Barn Lust

A recent midwest jaunt to North Dakota confirmed something I'd had suspicions of for a while now- I have a serious barn problem. For a native Brooklyn girl, it's kind of funny, but I guess it's a grass-is-greener kind of thing. Seems I'm not the only one- check out this beautiful Dutch barn, a labor of love project for a barn fetishist in northern New York who didn't get a fancy sports car or dye his hair to cope with a mid-life crisis, he got a barn. Circa 1799 Dutch barn is a gorgeous space you can rent to get hitched in, have a dance party in, or just wander through and marvel at the history of an old structure that was built to last. If that's not bucolic enough for you, click through this slideshow of some beautiful Iowa barn quilts, most of 'em from about 50 years back or more. Midwest Living also has a nice barn quilt slideshow.

The Fortune Teller and Phantom Limb

If you don't know who Phantom Limb Co. are just yet, you will. I know them as Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko, two of the most creative, driven, lovely people on the planet. Several years ago their first puppet play opened at the Here Arts Center in Manhattan, and so many people loved the show that it's back to delight even more viewers. It's a creepy moral fairy tale featuring narration by Gavin Friday, music by Erik Sanko and Danny Elfman, and sets designed by Jessica Grindstaff. Up next for Phantom Limb on the left coast is the world premiere of The Composer is Dead, a collaboration with Lemony Snicket. As I mentioned- if you don't know them now, you will.

Since People Are Still Checking Out This Blog

I don't know WHO you are, but SiteMeter tells me you exist, and so, I thought it would be nice to pick up where I left off in February and post the heck out of some fun stuff.

mysterious.......

Time is running out for Mystery Google- a wierd, addictive Internet time suck that offers you not search results for your query, but results from the person who searched before you. So- in other words, you will never get what you are looking for. But what you do get is a voyeuristic peek into the etherworld of others, which can be cool. Or wierd, or creepy, or dumb. Betcha can't search just once....

Exploring Antarctica

I am lucky enough to be friends with two of the most creative people on the planet. Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko, collectively known as Phantom Limb, are a husband and wife team who create incredible marionette theater works, inspired by all sorts of things. Their latest project is by far the most ambitious-- a piece about Sir Ernest Shackleton's trans-Antarctic expedition on the ship Endurance. They are currently researching for the project IN ANTARCTICA, and keeping a beautiful visual journal of their journey, re-creating Shackleton's hand-written journals. Please check it out here- it's a work of art in itself.
Their first video clip is , of course, flapping penguins!

the moment you've all been waiting for. from Josh Reisner on Vimeo.

Tea for Two, and Two for Tea

Happy post-Thanksgiving! I know it's all holiday downhill from here, and that's totally fine with me (I'm in possesion of a DIY pre-fab gingerbread house from Ikea, which I plan to decorate a la Domino mag, craftylike. I'm in the spirit! pics to come)
So, that means thinking about gifts, right? Jeez. I spent the weekend caring for my ailing boyfriend who was stricken with a forceful cold. Tea, tea, and more tea were called for, and as I tapped out scoops of tea from Kusmi and Mariage Freres, I realized that some gorgeous tea makes for a beautiful gift. A recent trip to Montreal brought me into the world of Kusmi tea for the first time- hey, if it was good enough for Russian czars, it's good enough for me! And Mariage Freres is a gorgeous tea house in Paris, with amazing packages. I can't think of a better way to give a gift that keeps on giving, looks and tastes delicious, AND lives on, greenly, with containers that can be re-purposed. There are flavors galore, caffeine-free, strong, weak, in between. Something for everyone on your list, in other words.

Oh- and the best part? You can buy it all online, while you sip some tea yourself. If you're feeling particularly sweet, throw in some nice honey, too. We need to support those beekeepers!

Long Live Ruth!

While mourning the loss of Gourmet magazine (especially tough at this time of year) I temporarily forgot about the TV series that Gourmet produced with American Public Television called Adventures with Ruth.
Happy to stumble upon it in my program guide, I've TiVo'd the series and have enjoyed two episodes of former Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl (rishel) traipsing around Mexico and Seattle, respectively. My friend Martha introduced me to her books a handful of years ago, and I'm getting ready to dive into Tender at the Bone again soon. There's something about the way this woman writes and thinks about food that hits all the right notes.

As I get ready to make my Thanksgiving lineup (brussels sprouts and cauliflower in a creamy gratin topped with breadcrumbs, my friend Justin's mom's biscuits, a fancy lattice topped apple pie, some pumpkin muffins for T-day morning, to name a few menu selections) I'm thinking back to all of the inspiring moments I gleaned from Gourmet- it sounds silly, it was just a magazine. But to me, it was more than that-- it was a place to share my love of food with a group of writers and editors who loved cooking and food just as much as I did (more, of course, they lived and breathed it!). So, I encourage you to find Adventures with Ruth in your local programming and check it out. Her enthusiasm for life's simple pleasures is infectious, and even if we can't look forward to Ruth's musings in our mailbox every month, at least we can enjoy the wonders of the food world along with her on TV. Something to be thankful for.