Welcome to heatheranneatwood.com, where I keep track of my projects. Ask me questions! haatwood@gmail.com
To say Pier Gustafson, calligrapher, illustrator, designer and drawer of wonderful things, is a calligrapher is like saying Mozart writes songs.
In Europe this time of year one can buy a pound of fresh marzipan to take home and shape into little mushrooms as easily as one can buy Brie. As far as I know there is one, and only one, source for Christmas old world staples like fresh marzipan and fresh citron by the pound in the Northeast: Polcari’s Coffee in Boston’s North End.
Paris may have Poilane, but if they were really lucky they would have Alexandra’s. I’m not exaggerating. Alexandra’s Bread in Gloucester, MA , a tiny, tin-ceilinged store front owned and operated by Alexandra Rhinelander and Jonathan Hardy, bakes bread that would crack a smile on the iciest Parisian fashion model.
Recently, lead by Jason Grow, a bunch of us spent an afternoon putting together tamales. It was so much fun, it made me think there really is no reason why New England shouldn’t abandon the gingerbread-house making business and start embracing tamales as a Christmas tradition. Which project would you rather choose, one at which eggnog is traditionally served, or tequila?
Cilantro and ginger root get in the blender with margarita elements - lime, tequila and sugar - to create a lively emerald cocktail. Herbaceous and citrusy, with that sweet, vegetal tequila note, it’s the exact sip while assembling the Christmas tamales.
A garden shed tucked away for the winter - the hoses rolled, the mower cleaned, the gardening gloves washed, the peony stakes bundled - is beautiful. Mostly, the whole thing is beautiful because all that WORK is at rest, which means the person in charge of digging, planting, watering, trimming, and weeding can rest.
Tiny ice cream sandwiches guarantee to amuse and delight the children’s table and the adult table this Christmas. Maybe even the teenagers’. Lark Fine Foods just began making their Cha-Cha's in a mini size.
“File under i” is where I put everything that's really important. Read on...
To support his fresh pasta habit and to keep curtains in his daughters' playhouse, Jason takes muscular but refined, intimate but formal, stately but accessible photographs of people, including me, here.
In these cookies the coconut oil produces a batter that crunches when it’s baked, so you can taste at least two different textures in one bite of cookie: crisp batter and soft chocolate chip. Add oats, walnuts and dried cranberries, and you add three more textures, making a cookie that is now an orchestra, not a marching band, all horns.