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”
Author Archives: mourningdove
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”
Friday Favorites: Food Blogs
I get a lot of questions from friends about where I find recipes, so I thought I’d start a list here. See this post for how I curate feeds from these blogs and organize the recipes once I find them: Serious Eats. This is the site I’ve consulted most frequently over the years. The olderContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Food Blogs”
Summer in a Jar
I logged a lot of time at the kids’ table in the kitchen processing fruit for my mom. She was bound and determined to give her city girls a country education, so she and my dad transformed our backyard into a decent facsimile of an orchard in Michigan, where they grew up. We had twoContinue reading “Summer in a Jar”
Letter of Recommendation: Baskets
I’m stealing this title straight up from the New York Times’s excellent column. I’ve been into baskets since I went through my Victoria magazine period in late college/early grad school—when all my furniture was wicker and all my upholstery white (what a great idea with two dogs, a tendency to knock over mugs of tea,Continue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Baskets”
Unauthorized Uses: The Microwave
I love using things in ways they were never intended. And the microwave oven is probably one of my favorite toys in this regard. I’m a pretty serious cook and foodie, and so my friends are often a bit shocked to discover that not only do I own a microwave, I use it pretty muchContinue reading “Unauthorized Uses: The Microwave”
The Rookery 