Category: Pop and Thistle

Recipe: Salt and Pepper Tofu

This salt and pepper tofu recipe uses a unique blend of salt, white pepper, black pepper, Chinese five spice, and jalapeño peppers for robust flavor. Cooking it with corn starch makes it extra crispy. I believe this is the dish that turned my daughter on to tofu, and now that she has made it several …

Continue reading

Dion Agius and Brendon Gibbens Find the Art of Surfing in “Surf Libre”

As people everywhere become more attuned to home life, creative endeavors, and nature, sharing these moments in an effort to send out positive energy, Dion Agius and Brendon Gibbens move past the idea that surfing is only a simple sport, and explore surfing as an art form in “Surf Libre.” It’s a beautiful, meditative look …

Continue reading

Vera Lutter: The Museum in her Camera Obscura

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) posted an interesting piece on the camera obscura photography of New York’s Vera Lutter. A camera obscura is a darkened room where an external image is projected through a tiny hole with a convex lens, and inverted as an internal image in the dark room. Lutter uses this …

Continue reading

2020 Project: Snow, Rain, or Shine Temperature Blanket

I like having a New Year project, changing up something and setting a goal, even if it’s a small one. So this year I’m going to have a go at crocheting a temperature blanket, where you crochet one row a day, and the color of yarn corresponds to your local temperature. One thing that I’m …

Continue reading

Trailer: The Times of Bill Cunningham

Street and fashion photographer Bill Cunningham candidly tells his story in his own words in the documentary The Times of Bill Cunningham. He was involved with the papers from the very start, as a young newspaper delivery boy on a bike, and then attended university at Harvard. After dropping out of Harvard, Cunningham began his …

Continue reading

There’s Nothing Like Tea Time for Amazing Food, Drink, and Conversation

On the weekend after Thanksgiving, the girls in my family went to a tea room for lunch, and it wound up being the highlight of the week for all of us! There’s just something about taking your time with a warm pot of tea that inspires focus and cozy conversation. The tea room that we …

Continue reading

A Christmas To Remember In Leavenworth, Washington

Last week my family and I visited Leavenworth, Washington for their annual Christmas lighting festival and truly had the best time of our lives.  Leavenworth is an over-the-top charming Bavarian-styled village nestled in the Cascade Mountains.  The Cascade mountains are located in in central Washington State and about a 4 and 1/2 hour drive from …

Continue reading

Lemongrass Jasmine Green Tea Soap

This weekend I’ve combined some of my very favorite fragrances for a fresh, invigorating soap: lemongrass and tea. I’ve chosen Jasmine green tea because of the wonderful scent and I thought it would go well with lemongrass. For this soap recipe, I used organic lemongrass essential oil, not fragrance oil, which is stronger scented and …

Continue reading

The Tombstones and Creepy Old Crypts of Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion

Dear Lou… We just love the Haunted Mansion! Every time we go, we just love looking at the graves in front of the entrance, and we just noticed the mausoleum at the exit. Were they always there (I don’t remember the mausoleum)? And are the names on the graves of real people or just made-up? …

Continue reading

Mummy Candles and Pool Noodle Pumpkins

Mummy Candles Mummy candles are also fun and so easy that even a two-year old can do this activity. Let’s face it, part of the reason those twos are so terrible is because they are old enough to know things are going on around them, but at the same time they just cannot do very …

Continue reading