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Cyprus is one of our all time favorite places. The island country offers a magnificent landscape, vast coastlines, and an incredible history. But today, we want to focus on the food of Cyprus, specifically kourabiedes and phinikota. Cyprus is divided into two distinctive territories, one Turkish and one Greek, and the recipe for these holiday cookies by Ivy Liacopoulou of Kopiaste comes from the Greek region. Phinikotas, a variation of Greek kourabiedes, are tender cookies that are stuffed with a mixture of soft sticky dates and crunchy toasted almonds, fragranced with blossom water and warming spices. The fragile sweet kourabiedes are very similar to Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cakes. The dough is fantastic in itself; infused with orange juice and brandy, the pastry is made with Spry vegetable shortening resulting in a delicate cookie that is pure indulgence. Coated in frosty powdered sugar, these holiday cookies are a treat that will certainly spark holiday cheer! by Ivy Liacopoulou of Kopiaste These Cypriot Kourabiedes are similar to the Greek ones but they are made with spry shortening, which makes them soft and fluffy. Christmas is nearly here and in Greece melomakarona and kourabiedes are the most popular among the sweets we make. It’s impossible for us to imagine Christmas without them. In a few days the platters will be full of them and the bakeries and confectioneries will have “white mountains” of kourabiedes, for those who do not have the time to prepare their own. The Greek recipe is usually made with ewes’ butter but in Cyprus we usually use spry shortening, which although well known in Cyprus, it is unknown in Greece. In October when I visited Cyprus, during my last minute shopping I remembered to buy some spry, brandy and blossom water to make my kourabiedes. I tried to find information about spry in the internet and the only thing I found is this. So I guess, if you can’t find spry, you can substitute it with Crisco. In Greece, if I do not have spry, I have adapted the recipe making it with a mixture of ewe’s milk butter and a vegetable oil shortening using either fytini or Ariston. Last year I made two kinds of kourabiedes. The first one is the traditional one and the other is filled with dates, almonds and spices. If you want to try both, just keep half the dough without the almonds and follow the steps given at the end. The dose of the filling is for all the amount of kourabiedes, so you will have to make half the filling. Phinikota Cypriot Kourabiedes filled with Dates and Almonds Phinikota or Finikota are made the same way as the traditional kourabiedes but without the almonds in the dough. The balls are flattened and filled with chopped dates, nuts and spices. Phinikota take their name from the Cypriot word “Φοινίκια”, which means dates. Filling Ingredients: ½ kilo of dates, stoned and finely chopped 1- 1 ½ cups of roasted almonds, finely chopped 4 tbsp sugar ½ tsp ground cloves ½ tsp group cinnamon 3 tbsp butter 2 tbsp rose or citrus water Directions: Place butter dates, almonds, sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a small pan and put over moderate heat until butter melts. Lower heat and continue stirring until the mixture softens. Add rose water and stir two or three times. Place the mixture in a bowl and let it cool. Meantime prepare the dough as given for the traditional kourabiedes. Take a small amount of dough and flatten it with your hands. Add some filling and cover it to enclose the filling. Shape them into small balls. Place the folded part on the baking tray. To make the crescents, after flattening the dough, form the filling into a cord and enclose with the dough. Shape them into a crescent, making the edges pointy and bringing them forward. Proceed with the baking and coating procedure as described in the recipe card. This year, as I did not have some of the ingredients of the above recipe, I made them with dates, filled with two roasted almonds, with skin on, in each. They came out so delicious! Cypriot Kourabiedes and Phinikota yield: 60 prep time: 30 MINUTES cook time: 25 MINUTES total time: 55 MINUTES Ingredients 500 grams spry 1 cup icing (confectioner’s) sugar 2 egg yolks 2 tbsp orange juice 1/2 cup brandy 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla essence 8 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups blanched and roasted almonds, cut in small pieces Citrus blossom or rose water 300 grams icing sugar, for coating Instructions Beat the spry with the icing sugar on high speed, for about ten minutes. Reduce speed and add egg yolks one at a time, and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Dissolve the baking soda with brandy and orange juice and add it to the mixture. Beat for 2 – 3 minutes. Add vanilla. Change the mixer paddle to the one for dough or start kneading by hand and add flour gradually. When the dough is ready, it should be as if it needs more flour but should not be sticky on your hands. Add the almonds and mix. Take a small amount of dough (about 30 grams) and shape them round, oval or crescent shaped. Place them in a tin lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven to 180 degrees C for about 20 - 25 minutes, depending on your oven. The baked cookies will look soft in the centers when you remove them from the oven. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Spray them with some rose or blossom water on both side. Sieve the icing sugar on both sides of the cookies and transfer them into a platter, sprinkling some extra sugar on top. Store them in an air-tight container for a longer shelf life. Notes: Spry can be substituted with Crisco shortening. In Greece, substitute spry with 400 grams butter and 100 grams fytini or Ariston shortening.

Carr’s Ciderhouse cider syrup came into our lives like a revelation. Originally a spontaneous purchase made purely out of curiosity, this syrup is one of the most versatile and most used ingredients in our kitchens. In essence, cider syrup is boiled apple cider, but we can assure you it’s so much more than that! Pesticide and herbicide free, the apples used to create Carr's cider syrup are as natural as it gets. The ciders tremendous complexity and richness is the result of the variety of cultivars used; White Jersey, Golden Russet, Kingston Black, Goldrush, and Dabinett apples along with bushels of wild apples foraged by one of their team members, Matt Kaminsky all impart their distinctive flavours to the final syrup. The apples are processed using a lovingly refurbished, "elegant century-old Mount Gilead cider press (likely one of the oldest working presses in New England)". The pressed cider is then slowly reduced until it reaches the glorious syrupy state of a Cider Syrup. The viscous liquid has both the color of rich dark molasses. The flavor, however, is free of molasses’s saccharine musk and instead boasts the slightly tart but abundant flavor of cider apples. Because the syrup is a reduction, there is a unique depth of flavor imparted by the concentration process; rather than a sweet fresh apple taste, the syrup is more complex with acerbic apple softened by notes of decadent caramel. Upon first tasting it, one of our team members noted Carr's cider syrup was “much like a long aged balsamic without the sharp acidity” and that immediately sparked our imaginations for new usages for this magnificent syrup! We love cider syrup over a nourishing bowl of morning oatmeal topped with fresh fruit and spices for a warming treat that will always motivate us out of bed. In the summer, we swoon for a drizzle of cider syrup over grilled peaches or bourbon ice cream. The cider syrup is also an excellent and unexpected addition to salad dressings, barbecue sauces, and dips, adding the subtle and uplifting brightness of fruit. We also admit to using it as an elderflower syrup replacement, pouring it over mineral water or seltzer for a refreshing New England take on the European sparkling beverage. We find Carr’s cider syrup to be superior to other brands for more reasons than we can count, but one important reason is Jonathan Carr and Nicole Blum, the makers of this bottle of bliss. After buying a neglected, historic orchard in western Massachusetts [on the northwest slope of Mount Warner, overlooking the Connecticut river and the breathtakingly beautiful valley that runs through it], [Carr and Blum] brought it back to life by planting over 2000 traditional American and European apple varieties. [The] orchard's shallow sandy-loam soil, underlain with quartzite and feldspar bedrock, produces intensely flavored apples of high sugar content. (1) Carr and Blum have thought of everything when it comes to ensuring their products are top of the line. From the care and harvest of the apples, to the gorgeous glass jars—free of plastic labels and packaging and sealed with cork stops—the experience of purchasing from Carr and Blum is a dream. We especially love the little notes of personality they scattered throughout the website (like the reminder that despite the high-tech shopping interface it’s still Nicole sitting behind a computer waiting to fill orders herself!) and the intimate notes they include in each order reminding you that your beautiful bottle of syrup was thoughtfully and lovingly created by two people with a genuine passion for what they do. If you haven't been able to tell, we are just completely smitten with this product (and with our current bottle which is from Carr's centurion batch!!). For those outside of New England, cider syrup is likely an unfamiliar product but its versatility makes it a must have ingredient that everyone should try. Share a bottle of Carr's Cider Syrup this holiday and your loved ones will surely be as smitten as we are!

For those who don't like chocolate, this hazelnut caramel tart by Guillaume Mabilleau and Olivia Patisse is the ideal treat! A hazelnut streusel is surrounded by sweet hazelnut cake and a spiral of soft vanilla caramel and a ring of shortbread hazelnuts. The smooth sticky sweetness of caramel made with sweetened evaporated milk and the subtle crunch of hazelnuts combine to form a symphonic and undeniably decadent praline-like dessert. To enhance the holiday flavours, spice the cake layer or caramel with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove or add a few spice poached pears or apples for some added freshness. If you love chocolate, feel free to incorporate it with a glaze of ganache, a few curls of chocolate, or some dark chocolate miniature chocolate chips scattered in the cake batter. Regardless of how you choose to embellish it, this stunning dessert will certainly please everyone at a holiday meal! By Olivia Patisse (translated from the original French) Recipe for a 6 person tart, 16cm circle. Soft vanilla caramel 66g sugar 40g of glucose 80g cream 40g sweetened condensed milk 1/2 vanilla bean 106g butter A pinch of fleur de sel Make a caramel: in a small saucepan, heat the sugar and glucose with a little water, when the sugar is dissolved increase the heat and cook to 170 ° C. Remove from heat and carefully add the cream and the sweetened condensed milk. Return the mixture to low heat to melt any pieces that crystalized. Once everything has dissolved, let the caramel cool a little and add the butter, vanilla and fleur de sel. Stir well, transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film (ensuring it is touching the surface of the caramel to prevent a film from forming) and reserve in the fridge. Hazelnut streusel 26g butter 26g brown sugar 33g of hazelnut flour or ground hazelnuts 26g flour Salt Beat the butter with the brown sugar, add the hazelnut powder, a pinch of salt. Gently incorporate the flour. Spread mixture into a 14-15cm circle (smaller than the pan in which we will cook the cake). Bake for 15 minutes at 160 ° C. The sweet hazelnut 43g whole eggs 20g of egg yolks 63g sugar 80g of hazelnut flour or ground hazelnuts a pinch of salt 20g flour 36g melted butter 28g of egg whites 28g brown sugar Whisk the whole eggs and the yolks with the sugar, add the ground hazelnuts, salt, flour and melted butter. Whip the egg whites, tightening them with the sugar until medium peaks form. Gently fold them into the hazelnut mixture. Pour 100g of batter over the hazelnut streusel, in a 16cm pan, prepare by greasing the pan, adding flour and then tapping to remove the excess. I used all the batter, honestly it was very good but in the official recipe it only requires 100g. Bake for 30 minutes at 160 ° C. Shortbread hazelnuts 63g of hazelnuts 40g of sugar 7g of water 1/3 of a vanilla bean a pinch of salt In a small saucepan, cook the sugar with the water at 121 ° C, remove from heat and add the hazelnuts. Mix until the sugar recrystallizes: Assembly Sprinkle the edge of the cake with snow sugar (2/3 icing sugar, 1/3 cornstarch). Slacken the caramel a little by stirring it well, then pipe it onto the cake in a spiral shape using a small round nozzle. Place the shortbread hazelnuts around. Decorate with a chocolate square, gold leaf etc, ... Take the cake out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

For our team members who celebrate Christmas, the ritual of reaching into a stocking to reveal gift after gift from a seemingly bottomless collection of tiny bizarre objects is one of the most enchanting parts of the holidays. Even as adults, we love waiting to uncover what our loved ones have snuck into the knitwear on our mantles. Here are a few of the items we'll be sharing in stockings this year; hopefully they help inspire you! Little puzzle things by Areaware are probably the stocking gift we are most excited about this year. An assortment of random foods and objects are turned into tiny 8"x8" puzzles that are so deliciously fun we can hardly stand it. How about a honeycomb ice cream cone? A spiky durian fruit? A teal-outlined fish? A perfectly cooked tail-on shrimp? Each puzzle is eccentric, exceptional, and can be completed in less than 20 minutes. We can't get enough of them! Now we'll get a little spicy. SOS Chefs in New York is one of our favorite spice shops in the City and they carry an outstanding collection of pepper flakes packaged in simple 1oz and 2oz jars with black lids that make incredible stocking stuffers. We tend to favor the bright acidic Aleppo pepper, stunning Cheveux D'ange chili threads, and earthy, chocolatey Urfa so, naturally, these are go-tos when we select culinary gifts. SOS Chefs also offers a host of peppercorns that are gloriously diverse in flavor and appearance and make epic stocking stuffers as they make a subtle but rousing rattling sound! Getting a bit weirder on the spectrum of gifts, we fall down the conspiracy rabbit hole and end up with Birds Aren't Real, a movement that "exists to spread awareness that the U.S. Government genocided over 12 Billion birds from 1959-2001, and replaced these birds with surveillance drone replicas, which still watch us every day" (1). Whether you are suspicious of the beady-eyed feathered creatures circling your home or not, you can't deny that this brand is fantastic. While we aren't fully on board with their government surveillance theory, we love how fully fledged—pun intended!—their argument is. Seriously, check out their FAQ page and you'll undoubtedly be impressed. Birds Aren't Real sells some pretty fantastic merchandise including sticker packs that make amazing stocking stuffers. We'd be lying if we didn't admit to distrustfully eyeing avifauna every time we see a sticker! With the validity of the Birds Aren't Real conspiracy theory is still up in the air—more puns!—we come back down to earth with this next pick: aesthetic rocks! Not only do rocks and minerals add an unexpected and intriguing weight to stocking but they also make magnificent natural paperweights and table decorations. In the past we have gifted Iceland spar quartz, lapis spheres, amethyst, azurite, and malachite but essentially all minerals offer unique and idyllic beauty. Ironically, even anthracite coal is gorgeously and hypnotically reflective, although when added to a stocking it may make your loved ones question if they've been naughty! Equally playful are the Various Keytags, a design studio project turned brand from New York's Various Projects, Inc. If you live in New York, you likely know about Various Keytags but as they epitomize cool, we still think deserve a spot on our stocking stuffer list. Available in nearly every color under the sun, the thick tag shaped keychains carry sweet, salty, and spicy messages that do everything from label your keys to make powerful political statements. They make us feel powerful and crushingly chic. In case you can't find the right message in their vast keytag arsenal, there is also an option to customize a tag with a message of your own. Highly expressive and individualistic keytags make the ideal stocking stuffers if you ask us! On a more professional note, Pentel Sharp Kerry mechanical pencils are must-haves and excellent stocking stuffers. We're confident you have considered fountain pens and Mont Blancs when scouring for gifts but, in our lives, it's mechanical pencils are invaluable. These Pentel pencils are unrivaled. Sleek, ergonomic, and unwaveringly reliable, the capped pencils are as much an accessory as they are a practical writing implement. The available colours are sophisticated but feature a stylish mattified metallic glow that's just divine. We try to keep our Pentel's glued to our persons because they're so exception but sharing them in stockings lets our loved ones have pencils of their own so they're less tempted to run off with ours! Next on our list we get a bit sweeter. We love adding candy to our stockings, solely because it provides us with much needed morning sustenance while opening gifts. When it comes to candy, we love the vintage-looking labels on Russian chocolates, the dissolving rice paper wrappers on Japanese bontan ame, and the spicy tangy decadence of Kenyan Vtamu Baobab Sweets. Think of stockings as a vehicle to offer a curated culinary exploration! One year, instead of candy, an ARCANISA team member received a stocking flecked with gold wrapped bullion cubes for a "savory Christmas replacement for gold coins". While bullion cubes made for an absolutely hilarious stocking surprise, we highly recommend you stick to the sweeter end of the wrapped treats spectrum! For the members of our family who enjoy nail-polish we also include some stunning glass bottles of lacquer. You can never go wrong with the contemporary neutral colours from jewelry designer J. Hannah. Free from seven harmful ingredients typically found in polishes, J. Hannah's lacquers are flawlessly saturated and express a powerful understanding of impactful but minimalist colour. For the winter, we adore Carob, Ikebana, and Ghost Ranch, three rich shades that look impeccably regal on every skin tone. Last, but certainly not least, we have minuscule leather journals from Just Journal It in Pleasant Shade, Tennessee. Paired with a small ink pad, we gift these journals as tiny event diaries. The idea is after every memorable event one attends or experiences, they write the event and date on one of the journal pages and then stamp a fingerprint onto the page, sealing the memory and keeping a minimalistic log of meaningful moments. It becomes a pocket collection of memories that serves as a reminder of the fullness of our lives. Stocking stuffers often take a backseat to the gifts that get placed under the tree but we hope this guide inspired you to get excited about these small but mighty presents!

Years ago, a member of our team was gifted a sensational specimen tree to fill a bare space in their garden. It was a thoughtful and timeless gift that left their home—and by extension their life as a whole— slightly more beautiful. We recognize that not everyone has the space to warrant gifting a tree but if you know someone who does, trees are surprisingly intimate gifts that can have a tremendous impact on the day-to-day lives of the recipient. And even if your loved one is short on exterior space, we've included some tips on how you can still integrate trees into your holiday gift-giving! When it comes to gifting trees, our first stop will always be Trees of Antiquity. Run by Annabelle, Danielle and Neil Collins, "Trees of Antiquity has been growing and shipping organic fruit trees across the country for over 40 years from [their] heirloom fruit tree nursery" in Paso Robles, CA. Offering a magnificent collection with hundreds of tree varieties, Trees of Antiquity shares not only beautiful and fruitful plants but also a connection to food and history that is often overlooked in the age of industrialized agriculture. As Trees of Antiquity notes, commercial growers tailor their fruit to meet the needs of consumers who increasingly demand visually homogeneous fruit. This demand eliminates our cherished trees’ unique qualities like the Ashmeads Kernel’s shy bearing nature and russeted skin, or the diminutive, but uniquely sweet and pronounced tang of the Wickson apple. (1) When you are able to engage with fruit in its natural element, picking the produce for yourself, you quickly discover that the imperfections of each apple or quince are irrelevant. Beyond appreciating the uniqueness of each fruit, there is a seasonal ritual associated with fruit trees that further ties us to nature. One has to care for the tree, wait patiently for fruit to develop and ripen, before ultimately taking a bite of succulent fruit. It's a gentle pull away from our digital lives, back into the fresh air of nature, and we absolutely cherish it! It’s a unique experience to bite into a fruit that explodes with a complexity of sweetness chased with a dash of tartness. What a delight to realize, after savoring this discovery, that this is one of thousands of flavors waiting to be rediscovered. We offer a small peek into a vast world of treasured sweets long forgotten, but still on the map. We provide the directions to rediscovering what is truly at the heart of us all: our food. (1) As me mentioned earlier, Trees of Antiquity offer hundreds of trees, making the task of selecting the right plant daunting. Fortunately, they've put together a collection of 'thoughts to consider when selecting a fruit tree' that can guide you in the right direction. Spacing, chill factor, pollination, and harvesting time are just a few factors that will help you filter through their extensive nursery and select the ideal plant for anyone on your list! And Trees of Antiquity even share tips on how to incorporate fruit trees into small spaces! Whether you decide to espalier your plant and train it to a fence, wall, or trellis, apply the summer pruning methods of bonsai to control the size, or create a compact orchard with high-density planting, you can find ways to share the majesty of trees even with those on your list who have limited space. Think about how exciting it is to go apple picking in the autumn, to eat a peach warmed by the sun, or to walk past a vine drenched in fragrant concord grapes. By sharing a tree you are gifting that joyful experience along with a stunning piece of natural sculpture that will share shade, blossoms, and endless memories. We can't imagine a more momentous gift!

There are few things more comforting than stew during the holiday season and this Persian celery stew is no exception. Typically served with rice, this dish combines succulent meat with the crisp, aromatic flavor of celery, the brightness of a host of verdant herbs, and the earthy, citrus notes of dried limes. Aashpazi shares a quick, but hugely flavourful, iteration of the dish but you can add in prunes, pomegranate molasses, and/or beans should you want an added depth of flavour and texture. Also, feel free to substitute the meat of your choice; beef is recommended here but we've had khoresht karafs with lamb and chicken and they're equally delicious (although we do like the balance of a richer red meat and sharp celery!). We strongly encourage you to use the leaves of the celery if you can. It can be difficult to find unsheared celery stalks at grocery stores but the leaves add such an important flavour that it's worth trying to find them! With or without celery leaves, this khoresht karafs makes a stunning hearty appetizer soup or a warming winter main course! Recipe by Aashpazi INGREDIENTS: 1 Bunch Celery 1/2 lb (226g) Stew Beef 1 Bunch Each: Mint, Celery Leaves, Parsley Turmeric, Salt, Ground Chili Pepper 2 Dried Limes 4 Tbsp Vegetable Oil 1 Small Onion INGREDIENT PREPARATIONS: Dice the onion. Chop stew beef in small pieces. 3. Soak the dried limes in boiling water for 20 minutes. 4. Mince the Herbs (Celery leaves, parsley and mint). 5. Cut Celeries in 2 inch pieces. 6. Boil 4-5 Cups Water. DIRECTIONS: Fry the onions in a small pot with 2 tbsp vegetable oil until translucent . Add the Chopped Stew beef to the pot, stir and continue frying until the beef becomes brown. Add Turmeric, salt and ground chili pepper, stir and continue frying for 2 more minutes. Pour in enough boiling water to the pot to cover the mixture by 2 inches (Approx. 1.5 cup Boiling water). Cover the pot with the lid and simmer it for 75 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the chopped Celery with 2 tbsp Vegetable oil in a pot until they turn brighter green. Add the minced herbs ( Mint, Celery Leaves, Parsley) to the pot, stir and fry along until the herbs become dark green. Add the fried bergs and celery to the beef's pot, stir well until well mixed. Cover the pot with the lid and continue cooking for 30 more minutes at low heat. Make few holes into the soaked limes and add it to the pot. Cook for 15 more minutes.

A few days ago on our Holiday Countdown Gift Guide we featured artists' prints as our gift of the day. Although (as we hope is evident from that feature) we adore works on paper and canvas, there is something bold about art on other materials. Today we want to feature just one alternative wall art canvas: aluminum street and traffic signs. Far too often, interior street signs elicit flashbacks to bachelor pads and dorm rooms but this does a grave disservice to the phenomenal contemporary art pieces that artists create with aluminum. Street and traffic signs feature rich saturated color and reflective glossy finishes that immediately intensify text and imagery. Signs feel unapologetically impactful, projecting the depth and authority of sculpture and transforming a flat wall with subtle 3 dimensionality and recognizable graphicness. We hope our street sign picks help dissuade you of any misconception that traffic signs aren't art! First up, we have signs featured in Area C Projects's 'SIGN-IN' installation project. Area C Projects, the brainchild of artistic duo Erik Carlson and Erica Carpenter, installed a hugely popular street sign art piece in 2019, during Providence, Rhode Island's annual city-wide arts festival, PVD Fest. The piece was set beside the main performance stage in front of Providence City Hall, a place of prominence worthy of such a successful work. SIGN-IN is a street-level intervention that explores issues of voice and inclusivity in the present cultural moment, while also endeavoring to challenge the kind of binary thinking that reduces complex issues into easy, empty, polarizing soundbytes. The artwork’s title plays on the concept of the sit-in—a mode of political expression that is also expressly civil—and gestures toward the kind of legwork that makes a democracy run: signing in, listening up, and carving out open spaces for dialogue, even between opposing sides. (1) A series of sixty aluminum street signs were mounted on staggered poles creating a tangled maze of signs pointing in every direction, directing us to no where in particular. On one side of each post was text beginning with the proverbial "they" and, on the other side, text beginning with "we". The messages on the signs were taken from the two primary publications in the city, The Providence Journal and The Providence Phoenix, and were intended to provoke an "us vs them" division. The tension of "us against them" messaging usually demands that the listener pick a side (are you one of us, or one of them?). SIGN-IN’s ad-hoc mix of disassociated “arguments” instead seeks the opposite effect: rather than attempting to be persuasive, its messages are intentionally playful and open. Likewise, rather than pointing viewers left or right in the manner of an ordinary street sign (or political harangue), SIGN-IN’s use of binary language questions the value of limiting our choices to such narrow fields. (1) The messages are stunningly diverse, each with a unique ability to provoke conversation. Some are comedic, some are poetic, some are pleas, some are warnings but all are remarkably and authentically human. All that being said, "THEY ARE NOT QUITE SUSHI QUALITY" is our favorite! These signs are undeniably artful and make striking wall art pieces we are proud to hang in our homes and eager to share as gifts this holiday season. Area C Projects has made a limited quantity of these signs available for purchase so grab them while you can! (you can purchase them through Paypal by following the instructions here) Moving south a few hundred miles we find beloved Philadelphian street artist Kid Hazo. A couple of our team members spent years living in the City of Brotherly Love and can attest to how popular Hazo is—Philadelphia Magazine even included him in their 2015 'Best Philadelphians' list! A self-declared 'prop comedian', Hazo has pervasively introduced site specific art pieces to the streets of Philly. Having installed everything from an 'IT' sewer parody featuring Flyers mascot Gritty with an equally orange balloon (aptly named Gr-"IT"-ty) to perversive bus stop ads promoting 'Corny Flakes' and street artists alike, Hazo's body of work is impressively diverse and, luckily for us, it includes epic traffic signs available for purchase! Kid Hazo (pronounced has•ohh) is a Philadelphia based street artist out to catch a few smirks and smiles by creating pieces that parody the heart of Philly culture and venues around the city. His lighthearted props and sculptures are interjected into the urban environment in attempts to brighten up someone's day and add a layer of comic relief on the streets. (2) Hazo is famous in large part for his street signs. His (now sadly sold) street sign depicting a slipping figure graphically exclaiming censored expletives is hilarious and has a sophisticatedly balanced visual composition. We love the shark sighting 'EXIT STAGE LEFT', the lesbian 'DONT HATE APPRECIATE', and the texting lingo 'STAY IN UR LN' signs. There are also Philly-centric inside jokes like 'JIMMY JAWNS', 'LONG JAWN SILVER'S' and the 'TIME ZONE: where should you be right now? Philadelphia (EST)' clock. Hazo's signs are ingenious and playful, offering an air of enviable lightheartedness that makes them exceptional gifts. Find them here at Paradigm Gallery + Studio. We take a jump across the pond now to Florence to find French painter and street artist Clet Abraham. It's nearly impossible to hold a discussion about contemporary traffic sign art without Abraham. Abraham is a street art visionary, bolding affixing his artistic signature to cities around the world. An extensive collection of signs featuring recognizable black figures engaging in a variety of activities, flowers and animals interacting with the signs' arrows and bars, and an assortment of other unexpected illustrations transform traffic announcements into artistic statements. Several of Abraham's pieces are available through Artsy and Asper. Abraham's work is iconic and immediately recognizable so his contemporary traffic signs will surly bring street art clout to anyone you gift them to! We end in Las Angeles with contemporary artist Scott Froschauer and his Word On The Street series. His small street signs are the ideal way to close this feature; with messages of positivity and love they offer a reminder of decency and self-care—something much needed during this challenging year. Some of his work is an exploration in emotional connectedness, some work is about revolution, particularly considering that our culture considers being connected to oneself as a revolutionary act, but his primary focus is on exploring new spaces and techniques for communication. (3) With yield signs reading 'BREATHE', no entry signs with the message that 'YOU ARE ENOUGH', and attention signs prompting viewers to 'TAKE NOTE OF WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW', Froschauer uses the graphic recognizable platform of traffic signs to relay a message of alacrity. Available here, the signs are a welcomed gesture of goodness that make the ideal holiday gift in 2020. Traffic sign artists embody the diversity of the street art scene so if you love the idea of an artistic sign but didn't fully connect to any we featured here, go online or wander your city and you'll certainly come across a sign you and the loved ones on your holiday gift list will adore!

Appetizers are a crucial aspect of any holiday party and we think these Tibetan momos make stunning starters. Not unlike baozi or gyoza, momos are small purses of tender steamed dough that encases, in this case, delicious vegetable fillings. In this recipe by Eva Agha of The Curious Chickpea (adapted from YoWangdu and CookingShooking), the filling is made of cabbage, carrot, scallion, and tofu enhanced with aromatic garlic and ginger and sprigs of delicate, vibrant cilantro. On their own, these momos are phenomenally scrumptious, but when paired with the spicy sesame tomato chutney they are sheer perfection. Aside from their show stopping flavor, the momos are visually stunning. Agha includes a video tutorial instructing how to fold the dough into idyllic pleated dumplings complete with small central openings that offer a peak at the colourful filling within. And, as these momos are vegan, they're a bite-sized dish that the vegetarians and vegans in your family can also enjoy this holiday! We also love to make folding these adorable treats a family event; although your dumplings will undoubtedly be irregular the memories you'll make carefully navigating the pleats are well worth any wonky momos! We want to give a huge shoutout to Agha for this recipe. The amount of detail and insight she's included makes this one of the most thoughtful recipes we've tried! Written by Eva Agha of The Curious Chickpea (recipe adapted from YoWangdu, and CookingShooking) These handmade Tibetan vegetable momos are served with a spicy tomato sesame chutney and make a delicious appetizer or snack! I’m really excited to share today’s recipe with you. These Tibetan momos are a food that is as cute as the name sounds! We’re talking dumplings, stuffed with a delicious cabbage, carrot, and onion filling. Spiced with garlic, ginger, cilantro, and a very generous amount of black pepper. Studded with crumbled tofu and wrapped up in the cutest little round package, steamed and then served with a mouth watering spicy sesame tomato chutney. It’s unclear whether momos have reached foodie fame because of their cute name, because they are really fun to eat, or because they’re crazy good. If you’ve never had a momo, it’s easy to fix! You don’t need any special ingredients for this dumpling recipe, and the only “fancy” equipment you need is some steamer set up for your stove. Momos are a great first foray into Tibetan food if you’re unfamiliar. Tibetan food is not traditionally the most vegan friendly cuisine, as the country’s high altitudes make growing crops a challenge. But vegetarian offerings are easier to find outside of Tibet, and it’s not a challenge to stuff a vegetable filling into dumpling dough! I grew up in a college town in the Midwest, and while it was quite a diverse community with a lot of opportunities to get out of your comfort zone, it was still easy to encounter people who had little experience with foods from other cultures. I once had a friend’s parent ask me if Thai food was like Indian food. At the time, 16 year old Eva thought that was a joke, how could two cuisines be any more different??! But thinking back, if you’re consuming the SAD (standard American diet), a boldly flavored Thai cuisine might remind your taste buds of spicy Indian cuisine. And things get fuzzier for me when we move into areas that are bordering one another. So if you asked me if Tibetan food was like Indian or Nepalese or Chinese food, well, not exactly as it’s its own thing.. but you do start to see overlap of flavors and types of dishes when countries border each other. There’s also the matter that India and China are big and diverse countries themselves with many different cuisines within them. I guess all I’m trying to say here is that if you enjoy foods and flavors from Asian cuisines and haven’t ventured into Tibetan cooking or restaurants give it a go! Tibetan momos are a cute and familiar food, with variations of dumplings found across the Asian continent (and around the world). HOW TO MAKE MOMO: As complicated as they look, momo are actually really simple to make. Essentially, you mix together a 4-ingredient dough then let it rest while you pull together the filling. Next, roll out the dough, cut it into circles, add the filling, then fold and pleat the dough into your desired dumpling shape. Steam them, and eat them with chutney while hot! Whipping up a batch of momo now takes me just 1 hour, some of that time being hands off, and then maybe 15 minutes at the end to steam all of them. Your first time might take a bit longer, and if you have a helper you can really cut that time down! OK NOW LET’S TALK MORE DETAIL: FIRST, THE DUMPLING DOUGH. It’s an easy recipe, using just flour, salt, water, and a little oil. The oil makes the dough more supple and helps keep it from drying out. As such I don’t recommend leaving it out for momo- and dumpling-newbies. Mix the flour and salt to integrate the salt, then add the water and oil. Combine to create a shaggy dough, then turn the dough onto a clean and floured counter and knead the dough until it comes together to form a smooth ball. Add more flour as needed to keep it from sticking, and at the end the dough should be just barely tacky. Usually the dough comes together in just 5 minutes, then stick it back in the bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel. The damp towel keeps the dough fresh and hydrated. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, but you can also make it a couple of hours in advance. Resting the dough is essential as it gives the gluten a chance to relax and the flour a chance to absorb the water so it’s easier to handle. If you skip this step rolling the dough out thinly is going to be a probably unsuccessful nightmare. WHILE THE DOUGH RESTS, WE WHIP UP THE VEGETABLE FILLING. In my momo research, I came across two common ways to prepare the filling. One is to cook the filling before making the dumplings, the other is to encourage the vegetables to release their water with salt and to not cook the filling. I went with the second option, as I liked the idea of cutting out the extra step of cooking and think it leads to a juicier filling. First shred your cabbage. I found this to be a bit of a pain on a box grater, and recommend if you do so, don’t cut the cabbage first but instead keep the entire head intact while you shred. Alternatively you can use a food processor or chop everything up extra finely by hand. Shredding carrots is a bit easier, they can shredded by box grater, food processor (I recommend grating then switching to a S-curve blade and pulsing to chop it extra finely) or by mincing with a knife. Add the cabbage and carrots to a large mixing bowl and toss in thinly sliced scallions. Add the 2 teaspoons of salt and toss everything to combine. Let the vegetables sit for 5-10 minutes, which gives the salt a chance to release the water in the cabbage. Then squeeze out that water. This is easily done through a nut milk bag, muslin, a thin kitchen towel, or a few layers of cheese cloth. You don’t need to squeeze out every last drop of moisture, just give it a few good squeezes so you don’t get a watery momo filling. Next we add the remaining ingredients to the filling: ginger, garlic, and cilantro are the only spices we need here. Well, along with a generous addition of freshly ground black pepper. Add crumbled tofu (which sneakily means you can enjoy these Tibetan dumplings as a complete meal, as long as you eat enough to fill you up!) and a drizzle of oil. The oil adds richness to the filling and keeps it juicy. Taste the filling as you may find it needs an extra sprinkle of salt since a lot of the salt was squeezed out of it before. At this point you can relax a little, do the dishes, twiddle your thumbs, make the chutney, or whatever you’d like while you wait for your dough to finish resting. SHAPING THE MOMO: There are many ways to shape momo dumplings and this is just one way, and you don’t have to do it my way if you’d prefer a different method. To start, we roll out the dough thinly. You can pull off small pieces of dough (golf ball sized-ish) and roll them into ~4-inch circles, but I find this to take a lot longer and be more challenging. Instead, I divide the dough into two pieces and roll out a large thin sheet of dough. Then I take a biscuit cutter (but any round cookie cutter, an overturned glass, or a properly sized lid can be used) to cut out large circles. You want 3 1/2″ to 4″ circles. You can always roll the circles out a little bit more after they’ve been cut if you’d like or if you need to get them a bit thinner. Pull away the scraps of dough after cutting and return it to the mixing bowl to cover with the damp cloth. Next, I will try to explain the process of how I fold the dough to shape the momo, but please refer to the video at the end of the post for visuals! Place one circle of dough in the palm of your non-dominant hand. You can leave the remaining circles of dough out as long as you aren’t super slow (otherwise cover them with a damp towel so they don’t dry out too much). I’m able to make about a dozen at a time without the dough drying out too much while I shape, but I do flip them over so the stickier side faces up on my palm. Add about 1 tbsp of filling to center of the dough, then using the thumb and pointer finger of your dominant hand to flute the dough and pinch it together. Your dominant hand thumb stays in place while your pointer finger and your non-dominant hand thumb help push the remaining dough to flute and seal. Once all the dough from the circumference of the circle has been used you can either leave it open as I have here, or press the last flap of dough across to seal the top for a closed dumpling. Set aside completed dumplings on a lightly greased plate or baking tray. You want to either spray or brush with a thin layer of oil so that the dough does not stick to the plate. You can leave them out and continue with the next dumplings. Repeat until you’ve shaped all of the dumplings. Rolling out new sheets of dough until you’ve used up either all the filling or all the dough. It should be pretty close to all of both though with these measurements. COOKING THE MOMO: Momo can be either steamed or deep fried to cook (if deep frying you will want to seal the center of the dumplings so that they are not open and the filling doesn’t fall out). And I never thought I would say this, but I actually prefer the steamed version of these dumplings! And with the added bonus points for it being healthier, it’s the only cooking option I’m sharing today. Prepare your steamer, and this can be a pot with a steamer insert (this is what I use), a bamboo steamer basket, or even a steamer insert for your regular pot. Lightly oil the steamer basket/insert/whatever you’re using to keep the dumplings from sticking, then arrange the dumplings in the basket so that they don’t touch. They don’t drastically change in size, but you want to make sure there’s plenty of room for steam to flow around them, and you don’t want them to stick together. Steam the dumplings for about 5 minutes, they are done cooking when they are not sticky to the touch. Be careful to not burn yourself while you are checking them! When done, pull them out (tongs make easy work of this) and serve immediately. Add more dumplings to the steamer and cook until you’ve made them all! Momos can also be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for at least a day (I haven’t tried longer and I’m not sure I would recommend making them much more in advance) and steamed at a later time straight from the fridge. You can also successfully rewarm cooked momo by steaming them again, I find another 5 minutes does the trick! MAKING THE SPICY SESAME TOMATO CHUTNEY: Now you don’t want to serve momo without a chutney (sauce) to go with it! A local Himalayan restaurant here serves theirs with a sesame chutney and I’m a little bit obsessed over (#willtravelforchutney), and I really wanted to recreate it for you! This isn’t an exact copycat of their chutney, but I could basically eat this like it was soup. And I would if it didn’t have such a kick to it (which you can cut back on)! This chutney is made with sesame seeds, crushed red pepper (you can substitute dried red chilies if you’d like), garlic and ginger for extra spice and zing, red onion for a little natural sweetness, tomato for acidity and it’s sweetness, soy sauce for deep salty flavor, and lemon juice to brighten the flavors. The ingredients get sautéed then blended up to make a smooth sauce and thinned with water so it’s a nice pourable consistency! You can always cut back or even cut out the chili peppers for delicious heat free flavor if that’s what you need. These momos are also delicious with both of my Afghan chutney recipes if that’s more your speed. But whatever you make, I like to do so in advance. The spice (yes, heat) mellows as the chutney sits and the flavors get a chance to meld. I will note this sesame tomato chutney makes a lot, so you might want to think about cutting the recipe in half, making extra batches of momos, or even freezing extra. You can also use the chutney as you would a hot sauce to top other foods. You might find it disappears in no time! ENJOY YOUR MOMO! Once all your momo are done, you really are in for the best treat! They’re a real crowd pleaser, and not just because the name is insanely fun to say. They’re gobbled up in no time, whether you make them just for you and your partner or roommate, or if you make them for a party! I served these last week as part of an appetizer spread, and sitting next to a plate of latkes (aka delicious fried potato pancakes) the momos were the easy favorite. It’s just hard to say no to dumpling perfection! Though I’ll admit I was a bit sad that I didn’t have any leftover momo! As my husband Omar likes to say, before you know it there are no-mo-momo and it’s time to make mo momo! So let that be a lesson to you dumpling lovers out there. And make yourself some momo! If you make these Tibetan vegetable momo and/or the tomato chutney, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I love seeing your recreations! NOTES: The filling for these momo are not set in stone. If you hate cilantro, leave it out! You can add some shredded red or yellow onion, leave out the tofu (but then add extra cabbage or you won’t have enough filling) or use a seitan sausage instead, add minced green beans, substitute shredded savoy or napa cabbage.. really whatever you want! Any water heavy vegetables should be added at the first step and salted so that they don’t make a soggy filling. MOMOS yield: ~32 MOMOS prep time: 1 HOUR cook time: 15 MINUTES total time: 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES INGREDIENTS DOUGH 2 cups all purpose flour, more as needed 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp oil 3/4 cup water FILLING 2 cups (180g) shredded green cabbage 3/4 cup (70g) shredded carrot 1/2 cup (45g) thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts 2 tsp salt, more to taste 1 tbsp minced ginger 3-4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup minced cilantro 4 oz extra firm tofu, crumbled 1 tsp ground black pepper 2 tsp oil INSTRUCTIONS Make the dumpling dough: In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour and salt. Add the water and oil and mix the dough until it comes together. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead the dough, adding more flour as necessary, until you have a smooth and barely tacky dough. Put the dough back in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the filling. Add the shredded cabbage, shredded carrot, and sliced scallions in a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and toss to combine. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes, then squeeze out extra water from the cabbage. You can do it easily in a thin tea towel, nut milk bag, muslin or layered cheese cloth. Dump out the water and add the vegetables back into the mixing bowl. Toss with the ginger, garlic, cilantro tofu, black pepper, and oil. Taste and add salt if needed. When the dough has rested for a half an hour, divide it in half. Leave one half under the damp towel, and roll the second half out on a lightly floured counter until it is very thin, basically as thin as you can roll it. Lift the dough and rotate, flip and dust with more flour as you roll to keep it from sticking. Cut the dough into 3 1/2 - 4 inch circles. Remove the scraps of dough and place it back under the damp towel. Taking one piece of dough at a time, place it in the palm of your non-dominant hand. Put about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of the dough, then fold and pinch the dough together to form a round momo. If you would like you can pinch the dough together at the end to seal the center, or leave it open as pictured. Watch the video for more details on how to shape the momos. Place finished momos on a lightly oiled plate and repeat with the remaining dough, rolling out the other half when needed, and re-rolling the scraps until all dough and/or filling is used up. Prepare a steamer pot, filling it with water and bringing it to a boil over medium-high heat. Place momos on a lightly greased steamer basket, leaving space between each dumpling. Steam for 5 minutes, or until the dough is not sticky to the touch and remove using tongs. Repeat with remaining dumplings. Serve the dumplings warm with chutney. Leftover dumplings can be reheated by steaming them again. NOTES: Recipe adapted from YoWangdu. SPICY SESAME TOMATO CHUTNEY yield: ~4 CUPS prep time: 10 MINUTES cook time: 12 MINUTES total time: 22 MINUTES INGREDIENTS 1 tbsp oil 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 1/2" piece of ginger, coarsely chopped 1 tbsp red pepper flakes, or less to taste 3 tbsp sesame seeds 1 cup chopped red onion 14 oz canned diced tomato 2 tbsp soy sauce 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 cup water INSTRUCTIONS Heat the oil in a skillet over medium. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sesame seeds and red pepper flakes and let toast for 1 minute. Add the onion to the skillet and sauté until soft, about 4 minutes, then add the canned tomatoes. Cook until soft and juicy, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender, add the soy sauce, lemon juice, and water and blend until smooth. Taste and add salt if desired. Use immediately or allow to chill in fridge. NOTES Makes a spicy chutney as written. Use 1/2 the red pepper flakes (also known as red chili flakes or crushed red pepper) for less heat, or use only a pinch for a mild chutney. Adapted from CookingShooking.

It’s the game where meaning is plural and unstable... a faithful adaptation of Moby-Dick to the form of a party game. Gather a half-dozen of your bosom friends and jointly plunge your harpoons into the ecstatic flank of delight and deliciousness. Metaphorically (1) We know what you may be thinking: Cards Against Humanity is, by definition, a raunchy card game that will cause your more posh relatives to bristle so how can it possibly be adapted to appease intellectuals. In DICK, the brilliant card creation from Why So Ever, each of the response cards features a cheeky quote straight from the pages of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, adding just enough literary significance that the ribald card game feels more dignified. It's titillatingly sacrilegious that the literary artistry in Moby Dick—undeniably one of the most cherished books in the world of the well-read—be applied to a provocative but impossibly fun card game and that's exactly what makes the game so successful. If you love Cards Against Humanity you'll no doubt enjoy DICK and, if Cards Against Humanity ruffles your feathers, we think DICK may be the alternative for you. Moby-Dick questions everything and holds nothing sacred. It’s weirder, funnier, much more irreverent than you think. It would be an exaggeration to say that the book is nonstop sex jokes, but it is nonstop playfulness and irreverence. If the book were sentient and knew that it had become some kind of sacred cow, I think it would be delighted for us to tip that cow over (2) To be fair, we want to admit two things. First, we aren't big Cards Against Humanity fans. The game too often seems to devolve into a distasteful 'thats what she said' competition rather than a battle of wits and we tend to lose interest. Second, we have (admittedly on more than one occasion) attended the annual 25 hour read-a-thon of Moby Dick, in its entirety, at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA where Melville departed on the whaleship, Acushnet, in 1841 and where he found inspiration for several locations in the story. With this in mind, we feel confident that we the exact target audience for the game. That's not to say that the game is devoid of immaturity and lewdness. We just find the salaciousness feels tamed by the addition of 19th century prose. 100 mock-serious questions for our times. 375 answers taken word-for-word from the pages of Moby-Dick. Surpassingly hilarious (1) The premise of the game is quite simple. Each player is dealt 12 response cards that they use to complete prompt phrases and hopefully win the favor of the judge. Players take turns in the role of 'judge', drawing the green prompt card and making the often challenging decision of which of the offered response cards completes the prompt best. This could be the funniest completion, sharpest completion, strangest completion, whatever the judge feels is the subjective best. The subjectivity adds a hugely fun element to the game as the response cards should be selected with the particular judge in mind (what one judge might love, another might loathe!). It's a test of how well one can think on their feet and how well a group knows the preferences of one another. With an added element of Herman Melville's truly remarkable language! While we're on the topic of Moby Dick, we have to share these exceptional shirts from the New Bedford Whaling Museum that are just too on theme with DICK . The front reads 'Call me' while the back finishes 'Ishmael', referencing the iconic opening line of Melville's masterpiece. It's a playful shirt that pairs beautifully with the card game for a lighthearted holiday gift!

Sausage is a prized ingredient in our homes during the holiday season. Added to stuffing, sausage offers bites of spice and smoke. Beside eggs, it's a dense complementing texture and a seasoning punch of flavor that balances the fat and softness of the egg. Added to lentils, soups, meatballs—you name it!—sausage provides a transformative flash of flavour that can't be ignored. Our vegan and vegetarian team members swear by this farro sausage by Erin Wysocarski of Olives for Dinner, but even our more carnivorous coworkers have been known to swap out traditional links for this magnificent grain based delicacy. In the recipe, farro and vital wheat gluten are revolutionized by the savory flavors of shiitaki powder, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and onion and garlic powder. Herbal fennel seeds add a recognizable sausage flavor (and we always add a skosh more because they're phenomenal!). The seasonings permeate the grains through a long, slow steam that infuses the flavours and produces a sturdy sausage-like roll speckled with farro for a magnificent texture. Now, as always, we add our own modifications to the recipe but we assure you Wysocarski's recipe is to die for just on its own! In addition to the listed spices, we often include celery salt, cayenne, sage, savory, paprika, and coriander. Depending on our mood, we've been know to throw in a pinch of allspice or thyme to enhance the warm or herbal notes of the sausage. Regardless of whether you experiment with your seasonings or rely on the undeniable brilliance of Wysocarski, this farro sausage is a phenomenal dish that is endlessly versatile and will enhance any holiday meal! Written by Erin Wysocarski of Olives for Dinner I love farro. It’s nutty and chewy, is super versatile and can be used in both sweet and savory applications. Because it’s got such a great texture, I’ve used it before in vegan crab cakes, as a filling for “pork” stuffed wontons, burgers, and even in these German chocolate cake truffles. Here I’ve grinded uncooked farro and boiled it to create a base for vegan sausages. Vital wheat gluten and spices are then added to the mix before it’s formed and steamed to create a soft but sturdy texture. Those little chewy farro pieces are a great textural component in these sausages that you can crumble or slice for pizzas, pasta dishes, scrambles, sandwiches, hashes and more! Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 80 minutes Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes Yield: 4 sausages INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup farro, crushed in a coffee grinder 3/4 cup shiitake powder (crush about 2 large dried shiitake mushrooms in a coffee grinder) 3 cups water 2 TB soy sauce 2 TB refined coconut oil 1 TB vegan Worcestershire sauce 1 TB liquid smoke 1 TB sesame oil 1 TB fennel seeds 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten, plus more if needed cooking spray PREPARATION: Place the crushed farro and shiitake powder into a medium-sized saucepan, then whisk in the water. Boil for about 15 minutes, uncovered. Remove from the heat. Stir in the next 10 ingredients and allow to cool. Add in the vital wheat gluten and stir. You want the mixture to be soft, but just firm enough to be able to be formed into sausages. Add up to 1/2 – 3/4 more of the VWG, 1/4 cup at a time as needed, to achieve this result. No need to work or knead the dough. Divide the mixture into 4 portions, then roll into 6-inch long sausages. Spray 4, 8X8 inches pieces of tin foil with a little cooking spray. Place a sausage onto each piece, then roll up, twisting the edges to form a seal. Place a steamer basket over a large pot with water and place the wrapped sausages inside. You want to fill the pot with just enough water that it doesn’t make contact with the bottom of the steamer basket. Place the sausages inside and cover. Bring the water to a boil, then steam for one hour. You will need to keep an eye on the water level, replenishing the water as needed as it evaporates. Let the sausages cool completely in the tin foil. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.