bookofjoe

Where I Write — Fantasy & Science Fiction Authors in Their Creative Spaces

Res ipsa loquitur.

From Wired: "While visiting Michael Swanwick's home, photographer Kyle Cassidy charmed his way into taking a peek at the author's workspace. Cassidy say he felt as if he'd 'cracked open Swanwick's skull and seen inside his genius.' Thus began a project: snapping photos at the lairs of award-winning authors like Joe Haldeman, Gregory Frost, Piers Anthony, and Neil Gaiman. It's 'Cribs' for the literary set."

From top down: Joe Haldeman, Frederik Pohl, and Ben Bova.

Microscopic Handbag — 'Smaller than a grain of salt'

From the Guardian:

The size of handbags — or the "right" handbag — has long been a discussion in fashion.

Despite its impracticality, the tiny handbag replaced the oversized type as the shape to own, thanks to brands such as Jacquemus and Telfar.

In 2023 MSCHF took it to an extreme however — and showed the absurdity — by making a microscopic handbag, smaller than a grain of salt.

A replica of the Louis Vuitton Speedy, it was sold by Joopiter, the digital auction house founded by the brand's men's creative director, Pharrell Williams.

The bag realized $63,750 at auction.

You could look it up.

Would you pay $19 for one strawberry?

[A $19 Elly Amai strawberry]

Turns out plenty of people would and do, such that they're selling out at three Erewhon grocery stores in Los Angeles since arriving about two weeks ago.

From Jamie Feldmar's Washington Post story:

Love it or hate it, Erewhon has a knack for going viral.

Its latest online sensation revolves around an ingredient even the most mainstream shoppers can recognize: a single strawberry.

Well, not just any strawberry.

This being Erewhon, the strawberry is imported from luxury Japanese supplier Elly Amai, sold in an individually packaged plastic container, for $19 a pop.

Yes, that's $19 for a single strawberry, nestled gently atop a foam cushion, to protect its delicate skin from being manhandled by hordes of content creators eager to get their hands on the latest trend.

And, this being Erewhon, the single strawberry is selling out in L.A., spurred on by a now-viral video posted by Alyssa Antoci, in which she raves about the fruit as "the best strawberry I've ever had in my life."

So, with an equal mix of anticipation and skepticism, I did what any trend-abiding Angeleno must: I went to get one.

Walking into the Pasadena Erewhon around 10 a.m. on a Friday, I spotted the Elly Amai display immediately, occupying a prime spot in the stand-alone refrigerator otherwise filled with the store's signature juices.

There were about two dozen strawberries on an eye level shelf, with a wooden placard from Elly Amai advertising the "explosion of flavor" that "elevates the ordinary strawberry to extraordinary heights."

Representatives from Kyoto-based Elly Amai say their berries, a variety known as Tochiaika, are grown organically at a farm called Anhay in Tochigi (a prefecture just north of Tokyo that is known as "the Strawberry Kingdom").

 They're very fragile — "You should only touch them with bare hands if you plan on eating them within 3-4 hours," the instructions warn. That, and: "It's best to let them breathe at room temp for 15-30 minutes to bring out the aroma and sweetness."

Back home, having waited the requisite 30 minutes, it was time to taste-test my $19 strawberry.

I felt nearly guilty for breaking the plastic seal, though the pleasure receptors in my brain immediately flooded with the sweet aroma of ripe fruit.

I weighed the berry (1.6 ounces) and cut it in half, revealing its signature heart shape, and took a tentative first bite.

It was, as the marketing copy and my new friends at Erewhon had promised, very sweet, devoid entirely of the tartness you might find in more typical clamshell fruit (which this writer happens to like).

Not juicy, per se, but highly concentrated, like a strawberry on steroids.

Was it good? Of course it was good. Was it "worth it?"

Not by my calculations.