wishing you moments near waterfalls, real or metaphorical

tea bowls are back

I’ve been listening to this song a lot lately!

This weekend, my daughter and I had a cute trip upstate just the two of us, and we listened to it too, which these days can be hard between Baby Beluga and Twinkle, Twinkle requests. A highlight of the trip was hanging out in our underwear eating chocolate and drinking chamomile tea in bed in our quiet hotel room.

Spring is a big change. It can feel startling at times. I guess the main purpose of the trip, besides the fact that I need to leave the city and get out to nature every once in a while, was to go to my friend Asia’s house to pick up a fresh batch of tea bowls for Masha Tea (we’ve been sold out for months.) Asia’s studio is in her backyard and we got there as she was pulling the bowls out of the kiln. They were still hot.

Like tea - which, because it is packaged up, can be quite removed from the process of growing and packing, I think it’s easy to forget that ceramics too come from somebody’s hands, and the clay comes from the earth. For some of her pieces, Asia harvests her own clay near her home. For these ones for us, she used porcelain, and the result is a satisfying smoothness that feels like a tiny earth in your hands. Here they are at home in her studio, right after she took them out of the kiln.

Here are some film photos I took at Asia’s old studio, a few years back.

Each of the tea bowls she makes for us is completely one of a kind, and if you’ve ever had dinner at my house, you’ve had soup or sides served out of them. Here’s a link to shop the tea bowls - sharing them here first :)

We also went to the waterfall - Asia + Justin did an impressive cold plunge while Mona and I stayed warm sitting on mossy rocks.

Mona and I stopped in a store upstate that I’ve been meaning to go to, Pidgin, which I know about because I curate the food, beauty, and wellness section for Shoppe Object (which, if there are any small brands reading this, reach out, there are still a few spots open for the New York show in August in my section!) one of the founders of the show, his husband owns the store. It was honestly great. I got a massive jar of honey. I mean, truly enormous to this point where this morning I got concerned about how I’m going to reach the bottom when it inevitably becomes time (long spoon I guess). Picture below does not do it justice.

I also got Venetian slippers and a glass straw for my sister. She had gotten us ice coffees the day before which had a paper straws in them - horrible - and so I brought metal straws from home. She said that she loves glass straws, and has one at home. I think that homeware should always come in a set. The pieces don’t have to match like in color or style persey, but there should be at least two of each type of thing when it comes to pieces for the home.

Wondering - do you want a tea adjacent Mother’s Day gift guide? I have something REALLY truly salty/sweet that I’m putting together for Masha Tea which will hopefully be ready in time for Mother’s Day. Excited to share.

Also, the Masha Tea retreat is coming up in Tuscany this July 1-6. Email for more info — we will have a book of prompts made in collaboration with Moonlists, pilates, fresh, local food, and low key time by the infinity pool. The group that’s coming together is so, so sweet and this trip is always a highlight of my year. There is a really special room available for three, and another for two so if you want to come with a little group, reach out soon <3

Thanks for being here. Wishing you moments near waterfalls, real or metaphorical.

Maria