STORYTELLERS: Cash and Nelson

Two icons of American music pluckin' and playin'.
Don't know what's better - the songs or the stories.
Take a listen and decide for yourself.

ANNIVERSARY: Gucci Loafer

Horsebits never looked so good.  

Here's to 60 years of the ever cool, lasting loaf.

FLICK: The Man Who Knew Too Much

 Where the cue for murder was one crash of the cymbals, 

this Hitchcock film thrills with mystery in Morocco.

And let's not forget Doris belting out the famous 'Que Sera Sera'

It's a good one.

SOUL: Nina Simone

My current Spotify/Songza/Pandora obsession...Nina Simone.

Indisputable talent, she influenced many, the High Priestess of Soul.

INTERVIEW: The Rucksack Foodie

Cody Long is a cook, sojourner, community enthusiast, and all-around warm-hearted lady.  She took off from Labadie, MO (second home of the BnB gals) in November 2012 to travel Europe as the Rucksack Foodie, exploring "ancient epicurean traditions and locally unique tastes as well as [celebrating] the community that makes the table an ideal setting to learn about the regional variations of Europe"

Follow her adventures, subscribe to her blog, sign up for the mailing list, like her on the Facebook 

We snagged this interview with Cody between articles and pit stops.  

Enjoy!  Maybe you'll catch the travel bug, too!

The Rucksack Foodie herself!  (She's the cute strawberry blond)

How/When did you come up with this idea to travel and learn about food traditions in other cultures? 

I think we are inherently creatures of curiosity and exploration, and to "feed" our needs we must keep migrating. I guess I've always been a bit nomadic but not for the change as much as the challenge to adapt and succeed.  

I've been "in" some link of the food industry for 20 years. What attracted me was the enjoyment and pleasure folks receive from a delicious plate as well as that sense of community a table provides. I've always been drawn to the origin and history of food and the communal table, especially after reading Roy Strong’s book Feast: A History of Grand Eating back in 2004, as well as being so curious as to what makes a community: it's history, it's industry, it's folklore, it's people. 

How do you decide where to go? 

Of course I wanted to do all the obvious spots of culinary interest, however I wanted to do it all (and without a budget or job) so I thought I'd try and do it country by country with an actual hiking route in case I had to...but haven't had to hike yet! Ireland was the honestly the best fare, and now I'm in love with the place and finding it hard to motivate myself onward. 

The food is basic but the history and people are what has kept me on the Emerald Isle so long. You can't spit without hitting something of great historical significance and interest over here. (Not that I'm walking around and spitting … wouldn't be the best foreign relations policy I'm guessing?!)

The best meal you've eaten so far on the trip?

The best meal so far was probably on May Hill in west England where I was staying at an old farm and the family gathered every Sunday out in this little hut that had a clay wood fire oven and we would have the most amazing meals all cooked in the most primitive and basic cooking method known to man. The meal was garlic and rosemary stuffed lamb "joint", cabbage & Brussels sprouts simmered in the lamb juices and roast potatoes and whole onions … OMG good! 

But then those oysters and Guinness after hiking 4 hours in the Cooley Mountains near North Ireland were pretty damn spectacular as well!

The best meal you've cooked on the trip? 

It might sound a bit hum-drum but a pub asked me to come and help with their Thanksgiving dinner (no they don't celebrate Turkey day here, it was just an excuse to enjoy a night of food & pints). I did all the trimmings and desserts (stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potato pie & bourbon pie...all American style which even their gravy and potatoes are much different than ours).

The place that surprised you the most? 

Well so far Ireland has definitely surprised me the most! But haven't gotten too far yet! I knew it would be full of scenic beauty and history but the amount of both is astounding and the people are so "Midwestern" in hospitality and friendliness, just like the folks back home in Missouri

The most interesting people/person you've met

I'm working on an article now about John Boyle O’Reilly (one of Ireland's greatest poets who landed in America and became one of Americas first and greatest civil rights activist). The man I interviewed about this poet has turned out to be an amazing sculptor, painter, and historian, not to mention he is a retired government judge and continues to practice law in Dublin. BUT HONESTLY there have been too many characters to list. Read the blog, you'll get a sense of the eclectic characters I'm coming across.

The place you're looking forward to the most

I'm really looking forward to looking for roots of my family tree in Switzerland, thoroughly exploring Italy, (perhaps attempting to journey completely around its coast) and the views and tastes of Croatia and the Adriatic coast.

After you conquer Europe, are other continents in the cards? Rucksack Foodie: Asia Edition.

As of now I don't think I'll even conquer all there is to see in Europe...but who knows what opportunity my come my way...stay tuned!

Honestly, there were too many amazing photos to choose from.  Check Cody out on the blog or Facebook and be amazed.

ART HISTORY: Armory Show

The 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, the first large exhibition of modern art in America. The exhibition ran in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory (that's why we call it the Armory Show), from February 17 until March 15, 1913. The show introduced astonished America to the experimental styles of the European vanguard, including Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism.

It's been 100 years since this show.

Interior view of the exhibition, 1913, New York City

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Paul Gauguin, Words of the Devil, 1892,National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

George Bellows, Both Members of This Club, 1909

Henri Matisse, Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra), 1907, Baltimore Museum of Art

Georges Seurat, The Models, 1888,Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Édouard Manet, The Bullfight, 1866

James Abbott McNeill Whistler,Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother 1871, popularly known asWhistler's Mother, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

TOWN: Marfa, TX

Marfa, Texas. 

How did it become a thriving, world-class artist community 

from a tiny, dusty, dot town in the middle of the west Texas desert plains?  

It all started with Donald Judd. 

Gotta go. 

PRESIDENTIAL: Love Letters

"Miss Adorable, By the same Token that the Bearer hereof sat up with you last night I hereby order you to give him, as many Kisses, and as many Hours of your Company after 9 O'Clock as he shall please to Demand and charge them to my Account..."

Ronald Regan to Nancy: “I more than love you, I’m not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I’m waiting for you to return so I can start living again.”

Lyndon Banes Johnson to Lady Bird: "I want to always love only you. It is an important decision. It isn't being made in one night -- it probably never will be yours -- but your lack of decision hasn't tempered either my affection, devotion or ability to know what I want," 
LadyBird Johnson to LBJ: "Your letter yesterday sort of put me on the spot, didn't it, dear? All I can say, in absolute honesty, is I love you. I don't how everlastingly I love you, so I can't answer you yet."
(LBJ proposed on the first date. She said yes about 2 months later.)

Woodrow Wilson to Edith: "You are more wonderful and lovely in my eyes than you ever were before; and my pride and joy and gratitude that you should love me with such a perfect love are beyond all expression, except in some great poem which I cannot write"

Harry S Truman to Bess: “I suppose that I am too crazy about you anyway. Every time I see you I get more so if it is possible. I know I haven’t any right to but there are certain things that can’t be helped and that is one of them. I wouldn’t help it if I could you know.”

George H.W. Bush to Barbara: “Will you marry me? Whoops. I forgot you did that 49 years ago today. I was very happy on that day in 1945, but I’m even happier today. You give me joy that few men know. I’ve climbed perhaps the highest mountain in the world, but even that cannot hold a candle to being Barbara’s husband.”

DESIGN: Glass Beads

All images are from the Native American
art collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
American Indians made some beads from shell and bone,
but the glass beads shown in the artifacts

 above came from Europe - specifically Murano, Italy
in the 15th Century.  Today, those tiny glass beads
are made in Japan and the Czech Republic.

Want the look?
Try Isabel Marant's suede and beaded cuff.