February 20, 2023

GASTRO OBSCURA  The Cake With a Tragic Past  On a warm spring day in May 2021, Elaine Nishimura was clearing out the last of her mother’s belongings when she found an unassuming handmade box she had never seen before. Inside, she found the top tier of the cake from her parents’ wedding. That the cake survived so long is made even more remarkable by the circumstances surrounding its origins: Nishimura’s parents, Frances (née Itabashi) and Shizuo Nishimura were married in Tule Lake, a Japanese American WWII concentration camp in Northern California.  READ MORE →   HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD Venice’s Visual Feast: Carnival For two and a half weeks, Venice has been hosting Carnival, and with it the slew of masquerade balls, street shows, mask and costume competitions, and parades. This whimsical, festive holiday has attracted millions of masked revelers for centuries, but few know the festival’s true origins and how the festival has evolved over the course of its long history. READ MORE →   WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS Newby-McMahon Building Ask anyone from Wichita Falls about the rail-thin, heavily windowed building that rises from gritty sandstone warehouses like a red-bricked phoenix hatchling, and you’re likely to get ten different answers about its origin. Some say it’s a decorative housing for a water tower. Some say it’s a castoff from a movie set. The truth, however, is a little more fascinating, involving con men, fraud, and city-wide naiveté. READ MORE →   ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Bee-come a Honey Sommelier Join beekeeper, author, and premier honey sensory expert C. Marina Marchese to learn about the methods used by honey sensory experts to evaluate samples of honey. By the end of this course, you’ll have a new vocabulary for how to describe scents, flavors, and textures, understand what makes a good honey, and hone your knowledge of how to make sustainable, delicious choices when buying honey. Pretty sweet deal. ENROLL NOW →   LIGHTS OUT This Dark Sky Town Went Darker In 2016, the small Scottish town of Moffat became the first European town to receive International Dark Sky Place certification. Here in Moffat, the stars seem so near, they appear within touching range; it’s so dark, in fact, that it’s almost as if the power has been cut. And it has. Sort of. Two weeks a year, Moffat turns off nearly all of its public lights in an experiment to rediscover life before artificial lighting. READ MORE →   KYOTO, JAPAN Kameya Kiyonaga Originally established in 1617, Kameya Kiyonaga quickly came to be known as one of Kyoto’s best confectioneries. In 1857, it was decreed one of only 28 shops that were allowed to present sweets to the Emperor. While the shop today offers a wide variety of wagashi, Kameya Kiyonaga’s specialty remains a fried dumpling called seijō-kankidan, which is believed to be the oldest confection that was introduced to Japan. READ MORE →   HIDDEN HISTORY Paris’s Black Americans During the 20th century, Black Americans traveled to Paris for opportunities that America denied them. The City of Light is the place where James Baldwin and Richard Wright once feuded over Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son. It’s also the place where Josephine Baker danced and ate lunch with her pet cheetah, Chiquita. Monique Wells set out to trace these journeys and more through her company called Entrée to Black Paris, a hub for walking tours, Creole cooking classes, and tours of major museums highlighting images of Black people in Western art. READ MORE →   SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Psychic Chicken of Seattle Try your (c)luck at this amusement machine. It houses a spinning rubber chicken set atop a pile of plastic eggs; for just a few quarters, the Psychic Chicken will spin and squawk as it considers your fortune. The machine then dispenses one of the eggs, which has a unique fortune inside. Better hope that fortune isn’t a fowl one. READ MORE →   ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS Colors of India Rajasthan is India at its most colorful. This adventure uncovers every shade of the rainbow as you gaze upon rosy Hawa Mahal and its 953 windows, roam the ornate mosaic halls of Amber Fort, and explore the dazzling "Blue City" of Jodhpur. Loop the “Land of Kings” from Delhi and back to spot leopards on a safari, wander street markets and bazaars, and experience the cultural maze of Jaipur. BOOK NOW →