ASEV Portland

At the end of June I attended the 63rd annual ASEV Conference.  This year the conference was held in Portland, Oregon at the Waterfront Marriott.  ASEV draws wine people from all over the country.  It's a technical conference where a lot of professors and indutry leaders present their research and talk about what's going on in the industry.

The conference was interesting, but since it involved multiple days of sitting in air conditioned rooms, I didn't take any pictures.  

Except this one of a poster of the schedule.  I know, very lame.

A more fun hotel (and the one where I stayed) was the Hotel Lucia.  It wasn't terribly fancy but it was centrally located in downtown Portland.  And it allowed me the opportunity to steal many pens and stationary with the "Lucia" logo.  Also, why is the accent on the "c"?  It doesn't make sense.

Here I am pointing to the location of Hotel Lucia on a giant map of Portland. And drinking delicious beet-carrot-ginger juice.  From my new favorite place to eat: Prasad.

It's a combination restaurant-yoga studio.  Living in Napa I am used to this format.  We have a combination restaurant-yoga studio called Ubuntu with delicious (but pricey) food.  Incidentally, this is only my second favorite type of culinary combination.

Ubuntu is beautiful but  . . . 

This is a $13 asparagus salad.

Prasad impressed me with their incredibly affordable large portions: 

My salad was quinoa, kale, see weed, avocado, cabbage and carrot shavings with a lemon ginger dressing.  In Napa this would likely be a $14 salad and half the size, but in Portland it was $7.

I also had some vibrant juice drinks.

And then I went there again the next day for some more.

This time we took our green juice drinks to go.

I didn't have much free time, and the only times I got to see Portland were my daily walks to and from the Marriott to Prasad and back.

I visited Portland a few years ago, but I went during the winter and didn't get to appreciate the beauty of downtown.

I'm a fan of the architecture.

Also, water and bridges.

Once I walked up close to this bridge it started to open to let a ship pass, but I was late to the seminar so I couldn't stay to watch the ship pass.

My few days in Portland were awesome.  I got to see many of my favorite people (one who lives there) and other wine people that I rarely get to see in Napa but all traveled to Oregon.

-L

The DeYoung - Jean Paul Gaultier

I've been meaning to get these off my camera for two weeks now.  I went to the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at The DeYoung in San Francisco two weeks ago.  It's up until the end of August so I highly suggest going, even if you're not into fashion.  Seeing the craftsmanship of these couture gowns is really impressive.

Right away the curve of the room and the deep blue light were disorienting.  Then you realized that the mannequins were talking to you.

No cameras were allowed but I stole these few seconds.

The exhibit started out with his mariner phase.  The black and white strip motif interpreted many ways.  The bottom half of the dress on the left is made of feathers and the one on the right is intricate layers of lace.

This was an outfit worn by Kylie Minogue.  But instead of Australian pop, these mannequins we signing operatic tunes.  The resonant holy music, talking mannequins and deep blue lights were a very impressive start.

The next room moves into the lingerie and cone bras that Madonna made famous:

I'm a big fan of polaroids.  Pointy cone bra alert top right!

Besides gowns there were some impressive photography of the clothes.  This ethereal piece was one of my favorites.

The next room had a seedier strip club vibe. Unfortunately my camera sucks for low light and it was very dark in there, but a few pictures give a pretty good idea of what it was like in there.

But I don't know any strippers that would wear these skeleton and blood vessel body suits.  Well, I don't know any strippers at all, but if I did, they probably wouldn't wear these body suits.

Or this one which mimics the body's musculature.  It looks really flat in the picture but the texture and dimension of the muscles and veins was impressive.

Here is some more footage I stole, my favorite of the three pieces was the skeleton body suit.

Another piece that really stood out to me was this native american bride.  I kinda have a thing for headdresses.

This dress really symbolizes couture to me.  While all the pieces are hand made and one of a kind, this one had a plaque that read:
 "Leopard Skin" beaded evening gown with rhinestone "claws".  Time needed to create: 1,006 hours. 

Damn my crappy camera!

I also have a thing for lady's with pirate ship hats.

This is from his Russian inspired collection.

Then there was the punk phase.

Part of the punk inspired pieces was this trash piece.  Zoolander anyone?

Rhinestone skulls.  I also have a thing for skulls.

Head to toe print.  The volume and diversity of his designs is what impressed me most.  JPG just keeps creating.

Even though JPG is french, the exhibit wrapped up with a very patriotic piece.  The feathers are a giant red, white and blue american flag.

In pictures some of the pieces can look cheesy, but up close you can see the craftsmanship and talent that went into their creation and execution.

-L