Jessica Pan's Blog: Graduates in Wonderland, page 2

Bake These Tarts, Bag Your Own Tyrannical King

If you’re always a bridesmaid, never a bride, don’t fret. Attracting the perfectmate is time-consuming and difficult in the best of times. But there’s an easier way, and it dates back to the 16thcentury. Ifyou’ve been watching Wolf Hall and want that really joyful time in history to be your reality, then this is the recipe for you!

To ensnare a royal husband, take a leaf out of Anne Boleyn’s rulebook. In 1526, she was a lowly attendant to various queens until, allegedly, in the company of Kin...

Repost: How I Landed My Two Dream Jobs

This is the second in an ongoing series in which we interview people who have interesting jobs and get them to tell us how they landed them. They will also reveal how they handled the transition to the real world after graduation —

Sometimes to find out what you really want to do with your life and where you really want to be, you have to crawl. You have to go work hard, sometimes at jobs that aren’t so great. You have to slog through a lot to get recognized. For some, the crawling, struggling...

Winter Survival: Almanzo Wilder’s Apple Pie

There were preserves and jams and jellies and doughnuts. But best of all, Almanzo liked the spicy apple pie, with its thick, rich juice and crumbly crust. He ate two big wedges of the pie.–Farmer Boy, 1933

*The apple pie looked delicious, its homemade lard and flour crust glistening and golden.

“Is this one of those desserts you made for your pioneer food experiment?” Sam asked, poking it. He took a small bite. “It tastes…oh, it tastes good!”–Consultant, 2014*

Last Friday was Almanzo Wilder’s 15...

Friggatriskaidekaphobia Cold Fruit Soup

Today is Friday the 13th—fear of this date, known asfriggatriskaidekaphobia, is named after Frigg, the Norse goddess whose name inspired the word “Friday.” Norse mythology has it that 12 gods were having a lovely banquet at Valhalla when Loki, the god of mischiefwho was not invited, showed up, bringing the number of diners to 13.

You know what happens when an uninvited guest comes over and crashes the banquet? Total chaos and the death of a “good god” named Balder and many, many tears.

With tha...

How To Get Fat In New York*

Last fall, I flew to New York under the guise of supporting Sam Singer while he ran 26.2 miles in the freezing cold wind through all five of the city’s boroughs (aka the New York City Marathon or something).

Meanwhile, I engaged in a week-long, full-on eating marathon.

After several days of eating out in New York, my tight jeans proved that I emerged triumphant.

New York City harbors most food trends before they make it to the rest of the country. With my New Yorker friends in tow, the culinary...

Winter of Discontent

What I like to pretend I look like when I run in London

Here’s a post I wrote for The Daily Telegraph about my training for my first half-marathon in Brighton, England. Don’t expect pro advice, though. I’m just hoping to finish/show up. Here’s how it’s going so far:

Midway through my 3-mile run in London, my lungs and legs feel too heavy to continue and I stop abruptly, breathing heavily and hunched over. I have lost all my former fitness and my running stamina has slid back to zero.

As I try to...

It’s 11/11! Happy Singles Day!

Who needs a lover when you can have Pocky?

In the book, I mention my favorite late-night snack / hangover snack in Beijing: Pocky (or Pepero in other countries) It’s a crunchy cookie shaped like a stick and half-covered in chocolate (or white chocolate, strawberry and green tea icing). It is perfect for snacking while binging on DVDS or sitting on your orange couch trying to summon the will to make dinner (I hear…).

November 11 is a day to celebrate being single and we eat Pocky because the sti...

Make Paris Yours

Paris is a tricky, slippery little city. It can be like a grandmother: gorgeous, bedecked in jewels and richness. Or it can be like a punk-ass teenager: dirty, assuming attitudes, out until dawn. It can be a scholarly middle-aged man, going to the same cafes and perpetually reading the same books; it can be a distant but chicly beautiful thirty-something woman, clacking her heels through the metro.

The thing is that Paris is so many things that everyone’s experience of the city, though built o...

Gilmore Girls Movie?

Your best friends, and ours, too

In case you were wondering about the best thing that’s ever happened to us, it was when Gilmore Girls creator, writer and producer, Amy Sherman-Palladino called us up and told us she loved Graduates in Wonderland and wanted to make our book into a movie. Okay, so that’s not technically a GG movie, but it might be the closest we ever get. She’s basically our hero. Amy SP sounded just like a real life Lorelai Gilmore on the phone, she was very kind, and she was v...

Lizzy Caplan Cover Story!

“I like to collect things. I’m good at it” —

Lizzy Caplan, being coooool

As “research” for my cover article about the beautiful Lizzy Caplan (star of Masters of Sex and previously known as playing Janis Ian from Mean Girls), I came across this short funny video of an artistically shot “Fashion Film” spoof by Matthew Frost starring the actress. Enjoy!

Last week I interviewed the actress (who was very cool, as expected), so I guess I’ll get back to finishing my article….

“I just made my art…collage...