#1990s lemongrass

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

Bath and Body Works Lemongrass Sage Relaxing Bath Bubbles

mid-late 1990s

Found on Ebay, user patdor_88

[foodieaty]

Chickenpox and measles

Chickenpox and measles are infectious diseases caused by viruses. Two different viruses cause them. The varicella-zoster virus causes chickenpox. Measles

What is chickenpox?

Chickenpox, also called varicella, is characterized by itchy red blisters that appear all over the body. Viruses cause this condition. It often affects children and is so common that it is considered a childhood rite of passage.

It is very rare to have more than one chickenpox infection. And since the smallpox vaccine was introduced in the mid-1990s, cases have fallen.

What causes chickenpox?

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes chickenpox infection. Most cases occur through contact with an infected person. The virus is contagious to people around you for one to two days before your blisters appear. VZV remains contagious until all the blisters have crusted over. Viruses can spread by:

saliva

cough

sneeze

contact with fluid from the blisters

What is Measles

Measles, or rubeola, is a viral infection that starts in the respiratory system. It still remains a significant cause of death worldwide, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine.

There were around 110,000 global deaths related to measles in 2017, mostly in children under the age of 5, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases of measles have also increased in the United States in recent years.

Causes of measles

Measles is caused by infection with a virus from the paramyxovirus family. Viruses are tiny parasitic microbes. Once you are infected, the virus attacks the host cell and uses cellular components to complete its life cycle.

The measles virus infects the respiratory tract first. However, it eventually spreads to other body parts through the bloodstream.

Measles is known to only occur in humans and not in other animals. There are 24 known genetic strains of measles, although only six are currently circulating.

Home Remedy to treat chickenpox and measles

Biancaea sappan-lemongrass-red ginger recipe

Ingredients

300 ml of water

1-2 lemongrass

Some Biancaea sappan leaves

1 piece of ginger the size is an adult's thumb (red ginger is better)

enough honey

Method

Thinly sliced or crushed ginger and lemongrass

Boil briefly until warm (approximately 2 minutes)

or

Besides boiling, these ingredients can also be brewed with hot water.

Let it until warmth

After that, add honey.

Drink this concoction while warm before eating. Drink 2 -3 times a day when sick smallpox or measles. This recipe is also helpful as an antiviral, stamina booster, relieves flu and fever, and boosts immunity. to maintain stamina, enough to drink 1-2 times a day.

Children, pregnant women and nursing mothers can also drink this recipe.

[ellocentipede]

Arcana Craves Peaches Reviews!

Peaches Crave Wild Summers

Scent description: An ode to sunshine, flip flops, and spontaneous, late summer road trips. Cold cherry popsicles, homemade peach marmalade, coconut scented sunscreen, Tahitian vanilla beans, soft, warm air, and a bit of sweetened jasmine.

I knew that I was going to love this one based on the description, and it did not disappoint! This is so, so delicious--it’s like eating homemade peach ice cream on a warm, humid beach (just like the ones here <3). The “warm air” note is truly magical. I’m one of the strange people that actually enjoys the humidity here on the Gulf Coast, and one of my favorite things about it is the smell. The jasmine is the creamy, sweet, demure type that smells more like an actual jasmine flower on the vine than a perfume note. It’s a soft one, and I think that it could win over those who typically don’t love white florals. The coconut is also soft and creamy, and I suspect that it’s responsible for what is giving me the ice cream vibe in this scent. I’m so thrilled with this beautiful new addition to the Craves line! It’s already a firm favorite of mine and will get a lot of wear. <3 

Peaches Crave the Movies

Scent description: An ode to the bygone experience of watching movies in a 1990s era megaplex: the lights go down, the sound goes up, and you are transported into another world. Torn ticket stubs, peach gummy worms, cherry licorice whips, red velvet drapes, buttery popcorn, and smashed candy on the floor.

This scent was reviewed as part of the Daydream collection, but has been added here as well! I thought this scent was going to be overwhelmingly foodie, but I am pleasantly surprised to find it to be complex on my skin--it really is like the entire experience of sitting in the movie theater, snuggled up with your assortment of snacks, waiting for the film reel to flicker on. The peach gummies are most prominent on my skin and they smell true-to-life--sweet, tart, a little gummy/waxy. The buttery popcorn wafts in the background--you’ve handed the bucket to the cinephile to your right while you munch on gummy peach rings. Surrounding all of this is the supremely comforting, lightly fresh but also somehow velvety and luxurious scent of fabric and something mildly papery. These lend some atmosphere to the blend, and the effect is gorgeous. This scent is incredibly nostalgic and comforting for me, and makes me long to go to the movies.

Peaches Crave Dolci

Scent description: Peach gelato and pistachio gelato with 3 golden bakery cakes.

Peaches Crave Dolci is so very delicious, and makes my mouth water!  It smells like cool, sweet peach and rich pistachio ice creams are layered in a fresh, warm waffle cone. It is definitely a gourmand blend, but the freshness of the peach and nuttiness of the pistachio keep this from being toothachingly sweet. The golden bakery cakes are warm from the oven and delicately sweetened with honey. This is one of my favorite gourmand blends of all time.

Peaches Crave Vanilla

Scent description: Sugared peach, glorious vanilla, marshmallows, sweet milk, and sheer musk.

Oh wow. Peaches Crave Vanilla smells just like warm, syrupy peaches on top of rich, homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Simple, yet beautiful and comforting. 

Peaches Crave Beaches

Scent description: Green bamboo, coconut, vanilla musk, citron, lemongrass, bergamot, and dewy peach flesh.

A glorious burst of fresh, ripe, fuzzy peach + smooth coconut + a zip of zesty lemongrass. This is a beautiful, atypical tropical fragrance. The combination of the stalky, green bamboo and the lemongrass calls to mind images of beautiful Pacific beaches. This smells absolutely drinkable--a delicious peach, citrus, and coconut milk savored through a bamboo straw. warm, sunny, golden. drydown is fleshy, juicy peach with some zip and zest from the dry citrus.

Peaches Crave Forests

Scent description: Sweet woodsmoke, juniper, Douglas fir, cedar, wild peachwood, and a few drops of 10 year old patchouli.

Peaches Crave Forests is a crackling, smoking fire fueled by very fragrant woods. This would truthfully be the best smelling fire around. I get just a hint of fresh evergreen--as if there are patches of greenery left on the logs that the fire has not yet reached. There’s a bit of dampness as well, as if the wood’s a little wet and is producing billows of smoke as a result. This is by far one of the most interesting and lovely woodsmoke blends that I have come across.  

Peaches Crave Chthon

Scent description: Smoked amber, black musk, terrestrial musk, oudh, rich spikenard, and subterranean peach.

Moody black musk and earthy spikenard dominate this blend when wet, but quickly some of the sharpness from the spikenard fades away and lets the slinky oudh peep through. Cool, juicy peach begins to shine through the other elements, and it smells almost overripe, which is likely from the oudh. This is masterfully blended. Goth peach, anyone?

Peaches Crave Mambo

Scent description: Cuban tobacco, dark vanilla, sweet rum, tonka, white musk, and sun-warmed peaches.

Ooh yum! This is a peachy vanilla-rum milkshake next to a fine, unlit cigar. Peaches on vacation! Peaches Crave Mambo is warm and sweet. If you love Julia’s lovely, rich, and sweet tobacco and rum notes, you will love this scent! 

Peaches Crave Haint

Scent description: The gossamer sweetness of delicate white peaches with Arcana Wildcraft's Haint (white musk, vanilla musk, Madagascar vanilla, sugarcane, and a faint trail of white pepper).

Haint on its own is such a beautiful and ethereal scent, and Haint + peaches is a gorgeous combination. The tart, juicy, ripe peaches are a lovely complement to Haint’s diaphanous white and vanilla musks and nip of white pepper. Neither element overpowers the other and the resulting blend is truly beautiful. This is an elegant and innocent scent--it’s perhaps something that Daisy Fay may have worn while courting young Gatsby.

Peaches Crave Pirates

Scent description: Arcana Wildcraft's Queen Crossbones (creamy Egyptian musk, wild honey, sweet coconut, exotic resins) with plenty of peach and an extra shot of Egyptian musk.

Mmmm--warm honeyed peaches and coconuts in a golden cloud of musk! This is the scent of Queen Crossbones eating ripe, juicy peaches on the bow of her ship!

Arcana Craves perfumes may be found at https://arcanacraves.com/ 

[runawaymarbles]

The Nice and Accurate Good Omens Timeline

Years marked with a "~" are approximate, and are based off the premise that in the book, the Apocalypse happens in 1990, and in the show, the Apocalypse happens in 2019. They could go a year or two in either direction.

"n.c." means "non-contradictory"-- they are things that are only mentioned in one canon but could be inferred to be canon to the other as well (for example, in the book we just know Agnes died sometime after 1655. The show puts the date at 1658.)

Things not marked as either TV show or Book are canonical to both.

(read on ao3) 

***

Sunday, October 21 st , 4004 BC, 9 a.m: The earth is created.

Rather more than seven days later: Eve eats the apple, and she and Adam leave Eden. Aziraphale gives them the flaming sword. (Book) Crawly is thinking about changing his name. 

3004 BC: (TV show) Crawly and Aziraphale see each other for the first time since the garden at Noah’s ark.  

Sometime before 2067 BC: (Book) Crowley gets date-palm cocktails with nutmeg and crushed lemongrass in Gomorrah

Sometime before 33 AD: (TV show) Crawly changes his name to Crowley from Crawly. (It’s not specified when this happened in the book, but since he’s considering it in the Garden of Eden, probably much earlier.) 

33 AD: (TV show) Crowley and Aziraphale witness Jesus’s crucifixion. 

41 AD: (TV show) Crowley and Aziraphale meet in Rome, Crowley to tempt Caligula and Aziraphale to inspire Nero towards music. They presumably eat oysters

~95 AD: Aziraphale meets John of Patmos and gets an original scroll of Revelation

537 AD: ��(TV show) Aziraphale is a knight in King Arthur’s court. Crowley spreads ferment as the Black Knight, and comes up with the basic premise of the Arrangement.

1020: (book) the Arrangement is formed. Aziraphale tells Crowley that the point of humanity is that they can choose whether to be good or bad.

1023: (book) Crowley argues that that only works if you start them off equally

1300: Crowley is really bored for the next 100 years

Early 1500s: Crowley meets Leonardo da Vinci, buys an early sketch of the Mona Lisa, and inspires the helicopter

1600: (TV, n.c.) Agnes Nutter is born

1600s: (Book, n.c.) Witchfinder General Hopkins is charging nine pence for every witch he discovered

1601: (TV) Crowley and Aziraphale meet at the Globe. Aziraphale goes to Scotland to do a blessing and also tempt a clan leader to steal some cattle.

1651: (Book) Bilton and Scaggs publishes the Buggre Alle This Bible. Aziraphale, who owns a boookstore two doors down, and adds three chapters to Genesis.

1653: (Book) Bilton pays six guineas for a quarto of The Comedie of Robin Hood by Shakespeare, and then loses it.

1654: Archbishop James Usher publishes Annales Veteris et Novi Testaments, suggesting the world was created in 4004 BC.

1655: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies is published.

1656: (TV, n.c.) Agnes Nutter dies, and sends the Further Prophecies to a small legal firm.

1757: (Book) Mr. George Cranby opens the box containing the Further Prophecies to find a letter to him from Agnes telling him she knows that he swindled the Widow Plashkin

1793: (TV show) Crowley rescues Aziraphale from being beheaded. (Both book and TV show) Aziraphale buys Crowley lunch.

Sometime around 1800: (Book) Crowley starts taking a nap

1832: (Book) Crowley wakes up from his nap to go to the bathroom and then goes back to sleep for the rest of the cenutry

1862: (TV show) Crowley asks Aziraphale for Holy Water

1870s: (Book, n.c.) Aziraphale attends a magic class run by John Maskelyne

Late 1800s: (Book) Cecil Rhodes meets Witchfinder Company Seargent Marjor Narker

Late 1880s: Aziraphale learns the Gavotte at a discrete gentlemen’s club in Portland Place

June 7th, 1916: (Book, n.c.) Mr. Bychance does something that Agnes later threatens to reveal

1926: Crowley buys the Bentley

1928: (Book, n.c.) Mr. Bychance opens the box with the Further Prophecies, found a letter to himself saying she knows what he did on June 7th, 1916. He then declares that anyone who opens the box will be sacked without references.

October 22, 1929: (Book) Anathema’s great-grandfather realizes the stock market crash is coming and makes a lot of money

1933: (Book) the last Witchfinder Lieutenant dies falling out of a very tall tree in Carterham

1936: Pestilence retires, and Pollution takes over

1941: (TV show) Crowley rescues Aziraphale from Nazis during the London Blitz

1948: (Book) Anathema’s grandfather invests in the transistor

1952: (Book) A fight breaks out in the city square of Kumbolaland, Africa, between a drunk ox driver and a drunk ox thief. It’s the biggest fight there until War arrives.

1967: Crowley buys petrol for the first and only time in order to get the James Bond bullethole stickers

1967 : (TV) Crowley meets Shadwell. Aziraphale gives him the Holy Water.

~1967: (Book) Newt Pulsifer is born.

~1970: (Book, Neil Gaiman's tumblr) Sarah Young is born. (Book) Anathema Device is born.

Early 1970s: Crowley hears about talking to plants on BBC Radio Four. Planning and construction is begun on the M25.

1972: Do not buy Betamacks!!!!!

Sometime before 1974: (Book) Madame Tracy buys her scooter

Sometime between 1977 and ~1990: Elvis fakes his death and becomes a cook at Burger Lord in Des Moines

~1979: (Book) Adam, Warlock and Greasy Johnson are born. 12-year-old Newton Pulsifer tries to fix a radio, and fails. 9-year-old Anathema Device hides under her blankets, reading Agnes’s book by flashlight.

~ 1979: (Book) War, using the name Scarlett, is working as an arms dealer. She starts a war in Kumbolaland. Famine, under the name Sable, starts the Newtrition corporation. Pollution, under the name Seaman White, causes an oil spill and then goes to Indonesia with toxic weed killer.

1980: (TV show) Anathema’s grandfather makes millions of dollars investing in Apple stock

~1979/90: (Book) Nanny Ashtoreth and Brother Francis begin working for the Dowlings

1983: (Book) The National World Weekly does an interview with the General Secretary of the UN, and asked about Elvis. Seargent Thomas A. Disenberger falls in the shower in Vietnam.

~1983: (Book) the Them meet. Pepper bites Adam’s shoe.

~1985: (Book) Nanny Ashtoreth and Brother Francis quit, and are replaced by tutors Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cortese

1986: the M25 is completed

Sometime between 1979 and 1990:  (Book) Sister Mary Loquacious/Mary Hodges learns computer skills and opens up the Tadfield Manor Conference and Management Training Center, and War becomes war correspondent Carmine Zuigiber with the National World Weekly

Early summer ~1990: (Book) Newt joins the Witchfinder army

August, ~1990: (Book) Warlock and Adam’s 11th birthdays

Early-mid 1990s: (TV show) Anathema Device and Newton Pulsifer are born

August 20-21, ~1990: United Holdings Combat Training Course

~2008: (TV show) Adam, Warlock and Baby B are born. Newt fails to fix a computer, and Anathema (who is older than 9) colors on the first page of the Book

~2013: (TV show) Crowley and Aziraphale begin working for the Dowlings, disguised as Nanny Ashtoreth and Brother Francis

Sometime between 2008 and 2019:  (TV show) Sister Mary Loquacious opens the Tadfield Manor Conference and Management Training Center, and War becomes war correspondent Carmine Zuigiber with the National World Weekly  .

Summer ~2019: (Book) Warlock and Adam’s 11th  birthdays

[recetascocina3bocados]

Mejillones En Caldo De Jengibre Y Lemongrass - Nunca puede tener demasiadas recetas de hor d'oeuvre, así que pruebe Mejillones en jengibre y caldo de limoncillo. - #Mariscos #Producir - https://3bocados.es/recipe/mejillones-en-caldo-de-jengibre-y-lemongrass/?feed_id=1990&_unique_id=632e396514170

[y4s1-20192020]

A Mindful Society

A narrative approach was chosen for this phase by developing the critical argument around a story set 10 years in the future. In a hyper automated world where everything can be done almost instantaneously, technology is making us distracted and dull. Sometimes, we don’t even have to think anymore because everything can just run on automatic mode. Humans need to find ways to use external services to be more creative and focused and achieve internal equilibrium. To do things by hand, more mindfully and manually.

Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemongrass

It was Wednesday again. As I fired up the engine of my DID, its screen flashed once. SCRTNW, it announced in a slightly tinny voice. I almost forgot -- the grand release of MCU’s SCRTNW was today.

Wednesday and Saturday evenings were Zen Launderette days. Sometimes it was physically tiring, especially after a long day of tutoring. But what really put me off was the socialising. Those rookies, they didn’t even know how to make the basic cold-process soap; all they knew was melt-and-pour soap. That isn’t even considered soap making! They were only here for screen time for their popular IGTV.  

“Now everyone, I’m gonna add some lavender oil to the mixture!”

“Wait, retake that, my hair was messy!”

Oh, how fake. Zen Launderette was about the sensuality of doing laundry. How could you convey those through a screen? The fragrance of the essential oils, the warmth of the clothes being set dry, the slipperiness of the soap against the roughness of a cotton towel.

I’d joined Zen Launderette on impulse, unlike those girls. On the weekend of my thirtieth birthday, I decided I would do something I had never done in my twenties before. Something different. Something radically different. Zen Launderette was a forty-minute drive from my apartment; a little nondescript shophouse with a sign that said Zen Launderette: The Mindful One. Below it, was a thumbnail-sized QR code to their Facebook page. I had seen the place on one of my aimless walks around the other side of town. It looked curious, but I never bothered to check it out. 

On Wednesdays after work, I would grab a quick bite at SFG and head to Zen Launderette right after. SFG was the king of flash-grilled patties. Tasty in a jiffy. My order at SFG was always the same: a chicken patty rice-burger with tomatoes and pickles. It was automatic; I never made any decisions for these kinds of things.

It has been nearly ten months now; my subscription was due for renewal in slightly over two months. I wasn’t sure if I should renew the subscription. The subscription fee was hefty, and my pass only allowed me to go twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  But why do I bother myself with manual laundry? I wondered sometimes. All the other household chores were automated anyway. There was no need to sweep, mop or vacuum the floor; there was ZB for that. There was no need to wipe any windows, tables or surfaces; there was GB for that. Pre-Zen Launderette, there was no need to hang, fold or iron my laundry; there was LB for that.

Hmm...the swiftness of LB seemed appealing. It would give my arms a little break tonight. Override route. Take me home instead. I instructed my DID.

ROUTE

CONFIRMATION

REQUIRED

flashed onscreen. Shang Chi’s somersault was rudely interrupted in mid-air.

 ------------------

 I took out LB from beneath the kitchen sink and gave the button on the front a little push. The lever holding the lid sprung up, scattering grey dust upwards and into my nostrils. I stuffed two pairs of jeans, two shirts and three sets of underwear into LB. That was about all it could take. After some rummaging in the bottom drawer, I found the last packet of liquid detergent. It was the kind that came in a dozen, each one a clear polyethylene terephthalate cup in which you could see the liquid sloshing around inside. It reminded me of the instant soup stock packets that mom used whenever she needed soup base. I never used those myself – I had enough of those growing up.

4:22

4:21

4:20

My LB was v.1.3. Quite a granny by today’s standards. The latest was v.5.1, released just last week. MAGIC LAUNDRY IN THREE MINUTES AND THREE SECONDS! The ad was plastered all over YouTube, Spotify and Instagram.

0:02

0:01

0:00

I’d almost forgotten what LB clothes smelled like. It had the instant smell, one of musty warm rubber faintly masked by generic laundry detergent. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it was nothing like the soothing smells of a fresh batch of laundry from Zen Launderette I was accustomed to. 

Oh, the eucalyptus bar I made four weeks ago would be fully cured today! It would be good for the upcoming flu season.

Oh no, Martha! I was supposed to help Martha with the aloe vera detergent liquid this week. Aloe vera was my speciality – no one could make as smooth a gel as I could. And my detergent liquid had a little sparkly sheen to it! Martha’s daughter in law would be expecting in a month and the aloe soap was meant for washing the baby’s blankets.

Ahhh eucalyptus, lavender, aloe vera, lemongrass. 

No, actually the LB smell was sickening in comparison. Somehow the laundry didn’t feel as clean. Certainly it was laundered, but it didn’t feel fresh. I couldn’t envision the joy in putting on these clothes in the morning.

 ------------------

 With the laundry done early, I had time for a couple of rounds of GOTL while binge-watching the entire season 7 of DW. I had 67 tabs open on my 42-inch, touch-wave split screen monitor and another three channels on in my head:

One more corndog left. I’ll need to drop in at Tesco to stock up on corndogs on my way home from work tomorrow.

I’ll have to wear LB smelling clothes for the next three days. Ughhhhhh.

Should I get a scarf or an AV for Jeannie’s birthday?

No, no, don’t fire you twit! It was no use anymore, that had been our last round of ammunition and we were effectively dead. I threw my hands down in frustration. The little brown patch on my left pinkie brushed against the edge of the side table. I got that scar just a week into my second month at Zen Launderette – I had been talking to Martha while stirring the lye water and the mixture splashed over the edges of the bowl . The spot was no longer painful, but the skin was still tender. I thought of the soothing cool aloe gel against the scar. Now that the game was over, I only had 66 tabs left. I looked around the room searching for something.

Zen Launderette was a forty minute drive from here. It was a little insane, I know. But if I could speed over there in twenty-five, I would still have time for two pairs of jeans, two shirts and three sets of underwear. And maybe an extra towel? It wasn’t a full load like I did on Wednesdays, but it was something nonetheless. I hesitated a little. A rare moment of indecisiveness.

Racing to my wardrobe, I grabbed the perfectly folded clothes without any plastic casing. These were the ones I had washed in LB. They were impeccably straight, with crisp fold-lines that lingered slightly when I first put them on. I used to flick the shirts a few times before putting them on in an attempt to get rid of the fold-lines. 

My favourite part of Zen Launderette was drying the clothes. They had a standalone washing machine, similar to the kind from the 1990s. When the washing machine gave a little beep, I would take out the clothes from each machine, and proceed to set the scents with a handheld dryer. Each piece of clothing needed a unique amount of heat, depending on the fabric and the scent used. The clothes had to be done in a particular order; as in wine-tasting. With the clothes that I laundered at Zen Launderette, I always made sure to place them in individual plastic cases to prevent their scents from being transferred to each other. Not for LB clothes though, they didn’t need the casing. 

In my left hand, I grabbed a stack of empty plastic cases and clambered down the stairs into the basement carpark. Just another one of those days the lift was faulty. As I gave the fuel indicator a quick glance, I steered off into the darkness of the cool night, leaving a single parking lot vacant. 

 Glossary

AV Amazon Voucher

DID Daimler Intelligent Drive

DW Doctor Who

GB Glide Bot

GOTL  Game of the Legends

LB  Laundrobot

SCRTNW  Shang-Chi: Return to New World

SFG Shacky’s Flash Grill

ZB Zipbot

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

Bath and Body Works Lemongrass Sage Creamy Body Wash

1990-1996ish

Found on Ebay, user heathebeha0

[oanda-pp]

Top five restaurants in Kampot, Cambodia's first foodie destination

IAN LLOYD NEUBAUER

February 4 2019

Champa Lodge's kampot pepper crab. Photo: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

Since the 13th century, Kampot, a southern Cambodian province in the foothills of the Elephant Mountains, has been known for the cultivation of the finest peppercorns in the world.

Piquant but floral with hints of eucalyptus and an extra-long finish, Kampot pepper is among a select group of food products whose names are protected by the European Union, receiving the coveted Protected Geographical Indication designation alongside ingredients such as Stilton cheese and Darjeeling tea.

The "king of spice" was considered too decadent for the Khmer Rouge communists of the 1970s, who uprooted Kampot's peppercorn vines and enslaved local farmers.

Kampot green peppercorns on the vine. Photo: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

But a revival kindled by Japanese aid workers in the 1990s has finally borne fruit; around 500 farmers are now growing peppercorns in Kampot.

With a striking collection of French colonial architecture and tree-lined boulevards, Kampot town is experiencing a revival of its own.

There's a buzzing arts scene, a growing tourism industry and a rapidly expanding selection of eateries opened by expatriate chefs and restaurateurs who've settled in this sleepy riverside town.

Champa Lodge provides rustic luxury accomodation in a Cambodian wood-stilt home. Photo: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

From French to Portuguese, to modern Australian, the offerings are diverse though all inevitably incorporate Kampot pepper into their menus.

Here's the pick of the Kampot restaurant crop.

Cafe Espresso

When second-hand dealer Angus Whelan of Brisbane moved to Kampot in 2011, he found himself spending too much time – and money – in local cafes. So he built a coffee roaster from a hot air gun and a bread machine, put his natural interior decorating flair to use and began creating blends using coffee beans from Laos, Thailand, Vietnam – "basically from anywhere I could get coffee beans put on a bus," he says. Today, Whelan sells five different blends plus five single origins at his family-run place Cafe Espresso. Set in a large salt shed with murals painted by "artist mates who came over from Australia" and furniture Whelan made himself, it has the look and feel of a hip inner-city Australian cafe sans the Australian prices. At 20,000 riel (about AUD$7), the sweet potato roesti with poached eggs, house-made chorizo, Kampot peppered bacon and spinach is a steal. Another $3 buys a salted-caramel milkshake turbo-flavoured with Kampot palm sugar and local salt.

Open Tue-Sun 8am-4pm, kampotcoffee.wixsite.com/espresso

Armando's

For 15 years, Armando Bonadonna managed high-end restaurants in Shanghai, Bangkok and other mega-cities in Asia. "I was not happy," the Venice-born chef recalls. "So I settled down in Kampot, where the lifestyle is easy." In early 2018, he opened his first eatery – one of three Italian restaurants in Kampot, yet the favourite among expats for Bonadonna's daily specials. "In Asia, Italian restaurants are all about pizza. Pizza, Pizza, Pizza. But when I explain the specials to customers, they get curious," he says. "For example, today in the market I bought chicken liver. Many people will turn their nose at this but you can cook very good pasta with chicken liver. I'm going to make a chicken liver fettuccine with a peppery tomato sauce."

Open Fri-Wed 5pm-10pm, facebook.com/armandofoodinprogress

Twenty Three

With black and white chequerboard flooring, a dimly lit cocktail bar and only a handful of tables, this low-key Mediterranean-inspired dinner is Kampot's culinary dark horse. Twenty Three's slow-cooked crusty pork belly tastes as good as it sounds, while the twice-baked cheddar souffle seasoned with Kampot pepper and Kampot salt is pure cheesy goodness. Expats come here to eat this dish on its own, though it also makes the perfect accompaniment to Twenty Three's chicken leg braised in fresh green Kampot pepper sauce. "Our focus is simple organic ingredients and doing it really well," says Owen Kaagman, a French-trained chef from South Africa. "I prefer to let the ingredients do the talking."

Open Wed-Mon 11am to 10pm, facebook/23kampot

Cambodia's Boutique Kampot Hotel offers modern conveniences with retro touches. Photo: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

Tertulia

In the Portuguese language, tertulia are regular but informal gatherings of friends at a set place to discuss politics, literature and art. In Kampot, Tertulia is an airy white-washed tapas bar with soaring ceilings and open archways created by three Portuguese friends who ended up in Cambodia. Cooked for eight hours in red wine and mushroom sauce, the beef cheeks are chef Francisco Salema's favourite. Mine was the tuna tartare with ginger, Kampot pepper and wasabi whipped cream, while the chocolate mousse with crushed peanut nougat also deserves a mention.

Open Thu-Tue noon-2pm & 6pm-10pm;tertulia-kampot.com

Greenhouse

Cambodia's most famous dish is fish amok – a slightly sweet coconut curry flavoured with lemongrass and kaffir lime. It's is a simple dish Cambodians cook at home every day. But adapting it for the fine dining market has proven exceptionally difficult. "Reinventing Cambodian food is an amazing challenge because when we arrived here, we had little knowledge about local produce," says Steven Paoli, the Paris-born owner of Greenhouse, a gorgeous riverfront restaurant about 15 minutes' drive from the city's French quarter. "It took us a long time to assimilate and discover all the interesting local produce until we found the perfect combination." Made from a cobia fish fillet with Kampot pepper and served with mung bean risotto and tamarin caviar on the side, it's but one of the inventive new dishes featuring on Greenhouse's Kampot pepper discovery. Don't leave without trying the Kampot red pepper ice-cream or a chocolate pepper cookie.

Open 11.30am-3pm & & 6pm-9.30pm; greenhousekampot.com

L'Epi D'or Bakery & Cafe's crunchy baguettes sell out before noon.  Photo: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

Also try

L'Epi D'or Bakery & Cafe is locally famous for croissants – plain, with chocolate or cheese – as well as crunchy baguettes that sell out before noon. The Kampot Pepper Shop sells a range of products sourced from Bo Tree peppercorn plantation, such as green Kampot peppers and preserved Kampot fleur de sel, a salt Crystal that forms on the surface of seawater as it evaporates. Burger Shack, a no-frills burger joint run by two Australian backpackers, has perfected the double-bacon cheese. For $5 you can get a burger and an Angkor beer, the best deal in "The Pot".

Where to stay

Instead of renovating another of Kampot's old French colonial manors, Cambodian architect Nath Kananda started from scratch with the Boutique Kampot Hotel, the best digs in town. With 18 large rooms spread across five floors, BKH offers modern conveniences with retro touches such as wrought iron balustrades, rotary telephones and a collection of vintage motorcycles and rickshaws in the lobby. "I credit my wife for the decor," Nath says. "She loves French architecture from the 19th century and worked hard to bring back the style in a modern context." At $100 a night including breakfast, the deluxe suite on the fourth floor is a prism of natural light with large balconies and uninterrupted 270-degree views of the French Quarter and Elephant Mountains.

boutiquekampot.com

Set on a dreamy palm-fringed bend on the river 10 minutes' drive from town, Champa Lodge immerses guests in the gentle rhythms of Cambodian village life. Spend your time kayaking, fishing, exploring temples, nearby villages or Bokor National Park on a moped or mountain bike – or simply watching life and time pass on the river. "I don't like it when guests stay only one night because they don't get a chance to enjoy the place. We can keep you busy for a week," says Belgian-born hotelier Stephane Davos, who stocks 15 kinds of Belgian beer and cooks a mean Kampot pepper crab. Accommodation at Champa Lodge comprises five traditional Cambodian wood-stilt homes that were transported on barges, reassembled on the riverbank and outfitted with top-shelf bedding, modern bathrooms, security boxes, Wi-Fi routers and nothing else. Rustic luxury at its best. It's $50-$75 a night with breakfast.

champalodge.com

Kampot Espresso Cafe has the look and feel of a hip inner-city Australian cafe. Photo: Ian Lloyd Neubauer

https://www.goodfood.com.au/travel/destination-guides/top-five-restaurants-in-kampot-cambodias-first-foodie-destination-20190130-h1anlr

[cliftonsteen]

Coffee Origins: A Guide to Mexico

On small, mountainous farms run mainly by indigenous producers, you’ll find an often-overlooked gem growing strong: Mexican coffee.

When people list famous coffee origins, Mexico is often left out. Yet it has a lot to offer: distinctive and fruity profiles, a positive social and environmental impact, and a rich coffee-producing heritage. 

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The Sierra Madre mountain range in Chiapas, Mexico, under cloud cover. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

How Much Coffee Does Mexico Grow?

The crop is grown across 16 of Mexico’s states, but you will find most of the country’s 711,000 hectares (as of 2018) in the south. 

Coffee first found its way into Mexico in the late 1700s, when it was cultivated on farms owned by Europeans with predominantly indigenous Mexican labourers. A revolution in the early 20th century began the process of changing the status quo through agrarian land reform. 

Today’s Mexican farms look very different from the large plantations of yesteryear: the most recent agricultural census counted 515,000 producers, 85% of whom were indigenous Mexicans and 95% cultivated fewer than three hectares. Across the coffee industry, indigenous and smallholder producers are the most vulnerable of them all – yet the Mexican government is collaborating with the National Institute of the Indigenous Peoples (INPI) to support them. 

Much of the country’s coffee production is organised through cooperatives. Another little-known fact is that Mexico is one of the world’s largest exporters of organic-certified coffee, with up to 8% of producers growing it, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER). These facts are related, but to understand why, you’ll have to go back nearly 40 years. 

In 1973, the Mexican government, recognising the potential for coffee to assist rural development, set up the national institute for coffee INMECAFE. A decade later, coffee became Mexico’s most valuable export crop, accounting for 35% of total agricultural output by the middle of the ‘80s. Production peaked at 440,000 tonnes of green coffee by 1990. 

However, the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement removed the coffee price floor, and eventually, INMECAFE closed. In its place rose cooperatives, who not only supported Mexico’s indigenous producers who also encouraged organic coffee production. 

Most recently, Mexico exported 2.6 million 60-kilo bags in 2018/19. While this is less than 1% of total coffee exports globally, it still makes the country the ninth-largest coffee exporter in the world. 

A coffee management workshop on Guadalupe Gálvez’ farm with the UCOACC DE SS group. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

The Typical Mexican Coffee

Mexican coffees tend to be lighter bodied and mild, with subtle flavours. There is potential for them to be outstanding: the 2019 Cup of Excellence saw six coffees break through the 90-point threshold. Cruz José Arguello Miceli’s Gesha won with an impressive 93.07 points (and sold for US $35.40/lb green). The judges noted that this Chiapas-grown coffee had notes of jasmine, bergamot, lemongrass, and vanilla, and was overall very sweet with a buttery mouthfeel.

Mexico grows mostly shade-grown Arabica coffee, with Robusta making up only 3–4% of the country’s crops. 35% of Mexico’s coffee is grown at 900 m.a.s.l., conditions that – in Mexico’s relatively cooler climate – are favourable for higher-quality coffees. 

Read more in Coffee Quality & M.A.S.L.: How Important Is Altitude Really?

“Coffees are processed the same way [across the country],” says Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Coordinator for PECA and Sustainability in Mexico for green bean supplier Caravela Coffee. “In Mexico, 90% of the coffee is washed processed, and then with the other 10%, you’ll find processes such as honey and natural.” 

Yet while there is little variation in processing methods according to the region, you will find striking differences in the coffees’ sensory profiles and the producers’ cultivation practices.

A moisture measurement workshop on the coffee farm of the producer Praxedes Lopez in Oaxaca, Mexico. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

Mexico’s 3 Major Coffee Regions

Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Veracruz: each coffee region boasts of its coffee’s distinctive character – although it’s not just about what you taste in the cup. “What makes the three coffee-producing states unique is the extent to which the farms are technically focused,” says Edy. 

Let’s take a closer look.

Veracruz

Caressing the Gulf of Mexico is the long thin state of Veracruz. It can boast of being the first Mexican state in Mexico to see a coffee tree planted in its soil, back in the 18th century.

Growing on inland mountains at 1,100–1600 m.a.s.l., Veracruz’ finest coffees have what Edy describes as notes of “light red fruits, blueberries, caramel, panela, and are delicate with a bright acidity, and very juicy with a sweet and sour aftertaste”. 

Veracruz is the most technologically advanced of the three states, he says, with more disease-resistant varieties and controlled sowing. He tells me that there are producers who take care to evenly distribute trees one metre apart, with no more than 5,000 plants per hectare.

Coffee trees grow under shade on Christian Beltran’s Finca El Pilar in Villa Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

Chiapas

Nestled on the Guatemalan border, you’ll find the state’s best coffees growing between 1,300 and 1,700 m.a.s.l. Chiapas also holds the crown for producing the most coffee in Mexico, at 40% of the country’s total yield.

Many indigenous Mexicans call Chiapas home, but it’s also the country’s poorest state, with a GDP per capita of US $7,249 in 2016. 

It’s Chiapas’ location and terroir that set it apart from Veracruz. “There are similarities between coffee farms between Chiapas and Veracruz in terms of cultivation techniques and varieties,” Edy says. Yet despite that, he tells me that you will taste notes of chocolate, bitters, nuts, citrus, and lemon, along with a round and lasting body. 

Read more in What Is Terroir & How Does It Affect Your Coffee?

The UCUAC S DE SS group discusses selective harvesting as part of a workshop in La Piedad, Jaltenango de la Paz, Chiapas, Mexico. Credit: Edy Hidalgo, Caravela Coffee

Oaxaca

Slotting in as neatly as a jigsaw piece, Oaxaca borders the bottom of Veracruz and the top of Chiapas, while the Pacific Ocean sits to its west. Its coffee farms are generally between 900 and 1,650 m.a.s.l.

While it is the least technologically advanced of Mexico’s main coffee-producing regions, Edy tells me that Oaxacan coffees are both distinctive and in high demand. They tend to be sweet with caramel overtones, notes of yellow fruits, orange acidity, a creamy body, and floral hints. 

Many producers here eschew modernisation in favour of traditional cultivation methods. You will find 80-year-old farms worked just as they were in the 1940s, while Edy estimates that 70% of the varieties are traditional to the area. 

Pluma Hidalgo is one example of this: a 19th-century offshoot of Typica grown by displaced indigenous farmers in the mid-1800s. There are even efforts to obtain Denomination of Origin status for Oaxacan Pluma Hidalgo.

Parchment Pluma Hidalgo dries under the sun in Oaxaca, Mexico. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

Struggles & Solutions For Mexico’s Coffee Industry

One of the major challenges affecting the country is the recent low coffee price. An average farmer could earn just US $98 for 45 kg of green Arabica coffee, despite the fact it would cost them on average US $140 to produce. 

With producers struggling to be profitable, they are poorly equipped to invest in their farms so that they can handle adverse weather events and diseases. In 2018, the coffee price crisis saw prices plummet – and they still haven’t recovered. Worrying, the impact of low prices was visible long before the market crashed.

In 2012, an outbreak of coffee leaf rust quickly spread across Mexican coffee farms. The fungus attacked coffee trees, reducing the harvest size and quality, and it had a long-term impact: production halved from 4.5 million bags in 2012 to 2.2 million in 2015/16. 

Edy says that producers were trying to combat the low prices by replacing older trees with higher-yielding varieties. But they also required more sunlight and nutrition. “This, along with the introduction of herbicides to the Mexican countryside, led to severe soil erosion, especially because the Mexican coffee slopes can range from 10–80%,” he tells me. 

A coffee farm on the Sierra Sur mountain range in Oaxaca, Mexico. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

The government intervened by offering farmers more pest-resistant coffee varieties such as Oro Azteca, Marsellesa, and Costa Rica 95, while also supporting producer groups in acquiring price-enhancing certifications such as Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance. 

Yet that initiative alone will not be enough. Edy stresses the importance of paying according to the quality of the coffee. “This means it’s possible for producers to see much better prices,” he says.

Technical assistance is also key, especially in the face of soil erosion and Mexico’s history of organic production and low productivity per hectare. Caring for the environment doesn’t just satisfy sustainability-conscious coffee consumers and justify price premiums: it also helps a farm withstand future environmental shocks and diseases. 

Edy manages Caravela Coffee’s PECA initiative, organising workshops and supporting producers in the adoption of “different practices for the improvement and conservation of the environment and soil… putting emphasis on caring for the environment and reducing the risks of environmental impact, while also teaching producers to improve yields so that they can increase their incomes.” 

He stresses the importance of working with local varieties that are well-adapted to the terroir. Native varieties typically require less intervention, which adds up to less work for the producer and less impact on the environment.

The good news is that Mexico’s coffee industry is recovering, with exports increasing 57% from 2015 to 2018. Production, at this point, was above 4 million bags again.

The community discusses organic certification at Santa María, Ozolotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

Mexico is a diverse and exciting coffee region. Head to Veracruz or Chiapas and you’ll see producers embracing modern farming techniques and offering exciting flavours for the discerning coffee drinker. Yet you will also find farmers who are proud of their heritage and their unique, centuries-old varieties. And no matter where you go, there will be producers keen to learn more about how they can improve their sustainability and coffee quality.

Whether your interest is in heritage, flavours, or environmentally friendly coffee, Mexico is a country rich in it all. 

Enjoyed this? Read This Is How Much It Costs to Produce Coffee Across Latin America

Written by James Harper. Interview with Edy Hidalgo Espinosa translated from Spanish. Feature photo credit: Edy Hidalgo Espinosa, Caravela Coffee

Please note: This article has been sponsored by Caravela Coffee. 

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The post Coffee Origins: A Guide to Mexico appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

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[biofunmy]

I Never Promised You an Herb Garden: 6 Green Scents for Summer

Sometime near the dawn of the 12th century, the German Benedictine abbess and all-around mystical soothsayer Hildegard of Bingen became obsessed with the concept of viriditas, a word she stole from the Latin root for greenery but twisted into her own ecstatic definition.

For Hildegard, who was also, as of 2012, anointed by the pope for her early contributions to holistic medicine, the word was synonymous with health, of both body and mind. Viriditas was a feeling of lushness, of fullness, of overall well-being, and it could come only from an engagement with the natural world.

In other words, Hildegard was one of the original wellness mavens, pushing herbal poultices and ground-up seed pod pastes as the path to enlightenment. Her woo-woo cure-alls may not be with us today, but her viriditas has turned out to be a viral idea. Healing via plants is a seductive concept. If only we could solve what ills us by loping through meadows carpeted in thyme.

This year, perfumers have taken the concept of viriditas and transformed it into a bevy of zippy new fragrances. There is a hunger, it seems, for pungent, herbal smells that are almost medicinal in nature.

These are wearable green juices, wheat grass shots for your collarbone. Perhaps our digital lives have left us starved for sylvan fantasy, because the hottest trend this summer is smelling like a bouquet garni.

Diptyque Eau de Minthe

Some of the finest mint in the world comes from the Pacific Northwest. Oregon, for example, is the largest producer of peppermint in the country: More than 35 percent of the nation’s crop is grown there.

The Parisian house Diptyque looked to that verdant area to source the Altoidesque base for its new unisex cologne.

Eau de Minthe is a traditional fougère (a word that comes from the French for “fern”), which means it has the spicy, woody base of oakmoss and top notes of bitter florals and tart citrus that you find in many traditional men’s colognes. But the zing of cool mint turns it into something far more interesting.

All perfume is genderless, but this scent manages to have something for everyone. It’s like an ice-cold martini that slides effortlessly down the throat.

Heretic Dirty Grass

These days, cannabis is the plant most people associate with so-called wellness. While the varietals containing THC may not be legal in most states, cannabidiol (or CBD), a compound found in cannabis that doesn’t get you high but may help calm nerves and release happy-making neurotransmitters, is the health craze of the day. It comes in lattes, body lotions, gummies, even dog biscuits. And now, perfume.

“I’ve been wanting to develop a weed-inspired fragrance since 2016 but couldn’t find the right blend of ingredients,” said Douglas Little, a creator of Heretic. “I began looking at hemp-derived CBD for another project and was blown away by its aromatic profile. It had a distinctive herbaceous, green and sagelike odor that I fell in love with.”

Each 15 milliliter bottle of Dirty Grass, which smells a bit like an Arnold Palmer made with bong water, contains 150 milligrams of CBD, which the creators say the wearer can absorb through the skin.

Tom Ford Lavender Extreme

Lavender is the elegant, begloved lady of the herb world; it smells like both decadence and delicacy. Yet the scent is difficult to capture in perfumery in all its French blue glory. Most lavender fragrances end up smelling like bedtime tea or shortbread.

But this new offering from Tom Ford contains so much pure, unadulterated lavender essence that the smell is almost profane. It is bitter and absinthal and overwhelming. This isn’t lavender as a sleep aid. This is lavender that awakens you to new possibilities.

19-69 Chronic

The motto of the Swedish fragrance house 19-69 is “bottling counterculture,” which means that most of its perfumes draw inspiration from chaotic historical periods. (In other words: The revolution will be packaged and spritzed.) Chronic, according to Johan Bergelin, its founder, is a homage to the cannabis culture of Los Angeles of the early 1990s.

“In 1996, California became the first state in the U.S. to legalize medical cannabis,” he said. “But there has been a long history of cannabis cultivators and enthusiasts dedicating their lives to refining the herb.”

This perfume attempts to honor those weedy pioneers with notes of clary sage, petitgrain and, of course, a cannabis accord that smells like a room where someone smoked a joint 10 minutes ago.

Zoologist Dodo

The plant that animates this fragrance, which is inspired by the extinct birds of Mauritius Island, is the fiddlehead fern. “Dodo embodies the green and herbaceous elements of a traditional fougère, but mixed with something strange and unexpected,” said the Zoologist founder Victor Wong.

The scent also has a fatty underbelly of synthetic ambergris (an unctuous mineral material derived, glamorously, from whale vomit), which gives it something of an ancient, wet cement feel. This is a green that is sprouting up from the pavement.

Les Colognes Louis Vuitton Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden is one of three new summer scents from the Louis Vuitton perfumer Jacques Cavallier, who was thinking of California from his native France when he made the collection. (Alex Israel, a Los Angeles artist, designed the packaging.)

Cactus Garden is a mixture of zesty bergamot, earthy yerba mate and a rare, pricey varietal of lemongrass. “I love all the infusions, all those things coming from nature,” Mr. Cavallier said. The result is a perfume that smells like the essence of viriditas: lush, green and full of vitality, sitting on the razor edge of spinach and sublime.

Sahred From Source link Fashion and Style

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[micaramel]

Artist: Abraham Cruzvillegas

Venue: Kurimanzutto, New York

Exhibition Title: Autocontusión

Date: May 3 – July 22, 2018

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of kurimanzutto, New York. Photos by Matthew Conradt. 

Press Release:

kurimanzutto will inaugurate its new project space in New York with an installation by Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas. Opening on Thursday, May 3, 2018, the installation will feature a new iteration from Cruzvillegas’ ongoing series Autocontusión, which has been reimagined to activate the project space, incorporating locally-sourced materials from around the city. Additionally, the installation will include three new sculptures and a site-specific mural mapping the artist’s favorite locations in New York. Situated on the Upper East Side on 22 East 65th Street, kurimanzutto New York represents a satellite of kurimanzutto in Mexico City and will serve as a hub for a range of artist programs and projects both on-site and off, reinforcing the gallery’s collaborative and nomadic nature.

Serving as the anchor of the presentation, Autocontusión consists of a constellation of sculptures hanging from the ceiling throughout the project space. Presented first in 2016 at Art en Valise, and then Scrap Metal Gallery in Toronto, for this installation at kurimanzutto new york, the works have been reassembled and Cruzvillegas has complemented them with locally sourced, perishable and organic elements, such as manchego, bread, turmeric, ginger, molasses, lemongrass, avocados and prosciutto, to name a few. The installation forms an infinity loop across the space with the sculptures painted green on one half and bright pink on the other: this formal attribute is an ongoing homage to Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, following his visit to the Mangueria Samba Club in Rio de Janeiro in 2004.

In addition to this body of work, the artist has created three sculptures comprised of metal racks and scraps, wood, silver chain, and suspended water bottles. Each bottle is filled with pink and green glass beads or ‘chaquiras’ that create a colorful visual effect. Interested in local fauna, Cruzvillegas also sourced native prickly pear cacti from the New York region that have been integrated into the sculptures.

A site-specific mural depicting a map of lower Manhattan rendered with golden pigment complements the installation. In it, the artist creates spheres to represent some of his favorite spots (bars, bookstores, restaurants) in New York since visiting for the first time in the 1990s. Cruzvillegas then connects the dots according to a possible route between the locations to compose an abstract, geometric shape. This map is part of a series of ongoing representations of the artist’s vibrant relationships with cities and geography, a distinctive way in which he relates to his surroundings and his own experience with changing contexts and places.

Referring to his project for kurimanzutto New York, Cruzvillegas said: “I try to approach specific issues related with my own circumstance, avoiding any biographic anecdote or narrative. I use my experience the same way I use objects, like matter that should change, so I guess you could say the theme of my overall work is transformation: identity being the most unstable and contradictory of life. In this way, any new project changes and reveals diverse and unstable links with previous ones, assuming every process as an educative device, in which the one who learns is me.”

Link: Abraham Cruzvillegas at Kurimanzutto

Contemporary Art Daily is produced by Contemporary Art Group, a not-for-profit organization. We rely on our audience to help fund the publication of exhibitions that show up in this RSS feed. Please consider supporting us by making a donation today.

from Contemporary Art Daily http://bit.ly/2yq4hHn

[wine-n-friends]

Enjoying food and wine is one of our favorite pleasures in wine country. Having the SommSelect team selecting wines for dinner at The Corner Napa, a memorable wine pairing dinner. The night started with a generous pour of Champagne Andrė Clouet, Grande Réserve, Grand Cru Brut. Darling 100% Pinot Noir bubbly, with an expressive aroma of golden apples, freshly baked croissant and hazelnuts.

The bubbles tingle on your palate with sparks of minerality and pleasant acidity. This Champagne shows tropical fruit, fresh red berries and hints of yeast. The perfect overture for the harmonious symphony of food and wine just peeking around the corner.

The first course,

Little Gem Burrata-stone fruit, hazelnut dukkah, creme fraiche. Paired with 2016 Caravaglio, “Infatata” Malvasia Blanca, Salina island, Sicily. Italy. This Malvasia is sultry with aromas of white flowers, tropical fruits, and lemongrass. Pleasant acidity on the palate with flavors of passion fruit, ripe nectarine, with hints of sea salt and fresh herbs. This food and wine combination was spot on, very playful texture and bright flavors.

The second course,

Corn Agnolotti, creamed corn “espuma”, spinach, sorghum. Paired with Saumaize Michelin 2014 “Vignes Blanches” Pouilly-Fuissé, Burgundy, France. A 100% Chardonnay that shows a vibrant golden yellow color. This elegant wine fermented in neutral oak goes through full malolactic fermentation.

This wine entices you with Granny apple, ripe peach, and Anjou pear with hints of pomelo. It shows lovely creaminess on the palate, pleasant acidity, and flavors of ripe pears, baking spices with hints of caramel and crushed slate. This Pouilly-Fuissé was a perfect companion for this creamy pocket of pasta. The touch of corn kernels and “espuma” felt exceptional with the silky texture and luscious creaminess of the wine.

The third course,

Beef Shortrib pomme purée, garden carrots, cipollini onion, we added the optional shaved foie gras. Paired with 1990 Olga Raffault Chinon, “Les Picasses” Loire Valley, France. We were delighted with this “gem of a wine.” This wine aged beautifully showed a fragrant perfume of rose petals, ripe red wild berries, tea leaves, and wet slate.

This Chinon has velvety tannins, generous acidity and beautiful layers of flavors; raspberries, dried mushrooms, red currant, and black pepper. This wine and food pairing was right on point, the pleasant acidity, fruit notes, and hints of earth on the wine complemented the savory flavors, creamy notes and hints of umami added by the shaved foie gras on the dish. One, if not the most superb, wine and food pairing experience yet.

This wine and food pairing was right on point, the pleasant acidity, fruit notes, and hints of earth on the wine complemented the savory flavors, creamy notes and hints of umami added by the shaved foie gras on the dish. One, if not the most superb, wine and food pairing experience yet.

The fourth course,

Panna Cotta, Point Reyes Toma cheese, pistachio pain de gene, riesling gelée, pickled blueberry, orange zest. Paired with Rare Wine Company Historic Series “Boston Bual” Non-Vintage Madeira, Portugal.

What an excellent Madeira, restrained sweetness, cinnamon, star anise and cloves with layers of roasted hazelnuts, orange peel, and fig compote. Another outstanding wine and food marriage. This savory dessert with hints of sweetness plays along well with the lightly sweet taste, stimulating acidity and long dry finish of the wine.

IAN CAUBLE, MASTER SOMMELIER

This four-course wine and food adventure was the result of an exceptional collaboration between Chef Dustin Falcon at The Corner Napa, Master Sommelier Ian Cauble and David Lynch from SommSelect. We are looking forward to the next food and wine experience. SALUD!

Memorable wine pairing dinner with SommSelect Enjoying food and wine is one of our favorite pleasures in wine country. Having the SommSelect…

[lindaeckhardt]

New Post has been published on Everybody Eats News

New Post has been published on https://everybodyeatsnews.com/2017/10/vietnamese-restaurants-portland-oregon-yum/

Vietnamese Restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Yum!

MY FAVORITE VIETNAMESE FOOD AT “FISH SAUCE” IN PORTLAND, OREGON By Doug Mitchell

I first experienced Vietnamese food in Los Angeles at a restaurant owned by a “boat person” who spoke perfect French. The year was 1977, and I was writing for a westside newspaper that covered the Orthodox Jewish section of L.A. There, nestled amid the Kosher salami and kreplach, was a tiny Fairfax Avenue eatery that specialized in the cuisine of Vietnam, a country we still didn’t fully understand, but one with which we had just fought a long, grueling war.

The owner, a pleasant, mustachioed man in his late 40s, had only recently arrived in the United States, a refugee who was able to rescue what was left of his family from the devastation of his native Saigon. For whatever reason, he and I became fast friends, and slowly, he taught me some of the history of Vietnam and of its wonderful people and cuisine.

Even though I had learned of the French colonization of Vietnam and Cambodia in school, it never really sank into my youthful brain. Strangely, it was through my friend’s explanation of the food that I began to realize the influence France had on the culture of the land and its people. That Banh Mi sandwich I came to love was served on what resembled a French baguette and smeared with a smooth and flavorful, (and very French,) pate, and the omelet I ate for lunch, crepe-like and filled with seafood, was almost the identical one Julia Child, The French Chef, was demonstrating to her TV audiences.

To me, it seemed as if Chinese food were suddenly shifted to Paris, but this was years before Wolfgang Puck opened his famous Chinos on Main, in Santa Monica. This international mixing of traditional flavors and ingredients was what would become known in the 1990s as Fusion Cuisine, and it would revolutionize the restaurant world and the taste buds of American foodies from Lawrence, Massachusetts to Portland, Oregon.

Among the dozens of Vietnamese restaurants that made it across the great divide to the City of Roses, is my personal favorite, Fish Sauce, in what is known as the Alphabet District of northwest Portland. Named after the ubiquitous fermented anchovy condiment of South East Asia, the restaurant sports a long, common table down its middle, bordered by traditional tables and chairs. Its non-assuming style reminds me very much of my first Vietnamese haunt on Fairfax in L.A.

The result is an inviting atmosphere that cries out home-style eating, and owner, Lauren Huynh, herself an immigrant from South Vietnam, and her family, serve up a menu of traditional and modern Vietnamese specialties to satisfy the most demanding palate. The highest on my list of menu favorites is a bowl of hog heaven called Thit Kho, an exquisite combination of pork belly slow braised in coconut water, green onions and nuoc mam (the untranslated “fish sauce”). The stew is slowly braised until the pork literally melts, filling the broth with a delicious unctuousness that calms the soul as well as the belly. Whole hard-cooked eggs are added and left until they adopt the luscious brown color of the liquid. The resulting dish is served in a clay pot, with a mound of white rice and a side of fermented vegetables (dua chua).

According to Lauren, Thit Kho is generally a New Year’s (Tet) dish, but she makes sure it’s available through most of the year. I have never seen it on any other Vietnamese restaurant menu in town, and consider it one of the finest dishes in Portland. Worth calling for in advance.

Another stand-out specialty is a dish Lauren calls Botta’s Favorite, though I don’t know why. It’s a combination of deliciously grilled lemongrass pork or chicken and grilled shrimp served over jasmine-flavored rice and topped with two fried eggs. Grilled meats are a Vietnamese staple and are common throughout the country. What separates this dish from the others is the addition of the eggs, fried, but still runny, creating a sauce that, combined with the grilled meats and fragrant rice, comes to the mouth in pure pleasure.

Ga Hainan, (Hainanese chicken), presents a seemingly simple plate of poached Draper Valley chicken with a fine sauce of soy, ginger and garlic. This is a main staple of Southeast Asian cooking and the national dish of Singapore with its roots in the Hainan Provence of China. The chicken is slowly poached in its own broth at just below the boiling point until it is fork tender and juicy. It is served with a large portion of white rice, the garlic sauce and fermented vegetables. The ideal dish for someone who loves chicken in its purest form.

Naturally, Pho is on the menu, and is prepared with your choice of thinly sliced filet mignon and Vietnamese meatballs or chicken. Chao Tom, sugarcane sticks wrapped in minced shrimp meat and fried, Lettuce Wraps, Vietnamese salads and the popular Banh Mi, the aforementioned baguette sandwiches in several varieties are also included on the carte. Prices at Fish Sauce are more than fair, with dishes running in the $12 to $18 range, and the restaurant offers a Happy Hour menu before and after dinner hours that offers most of the menu items at reduced cost.

There is a full bar featuring exotic drink concoctions as well as beer, wines, sake and specialty drinks. Ca Phe Su’a Da, another reminder of the French influence, is a rich dark coffee, brewed to order, sweetened with condensed milk and usually served cold. A perfect ending to a perfect visit to one of Portland’s finest Vietnamese restaurants. Fish Sauce is open for lunch and dinner daily, excluding Sundays, and is at 407 NW 17th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. Phone 503-227-8000.

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

Bath and Body Works Mini Bio Volumizing Shampoo and Balancing Conditioner, Cool Citrus Basil Moisture Rich Body Lotion and Lemongrass Sage Moisture Rich Body Lotion

Bio: early 2000s, maybe late 1990s?

Lotions: 1990-1996ish

Found on Ebay, user newsboyslovr 

[heliossexton]

"We're on an Ultralight Beam..." Good morning heroes and villains. Need a "Piqmiup"? Remember Grandma's Boy? Lol. So word is the Captain Marvel movie will take place in the 1990s and involve the Kree/Skrull War. I just hope she rocks the Ellen cut. And Brie is cute too. Special thanks to some good friends for this tea. They picked it up on a cross country road trip. So this is Piqmiup Cannabis Tea. Its a hybrid tea containing, Chinese Bai Mudan White Tea, Kaffir Lime leaves, and lemongrass. So lets pick those spirits up. Its the first of the month!!! Have a great day my people! #teaandcomics #Captain Marvel #Piqmiup #marvelhiphopcovers #ultralightbeam #caroldanvers #iggy #kanyewest #saltnpepa #ultramagneticmcs #skottieyoung #blerd #villainsnvinyl

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

BBW Travel Size Mini Lemongrass Sage, Sweet Pea, and Cotton Blossom Body Splashes

1996-2002

Found on Mercari, user Moodyandhigh