Revel
Projects to create, and revel in your travels.
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Vietnam, Fall 2023 ~ Create
Egg coffee! At first, I thought they didn’t have me fooled, and that Vietnamese egg coffee would just use a whipped egg white on top, which is not so strange, as a meringue topping is a common thing in desserts. Not so fast, as this drink is actually made with an egg yolk, which complicates things on many different levels. Developed in 1946 at one of Hanoi’s top hotels, the Sofitel Legend Metropole, this ingenious recipe was, like so many inventions, born out of necessity. The country was experiencing severe milk shortages due to the French or First Indochina War, but the famous Vietnamese coffee still had to be served.…
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Cambodia, Fall 2023 ~ Revel
Apsaras are considered to be heavenly celestial beings, or angels, in Khmer mythology. They are omnipresent in Khmer temples, and are known for their grace, beauty and elegance. Apsara dance is peformed by several ornately dressed dancers, and is particularly known for its intricate hand gestures, characterized by dramatic bends in the wrist of the performer, and complicated combinations of fingers to symbolize feelings, objects and events through a flowing gestural storytelling.
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Portugal, Summer 2023m ~ Create
I will not hide that one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Portugal was… azulejo tiles! Yes, not pastel de nata pastries, not port wine, not incredible views of the Atlantic or the Douro river valley, but tiles. I am generally obsessed with handicrafts anyway, and when something is elaborate, distinctive and BLUE, I will buy a transatlantic ticket to get up close and personal with it. Since I don’t have the skills or equipment to go into tile production, I turned to a new embroidery technique I have been dying to try – bargello. This is actually a Florentine tapestry technique, but I found that the visual…
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Nice, Spring 2022 ~ Revel
Marc Chagall National Museum in Nice is my favorite. The museum is housed in a building that Chagall specifically designed to house this collection. Every room is planned for display and lighting of each specific painting, therefore each work is positioned precisely how the artist intended, with proper angles, and in conversation with the other works surrounding it. Marc Chagall is a Russian-French artist whose dreamlike paintings reflect on his shared Jewish-Russian heritage. His works are full of wonder, mysticism and folk beauty. His subjects often float among the stars, delight in bright colors and glow in stained glass windows. “When Matisse dies,” Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, “Chagall will be the only…
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Ireland, Spring 2022 ~ Create
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Dublin, Spring 2022 ~ Create
Colcannon with Brown Butter! Ok, so cabbage is not as common here in the United States, except for coleslaw. Most people have a tendency to perceive certain foods only in the one familiar context. Here is an opportunity to broaden your cabbage vocabulary… Hehe! Colcannon is a traditional Irish recipe of mashed potatoes and cooked cabbage, mixed together, with added butter! And it is delicious, if you don’t insist that your mashed potatoes must be creamy! 😉 The cabbage gets quickly stewed (no need to boil it!) to soften it some, and then it’s thoroughly mixed with the mashed potato, some green onions and maybe some other herbs like dill.…
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Venice, Summer 2021 ~ Create
If you look closely at online photos of dining in Venice, you’ll see it in almost every shot. Once your eye is trained, spotting the unmistakable deep orange color becomes a game of “I spy with my thirsty eye”. Aperol Spritz aka Venezia Spritz, nice to meet you! 1 part Aperol 2 parts Prosecco (did you know it comes from Veneto, an Italian region with Venice as its center?) Club soda A slice of orange Ice Fill a wine glass with ice, add Aperol and Prosecco, top with club soda and garnish with a half slice of orange. Serve with a straw and act Venetian!
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SE Utah, Spring 2021 ~ Create
For most anyone who has ever tried it, fry bread quickly becomes an addiction. Though deep fried, it is surprisingly light, airy and delicious. We tried Fry Bread Tacos both on Navajo Land, and in Moab, and they didn’t disappoint either time. I am always on the lookout for Native American recipes and foods, because it allows us to engage another sense in experiencing the places we visit throughout the Americas. And, in my mind, this is the truest, most authentic way to understand any new place we discover. Sadly, many recipes and ingredients are lost to Native American displacement, genocide (we’ll call it what it is) and commercial agriculture,…
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Tucson, Spring 2020 ~ Create
In all honesty, I have had this kit sitting half-finished for a few years, since our big multi-canyon RVing trip to the Southwest. It was purchased as a souvenir craft for my oldest, but judging from how beat up my fingers were when stitching it together, I don’t blame her for quickly abandoning it… These baskets are made using two types of natural materials, one – a thicker reed to create the structure, and second – a more pliable material that is used to stitch the cording together with overlapping stitches. These are often decorated with contrasting fibers to create traditional patterns that symbolize natural spirits and elements. The grassy…
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New York City, Holidays 2019 ~ Create
It’s been a dream to visit NYC during the holidays to see all the decorations, fancy department store window displays, see the Rockettes, a Broadway show, and whatever else symbolizes New York during the holidays. With our girls growing up, we simply couldn’t wait any longer and took a 3-day trip to NYC between Christmas and New Years in late 2019. I wanted this trip to be super special, since we have talked about it for so long, so I made it a centerpiece of our girls’ Christmas presents. We often divert our resources to travel in place of gifts, and they were absolutely delighted. To make it quite official…
