Happy November and welcome to the holidays!
We started festivities a little early this year with our first holiday being Dia de los Muertos which we celebrated in Oaxaca, Mexico. The city exploded in color with marigolds cascading from every doorway and window. Parades would dance down the street without any given notice and the celebration and respect of family love was contagious.
While in Oaxaca, we decided in conversation with our friends that if there was one word to describe the city it would be 'smoke'. They cook much of their food over open fires, burn agave to make mezcal, and fire their ceramics in the hearth. The scent blankets the city. This simply put, makes Oaxaca magical. Think about when a magician does a trick. Alakazam! Poof! As the smoke clears, the magic is revealed. This holds true in Oaxaca. The food is complex and layered, the hand crafted candles, ceramics and textiles perfectly imperfect, and the drinks strong enough to make you slow down and sip. Everything is meant to be savored.
As the holidays continue to approach, we hope you can find a moment to slow down and appreciate the magic with family, given and/or chosen. Wear the clothes that make you feel fabulous, eat the food and drink the drinks that make you feel the same, and surround yourself with those you love. There is so much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Magic of Smoke
November 2022
Postcards from Oaxaca
Exploring color in food, fashion and design
Palate / Palette
Before heading off to Mexico, we did an IG live with Keith Biesack of Caravan Wine Shop in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He is an amazing proponent of natural and small batch wines for Central Wisconsin and he happens to also be a fantastic cheerleader for The Taste Curators.
Our talk was based around our upcoming cookbook collection that focuses on what color tastes like. For our talk we discussed the color yellow. Keith chose a wine, an Alvarinho, that had bright notes of herbs and citrus and Lish wrote a recipe that had the sweet round notes of ricotta, citrus and dates. She described it as an ombré effect of yellow in every bite. These preserved lemon toasts are quite versatile and can easily be made into two bite crostini for your Thanksgiving or holiday party.
Preserved Lemon Toasts
Recipe courtesy of Lish Steiling of The Taste Curators
Download Printer-Friendly Recipe
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese, such as Calabro
2 tablespoons chopped preserved lemon peel, from 1 preserved lemon*
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
4 pieces of sourdough or whole grain toast or a few crostini
6 pitted dates, slivered or sliced
1 teaspoon lemon zest, from 1 lemon
Sunflower or wildflower honey
Flake salt, such as Maldon
Fennel pollen, optional
In a food processor combine the ricotta cheese, preserved lemon rind and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Puree until combined and light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Spread desired amount of ricotta on the toasts or crostini. Place a few slivered dates on top and, using a microplane, zest a whisper of lemon zest over the top. Drizzle with some honey and olive oil. Finish with a pinch of flake salt and fennel pollen if using. Enjoy the ombré palate of yellow.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 cup of preserved lemon ricotta, enough for 4 toasts
*Cook’s Note: To remove the flesh, quarter the preserved lemon. Using the tip of a knife, run the knife horizontally along each quarter of the lemon removing and discarding the flesh. Continue running your knife along the peel to remove any white pith. What you are left with is purely delicious, yellow preserved lemon peel.
If you try out this recipe, send us a photo or please tag us on IG using @the_taste_curators or use #thetastecurators
3 Things Making Us Smile
Curated Inspiration
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Bespoke Food Tours
For this trip we decided to book two half day tours to dig a little deeper into Oaxacan cuisine. There's something about all the vibrant colors of a Oaxacan market that just call out to be tasted. To see the whole rainbow, we used Oaxaca Street Food Tours, where our knowledgeable and gem of a leader, Betsy, took us to 3 different markets to try over 25 delights! We also met up with our good friends at Salt & Wind where we joined a small group to make tamales with mole, roast and grind our own chocolate, and sip tejate with Alma at Doña Nata.
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Floral Candles
Our first stop in Oaxaca was Casa Viviana and it did not disappoint! This 4th generation Zapotec candle making studio transported us to another universe. Run by Doña Viviana, each candle is hand carved or molded using naturally dyed beeswax. We've been enchanted by these candles for years. It was a dream come true meeting the legend herself and learning about the process. The boutique in Brooklyn, Mexico In My Pocket, sells these beautiful floral candles in a variety of gorgeous colors.
Get your candles using the button below. Read this visually stunning article from Vogue about Casa Viviana.
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Food & Fashion
The ultimate mashup of food and design was discovered at Alfonsina on a tiny street by the airport. What a fantastic little jewel tucked away in an enchanting backyard. Between the food, hospitality, design details, and the curated shop, we could have spent all day there. We practically did. Another must is the boutique Marchanta, which was filled with Mexican fashion and home goods. They recently opened a bar in their store for the perfect food and fashion pairing.
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A Journey of Scents
Here's a holiday idea for the fashion lover. We are obsessed with the fashion designer Dries Van Noten and if you love the journey of scent like we do, this is an amazing gift to give and receive (as Abbey just did for her birthday). This is the designer's first foray into fragrance and it doesn't disappoint. The genderless scents come in sets of 5 or 10. The perfumes are complex using base notes of suede or smoked wood while some lean into the floral world of rose, iris and orange blossom. A perfect stocking stuffer that results in an endless array of olfactory delight!
We are all Taste Curators … stay curious!
Lish & Abbey
