this is the smell of smoke and trees

*After a month-long winter vacation (perhaps the last official one I'll ever have), I'm back in Boston, where winter has begun. Despite the mild temperatures through December, winter never lets you off the hook. California was kind to me and I saw sun almost everyday I was home. Yesterday it started drizzling a little, just as I was leaving, and today in Boston it snowed at least several inches. When you're walking in snow, you only have one thought: your destination. But I'm hoping for a short winter, if anything. Everyday my roommate and I talk about how we are going to brave winter and list all our coping mechanisms for doing so, which include (1) buying a houseplant (2) decorating our room (3) considering (but never actually buying) a UV solar lamp (4) drinking glogg (5) learning persistence.

*I've taken the liberty to combat winter with the help of candles, pretty little aromatic things - this brand first introduced to me a few years ago by my friend Julia Frakes. When I went to the Diptyque store, I asked for only musky, woodsy scents. Nothing floral, nothing girly. The two I picked are very distinct but in their difference they complement one another. One is Feu de Bois, which smells like campfire, and the other is cypres or cyprus. The latter is fresh and clean, though woodsy; the former is the smell produced when you burn the substance of the latter. These are the smells I'll remember (what will hopefully be) my last winter in New England by.

this is from the archives: middlesex fells

 

*Date: October 22, 2011

*Location: Middlesex Fells, MA

*I finally understand why poets write about leaves and seasons.

this is from the archives: blue like amalfi

*I will be starting a new series of posts called from the archives. Over the years, I've amassed thousands of photos that have been taken and shoved into the archives, a.k.a. my closet (for film) / my hard drive (for digital). For me, going back into the archives will extend beyond showcasing... it will be an emotional and mental processing, a resurrection of old labors of love, a confrontation of my own habitual memory-hoarding and compulsive image-making, and a re-visiting of things and places I've either accidentally or purposefully forgotten. So bear with me as I process these things. Hopefully this process will be fruitful (interpret that as you will); if not, at least interesting.

*Date: October 1-2, 2010

*Location: Amalfi Coast (Capri, Positano)

*Arm yourself with these visions of blue and gold before entering the dead of winter.

this is food i craved and made

pistachio-coconut butter (pistachios, coconut, olive oil, philippine pink sea salt, raw honey)


lavender maple cornbread (cornmeal, corn flour, corn starch, almond milk, baking powder, maple syrup, olive oil, dried lavender buds, sea salt)