This turned out to be a pretty pioneer-y menu featuring the kinds of things that Western settlers would have have in their cellars this time of year: venison, apples, cabbage, onions, carrots, etc. And it was really one of our best menus in terms of the way it all came together. The bang-to-buck ratio onContinue reading “ESC #35”
Author Archives: mourningdove
Chris Roberts-Antieau
I popped into her gallery in the French Quarter last November when I saw all of the beautifully embroidered birds through the window. But she’s an amazing fabric artist who has also composed appliqué tapestries evoking the spirit of music, art, and creativity. She has a gallery in Santa Fe as well. I hope I’mContinue reading “Chris Roberts-Antieau”
Chiso Kimonos
I just watched a short op-doc on YouTube about this amazing kimono manufacturer that’s been around for nearly 500 years. Trust me, you should watch the video and check out their website.
ESC #34: Groundhog’s/Valentine’s Day
This started out as a Groundhog’s Day menu with as much chocolate in it as possible from the recipes in my Try file–because my sister has decided that Groundhog’s Day is the chocolate holiday, and who am I to argue with solid logic? But we had to postpone, and it ended up being Valentine’s DayContinue reading “ESC #34: Groundhog’s/Valentine’s Day”
ESC #33: Year of the Snake
I love any excuse to pull out Mr. Dragon: just please don’t tell him he cosplayed as a snake this year (made possible by his lack of any legs)…. We pulled a selection of dim-sum-adjacent recipes from my Try file for a Lunar New Year brunch. I think the youtiao were the biggest hit b/cContinue reading “ESC #33: Year of the Snake”
Catching up with ESC: 30-32
Just focus on the cute olive penguins and ignore how far behind I got with documenting these…. The penguins were from #31: Tree-hunting Edition, and they weren’t actually experimental—I’ve made them before. I don’t remember where I got the recipe/idea (you can basically see how to make them). I’m going to go out on aContinue reading “Catching up with ESC: 30-32”
Drama Queen: Story of Pearl Girl
I’ll cut right to the chase: you can skip this one. But you might not want to for reasons I have no control over. Say you’ve heard all the scuttlebutt around Zhao Lusi’s health and want to support her, or just want to ambulance-chase Pearl Girl, the last drama she filmed before she was hospitalized,Continue reading “Drama Queen: Story of Pearl Girl”
Rapa Nui
I just got back from a week on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and here’s the upshot: if you *ever* find yourself with the time and the means to get out there, you should. You’ll be supporting tourism on the island, which is the only industry there and thus the main anchor that keeps Rapa NuiContinue reading “Rapa Nui”
I Have Notes…for Pluto
Possibly the most famous manga of all time is Astro Boy, written by Osamu Tezuka and serialized during the 1950s and 1960s in Japan during its harrowing post-WWII reconstruction period. While it reads today as hopelessly corn-cheesy (unless you grew up with it), at the time Astro Boy was a real shot in the armContinue reading “I Have Notes…for Pluto”
2024 Christmas Theme: Enchanted Forest
I took the Angela Harding advent calendar as the centerpiece of the theme as well as my Iittala Taika dinnerware (“Taika” means magic forest in Finnish, according to the company). Think lots of owls, deer, greenery, mushrooms, gnomes…. Extra Credit to my friend Nicole for convincing me to use my raven puppet as a treeContinue reading “2024 Christmas Theme: Enchanted Forest”