this edition of push picks is a big deal.
1) it's the first of the year
2) two rachael is amazing
3) PUSH IS LAUNCHING A STORE (and i never use caps, as you can probably guess by now)
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i've never believed in readers paying for my newsletter or creating arbitrary "tiers" of content. that being said, i needed to figure out ways to support the newsletter and all the amazing actors that share their unbridled creativity. what i came up with is the push store where you will be able to support artists with work that is exclusive to the site and also not really what these folks are known for.
i got inspired a decade ago when i learned about robert rauschenberg's hot sauces. as artists we have so many tentacles for our creative outlets not just what we see on the walls of galleries. on the push store you'll find ephemera: you'll find handmade quilts, wooden engraved spoons, movie posters and soon seed packages, handwritten recipes and much more. please consider supporting the artists featured and lil ol me through a purchase of something extraordinary. and check back often as the store will be bringing in new projects monthly.
now onto this week's glorious push pick. i met Rachael pre pandemic when i had an infant and i rarely left him. but i was invited to the wythe rooftop when the one and only kimia (push pick 27) was doing their art curation. rachael and i got to talking and had so much in common. then she dropped the news that she was moving upstate to pursue what is now current cassis. without further ado...
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Rachael is a creative, cook and gardener who has worked with some of the best restaurants, hotels and arts institutions in NY and CA. In the summer of 2018 while 6 months pregnant, she began experimenting with homemade cordials and fell obsessively for domestic blackcurrants. In winter of 2020 she founded C. Cassis and set about bringing contemporary blackcurrant liqueur to stores and homes. Rachael is now the mother of a sweet five-year-old, and she and her husband Steve (who does all the graphic design for the brand) share time between Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley. Last year they designed and opened a market and bar, CCTR, at the C. Cassis production space in Rhinebeck. When not working on cassis or hanging out with her family, Rachael loves sleep, baths, and reading.
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what kind of life do you want to live?
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The kind that I wish for every person - one of ease, freedom, and joy.
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rachael's current project
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After a long bureaucratic road, we are so happy to have opened a physical space for people to visit in the Hudson Valley. Very excited for the culinary partnerships and events we have in store for 2024. Excited to welcome more guests through our doors.
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I recently cooked for Queer Soup Night at our friend Quinn's restaurant, Quinnie's (go visit if you haven't already, best chicken sandwich) which raises money for organizations through donation-based soup parties. That night we partnered with Greater Hudson Promise and I was really inspired by their work, hope to do more with them this year.
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rachael's film of the week
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Tale of the Three Jewels by Michel Kleifi, 1996. It is so beautiful and watching/reading works by Palestinian artists is as important now as ever. As a reminder of the people, land and culture that are being systematically destroyed with the full support of US tax dollars. I'm heartbroken and furious over it every day and films like these help to inspire me in the continued stand against oppression.
(Editor's note: this film was also recommended by push pick contributor raul zbengheci! check out their words on it here.)
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rachael's song of the week
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"Enter Laughing" by Electrelane. This one came on randomly this week and I had forgotten how much I used to listen to them. The album this song comes from is called Power Out and is the first one they had Steve Albini on to record. For me now it is resonating with the immediacy of love. Don't wait to tell people that you love them. Tell them every day!
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rachael's article of the week
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Cal Newport's New Yorker article, "It's Time To Embrace Slow Productivity". Tied to the subject of his forthcoming imprint, the article grapples with the failures of the hustle, our (mistaken) conflation of busy-ness to productivity. As the owner of a small start-up, these are things I think about constantly. I think, like many people, there was a way of working that I was ~comfortable~ with before the pandemic that had my nerves totally fried in a way I didn't realize until everything stopped. I spent the subsequent years trying to heal from that, and as I shape a way of working or doing business in my own company, I prioritize life outside of work as much as the work itself. But it's tricky to marry those aims with a culture that demands constant growth and financial returns and that's a bit what the article talks about - that we as a culture need to change to prioritize slow productivity. Ultimately, at cassis we are trying to build something with longevity that nourishes us as much as our customers. The work is in service of living, not the other way around.
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rachael's food of the week
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I'm so into spinach. Maybe that's boring but I eat it in everything - eggs, smoothies, soups, salads, wraps, sauteed with a lot of garlic. How much spinach is too much spinach?
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I love flowers, more and more as I age. For me it's the Anemone, also called Windflower; an etymological translation of the name to "daughter of the wind". In Ovid's Metamorphoses it's said that the anemone was created by Aphrodite from her grief, pomegranate nectar, and the blood of her dead lover, Adonis. It carries with it this mix of a sort of ruin and love - isn't that the way of the world. In any case, they are very prevalent where I live and grow in my backyard. Each flower is small, delicate, beautiful, vulnerable, grieving but with a creeping rhizomatic root structure and self propagating seed delivery, they spread naturally and every year bring more. Until they become an overwhelming force of beauty. The power of all the flowers, together.
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and a few picks from push...
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let's start the year off right with some amazing art shows, recommendations courtesy of vulture.
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let them eat...pop tarts?
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do you follow the cake zine newsletter and collect the zines? i sure as hell do! loved this really important news about edible mascots
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dear friend and past push picks roseli ilano sent this to me and i revisit often when i need a good laugh!
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we hope you are staying warm and that you enjoyed another installment of push picks. as always, if you like what you read, forward it to someone or encourage them to sign up. it would mean the world to us 🌎
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