Flip-flops and brew: a recipe for success

Nils Stark is one of the co-owners of Cornucopia in Eugene. The business currently has two locations on 5th and Pearl and 17th and Lincoln. Photo by Allie Burger

Sauntering through the front door of the restaurant, the brown leather flip-flops pop against the psychedelic carpet of color beneath Nils Stark’s feet. He surveys the walls on either side of him, slowly scanning the items hanging up. To his right, a collection of brewery coasters covers the beams above the bar. Sporting various logos and designs, no two coasters are the same. To his left, an array of band posters lines the wall, all promoting classic or alt-rock groups.

“People describe our places as funky or hippyish,” Stark says. “We just create spaces that we like. This is the type of place where we would like to hang out in, and other people seem to like it too.”

From Gondola to Food Cart: Wrapped up in Love

Eric and Jessica Thomason opened Wrap City in April 2012. It’s one of the three food carts in Kesey Square, downtown Eugene.

EUGENE, Ore. — Early Tuesday morning, the smell of peanut sauce fills Kesey Square in downtown Eugene. As Eric Thomason’s wife Jessica preps the food cart for the day, he sniffs the air, smiles, and says, “I want to get my peanut sauce on grocery store shelves. It will be called, ‘Wrap City Peanut Sauce.’” Thomason says they decided to open a wrap cart because, “Jessica makes great wraps.” Because in April 2012, soups were out of season.

Asman’s Balance

UO Student reaches for musical dreams while juggling school, work, and a band.

By Rick Lindfors – J361 staff writer

Eugene, Ore — The room is 10 feet by 15 feet. A drum set occupies one corner, and guitar and bass amplifiers fill the rest. Foam panels on the walls help make the room as acoustically suitable as possible for a band space in a basement. The floor is covered with cables linking instruments, amplifiers and effects pedals to an electronics suite on a table in the next room.

A bearded man in a plaid shirt standing at a laptop adjusts sound levels and prepares metronomes and background tracks. The band members tune and test each instrument before recording music tracks.

Temporary Ink, Lasting Impression

Bishop in her henna booth

By Ella Gummer

The day before Mother’s Day, Emily Bishop’s henna booth at Eugene’s Saturday Market boasts a small paper sign, advertising “MOM” hearts for only $5. Sunset colored fabrics drape her henna booth, protecting her from the strong afternoon sun. Each side of the booth sports translucent curtains, letting in just enough light for her to see the evolution of ornate brown designs upon clients’ skin.

Profile: The Mom of Mom’s Pies

A slice of the life of Bertha Nyseth, baker at Mom’s Pies in Eugene.

By Mackenzie Henshaw

Bertha Nyseth mixes together the ingredients for pie dough. Photo by Mackenzie Henshaw.

Inside the white exterior of Mom’s Pies in downtown Eugene, a petite woman with short white hair and a big smile hunches over the counter kneading fresh pie dough. She has a quintessential grandmother personality—warm, kind and inviting—and she is the one baking the pie recipe that has made Mom’s Pies a household name in Oregon since the 1970s. This is Bertha Nyseth, 86, who put the “mom” in Mom’s Pies some 20 years ago and has been diligently and happily baking pies ever since.

An Oregon native, Nyseth began professionally baking pies when she started working at a restaurant in the 1970s called the McKenzie Village Café located along the McKenzie River near Vida, Oregon. “I didn’t make pies the whole time, I also cooked in the restaurant,” Nyseth says. “I wasn’t originally very good. I didn’t have any special technique.”

The Art of Being a Florist

By Elizabeth McNamara

Manager and Designer of Rhythm and Blooms Ashley Sandifer
Photo by Elizabeth McNamara

Starting with a base of green to help keep the shape of the flowers, Ashley Sandifer grabs light green hydrangeas to begin the assortment. She picks some light pink tulips and puts together a bouquet. She places the arrangement on the front counter and then cleans up the stems by pushing them onto the floor.

Sandifer is the manager and designer at Rhythm and Blooms downtown location in the Fifth Street Public Market. The flower stand brings nature to an indoor-outdoor style mall. Sandifer and her employees are preparing for a hectic weekend, which is Mother’s Day; holidays are typically when they are their busiest.

While tying her light hair in a ponytail, she talks to her employees about the time frame they have for the remainder of the week. Sandifer says that Mother’s Day is one of their top five busiest holidays.

The Sea of Stems
Photo by Elizabeth McNamara

Kira Harris, a Rhythm and Blooms florist, takes customers orders while Sandifer cleans up the pile of stems. For the sake of efficiency, the florists do not bother disposing of stems right away. Once the floor becomes a sea of stems, they drag in a large garbage can and throw the stems in.

Even while sharing their space with Marché Provisions, a local bakery and wine café, the florists are able relax while listening to multiple Pandora stations. The 10 x 10-corner stand and patio allow the flowers to get sun as well as shade. Sandifer puts some unused long stem flowers back outside where the breeze is softly picking up. Her causal outfit of pink Converse shoes, dark jeans and a fuchsia North Face jacket ties in with the relaxed vibe of the flower stand.

Starting with a summer job wrapping flowers, Sandifer has been a florist for 11 years. Sandifer is not from Eugene, but actually moved here just for the sake of moving. She is originally from Baltimore where her family still resides.

Outside of Rhythm and Blooms
Photo by Elizabeth McNamara

“My boyfriend at the time and I moved here 9-years-ago for an adventure,” Sandifer says. She has been working at Rhythm and Blooms for over a year and says she loves the lively environment. “There’s a lot of kids around here and they keep our atmosphere young,” Sandifer adds.

Florists do not have the typical 9-5 job; even when the store is closed they are still working. Sandifer says that sometimes she works until midnight. “We have to stay until the next days orders are done,” Sandifer says. Their busiest time is Valentine’s Day, which is when they stay up past midnight.

During Valentine’s Day the florists at Rhythm and Blooms get some interesting and suspicious requests. “We get some weird orders. Sometimes guys come in and buy two arrangements. They pay for one in cash and one with their credit card,” Harris says. “Sometimes they will have us type up one message and then they discretely write the other one.”

Matching her personality, Sandifer has a quiet laugh. Her smile stays as she describes some more ridiculous moments. She says that people tell them more information than they should know. “It’s almost like we’re consolers. Some people tell us a lot of personal details,” Sandifer says. “You meet a lot of different kinds of people.”

Ashley Sandifer finishes an arrangement
Photo by Elizabeth McNamara

The florists finish tidying up the flower stand and start on some orders by grabbing greens. They discuss how florists do more than cutting and arranging flowers, but rather it’s about creating art. “It’s an art form,” Harris says. “There are trends when it comes to flowers.”

Sandifer adds, “It has a lot to do with who’s designing it.” She says that the style of arranging flowers changes like fashion. Arranging flowers has developed into more of an art form and now it is all about accents, but it also depends on who is designing. “The youth are impacting the way florists arrange flowers. Younger florists attract younger crowds while florists who have been around for a while, and have a more traditional style of arranging, attract an older crowd.”

The sun slowly sets, which darkens the small flower stand. Rhythm and Blooms florists drag in the flowers on the patio. They change their sign to ‘Closed’ and continue working behind the flowers until all of the orders for the next day are completed.

Interview with Tom Wheeler

Having worked for one of the biggest names in music journalism, Wheeler is no stranger to the Rock n’ Roll beat

Tom Wheeler is a man with extensive experience in the music journalism area and has covered this beat for many years. He currently works at the University of Oregon but stays involved in music by playing with his blues band in local venues around Eugene. Tom has interviewed such people as Eric Clapton, Ted McCarty, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry and many more while working at places like Rolling Stone and Guitar Player magazine. Along with these jobs and others, he has written several books about music, his first was an encyclopedia entitled, The Guitar Book: A Handbook for Electric and Acoustic Guitarists. In this interview, I talk with Wheeler about how he began a career in this field and his experience overall as a journalist covering the music beat.

 

Q: How did you enter the journalism business? How did you get your foot in the door?

A: I wrote a book. I don’t see a copy here, however…As far as journalism, I had no idea what I was doing, I had never been to journalism school, I was at law school and teaching guitar on the side….I started writing this big amorhpous thing. It was an encyclopedia called The Guitar Book. Harper and Rowe published it. I did it just to get it out of my system but Rolling Stone favourably reviewed the book and asked me to work for them. I hadn’t previously considered working as a journalist…But when Rolling Stone called it was like a bolt of lightening…I free lanced for Rolling Stone so I wasn’t in the building…I later caught the eye of Guitar Player magazine…They had a vacancy and asked me to fill it. I went to work there in ’77 and stayed there for 14 years. The last ten years there I worked as the editor-in-chief.

 

Q: At what point(s) or place(s) did you learn the most?

A: My biggest motivator at first was to do a good job at Rolling Stone. I thought to myself ‘I cannot screw this up’…I panicked…Panic and fear are great motivators. At Guitar Player we all read each others stuff…and then I edited too…[I] figured out how to deal with others’ writing. The experience of working with good editors and many writers of varying skills couldn’t help but improve my writing…[I learned] what does work and what doesn’t work and when to break the rules…It was a wonderful training ground.

 

Q: When is it OK to break the rules?

A: You have to have a clear understanding of your audience. I’m not a big fan of breaking lots of rules all of the time…It’s OK to break the rules on occasion when it works…It’s OK when what’s in my head gets in your head and what’s in my heart is in your heart. When it connects. If you’re just showing off or seeking attention that’s ameteaur…It’s about the reader.

 

Q: How do you stay involved in music now?

A: As a professor, I’m working on another encyclopedia with 300 to 600 color plates…It’s big…I continue to keep one foot in the profession. I think that it’s good for professors to practice…Writing keeps me on my toes.

Q&A with Sports Blogger Kevin Thomas

Kevin Thomas

This week I conducted an e-mail interview with sports blogger Kevin Thomas. Thomas works for the Portland Press Herald in Maine blogging almost daily about the Red Sox and their Double-A minor league affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs. He has been writing for the Press Herald since 1994.

By Max O’Neil

Q: Where was your first job as a writer and how did you get it?

College newspaper as a freshman at the University of South Florida. Walked in, applied and was willing to cover anything. After one year, I was recruited for a part-time position with the St. Petersburg Times. Eventually moved up to a full-time position.

Q: What made you decide to become a writer?

It was something I was good at. Received positive feedback from teachers and classmates since grade school. My love of sports moved me to sports writing.

Q: What has been your best experience as a writer?

In general terms, best experiences are when a complicated feature or enterprise story comes together. My best experiences in terms of events have been the 2004 and 2007 World Series, plus the 1999 NCAA Hockey Championship, won by the University of Maine

Q: You currently operate two blogs for the Press Herald: Clearing the Bases and Holding Court. What advantages do you think online blogging has over print? In what ways could blogging improve?

There is no deadline or space limitations to blogging. You can break news with a blog or offer informed opinion (underline INFORMED; I don’t care for nonsensical “talk-radio” style dribble). There are times I use information I could not fit into a story and use it in a blog (and tease to the story).

If a blog is done well – providing information, as well as linking to stories (your own and others), it can create a trust between you and the reader.

The best ways blogs can improve is by being consistent. Blogs take time and I think some newspapers don’t give their reporters enough time to write them. I am the only sports writer at my paper to write a blog. It is time-consuming and takes a commitment.

Q: Have you covered any sports (or anything) besides baseball and basketball? Do you currently prefer one over the other? Why or why not?

I have covered nearly every sport at the high school, college and pro level. I love the emotion and talent displayed in college sports. I like baseball because I have always loved the game and there is always something new to learn about it.

I covered education for one year at the St. Petersburg Times. Valuable experience, very fulfilling. But I missed sports.

Q: We recently had a guest speaker who mentioned that whenever he thinks of a story idea he immediately writes it down, and he has pages of story ideas. What is the process like for you in coming up with story ideas? How does a story become more than just an idea?

I do a lot of driving and therefore I do a lot of my planning and thinking in the car. I am always formulating story ideas in my head.

Q: You’ve been writing for the Press Herald since 1994. Do you think Portland is your final stop, or could you eventually see yourself somewhere else?

I did not move here because of the job. I worked at a very good newspaper (the St. Petersburg Times), but did not want to raise my family in Florida. My wife is from New England so we looked for a mid-sized city, and Portland was just perfect.

I don’t see myself leaving Portland because it is a great place to raise a family, and the newspaper is pretty good, too.

Q: What would be your best piece of advice to any aspiring writer?

Write everyday. Read, read and read. Write more than blogs. Write longer pieces and learn how to self-edit them. Constantly work on your craft. I had the pleasure of getting to know Stephen King in Maine. People think that he is just a guy with a strange imagination, but he is a writer with a determined work ethic (I recommend his memoir).

Q&A with Bob Gyles, Letterpress designer

 Bob Giles has been a print designer using the letterpress for many years. His dad was a printer and he worked at the Register Guard doing their printing before they went digital. He now has a small out-of-home print shop called BNS Letterpress.

Q: How did you first get into design work?

A: My career began as an apprentice, working for a newspaper. Not much design involved in that. Just learning the ropes and following instructions from others was the basis for learning my craft.

Q: Do you remember the first print you made? What was it like?

A: The first printing that I did in my own shop that I designed myself was a small piece that was a copy of the words to the song “God Bless America”. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attack, a printer in Canada made up a set of ludlow lines with the wording of the song. He sent sets of the type to any U.S. printer that wanted them as a gesture of goodwill and support. I asked for a copy and used the type for my first printed piece. I did it in of course, red, white and blue. I had a two color flag setup and used that in the background then printed the wording on top of that. I was pleased with the results and happy that this was the first thing that I printed in my shop.

Q: What is the greatest reward and largest challenge in working with the letter press?

A: The reward is doing the work, the challenge is doing the work. It is a satisfying thing to me to be able to create something from a thought or idea and put into a physical form. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but the process is fun and creative. Things don’t always work out the way that you plan, and you have to be able to adjust as you go, and sometimes just throw in the towel and start over again.

Q: Have you done digital design before? If so what do you like/dislike about it? How does it compare to using the letter press?

A: My career led me into the design world, but usually as I said working with others doing the actual design. I did enjoy taking the design of others and putting it together, offering suggestions along the way to improve what I was working on. Working with actual type in the letterpress environment is much different than using a computer to do design.  Type in the letterpress environment is a physical thing, it fits or it doesn’t, you have to be open to changing your design to accommodate this.

Q: What is your favorite project you have worked on?

A: The pieces that I produce for the APA group are my favorite ones to print. It allows me to make all the decision concerning the piece. From the initial idea to the type and art selection, then the color choices and paper, size, etc. All this is based on choices and there are no right or wrongs just decisions to be made. Sometimes they work and sometime they don’t but it is fun just going through the motions.

Q: What is the biggest way you believe you grown as a designer through out your career?

A: I guess mostly by watching and working with others, I have been able to achieve what I am able to accomplish. In many ways this kind of work requires the input of many to arrive at a successful conclusion with what you are working on.

Q: What is your favorite typeface and why?

A: I prefer the serif typefaces because I think they have more character and convey a message better than the san-serif faces. My favorite in my shop is Baskerville, mostly because it is the face that I have the most of, but I do like the look of it.

Q: What is your creative process like?

A: Pretty much, the Indiana Jones method. You make it up as you go. I usually start with some idea, then look for art work that goes with it, and then try to put it into a meaningful form.

Q: What advice would you give to designers starting out now?

A: Learn the basics. If you are working with type, learn about it. Study the origins, and look at the work of others to get ideas and see what works and what doesn’t. Know that there are right and wrong ways to do things. But also know that sometimes you have to break rules and do things your way.

Q&A with Food Blogger Heather Christo

This week I conducted an email interview with food blogger Heather Christo of HeatherChristoCooks.com. Christo is a popular online food blogger, as well as published author. Just this week she released her first cookbook “The Generous Table: Sharing the Love of Food with Friends and Family”. According to her bio, after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, Christo worked as a pastry chef at a famous French restaurant in San Francisco. Then after working many years in the restaurant industry including starting her own catering company in Seattle, Washington, Christo decided start a blog. 

As well as being an amazing food blogger, Christo has also appeared on New Day Northwest! Picture: Screen Shot of Christo’s website

I was so honored to do this email interview because she is not only a well know food-writer but also one of my favorites bloggers. I began reading Heather’s blog a few years back and was inspired by her creativity and easy recipes. The first recipe I tried from her blog were her delicious pumpkin pancakes and ever since, I have been a loyal follower and reader.

Q: Can you explain your background with food?

Christo: I was raised in a household with constant parties and cooking. My mom was a stay at home mom of four who happened to have spent time at cooking school in Paris. She was an amazing cook and we had elaborate meals just about every single night growing up. She also knew how to throw the most wonderful parties and to raise her own fruits and vegetables which we would then eat. I learned so much from her in my childhood kitchen and garden and eventually found my own way to culinary school to pursue my love of food and cooking and turn into a career.

Q: Why did you choose to start your blog, and become a food writer?

Christo: After working in restaurants and as a caterer, I hung up my togs to start a family. I knew that I wanted to continue to cook and eat and share the love I have for cooking and food. My husband was the one that talked me into starting a blog. That was in 2007. I kind of dabbled in it for a few years while I was busy having babies and learning how to be a new mom. After the birth of my second daughter in 2010 I really dove in and started blogging with a renewed zest. I loved how the blog had turned into a kind of scrap book. I always say now that my blog is an on-going love letter to my children. They will be able to trace their entire childhood through the food that we ate. When I wrote my first book in 2012 I realized how much I loved the process of telling a story to go with each recipe. That is where part of the magic happens in my opinion. What is the recipe without the reason for it’s existence!?

Question: Where do you get the inspiration for your recipes?

Christo: Everywhere. The garden, my children, friends, family, going out to eat, looking at pictures of food, traveling- absolutely everywhere. Fresh inspiration is so important, so I try to fuel myself every once in a while with “sure things” like a farmers market or a new restaurant I have been dying to try.

Question: What is the most important lesson you have learned being in the food industry and as a food writer?

Christo: Persistence, resilience and Hard work. I suppose that those probably apply to what ever you want to do in life! But I completely subscribe to finding what you want to do and attacking it. Really striving to be the very best you can be. My mom always used to say to me “do it right, or don’t bother to do it at all.” I think about that often.

Question: What is the hardest challenge of maintaining your website and blog?

Christo: Time!! I have so many projects going on right now, plus a large bustling family. I think you just have to COMMIT, COMMIT, COMMIT!! I have a friend, Ree Drummond, who is an NYT best selling author who gave me very good advice: “Writing is a muscle like any other. You have to work it out every day if you want it to work well.”  And true enough, the more I write (every day) the easier it gets. The more recipe’s I create, the more easily ideas flow. It is comforting actually to know that it works that way.

Question: Can you describe the experience of writing your own cookbook and becoming a published author?

Christo: Difficult. I am very proud that I did it, but my experience was very much a learning process. Writing is such a personal experience, and for me it was a challenge to open up my writing, recipes, photography and ideas to a team of people for critique. Us artists can be sensitive! So it was about understanding that while my name is on the book, any time you are working with a publisher that there is a certain amount of compromise. I think it will be easier this next time as I now understand the process and what to expect.

Question: What’s your best piece for future food writers?

Christo: Work Hard and connect with as many people as you can. I think that it is actually a very small community, and in my experience it has been a very warm and supportive one. People as obsessed with food and cooking as most of us are are a special kind of person, best understood by like minded people! I would also give you a cliche but sage piece of advice. What you put in, you will get out.

Thank you Heather Christo for doing this interview with me, and please check out her website and cookbook!