Net profit from any orders placed from today until Thursday, March 14 will be added to my Whole Planet Foundation donation page.  Whole Planet Foundation’s mission is poverty alleviation through microcredit in communities worldwide that supply Whole Foods stores with products.  The goal I set up is small, but enough to provide a microloan and the opportunity for an impoverished woman to create or expand a home-based business.  Occasionally I will be finding small ways to do a little good through your print orders.  For updates, sign up for my newsletter.

I have been working on putting together/editing/revisiting a printed portfolio. I chose an 11×14 portfolio and slipcase by Scott Mullenberg; it’s classic, meticulously-designed and sturdy.  Many thanks to Scott and Pushdot Studios for your help and creative input!

One of the things I’ve been telling people who are just getting started with a creative endeavor is to dedicate (demand) a small fraction of time in their schedule for experimenting – even a tiny bit of time is better than none.  While we were snowed in, I painted again just for fun.  My friend who teaches Italian just signed up for a French class, so that she could remember what it was like to be an absolute beginner.  It’s creative cross-training, and I think of it as the equivalent to turning the painting upside-down and looking at it that way.

I found out that Chef Paolo won the 2008 World Pesto Championship in Genoa, Italy and was intrigued.  There are certain foods that almost have their own eras in my life.  As a kid there was the year of crustless PB&J’s, a stint in college when balsamic went with everything, and while I lived in Italy, the obsession was pesto.  During the shoot, I had a bite of the mandilli di seta al vero pesto genovese - this is the dish I am going back for.

I love shoots like this one.  They are slightly chaotic in the best possible way – since the kitchen staff is preparing for the evening, it’s a bit like an intricate dance that you have to try and step into without throwing everyone else off.  I’ll carve out a little corner to shoot dishes in, leave it and head into the kitchen to capture the gnocchi-making process, grab someone who is available to head over to the “portrait studio” (read: reflectors in a corner where light is sifting through a glass door that has been coated with something that looks like vellum – good call, Michael!), and all the while Chef Paolo is singing.

Check out this detailed review by Heather Atwood on her blog.  If you’d like to learn to make a full-course meal (and the famous pesto!) with Chef Paolo, the restaurant will be hosting their first cooking class on Monday, February 11th from 6:30pm to 9:30pm (for info call 978.969.0083).

Blue shirt on Victoria – “The Circle Shirt” from Seawall in Portland, Maine.

Richard and Clare are what make a stay here unique.  They’ve got great style (you’ll notice this first on their website and then through the tiniest of details at the motel) and a ton of recommendations for the best local food and activities.