Best. Clip. Ever.

Really. Nicole has had excellent play on substantial dead-tree publications like the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times (and their digital entities as well, of course) but today's article on npr.org looks really, really pretty.

It could be the bitchin' pictures Nicole took. It could be that the recipes are tantalizing (peepsNet is making the peppers this week). It could be that this is the first food story she has been paid for, after giving away the store for free over at cucinanicolina for so long.

But we don't care. We just like it. Really, really.

More Great Press for Mike

More great notice for Mike, at AsOneNational, a national website that highlights and advocates for black businesses of note.

TYPE ILLY PRESS is turning the page on the next generation of comic books.

TYPE ILLY PRESS lays out a masterful comic strip featuring ethnic characters in the ultimate battle for survival from the everyday problems that plague our society.

Mike is always a great interview, but this is best line from him I think I have seen so far about his hero, Nefertiti Jones:

"If you ever wished PAM GRIER could play WONDER WOMAN, this series is for you."

Rich in ...

Rich comes up for air long enough to tell peepsNet that he has carved out a comfortable freelancer's existence and that Maureen is working on a book that is just about ready to be pitched.

He is shooting up a storm for a wide variety of clients, our man in Portland (Ore.) reports, including Reuters and Bloomberg. Apologies to Rich if this is the first time these competing agencies have learned of his mercenary lack of fealty. You have to say "off the record" right off the bat.

Rich says his description of Maureen's book doesn't do it justice. But his take -- that it is "sort of a yogic philosophical look at nostalgia and how we remember those events from our youth and what they mean" -- sounds plenty fascinating to me, so the truth can only be better.

We remind Maureen that peepsNet employs an ombudsman, who would love to hear from her. Or we can sort this out at the Politics & Prose reading.

Here is the money quote from his despatch:

"our cat is freaking nuts! she's 18 y-o and after she eats, she stands in the bedroom howling at unseen entities. just being a cat..."

Wrong. This is what Samer does every time he drinks.

Pets with a Purpose

You want worms. Red ones. Lots of them. Trust me.

Nicole's latest Chronicle column answers the question that loomed large when she wrote two months ago about gardening in your apartment: where you gonna get all that rich dirt you need to grow tomatoes on your window sill?

The answer is worms. About 1,000 will do.

They don't take up much space, you don't have to clean up after them (that is kind of the point) and they subsist on a diet of vegan scraps that, in San Francisco, would otherwise become part of the three tons of used food collected every day and processed at a commercial compost facility outside Vacaville (love the sound of that town's name).

If you are in Bay area check out the the print version of Nicole's article, which is framable, we hear -- it takes up the whole back page of the House and Garden section, on page on F - 8.

Samer, Exposed

Samer has begun to market his photos at Etsy, a e-commerce site that lets anyone sell their wares in the same empowering way eBay has turned everyone into an auctioneer.

Not much to see there yet, but since peepsNet was given a preview of Samer's portfolio we can say with great authority, though not for the record, that there are many more great shots to come at FarhaFoto (wonder why he didn't go with PharhaPhoto, which would have been really Phat).

Bookmark the page, but even better: Subscribe here.

On a housekeeping note: We are, of course, too lazy to check the archives and see if we have used this headline before, although we are almost certain we have. Can you plagiarize yourself?

Nicole, Redesigned

Well, her site is anyway. No reason to tamper with perfection.

After a long period of contemplation and the press of higher priorities nicolespiridakis.com has undergone a complete makeover (no way was I going to use that word in the headline.)

Gone is the iconic picture in the borrowed shirt, replaced with a graceful headshot (used here without permission, as usual).

Speaking of photos, the landing page is a nicely staged shot of one of Nicole's many SF Chron articles -- you know she has a monthly column there called "Common Walls?"

But our favorite page is "clips." There are lots and lots of them, and room for more. Get on it, girl!

The Pantry is Perfect. Of Course It Is.

On the theory that you just can't know enough about Nicole and the reality that peepsNet is too lazy to do any enterprise reporting, we invite you to surf on over to The Perfect Pantry and read up on what "the passionate cook behind the stove at Cucina Nicolina" likes to read up on.

She's got a birthday coming up (not A Big One, no, not until Next Year) but, who knows, you might get an idea or two about what the girl is into if you haven't yet bought that present yet.

We know this is all only about Nicole's shameless attempt to promote her blog, and we applaud her for it.

Hey -- we hear that a redesign in the offing @ nicolespiridakis.com. About time.

Square Curves

Square Curves Originally uploaded by Samer Farha.

Samer scores a double today with another DCist "Picture of the Day" and a Flickr explore (#15 and counting)!