Years ago, before there was Amara Kitchen (before there was Canyon Coffee!), our friend Paola Guasp used to treat us to the most delicious meals. Paleo pancakes for brunch, bison ragu for dinner, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for... whenever. Getting to eat Paola's food was always a treat, and always something we looked forward to.
Years ago, before there was Amara Kitchen (before there was Canyon Coffee!), our friend Paola Guasp used to treat us to the most delicious meals. Paleo pancakes for brunch, bison ragu for dinner, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for... whenever. Getting to eat Paola's food was always a treat, and always something we looked forward to.
Watching Paola open Amara was also an inspiration for creating Canyon Coffee, and we're sure she's inspired many others as well. Her example demonstrated that with passion, focus and determination you can bring your ideas to life—and they can succeed! Amara was started without an investment deck. Paola and her founding partner, Corrina, pulled ends together to get the door open and the business has been profitable, growing organically from the start.
I start each morning with a warm beverage, which can vary from hot water & lemon, to herbal tea, to coffee. It really depends on my mood, or what I have to tackle that day.I also tidy up my house before leaving, even if just for 10 minutes. I like to have my space ready for my return. I find that no matter what challenges the day might bring, if my space is in order when I get home, I can let go of the stress of the day's events quicker.
Only about a year before opening AMARA Kitchen had I even considered opening a restaurant. I had been cooking and hosting a lot of dinner parries at home, and I started to feel the joy cooking for others brought.The impetus was an opportunity and the shield of naivety. The opportunity was that the rent at our current location was incredibly low when we first opened. The naivety was that, since this was my first time starting a business, I didn't even think of all the other overhead owning a restaurant entailed! But my friend and then-business partner jumped on the opportunity and figured the rest as we went.
I wish i could say I had a master plan, but the truth is that we just rode the waves as they came and adjusted when we needed to. I never had an end goal or an expansion plan. I just knew I that I couldn’t let this fail, because it was all I had.
That it's always changing and evolving—as is my role in running it.
I love the culture of working in restaurants, there is a real sense of family and community. It is really hard work and can be stressful, but in that type of environment you get to know people's true selves very quickly, so the relationships made are genuine and meaningful.The short answer would be: the people I have gotten to know as a result of owning Amara.
For Mariah Nielson, the familiar is never static. Mornings begin inside the hand-built Inverness, CA home her father, sculptor JB Blunk, shaped from salvaged redwood in the 1950s. It’s where Mariah now lives, and is raising her own son amid the textures, tools, and stories of her childhood—alongside traded works from friends, artist-made artifacts, and her own growing contributions.
For painter Jereme Brian Mendez, mornings move at their own pace: ice water, meditation, and a walk through the quiet streets of the Berkeley Hills, where deer roam past and the fog hangs low. His studio hours don’t begin until the light shifts in the afternoon, but those early rituals—quiet, steady, tactile—form the architecture of his day.
Kassandra Thatcher is an LA-based artist specializing in ceramic lighting and sculpture. We recently paid a visit to her Arlington Heights studio to see her in action, and learn more about her story, life and work.