The team of people that makes Blue Buddha work is a multi-talented one (for proof – check out our B3 Talent Show from last year’s employee retreat!)  While our web guy Matt is best known around here for making our website work (a very important role for an online business!) and even more well known by some as being the man behind Graveyards of Illinois, only a close few may be aware of his culinary talents.

Part of Rebeca’s weekly dinner group, Matt is known for taking on some epic ideas when it becomes his turn to host the meal.  This month however, he took it to a whole new level recreating the first class dinner from the Titanic to honor the 100 year anniversary.

We knew many of you would get a kick out of seeing what he created and reading about how he did it.  Continue reading below to find out how a meal from 100 years ago got reinvented for this special occasion.

How did you come up with the idea to recreate the dinner from Titanic?

I’ve always liked the Victorian/Edwardian aesthetic – mainly because of my explorations of graveyards and architecture from that period.  This year, I’ve been watching Downton Abbey, which put that time period, and that style, back in mind again.  With the 100th anniversary coming up, it seemed a natural choice, and I didn’t want to let such an occasion pass without doing something to commemorate it.

How much research went into it?  When did the planning begin?

Thankfully, others have done the research for me, so I had only to follow directions.  There’s a book, Last Dinner on the Titanic, with all the recipes required, photos of the ship’s interior, and plenty of logistical suggestions. There are also blog posts, with photos, from others who have cooked this menu in the past. I started planning it in February, a few days after the previous occasion where I’d hosted for the group.

Menus from all three classes of accommodations survived from the last day – some of the survivors or victims had put them in their pockets earlier.  I ordered the book, and used the menu images I found online to make my own menus.  My menu uses items from the first-class menu, but the letterhead and typography of the second-class menu – visually, it was more interesting. (click on the image to the left for a larger view of one.)

Because of the dietary needs of your dinner group, you adapted everything to be pescetarian (and even healthy/low cholesterol etc.!)  How difficult was that to do?

To the Edwardians, the four basic food groups were meat, fish, cream, and alcohol – not a fresh vegetable in sight! Fortunately, the menu was extensive enough that I had plenty of items to choose from.  The original first-class menu had twenty-four items on it (not counting sauces and garnishes), and I chose only about half of those – eliminating the meat dishes entirely, but accurately reproducing the fish dishes, with a few minor substitutions: Earth Balance instead of butter, almond milk in the place of cream, mushrooms or mushroom broth in the place of meat.

The mousseline sauce for salmon, for example, is a hollandaise with whipped cream folded in.  I made the hollandaise as usual but then used almond milk instead of whipped cream, which gave an entirely different texture, but probably tasted close enough to the original.   I used that same substitution for the minty green pea timbales (pureed pea and mint baked in custard cups) and there it made even less of a difference.  For the sauteed chicken, I used Quorn, an artificial meat substitute that has the texture of chicken, and a similar mild taste.  And making “pâté de foie gras” out of shiitake mushrooms and walnuts instead of goose liver is both considerably healthier and much less cruel.

One dish I wanted to do was “Vegetable Marrow Farcie” – marrows (zucchini) hollowed out and stuffed with their own cubed flesh, rice, mushrooms, cheese and herbs.  It turned out to be impossible to find zucchini of the right size this time of year in Chicago – none were more than an inch and a quarter in diameter.  So, I ended up dropping that item at the last minute, resulting in a very fish-heavy menu, with shrimp, oysters, scallops, and salmon.

Which was your favorite course?

Consommé Olga.  Several pounds of mushrooms were reduced to a few cups of broth, which was also flavoured with imitation beef bullion, wine, bell pepper, celery and parsley; the broth was wonderfully complex, rich, and aromatic. It was then served with a scallop and other garnishes, providing a contrasting taste and texture.  (Matt was generous enough to share his recipe for this dish – check it out at the end of this post!)

Never one for skimping on the details, you added other historical touches too didn’t you?  What were they?

A week before the event, I mailed reproductions of a Titanic first-class ticket to the guests – copies of the only surviving ticket, that of a vicar who missed the boarding because his wife was ill.  Guests were encouraged to dress in Edwardian fashion, and several wore long dresses, lace, ruffles, or elaborate feathered hats.  I myself wore an approximation of a gentleman’s evening dress, with white vest, white bow tie, and black suit jacket (though, more properly, it should be a tailcoat, but I didn’t want to spend a fortune).

When the guests arrived, the 1958 movie A Night to Remember was playing on the television, and a 20-inch wooden model of the ship stood at the center of the table, flanked by bronze candelabra.  Each place setting featured a napkin folded in the same style used in the Titanic’s dining room (as shown in a photo from that era) and a printed menu, with the letterhead and typography imitating that of the ship’s actual menus.  During the meal we listened to an album of music that had been played aboard the ship, such as “Orpheus in the Underworld” and Scott Joplin’s work.  We drank a toast to the shipbuilding company’s chief designer and naval architect, Thomas Andrews, who went down with his ship; he was last seen standing sorrowfully at the fireplace in the room to which the passengers had retired after this dinner was originally served.

You achieved Titanic greatness with this meal, what’s your next epic dinner going to be?

No idea; it’ll probably be another year before I do something as complex as this.  I’ll be hosting again for the same group of friends some time in May, but I’ll take it easy next time.  Sushi, maybe, as that always goes over well, and there’s not as much washing-up to do.

Consommé Olga

The Consommé was a hybrid of two recipes – the broth came from The New Now and Zen Epicure, a vegan cookbook by Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner; the solid bits came from Last Dinner on the Titanic, by Archbold & McCauley.

Consommé recipe, abbreviated:

• Soak about 30 dried shiitake mushrooms and half a packet of dried porcini in 8 cups boiling water for a few hours; remove, coarsely chop, and return mushrooms to soaking liquid.
• Add 1 pound fresh brown mushrooms, 2 cups red wine, 1/4 cup shoyu, 3 bullion cubes, simmer an hour or two.
• Add 2 red bell peppers, sliced, and some roughly chopped celery and parsley stems, simmer another 20m (this adds sweetness & aroma).  Add salt and pepper.
• Remove solids and press in juicer or cheesecloth to extract as much liquid as possible.
• Refrigerate for a few days, reheating quickly only a few minutes before needed.

To serve (as “Consommé Olga”):

• Cut half of a celeriac (celery root) into matchsticks and blanch them.
• Poach one jumbo sea scallop per person in court bullion (a broth made from various herbs and white wine) until just cooked through; slice each scallop into three disks, & place in center of bowl.
• Scatter celeriac matchsticks, parsley stems, and a few parsley leaves in bowls, and ladle in hot broth. (Though it wasn’t called for in the recipe, I’d blanch the parsley stems next time, make them a bit less raw and woody).

Anniversary · B3 Employees · Matt Hucke · Pescetarian · recreation · Titanic Dinner · Vegetarian

You may have noticed that the logo in the upper left-hand corner of our website is looking a little extra “festive” today – that’s because it’s Blue Buddha’s 9th Birthday!  We are so excited to be celebrating 9 years.  We’ve come such a long way in that short time – growing from Rebeca working out of her spare bedroom to fill her handful of weekly orders to a team of 13 employees, supplying people in all 50 states and 40 countries with our top-quality chainmaille jewelry supplies.  Here’s a big thanks to B3′s customers, supporters, mentors, designers and employees for getting us this far and here’s to many, many, more!

Our jump rings surprised us with a party – complete with noisemakers, party hats and of course, cake!

A close up of our cakes (left) and Rebeca’s mom, Rita stands in for Rebeca (who is out at a leadership retreat this week) to blow out the candles (right).

Some of our team members mugging for the camera – from left: Max, Erik, Nadja & Jason (making a fashion statement with our decorations!)

Nom Nom Nom!  We love cake – a vanilla cake with strawberries (left) and a chocolate, chocolate, chocolate cake (right) – our jump rings know us so well!

We also wanted to share some very sweet birthday wishes we received from our community members on Facebook.  Thanks for all your kind words – we love you right back!

Happy Birthday to the biggest and best Chainmaille supplier – Tammy R.

Happy Birthday, and here’s to many more! Thanks for helping making all my ring-crazy dreams come true! – Jo H.

Happy birthday, B3! At the rate you’re growing, world domination won’t take as long as we all first thought. Hope y’all find a bigger home soon and we can play during open studio again. – Lisa S.

Happy Birthday, and congratulations! I remember taking some of Rebeca’s early classes at Caravan, and am so proud of all the wonderful changes over the years. Here’s to many more birthdays! – Sharon B.D.

Happy creative dream to permanent reality day! – Melissa L.

Happy birthday to the greatest business that supports my addiction to chain maille! – Audra P.

Happy birthday, B3! So glad you are there to inspire (and supply!) us chainmaille fanatics. ♥ – Meridy M.

Happy Happy Birthday! I hope there are 100 more!!! – Meta G.

Happy Birthday B3, may your pliers stay strong and your reign be long! – Deni C.

B3 Employees · blue buddha birthday · Blue Buddha Boutique anniversary · just for fun

In honor of all things warm, fluffy and loving on Valentine’s Day, we thought we’d give some love to some of our sweethearts – our pets!  The B3 staff is a big group of animal lovers and many of us have pets that share our homes and give us love everyday.  What better way to celebrate a holiday all about love than to celebrate these animals that bring so much of it into our lives.  Sit back and get ready to say, “Awwww.”

Have a pet you’d like to honor for Valentine’s Day?  Leave your message to them in the comments section below!

Pet Name: Marley
Animal/Breed Info: He is a cat of the feline nature.
Pet Age: 6 Years old
Belongs to: Dan (B3 Quality Controller)



My pet and I are alike because…. we both sit in chairs the same way and we both like Monster Energy Drinks. Well he likes the box at least.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pet…. if he loves me he’ll stop snuggling my feet while I’m walking up the stairs.

Pet Name: Jasper, many nicknames Pinchy, Boo, Moo, PeePee, MOMMA! ,Rum Baba Goo, Goo-Boo, Jabby (nickname given by B3 co-workers!)
Animal/Breed Info: Jasper is a beautiful young lady who is a Black Lab/ Dachshund mix
Pet Age: 6 Years old
Belongs to: Lisa (B3 Order Processor)

My pet and I are alike because…. we both like naps, long walks and cookies..
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pet…. “I ROVE YOU!” we will be friends FUR-ever!”

Pet Names: Apollosaurus Aleksandr & Zeela Simone
Animal/Breed Info: Domestic shorthair
Pet Age: Apollo = 3, Zeela is 2 1/2 (And yes, these kitties are an unusual father-daughter pair.)
Belongs to: Rebeca (B3 Owner + Founder)

My pet and I are alike because….
Apollo and I are alike because we both love hanging out with people.
Zeela and I are alike because we both can be really hyper at times.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pets…. if only you knew how lucky you really have it, you little boogers.

Pet Name: Sesame
Animal/Breed Info: Afghan Hound
Pet Age: 5 Years old
Belongs to: Kat (B3 Product Developer + Order Processor)



My pet and I are alike because…. we both are fussy, can’t get comfortable when sitting or laying down and love watching animal TV shows.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pet…. that it would be nice if she let me sleep in past 6:30am sometimes, because I am tired from working so hard to make her life easy.

Pet Names: Nacho (Orange) & Lloyd (Grey)
Animal/Breed Info: Tabby cats
Pet Age: Both are 10 Years old
Belongs to: Kat (B3 Product Developer + Order Processor)



My pet and I are alike because…. we both like to talk a lot, miss each other when not in the same room and love to cuddle.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pets…. I love both of your soft, furry bodies, stinky breath and cute meows. You make me very happy.

Pet Name: Roscoe
Animal/Breed Info: Tabby cat
Pet Age: 2 Years old
Belongs to: Emily (B3 Quality Controller + Order Processor)



My pet and I are alike because…. we both love naps and snacks.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pet…. that he is my one and only.

Pet Name: Isis
Animal/Breed Info: Turkish Angora
Pet Age: 4 Years old
Belongs to: Aimee (B3 Customer Service Specialist)



My pet and I are alike because…. we both like to cuddle.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pet…. I wuv you ms. fuzzy muffins!

Pet Name: Bat, aka Batty Bat (named after this)
Animal/Breed Info: Demon
Pet Age: less than 1 Year old
Belongs to: Artie (B3 Quality Controller + Order Processor)



My pet and I are alike because…. we are both in love with the humidifier.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pet…. “I love you, but I think you’re secretly plotting to take over the world.”

Pet Names: Stimpy, Pepper and Squishy
Animal/Breed Info: Stimpy and Pepper are Tortoiseshells and Squishy is an Orange Tabby.
Pet Age: Stimpy is 10. Squishy and Pepper are both 9.
Belongs to: Nadja (B3 General Operations Manager)



My pet and I are alike because…. we both like to lounge incessantly and talk back.
This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pets…. that I wish I could clone them.

And last but not least, the managerie that lives at B3′s Inventory Coordinator, Jen‘s house!

Pet Names, breeds and ages:



Stanley, tabby, 8.5 years old







Dell, tabby, 8.5 years old






Lil’ Blackie, um…black cat? Not sure of the breed – she was a stray that decided to waltz right into the house one day and she didn’t bring her papers, a year old







Mation, German Shorthair, 6.5 years old







Dougie, part terrier, part I don’t know…another stray that won us over, 4 years old





My pet and I are alike because…. we both practice good oral hygiene.

This Valentines day, I’d like to tell my pets…. that they better be good because if another stray comes along, one of them has to go. Just kidding, of course. I would tell them that if they can understand what I’m saying, stop waking me up before my alarm goes off. I work, so I definitely need more sleep than you. And finally, I would tell them that I wouldn’t know what to do without a single one of them. You guys rule.

B3 Employees · cats · dogs · pets · valentine's day

We find color inspiration for our chainmaille jewelry projects everywhere – nature, fashion forecasts, our favorite paintings, and even music.  A diverse group with diverse tastes, we knew that challenging the B3 team to create color palettes based on their favorite bands and muscians would generate some pretty rockin’ inspiration.  In honor of our upcoming Featured Product Contest for January, every palette is created using enameled copper jump ring colors.  Enjoy and rock on!

(Photo: Rebeca as Guns N’ Roses rocker Slash for Halloween 2007 and yes, that’s her natural hair!)

Rebeca Mojica - B3 Owner & Founder
Favorite Musician/Band: Aerosmith
Music Genre: Rock
Colors: Black, Non-tarnish gold & Red








Why these colors? Black is the obvious choice for this band, since they wear a lot of black and many of their album covers have a lot of black. The other colors are used because they appear often on album colors … and on the flames of Steven’s Mama Kin tattoo, which of course, I also have as a tattoo.

Nadja Aller - B3 General Operations Manager
Favorite Musician/Band: Hank Williams Sr.
Music Genre: Country
Colors: Gunmetal, Amber & Burgundy






Why these colors? Boot leather, Whiskey and Sorrow.   <——–  in like order.

Jenna Deidel - B3 Social Branding Coordinator & Marketing Assistant
Favorite Musician/Band: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Music Genre: Rock
Colors: Bright Blue, Orange & Amber






Why these colors? These are the colors used in my favorite album cover (for my favorite album of theirs) “Californication”. I played this CD until it died when it first came out.

Emily Fiks - B3 Quality Controller, Order Processor
Favorite Musician/Band: The Ramones
Music Genre: Rock n’ roll/Punk
Colors: Bright Blue, Black & Non-tarnish silver






Why these colors? Black and Non-Tarnish Silver to represent their emblem/ shield logo, and also had to throw in bright blue to represent their blue jeans. Black can represent their leather jackets too.

Jen Hohe - B3 Inventory Coordinator & Weaver
Favorite Musician/Band: I have never been able to choose because I like so many different types of music. So, I am going to go with a genre that I really like – the 80′s.  I’m really nostalgic so this music reminds me of being a kid.
Music Genre: 80′s rock
Colors: Fuchsia, Orange & Lime






Why these colors? It is always bold, neon or fluorescent colors that come to mind when I think of this decade.

Artie Keefe - B3 Quality Controller, Order Processor
Favorite Musician/Band: Against Me!
Music Genre: Punk/Rock
Colors: Black, Red & Yellow






Why these colors? They stuck to a limited set of colors for a long time – when you’re copying inserts and silk screening record covers by hand, one or two colors are a lot more affordable. Their older records are simple and gritty, but sometimes you don’t need more than a few chords or colors to make something feel timeless.

Aimee Leang - B3 Customer Service Specialist
Favorite Musician/Band: Queens Of The Stone Age
Music Genre: Rock
Colors: Fuchsia, Lime & Yellow








Why these colors? These were the colors used on their last album cover Era Vulgaris.

Lisa Rosenberg - B3 Order Processor
Favorite Musician/Band: Björk
Music Genre: Many including pop, alternative rock, electronic, classical folk and more
Colors: Sea foam, Peacock Blue, Lavender, and Pink. (I know you said 3 colors but I neeeeed 4 or I will die.)






Why these colors? The reson behind my color choices are based on the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) that are a big part of her life being from Iceland and all. I also based these colors on the “Vespertine” album, my personal favorite and features the song “Aurora.” Listen to the song and you can see the colors swirl around you. *sigh*

Kat Wisniewski - B3 Product Developer, Order Processor
Favorite Musician/Band: The White Stripes
Music Genre: Heavy Blues Rock
Colors: Red, Black & Non-Tarnish Silver






Why these colors? That is their colors that appear on every album cover, every concert, every appearance.  The band retired last year and is no longer  together

We also posed the question to our fans on Facebook and they had some great responses (pasted below.)  Have a palette idea inspired by your favorite musician?  Post it in the comments below!

Frann R. – Red, White and black for the guitar that I first saw Eddie Van Halen play back in 1984 on the Diver Down tour.

Darlene O. – Black and Non-tarnish silver for VNV Nation – though really they are more of an iridescent gunmetal.

Lisa S. – I have no one top fav, but Madonna would be a light blue, gold and sliver. Flogging Molly would be black, gold and green. Black Keys would be a fire mix. I could go on but…

Diane B. - I love the Fleetwood Mac song, Blue Letter (with silver words): so dark blue and silver!

Jaime M. – Blue, sliver and black for some blue suede shoes; pink, black, and red for those bricks in the wall; green, silver and gold with some sparkly crystals for Sir Elton himself, lol. I’m sure I can keep going!

B3 Employees · bands · color palette · music

We have declared this week “Show Off Your Maille” week.  Each day, we’ll be wearing some of our favorite pieces of maille (made by us and others) and posting pics of what we wore to work here on our blog.  Today’s pics feature two of our amazing order processors, Lisa and Artie.  Both of them are super-crafty in so many ways – it’s not surprising each of these pieces were made by them.

Lisa’s Sterling Silver, European 4-1 Bracelet with Indian clasp:

Artie’s awesome wallet chain:

Help us spread the addiction!  Wear your maille with pride this week and post pics of yourself in your maille to our wall on Facebook.  Friday’s blog post will feature your photos!

B3 Employees · chain mail wallet chain · chainmaille jewelry · show off your maille