Nepal Again
Hey everyone! We are back in Kathmandu and that means one thing. Masala paper dosa time. Cristine’s favorite food. I love ’em too.
I will attempt to post regularly here and will almost certainly post daily on my instagram site @jonkcrispin.
Cheers and thanks for following.
Dosa at Angan, Lazimpat, Kathmandu
Coming to Kathmandu always means getting quite a few paper masala dosa over the course of our stay. We go to Angan in Lazimpat which is about a 5 minute walk from the Hotel Tibet. (Crossing the street is the most difficult part in getting there.) In the middle of that rice flour crispy pancake is an amazing mixture of potato and spices. I really think Cris could eat these every day, and at times I think she has. That is Darrell Earnest on her left. Darrell does the early grade math portion of the World Education/Unicef project on which Cris does the reading component. (I hope to write a post soon about the work they are doing here; it is really amazing.)
Just outside the door of Angan is this telephone switching box. I think this is one of the most perfect logos that I have ever seen.
Victory Players / Whippy Dip / Fenway
I had fun last week photographing a new musical ensemble that is sponsored by the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. The Victory Players are (from left to right) Han Chen, Giovanni Perez, Elly Toyoda, Robert Rocheteau, Eric Schultz, YuMi Bae, and Conductor Tian Ng.
The top photograph was made at the Victory Theatre in Holyoke, which is about to be restored to its former glory, but currently has an abandoned feel to it. The photo with the piano was shot on the Mount Holyoke College campus and in spite of looking totally staged, was really quite spontaneous. Robert Rocheteau was taking selfies and it just sort of fell together for me.
I also did individual shots of each of the musicians. There is something about this photograph of Robert Rocheteau that really grabs me. He has fabulous hair.
On Friday night I went to a performance of the ensemble in Holyoke and stopped on the way home at Cindy’s in Granby for an ice cream. I made it just before closing. My friend Alex always referred to every summer roadside stand as a “Whippy Dip”, and this one is a classic.
To end the week, my friend Lisa and I went to a Red Sox / White Sox game on Saturday. She had gotten amazing seats for us and the weather was perfect for a 4:05 start. I took this from our seats just after a J.D. Martinez home run, and I think he was still rounding the bases as I fired the shutter. The (Red) Sox won 4-2.
Boiled Egg
I have mostly been posting suitcase photos lately. That project has really been on my mind, and I am really pushing to finish all the editing.
But I have missed posting goofy stuff here, so I’ll try to start looking for things that catch my eye.
When I was shooting Masonic Temples around New York State I came across a collection of plates at Western Star Lodge #15 in Bridgewater. Some months later I sent them some nice prints of what I shot that day and they were kind enough to send me a place setting. I still use them most days.
Wishing you all a great weekend.
Lettuces
Amazing, beautiful lettuces at today’s farmer’s market. Apparently there is a bumper crop this year. Everything around here is flowering to beat the band. The mountain laurels are just about to pop and the lady slippers are all around us in the the woods.
Japadog
I have always liked street hotdogs. Even (and maybe especially) New York City Sabrett dogs. Just outside our hotel is this Japadog stand. I had the Kurobuta Terimayo (Most Popular!!!!). Very tasty.
Mandarin Orange / Christmas in Orange County
I flew into Long Beach yesterday evening, and am staying with family in Tustin. It was surprisingly cool last night and early this morning, but the day warmed up nicely. This morning I walked outside with Lynnie and she said that the mandarines were ripe and ready to pick. It was the most amazing piece of fruit that I have ever eaten. Indescribable.
Tonight we went out for a bite to eat at Playground in Santa Ana and on the way home took a detour to check out some Christmas decorations. Remarkable.
On Tuesday morning I will be talking about the suitcases to the California Hospital Association’s annual behavioral health symposium in Riverside. I’ll be posting more about the event in the next day or two.
Mushrooms
Cristine has some fantastic former students. One of them is Sarah Berquist who is now a lecturer at UMASS. Along with her partner, she also has a mushroom business. So we occasionally get fresh, interesting mushrooms for dinner. These guys showed up last night in a brown paper bag. Like most other photos to do with the natural world that I post here, I have no idea what these are called. But fried up in butter, they tasted great.
Another Vegetable Stock
We needed space in the freezer, so it seemed a good day to make another vegetable stock. Here’s some history about when this got started. I usually do it outside on the gas grill, but the idea of having the smell wafting throughout the house was appealing. I had been saving rinds from Parmesan cheese so those were added to the veg scraps. It cooked for about 5 hours and is amazing. Should help to make a lovely risotto.
French Chicken in a Pot / Vera Louise Krieghoff
Late yesterday afternoon I made a French chicken in a pot. I haven’t made it in a while and it was terrific. In the evening as I was finishing washing up my mom’s well and tree platter, I turned it over and saw this inscription, which I had never noticed. It was a bit confusing at first, as I was pretty sure it was a wedding gift, but on that day (June 18, 1940) she became Vera Louise Crispin and forever gave up Vera Louise Krieghoff. (She was proud to have become Mrs. Robert L. Crispin; in fact when the ways of addressing women started to change in the early 70s and she would get mail addressed to MS Vera Crispin, she would write on the envelope “no one at this address by that name” and return it to the post office. She had a tremendous sense of humor and was in her own way quite subversive.)
I am guessing it could have been a wedding shower gift given to her sometime before the big day. Here is the mark on the back, but unfortunately the top is obscured and I can’t tell who made it. If any of you recognize it, I would very much like to know.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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