Elyse Ribbons
@elyseribbons
Sinophile, Media Maven, owner of Chengdu Teahouse in Lansing, Michigan and former China resident for 20+ years #woolfer
Chongqing is always such a trip. This city feels like being a piece on a Star Trek Chess board. Filming day one went well, now to survive today! #somuchhot #chongqing #riversideviews #重庆市 #chongqingnightview
When you lose a week to intestinal disaster you have to start tripling up your gigs - so yesterday I convinced my TaiChi master to work with me at the same park I needed to film a promo for and amazingly it all went better than planned, plus the kiddo got to play while mama got paid to work out!
Working on my long spout teapot 长嘴壶茶艺表演 skills for a CCTV3 show I’m filming this weekend - it’s been too hot to rehearse outside during daylight hours so I’ve been risking poking out my own eye to practice in the dark at night 🤣 #chengduchina #somuchheat #长嘴壶 #长嘴壶茶艺 #longspoutteapot
That feeling when you’re wandering around the Panda Base in Chengdu and stumble upon the perfect add for your teahouse… Wishing all the best for all the participants of @scrapfestartfestival today! #mahjongvibes #chengduteahouse #oldtownlansing #chengdupandabase #smallbizmarketingtips
你能猜猜我要飞回哪里去呢 Can you guess where I’m flying to? ✈️ #柳柳爱玩 #leavingonajetplane #机器人 #普吉机场 #phuketairport
Late night wanderings on the beach followed by some quality hammock and conversation time with the kiddo is absolutely the most wonderful thing. Feeling such gratitude for being able to have a moment like this 🌙 I have traveled a TON for work but rarely have I ever actually just vacationed.
While wandering thru Old Town Phuket the kiddo and I stumbled across this amazing doaThai chocolate shop - the most amazing hot chocolate I’ve ever had! #oldtownphuket #paradai #paradaichocolate #旅游攻略 #柳柳爱吃
Chilled hibiscus tea is a fantastic way to stay hydrated in these insanely hot temps - you can add rosebuds for some natural sweetness or fresh lime juice for a citrus kick 🌺 Stay safe and stay cool Lansing! #hibiscustea🌺 #chilledhibiscusicetea #chengduteahouse #michiganheatwave #lansingsummer
misogyny/racism so intrinsically American that some folks voted twice (or even thrice!) for the 🍊💩 we gotta do better. #reflectingpoolalgae #reflectingpool #americanabroad #americanexpat #phukettiktok
One of my favorite things about traveling in other countries is trying out all of the wonderful weird and wacky new (to me) flavors. While I love bean desserts common in Asia, I’m not a fan of bean yogurt but prune on the other hand was quite tasty!😋
Happy Pride from Old Town Phuket!!!🌈 (Ok @lansingpride we gotta do an exchange for next Summer - get some of the amazing angels of Phuket Old Town crew over to Lansing’s lovely Old Town and vice versa!) #phuketpride #oldtownphuket #普吉岛 #爱就是爱 #loveislove♥️
For all the cool kids coming out for @lansingpride in Old Town today, don’t stress about overstimulation - swing by Chengdu Teahouse for a cuppa and a chill environment to decompress and rest before heading back out for more Pride Joy 🌈🍵 #lansingpride #oldtownlansing #chengduteahouse #loveislove
First meal in Asia - met up with friends in Shangers for a quick bite before heading out to Thailand on another flight tonight 🫕 Amazing how suddenly, now that the vegetables are cooked the right way, the kiddo just loves eating her greens! 🥬 We are so happy to be back 😄 #shanghaiforaday #柳柳爱旅游
Getting ready to embark on a 2 month trek across Asia w the little one - of course I’m using up every last second to pack bc part of the process involves me organizing my #doompiles and I came across this little drawing and yeah, taking a much deserved break to share this moment of joy with you
So excited that we have finally launched the #Zeffy campaign for the Sister City exchange trip this Summer! We are taking 12 middle and high schoolers from Lansing to visit our Sister City in China, Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia - please support if you can! 🐎 www.zeffy.com/en-US/donati...
procrastinating from packing by working on another project & since I don’t have the cables to use any of my old hard drives I’m going thru ye olde baidu trying to find photos of my Chinese opera stuff - came across this one really hoping I can find some time to hang in the Hutongs again this Summer
Reading this book while looking for inspiration for material for a new Chinese standup set and “playing beach” with the kiddo on the deck - does this still count as body doubling? #comedywriter #pokingadeadfrog #momminglikeaboss #fueledbytea #cozyreadingspot
today had an impromptu #rawpuer tasting with this beautiful cake and YUM - it was the greenest pu’er any of us had tried, and the flavor notes were best summed up as buttery biscuit with a hint of apricot jam 🍑 Always fun hanging out with fellow #teanerds 🍃 #生普洱 #chengduteahouse
The danger of stocking fresh baked cookies from @honeybunbakerymi is that they aren’t just pretty, they’re really tasty too! 😋 Just loved how the colors of the flowers matched so perfectly my dress and cup of #bluetea 🌷 #chengduteahouse #heartshapedcookie #butterflypeaflowertea #honeybunbakery
Can’t believe the Interlochen Writers Retreat is over! Oddly enough I have no words to describe how awesome the last week has been! Amazing teachers! Amazing cohorts of writer-peers! Amazing new friends! Amazing huge pile of books to read! Amazing amount of exclamation points! #michiganwriters
Dear Black China Experts: I’m leading a group of students from Lansing to visit our sister city in China and when students/families ask me about what it’s like to be a person of color in China I wanted to be able to provide more genuine responses. If you dont want to share publicly plz DM 🌸
Nothing like welcoming in the weekend with music and green tea 🫖 #盖碗 #chengduteahouse #800G #gaiwan #gongfucha
I’m thinking about starting to offer Chinese noodles dishes for takeaway or outdoor dining (I’d like to keep the the teahouse floral scented) as I am feeling inspired to share good and healthy Chinese food with folks too… 🍜 #uschineserestaurantalliance #美中餐营业联合会 #chengduteahouse #chicagochinatown
I love nothing more than sharing educational tidbits about China or Tea with our customers here at the teahouse - and mostly always worry that I’m talking off their ear!
It is such an honor to be recognized by the US China Restaurant Alliance and receiving the Outstanding Contribution Award for Promoting Chinese Culinary Culture Globally 🌸
We are thinking about doing a Mandarin Meetup for all the folks who studied Chinese over the years and want to keep up their skills and practice. Would Thursdays at 5:30 or 6pm be a good time for folks? We might show a Chinese film or something too - zenmeyang? #lansingmichigan #chengduteahouse
For a moment, when trapped in an elevator earlier tonight, I wondered if maybe there’d been a glitch in the matrix… and then I realized I’d been up for 22 hours and it was probably just a negligent property manager #elevatorlife #elevatorblues #expirationdate #2014 #visitchicagoland
I used to think my biggest pet peeve was hearing American media folks pronounce Beijing with a soft J but I’ve recently heard people butchering Xi Jinping’s surname bc the X throws them off - it’s really not hard to pronounce these names correctly with a little help 😄 #trumpinchina
On this Mother’s Day I thought it might be a nice opportunity to plug the Prenatal Yoga class I teach at People’s Yoga in REOtown - every Saturday at 12:45 🧘♀️ It’s such a joy for me to teach prenatal and help mamas better connect with their changing bodies and making space for the new to come! 👶