Monday, December 28, 2015

NOLA highlight

When you think of fancy, delicate many-layered doberge cake, you don't think of small local bars, but Twelve Mile Limit is making it happen. You might have to be buzzed in, or knock--it's very under the radar. They are an incredible little bar that serves up doberge cake made by the master at Debbie does Doberge. They had red velvet and rainbow almond paste--they were to die for and irreplaceable. Going out to Twelve Mile Limit and getting their classic take-home cup is a really unique, great experience that is unmissable. I will go back next time I am down in NOLA.

At 500 Telemachus St, usually 5pm-2am, or 10am-12am on weekends [check first, call in and see what flavors of doberge they have--they are very kind and helpful, even to the annoying people like me!]; get off the Canal St tram at S. Clark St and go left four streets and up two


Sunday, December 27, 2015

Vintage in NOLA

When traveling, you need to be prepared--be sure to read travel guides to NYC, Paris, NOLA, etc, before you go, make a list of places you want to go [with addresses & times], print out a basic map and circle them. When you touchdown in your new locale, you'll be ready to rush off and go try a million different things. All that possibility, just waiting for your shoes to start walking.

For vintage clothes, try:
-If you are going to New Orleans' Cecilia's or Satsuma for a breakfast or brunch, the nearby Swap Boutique is great, a little store full of interesting items.
At 7716 Maple St, get of St Charles Ave streetcar by Cecilia's, usually open 10am-6

-Be sure to go to Century Girl while in the French Quarter
At 818 Royal St, usually open 11am-6

-And of course, GLUE clothing exchange, for really interesting finds
At 8206 Oak St, open 11am-6


Stationary

Stationary and sending cards is one of the great refined pleasures of age--you get to express how much people mean to you in carefully beautiful handwriting, choose unique and lovely cards, and give someone you love a great surprise in the mail. There are two components of this for the writing set: the cards and the seal [or stickers/stamps].

You need both great stationary and interesting decoration:
Get unique cards at places like: The Grove Street Press online, and the very famous Ana's Papeterie

Get wax seals at: U.K.'s British ebay site: very unique! I have often pored over each antique piece. On Etsy, the two people to get them from are ReminiscencePapers [for particular, different fonts letters] and TheSupplyGuy [for tiny incredible images]. Love the zodiac signs set of wax seals and the gingerbread man.

New Orleans b

More must-do's while in NOLA:

French Quarter
-Arnauds, the famous bar and restaurant, get a light and very famous WWI French 75 cocktail, it is a mixed champagne base drink
At 813 Rue Bienville, go early at night, it opens usually 5:30pm-11:30

-The Pelican Bar, ask them to make the now off menu blackberry rum cocktail, it's a classic
At 312 Exchange Plaza almost at the corner of Bienville St and Chartres St., it's on a hidden open road in the middle of that block on Bienville, open 5:30pm-9:30

-If you love classic, old world perfumes, go to Bourbon French Parfums and get the best one: the cherry blossom, or get it online here in any size.
At 805 Royal St, open 10am-5

-Cecilia's or Satsuma's are very interesting, try walking out from classic, old world American diner Cecilia's to modern, fresh Satsuma for fun exotic mixed [fresh] fruit juices [and for the vintage shops nearby] and get the meaty gumbo at Cecilia's and their pecan waffles, and a chocolate milkshake
At 626 S Carrollton Ave is Cecilia's, ride the St Charles streetcar over, which stops right next to it; Satsuma is at 7901 Maple St, a few streets over from the other cafe

-Go to the opera or ballet, the Louis A. theater is directly north of the French Quarter, so it's easy to get to

-Go to the famous, gorgeous Latin mass at the classic and ornate St Patrick's Church at 9:30am Sunday, set back from the street so be sure to look carefully; their service schedule is here
At 724 Camp St, in the CBD

The picture below is from the Garden District--the stained glass was lovely:


New Orleans a

The best of the best in New Orleans, for a perfect, luxurious trip--remember to call ahead to most places to ensure they have what you want and are even open, NOLA has more of a European take on time and many places are closed Monday or have different weekend hours:

-Reserve a $2 'Free tours by foot' guided tour online to St. Louis Cemetery no. 1 [you cannot get in without a tour like this to protect this famous cemetery]
At Basin St and St. Louis St

Garden District
-Go to the incredible, gothic Lafayette Cemetery in the Garden District, usually open 7:30-2:30, so get there way before 2pm just to be sure
At Washington Ave streetcar stop get off from a green St Charles line car that you board in CBD [central business district]  or French Quarter area--after getting off, walk past Prytania St right into the cemetery, it's free

-Next to Lafayette Cemetery is the famous turquoise restaurant Commander's Palace -- get a reservation and lunch: the pasta with wild boar sauce, and get some famous 25¢ cocktails
At 1403 Washington Ave, open 11:30am-1:30 & 6:30pm-9:30 (504) 899-8221

-In the garden district, walk around to see all the famous, enormous old fancy houses, and go see Anne Rice's old house at 1239 First St

-District Donuts, Sliders Brews has amazing, unique donuts that will blow your mind; walk down from the garden district big house area to rest here and get an iced tea
At 2209 Magazine St, open 7am-9pm

CBD
-Get a locally famous muffuletta Italian meat/olive sandwich at Cochon Butcher, and a Jamaican mule [ie a dark 'n stormy] at the bar [the mixer is a lovely, great man], and try a bunch of pies and cake slices, they're incredible
At 930 Tchoupitoulas St, usually open 10am-10pm

-Perfume lovers should call ahead to Avery Fine Perfumery and be sure they're open, they have a huge and unique selection of rare bottles, spray some blotters and experience the artistry
At 527 St Joseph St, open 11-6pm, call (504) 522-7102

-Famous local handmade artistic card/stationary shop The Grove Street Press is next door to the perfume gallery above, you can buy their unique, old fashioned cards etc here online
At 521 St Joseph St, open 11-7pm but call to ensure they are truly open: (504) 281-4575

Canal St
-Blue Dot Donuts, this tiny gem has giant donut bow ties you'd kill for and bear claws, it's irreplacable
At 4201 Canal St, open 6am until the afternoon but get there before 9am to make sure you get a real selection, they will sell out

Angelo Broccato, take the Canal streetcar up and get raspberry pastries, gelato, almond greek caps, and French fruit tarts, fresh cannolis; very old school classic
214 N Carrollton Ave, open 10am-10

Farther out
Plum St Snoballs, 1300 Burdette St but only during summer, so call or check online


Saturday, December 26, 2015

Things to read: J style

One great blog is TheJapans, about a Westerner living in 日本 or Nihon, as we say. She has great posts, including some on Japanese breakfast, which is always interesting to hear about--they are so different in every culture!

TheSartorialist, that old standby, had a few ensembles that were interesting--like in NYC here or here, but lately there's a shift towards other street style blogs, like:

- TIRU, the excellent Japanese style blog, they have an amazing sense of aesthetics
- FY FRUiTS, an engaging look at the infamous J-style fashion magazine, very fresh/modern
- FY DropTokyo is extremely modern/minimalist and interesting.
- the more classically beautiful YesAsianStreet and the HarajukuStyle.


Gifts for oneself

In terms of after Christmas, I think everyone wants a little something for themselves--whether it's just something new or an item they wanted but didn't get in time for the holiday. One such thing is vintage Victorian calling cards--like here or here at another shop. They are simply gorgeous!

Another thing is vintage issues of Victoria magazine on Ebay/Etsy. It's for the Anne of Green Gables [Canadian, 1908, written by Lucy M.] and Victorian culture loving set, and it definitely does not disappoint.

Another thing that's fun to get during the holidays is a new wax seal--there are many on Ebay, especially the U.K.'s British ebay site. They are lovely, antique and very unique! I have often contemplated buying quite a few. On Etsy, the two people to get them from are ReminiscencePapers and TheSupplyGuy.


Sunday, December 20, 2015

Ancient

The French Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau [1826–1898] is one of the most interesting painters, especially because of his two Salomé paintings [see two below, the one on the left often referred to as 'The Apparition' and check out the more explicit and mystical one 'Salomé dansant devant Hérode' here], and for his 'Song of Songs' and 'Hesiod and the Muse'--the more Impressionistic 'The Toilette' is also very unique as is 'The Sacred Elephant'--look here for more of his work. His most infamous painting is of course the 'Oedipus and the Sphinx' [1864].

      

French

The French Louis Marie de Schryver [1862-1942] has an excellent piece in 'A young man's fancy', and the French Gustave Claude Étienne Courtois's [1852-1923] 'Portrait of Anne-Marie Dagnan' [1880] is exquisite for the collar and unique dress.

And Belgian Charles Hermans' [1839-1924] 'Bal Masqué' is very unique and Poe or Phantom of the Opera-esque:

Arturo Ricci

Arturo Ricci [1854-1919] is an incredible early Italian painter--the clothing in his work is extremely interesting, see his paintings at this great art blog or here--'Interieur mit feiner Gesellschaft' is a great one:

Xmas

The holidays prompt people to list the latest and most interesting things they've seen, read or bought--the famous David Lebovitz has recently put out his list. Here are some ideas:

For music, Wolfgang Voight's 1999 ambient music Gas album Königsforst is incredible, and his 'Zauberberg' [1997] is even better. For art, I love looking at Cargo Collective--it has everything! The new Macbeth movie appears to be an artistic triumph; try Interstellar for ambient atmosphere as well. Netflix's Jessica Jones is the best thing on tv for years.

For fashion, I think everyone reads Bill Cunningham religiously. Who can resist looking at Net-a-porter, though I usually prefer to get unique little things from designers who are just starting out.

Sites like Of a Kind and NeedSuppy is a great site [I love Jesse Kamm, here's one spot for her & here too; I constantly search for an opportunity to buy this one design of hers I saw years ago. I scour ebay! I love these almost medieval, interesting earrings by Fortune Favors the Brave. I love the site YBD [Young British Designers] as well.

Blogwise, the top of the top is usually Farmette in Ireland and the famous Mimi Thorisson in Médoc, France.

For old fashioned fun, the 80s and 90s have some great things to revisit: Victoria magazine for the Anne of Green Gables life aspirers, early The X Files seasons for their fresh take on atmospheric tv, the Toronto based Forever Knight for a classic Greek love style supernatural vampire tv show, and the classic manga comic books about a tough, hidebound German NATO Major and an Robert Plant-like, wild international art thief: From Eroica with Love [Japan's  エロイカより愛をこめて].

Ambient music

Ambient music is a gorgeous, incredible thing. It can be moving, eerie, beautiful, or just interesting 'white' type noise. This list of the top ambient albums is great as is this list of the top 10 ambient cds. The Gas album 'Zauberberg' [1997] is amazing.

Be sure to try the beautiful 'The X-Files Theme Song 800% Slower', which sounds really interesting and not like the actual theme and the natural sounding bells & river 'Tibetan Music Therapy with Spiritual Music Sounds for Zen Meditation'. The best ambient music always sounds somehow natural and intangible, like the spirit of a place or object is coming to life.

Another great one is the Tolkien Lord of the Rings 'Enya -Council Of Elrond (MAT3O's Lord of the Rings Elvian Spirit Mix)'.

Balls

French painter Joseph-Désiré Court [1797-1865] has a great painting 'La Sortie du Bal' and try his 'Une Glaneuse' [a female gleaner [of wheat etc], which is excellent and his beautiful 'The mask' of a partygoer:

20's

German Leo Rauth [1884-1913] created incredible 1920's style art:

Fashion

The sometimes French resident and Swiss born Charles-Alexandre Giron's [1850-1914] painting 'The Parisienne' [1883, aka 'Woman wearing gloves'; La Femme aux gants] is an incredible piece--read more about it here:

Painters

Other great painters are the French Théodore Levigne [1848-1912], his 'The romantic suitor' is beautiful, the British Henry Midwood William [1833-1888] and Anatole Vély [see his "La Meditation' [1875] or his 'The Puppet Show' or his 'Le Coeur S'Éveille'/'Awakening of the heart'.

If you want to scroll quickly through some gorgeous closeups, try Gesto from pinterest. As always, the WGA [Web Gallery of Art] is another excellent and fun resource. Be sure to read the interesting notes that accompany some of the art--there's always more to learn!

This page on the game of chess in art is a great, huge collection of paintings.

Also try Eduardo Leon Garrido's 'Die Tanzvorführung'/'The dance performance' [see many of his paintings here. French painter Charles Desire Hue's [1825-1883] painting 'The Favorite Bird' is a gorgeous one:

Tito Conti

Tito Conti is an incredible Italian painter [1842-1924], well known for his beautiful historical paintings. His 1878 'Der Brief' painting is one of the best. Here's another example below, beside the former:


Sunday, December 6, 2015

Winter

One great source interesting winter-time reading is UofA's Dr. Albrect Classen's 2005 reading webpage on medieval and ancient thought and poetry on winter.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Arthur

If you love King Arthur and his world, [or Morgan Le Fay's, to be fair, for those who have The Mists of Avalon book or movie],  check out the amazing illustrations American painter N.C. Wyeth [1882-1945] did on that world. He was taught by the famous illustrator Howard Pyle.

There are a few examples here, and here at WikiArt [use the horizontal scroll bar near the bottom]. The piece "The Death of Guenever" is one of his more somber, rare quiet paintings, it's really beautiful.

Sir Tristram getting killed by King Mark as Tristram played the harp for Isolde is amazing:


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Ideas as fall approaches

As fall approaches, be sure to drive out to apple orchards--if not to pick any, then to at least see them, be out in nature and grab a bag of fruit.

Make sure to get some apple cider when it starts being made locally, and enjoy the quick moments of cold that sneak up on us this early.

Start re-reading or exploring [or introduce a young person to] Poe, Hawthorne, M.R. James and Lovecraft's short stories. Reading them with a chill in the air makes them way more compelling. And spooky.

Another thing that helps people enjoy the season, and nature itself, is to look at curated collections of photographs on pinterest or tumblr. There are many about eerie autumnal scenes, or cheery fall barn/farm scenes with beautiful orange leaves everywhere. At night or in the morning, when you don't have time to get outside, looking at a focused group of images can really connect you to nature. You find yourself looking forward to being out in the forest.

The image is from the film 'Blade'.


Sunday, July 5, 2015

Lefebvre

Art is such a beautiful part of life, and an essential part of being educated, which is a lifelong process--one great painting is French Jules Joseph Lefebvre's [1834-1912] "Portrait of Julia Foster Ward", as seen below. Also check out his famous "Ophelia", "Japonaise", his "Springtime", his Egyptian style "Servant" portrait, and his creepy yet beautiful "Morning Glory".


Photos

One great set of photos to leaf through for fun is the impeccable collection of tea sets master: Clara Bows. The tea sets are really lovely, which is rare to see. I love a good tea, especially at a unique teahouse.

Here is her blog for more pictures. Most err on the side of poor colors, poor design, etc, but these cups are amazing. Here's an example photo of her's, one of my favorites--I really want this green-gold set, and quite a few others:




Saturday, June 27, 2015

Cowper

The famous English pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Frank Cadogan Cowper [1877-1958] is a very versatile painter--his large collection of works appeals to many moods and tastes [see more of his work here on pinterest].

His most famous and best works are perhaps "The patient Griselda", "La belle dame sans merci", "The legend of Sir Perceval", "Lancelot slays the Caitiff Knight Sir Tarquin", "The four queens find Lancelot sleeping", the Madonna painting "Our Lady of the fruits of the earth", "Molly, Duchess of Nona", "The blue bird", and "Vanity".

His piece "Mariana in the South" below [interesting Christies info; the painting is based on the two Mariana poems by Tennyson] is one of my favorites. She is lamenting being abandoned by her lover. The red Renaissance style wood couch, the red cloth of it, her dark green/turquoise robe, her groundhound type dog, her odd clog shoes on the tiles floor, how she looks into the distance, the green spring of something like olive leaves by the reflecting mirror, the little abandoned note by the back of the dog:


St Olga

St Olga of Kiev [b.c. 890-969] is a very unique saint. She ruled the Kievan Rus as a regent after her husband died. She avenged him spectacularly: she burned the enemies alive, several times, even tricking people and locking them into buildings first. Many saints have extremely interesting stories--the tie between the 'new' Christian world and the old pagan world is a strange one. It is a slow process, realizing how little changed after religion changed. Old things evolved, old symbols and rituals, everything really.

This famous art piece by Russian, Symbolist painter Nesterov [ie. Не́стеров], who lived 1862-1942], is a great illustration of her. His other paintings are incredible, like his "Girls on the Banks of the River".


Sunday, June 14, 2015

Songs

After resisting the band Animal Collective based on some reviews, I have to take back what I thought--they have an interesting, chaotic ambient sound. Try 'Visiting Friends' or 'The Softest Voice'. I love the idea of playing them on the sound system while driving cross country on a meandering trip.

A lot of ambient music reminds me of the first Silent Hill video game. It had a great ambiguous, eerie backdrop of sound/noise. The tv show Hannibal's composer Brian Reitzell writes great music in this vein--like his 'Wendigo Quintet'.

Though the soundtrack/score of the 2006 Peter Mayle's book-based film A Good Year was more upbeat and French, there are some parts with slow, rainy music.


Art

St Joan of Arc is a timeless figure, a modern Boudica. It's interesting to look at the art created featuring her: the statues all over the world, the paintings. There are different interpretations of her banner, her clothing, her stature. Looking at how a subject is portrayed over time is very interesting--look at biblical figures, Greek and Roman myths, Shakespearean characters, medieval heroes and villains. 




Ambient

When you're in the mood for ambient/'noise' music, it's hard to find what you're looking for. There are recordings of jungles, bird calls, thunderstorms, rivers, waterfalls, fires crackling, etc, and more man made, white noise type music: the type that seems to have evolved from the noise edges of the Kid A album or Bjork's work.

One great piece in the latter category is Of - Aerial Cisterns by the Jewelled Antler Collective in their compilation 'Heat and Birds'. Another, more vocal, from them is their 'The Famous Boating Party - White Butterfly'.

They have a more soothing background/mostly instrumental piece in 'The Muons - Little Star'. A lighter True Detective sounding piece is 'Rover - Encyclopedia #3 - untitled', or this eponymous similar one, or this one.

Music

Brightblack Morning is a really interesting group for those who like ambient/modern ['modernist'/minimalist] music--try their great song 'Star Blanket River Child'. They are kind of reminiscent of the world/new age group Enigma.

More in the vein of Psapp and The Skygreen Leopards are The Bird and the Bee, I love their song 'Come As You Were'. Similarly, be sure to try Swedish-Zimbabwean Pauline Kamusewu's songs 'Loving You', 'Happy People', 'Give me a call', 'Answer', etc.

In a more French vein, but within the broader category, also try 'Retrolectro Hottie XI (Fame Dance with Dimie Cat - Glam Remix)'-- early 1900s styled and focused Dimie Cat is a perfect French, classic song chanteuse. She also did a selection of disney theme songs in swing style, like this one [it's 'Once upon a dream'].

She's like a European version of the American Puppini Sisters [their song 'Spooky' is great, it was featured in the BBC show 'Jonathan Creek' once]. Their version of 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' is great.


Saturday, June 13, 2015

Read

I really like the Irish Farmette--it has a mystical feel to it, a lost in the magical woods scenario that you want to find yourself in.

I love the poetry and photos of HerriottGrace, it almost makes you think of the most brilliant poems of e.e. cummings.

I love to scroll through the famous SmittenKitchen and VickiArcher, it's like a glossy magazine to think about. And CupofJoe is fun to read, they have great links. Katie'sPencilBox is really fun to look through, it's like a real life, bright Eloise style art-focused pottery barn catalogue but with even better photos, lovely.

For a buy-able pottery barn read, try Coco+Kelley, which is great, you get to see so many options--it's like reading multiple aesthetics at once, a real time saver [and fun to see!]. In the interesting reading vein, RueRude is a look at France that's neat because it's on things you wouldn't guess about daily life.


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Montreal Travel

On the East Coast, there are only a few options for high intensity city vacations: NYC and Montreal. For the outdoors types, there's Maine. While reading the big Paris blog and the Médoc blog are a must, don't forget your required reading before crossing the border" F---NoMontreal.

I love the racing flags strung up between buildings in Old Montreal [as in below from here], though it's hard to just slow down and walk slowly through any part of Montreal.

Be sure to go to:
--Au Kouign Amann for the incredible raspberry fruit mix drink, sold in little cups
--Big in Japan bar on St Laurent for the Jamaican mule after going to Patata Patati for poutine or a slider
--McGill Music school free concerts
--Chai Tea Lounge on Parc for the raspberry scones and poppy flower extract macarons [called coquelicot in French, a rather unique thing to the culture]
--Wilensky for their famous sandwich and homemade cherry cola
--To see churches like Notre Dame, Mary Queen of the World, St John the Baptist, St Michael's Polish Byzantine church
--Go to the museum by the water for changing exhibitions on ancient world artifacts and the see the Paul Peel painting in the Museum of Fine Arts while you look through which exhibits are on currently
--Mamie Clafoutis by MetroSherbrooke for its apricotine, Breton canelé, pistachio-choc croissant and clafoutis
--Going through the vintage stuff at Eva B
--Getting an almond cookie in Chinatown, looking at the Kawaii store and the Chinese clothes/tea set/statue stores, getting a watermelon bubble tea, going to the new fancy Chinese pastry place for coconut-filled 'melon pan' buns, seeing the downstairs fish tanks and great little altar at the fish store
--Looking at the many Asian statue/decor stores in Old Montreal
--Getting a rosemary bagel at St Viateur Bagels
--Get cucumber sandwiches and a scone at Salon Cardinal Tea Room



Thursday, May 28, 2015

Modern music

One of the really great artists in music right now is Iceland’s Finnbogi Pétursson--check out his piece Conversation’ and be blown away. It’s like the tv show Hannibal’s aesthetic with an even more human edge.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Pynchon's holiday

Joyce has Bloomsday on June 16th, but there's another literary holiday: get ready for May 8th's Pynchon in Public day! To celebrate the 'reclusive' high modernist/post-modernist writer Thomas Pynchon, people read in public and leave signs and stickers in publics spaces of Pynchonian symbols, like the W.A.S.T.E. muted trumpet or horn from The Crying of Lot 49. 

The American Pynchon [b. 1937] wrote: V., The Crying of Lot 49, the famous Gravity's Rainbow, Vineland, Mason & Dixon, Against the Day, Inherent Vice [now a 2014 movie!], and Bleeding Edge. 

Many people have the trumpet as a tattoo, or stuck on a phone as a sticker. The new 2nd season of True Detective has been hinted to draw inspiration from CL49, and hopefully it's as great as the first season. Here's a list of Pynchonian links and sites to read more, and you can read/join the Pynchon mailing/discussion list.

Below, here's a great piece of graphic art for CL49, it's from here by Andrey Belikov!




Monday, February 23, 2015

Film

Film costuming and clothing history in general are a great way to start learning and appreciating history--both historical events, people, cultures, languages and raiment. In the cinema, clothing design is something really fun and unique. I love to scroll through the thousands of photos at FilmCostumes and the very interesting images of RecycledMovieCostumes, and of course the great, well-known Non-WesternHistoricalFashion.

Also I love FripperiesandFobsFashioninHistory, FashionsfromHistory, the excellent OldRags and of course many auction houses--one with great photos is WhitakerAuctionCo.

There's ClothesonFilm and VintageFilmPropsandCostumes. PeriodWardrobe is a neat look at homemade historical costumes. The FIDM Museum of couture and textiles has a great blog of both photos and information.

Another great place to look through pictures is PeriodMovieCaps. For all areas of the world, there's a very long list of links at FilmCostume.

The painting below is British Frederick Goodall's [1822-1904] "A Dream of Paradise".


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Art

Sometime reading gets you through the winter months -- and some great blogs on art [with tons of photos of some of the best art in history] are:

DantisAmor [Latin: Dante's Love] -- intense, lovely articles with tons of photos and academic discussion, excellent and very long

ByronsMuse -- a more accessible, shorter blog but similar to the blog above; discussion of paintings

TheOrientalistGallery -- incredible mid-1800s art of the Orientalist fad [non-European world painted by Euros]

MedievalChurchArt -- both art, discussion and very immense in knowledge

BeyondBordersMedievalBlog -- tons of articles and academic discussion

If you need more, you can read PreRaphaelitePaintings and of course, for a lighter time watch 30 Rock all over again. A great film to watch in the romantic, gothic vein is Onegin, it always bears a rewatch! It has Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler in the Russian, classic Pushkin epic poem 'Eugene Onegin' [Евге́ний Оне́гин].


Friday, February 20, 2015

Food

Since famous Paris food blogger/chef David Lebovitz doesn't update daily, an intellectual food lover can yearn for more--and I've found that the blog EatingAsia really fills the gap. It has tons of fascinating descriptions, you learn a lot, and the photos are amazing.

The food it covers is unique and really broadens your horizons if you haven't eaten a lot of Asian food. The diversity of Asian food is amazing! In that vein, there is the Malaysia Food & Travel site. It's similarly great. There's also the really broad, big site FoodRepublic if you are in the mood to read the NYT of the food world; I love the diversity of the articles and focii.

Of course, the same applies to Mimi Thorisson, who lives in rural France--she's got an incredibly interesting, beautiful, professional blog that appeals to nature/photography lovers and food lovers. Her anecdotes are always interesting, and it makes you want to immediately travel to a rural countryside and just go on a walk. Some of the photos are NationalGeographic level work, highlighting the true beauty and variety of nature.


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Carnival

From Venice to New Orleans, Carnival has begun. The holiday is pre-Lent, so it takes place mostly in late January and in February.

One great painting of the long festival is by Frenchman François Flameng [1856-1923]. I love to read NolaDefender for all the interesting New Orleans news. There are some really funny pieces as well, and a great King Cake review piece.