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.

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.

Food

Food is very personal and subject to time period and culture, region. Still, one can venture out and try some simple sushi, some poutine, some mango bubble tea. Two things to potentially try are falafel and almond marzipan horns [they look like horseshoes].

Falafel mix [the ground chickpeas already mixed with spices] is often in the imported food section of grocery stores, and can come from many countries. It's easy to simply bake it all in a pan instead of frying it. Falafel is a great way to add both spicy food and vegetables into your meals, and you can eat it with cucumber slices and some yogurt or sauce to balance out the spiciness. People who don't like the typical blandness of vegetables will love it.

Another interesting world cuisine find is Germanic/Bavarian almond horns. They are covered in sliced almonds and are made of marzipan in a type of almond cookie result. If you like red Italian almond cookies [shaped like a circle with a little cherry in the middle sometimes], try these. They are easy to find in local bakeries, give them a search. You may have already tried them at area Oktoberfests.

Endings

For music, try the the famous French Baroque composer Rameau's [1683-1764] works, starting with his “Pièces de Clavecin Suite in E Minor: I. Allemande: I" [1706], the first of a set of works, on the harpsichord.

For food, at the mid-point where we near the end of summer, I yearn for autumn. Suddenly summer is too much. It's a natural mental switch that allows you to look forward to the coming season, I think. I finally realized to just flow with it. Accept change, look forward to it. Make gâteau Tournusien, from Tournus of Saône-et-Loire in the mid-East of France. It is often made with meringue, almonds, vanilla buttercream and nougat inside.

Then make the ultimate frosty treat: Dominosteine. In Europe [Germany/Austria] it is a reminder of Christmas and holiday time. One great recipe has it made of Lebkuchen [gingerbread], marzipan and -- here is incredible PetitFourBoutique variation on the recipe.

Of course, a must read is Grace & Poise. Just a lovely place to read and enjoy. It's so often something you can imagine thinking yourself, brilliant in its concise wisdom.

French

If you read French or love food photography with a exquisite French bent, be sure to look at the amazing, almost minimalist in loveliness photographs at Griottes. It's the place for gourmets.

You can also use it to practice your reading comprehension... or just scroll to see the next set of incredible photos. It's almost like an art installation, but most of the materials are either food, things from nature or china.

Sweet

One of the best mood lifting things you can do is look at sweet, cute photos or read exquisite, delicate gourmet and culinary blogs. If you've read too much Verlaine [1844-1896] recently, ie. the French symbolist poet, don't overload on nihilistic poetry, relax and take a break.

For food and desserts, with recipes and photographs, the best is definitely BossaCafez--it has such a high level of detail, perfection and delicacy it makes you want to simply move and buy the food each day! Truly gorgeous.

Another truly excellent food and culinary blog is UneGamineDansLaCuisine. The photos are a cut above any other place online, and the writing is beautiful. It's quite poetic and has great ideas for a gourmet or a cook.

Two great cute, relaxing collections of adorable photos are CutestFood and KawaiiOnly, they are both sweet and light.

Tasty

Summer loves:
-Maine blueberry pie [you can often buy Maine pie blueberry filling in expansive grocery stores], it makes me want to see the Atlantic coast in Acadia National Park by Bar Harbor, all huge dark green trees and ocean

-Sweet coconut-filled buns with a thin top layer of cookie [called メロンパン or 'melonpan' [Japan] or 菠蘿包 or 'bo luo bao', pineapple buns [China]], you can buy them in Montreal's Chinatown; the best are in Patisserie Harmonie [85 Rue de la Gauchetiere O.] Despite the nomenclature, there is no melon or pineapple involved most of the time.

-Pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice coffee, you can easily put pumpkin spice in with your coffee grounds [or cut open a kcup, just wipe off the grounds that escape after]; before autumn it often is even more refreshing and feels like a sweet blast of cool breezes from the future

Photos

I love I like I wear for fashion photos, it makes me want to visit a big city just to see the sartorial splendor. It's like being in Florence. For flowers, frogs, crocs, animals, snakes and reptiles check out the inimitable photo blog MonitorKeeper. If you love modern, simple art that's lovely, there's often a lot of it on Curate1k. The watercolors of flowers are beautiful and reminiscent of Impressionism's best facets.

ThreeEyed has great nature photos, they're excellent. Especially the water and the sky. They make you want to go hiking.

Precise, almost geometrical food and interior photos from Montreal are found at MtlGangster. There's almost an essence of Bach within some of them.

Mind

Light reading is something close to my heart. I always recommend the rural French countryside of My French Country Home, which has incredible photos--they truly let you feel like you're there. Another one I always check with is the classic Paris blog from traveler/gourmet David Lebovitz.

A new one I love is Sam is Home, on fashion and lovely photographs of nature/places etc. One I was just reading is A Montrealer Abroad--they were linking to the best Montreal photography instagrams and I was hooked. The best for Montreal is Inayali, there are some excellent street/nature photos there that capture what Montreal is like.

For food photography, be sure go through Myfatguyprobs, who is a gourmet that loves Montreal. It's truly a mecca for food. A few of those photos and you're already planning your next vacation up there! If you're an urban explorer, you'll prefer Jfsavaria.

There are big, colorful city and landscape photos at LiveMontreal, they really show the great scope of the place. They're huge, excellent pieces. If you love flowers and sweet lovely photos, try Montreal360, which has quiet, intimate detail photos. GuillaumeBoily has a neat bike heavy perspective of the city.

And the song of the summer is: Tiesto's "Wasted [Ummet Ozcan Remix]", if you love dance music, edm, fast-paced stuff, this is great.

Road Signs

Be sure to use any open windows to get to incredible roads--for example, loving the Pre-Raphaelites can lead you to Leighton's famous "Flaming June" in her sleepy tangerine diaphanous dress, and then to his "Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna" as it's pulled through the streets Florence in a procession.

This can lead to an interest in the Renaissance, in Florence, in late medieval art or even let you discover Dante or Petrarch. Or you are just led to the late-medieval painter Cimabue [c1240-1302] and then Giotto.

And you get granita in the morning and gelato at night in Florence off Santa Croce at Gelateria Carabè. I know it's the best because I've been to them all... literally, for research purposes. Make sure to jump out a window to get on a good path, they always lead out to amazing places.

P.S. If you need a tour guide for most of Italy, let me know--I'm always available, make insanely detailed plans with seven alternates and am laid back about everything. You have to be over there.

Object form

There is nothing more beautiful that style, than simplicity in it. The pendulum can go too far either way, too Scandinavian [though I love you all] or too bright [like parts of South America and the Mediterranean, which is all beautiful]--true balance between things is rare. I like the Japanese interest in shibui (渋い) but do not always feel their interior design and aesthetic reaches it.

I like the esty shop TribalExport and their beautiful emerald ring here, which is just too gorgeous. They have a million cool pieces, many of which actually look Berber to me, though I believe most are from India. It reminds me of how the Etruscans were thought to come from Asia, to be different from the peoples that surrounded them in Italy. Their art was certainly quite different, here's more info.

The bright glowing stone platters/sheets/big pieces from Brazil from Rablabs here are incredible, I saw them at AuCourantDaily here and loved them.

There were also some cool photos from Gaza in the Middle East of women in various jobs in the NYT here; it's always neat to see the landscape of the Middle East too here; and there are some pretty photos of nearby Egypt on reddit here. Now I want some man'ouche!

Link roundup

Links for fun:

Intelligent Travel - to read and see photos about fascinating trips to really neat, unusual places

Eating Asia - to read about foreign food, with photos, and learn a lot--I love trying Asian food, so this is so much fun to read!

Non-Western Historical Fashion - this has great photos of museum pieces, and foreign garb, it's really great and has ancient stuff to pre-modern to post-modern. It's very fun to learn more about ancient fashion in different cultures, many of which still wear the same clothes.

Phil Noto - the famous illustrator puts up his work, it's great, all modern clean lines; he has a very simple but expressive style.

Serious Eats - the place to read about crazy new pizza combinations, local recs on food from all over the world, and great discussions of everything related to meals

Met Museum of Art, NYC - a great place to browse the highlights of their collection in any time period

Links

Some classic sites to check out are:

The Sartorialist - for pictures of modern fashion in the streets of big cities

David Lebovitz - for pictures and stories of an American cook in Paris

Reddit earth photography - they've got photos of all corners of the Earth, the beauty of nature

Atlas Obscure - a guide and introduction to tons of odd/unique/eerie places and most of the world

British Museum Highlights - click on one of the many cultures and see a few top pieces, great to expose yourself to other art and time periods

Kawaii Only - for when you just want to look at some sweet, cute little pictures

By Appointment Only - It's old but it's good, a guide to the hidden awesome world of 'bao' Paris, where you must call ahead and reserve times to even shop in the best places

Nijinsky - It might be in German, but it has really great early dance videos and information. Run it through a translator if you can't make it out.

Montreal Food & Places

The best Montreal food is necessary for everything up there:

Wawel Polish Patisserie -1413 Saint-Marc Rue
Everything; donuts, espresso, tiny tables in a super tiny store; you can't get more authentic

Portuguese Bakery Notre Maison - 4101 Boul. St Laurent
The best egg custard tarts ever; everything else is good, I lived off their food

Patati Patata - 4177, Boulevard Saint-Laurent
The only place for incredible house iced tea and poutine--and a cute cook.

Patisserie Chow - 16 de la Gauchetiere est
The edge of China town bakery with unbelievable almond cookies and great other ones

Avesta Turkish restaurant - 2077 Rue Ste-Catherine O.
The best flatbread; also stuffed grape leaves and baklava

Nocochi - 2156 rue Mackay
Best cafe for lunch and all meals, and tiny Iranian cookies

Best church: Church of St. John the Evangelist - 137 Avenue du Président Kennedy
The tiny, side door is only entrance; the red roof church; great 15 min. weekday service at 5:45pm

For regional clothes: FB, ie. François Beauregard - 3636 Saint-Laurent

NYC Food

Obviously the Brooklyn Museum and the Met are on the top of the list to see in New York, but make sure to check out the Levain bakery. It was to die for. Seriously, I almost got crushed in a human stampede in a tiny room but the food was worth it--everything. They have every type of food imaginable down there, it's like they're tunneling down into some utopia.

No matter what the time of day, if I lived down in the city I would be their number one client. Their raspberry filled bun/donut thing is incredible. I fought my way forward and bought out half the counter.

Jacques Torres chocolate shops do have amazing cookies and chocolates in tons of flavors.

[167 W. 74th St., nr. Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10023.]

If you like macarons [not the coconut ones], they're flown in from France at Laudree [by the Frick Collection at 864 Madison Ave (between 72nd St & 71st St) New York, NY 10021]