I’d never heard of these hand-carved creatures until I unwrapped a horned owl at Christmas. Made by Japanese kokeshi craftsmen in the ‘60s and inspired by Scandinavian mid-century modern aesthetics, each Royal Pet is made from a single piece of wood with just enough detail to give them a little personality. They were originally conceived as a monthly mail-order collectible set of 20 different animals, including a condor, kangaroo, and dachshund. My horned owl came in its original box with a little card explaining his character: the Night Ninja, which flies “silently from tree to tree” and stands guard over my house at night. I love him.
-VvP
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Looking for something to do today? Fighting the urge to simply stay bundled up inside in front of the TV? If yes, then first off, why? Just relax. Secondly, perhaps this tour of the Fort Tryon Park rocks is for you. If you’ve never been, Fort Tryon is a not-so-hidden-but-much-underappreciated gem of a park located at the tippy-top of Manhattan. It’s where The Cloisters (another gem to see at some point) is located, and offers breathtaking views of the Hudson River and winding, wild paths that transport you to another place, if not another time. Anyway, today at 1 PM, the park is putting on a one-hour event on the geology of the bedrock that in large part allows Manhattan to be Manhattan. The snow may already be gross and murky elsewhere in the city, but I imagine the park remains a beautiful winter wonderland worth wandering (with an edible or two).
-DW
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Need that extra motivation to get to Fort Tryon Park or simply out of the house on days like this? Well, that’s why you should always have a stash of Rose Los Angeles’ 2mg High Energy Delights on hand. With just enough CBG and THC to get you going, it’s a great pep-in-your-step edible for daytime activities or staying up through the night (should that be the goal).
-DW
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High Praise regular and longtime Gossamer collaborator Natasha Pickowicz is back with a new cookbook, this time all about hot pot. Released earlier this week, Everyone Hot Pot offers more than 50 recipes, as well as ingredient and equipment guides to help anyone to hot pot at home (or, I suppose, wherever they want to hot pot). I’ve only ever eaten hot pot at restaurants, which always made it feel like a special occasion, and the idea of bringing that kind of communal cooking home is extremely appealing. Growing up, we did fondue every Christmas (oil, broth, cheese—the works), so maybe it’s time to expand the repertoire.
-VvP
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Okay, for the less ambitious and more relaxed who will not be setting out to conquer New York’s boulders in the cold, may I suggest killing a few hours watching MTV Rewind? This site made waves a few weeks ago when several of MTV’s dedicated music video channels went off the air for good. I don’t know if that’s when MTV Rewind launched or just kind of bubbled up, but the utility of the site is very simple: watch old (now over 60,000) music videos ad-free and without interruption. You can let it play randomly from the archive or choose more curated experiences, such as those directed by Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry. (Side note: I bought the DVD collections of both these directors sometime around 2003, I want to say?) There’s even a Pop-Up Video channel! Also, if you triple-click on the logo, you can save videos to your own playlist and export it for later viewing. There are other fun components to the site that I’m leaving out, so enjoy discovering them or just watching the “Black Hole Sun” video on repeat.
-DW
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