mourningdove

Perfection

This is an essay I wrote two years ago as a thank-you to my dear friends Eric & Vicky, who gave Malena, Hyunsuk, and me their reservations for a temple-stay weekend with the Buddhist nun and chef Jeong Kwan at Baekyangsa Temple in Jeollanam-do, South Korea. LCO “…this Body itself is Emptiness and Emptiness itselfContinue reading “Perfection”

Letter of Recommendation: Kimchi Storage Container

I love making kimchi: I use a combination of a recipe my Korean friend Hyunsuk gave me and this recipe. But it was always a bit of a struggle because I only had quart canning jars for fermentation and storage—which worked but were a hot mess (or, technically, a cold, bright-red mess). And then thereContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Kimchi Storage Container”

Cute Animal Videos

Because this is what it’s like outside right now…. Scottie pinwheel! Otters! Turtle high-fives alligator! Baby pandas with Ideas!

Umeboshi (update)

Looking good so far! It’s been 2 weeks, and the plums have released enough brine to submerge themselves (just), and there’s no mold or anything. So, I’m adding the herbs at this point. Couldn’t find shiso, so used a mix of mint, basil, and lavender from my garden. Now it goes down into the basementContinue reading “Umeboshi (update)”

Friday Favorites: Feedly Clean-Up

I save things I find that I like and/or that I need more time to read/check out in my Feedly, a news aggregator I described in this post. But my Read Later folder tends to get backed up, and so recently I’ve been going through it watching/reading things and cleaning it out. Here are 10Continue reading “Friday Favorites: Feedly Clean-Up”

The Apricot Pit

I enjoy coming up with new cocktails. I’ve invented them for holidays; I’ve named them after friends; I’ve memorialized pets with them. Once you figure out the basic formula, you can improvise on it–just like cooking. You can find a bunch of basic formulas online, but the one I like to work around is 2Continue reading “The Apricot Pit”

Miso Soup from Scratch (kind of)

This isn’t a recipe; it’s the story of a minor obsession—and a pretty typical one as far as my cooking obsessions go. I start with something that fascinates me and then go down a rabbit hole with it until I realize it’s dark and cold, and then I backtrack a bit and settle in somewhereContinue reading “Miso Soup from Scratch (kind of)”

Fashion and Personal Style

It’s funny: I don’t think anyone who knows me would say, “MourningDove has such great fashion sense.” And yet I’ve spent a fair amount of time in my life thinking about fashion, noting which designers I like and don’t, recognizing trends, paying attention to what other women are wearing…. And absolutely none of it hasContinue reading “Fashion and Personal Style”

Rikkansai (short story)

I see it dawn on you just how old I am. You wonder how I have made it this long, as frail as I seem. You know nothing about me. I have ridden to war; I have been smuggled out of a burning castle at the breast of a princess; I have served tea toContinue reading “Rikkansai (short story)”

Kintsugi

I’m a ceramics nut. I’m particularly obsessed with tea bowls from the Song Dynasty in China (roughly 960-1279 AD). Compared to the florid patterns of later periods, Song ceramics are plain, almost austere in their plain black, white, and celadon glazes. But their shapes and the rich nuances in those glazes—one that looks blue butContinue reading “Kintsugi”