China + The Lunar New Year

When we returned home about three weeks ago, I optimistically thought this post would go up shortly after. But the photos sat untouched in my camera's memory card for a long while before I finally sorted through them last weekend. "What's the rush?", I kept thinking.

There's this change in mentality, a shift in perception that happens when you spend an extended period of time seeing how people who are unlike you live. I was immersed in a culture that cares deeply about food, every meal was a feast with everyone around the table. I learned what the meaning of family really is, we were constantly welcomed and fed by relatives so far removed that I couldn't even get the relationship straight (my eldest aunt's husband's sister's son?). I came back questioning the meaningless stress of our fast paced lives. Seeing people with far fewer material possessions live much simpler and happier lives really makes you reevaluate your own existence. I'm trying to be more zen about life these days, doing things at their natural pace and taking time for self reflection. It's the healthy thing to do.

We started our journey in Beijing, landing on new year's eve and immediately eating a celebratory holiday dinner. One of the items on the table that night was a whole fish meant only for viewing, not for eating, a "look fish" as everyone called it. This would be the first of many rituals we partook in for good luck and good fortune. After spending barely enough days there to recover from the jetlag, we hopped on a train to my mom's hometown of Tianmen.

Tamworth

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending my time with Betty and Meg for their very first table sharing workshop up in an idyllic New Hampshire town called Tamworth. We got to enjoy the beautiful scenery, forage for mushrooms, and make sourdough bread with all the other lovely people who made the trip—Stephanie, Zoe, Sara, Jess, Robin, Liz, and Katie (miss you guys already!). I can't begin to describe how much fun it was being in such a creative environment and talking shop for hours and hours until we turned in for the night.

For me, spending time with the food blogging/photography community has always been this self contained microcosm of my real life. I have to make a dedicated effort to go all in for a few days, to put my "real life" on hold while I get to enjoy face to face, the people who I normally only talk to online. I want that to change though, and going to events like this gives me the kick in the butt I need to better merge my workaday life with my blogging life.

Maine

I spent a week up in Portland, Maine. It was a long overdue vacation that kept getting pushed back due to work obligations and other such life events. It was a splendidly charming town that lived up to every expectation I had. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast and took full advantage of the "bed" and "breakfast" part of it all. We walked from one end of Portland to the other on more than one occasion and rarely had a disappointing meal.

It's a really beautiful walking city with some very interesting architecture. The houses up there are so old timey and Victorian looking that Phillip and I kept joking about them being inhabited by Civil War ghosts. It didn't help that the weather was pretty dreary for most of our trip, with wind chimes (which hung on an inordinately large number of houses there) often clinging and clanging due to the strong wind....not that I believe in ghosts, you know.

Most importantly, we ate a lot of seafood, really good seafood. Oh. My. God. The oysters up there are so fresh and so amazing. We went to a place called Eventide that had the most delicious oysters and lobster stew. We went to Central Provisions and had boquerones, tuna crudo, and shrimp a la plancha, among other things, and they blew my friggin mind. Our second full day there, we drove an hour outside of town to go to a lobster place right on the coast only to realize they had closed for the season, their last weekend of service being one week before we got there! So instead of eating lobster rolls, we drove back to Portland and in my zeal to get fresh lobster during this trip (since I was in Maine after all), I reserved two spots on a lobstering boat the next day so we could see the action, after which we went to Portland Lobster Company and finally got the lobstah meal we had been craving.

Outside of seafood, there is this french bistro that we fell in love with. Is it dumb that we were in Portland for six days and both our first and last meal in town was there? Great food, great drinks, unpretentious atmosphere. Plus they had sweetbreads and beef tongue. So much yum. We also had a rough time with some Nashville hot chicken, and ate some great pasta from a little italian place just down the block from our bed and breakfast. It was a great trip, but we were happy to come home to our kitties.

Upstate New York

This past weekend I had the pleasure of learning from two of the most talented and knowledgeable food bloggers/stylists/wonder-women ever. Eva from Adventures in Cooking and Carey from Reclaiming Provincial generously hosted a food photography and styling workshop in Upstate New York that a small group of us were able to attend. Admittedly, I was really nervous before going since I only started my blog five short months ago and I still feel so new to all of this...also meeting new people gives me anxiety. But everyone was so open and friendly that my fears were quickly quelled. I met so many amazing people, learned so much, and ate until I thought I would burst.