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.

Cakesplosion!!!

You may remember the Cupcake Cannon - a project by Johnny Cupcakes that got us all hot and bothered a while back.  We've found a perfect sequel to that cakey mess - Autoerotique's Turn Up The Volume video directed by Miles Jay & Derek Blais
. 

 Awesome.  If you have a spare minute, watch the video, we love the black eggs and black butter!  



via This is Colossal

Cocktail Redux: Solerno Grapefruit Margaritas

We love going out for a proper cocktail - but sometimes one must bring the proper cocktail home. 

This weekend we decided to mix up the Margarita.  We've been longtime fans of the Grand Marnier Margarita - but quite honestly, we were downright wooed by that handsome Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur bottle.  (Grand Marnier, time to step up your game).  With the abundance of grapefruits around we decided to mix up some Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit and Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur Margaritas.  Major Yums.

1/2 Part Solerno Liqueur
1 1/2 Parts Tequila Blanco
Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit Juice

Shaken with Ice

Rim Glass with Fresh Blood Orange Juice, garnish with Blood Orange Rind. 

Solerno is a Blood Orange Liqueur that is made and bottled in Sicily, triple distilled with Sanquinello oranges, orange zest, and Sicilian lemons.  We were surprised that the liqueur was clear - but very full in flavor.  It's quite refreshing served with soda water.  We're also pleased to learn that Solerno is sweetened with sucrose from sugar beets, not corn syrup.  All that goodness, and quite frankly, we're smitten with the bottle.  What a beauty.

Cookie Boy

There is one thing you never have to say twice to girls like us, cookies are delicious.  Because they are.  We have a deep love for cookies, and a deeper love for really beautiful cookies. 

Japanese cookie artist Takeshi Hiroshi, aka Cookie Boy, is starting a cookie renaissance.  His cookies are graphic, colorful, whimsical, and extremely photogenic.  His disciplined repetition cookie to cookie is really quite remarkable - we traditionally get too excited of the prospect of making something else out of that already used shape...but we digress.

He sums it up best:

One day, anniversary gifts to make cookies.
Smile like a child when I opened the box, I was happy.
Awakening the artistic texture, creating a self-taught cake daily.
Textile design utilizing technology in the past have learned, we made a line drawing type.
Approached in the distance and things to eat.
As the cookies melt in your mouth, goes to unravel the feelings of people.
I found a canvas of cookies.

Thank you Google Translate for that enlightening depiction. 

On to the cookies:

The Cookie Boy, we presume.

The Original Sinners.

Camera.

Song Birds.

Kimonos.

Mystery Man.

Pearl Necklaced Pups.

Turnips.

 Check out his website, and his blog for more information.

Scott Conary, We'd Eat Steak With You

We've been known to be fans of Food in Art, Food as Art, and Art as Food - all tasty combination two of our favorite things.  We've also been known to like meat in paint form - so naturally we are smitten with Scott Conary's meat still life paintings.

We first saw them on the cover of RISD's Alumni publication, RISD XYZ - enamored we remain in all of his work, which can be found on his website. 

Scott Conary - Glow Chop

There is something kind of ... haunting about all of Conary's paintings.  The lonely farm houses, the eerily lit Habanero, that kind of terrifying hammer...there is something almost sadistic and quite literally raw in them.  For still life paintings that blatantly fetishize dinner, we think they are amazingly personal. 

Scott Conary - Rib Chop

Scott Conary - Hen, Back

 

Scott Conary - Habanero 1

Scott Conary - Moth

Scott Conary - Flying Carpet

Scott Conary - Mussels

Scott Conary - Cut Apple

For more information, check out his website.
Another good interview with him on The Daily Meal.

Health Benefits of Beer

Beer is delicious, or so we say as we drink a nice Session Black Premium Dark Lager.  But we've heard rumors that Beer can be good for you too!

Design Firm Belanico out of California has designed an infographic that identifies the health benefits of moderate consumptions of beer.  Antioxidants, heart benefits, kidney benefits, cognitive function, lowers blood pressure, and helps women age better.  Yes please!

Beer You're In The Clear - $25

Your evening Lager, now guilt free.  Cheers!

Recipes Sans Text

Ok, we admit it.  We usually tend to be intimidated by recipes that resemble War and Peace and prefer recipes brief in nature (don't hate us, we're busy girls).  So naturally, we love any kind of drawn recipe.  We've been fans of Kokblog for a while now, Johanna Kindvall's drawings that accompany her recipes are always charming and whimsical.  


With all of our chatter lately about bit about deconstructing the recipe, we thought we should include Johanna's cooking diagrams.  We love her drawings and colorful graphics that make cooking seem so... easy (just how we like it).  

Mushroom Risotto

Ragu Sauce

Semlor for Fat Tuesday

Beef Stew

The Beef Stew entry was also featured in GOOD Magazine's Redesign The Recipe and we must say, Kokblog's Beef Stew was hands down our favorite.

Check out Kokblog for more fantastic foodie recipes here.

A Simple Guide To Eggs

Eggs can sometimes be perplexing - I mean what's all this free-range business versus cage free versus certified humane...all of these different certifications can give a girl a nervous breakdown at at the market!   Thanks to Culinaut you can refer to this nice info-graphic for all your egg based questions.  We always love a good info-graphic!

Click for a bigger, and thereby better view.

Chef Photo Shoot

We, like probably you, are obsessed with Portlandia on IFC.  Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen are relentless in their portrayal of Portland in their hilarious character-based shorts.  We previously featured Is It Local? - a clip that still makes us laugh every time we see it.

Today we bring you Chef Photo Shoot. Chefs are so hot right now, just in case you didn't get the memo.

Art of Cooking

It seems that everyone is deconstructing the recipe these days.  Words have become so passé.

Either way, we're a fan of it.  Give us recipes drawn, via video, stop-animation, just make 'em pretty, that's all we ask.

Carl Kleiner can be credited to really blowing up the deconstructed recipe scene with his Ikea advertisements, Homemade is Best.  We've seen many copycats in the past few months (too many), but none quite get the same level of abstraction, discipline, or whimsy that he does. 

He's done a new Ikea campaign, this one a series of short videos sharing the Art of Cooking. 

These are our favorites:


Ikea - Art of cooking - Make sushi! from Carl Kleiner on Vimeo.



Ikea - Art of cooking - Master flip from Carl Kleiner on Vimeo.



Ikea - Art of cooking - Make espresso! from Carl Kleiner on Vimeo.



Ikea - Art of cooking / Chop chop from Carl Kleiner on Vimeo.

Stumptown Stubbies

Stumptown, Portland has released these charming Stubbies; cold brew coffee bottles and ready to go!  We just love the ye olde-time bottles, and cannot wait for them to make their appearance in the NYC Stumptown locales.

Available in all Portland Cafes!

Gastronomista Guide: Guinness Recipe Roundup for St. Patrick's Day

There's nothing like a Guinness!

Gastronomista Girls love our stout.  There's nothing like a Guinness, or so they say.  Last year we did a story on Ms Nigella Lawson's  Guinness Cake; this tasty cake had us savoring our favorite pour in more ways than one!  This year we are drawing more inspiration from the most classic of Stouts, and doing a roundup of Guinness recipes - savory and sweet!  A teaser: Black and Tan Leg of Lamb, Braised Short Ribs, Guinness Lobster, Guinness and Chocolate Beef Stew...our mouths are watering as we write this!  Read more after the jump.

A Guinness A Day

We've been researching Guinness lately, with St. Patrick's day coming up.  We've been impressed with the vintage Guinness posters by John Gilroy, and would love to share a few of our favorites:

Guinness Print Ad 1931

Aim for a Guinness

Crab and Guinness - 1940

Lovely day for a Guinness - 1936

Guinness for Strength - 1930's

Guinness Two Step