Other than possibly a little thrift store or book store shopping & blanket delivery (with breakfast), the only other solid thing on our to-do list over the weekend was dinner at a great restaurant. We snagged the last reservation/seating on Friday at Myriel, home of Chef Karyn Tomlinson, who recently won Best Chef Midwest at the 35th James Beard Awards. Some of y’all eyeball the book award lists… I eye up chefs & restaurants! We really enjoyed our visit there — the ambiance was great, staff was wonderful, and the food & drink was superb. We practically licked our plates clean and I’m still thinking licking my lips when I think about the dishes we had — Swedish Corn Waffle, Gnocchi w/Confit Duck Leg, Walleye, soup, mixed mushrooms, among other things, and Panna Cotta to finish it off. Chef, herself, is currently recovering from spinal fusion surgery, so extra props to her team for holding down the fort!
With Friday & Sunday booked, that left Saturday WIDE OPEN! We decided to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Art. You could say that it was another #whirlwindarttripwithkate! I had never been to MIA, and Kate hadn’t visited since high school (when she considered attending MCAD – Minneapolis College of Art and Design). We did a little research & were especially interested in Mary Sully: Native Modern and Cream of the Crop: A Minnesota Art Showcase, but there is SO much more and we didn’t even see half of it. And because Minnesota is the great state that it is, admission to MIA is free. All the time.
I took a lot of photos (not nearly as many as I could have!) & here’s a look at what’s on my camera roll.
This Amazigh (Berber) wool carpet, made c. 1990 in Morocco, was simply amazing. I could have taken 50 pictures of it alone. From the blurb:
In Morocco, each Amazigh group uses distinctive weaving techniques, motifs, and colors for its carpets. This rug is thin and flat, woven like a tapestry instead of knotted… The tapestry technique provides the female weaver more freedom in design, reflected in the juxtaposition of colorful triangles, checks, and stripes.
That’s a gallery (as will be most multiple images) — click to embiggen.
As an aside, I think I made 5 or 6 granny squares over the weekend, and I was struck by how similar the colors are to those in the rug!
The textiles really drew me in — possibly because I have Kaffe-Fasset-on-the-brain — but, in reality, just because they are stunning!
Architrave garland frieze, 19th century; Chinese silk brocade; appliqued in Tibet.
One type [of hanging], seen here, is meant to hang from the ceiling crossbeams. Artisans salvaged pieces of precious Chinese silk and used laborious open-work and applique techniques to depict Buddhist deities amid a network of flowers and wish-granting jewels. Here, Shakya Tupa, the historical Buddha, sits atop a lotus throne and holds an alms bowl, a symbol of his humility, while his right hand reaches down to touch the earth, thus summoning it to bear witness to his enlightenment and ability to quell all negative forces.
These are both wool rugs from Tibet. I just love the colors.
Bal Kontredans (Country Dance), 2021, by Myrlande Constant (Haitian, b. 1968); beads, fabric, sequins, and trimmings.
Myrlande Constant has revolutionized the male-dominated practice of Vodou flag making in Haiti, both by using nontraditional materials and depicting nontraditional subjects. Her beadwork skills, acquired while working at a wedding-dress factory as a teenager, is fundamental to her complex compositions, which represent regular people in everyday life.
Having recently returned to my Alabama Chanin project, which involves a bit of work with beads & sequins, I was WOW’d by this & so many other pieces throughout MIA.
Childhood, 2004, by C. Maxx Stevens (Seminole/Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, b. 1951); paper, pigment, wood, electrical components, light bulb.
C. Maxx Stevens explores cultural and personal memories to create works of art that bridge her past and prsent. Because of a childhood illness, memory has been illusive for Stevens, but she receives clues, such as a dress she wore in grade school, from her family members. In the installation work Childhood, the unfinished nature of her materials is intentional and suggests the fragility and imperfection of memory. For Stevens, the crow is both a messenger and protector, ever present in her life and work.
This piece was hung in a corner, so it would move, swing & rotate slightly as people passed by.
I took photos of only one of the many pieces by Mary Sully on display.
They were all in this format.
This particular piece is called Indian Church, c. 1920s-40s, by Mary Sully (American/Dakota, 1896-1963); colored pencil, black ink, gilt, white paint, pastel crayon on paper.
As the daughter of an ordained Episcopal priest and sister to a linguistic ethnographer — both of whom traveled extensively for their work among diverse Indigenous communities — Sully had numerous opportunities to observe cross-cultural religious practices.
Here, in the top panel, Sully merged imagery of Christian clery vestments with that of Native American ceremonies and community feasts. Her detailed depiction of attendees’ colorful regalia and accessories confims Sully’s understanding of intertribal distinctions, as well as connections, among Native peoples.
Sully created over 130 “personality prints” in this triptych style, of celebrities & important figures/events from her time — some of which were on display, including Fred Astaire, Shirley Temple, Pavlova, and Titled Husbands in the USA. They are mesmerizing.
Infinite Regress CLIV, 2021, by Eamon Ore-Giron (American, b. 1973); mineral paint and flashe on linen (left).
Tahkt | Sulayman Variation II, 1969, by Frank Stella (American, 1936-2024); acrylic on canvas (right).
Black and White Pot #1, #2, #3, 2014, by Paula Estevan (Haak’u/Acoma Pueblo, b. 1967); clay, pigments
Sometimes it’s just about the color, pattern & texture. The two paintings above took up entire walls; the little pots — maybe 6″ in diameter at most — grabbed my attention just as hard.
Top left: Vincent Van Grow Olive Trees, 2025, Jill Osiecki.
In reimagining Van Gogh’s Olive Trees with 14 seeds, I sought to honor his bold brushstrokes through the natural textures and color of crop art.
Top center: Star Gazing, 2025, Nancy Rzesztek (see video below).
Top right: GOAT!, 2025, Annmarie Geniusz.
I want people to shout “G.O.A.T.!” (Greatest of All Time) about my art at the fair. But a real goat would eat my art. So this one did.
Bottom left: Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as the Great Wave), 2025, Amanda Cashman.
A tidal wave of loe went into this interpretation of The Great Wave off Kanagawa — crafted with individually placed, mostly painted, Minnesota-grown seeds.
Bottom right: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Crop Art, 2025, Jill Moe (see detail below).
Yayoi Kusama’s childhood on her family’s seed farm in Matsumoto, Japan, influenced her artistic career, particularly her iconic pumpkin motif.
Like beads & sequins & stitches… but with mustard seeds & corn husks & wild rice & black soy beans (& turmeric & canola & black lentils & hairy vetch).
Star Gazing, 2025, by Nancy Rzesztek; poppy seeds (including Elka White), lazy Susan, thistle, wild rice, pearled barley, amaranth, millet, CIA, black Quinoa, and cardboard.
Star Gazing is about an iconic Minneapolis music venue where many legendary artists graced the famous stage. The greatest — PRINCE!
Thanks for coming along! I hope you enjoyed the show.
We had a late lunch, afterwards, at Baba’s Hummus House & Mana’eesh Bakery, and THAT was amazing. We were hungry & ordered way too much food (Falafelicious bowl, Wagyu Shawarma, Arabi Pickles, etc.) but I ate as much as I could (it was so good).
There’s a long time between “late lunch” and breakfast that’s “maybe a little bit later – like a brunch” (per Addison, who was going out on Saturday night), so we stopped down at Masa & Agave, the cantina it the lower level of Hotel Ivy. We didn’t want anything big (because it was getting late), so we ordered Nachos from the “Starters” section and added Chicken Tinga. It looked like a stack of pancakes when it arrived — and kind of blew our minds! Corn tortillas stacked & layered with cheeses, pico de gallo, crema, pickled red onion, jalapeno — it was amazing! We sliced it in quarters as if it were a layer cake (as best we could). I can’t stop thinking about that, either.
Food, art, family, and even down time (to nap, crochet, write & watch the dumb TV shows that one only ever watches at a hotel). It was a pretty great weekend! There’s another #whirlwindarttripwithkate in the works, but a few other things first. Stay tuned!
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Meanwhile, Davy’s keeping the boot (no cast) and is cleared to return to school. He was over yesterday & ohmygosh, that little boot…
Rusty & Kate returned from their road trip on the 6th so had plenty of time to settle in (and clean the car) before I got back from Amsterdam! They had a great time — I know some of you follow one or both on IG (Kate | Rusty), so have followed along.
That means my foodie daughter is back in town! And perfect timing, since I signed us up for my CSA’s farm dinner which was held on Saturday.
My CSA farm is Park Ridge Organics in Fond du Lac. I don’t actually receive a veggie share this year, but I have a Farm Store Share — I pre-loaded a gift card & can use that money for anything in the farm store. It’s great because the store is growing & getting better all the time — loaded with all sorts of goodies from Wisconsin, including pasta, pickles, tortillas, shrub, meats, honey, jam, popcorn, syrup, and eggs. Not to mention vegetables.
The dinner was made by Braise, a restaurant/food truck in Milwaukee, using produce from Park Ridge and pork from Golden Bear Farm in nearby Kiel.
It’s been a few years since I attended a farm dinner, for one reason or another — last year’s reason being that there wasn’t one because the farmer, Robyn, got married! A benefit of that celebration is the new pavilion (though I did love the field-side tables), offering shade & shelter.
We were offered a beverage & appetizer upon arrival — a lovely gin smash, and beets & goat cheese on a homemade cracker. What a combo. Then we took a little “farm tour,” which I’d never done before. It was fun to learn a bit more about the history of the property.
So many tomato plants! Behind me was another house full of cherry tomatoes and we were invited to pluck & enjoy a ripe one right from the vine.
The menu was wonderful, as were the wine pairings, and there was plenty of food! We chatted with old friends and made some new… it really is the most wonderful kind of event! There was just enough of a breeze that bugs weren’t a problem, and offered some relief from the heat & humidity.
But weather was coming…
We’re the blue dot, just before departure, heading almost due north.
We stopped a few miles up the road to take some photos (there’s a little sheep farm to my left). Then about 3″ of rain fell in no time at all! I know y’all have had endured some heat waves in the east, as have we, but we’ve also had rain! So much rain!!
Anyway, it was really fun & I can’t wait until next year!
I spontaneously joined Ali on a trip to Costco (and Olive Garden) recently. While there, I picked up a bag of shelled fresh peas — 20 oz. worth — without a clear thought as to what I'd do with them, though split pea soup with ham was on my mind, as it usually is at this time of year, especially when we've had ham at Christmas… so why not fresh peas? I did a little searching and found this recipe for Ham & Fresh Pea Soup, which I changed very little.
HAM & FRESH PEA SOUP
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 2 shallots, roughly chopped 2 Tbsp pesto 4 medium potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped 8 c. low-sodium chicken broth 10-12 sprigs fresh thyme tied together w/kitchen string I used fresh oregano because it's what was on hand; a blend of fresh herbs would probably work great 1-2 bay leaves 1 tsp kosher salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 20 oz fresh or frozen baby peas 2 c. fresh spinach 3-4 c. diced ham Feta cheese & fresh thyme for garnish, if desired I sprinkled some grated parmesan on top
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until hot. Add shallots & cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally; add pesto &cook, stirring constantly, for another 30 seconds.
Add chicken broth, potatoes, herbs, salt & pepper. Bring to a boil & cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
Remove tied herbs & bay leaf. Add spinach & peas and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired texture; I like my vegetables a little chunky. If a smooth texture is desired, a traditional blender would be more efficient (but work in batches & be careful because the soup is hot).
Add the ham and stir well to combine & heat. Taste & add seasonings if needed. Serve hot, garnished with cheese & fresh herbs, if desired.
>>This soup was SO GOOD! Ann & family were over for dinner last night and even the boys liked it.
Recent grocery list
I've been meaning to type up my riff on a Chicken & Rice Soup recipe for Ali. The original is from NYT Cooking (a separate subscription to which I will definitely keep if I ever unsub from the Sunday paper delivery). I made it for her & the kids and it was so easy… but I felt it needed a little (kid-friendly) improvement.
CHICKEN & RICE SOUP WITH CELERY (& CARROTS) & PARSLEY
8 c. low-sodium chicken broth 1 lb. skinless boneless chicken thighs 4 stalks celery, leaves reserved, stalks diced 2 carrots, diced My addition to this recipe — which I did not do but definitely will in the future 3/4 c. unrinsed jasmine rice salt 1/2 c. fresh parsley leaves 1/2 fresh lemon, zested & juiced I used a little Penzey's lemon peel (powder) and juiced the lemon (because it's easier*)
In a large Dutch oven or pot, combine broth, chicken, celery, carrots & rice. Season lightly with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat; reduce heat & simmer until chicken is cooked through and rice starts to break down, 20-30 minutes.
Finely chop together the parsley & celery leaves.
When chicken is cooked, transfer it from the pot to a medium bowl using tongs. Using two forks, shred the chicken, the return it to the soup along with the parsley & celery leaves.
*The original recipe instructs to make a mixture from the parsley/celery leaves with lemon & garlic that is used to garnish the soup. Um, first of all, that part didn't register when I read through the recipe, and secondly, there's no way the kids would eat soup with a dollop of green stuff in it — they balked at the sliced celery! So I just threw the chopped leaves into the soup. One thing it really needed was a little color, so I'll be adding carrots next time! And dicing the celery… so it doesn't look as much like celery!
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I saw this How to Get Unstuck quiz today and quickly skimmed it… nodding YES to every item in Question #2, and finding that so humorous that I couldn't even move on. Haha.
I hope you all have a great weekend… maybe with soup!
I cancelled next week's hotel reservation in Chicago. I briefly entertained the notion of not cancelling, but even a high floor at Sofitel wouldn't be balm enough.
Meanwhile, we're all rolling with the punches and moving on with holiday plans. For Kate, it means planning a holiday feast with her friends Blair & Judson (aka, Bludson), with everyone sharing their traditional holiday favorites. Thus, I had a request this morning for my mom's Heavenly Hash recipe; rare was the holiday table that this dish didn't appear, even if it was made the "day of" instead of begun the day before.
It is the world's most poorly written recipe card! One should not need to make notes such as "reserve juice," or to underline additional ingredients in the body of the recipe, or use asterisks to clarify directions. Not only are components missing from the list of ingredients, they aren't even in order!! GAH!
So I sent her the card, which she appreciated for the "archival quality" ("reserve juice" is in my hand, the larger note at the bottom is in my mom's, many spills and drips), but I also rewrote the recipe and sent it in a separate document. I'm sure it could still use some tweaking, but ohmylord, it is an improvement!
Heavenly Hash (Begin to prepare a day ahead)
(1) #2 can pineapple chunks (20 oz.), reserve juice ½ lb. green grapes ½ lb. red grapes ½ c. mini marshmallows 1 c. sugar 1 Tbsp. flour (heaping) 4 Tbsp. cornstarch ½ c. water (3) bananas nuts (pecans), optional 1 pkg. Dream Whip
Cut pineapple chunks and grapes in half. Add to a bowl with marshmallows.
In a saucepan, bring reserved pineapple juice & sugar to a boil. Blend flour, cornstarch & water, and pour slowly into boiling juice & sugar. Cool. Pour over fruit & marshmallows. Refrigerate overnight.
When ready to serve, add bananas, nuts, and 1 cup whipped cream (prepared Dream Whip).
For my birthday, Ann wanted to do some sort of online cooking class together, and we finally found something that would work!
We're going to learn to make Pisco Sour — the national cocktail of Peru — from Franco, an award-winning mixologist in Lima. The price includes a kit, delivered by courier, with everything you need… unless you live in Wisconsin, and then you're on your own… and hopeful that you can even find pisco! Haha. Some gift, huh?
Well, a hunting I did go, and I found some! I was advised to look for Peruvian pisco, not Argentinian (they're different), and there were two varieties of Peruvian at my go-to liquor store. Naturally, I bought the more expensive one because it had this cool sticker on the back that you viewed through a window on the front… I'm easily enchanted! I did a little research on the website and found that they actually have four varieties, and their Pisco Sour recipes called for a different variety. Awaiting word from Franco…
Meanwhile, Ann sent me an email from the New Orleans School of Cooking and wondered if there was a class there that I'd be interested in. She & Brian had an in-person class there a year or two ago and really liked it. We talked on Saturday and looked over the choices/calendar together and found a class for Meat Pies & Dirty Rice… on Sunday! So we signed up!
I was positively thrilled when the confirmation email triggered a notification on my TripIt app! I got a little "ding-dong" reminder — something I haven't heard since March!
The shopping list, recipes, and instructions were sent ahead of time, so on Saturday I went shopping. On Sunday, it was all about chopping and measuring for mise en place.
This was my set up for the Meat Pies (puff pastry sheets thawing behind me). I had another tray set up with everything for the Dirty Rice, and all the necessary skillets, pots, and bowls were handy.
I had some technical difficulties, so had the video up on our old laptop but the audio was on my phone (also with video, though, and that was cool because I could see Annie & her set up a little better on my phone while keeping the class feed on the laptop). The last time I used that laptop was for a Zoom class to make my wreath and everything was fine… so I dunno (technology sometimes – ugh!).
The class was 1.5 hours long (we went a few minutes over), limited to 30 participants, and I think we were numbers 26 & 27, so it was pretty full. People from all over, including a group from MN who did it as a Christmas present, which was cool. The instructor was friendly, chatty, knowledgeable, and efficient. Everything was done step-by-step, she gave us options for different ingredients, methods, and presentations.
We got the Dirty Rice going first. Mine is not technically "dirty," as they didn't have chicken livers at the store so I had to sub a chicken thigh (apparently, it's the organ meat that makes it dirty). It's not very picturesque, but oh my goodness, is it tasty!!
The meat pies turned out GREAT! I got a dozen out of the recipe. The class was in the afternoon, so Kate & I split a pie and had a little rice when they were super fresh. We all had same for dinner, and Rusty was warming up some rice this morning to have with an egg for breakfast. I can't wait for lunch today… guess what's on the menu!?!!
