New Year’s Eve á Paris, 2023

As the title suggests, this will be a post about spending the end of 2023 in the City of Lights, Paris. I had never been to this country or city before and was very much looking forward to it. It did not disappoint. Over only three nights, the city and its people made us all feel welcome. It was a wonderful way to usher in a new year. Please enjoy these images and quips…

Hotel for the trip, quaint rooms and lively first night…

Sacré-Coure…

Always take the funicular…

Art in Montemartre…

Time for NYE…

And New Year’s Day…

Small sidenote – this will be my last blog post. Over the last 16 years, this blog became something of a diary for myself. It’s a great way to show the history of the last number of years, but people and technology have now moved away from this format. I’d like to say I could keep it up and keep it going, but that doesn’t really seem to make sense, especially as we usher in 2024. It really has been a great ride, a wonderful place to leave memories, and something I truly hope at least a few people found entertaining.  Thanks for all the reading. 

Quick Chocolate Truffles (2023), Chicago, IL

Long story short, I found my cupboard contained this can…

And why not make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak? Plus, they had this recipe on the back of the very same can…

I’m game!!!

Getting the ingredients commenced - vanilla extract, semi-sweet chocolate chips, chocolate “jimmies”, and some foil wrappers to boot. Done!

Then mixing, melting, chilling, balling and wrapping - phew! This is not a no-time or no-effort thing, like all the holiday cookies, but it’s sort of meditative. 

It made about 36 large balls. Enough to have a few for myself, send some to coworkers, and bring the rest to family events over the holidays. 

So far, reviews have been positive. Especially the ones from my own mouth. Tasty stuff. Could try maybe adding some cayenne pepper or peppermint the next time. I could also see it getting really out of hand with multiple batches and flavor variants over like the entire month of December… like people do with cookies. Mmm, maybe I’ll just keep it “quick”. 

Chicago School of Shoemaking & Leather Arts, Chicago (Ravenswood), IL

You may recall I'm a bit of a fan of shoes ("kicks") and small leather goods. So, what better place to checkout than a shoemaking and leatherwork school?!

As a student, you can start from the very bottom and attend paid classes to learn how to do things the right way with a teacher helping you at every step. I've now done two of those classes and have made a handful of items in just a 4-5 hour window of time. I do like working with my hands and find this craft to be quite satisfying.

With your class tuition, they provide all the tools and materials you need as well. It could not be easier to get your craft on.

Sample projects...

[no, not mine...]

In the first class all six of the students decided to make belts. You pick out your leather width (1.5" below) & color, plus hardware. It's pretty cool and easy.

In the second class, which was titled "Small Lather Goods I", I went a bit gangbusters and made two wallets, a valet tray, and another belt (1.25" this time).

Our teacher for this class, who is also the owner, helped me find and print out a pattern, then assisted in anything else I needed or questioned during the class period. They let you roam most places for the leather you want to use as well as hardware. They also have dozens of hand-powered and electric machines in the studio for cutting, shaping and changing the leathers you choose. It makes most of the work enjoyable and simple.

This is a press I used to punch out the leather for the valet tray. It's like a massive cookie cutter press. They have forms/shapes for all manner of things right there for use too. You can see my chosen leather on the press table and even the cutter template in red there too... and a gray one to the right of it as well.

I don't know where I'll take this crafting, but I have already signed up for a 2nd round of the small leather goods class. It's pretty free-form, so I can go in and make some more stuff. They had a pretty cool wine bottle holder there.

I would also recommend this school overall. They have been very helpful in terms of changing chosen class days and times and seem really mellow about almost everything. Not only that, but very generous with their studio, time and knowledge as well. It's a nice way to get your craft on.