Vegan Culinary Tour of Southeast Asia

I'm getting excited for the third installment of the Vegan Culinary Tour.... this one with an Asian flair. This tour will take the confusion out of the chaos and show guests how to navigate through the maze of aisles filled with treasures from Southeast Asia. A Dong Market contains over 30,000 square feet of Chinatown transported to suburban West Hartford with all the produce, spices and ingredients needed to cook Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Laotian, Malaysian, and Japanese cuisine. After the tour, we will adjourn to a separate location to feast on a sumptuous vegan lunch prepared with items purchased from the store.

For the past few days I've been prepping the menu, arranging furniture, and getting the gallery ready for the popup vegan dinner that will follow the tour. I found this lovely sunflower painting in tag sale leftovers that had been brought out to the curb of a home in Windsor. I think the ladders need some viney things and flowers.

I was so happy to hang some paintings by my late grandfather. He used to get those paint by numbers kits in the 60s and 70s, paint them as a hobby, then build his own frames in his workshop. After he passed away and my family was cleaning out the house, these almost ended up in the trash, but I quickly dashed in and rescued them. Hanging in the window is a lovely stained glass from MOMA my friend Joan gave me as a wedding gift a lifetime ago. Underneath are vintage paint cans that came with my current house and a 1918 brick from the New Haven apartment I lived in previously.

My friend, Dianna, loaned me these two paintings flanking the Matisse poster years ago when I needed artwork to decorate my kitchen. After I moved to my new house, she said I could keep them. I think they work perfectly on this wall.

This afternoon I will be purchasing an array of Chinatown party goods to decorate the space. I think this is my favorite part of hosting a party.