Thursday night, I joined the company of 20 flower lovers at the Starline Social Club, for the Little Flower School. I'm not sure how accustomed Sarah Ryhanen and Nicolette Owen
are to receiving praise, but most of the attendees admitted to being
fully obsessed with them and several women traveled a long distance to get to
the class (one flew in from Colorado and two came up from Long
Beach, separately). It's funny to have an e-crush on someone who doesn't
know you. I was a little too giddy to find out that Sarah and I
have the same birthday.
The class was great. Sarah and Nicolette gave a floral arranging demo and
then let us loose on about 35 buckets of flowers, which covered the
Starline stage. They suggested we start with the flowers we were most
drawn to, then try to find ways to work in varying colors and heights.
My tendency is to keep things rather compact and on the same level, even
though it is my dream to be able to arrange flowers that sprawl. I got
lots of direction from Nicolette and Max Gill (also there for guidance). My house smells delicious!
I also made a new friend in Samin Nosrat,
whom I'd first seen in Martha Stewart Living last fall (she hosted a
Thanksgiving dinner in Oakland). She is a chef and a writer and is rather spectacular. She is about to start teaching a new series of cooking classes called Home Ec at Pizzaiolo. You should sign up.
My only regret of the evening was not getting my hands on Nicolette's new book in time
for the class (it's back-ordered on Amazon).
