Stories From Story Feast Collective
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Recipe: Pear, Caramelized Onion, Walnut & Stilton Tart + The Monastery Method
Recipe: Pear, Caramelized Onion, Walnut & Stilton Tart + The Monastery Method | Story Feast
A savory pear, caramelized onion, walnut, and Stilton puff pastry tart recipe from cookbook author Jody Eddy, paired with the story behind The Monastery Method — 30 days of ancient monastic practices for modern living. Simple, seasonal, and meant to be shared.
Pear, Caramelized Onion, Walnut & Stilton Tart
Several years ago, I found myself standing at the entrance to Thikse, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Indian Himalayas. My mother had died unexpectedly a few months earlier. I was looking for something I couldn't name. A young monk in burgundy robes gestured for me to follow him to the kitchen, where the morning fire was already burning. He handed me a wooden paddle and showed me how to stir the massive pot of butter tea. We didn't share a language, but we shared the fire, the stirring, the simple, ritualistic task performed the same way it had been performed for centuries.
That trip was the beginning of a journey that would take me to over a dozen monasteries, temples, and spiritual communities across four continents. The research became two cookbooks: Elysian Kitchens for W.W. Norton and Eat Like A Monk for Simon & Schuster. But the wisdom I gathered went far beyond recipes.
What the Monks Taught Me
The practitioners I met weren't escaping the world. They were paying deep attention to it. They had rituals that anchored their days. They ate with presence. They rested without guilt. They worked with their hands. They welcomed strangers. They found joy in simplicity. And they'd been doing this through wars, plagues, famines, and political upheaval for centuries.
When I started teaching workshops based on this research, for Fortune 500 companies, libraries, and community groups, I realized people weren't just interested in the stories. They were looking for the practices. The same questions came up again and again: How do I stay grounded when everything feels chaotic? How do I build routines that actually stick? How do I find meaning when the world feels like it's falling apart?
The Monastery Method
This Is Why I Created The Monastery Method
I distilled everything I've learned from the monks into a 30-day guide: The Monastery Method: 30 Days of Ancient Practices for Modern Living.
It's organized into four weeks:
Foundations (morning rituals, eating with attention, simplicity, gratitude, rest)
Nourishment (food as medicine, wasting nothing, preservation, movement, cooking for others)
Connection (hospitality, listening, service, forgiveness, sacred meals)
Integration (resilience, joy, generosity, designing your own sustainable practice)
Each day includes a story from my travels, the principle behind the practice, concrete steps to try, and reflection questions. It's not religious instruction. It's not wellness fluff. The practices are grounded in tradition, history, and science, and most require around 15 minutes per day. I also included 14 recipes from my cookbooks and downloadable worksheets to help you design your own path forward.
Thirty days is long enough to establish a morning ritual that anchors your day. Long enough to change how you relate to food, rest, and the people around you. Long enough to discover that the peace you've been seeking isn't somewhere else. It's available right here, in the ordinary moments you've been rushing past.
A Monastery Kind of Tart
The recipe below reflects the practices in The Monastery Method. This is the kind of dish I make when I want to gather people around a table without spending the whole day in the kitchen. It starts with a single sheet of puff pastry and becomes something that feels special without a lot of effort. The onions caramelize slowly, the pears soften as they bake, the Stilton adds just enough richness and depth without overwhelming. Fresh thyme. A scattering of walnuts. Cut it into six pieces. Set it in the middle of the table. Invite people to gather.
This is monastery cooking to me: not austere, not complicated, but intentional. Food that asks you to slow down long enough to let the onions caramelize. Food that assumes you'll share it.
Pear, Caramelized Onion, Walnut, and Stilton Puff Pastry Tart
Makes 1 large tart (serves 6) Prep Time: 45 minutes
This is the kind of food I return to again and again when I want something that feels both comforting and celebratory without causing me too much trouble. It's something meant to be shared. A single sheet of puff pastry becomes a generous tart, cut into six pieces and set in the middle of the table. The sweetness of caramelized onions and pears, the subtle robustness of toasted walnuts, and the salty depth of Stilton come together in a way that feels fortifying without being heavy.
It's simple to prepare, but it asks for presence: time to let the onions soften and deepen in flavor, to layer thoughtfully, to gather people and pause long enough to eat together. This is the kind of dish I think about when I think about the monasteries. It's not austerity, but nourishment; not complexity, but intention. Food that steadies you, that holds warmth, that reminds you to slow down and share what you have.
Ingredients:
1 sheet (225g/8oz) frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 tbsp (30ml) unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 medium pears, cored and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
40g (1½oz) walnuts, roughly chopped
75g (2½oz) Stilton cheese, crumbled (or whatever cheese you prefer)
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp cold water
Flaky sea salt, for finishing
Freshly cracked black pepper, for finishing
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Transfer the puff pastry sheet to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, lightly score a 2cm (¾ inch) border around the edge, being careful not to cut all the way through. Prick the center all over with a fork. Refrigerate while you prepare the toppings.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, deeply golden, and caramelized, about 25–30 minutes. Reduce the heat if they begin to color too quickly. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Assemble the tart. Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the center of the puff pastry, staying within the scored border. Arrange the pear slices on top in even rows. Sprinkle with the thyme leaves, followed by the chopped walnuts. Crumble the Stilton over the tart, allowing space for the other flavors to come through.
Brush the border of the puff pastry with the egg wash for a golden finish.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and deeply golden and the pears are tender. Rotate the pan halfway through if needed for even browning.
Finish and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5–10 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Cut into six pieces and serve warm or at room temperature.
This tart is best enjoyed the day it's made, shared slowly, preferably with people you trust and time you've intentionally kept open.
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Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
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Drinks: Every Beverage We Served at Our Inaugural Story Feast Gathering
The Drinks Table: Every Beverage We Served at Our Inaugural Story Feast Gathering
From Brother Justus whiskey to Northstar Kombucha, every beverage at our inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey was local, artisan, and chosen to celebrate Minnesota's makers. Alcoholic and nonalcoholic options, no formal pairings, just great drinks for everyone.
Hibiscus Raspberry Kombucha from Northstar Kombucha
At a Story Feast gathering, the drinks matter just as much as the food. Not because we fuss over formal pairings or tell you what to drink with each course. It’s because every bottle, tumbler, and glass on the table tells a story about the place where you're sitting.
At our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey, we wanted the beverage table to feel like a tour of Minnesota's best craft and artisan producers. Whiskey built on Benedictine values. Kombucha brewed in small batches in Minneapolis. Cider pressed from heirloom apples grown just down the road. Wine donated by the monks themselves. A sparkling nonalcoholic beverage developed with Michelin-starred chefs. Craft beer from the Stillwater’s very first taproom.
All of it local or independent. All of it made by people who care deeply about what goes into the bottle.
And all of it available to you, however you wanted it.
There was an open bar throughout the entire Story Feast event
Your Table, Your Way
Here's something we believe in strongly at Story Feast: we don't do formal beverage pairings.
There's no sommelier telling you which glass to reach for with each course. No card at your place setting suggesting the "correct" combination. No pressure to drink alcohol at all.
Instead, we set the table with a generous spread of extraordinary options and let you choose what feels right. Maybe that's a whiskey cocktail during the cocktail hour and kombucha with dinner. Maybe it's cider all night. Maybe it's TÖST from start to finish. Maybe you start with a beer, switch to wine, and end with a Pommeau from Milk & Honey.
We trust you to know what you like. Our job is to make sure every option on the table is worth reaching for, whether it contains alcohol or not. Nonalcoholic beverages aren't an afterthought at Story Feast. They're given the same care, the same quality, and the same prominence as everything else.
Because hospitality means everyone at the table feels celebrated.
The Brother Justus cocktail being prepared
The Beverages
Brother Justus Whiskey
Brother Justus is Minneapolis-based and Minnesota's first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition. Founded by Phil Steger, it's built on Benedictine values of community, craftsmanship, and hospitality. These are values that run deep at St. John's, where Phil himself is an alumnus.
Phil didn't just donate whiskey for our gathering. He showed up in person, poured for guests throughout the evening, and created an original cocktail for the occasion: Vespers, a contemplative mix of Brother Justus American Whiskey, Benedictine liqueur, cream sherry, and mole bitters. The name comes from the evening prayer service observed in monasteries around the world. It was fitting for a meal shared by candlelight in a monastic dining hall. Phil described it as velvety and smooth, with black coffee colour and ruby red refractions in the light.
During dinner, Brother Justus whiskey was poured neat into handmade ceramic tumblers crafted specifically for the event by JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prairie Studio. Phil and JD embraced when they saw each other at the gathering. They were old friends, both St. John's alumni, reuniting at a table set with JD's pottery and toasted with Phil's whiskey.
That's the kind of moment that makes Story Feast what it is.
Milk & Honey Ciders
Milk & Honey Ciders sits in the rolling hills of Stearns County, just down the road from St. John's Abbey. Founded by Peter Gillitzer and partners, they make dry, tannic, highly aromatic ciders from heirloom apple varieties with names like Calville Blanc d'Hiver, Arkansas Black, and Kingston Black. Their motto: Let the apples shine.
A few days before the gathering, we drove out to pick up the kegs and ended up staying for a bonfire tasting as the sun dropped behind their orchard. They insisted we take the proper tulip glasses for service, because they care about how their cider is experienced right down to the shape of the glass.
Throughout dinner, guests enjoyed their Estate Cider: dry, aromatic, and a perfect counterpoint to the richness of the harvest menu. After dinner, we poured their Pommeau: a blend of apple brandy and fresh-pressed juice aged two years in barrels. Warm, spiritous, with notes of caramel, oak, and dried fruit. Served neat, in those tulip glasses, exactly as intended.
Northstar Kombucha was served throughout the Story Feast dinner and also found its way into the goody bag
Northstar Kombucha
Northstar Kombucha is brewed in small batches in Minneapolis using organic ingredients and live cultures. Their flavors are creative but balanced. It’s the kind of kombucha you actually want to drink, not just tolerate for the health benefits.
Throughout the evening, guests sipped their Raspberry Hibiscus kombucha, bright and refreshing alongside the rich courses coming out of the kitchen. And every goody bag included a bottle in one of their gorgeous flavors: Grapefruit Basil, Lavender Ginger, Strawberry Rose, Cherry Elderberry, Honey Ginger, Blueberry Maple, and more.
Northstar is based in a shared maker space that houses a small community of independent producers, each one crafting something by hand. When I drove over a few days before the event to pick up the kegs and bottles myself, I loved walking through that building. It's what Minnesota's food and beverage scene looks like at its best: collaborative, community-rooted, and absolutely extraordinary.
TÖST being poured during the Story Feast dinner
TÖST
TÖST is a premium nonalcoholic sparkling beverage crafted with white tea, white cranberry, and ginger. It's dry, not sweet and was developed in collaboration with Michelin-starred chefs and James Beard Award winners to pair beautifully with food, just like fine wine.
TÖST was available throughout the cocktail hour and dinner. It gave guests who weren't drinking alcohol something genuinely celebratory to raise. It looked elegant in the glass, tasted wonderful, and offered everyone something special and festive.
Every guest also took home a bottle in their goody bag: a little reminder of the evening and an invitation to recreate that feeling of celebration at their own table.
Lift Bridge Root Beer was served during dinner (along with a selection of Lift Bridge beers) and the root beer also went home with guests in their goody bags
Lift Bridge Brewery
Lift Bridge Brewing Company was founded in 2008 in Stillwater, Minnesota. It’s the first brewery to operate there since Prohibition. When Minnesota changed its laws in 2011 to allow craft breweries to sell pints on-site, Lift Bridge opened the state's very first taproom.
We served a selection of their craft beers throughout the dinner, because this is the Midwest, after all, and great beer belongs at the table. And in every goody bag, guests took home a can of Lift Bridge Root Beer, crafted with the same care as their beer: no shortcuts, no artificial anything, just a delicious old-fashioned root beer that feels like a celebration in itself.
The stained glass honeycomb in the church of St. John’s Abbey
Wine From the Monks of St. John's Abbey
And then there was the wine.
The monks of St. John's Abbey generously donated wine for the gathering. It was a gift that felt deeply meaningful given the setting. Benedictine monasteries have a centuries-long relationship with wine, from the vineyards I visited at Cistercian abbeys in Spain for Elysian Kitchens to the sacramental role wine plays in monastic life around the world.
To have the monks' own wine on the table alongside the harvest feast, in a hall where they've gathered for generations, was a subtle but powerful reminder of where we were and who had welcomed us in.
Why Local and Artisan Matters
Every beverage at our St. John's gathering came from Minnesota or from an independent producer who shares our values. That wasn't a coincidence. It's central to what Story Feast is about.
When we host a gathering, we want the drinks on the table to celebrate the sense of place. We want you to taste where you are. We want to introduce you to makers you might not have discovered otherwise, and to support the small producers who are doing extraordinary work in every region we visit.
At St. John's, that meant whiskey from a distillery built on Benedictine principles, cider pressed from heirloom apples grown a few miles away, kombucha brewed in a Minneapolis maker space, beer from the state's first taproom, and wine from the monks themselves.
At our next gathering, the producers will be different because the place will be different. But the philosophy stays the same: local, artisan, chosen with care, and always with options for everyone at the table.
Because the best drink at a Story Feast gathering is the one you want to be drinking.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Recipe: Orange-Ginger Olive Oil Cake + Third Places & The Art of Gathering
Third Places and the Art of Gathering | Orange-Ginger Olive Oil Cake Recipe
Why third places matter, what America has lost, and a recipe for orange-ginger olive oil cake from a kitchen in Fes, Morocco. It’s the kind of cake that makes people stay.
Orange-Ginger Olive Oil Cake from Morocco. photo credit: Jody Eddy
In 1989, sociologist Ray Oldenburg gave us a name for something humans have always needed: the third place. Not home. Not work. Somewhere else entirely: the café, the pub, the library, the park bench where strangers become neighbors and neighbors become friends.
I've been thinking about third places constantly lately. After six years living throughout Europe in Ireland, Prague, Normandy, Portugal, I've come to understand what America has lost. The tables spilling onto sidewalks. The unhurried afternoons. The way a Tuesday in a European plaza can feel like a celebration simply because people have gathered, without agenda, without rushing, without clutching paper cups on their way somewhere else.
When I returned to the U.S. recently, the absence was glaring. Where were the gathering places? In their place: drive-throughs, parking lots, the lonely choreography of errands.
This is why Story Feast exists.
Every gathering we host in monasteries, castles, art museums, hidden spaces around the world, is an attempt to rebuild what we've lost. Long communal tables. Family-style service. Four or five hours where no one checks the time. Strangers becoming friends over food that someone cared enough to make extraordinary.
We can't fix everything that's broken. But we can create spaces where people sit together, pass dishes, tell stories, and remember what it feels like to belong somewhere.
I wrote more about all of this including a deeper exploration about what third places are, the data on loneliness, the decline of libraries and VFW halls and bowling leagues, what I've witnessed in Europe, and what I think we can do about it. It’s all in my latest newsletter. It's one of the most personal things I've written in a while.
A Third Place Kind of Cake
The recipe below comes from a kitchen in the medina of Fes, where I stood shoulder to shoulder with a woman named Nabila while she taught me to make it. Her kitchen was tiny. The generosity of the space was enormous because of what she put into it and what she expected from it: that people would come, sit, eat, stay.
This is that kind of cake. The kind you set on a table and watch disappear slice by slice while conversation deepens and no one checks the time. The olive oil makes it impossibly tender. The pistachios give it a faintly green-gold interior. The orange blossom water, if you use it, makes the whole thing bloom into something you'll dream about later.
It's better on the second day. It keeps beautifully. It's the thing you make when you want someone to stay longer.
Orange-Ginger Olive Oil Cake with Pistachios and Orange Blossom Water
Makes 1 large cake (serves 8-10)Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 45-50 minutes
Ingredients:
120g / 1 cup whole wheat flour
60g / ½ cup self-rising flour
75g / ¾ cup ground pistachios
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger
3 large eggs, at room temperature
200g / 1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 2 medium oranges
Zest of 1 lemon
180ml / ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
120ml / ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2 small oranges)
1 tbsp / 15ml orange blossom water (optional but highly recommended)
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g / ⅓ cup roughly chopped pistachios, for finishing
Method:
Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Grease a 23cm / 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Sift together both flours, the ground pistachios, salt, and ginger in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together with a whisk or hand mixer until the mixture is pale, thick, and falls from the whisk in a slow ribbon, about 3 minutes of vigorous whisking by hand or 2 minutes with a mixer. Add the orange zest and lemon zest and whisk until fragrant and slightly golden.
Drizzle in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking continuously, then add the orange juice, the orange blossom water if using, and the vanilla extract, whisking until smooth and emulsified. The batter should be glossy.
Add the dry ingredients in two additions, folding gently with a spatula each time until just combined. The batter will be quite liquid and pourable, this is exactly right.
Pour into the prepared pan and tap gently against the counter to release any large air bubbles.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is deeply golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs. The cake will dome slightly and settle as it cools.
Let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate. Scatter the chopped pistachios across the top, pressing gently so they adhere. Sprinkle with additional orange zest for color.
This cake keeps well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days… it's almost better on the second day when the crumb has fully absorbed the olive oil and the citrus has mellowed into something rounder and warmer.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Meet the Chefs: An Interview with Erin and Mateo Mackbee, the Duo Behind the Inaugural Story Feast
Meet the Chefs: Erin and Mateo Mackbee | Krewe & Flour & Flower | Story Feast
An interview with Chefs Erin and Mateo Mackbee, the James Beard-recognized duo behind Krewe and Flour & Flower Bakery, and the extraordinary meal at our inaugural Story Feast gathering.
Chefs Erin and Mateo Mackbee of Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery at the Story Feast celebration
When I set out to find chefs for our first Story Feast dinner at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, I wasn't looking for someone who could simply cook beautiful food. I was looking for partners who understood what we were trying to create, a gathering where food, place, and community converge into something greater than the sum of its parts.
I found that in Erin and Mateo Mackbee. And was heartened that Brother Aelred Senna from St. John’s couldn’t stop raving about them. And neither could any of my friends who live in the area.
The husband-and-wife team behind Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, not only brought their remarkable culinary talent to St. John's Abbey, but their philosophy: that food is a vehicle for connection, for healing, for community. Along the way, among so many other accolades, Chef Mateo has been nominated for a James Beard Award and Flour & Flower was listed by the NY Times as one of the 22 Best Bakeries in America.
I sat down with them before our inaugural gathering to learn more about their journey.
Can you share the journey that led you to open Krewe and Flour & Flower? What inspired you to put down roots in St. Joseph?
Mateo: It all started when we met in 2014. I had been searching for land to grow food, my vision was to teach kids how food grows, then let them follow it back to a restaurant in the cities where they could prepare it. Save the scraps and start the whole process over again.
I met a pastor in a bar, we both had shaved bald heads and knew similar people through our travels. I had been a DJ in a hip-hop group for years in St. Paul and Indianapolis. I was affectionately known as D-Big Sam in those circles, and there are people who still can't call me Mateo because they know me from that part of my life.
We struck up a friendship, and over probably four years of meeting and talking, he shared his vision for his little church on the prairie, this holistic spiritual space in the tiniest Lutheran church in the middle of nowhere. He invited us to central Minnesota, saying he had farmers whose kids didn't want to farm anymore, and maybe they'd have an acre or two for us to try.
We ended up meeting the owners of a local brewery who asked us to cook for them. Three days after we fed them that night, they slapped down this whole remodeling project, they scratched it up that night because they were like, "No, it's not going to work to have you in a separate building. We need it all combined because the food just knocked it out of the park."
What is the origin story of Krewe and Flour & Flower?
Erin: A professor from St. John's brought his friend out to eat at the brewery. His friend owns the building that Krewe is in now and he'd been searching for a New Orleans-style chef for years. He asked if we wanted to open a restaurant specifically focused on New Orleans cuisine. We'd only been open three months and Mateo was like, "Well, hell yeah!" We just moved out to central Minnesota, we've only been open for three months, how in the world are we going to be able to do this? But we went to tour the space.
Mateo: At that time, the owner had no purpose for the building that Flour & Flower is in, he was going to turn it into a big gallery. But immediately I was like, "What's the next steps?" He invited us to New Orleans for recon and R&D, and on the plane ride back we were like, "Let's figure out how to do this." How can you say no to a situation like that?
Erin: Then Mateo asked if we could turn the second building into a bakery, and the owner was like, "Why not?" So we just added another business into the mix. The structure was built but it was still a dirt floor in the restaurant and completely wide open, it took almost a year to get it all built out.
“We look outward, not necessarily inward. We're using food as a vehicle to do good. There's a footprint and legacy being laid, and we're hoping to pull other people into that momentum.” Mateo Mackbee
St. Joseph has really become known as a culinary destination. What makes this little town so special?
Mateo: We were lucky to arrive when there were already people establishing roots, Bad Habit Brewing was expanding, Milk & Honey Ciders (a sponsor of the inaugural Story Feast dinner) was about to launch. We landed at perfect timing to boost what was already moving. I think we inspired more folks to follow their dreams, and we all became a support system for each other.
Erin: There's a food desert out there, from New London to Spicer to Willmar, there's only Chili's and Applebee’s. No independent restaurants. People were craving handmade, from-scratch food made with a lot of care. The weekend we opened, probably 600 people came through in one day. Our POS system broke, we had to take handwritten orders, we were on a two-hour wait. It didn't calm down for months because people could taste the love through our food.
“That moment will forever be instilled in why I get up at midnight some days, why we work 20-hour days. That one connection where you made someone's life a smidgen better on their lowest day, they knew they could come to us.” - Erin Mackbee
Story Feast from above (left photo credit: Tay Elhindi, right photo credit: Bailey Bassen
Community seems central to everything you do. Can you talk about that philosophy?
Erin: People aren't just looking for good food and high quality ingredients, they're seeking affection, connection, and support. They want to know they're not alone. When George Floyd was murdered, we organized donations for Minneapolis churches. The amount of people who came out to donate was insane. That was the moment people realized we're not here just to make money, we're here for a deeper purpose.
Opening during COVID, the bakery opened a week or two before we did, and our structure is all to-go so it was easy to maintain stability. We had lines wrapping around the building Wednesday through Sunday. People respected that we had face masks and only allowed two people in the building at a time.
Mateo: We've built our restaurants as community gathering spaces first. Whatever happens financially allows us to continue those gatherings. We look outward, not necessarily inward. We're using food as a vehicle to do good. There's a footprint and legacy being laid, and we're hoping to pull other people into that momentum.
“The difference is he ignited the passion inside of me, and that's the reason why I show up and cook every day, to try to get somebody's fire to burn a little bit brighter.” - Mateo Mackbee
Every dish seemed to legitimately make people smile, and sometimes even laugh out loud. It was pure joy.
What foundational things shape who you are as chefs?
Erin: For me, it's food memories. I hear Mateo talk about his family recipes that have been passed on for generations, and I can't relate to that because we weren't a family of recipes. My mom would have magazine clippings, my grandma has a whole recipe book of just clippings from different things. So there's no true recipe that defines our family.
For me, it's food memories like my grandma who lived in Omaha. We would visit her towards the end of July when peaches would be so ripe, and she would make us peach pie for breakfast. That for me is my way of having peach pie, only when I can get those beautiful Colorado peaches or local peaches. One bite puts me right back in her kitchen.
We respect the seasons, we're not serving fresh blueberry pie in January. We're intentional about our food, making sure we recognize not only history but where our food is headed.
Mateo: Food memories are always with me wherever I go, but it's also youth empowerment. I want to be a shining light for someone who loves food but doesn't know how to get into cooking. We open up our space for people to come in and get a taste of what that's like.
My basics culinary professor ended up showing up in the restaurant recently, I haven't seen him in 20 years. I just started crying. This man is so amazing. He cooked at Le Bernardin, went to the White House to meet Michelle Obama, started No Kid Hungry in the state of Minnesota. He's starting a post-secondary program at Eden Prairie for younger kids. At 60 years old, passion just pours out of him.
Erin: It was so cool to see Mateo as a student when his professor walked in. As soon as he came in, I was in the bakery, and Mateo was glossy-eyed. I got to sit down with them and watch him listen to his chef. In culinary school, you have one chef that sticks out to you. To see that side of him, he's always a chef to me, but to see him as a student sitting next to his professor, that was probably top five moments of my life.
Mateo: The difference is he ignited the passion inside of me, and that's the reason why I show up and cook every day, to try to get somebody's fire to burn a little bit brighter. At 52 years old, I'm still here before you come and I'm here after you leave. This is hard work, but there's a lot you can benefit from it.
“We're intentional about our food, making sure we recognize not only history but where our food is headed.” - Erin Mackbee
Chefs in their element! photo credit: Caitlin Abrams
Can you share a meaningful moment with guests that's kept you going?
Erin: We have a regular in the bakery, a young woman. We did some pastries for her baby shower in December, and her baby was due two days before Valentine's Day. She had a very traumatic miscarriage the day that the baby was due. The Sunday after, a family member came in to get stuff for the family, so I didn't see her right away, but I gave her a little bouquet of flowers.
The Friday after Valentine's Day, she came in and there was a line of people. We saw each other through the window and she skipped the line. I met her halfway into the bakery, and I've never clung onto someone or had someone cling onto me as hard as she did. We don't really know each other, I just know her first name from ordering, but we had this connection through food.
She sobbed for a minute. It was one of those moments where people around us kept moving because they knew this had to happen. That moment will forever be instilled in why I get up at midnight some days, why we work 20-hour days. That one connection where you made someone's life a smidgen better on their lowest day, they knew they could come to us. Never underestimate the power of flour and flower. Humans need carbs to get through it. And hugs. And beauty.
Mateo: For me, working with groups of students in different places, they end up coming in to eat or we go there and I cook with them, and you can see their progress. One of them just reached out asking if she could do a stage with us. It's a young lady we've been working with for two years. Those are the things that mean the most to me, going from "I don't think I can" to "maybe I think I can do this" mentality. If they go from that to focusing more because they want to be successful, that's everything.
You've worked with Brother Aelred from St. John’s and done events at the abbey before. What makes it such a special place for Story Feast?
Erin: I'm not religious at heart, I view it in a different way. So I always get a little apprehensive when I'm around folks that live faith every day. But the love that Brother Aelred and Sister Thomasette and all these nuns and brothers bring to us is without condition. I've never been treated so well in my life than we have been in this community.
Every time I see Brother Aelred, we spend 20 minutes talking about something, and it always makes my day so much brighter. It's been so much fun working with the nuns too. Everybody is so kind and checks in with you first, then moves on to what they need. In an industry where everybody only cares about what's coming next, when is that getting fired, I don't care how you're doing, it's been so refreshing to be immersed in all of it.
Mateo: My relationship to religion has always been about relationships. The relationships we've built are the cornerstone of everything. I can't say how many times people walk by the kitchen wanting to say hi, give you a pat on the head, a hug, a thank you. It pushes you right back to why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing.
When people leave and go to other events and spaces, they're like, "This is amazing. You guys are crazy. What are you doing out there?" When I saw the name and I was like, "That's us." Eleven years together, cooking together from two months after meeting, we ARE the story feast. Being part of this isn't serendipitous. It's faith. It was written before we got here. I always attribute all of that to the Holy Spirit. That's my spirituality, very Holy Spirit driven. She's all about the details, and she's making all this happen and bringing it all together.
Learn more about Chef Mateo’s restaurant Krewe →
Learn more about Chef Erin’s bakery Flour & Flower →
Read "From Krewe to the Abbey: The Mackbees' Harvest Homecoming" in Minnesota Monthly →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
In the Press: Minnesota Monthly Covers Story Feast
Minnesota Monthly Feature | Story Feast at St. John's Abbey | Press
Minnesota Monthly covered our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey. Read excerpts from their feature on the Mackbees and the evening that brought 250 guests together around a harvest table.
Chefs Erin and Mateo Mackbee of Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery at the Story Feast celebration
"From Krewe to the Abbey: The Mackbees' Harvest Homecoming"
We're honored that Minnesota Monthly sent writer Taycier Elhindi to cover our inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey. The resulting feature captures the spirit of the evening beautifully and tells a story that goes far beyond a single dinner.
About the Article
Taycier first met Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee in 2020, when they had just opened Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery in the small town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The world was in flux. No one knew what the future would hold, let alone whether a small-town restaurant and bakery would survive.
Five years later, Taycier found herself in the back halls of St. John's Abbey, watching the same two chefs plate braised short ribs and three-day roasted chicken before stepping onto the dining floor to a standing ovation.
The article traces their journey, from a radical act of faith in 2020 to a full-circle moment in 2025.
A Few Excerpts
On the evening itself:
"At sunset on Nov. 1, the historic halls of St. John's Abbey filled with a deep reverence toward the Benedictine laws and principles on which it was built. Low lighting and long candlelit tables stretched under arched ceilings dressed with jars of hand-made pickles, local ceramic-ware, and a healthy share of Brother Justus Whiskey."
On what drives Mateo and Erin:
"While the chefs aren't particularly religious, Mateo describes 'feed thy neighbor' as a steady undercurrent in their work. 'The idea of turning water into wine, or the story of fishes and loaves are teachings that guide us,' he says. 'It's not something we preach, but it's definitely a silent driver.'"
On the menu:
"'We wanted it to feel familiar,' Mateo explains. 'Nothing obscure, dishes people could revisit or even recreate at home. Old-world tones with new-world twists.' The menu serves as an homage to the land's abundance and ability to produce sustenance, one of the many reasons the monks settled there all those years ago."
On what it meant to the Mackbees:
"'It's incredible. The people that came out tonight. Some drove an hour or more just to be here. I'm just grateful. To do what we love and have this kind of response is what everybody dreams of. This is a Super Bowl moment for us.'"
Read the Full Article
Taycier's piece is an inspired meditation on community, craft, and what it means to build something that lasts.
Read "From Krewe to the Abbey: The Mackbees' Harvest Homecoming" in Minnesota Monthly →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: Maine Prairie Studio
Maine Prairie Studio | 1,300 Handmade Pieces for Story Feast | Partner Spotlight
JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prarie Studio created 1,300 original ceramic pieces in 13 glazes for our inaugural gathering, transforming the Story Feast table into a ceramic museum. The story behind the artists.
JD and Megan Jorgenson, not only ceramicists of extraordinary talent and generosity, but the best dressed at the Story Feast table, too!
The Ceramicists Behind Every Piece On Our Story Feast Table
When I began planning our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey, I knew I wanted the table itself to be extraordinary. Not just the food, not just the venue, but the objects we'd eat from. I wanted to celebrate a local ceramicist whose work could hold the meal in every sense.
I reached out to JD and Megan Jorgenson of Maine Prairie Studio. I knew it was a big ask: 180 guests, a multi-course family-style dinner, custom pieces for an event that had never happened before.
To my astonishment and delight, they said yes.
1,300 Original Pieces
What JD and Megan created for Story Feast was nothing short of extraordinary.
They made 1,300 original pieces in 13 different glazes, fired specifically for this event. They walked through the entire family-style menu with Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee, listening carefully to every element of the evening, and then designed original serving vessels for every single dish. Platters, bowls, dishes, hundreds of pieces, each one made by hand. They made original water tumblers and whiskey tumblers, vases, platters. Every single element made with tremendous care by JD and Megan.
It was like having a ceramic museum on the table. It added so much visual depth and warmth to the long tables our guests gathered around.
They kept adding elements to execute the vision, refining and expanding as the event took shape. Their generosity and artistry transformed the gathering into something none of us could have imagined.
A Standing Ovation
On the night of the feast, JD and Megan joined us as guests. During the evening, they shared their story with the room, how they'd built Maine Prairie Studio, their philosophy of craft and community, what it meant to create work for an event like this.
They received a standing ovation.
The night overflowed with appreciation and gratitude for them and their work. Guests understood, viscerally, that they weren't just eating an exquisite meal, but that it was being presented to them on a work of art.
Connections Run Deep
One of the most emotional moments of the evening happened before dinner even began.
I looked over and saw JD embracing Phil Steger, the founder of Brother Justus Whiskey. They knew each other and are old friends. Both are alumni of Saint John's University. JD had apprenticed at The Saint John's Pottery. the very studio we'd toured earlier that day, and Phil had built his distillery on Benedictine values he'd absorbed during his time at Saint John's.
The connections kept revealing themselves: ceramic artist and distiller, both shaped by the same place, reuniting at a table set with JD's work and toasted with Phil's whiskey.
That's what Story Feast is about. The people, the places, the invisible threads that tie us together.
About Maine Prairie Studio
Maine Prairie Studio is the pottery studio and home of Megan and JD Jorgenson, located in Kimball, Minnesota, about thirty minutes from Saint John's Abbey. Their mission is to nurture creativity and elevate the ceramic arts through community education for rural Minnesotans.
JD trained at The Saint John's Pottery, apprenticing under master potter Richard Bresnahan. He brought his infant son along to his shifts in the studio, that baby is now a young man in his twenties who joined us at the Story Feast dinner alongside his father. The lineage of craft, passed down through generations, was present at our table in more ways than one.
Beyond their own work, JD and Megan support artists at every stage through internships, apprenticeships, residencies, and retreats. They offer pottery classes for all skill levels, from introductory "Come Try It" sessions to intensive summer workshops. They host private groups, field trips, and parties.
And they welcome visitors. You can schedule a studio tour and see where the magic happens.
Tell them Story Feast sent you.
One Regret
Two days before the event, JD and Megan invited us to come to the studio for the opening of the kiln, the kiln that held many of the pieces destined for our table. With our task list running long, we couldn't make it.
It's my one regret from the entire event. I would have loved to see those pieces emerge still warm from the fire, to witness the moment when clay becomes art.
Next time.
Visit Maine Prairie Studio
Maine Prairie Studio is located in Kimball, Minnesota.
They offer:
Pottery classes for all levels
Summer intensives
Private group sessions and parties
Apprenticeships, internships, and artist residencies
Studio visits by appointment
Learn more and plan your visit →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Recipes: Turkey Tinga and Charred Tomatillo Salsa Recipes (as featured on The Splendid Table)
A Turkey Tinga and Tomatillo Salsa Recipe From the Elysian Kitchens Cookbook
A years-long collaboration with Brother Aelred Senna, from Elysian Kitchens to The Splendid Table, culminated in our inaugural Story Feast gathering. Here are the recipes for turkey tinga and tomatillo salsa.
Turkey Tinga, photo from Elysian Kitchens, photo credit, Kristin Teig
Honey-Glazed Turkey Tinga
From Elysian Kitchens, as featured on The Splendid Table
Brother Pedro Alvarez, a monk from Mexico, introduced this dish to Saint John's. The honey is the monastery's own; the turkey, wild and donated by local hunters. It's comforting in winter and perfect for a summer barbecue.
Serves 4 | Preparation Time: 2½ hours (it’s worth it, promise!)
Ingredients
For the tinga:
2 pounds boneless, skinless turkey breasts, cut into six pieces
½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Leaves from 5 oregano sprigs, coarsely chopped
Leaves from 5 thyme sprigs
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
2 (7-ounce) cans chipotles in adobo, coarsely chopped
6 ounces adobo sauce
1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
To serve:
16 flour tortillas
Queso fresco, crumbled
Tomatillo Salsa (recipe below)
Sour cream
Avocado chunks
Finely sliced scallions
Directions
Season the turkey all over with salt and pepper and slather with 2 tablespoons honey. Place in an even layer in a slow cooker.
Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté until the onion is translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, thyme, cocoa, cumin, cayenne, and bay leaf and sauté until aromatic, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chipotles in adobo, adobo sauce, tomatoes with their juices, tomato paste, stock, and remaining 2 tablespoons honey and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the sauce over the turkey, cover, and cook on low until very tender, about 2 hours.
Transfer the turkey to a plate. Discard the bay leaf. Once cool enough to handle, shred the turkey into bite-size pieces and stir back into the sauce.
Serve in warm tortillas topped with queso fresco, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, avocado, and scallions.
Brother Aelred’s Tomatillo Salsa, photo credit: Jody Eddy
Brother Aelred's Tomatillo Salsa
Makes about 1 quart | Time: 45 minutes
Brother Aelred makes a big batch each fall when the tomatillos and chiles are in season. His tip: char the skins until they're black and blistered. The smoky note really makes it sing.
Ingredients
7 large green chiles (Hatch, Anaheim, or poblano)
3 small green chiles (serrano or jalapeño)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
12 tomatillos
1 small white onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems coarsely chopped
1½ cups chicken stock
Directions
Preheat the broiler.
Brush the chiles with olive oil and season with salt. Arrange on a broiler-safe baking sheet and broil until blistered, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Once cooled, remove the charred skins (they should slip right off), stems, and seeds. Coarsely chop.
Remove the papery husks from the tomatillos and rinse. Place in a pot, cover with water by 5 inches, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender and slightly olive in color, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of cooking water.
Combine the chiles, tomatillos, onion, garlic, and cilantro in a blender with ½ cup of the reserved water. Blend until a chunky puree forms.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Carefully add the salsa and stock and bring to a vigorous simmer. Reduce heat and simmer to your desired consistency. Season with salt.
Cool to room temperature before serving. Keeps refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.
Recipe excerpted from "Elysian Kitchens: Recipes Inspired by the Traditions and Tastes of the World's Sacred Spaces" by Jody Eddy. Copyright 2024. Used with permission of W.W. Norton & Company.
Listen & Learn More
In November 2024, The Splendid Table featured Elysian Kitchens and Saint John's Abbey. You can hear me discuss the book, Brother Aelred, the recipes here, and Minnesota in the interview below.
Listen to The Splendid Table episode →
Listen to The Splendid Table supplement on Instagram →
Read more about Brother Aelred in The Central Minnesota Catholic →
Read more about the Story Feast collaboration with Brother Aelred Senna →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Brother Aelred Senna: A Years-Long Collaboration
Brother Aelred Senna | The Collaboration Behind Story Feast at St. John's Abbey
A years-long collaboration with Brother Aelred Senna, from Elysian Kitchens to The Splendid Table, culminated in our inaugural Story Feast gathering.
Brother Aelred Senna
The Monk Behind the Recipes and The Story Feast Gathering at St. John's Abbey
When I sat down to write Elysian Kitchens, the cookbook that inspired the Story Feast Collective, I knew I wanted to include Saint John's Abbey. It was a place I'd grown up visiting, a place that held deep meaning for my family, and a place where food played in integral role, just like I’d witnessed at so many monasteries in other parts of the world.
What I didn't know was that including Saint John's would lead to a collaboration, and a friendship, that would span years and eventually culminate in our inaugural Story Feast gathering.
Meeting Brother Aelred
I first met Brother Aelred Senna in 2018. I'd come to Saint John's to interview monks for the book, and Brother Aelred was the obvious choice for the kitchen. He's the monastery's resident cook and baker, making breads, cookies, desserts for special occasions, and even wedding cakes for couples married in the Abbey Church.
But Brother Aelred isn't just skilled. He's thoughtful about what cooking means: the way a meal can bring a community together, the way a recipe can carry memory across generations, the way feeding people is itself a form of prayer.
We spent hours talking. He cooked recipe after recipe. And he shared stories, about teaching himself to cook as a kid in Texas using the Betty Crocker Cookbook, about his years as a teacher in New Mexico, about the winding path that brought him to Saint John's after nearly two decades away from religious life.
"The Holy Spirit came snooping around," he told me, "and I told her she needed to go away and mind her own business."
She didn't.
The Recipes
Several of Brother Aelred's recipes appear in Elysian Kitchens, including his charred tomatillo salsa, a recipe rooted in his years teaching in New Mexico. He makes a big batch every year when the tomatillos and chiles come into season in the monastic garden, canning most of it as "a welcome reminder of summer during the unrelenting Minnesota winter."
The salsa is served alongside Honey-Glazed Turkey Tinga, a dish introduced to the monks by Brother Pedro Alvarez, a young monk from Mexico. The tinga reflects its journey: Mexican in origin, adapted to Minnesota with local wild turkey donated by hunters and honey from the monastery's own hives.
"Take it slowly," Brother Pedro advises. "Let the house fill with the smoky aroma. It will bring everyone to the table."
Brother Aelred on the grounds of St. John’s Abbey on the day of the Story Feast gathering when fall was in all its Minnesota glory
From Book to Table
After Elysian Kitchens was published in November 2024, an idea that had been quietly forming finally took shape: What if I brought the book to life? What if I gathered people at monasteries and other unique, often hidden places around the world, and created the kind of gatherings the book celebrates?
Brother Aelred was instrumental in making it happen at St. John’s. He helped coordinate with the abbey and connected me with the chefs for our inaugural event, Mateo and Erin Mackbee of Krewe and Flour & Flower Bakery. He advised on the flow of the evening, and embodied the Benedictine hospitality that defines Saint John's.
On November 1, 2025, 180 guests gathered in the Great Hall for our inaugural Story Feast. It was everything we'd hoped… and everything the book had been building toward.
Listen & Learn More
In November 2024, The Splendid Table featured Elysian Kitchens and Saint John's Abbey. You can hear me discuss the book, Brother Aelred, and Minnesota in the interview below.
Listen to the Splendid Table episode →
Read more about Brother Aelred in The Central Minnesota Catholic →
Get the Turkey Tinga and Charred Tomatillo Salsa recipe from Elysian Kitchens →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Tour Spotlight: The Saint John's Pottery
Pottery Studio Tour | The Saint John's Pottery | Story Feast
Every afternoon at 3 p.m., tea is served from a kettle hanging over a wood fire. A tour of The Saint John's Pottery founded by potter Richard Bresnahan, where JD Jorgensen apprenticed and where the ceramics for our gathering began.
Treasures from The St. John’s Pottery
A behind-the-scenes tour at our inaugural Story Feast gathering
Every Story Feast gathering includes more than a meal. We invite guests to explore the places where they dine, to understand what makes them extraordinary. At St. John's Abbey, that meant offering three optional tours before the cocktail hour. Every single one filled to capacity.
This is what we love about Story Feast guests: you come curious.
A Potter, a Proposal, and Three Hundred Years of Clay
In the late 1970s, a young man named Richard Bresnahan returned to his alma mater with an unusual proposal.
He had just spent nearly four years in Karatsu, Japan, apprenticing with Nakazato Takashi, a 13th-generation master potter and designated National Living Treasure. He'd arrived not knowing a word of Japanese. He left as a certified master potter, carrying with him centuries of tradition and a vision for what pottery could become.
His proposal to the president of Saint John's University: let me start a pottery studio, and let me bring in enough clay from a nearby site to keep it going for three hundred years.
Because it's Saint John's, the president said yes.
Forty-Five Years and Counting
The Saint John's Pottery opened in 1979 in an abandoned root cellar beneath Saint Joseph Hall. Today, more than forty-five years later, Richard Bresnahan is still its director and artist-in-residence and the pottery has become one of the most respected ceramic studios in the country.
Everything about the studio embodies Benedictine values: sustainability, community, hospitality, the dignity of labor. The clay is mined locally. Glazes are made from ashes, flax, soybean straw, navy beans, sunflower hulls, wood. Water and packing materials are recycled. The massive Johanna Kiln, built in 1994 and named after Bresnahan's mentor Sister Johanna Becker, is the largest wood-fired kiln of its kind in North America, 87 feet long, capable of holding 12,000 pieces in a single firing that takes ten days and sixty volunteers working around the clock.
It's a place where craft is practiced the old way, and where time moves differently.
The Only Paid Apprenticeship of Its Kind
Since 1981, more than fifty apprentices have trained at The Saint John's Pottery. What makes this program unique: every apprentice receives a stipend, room, and board. Since 2016, the benefits package has included healthcare.
It's the only pottery apprenticeship of its kind in the country that pays its apprentices and provides benefits.
The results speak for themselves: every former apprentice is still involved in the creative process, working with clay or other mediums, teaching or running their own studios.
One of those apprentices was JD Jorgensen, who later founded Maine Prairie Studio with his wife Megan. JD brought his infant son along to his shifts in the pottery studio, that baby is now a young man in his twenties who joined us at the dinner alongside his father. Together, JD and Megan crafted every piece of pottery for our Story Feast gathering. (More on their extraordinary work in a future post.)
Tea at Three
Every afternoon at 3 p.m., something beautiful happens at The Saint John's Pottery.
Work pauses. Tea is prepared. And everyone, the master potter, the apprentices, any visitors who happen to be present, gathers around the irori, a traditional Japanese-style hearth at the entrance to the studio. A cast iron kettle hangs from the ceiling, heated by a wood fire below. Tea is poured into handmade cups. Conversation unfolds.
In the words of Saint Benedict: "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ."
This is pottery not as production, but as practice. Not as commodity, but as community.
There are seemingly endless shelves of pottery throughout the vast studio
What Guests Experienced
On the evening of our gathering, guests toured the pottery studio, learning about clay processing, glaze development, and the cycles of the Johanna Kiln. They saw where JD Jorgensen had trained, and they understood, perhaps for the first time, how the ceramics on their dinner table had come to be.
They felt what it means to step into a place where time, craft, and intention merge.
Learn more about The St. John’s Pottery →
Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Season
For our upcoming season, Story Feast tours will be even more expansive. You'll have the option to spend a few days, or just one, or an hour, or not at all (sometimes you just want to feast!) immersing yourself in a place. Visiting locations that define the food culture of the region. Meeting the makers. Understanding the sense of place and identity that makes each location extraordinary.
Because a great meal isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about where you are, who made it, and what that place means.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: Lift Bridge Brewery
Lift Bridge Brewery | Story Feast Partner Spotlight | St. John's Abbey
Stillwater's first brewery since Prohibition and Minnesota's first taproom. Lift Bridge Brewery brought craft beer to our dinner and their famous root beer to every goody bag.
Root Beer from Stillwater-based Lift Bridge Brewery was included in our well-stocked goody bag!
A Story Feast Partner at Our Inaugural Gathering
When we set out to find beverage partners for our first gathering, beer was an essential. This is the Midwest, after all! We wanted a brewery that understood what we were trying to create: a company rooted in place, committed to quality, and proud of where they come from.
Lift Bridge Brewery checked every box.
Stillwater's First Brewery Since Prohibition
Lift Bridge Brewing Company was founded in 2008 by a group of friends, neighbors, and homebrewers in Stillwater, Minnesota. It was the first brewery to operate in Stillwater since Prohibition… and when Minnesota changed its laws in 2011 to allow craft breweries to sell pints on-site, Lift Bridge opened the state's very first taproom.
That pioneering spirit runs through everything they do.
Named after Stillwater's historic lift bridge over the St. Croix River, the brewery has grown into one of Minnesota's largest craft beer producers. But they've never lost their connection to the community that raised them. Through every can, bottle, and tap pull, Lift Bridge wants drinkers to taste the history of Stillwater: the pride, the fun, and the uncompromising natural ingredients that go into every batch.
At St. John's Abbey
During our gathering, we served a selection of Lift Bridge beers throughout the dinner to give guests a taste of Minnesota craft brewing alongside the harvest feast.
And in every goody bag, guests took home a can of Lift Bridge Root Beer.
Lift Bridge became one of the first breweries in Minnesota to craft nonalcoholic root beer back in 2014, originally available only in their taproom. It's made with the same care and attention as their beer; no shortcuts, no artificial anything. Just a delicious, old-fashioned root beer that feels like a celebration in itself.
Why We Partnered
Story Feast is about place. It's about celebrating the people and producers who make a region extraordinary. Lift Bridge embodies that spirit: a brewery built by friends who believed Stillwater deserved great beer, and who've spent nearly two decades proving them right.
We're grateful they said yes.
Learn more about Lift Bridge Brewery →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
What's In Your Bag? Our Approach to Goody Bags
What's in the Bag | Story Feast Goody Bags | St. John's Abbey
No junk. No promos. Just high-quality products from the people who made the evening possible: ceramics, honey, baked goods, pickles, kombucha, sparkling beverages, root beer, and more. A look inside the Story Feast goody bag.
Root Beer from Stillwater-based Lift Bridge Brewery was included in our well-stocked goody bag!
From our inaugural Story Feast Gathering at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota
Let's be honest: most event goody bags are forgettable. A few branded pens, some promotional flyers, maybe a granola bar. You toss it in the back of your car and forget about it by the time you get home.
That's not what we do.
A Celebration, Not a Promotion
At Story Feast, the goody bag is an extension of the gathering itself, a way to carry the evening home with you. Every item is chosen with care: things to eat, to drink, to savor long after the candles have burned down and the table has been cleared.
No junk. No logos on cheap plastic. No flyers for things you'll never read.
Just beautiful, high-quality products from the people and places that made the evening possible.
The St. John's Abbey Goody Bag
When guests left our inaugural gathering, they carried home:
A ceramic whiskey tumbler from Maine Prairie Studio — handmade especially for the event to accompany whiskey from Brother Justus Whiskey
TÖST — the nonalcoholic sparkling beverage served throughout the dinner
Lift Bridge Brewery Root Beer — a Minnesota classic. Lift Bridge was a Story Feast partner and we served their fantastic beer during dinner and then sent guests home with a nonalcoholic product from this must-visit brewery in Stillwater
Honey from St. John's Abbey — harvested on the monastery grounds and included in Chefs Mateo and Erin Mackbee’s dishes throughout the evening.
Baked goods from Flour & Flower Bakery — made by Chef Erin Mackbee
Housemade pickles from Krewe — made by Chef Mateo Mackbee and also served throughout dinner
Kombucha from Northstar Kombucha — in a variety of flavors and also served throughout dinner
And more!
The only problem? The bags were so stuffed that guests had to hold them from the bottom. We genuinely worried they might break.
That's the kind of problem we're happy to have!
Why It Matters
A Story Feast gathering isn't just a meal. It's an experience, one that we hope stays with you. The goody bag is our way of extending that feeling: a reminder of the place, the people, the flavors, and the stories you shared.
When you open a jar of those pickles a week later, or pour a glass of that kombucha on a quiet evening at home, we want you to remember the candlelight, the conversation, the moment you realized you were sitting next to someone who would become a friend.
Every future gathering will include a goody bag like this, a celebration of the place and the people who came together to create something unforgettable.
You'll leave happy. You'll leave content. And you'll leave with something worth keeping.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Tour Spotlight: The Abbey Church and Brutalist Architecture
Abbey Church & Brutalist Architecture Tour | St. John's Abbey | Story Feast
Marcel Breuer's Abbey Church helped inspire the Oscar-winning film The Brutalist. Our guests toured this concrete masterpiece: the Bell Banner, the honeycomb stained glass, the space where monks have prayed for sixty years.
The entire north wall of the church is composed of 430 hexagons of stained glass set in a honeycomb concrete lattice. When it was completed, it was the largest stained glass wall in the world.
A Behind-the-Scenes Tour at Our Inaugural Story Feast Gathering at St. John’s Abbey
Every Story Feast gathering includes more than a meal. We invite guests to explore the places where they dine, to understand what makes them extraordinary. At St. John's Abbey, that meant offering three optional tours before the cocktail hour. Every single one was filled to capacity.
This is what we love about Story Feast guests: you come curious!
A Building That Changed Architecture
Before there was a film called The Brutalist, there was a church in rural Minnesota that helped inspire it.
St. John's Abbey Church was designed by Marcel Breuer, the Hungarian-born, Bauhaus-trained architect who would go on to shape the look of the 20th century. Built between 1958 and 1961, it was his first religious building and remains one of only two churches he ever designed in the United States.
The director of The Brutalist discovered St. John's through a small book written by a monk who had kept minutes of his meetings with Breuer. That monk's memories, of working alongside a visionary architect to build something unprecedented, helped spark the film's fictional story of a Holocaust survivor and immigrant architect building his masterpiece in America.
The real masterpiece sits on a quiet campus in Collegeville, visible from Interstate 94 over a mile away.
The Bell Banner
The first thing you see is the Bell Banner, 112 feet of poured concrete and steel rising from the prairie. It holds five bells, the largest weighing 8,000 pounds, that call the monks and community to prayer. The upper window frames a cross made from oak trees harvested from St. John's own arboretum.
It's not a steeple. It's not a tower. It's something entirely new, a shield, a beacon, a statement of faith in concrete form.
The Stained Glass Wall
Behind the banner, the entire north wall of the church is composed of 430 hexagons of stained glass set in a honeycomb concrete lattice. When it was completed, it was the largest stained glass wall in the world.
Designed by Bronislaw Bak, the art professor at St. John's, the colors shift through the liturgical year, reflecting the seasons of the church calendar in glass and light. On a sunny day, the whole interior glows.
The hexagon pattern isn't just beautiful, it's structural. Each piece supports its neighbors. Monks, faculty, students, and volunteers assembled the glass panels together in the abbey's old dairy barns.
Poured by Monks
What makes St. John's even more remarkable: the entire structure was cast in concrete poured on-site, supervised by Breuer's team but built largely by local carpenters and the monks themselves. The concrete still bears the impression of the wooden forms they constructed.
Inside, massive concrete columns rise like trees, branching into beams that support the folded plate roof. The nave seats 1,500 worshippers in a trapezoidal space designed to bring everyone as close as possible to the altar, no columns blocking the view, no hierarchy of seating.
It was radical for its time. It still feels radical today.
International Significance
I.M. Pei once suggested that were it not hidden in rural Minnesota, St. John's Abbey Church could be ranked among the 20th century's greatest architectural achievements. When it was dedicated in 1961, one reviewer called it "the most exciting architectural story since the building of the great medieval churches in Europe."
Breuer went on to design the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Whitney Museum in New York, and dozens of other landmark buildings. But St. John's remained special, the project that marked his turn from furniture design to monumental architecture, and the one he returned to throughout his career.
I.M. Pei once suggested that were it not hidden in rural Minnesota, St. John's Abbey Church could be ranked among the 20th century's greatest architectural achievements.
What Guests Experienced
On the evening of our gathering, one of the monks led a tour of the church and its architecture, explaining the Bell Banner, the stained glass, the folded concrete walls, and the vision that Abbot Baldwin Dworschak brought to the project in the 1950s.
Guests walked the space where monks have prayed five times daily for over sixty years. They stood beneath the honeycomb wall as afternoon light filtered through. They heard the story of a small community in Minnesota that dreamed boldly and built something that would stand for centuries.
That's what it means to understand a place. To get a real sense of it.
Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Season
For our upcoming season, Story Feast tours will be even more expansive. You'll have the option to spend a few days, or just one, or just an hour (or to skip it all because sometimes you just want to get to the feast!) immersing yourself in a place. Touring the places that comprise a location’s food culture. Meeting the makers. Understanding the sense of place and identity that makes each location extraordinary.
Because a great meal isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about where you are, who built it, and what that place means.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: TÖST Sparkling NonAlcoholic Beverage
TÖST Nonalcoholic Beverage | Story Feast Partner Spotlight | St. John's Abbey
Nonalcoholic options shouldn't be an afterthought. TÖST, a sparkling beverage made with white tea, cranberry, and ginger, helped us create a table where everyone felt celebrated. Plus we sent the celebration home in every goody bag!
TÖST was served throughout the evening and a bottle was also sent home with every guest in their goody bag
At every Story Feast gathering, we want everyone at the table to feel celebrated, including those who aren't drinking alcohol. Nonalcoholic options shouldn't be an afterthought. They should be just as thoughtful, just as delicious, and just as beautiful in the glass.
That's why we were thrilled to partner with TÖST for our inaugural event at St. John's Abbey.
What Is TÖST?
TÖST is a premium nonalcoholic sparkling beverage crafted with white tea, white cranberry, and ginger. It's dry, not sweet, developed in collaboration with Michelin-starred chefs and James Beard Award winners to pair beautifully with food, just like fine wine.
All-natural ingredients. No artificial flavors. Low sugar, low calorie, and sophisticated enough to hold its own at any table.
It's the kind of drink you actually want in your glass, whether you're driving, sober-curious, abstain from alcohol, or simply choosing not to drink that evening.
TÖST not only tastes fantastic, it paired so well with the colors at our Story Feast dinner!
At St. John's Abbey
Throughout the cocktail hour and dinner, guests sipped TÖST alongside the other beverages we served. It looked elegant, tasted wonderful, and gave everyone something celebratory to raise.
And when guests headed home, each goody bag included a bottle of TÖST to enjoy later… a little reminder of the evening and an invitation to recreate that feeling of celebration at their own table.
Why It Mattered
Hospitality means making everyone feel included. At Story Feast, we believe the drink in your hand shouldn't determine whether you feel part of the toast. Partnering with TÖST helped us create a table where everyone belonged.
We're so grateful they said yes.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
In the Press: Coming Home: Story Feast in the Place Where It All Began
Coming Home: A Story Feast in the Place Where It All Began
Writer Dianne Towalski told my story in The Central Minnesota Catholic, how growing up in Minnesota shaped my career, and why hosting Story Feast at St. John's meant coming home.
With my grandfather Peter Bragelman (and a very unfortunate haircut) after a fishing trip on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota where my grandparents had a cabin. photo: Evelyn Bragelman
Reflections on Our Inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey
A few weeks after our gathering at St. John's Abbey, writer Dianne Towalski published a piece in The Central Minnesota Catholic about my career and the event. Reading it felt like watching my life play back in a way I hadn't quite seen before, the threads connecting my grandparents' kitchen to monastery kitchens on four continents, and finally back to Minnesota.
I'm so grateful to Dianne for taking the time to listen, to ask the right questions, and to tell this story with such care.
Read the full article: "St. Cloud native 'will travel for food'" →
Where It Started
I grew up in St. Cloud. I went to Sts. Peter and Paul School, then Tech High School, before leaving for the University of Minnesota, followed by five years of outdoor adventures in Seattle, and eventually culinary school in New York. But before any of that there was my grandpa, my grandma, and my mom.
With my amazing culinary school classmates at Manhattan’s Institute of Culinary Education. I genuinely love these people and many of them are still close friends. The people who cook together stick together!
My grandpa was a food lover before the concept was celebrated like it is today. He once drove us to South Dakota on a whim because he'd heard of something called a bison burger and wanted to try it. His curiosity about food, where it came from, who made it, what made it taste the way it did, shaped everything about how I move through the world. "Will travel for food" started with him.
My grandma was an incredible cook. We spent hours together canning vegetables from my grandpa's garden, wrapping fish in waxed white butcher’s paper for the basement freezer, making meals from whatever we'd harvested or caught that day. She taught me that cooking is how you take care of people.
And my mom, she made stained glass as a hobby and would sell her creations at the fiddling contest and art sale that St. John's used to host each year. That's how we spent our weekends: walking around the lake at St. John’s, taking in the fall leaves, stopping in for Johnny bread or maple syrup or honey.
For special occasions, midnight Mass, holidays, we always went to St. John's. It felt magical to be there.
They Were There
When I stood in the Great Hall last November, watching 180 guests gather for dinner in the same space where monks have shared community for generations, I felt their absence. My grandma, my grandpa, my mom, all of them gone now.
But I also felt their presence.
I know they were there somehow. Enjoying it right alongside me. Watching us bring together everything they'd taught me, about food, about curiosity, about gathering people at a table and making them feel welcome.
St. John's will always be theirs as much as it is mine.
Prepping for a photoshoot at Art Culinaire. Freezing on Grimsey Island on the Arctic Circle, three hours by ferry north of Iceland, with Chef Gunnar Karl Gislason of Dill in Reykjavik. Gunnar and I wrote the cookbooks North: The New Nordic Cuisine of Iceland and The Hygge Life together. This was the final day of a two year shoot for North so even though it was bitter cold, we were happy!
Thank You
To Dianne Towalski, for telling this story so beautifully. To Brother Aelred Senna, who helped bring the event to life and who understood from the beginning what we were trying to create. To Mateo and Erin Mackbee, who cooked a meal worthy of the setting. To every guest who joined us.
And to my grandparents and my mom, for giving me a roadmap.
Read the full article in The Central Minnesota Catholic →
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Photographer Spotlight: Bailey Bassen at St. John’s Abbey
Bailey Bassen, Photographer | Story Feast at St. John's Abbey
Bailey Bassen reached out with a generous offer to photograph our inaugural gathering and delivered images that took our breath away. Meet the eye behind the lens.
Minnesota was at its autumn best on the day of our event at St. John’s Abbey.
Most of the images on this website exist because Bailey Bassen reached out with a generous offer: Would we be interested in having her photograph the event?
We'd never worked together. We'd never even met. But something about her portfolio, and her willingness to take a chance on a brand-new gathering, made us say yes immediately.
It was one of the best decisions we made.
A Leap of Faith
Photographing a Story Feast gathering is not a simple assignment. Our events unfold across hours, in multiple locations, with dozens of moving parts. At St. John's Abbey, that meant capturing:
Three simultaneous tours spread across the monastery grounds
A cocktail hour with 180 guests
A multi-course dinner by candlelight in a historic dining hall
The chefs, the partners, the details, the atmosphere
Interviews I conducted with key collaborators
I wasn't sure how to prepare someone for all of that. So I wrote Bailey a very detailed shot list, every moment, every partner, every angle I hoped we'd capture, and trusted that it would be enough.
Then the day arrived, and we barely crossed paths. I was managing the event. She was somewhere else entirely, doing her work. I caught glimpses of her moving quickly through the crowd, camera raised, but we didn't have time to check in.
I had no idea if we'd gotten what we needed.
And Then the Photos Arrived
When Bailey delivered her files, I understood.
Every moment was there. The tours: all three of them, happening simultaneously in different corners of the abbey were captured beautifully. The food, the table settings, the candlelight. The guests laughing, the chefs plating, the pottery glowing in the candlelight. The quiet moments and the joyful ones.
I still don't know how she did it. I imagine her sprinting from the organ workshop to the pottery studio to the church to The Great Hall and back again, catching every shot on the list and dozens I hadn't thought to ask for.
She didn't just document the day. She deeply understood it.
A Joy to Work With
Beyond her stunning work, Bailey was an absolute joy, professional, easygoing, and fully committed to capturing something special. She showed up ready, asked the right questions, and then disappeared into the work with quiet confidence.
If you're planning an event in Minnesota and need a photographer who can handle complexity, move fast, and deliver images very quickly that make you catch your breath, Bailey is your person.
Nearly every image on this site is Bailey's, unless otherwise noted. We're so grateful!
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Tour Spotlight: Organ Building & Woodworking at St. John's Abbey
Organ Building & Woodworking Tour at St. John's Abbey for Story Feast
Before dinner, guests toured Abbey Woodworking and the new organ building workshop, where a thousand-year Benedictine tradition is alive and thriving. A look inside one of our Story Feast tours.
An organ blueprint at St. John’s Abbey
A behind-the-scenes tour at our inaugural Story Feast gathering
Every Story Feast gathering includes more than a meal and a cocktail hour. We invite guests to explore the places where they dine, to understand what makes them extraordinary. At St. John's Abbey, that meant offering three optional tours before the cocktail hour. Every single one filled to capacity.
This is what we love about Story Feast guests: you come curious!
A Thousand Years of Benedictine Craft
The tour of Abbey Woodworking and the new organ building workshop wasn't just a behind-the-scenes look at a facility. It was a window into a tradition that reaches back more than a millennium.
Benedictine monks have been building pipe organs since at least the ninth century. As they spread across Europe, they carried with them not only prayer and scripture, but practical arts: bronze-casting, glass-making, wood-carving, and organ building. The monastery was a place of learning and making, where skills were passed from master to apprentice, and craft was considered a form of devotion.
Ora et Labora, pray and work, is the Benedictine motto. At St. John's, the two have never been separate.
The Workshop
Abbey Woodworking has operated at St. John's since the monastery's founding in 1856. The monks harvest lumber from their own 3,000 acres of forest, mill it on site, and build furniture that lasts for generations. Pieces made over 90 years ago are still in daily use.
In 2023, a brand new 30,000-square-foot woodshop opened, and with it, something remarkable: Saint John's Abbey Organ Builders, a world-class organ building workshop led by Austrian-born master builder Martin Pasi.
Pasi is among a small group of builders worldwide who create mechanical-action pipe organs entirely by hand, using methods unchanged for centuries. Every pipe is cast from molten lead. Every key is carved from cow bone. Every component is made in-house, one organ at a time.
He came to St. John's in 2019 to install an expansion of the Abbey church's organ, adding nearly 3,000 new pipes to the original 1961 instrument. During those seven months, he fell in love with the place. When he heard the monks were planning a new woodshop, he proposed something bold: merge his life's work with theirs.
Now, Pasi and his team build organs in Collegeville, training the next generation of builders in a craft that might otherwise disappear.
The woodworking shop at St. John’s Abbey
What Guests Experienced
On the evening of our gathering, guests walked through the new facility with members of the team. They saw raw lumber stacked for drying, tools arranged with monastic precision, and pipes in various stages of completion. They heard stories about the organs Pasi has built, for cathedrals in Omaha, Houston, and Cincinnati, and about the abbey's long history of making things by hand.
They also heard something harder to articulate: the quiet hum of a place where work is done slowly, carefully, and with intention.
Visit St. John’s Abbey Organ Builders →
Looking Ahead: 2026–2027 Season
For our upcoming season, Story Feast tours will be even more expansive. You'll have the option to spend a few days, or just one, or even just an hour, (or none at all if you’re strictly there for the feast!) immersing yourself in a place. Visiting off-site locations that tell the story of a location. Meeting the makers. Understanding the sense of place and identity that makes each location extraordinary.
Because a great meal isn't just about what's on the plate. It's about where you are, who made it, and what that place means.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: Milk & Honey Cider At St. John’s Abbey
Milk & Honey Ciders at Story Feast’s Inaugural Event
We picked up kegs, Pommeau, and tulip glasses… and stayed for a cider tasting by the bonfire. A spotlight on Milk & Honey Ciders, our partner at St. John's Abbey.
A cider tasting at Milk & Honey Cider, photo: Jody Eddy
Some partnerships begin with an email. This one began with a bonfire.
A few days before our gathering at St. John's Abbey, we drove out to Milk & Honey Ciders, which is just down the road from the abbey, to pick up their contribution to the evening: kegs of their Estate Cider, bottles of their Pommeau, and, at their insistence, the proper tulip glasses to serve it in. They care about how their cider is experienced right down to the shape of the glass.
What I didn't expect was to stay for a tasting by the bonfire.
The Cidery
Milk & Honey sits in the rolling hills of Stearns County, just north of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The taproom overlooks their orchard, rows and rows of heirloom and traditional cider apple trees stretching toward open fields. It's the kind of place where you're invited to walk the grounds, watch the pressing operation, and settle in with a flight while the afternoon disappears.
Founded by Peter Gillitzer and partners, Milk & Honey focuses on dry, tannic, highly aromatic ciders made with minimal intervention. They source heirloom varieties from across the country, apples with names like Calville Blanc d'Hiver, Arkansas Black, and Kingston Black, and blend across multiple years of production. The result is cider that tastes like wine: complex, layered, meant to be savored.
Their motto: Let the apples shine.
That Afternoon
We arrived to pick up the kegs and ended up by the bonfire, tasting few of their crisp, refreshing ciders as the sun dropped behind the orchard. We talked about cider, about community, about what it means to make something by hand in a world that rewards speed.
The next day, they'd be pressing apples in the production room, fruit already harvested, the whole space fragrant with the aroma of bright, fresh apples. I wished I could stay for that. Next time.
Milk & Honey Cider, photo: Jody Eddy
What We Served
At St. John's Abbey, guests enjoyed Milk & Honey's Estate Cider throughout the evening. It’s dry, aromatic, and a perfect counterpoint to the richness of the meal. After dinner, we poured their Pommeau: a blend of apple brandy and fresh-pressed juice aged two years in barrels. Warm, spiritous, with notes of caramel, oak, and dried fruit. Served neat, in those tulip glasses, exactly as intended.
Visit Milk & Honey
The taproom is open Thursday through Sunday, year-round. Bring your own food, order a flight, and settle in. Each season offers something different: cozy winters by the fire, fall harvest energy, summer evenings on the patio. It's worth the drive.
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Partner Spotlight: Northstar Kombucha at St. John’s Abbey
Northstar Kombucha at Story Feast’s Inaugural Event
Northstar Kombucha partnered with Story Feast at our inaugural gathering at St. John's Abbey. Small-batch, organic kombucha brewed in Minnesota.
A bottle of Northstar Kombucha was sent home with every guest in their Story Feast goody bag.
One of the joys of hosting Story Feast gatherings is connecting guests with the makers behind what they're eating and drinking. At St. John's Abbey, that included Northstar Kombucha, a small-batch kombucha company based locally in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed Northstar's Raspberry Hibiscus kombucha, bright, refreshing, and a perfect complement to the rich courses coming out of the kitchen. And when they headed home, each guest left with a goody bag with one of the Northstar flavors: Grapefruit Basil, Lavender Ginger, Raspberry Hibiscus, White Peach, Strawberry Rose, Cherry Elderberry, Honey Ginger, and Blueberry Maple.
A Building Full of Makers
A few days before the event, I drove to pick up the kegs and goody bag bottles myself, and love where Northstar calls home.
They're based in a shared maker space that houses a small community of independent producers, each one crafting something by hand. It's the kind of building where you walk in for kombucha and leave with a deeper appreciation for the people doing the slow, careful work of building something real. This is what Minnesota's food and beverage scene looks like at its best: collaborative, community-rooted, and absolutely extraordinary.
About Northstar Kombucha
Northstar Kombucha is brewed in small batches using organic ingredients and live cultures. Their flavors are creative but balanced, the kind of kombucha you actually want to drink, not just tolerate for the health benefits. Full disclosure, it’s one of my all-time favorite kombucha brands so when they said yes to partnering with us for our inaugural event, I was over the moon!
You can find Northstar at co-ops and specialty grocers across Minnesota, or order directly from their website.
Northstar Kombucha’s ginger hibiscus kombucha being served at our Story Feast event at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota.
A Note on the Founder
We always invite our partners to join us at gatherings and we love when they can share their story directly with guests. One of Northstar's founders, Dan Fischer, couldn't make it to St. John's that night. When I invited him he explained that he was on dad duty with his kids. And honestly? That's exactly the kind of person we want to partner with!
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
See the Menu: A Harvest Feast at St. John's Abbey
Story Feast Menu
The menu from our inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey, Minnesota: a multi-course harvest feast by James Beard semifinalist Mateo Mackbee and Erin Mackbee of Krewe and Flour & Flower Bakery.
Vespers cocktail creation during the Story Feast cocktail hour at our St. John’s Abbey gathering.
For our first-ever Story Feast, we gathered 180 guests in the historic dining hall at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, the same room that has sheltered Benedictine monks for generations.
The meal was created by Mateo and Erin Mackbee, the husband-and-wife team behind Krewe Restaurant and Flour & Flower Bakery in nearby St. Joseph, Minnesota. Mateo is a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest. Erin's Flour & Flower was named one of the best bakeries in America by The New York Times in 2024.
But their impact goes far beyond awards. Since opening in 2020, Mateo and Erin have become anchors of the St. Joseph community: confronting social justice issues, championing local producers and other culinary establishments in the region, and proving that a small-town restaurant can change the culture around it and inspire community members to create a support system rooted in empathy, kindness, and of course, incredible food! Their food honors both ancestry and a circular economy that sustains itself and thrives.
Their presence at our table made this gathering unforgettable and we were so honored that they created this extraordinary, carefully planned meal and joined us at the Story Feast table!
As Minnesota Monthly wrote: "The dinner served as a meditation on community, craft, and care."
Read the full Minnesota Monthly article about our event and to learn more about Chefs Erin and Mateo
Read Jody Eddy’s interview with Chefs Erin and Mateo
The St. John’s Abbey Story Feast Menu
A Multi-Course Family-Style Feast Inspired by Minnesota Traditions & Seasons
Shared Bites
Walleye Rillettes on Rye Crisps
Wild Rice Arancini with Cranberry Compote
Pickled Garden Accents
Salads & Bread
Seasonal Harvest Salad
Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish Cream
Rustic Breads & Compound Butters
Main Platters
Braised Short Ribs with Juniper Jus
Maple-Glazed Roast Chicken
Foraged Mushroom & Barley Casserole
Sides
Charred Carrots with Maple & Hazelnuts
Seasonal Grain Pilaf
Corn Grits with Smoked Chili Oil
Desserts
Honeycrisp Apple Galette with Cardamom Cream
Church Basement Sweet Bar Sampler
My newsletter
Every Wednesday in my Substack newsletter, What’s Good Here, I share a new, well-tested recipe alongside guides, how-tos, interviews with inspiring people, and stories about what it means to live a good life. Every other Friday I also share five original recipes plus a step-by-step guide to host a Fantasy Feast inspired by your favorite movies, books and television shows.
Subscribe to What's Good Here →
Interested in partnering with us for a future gathering? See partnership opportunities →
Interested in joining a future gathering? See upcoming events →
Recipe: Vespers: A Story Feast Signature Cocktail from Brother Justus Whiskey Founder, Phil Steger
Vespers Cocktail Recipes
A Story Feast signature cocktail recipe by Phil Steger, founder of Brother Justus Whiskey in Minneapolis and host of our cocktail hour at St. John’s Abbey.
Vespers cocktail creation during the Story Feast cocktail hour at our St. John’s Abbey gathering.
Phil Steger founded Brother Justus Whiskey with a simple belief: spirits should bring people together. Based in Minneapolis, Brother Justus is Minnesota's first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition, and it's built on Benedictine values of community, craftsmanship, and hospitality.
Phil created this cocktail for the inaugural Story Feast gathering at St. John's Abbey in November 2025. The name "Vespers" refers to the evening prayer service observed in monasteries around the world, a moment of pause and reflection as day turns to night. It felt fitting for a meal shared by candlelight in a monastic dining hall.
From Phil: “This is an original cocktail called “Vespers.” It feels fitting for the occasion and the time of day, given that Vespers is the communal divine office prayed by monks in the evening. The build has monastic references too. In addition to Brother Justus, it is also made with Benedictine liqueur, as well as cream sherry and mole bitters. It’s a boozy cocktail, with a lot of richness, but is velvety and smooth, with black coffee color with ruby red refractions in the light. Perfect for end of day reflection and reverie.”
Brother Justus founder Phil Steger during the Story Feast cocktail hour. Phil not only created a signature cocktail for the event, he poured Brother Justus whiskey for our guests throughout the event.
When Megan and JD Jorgenson, founders of Maine Prairie Studio, found out about the whiskey pouring during dunner, they handcrafted a whiskey tumbler for every place setting (it’s the small one on the left). Megan and JD threw every single piece of pottery for our Story Feast event at St. John’s Abbey. It totaled over 1300 pieces of original place settings, serving vessels, water and whiskey tumblers and vases for the table. It was extraordinary.
Not only did Megan and JD craft a whiskey tumbler for every place setting, they also created enough of them to send a tumbler home with every guest in our Story Feast goody bag.
Vespers
Makes 1 cocktail
Preparation time: 5 minutes
The recipe combines American whiskey with Benedictine (a French herbal liqueur originally created by monks) and cream sherry, finished with mole bitters for warmth and depth. It's smooth, contemplative, and best enjoyed slowly, at sunset, with good company.
Ingredients
2 oz Brother Justus American Whiskey
½ oz Benedictine
½ oz Cream Sherry
2 dashes mole bitters
Ice
Method
Add whiskey, Benedictine, cream sherry, and bitters to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir until well chilled, about 30 seconds.
Strain into a coupe or rocks glass.
Serve without garnish, or with a single orange twist if you like.
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