There is no better way to get together and catch up with our artists and friends over some good food. From Portland to Eugene, we had the best time ever and lots of good eats. Thank to everyone that gave us their suggestions on our Facebook and Twitter, we hit most of them!

Broder Cafe with Kate Bingaman Burt…. an incredible Swedish breakfast joint.

Thai appetizer at Pok Pok with husband and wife duo, Aaron and Ayumi of APAK. I was a bit skeptical of this Thai joint at first… but, it was surprisingly authentic and delicious!

Portland had tons of little cluster food trucks. This in the Alberta Street area…. a wonderful little burger with JD Hooge and Betsy Walton.

This was probably the craziest of spreads on our trip. Thing you need to know about artists Charlene Liu and Isami Ching… they are foodies and amazing cooks. Don’t judge by the home made spread you see here… it’s an amalgamation of our leftovers from the weekend we spent with them. To break it down, we had smoked ribs, oysters, biscuits, and potato salad the morning before we left. Sounds like a funny mish mosh… and I admit, it is. But, it was so darn good and worked in a weird left overs kind of way.

Below are also a couple of pictures and video from where we originally got the oysters and the fine day at the beach we enjoyed them. We bought 48 oysters between us. Bring me back.

The too-cute-for-words duo of APAK (Aaron + Ayumi) have done it again with their new “Joyriders” t-shirt. We’ve worked with them in the past when they did a pop-up shop at Royal/T gallery in ’09, and they continue to keep the magic alive with their work. See what APAK‘s been up to since our last interview!

Tell us a little bit about your t-shirt design.
“Joyriders” was originally made for one of Ayumi’s friendship greeting card collection. It’s our hope to communicate teamwork, harmony, and love and also encourage eco-friendly bike riding!

Photo via APAK

Favorite song to karaoke to
Aaron – Daisy Bell
Ayumi – Natsumatsuri by JITTERIN’JINN

Any projects you have coming up in the near future?
A Kids book! We have a story and the pages layed out already but just need to find time and make it happen. We’re really excited about it!

Photo via APAK

Were there any art projects you can remember from your childhood that you were extremely proud of?
Aaron – got in trouble for drawing boobs in Kindergarten.
Ayumi – a portrait of my mom for Mother’s Day when I was 5 or 6 years old. I remember I was putting so much energy and love in the piece.

Photo via APAK

Photo via APAK

(For Aaron) Ayumi is better at _____ than me.
Ayumi is better at cooking tasty treats than me.

(For Ayumi) Aaron is better at _____ than me.
Aaron is better at watering house plants than me.

Photo via APAK

Biggest risk you’ve taken with your art?
Collaborating together!

Ayumi, fondest memory of your childhood in Japan.
I really enjoyed making Yomogi (Artemisia princeps) Mochi filled with red bean paste with my grandmother every spring.  We’d walk around in the neighborhood and pick the young Yomogi grass. Then sit on the floor in the kitchen and grind up the grass and mix it with cooked mochi, and wrap it around a ball of red beans. It’s the best when it’s fresh because you can smell the scent of young yomogi leafs and also the mochi is very soft. That’s how we celebrated the arrival of Spring back home.

First art piece you saw that you were affected by?
Aaron – Works by MC Escher and Magritte maybe.
Ayumi – Paul Gauguin’s “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”

Photo via APAK

Most rewarding memory of your careers as artists?
There are so many rewarding memories as artists and it’s hard to name one as the best… But when a fan of ours told us that our work makes him smile every time he sees our painting hanging in his apartment in the morning and evening after work made us feel good. It’s rewarding to know our work is affecting people in a positive way on an everyday basis.

Ocho and P-Nut! Photo via APAK

Thanks for this interview Aaron and Ayumi!

To purchase “Joyriders” visit our shop here.