Zergüt - A Gastronomic Short Film

So we're a little excited about this one here at Gastronomista HQ - we've been starving for some gorgeous imagery to get us through the week - and now this.  Our mouths water, our eyes tear, and we suddenly don't feel so guilty for those rotting bell peppers at the bottom of our refrigerator.

A short animation by the Los Angeles based multimedia artists Natasha Subramaniam & Alisa Lapidus with the cinematography of Oliver Fitzgerald was shot over two years - and they sum it up best in their synopsis:

"Within a refrigerator, a battle ensues as moldy, decaying foods forgotten in the depths of the black rise up against the fresh ingredients that reside in the front.   These confrontations escalate, as foods morph, disintegrate, dance, explode, and become a textural, abstract display of color and form culminating in a grand scale finale sequence that results in their obliteration.  Set to Sergei Prokofiev's Opus 84, Dance of the Knights, from the ballet Romeo & Juliet, Zergüt merges cinema, gastronomy, and classical music through stop-motion animation and high-speed filmmaking, bringing alive a culinary universe in the vein of a contemporary day Fantasia.  Zergüt focuses on the unique, often overlooked beauty of everyday eatable delights."

Bring. It. On.


Untitled from Zergüt on Vimeo.

Seems like they are still doing some fund raising to finish the film - if we were in LA we would go to their event on May 15 - if you are in the area details are here.

And now for some seriously gorgeous stills from Zergüt:

And then there's this bit: in slow motion  - set your own soundtrack.  What a teaser. 


Untitled from Zergüt on Vimeo.


We cannot wait for the film's completion.  The film is dangerously inciting - good versus evil, explosions, character disintegration, stop animation!  Much more to come from this pair, we are certain of that.

Take Thee to the Jell-o-ry

Tonight, take yourself on down to the Gowanus Canal for the 2010 GSS Jell-O Mold Competition. It's free. It's from 6-1o. And it's going to be a whole heap of jiggly fun.

This aint your Aunt Lorna's neighborhood Jell-O cook-off. The second annual competition is judged by a serious roster of designers and architects, including Harry Allen of Harry Allen Design, Allan Chochinov of Core 77, food design strategist Elizabeth Thacker Jones, and Becky Stern, Associate Editor of CRAFT and Make. The event is being hosted by the wonderfully wacky Thu Tran, the creator of the kind of creepy Food Party puppetry series available on IFC.

Entries will be evaluated on their creativity, aesthetics, structural ingenuity, culinary appeal, and use of Jell-O as the mendium of construction.

In anticipation of tonight's showcase, here's a re-cap of what played well last year:

The 2009 Grand Prize Winners, with a totally bodacious entry (so cool)
"Jell-O Cocktail Trumpery" by Kandice Levero and Julia Greene

2009 Honorable Mention to a lady after our own hearts, in her admiration of Ms. Miranda

"Carmen Gelatina" by Indu Pillay

The 2009 Runner-up for Creativity, some glistening salmony eggs

"Jell-Roe" by Kegan Fisher and Lynn Kinnmark of Design Glut, inventor of Egg Pants!

Honorable Mention

"Jasper Johns Jell-O Surprise" by Shelly Sabel

Photos by Bryce Ward via Gowanus Studio

Be there or be square.

I'm lucky to have the best mom in the world. She's warm and generous and fun. She listens to me, she helps me out (a lot, all the time), she supports my wild and crazy dreams, and she brings me back down to earth when I need it every once in a while. She has inspired me to be independent, ambitious, relentless and creative. And she's also instilled in me a great passion for entertaining friends and family around a table, for creating a beautiful home, and for sharing love through delicious baked goods.

Mom, if I were home this weekend, I'd bake you this tattoo cake!

via thepaperchef

Here are The Top 10 Tips I learned from my Mom:

1. Chocolate can cure all wounds.

2. Smoosh your chocolate chip cookies mid-bake and they’ll be extra soft and chewy. Just press the sides in a little bit with your spatula until the cookies get all wrinkly.

3. All cake baking mistakes can be fixed with extra icing.

4. Freeze the mixing bowl and the beaters before making whipped cream, and it’ll go faster.

5. To slice through layers of a cake horizontally, use a taught piece of dental floss and drag it through.

6. Cream. Cheese. Frosting. It’s delicious on everything and one of the easiest things in the world to make: cream cheese and powdered sugar, all whipped up.

7. Don't be fooled by a sweet talking man with a cute smile. He just might be a heartbreaker!

8. Jell-o is kind of awesome.

9. Estate sales and garage sales are the best sources for vintage cookbooks, cake molds, bundt pans, cookie cutters of all shapes and sizes, serving platters. Thanks, Mom, for all the great stuff you've collected for me over time!

10. The secret ingredient is love.

Punning Around

Our friends over at Eat Me Daily introduced us to Smiling Squid on Etsy. We're loving their punny illustrations.