Practicing with Paper.
Hi, I'm Amy Cao — writer and creator of Stupidly Simple Snacks, a web series about cooking when you can't. Currently working with the amazing team at FiftyThree and collaborating with Cooking Channel on something new.
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masterpiece squiggles and erasing abilities
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hello!
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test flowers
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by jules
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holiday wish list wantful gifts
When Wantful reached out to me this week, I was excited. I had been following their photographer Collin Hughes on Tumblr and was wondering what they were up to.
The idea behind Wantful is Gift Well so the team set out to reinvent the current state of gifting (impersonal gift cards, anxiety-ridden holiday shopping…) by providing both giver and recipient options while preserving the thoughtfulness that inspires giving presents in the first place.
Pictured here are my Wantful picks. If you’re wondering what I’d do with a griddle or cleaver, the answer is nothing. I picked them out for Chris who does all the cooking in our home. (It’s true. I’m very lucky.)
Picking out gifts on Wantful is a little like wandering through a well-curated museum shop and registering twelve presents for a friend. I thought — this is awesome for people who are hard to shop for and friends who live far away.
To thank you for being a reader of my ramblings and supporter of this site, Wantful wants to give one of you guys a gift from their collection this holiday!
Here’s The Deal. Simply reblog, reply, email or message me on Tumblr the one thing you want for Christmas. It can be world peace; it can be nostalgic, practical, impractical, something shiny, furry or adorable. Anything.
I will randomly pick a submission on Sunday night EST and the winner will get to curate twelve $100 gifts in a Wantful gift book, which will be sent via mail or email. Upon receiving the book, you can pick your favorite item to keep.
Have fun thinking of all the things that would make you happy, and thank you for reading Amy Blogs Chow, a labor of love and “side project” that has brought me so much happiness.
Holiday Promotion
From December 14th (that’s today!) to this Sunday, December 17th, Wantful is offering free overnight shipping on all Wantful gift book orders $100 and up. Order by December 17th to have the gift book come in time for Christmas.
Last minute gift shoppers, you’re welcome.
In case it wasn’t obvious, this post was inspired by the Wantful team who reached out this week to collaborate.
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holiday gifts for people who don’t like gifts
I’ll be the first to admit I’m hard to shop for. Why? For one, I don’t feel like I need anything, and the things I want are usually not for sale. Things like unlimited hugs and time can’t be bought, unfortunately.
Depending on how you look at it, this makes me 1) an expert on Gift Guides for People Who Are Impossible To Shop For and/or 2) the worst name to pull out in a Secret Santa drawing.
Over the years, I have come up with various solutions to my “problem.” In recent years, I have avoided exchanging gifts during Christmas altogether opting instead to splurge on plane tickets during the year to visit friends in other states / countries, and special occasion dinners instead. This has worked out for me, but even I know that, sometimes, you just want to wrap something up and give it to somebody.
With this in mind, here is my wish list for the year to inspire you.
Instead of adopting a dog this year, I am asking Chris to donate to Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue, a community of dog rescuers, adopters and fosters that help homeless pups find homes. (How can you resist that face?) Please donate here if you’d like.
Stuff stockings with sentimental, useful and super retro knick knacks from Restoration Hardware. I like this music splitter for sharing music, this wall-mount bottle opener for $8, and this kid-friendly kaleidoscope. (I don’t like “things” but I like kaleidoscopes.)
Contact your favorite artist and buy artwork from them. Even better, commission a project. I hired Clair Rossiter, a young artist in the UK, to create two new logos for me this year. One for this blog, and one for Stupidly Simple Snacks. It was the best present to myself. She sells prints of her watercolor paintings, too. Take a look.
I am not sure if Aaron Stewart sells his cartoon + real life people pictures, but it’s worth asking. See his funny characters on Plaid Oranges.
A photo session with Alice Gao Photography would make a thoughtful and gorgeous present. Trust me, everyone wants a decent photo of themselves. Alice is also selling a very pretty 2013 calendar based on her popular Instagram photos, pictured above.
I love this image by Brooklyn photographer and videographer Eddy Vallante. Eddy specializes in showing real people and real places (Think: little to no makeup) but that are unmistakably beautiful au naturel. Visit his website to see more.
For gifts of food, go Italian. There’s something about Italian cuisine that seems especially festive to me, whether it’s an Italian cookie platter (with rainbow cookies!), a thick wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan cheese), bottle of Italian red wine or prosciutto. Italian food gifts are pretty much fail-proof unless you have specific dietary concerns that exclude happiness.
Last but not least… pictured above is impossibly soft and delicate culatello, which is cured ham made from the back leg of the pig. If prosciutto was an expensive apartment building, then culatello would be the penthouse. Not to harp too much on ham, but if you are attending a holiday party and expected to bring food, bring sliced prosciutto or culatello. It will make you the most popular person there, and you can thank me another time.
Happy Gifting!
Love, Amy
P.S. Texting gloves.
rainbow cookie image via new york magazine
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Early Sunday morning, I arrived in Parma in Italy on a sponsored trip to tour and experience the city from which prosciutto, also known as Parma ham, originated.
Here I was trying to combat jet-lag with some window shopping near the city center.
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cooking class at alma international school of italian cuisine
Pictured above is the star ingredient in Scallop Ginger Salad which I was assigned to make during cooking class at Alma Scuola Internazionale di Cucina in Colorno, Italy today.
The hands-on class covered five dishes with each of my fellow food writer / travel companions and I executing one (or three) dishes each to create our 5-course Italian dinner.
The meal started with the salad and was followed by creamy mushroom tagliatelle, veal with seared foie gras and spinach, and came to a close with a refreshing celery granita and amaretti ice cream with peaches. I was lucky to get the most straightforward dish, which was a challenge for me, still, considering that I’d never, until that moment, seen a scallop in its shell before.
Turns out, you have to remove the orange colored roe (scallop babies) and the milky white connective muscle from each before they can be cooked.
The scallops were served on a bed of curly endive along with Asian pickled ginger and pink peppercorns.
I was so excited about learning the anatomy of a scallop tonight that I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish.
Alas.
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If you’ve visited our Made With Paper blog in the past few weeks, you may have noticed Paper Stacks, our sweet new Tumblr theme developed in collaboration with our friends at ALLDAYEVERYDAY.
With Paper Stacks and Paper Stacks Pro, showcase ideas beautifully by featuring your favorites in the top carousel. Simply tag up to 5 posts with “featured” to display. It’s like curating your own gallery.
We designed the theme for touch so you can enjoy photo sets by swiping top images aside. Move between posts by sweeping a finger across your iPad screen. View in both landscape and portrait mode. To see Paper Stacks in action, check out some of our favorite creators on Tumblr.
A Monster A Day
After The Cups
American Guide
Andy Draws Cats
Bethany C. Knowles
Liukse
Meoneogeo
Rough CharmGet Paper Stacks on Tumblr and new update for Paper today. Let your passion shine.
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