Some of the best food in LA and one of the best apps for iPad

So back from So Cal and much inspired. I enjoyed the visit but not so much the travel. Please don’t ask about United’s physical and fiscal abuses, no reach around or thanks for the fishes. But that is another post and one that I can’t seem to write until the trauma relents.

I did want to talk about some of the amazing food. I, of course, needed to make a pilgrimage to a great Taquria known as El Indio home of truly memorable burritos and an Horchatta to die for. They are open so late it is positively early. Also we went to the Echo Park restaurant Sage which serves spectacular vegan fare and were wowed by the intense complexity of flavors and textures in the meal accompanied by a smoothie (smoothies make me happy :-) and capped off by velvet smooth ice cream (vegan of course)

But here is where the controversy starts. Because my vegan aunt Lucille will not appreciate that I mention the world’s best burgers in the same breath with this stellar vegan cuisine. So, breathe… in and out. In n Out Burger oh yum, great burgers with sautéed onions, melted cheese and a chocolate shake, nothing vegan about any of it.

But we are not gathered together to talk about food. So, why have I brought you here? I am glad you asked, you ask such good questions.

Check this out, it is the In n Out Burger logo as done with a drawing app for iPad. 

by Jen Cao http://jencao.tumblr.com/

The app is the most expensive thing I have purchased for my iPad aside from the iPad itself and it has been totally worth it. Paper by 53 is useful for the creative presenter, as it allows you to sketch on the fly, make notes and create virtual notebooks full of “Paper” for as many projects as you like. It has speed sensitivity so the complexity is very real lifelike. The ink tool gives you a fatter line width the faster you go and the watercolor tool rewards you with a heavier saturation of color for moving slowly. Use it with a quality stylus and any artist is in business.

With the recent update they added, a zoom in feature that allows for adding finer detail, a color blending tool that lets you save the color when you get it perfect (many painters understand what it is like having to mix pigments and remember a formula). They have also added a social component showcasing a vast array of works by a wide variety of artists. I wish I could say any of mine made the cut. But here are I few I found particularly special.

A sampling of Art made with Paper

Here is a short video documenting the process of talented artist Michael Rose creating with Paper.

I find it particularly useful for ideation and quick rendering and I really enjoy just mucking about with it. Anyway here is a tutorial video to give you a better idea of how it works, it is truly a tool that fosters creativity. Now if they would just allow us to import photos to use and background or as covers for those TPS reports, “yeah, that’d be great”.