial Magazine. Eeek. Grace has oodles of vision. The magazine does too. So you can imagine how I felt knowing that I would play a small part towards its incredibly inspiring story... I was thrilled.

Currently Provencial is an online platform, however the magazine has plans to go to print and have Volume One out by November with the help of their current kickstarter campaign. Read on and enjoy the interview, and at the end, if you like everything that you have been introduced to, I urge you to  jump on over to the kickstarter site and pre-order yourself a copy of Volume One. It is going to be something wonderful. Grace, her passion, talent and sweet, sweet self, is a testament to that. 

What Projects are you currently working on?

Right now I'm working on printing Volume One of Provencial Magazine. It's a big job. As editor I have to be in contact with all my wonderful writers and photographers, organizing everything and making sure it all fits together. I'm also working with designers to design the magazine's layout, which is so much fun, but takes time! We've launched a kickstarter to fund the print, and I'm keeping close watch and updating our wonderful readers. 

Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?

My creative inspiration comes from both big and small places. As big as the southern region of France and as small as a cup of black coffee. It comes from the things and people that calm me down. It comes from family and friends and seeing them come alive. It comes from my curious nature, my need to discover and discuss things. It mostly comes from the world's mere beauty, its vastness and the fact that I can never run out of stories to tell. 

Why an Editor?

Editing allows me to use my eye for excellence to curate on all levels, content that I connect with and believe my readers will connect with as well.  I'm passionate about writing and photography, but my desire for creativity goes beyond what I can do alone. That's why I became an editor, to pull others in and create a larger forum to inspire our readers together. It's important to be able to organize everything and keep in contact with everyone. Someone has to be the glue.

Do you listen to music while you work? If so, would you be so kind to share some of your favourite artists?

I do listen to music while I work! Some of my favorites at the moment are Johnnyswim, James Vincent McMorrow, City and Colour and The Oh Hello's. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for Taylor Swift and John Mayer (separately of course). 

Do you have a morning ritual?

I love mornings. They are quiet, cool and calm, which is ideal for me most of the time. I wake up and head straight the kitchen where I turn on my electric kettle, grind some beans and get ready to press some coffee. That's number one. I'll check my planner, see what today looks like, sometimes read for 15 minutes, whether it's the novel I'm into right now or my Bible. Then when my coffee is done, I really like to just sit quietly in my big blue velvet chair and drink a cup in silence (the car honks and construction sometimes want to be a part of it too).

What's your idea of a perfect Friday night?

My perfect Friday night is making a lovely dinner at home with my friends, talking and laughing until about 11 (which is late for me), then going to sleep content and awaiting a lovely two days off. I sometimes wonder if I'm missing anything by being a complete homebody and having the body clock of an 80 year old at 22. But then I realize that I still feel quite young, wild and free just the way I am, so I stopped worrying. 

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

At the moment, if I could travel anywhere in the world, it would be Iceland. I want to dive into the Blue Lagoon and see the fog roll over the green hills. It seems like such an inspiring place, and I'm hoping to include it in a future travel issue of Provencial :)

Best piece of advice you've ever given or been given?

The best advice I've ever been given is that when you have an idea, when you come up with something great, just DO. Do something, and deal with things as they come. It's that simple. That's how people do it. 

What's for dinner?

Dinner is my lightest meal of the day, believe it or not. I'll usually have some grilled asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, a salad with goat cheese, dried cranberries and almonds with Balsamic glaze, or cereal. Just depends on the day. 

The best part about being a creative?

The best part about being a creative is that you can truly feel like you can do anything you set your mind to. You think you can do anything, which isn't always true, of course, but it's the internal mindset of a creative that propels us forward. 

The worst part?

The worst part is we can get so immersed in our visions and our worlds, that sometimes we can forget the little responsibilities. It's all a balancing act, life, and creatives especially need to make sure they're paying attention and stay grounded. 

Day or night?

Evening

Old or new?

Most new (with a little nostalgia thrown in)

City or Country?

I could never choose. I grew up near the country, rode horses, love nature, but have lived in NYC for years now. They are so different and incomparable and I love them both. 

Coffee or Tea? 

Coffee, absolutely. Coffee always and forever. 

What do you enjoy most about living in Brooklyn, NY?

What I enjoy most about this city is knowing that anything I could ever want, think or imagine, exists in this city. And if it doesn't, there's someone here to help me make it reality. The food, coffee and endless exploring possibilities aren't bad either. 

Thoughts for the future?

The future is always unknown, and a lot bigger than anything we could imagine. Let's keep it that way.