We’ll admit we love all sweet things, especially when they come in pretty boxes all tied up in ribbon….our creative director Amy Graham Stigler surprised us over here by filling the break room with some amazing goodies from Dancing Deer Baking Company, making all of us really, really happy. Thanks, Amy!

In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, Smock is eager to get involved to help out with the ongoing relief efforts. For two days only, January 20 – 21, we will be donating 100% of sales on our website to Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian organization actively involved in bringing medical aid to the people of Haiti. All items on our website from our Everyday collection are included in the sale, including our letterpress greeting cards, eco gfit wrap, letterpress thank you cards and more. Stock up on all of your favorite Smock goodies and help us help Haiti with your purchase!

(Please note that custom printing orders are not included in this promotion.)

One more reason to eat local and fresh from your farmer’s market or a CSA….turns out most canned food, even organic canned food, has substantial amounts of BPA, which has been linked to reproductive abnormalities, heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease – ugh! BPA surfaced for anyone with young children a few years ago, when it turned out sippy cups & bottles (and even the hard clear hiking Nalgene bottles) often contained BPA. This new report on canned food + BPA came out recently through Consumer Reports and there’s really no excuse for companies to still be using this harmful material (other than the bottom line, I suppose).

We just joined our local organic farm’s winter CSA last week, so we’ll be getting local veggies through the end of December – meaning our stock of canned food has gone pretty much untouched of late. One of the many wonderful things about eating local is you know where the food has been (a farm, a truck, then you). Plus this winter CSA has already made me appreciate vegetables that I used to shun. Who knew there were so many ways to cook cabbage! And butternut squash! And potatoes! And more cabbage! And look, there’s more cabbage! Though we have two young kids at home, we’ve managed to make cooking local a priority this year by cooking massive amounts of CSA & farmer market veggies on the weekend, and soaking and boiling a pound of beans too, maybe broiling a pound or two of tofu, and making a few easy grains (barley, quiona, brown rice, and millet have been favorites). Maybe add one easy veggie soup too. Then the meals during the week are mixes and matches – a grain, some veggies and either beans or tofu for lunch and then a different variation of the same for dinner.

My love affairs with cook book authors goes in waves, but right now the guy who holds the key to my cooking heart is Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Food Matters are his two books on my shelves and his blog, Bitten, turned me onto the BPA article. He also writes the Minimalist for the NY Times). His recipes are simple, easy, and full of variations – I love how he says “use more or less” or substitute away depending on what’s in the fridge. Perfect for those who have a negative amount of time to cook.

With the holidays swiftly approaching, we were recently contacted by two of our fabulous Smock retailers about contributing some Smock goodies for holiday events being hosted at their stores. Naturally, we couldn’t resist getting in on the holiday action. At Smock, we believe in giving back at the holidays and throughout the year so we were excited for the opportunity to help our stores out this holiday season.

We sent these little bundles, featuring a few of our letterpress holiday cards and letterpress gift tags, to our friends at Salutations in North Carolina where they were hosting a holiday open house at each of their stores in Charlotte and Chapel Hill. Guests to the event had to bring non-perishable food items to donate to the local food pantry in order to gain admittance to the event. We’re delighted to have been a part of such a fabulous event!

We also happily sent some of our double-sided 100% post consumer recycled gift wrap and letterpress gift tags to Broadway Paper in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Broadway Paper’s holiday open house is being held this Saturday, November 14th – you can visit their website and the Broadway Paper blog for more details if you’re in Wisconsin and would like to attend.

What are you doing to get in the holiday spirit? We’d love to hear about the fabulous events you’re hosting or attending this holiday season!

Have we mentioned already how much fun was had at Monday Morning Mimosas? Not only did we get to hang out with good friends, but we also got to spend the day in the incredible loft space of Hatch Creative Studio, with amazing event details pulled together by Erika of Delphine. Pretty paper streamers, and fun MMM-themed coasters and cocktail napkins, even color-coordinated Paulette macarons kept all of our visitors (and us!) oohing and aahing as they walked in all day.

Bobbi and Erika of Delphine chatting with friends Jennifer from Orange and Pear and Chloe from Toots & Magoo.

Joan and Vanessa of Green Paper Company

Erika of Delphine [left] and me, hanging out at lunch after Monday Morning Mimosas.

Stay tuned for more from Monday Morning Mimosas!
[Previously...Smock at Monday Morning Mimosas]

Thank you to everyone who came out for Monday Morning Mimosas this week and to all of the excited Smock fans who showed up for our sample sale that evening! It was wonderful to meet so many new people who share our love for great letterpress, stationery, lovely candles and chic office supplies. We had a fabulous time with our friends from Delphine, Linnea’s Lights, russell+hazel and Green Paper Company. For those who couldn’t make it, here’s a sneak peek at the event….there are many more photos to come!

And, of course, an obligatory group photo…

Don’t forget our Monday Morning Mismoas wholesale event today – happening now! And this evening we’re looking forward to a fabulous sample sale to benefit the Fresh Air Fund, open to the public and all friends of Smock. We hope to see you there!

Smock is thrilled to be hosting a sample sale in conjunction with the New York International Gift Show and our Monday Morning Mimosas event with Delphine, Green Paper Company, Russell+Hazel and Linnea’s Lights. All proceeds from the sample sale, featuring the finest in letterpress, paper goods, stationery, hand-poured soy candles and chic office supplies, will benefit Fresh Air Fund, an organization that works to help inner city children experience life in nature outside out of the city. If you’ll be in New York on the evening of Monday, August 17th, we would love for you to join us for an evening of fun to benefit a tremendous cause. We can’t wait to see you there!

If you will be attending the New York International Gift Fair, we’d love to have you join us and our friends from Delphine, Green Paper Company, Russell+Hazel and Linnea’s Lights for an exclusive wholesale event on the morning of Monday, August 17. We’re bringing special releases available only at Monday Morning Mimosas, a bit of bubbly and lots of good cheer. You can read more about special Smock releases on the Monday Morning Mimosas blog. Hope to see you there!

Taking our commitment to the environment and green living seriously, Smock happily subsidizes CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) memberships for all employees through a local organic farm, Grindstone Farm. We receive weekly deliveries of fresh, organic veggies and herbs that are typically picked within just hours of reaching us – and they’re incredibly delicious, too! Because the old warehouse we call home, the Delavan Center, is the Downtown Syracuse drop-off location, our CSA deliveries literally come right to our door. We love seeing what awaits us as we fill up our bags and head home to cook. Tuesday becomes our favorite day of the week during CSA season!

Usually we can count on receiving an assortment of great lettuces, kale, fresh herbs like cilantro and dill, broccoli so delicious you’ll never want to eat anything other than organic broccoli again, garlic scapes, cool daikon radishes that resemble white carrots, and lots and lots of beautiful red radishes. As the season is progressing, so are the crops, but radishes have continued to greet us every week, which led a few of us to start looking into recipes that use radishes and ideally the radish greens too. After a while, we’ve found ourselves at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them other than slice them up for salads. After some hunting around, one of our letterpress printers, Carrie, who is one of the finest artisans we know to ever run an Original Heidelberg windmill, found and tweaked the following recipe that was so good, we just had to share it in the event any of you are at a loss as to what to do with radishes. If you like food with an Asian flair, you will love this recipe.

Asian Hamburger Skillet

• 1lb lean hamburger (although many of us are vegetarians so we substituted the Morning Star ground “meat” instead)
• 1 medium red onion, sliced about 1/4? thick then cut into 2? lengths
• 1 bunch of radishes, cut in matchsticks
• 1 bunch of radish tops, cut roughly into 1? pieces
• 4 carrots, julienned or cut into 1/4? slices
• 1-1/2 tsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (although we’ve also tried General Tso’s sauce and it was delicious!)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 lime (optional)
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a large sauté pan, cook hamburger (or meat substitute) over medium high heat, until just beginning to brown, breaking into small bits with spatula. Stir in onion and radishes and cook another 2-3 minutes. Stir in carrots, radish tops, ginger paste and fish sauce and cook 5-10 minutes until onions are softened and hamburger is cooked through. Sprinkle with lime juice (if using) and pepper, to taste. Serve immediately…and feel free to share your CSA-inspired recipes with us and we’ll post them here on the Smock blog!