The guys at Substratum have been working hard on their new store and latest apparel line– they’re very proud of the new designs, and they have reason to be– they’re some of the best yet. Pop by their site and be sure to check out the new Seven Deadly Sins series, as well as the Land and Sea. One of my favorite designs, The Blooms (squid) is shown here on the right in orange. They also have a nice promotion going on through the end of the holidays– buy two shirts and get one free, can’t beat that!

While visiting the Scope Miami show last weekend, we had the pleasure of seeing some of Austrian Lois Renner’s artistic photography. Lois tries to hurdle the limitations of media with his large format photographs, and breathes a mysterious living quality into his paintings. Lois sees the studio as a “spatial situation and as [a] starting and crystallization point of artistic action and begins his analysis with it’s miniature reproduction.” The work is interesting to look at to say the least– his pieces are full of nuanced details, object size illusions (at least I thought so), and a simultaneous blending and clashing of lines that can only be explained by seeing them for yourself. My favorite is ‘Sound 101‘ pictured here on the left.

By the time our last night in Miami rolled around (earlier this week), we were ‘restaurant-ed out’ to say the least. We had experienced some great cuisine during the 3 previous nights, but it just gets a little tiring going to the much hyped ‘hot spots’ night in and night out. After deciding the raucous atmosphere at one of the ‘hot spots’ (it will remain nameless) was not our ideal Sunday evening dining experience, we followed the last minute advice from our friend Jonathan and went to La Locanda in South Beach. It was a welcomed plan revision for all of us. We were promptly welcomed by the staff, and the service remained great throughout our visit. They offer reasonably priced food and Italian heirloom family recipes that made us feel at home. I went with a great grouper dish (the daily special), Josh had a traditional and tasty penne dish, and we ordered prosecco for the table (which was brought out in a stand-alone ice bucket– nice touch). It’s an off the beaten path, homey type of restaurant, and you won’t find them online, but here is a link to some info for when you are in Miami next.

Just a light reminder that our Momimomi Contest is still going on– we’ll be choosing a handful of winners, each will receive a 3 month subscriptions to the best t-shirts in the world program (seriously, these shirts are some of my favorties, and I see dozens every week). We’ve received some hilarious entries so far and I can’t wait to pick the winners and share them with all of you. Read the details and get to work!

The culinary experience (eating good food) is one of my main passions in life. A significant part of the eating experience for me is the beverage– whether it’s beer or wine, I strive to pair my cuisine with something that compliments the food. Now I have a non-alchoholic option: Seattle-based Dry Soda. Lightly sweet, all natural, effervescent, aromatic, unique, healthy– all words that come to mind when I drink Dry Soda. It comes in 4 flavors: rhubarb, kumquat, lavender, and lemongrass (I blew through bottles of Kumquat and Rhubarb in the last half hour). Dry Soda’s website is chock full of drink recipes and food pairing ideas, so you don’ t have to go into the experience blind. In a over-saturated beverage market, I think the folks at Dry Soda have cleverly created their own sub-niche, and the product is so good that it will sell itself (they’re account list is still somewhat small, but look for it to become available on the shelf in every Whole Foods in the near future). Oh, and you can also buy it online.

By now you all know the drill– my picks ‘From the Vaults’ of our travel goodies! Should be something here for everyone on your list. Bon Voyage!

• Inside Out Guidebooks: The Inside Out Guide Book series from Rand McNally is pretty much the Swiss Army knife of travel guides…Continue Reading

• Tumi: Ultra Slim Power Adaptors: We love our Tumi Adaptors– when we travel you’re hard pressed to find us leave home without them. They just introduced an ‘ultra-slim’ design, even more compact than before… Continue Reading

• Tom Bihn: The Arechtype: When the MacBook Pro’s came out, our friends over at Tom Bihn were the first to the scene with a stylish, functional and properly-sized laptop case… Continue Reading

• OHSO Travel Toothbrush:The OHSO travel tooth brushes made quite the rumble when I posted them back in May– but unfortunately they weren’t even out yet… Continue Reading

• Tom Bihn: Super Ego Bag: I’ve been heavily testing a bag I received from Tom Bihn a few months ago– they call it the Super Ego… Continue Reading

• Chrome Bags: If you are in the market for a serious, hard-core messenger bag, then look no further than Chrome Bags… Continue Reading

About three months ago, the legendary sneaker store Flight Club NYC opened a west coast branch in Los Angeles, Flight Club LA. If you are not familiar with the Flight Club concept, it’s a store that operates on a consignment basis and offers sellers a quick turnaround and fast payments without the hassle of online auctions and/or local classified ads. Up until recently, you could only purchase sneakers from FCLA in person, but they are now have a live website at FlightClubLA.com. So if you missed out on the Nike SB Dunk Mafia Pack or the Air Jordan 4 Retro Laser, then click on over to the website and treat yourself to an early Christmas gift of limited edition kicks.