Holiday for Hanging

Who: VN Senior Editor Elizabeth Castoria
What: An auspicious art opening
Where: M. Coffee, Half Moon Bay, Calif.
When: January 8, 2009
Why: Art for heart's sake

The Scoop: Sometimes, you just happen to be related to someone who has what people like to call "talent." When this person happens to be your sister, and she happens to have an art opening at your hometown coffee shop where you happen to have spent innumerable weekends together—her working, you taking advantage of her incredible soymilk-frothing abilities—it's pretty imperative that you attend. Oh, and you know that since the artist of the evening shares the same mother you do, there will be no shortage of delicious vegan food.

The evening got going around 6pm, after-hours at M. Coffee, where Sheila—aka the artist—used to work. As predicted, the first thing I saw when I walked in the door was a huge table of food, and then my super-effing-cute sister, flocked with admirers. Since one of Sheila's all-time favorite foods is olive spread, my mom whipped up about eight gallons of it, which I eagerly tucked into with sliced bell peppers and La Panzanella Rosemary crackers. Also on the menu were a couple ginormous trays of roasted vegetables, my mom's signature carrot cake—a traditionally vegan cake recipe, and with a little non-dairy cream cheese, voilá, cream-cheese-frosted carrot cake—and a few bottles of wine.

Sheila's art was mostly compiled from class assignments, and there was a distinct heart theme going on. In addition to red being her favorite color—hence the crimson mounting—she herself has a finnicky ticker that likes to act up on her every once in a while. One day, it started racing a bit and put her out of commission for the afternoon, so the next day she did what any reasonable artist would do: create something awesome. See above for the results.

A few of the pieces sold, all of the wine was drunk, and about an eighth of the food was eaten. It was a well-deserved evening of fun for one super-fantastic sister. Oh, and did I mention that she's just about the cutest thing on the entire planet? Yeah, she is. See below for proof. As art openings go, I think it's safe to say in the words of Rilo Kiley (the band that reigned as Sheila's go-to music on hectic Saturday mornings of latte-making), it's a hit.

Portrait of the artist (left) and her sister