Summer food

Some stuff I made with CSA goodies.


Golden beet, cucumber, and feta salad (feta from Titan Foods in Astoria).


We got twelve peaches so I made a peach cake with a recipe from the July issue of Martha Stewart.

Jean-Do

I watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly last night. The camera work, editing, mood were all brilliant. But the truth wasn't told. It's always a problem with book adaptations.

Summer reading

Two weeks ago, J gave me Atonement, by Ian McEwan to read. It was better than I expected, a bit wordy in the beginning but interesting throughout. She also gave me a copy of the movie, which I saw this weekend. Unfortunately, that was a disappointment. The acting was pretty good, but the directing left more to be desired.

This morning, R gave me Murakami's new memoir, What I talk About When I Talk About Running. I read the piece ( an excert from the book) he had in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago and put the book on my wish list. It's exactly what I wanted. Thanks for spoiling me. What a sweet gift. Thank you!

Random

Last night when I got home from the gym, I threw my gym stuff and a load of laundry into the machine. Ten minutes later, I realized that I had forgotten to take out my earphones, which was tucked between my sweat towel. I retreived the dripping thing and laid it out to dry over night. I'm happy to report that it's actually working! Hooray!

Two tutorials via How About Orange:
Covered kitchen doors
Baby Kimono

Hot air balloon ride above Central Park

You can now take a 10 min. hot air balloon ride 300 feet above Central Park. For more info read this. (Through Aug. 22)

Raindrops

It was dark and moody when I walked through the park this morning. Even though we're at the height of summer, it reminded me a bit of the coming Fall. I saw this rainy day in autumn fabric from Lara Cameron and it made me long for cooler, milder weather.



(image from Lara Cameron)

Some recipes

I've decided not to make any more LA entries. Most of you have probably been there anyway. I've been busy with random stuff like cleaning out old shoeboxes filled with sanpshots- totally guilty- I know they should be in something archival. Well, I threw almost all of it out (I'm learning to be a minimalist, and don't worry, I have plenty left). I was a horrible photographer who gave too much money to the film companies and my local photomat. In between the heat and cleaning the underside of my bed, I tried out some new recipes in the kitchen.

spicy radish sandwich (By the way, I love Eating Out Loud.)

strawberry shortcake

jalapeno cornbread with cheddar cheese (with extra jalapeno, cheddar, corn and no sugar)

We had an abundance of carrots and cucumbers (from the lovely CSA) so I semi-developed a black bean dip based on one that I had in California. I dumped everything in the blender and mixed it every so often to even it out. I just added everything to taste so I have no measurements. Here are the ingredients:
can of refried black beans with jalapenos (from Trader Joe's)
can of grabanzo beans (TJ's)
some orange muscat wine vinegar (TJ's) (I would normally use fresh lemon juice but I just didn't have any.)
extra virgin kalamata olive oil (Fairway)
sea salt
cayenne
fresh ground white pepper
cumin
coriander
celery seed
(you could also try adding some tahini.)
serve chilled with carrot and cucumber spears and TJ's vegetable flax chips.

Stay cool!

Tri lured me to Facebook

Over the weekend I succumbed to joining the popular networking site facebook. Why? (I keep asking myself whether or not I have the time to maintain yet another thing amongst my blogs and sites.) I had good reason. My friend Tri emailed me a link to his facebook page with some new photos. Now, they're not just some random snapshots, he's a great photographer photographing Buddhism in Asia. Tri moved to Singapore about a year ago and I dearly wanted to see what he'd been up to. Here are two photos, one from Vietnam and one from his transexual series.




copyright Tri Luu

Thanks Tri!

The Getty

I visited the Getty Center in LA and the Getty Villa in Malibu. The Center was as bright as the rest of LA (something that just made my eyes tear and hurt). The stones they used for the building and grounds bounce light all over the place. I enjoyed the August Sander and Bechers show while there.

Here's a shot of the dining area (in the cool shade!). I have to say that the heat didn't really bother me at all because it's dry heat. I sweated much less than I would in the same temperature than let's say, oh, Bangkok. Plus at night, it always cooled down nicely and was comfortable without ac.


I was really into these "trellises."


A close-up.


These were so soft, I kept running my hands through them.


The Getty Villa combined with some beach time makes for a super day trip. Remember that you have to reserve tickets in advance to get into the Villa, but it's free. J.P. has a great collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art. The villa setting is really nice, reminds me of what the Cloisters is to the Met.


Super long fountain.


Interlocking Greek Key


Herakles.


Nice pattern on stone floor.


Roasted veggies sandwich (I highly recommend the food here, very affordable and one of the yummiest meals my whole time out West.)


A secluded beach in Malibu.

City of Angels

An angel seen along the Venice Canals.

I've been back from LA for oh 3 wks? I still want to share the trip with you so I'm going to divide it up into several posts over the next couple of days. This was my second trip to California, first to LA and it made a pretty big impression on me. There are some things over there that we just don't have on the East coast.

This chicken man for example...these and other huge figurines (in sombreros) are in abundance there. The signage in general was ultra fabulous.


Then there's Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown. It's part theme park and part seedy. The food is ok.






There's the abundance of taco trucks and stands. (That's a satisfied customer by the name of Maggie.)


And the abundance of fruit trees in people's yards. These are from the huge bucket of lemons we picked off Maggie's tree in the side yard and made into honey lemonade. I knew fruit trees existed in peoples yards but to experience it was so fun and exciting. (This is coming from someone who totally grew up in Queens.) I love fruit and I want to have a fruit tree in my yard!

Garden inspirations

I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens two weekends ago. It was inspired by my visit to the Huntington Gardens in California (that will be another post, sorry I'm working backwards!) Here are some images that I wanted to share.


I love this texture!


These look like fluttering butterflies.


The color on this baby was so intense.


Airplant


Papyrus


Dessert room


I had no idea this is what vanilla beans looked like.


Succulant that looks like dragon scales.


Burro's tale (I really really want some of this stuff).


And of course I arrived starving and had somegazpacho with a mozarella sandwich.


After all the walking around, I worked up another appetite and downed this farmer's market olive and fennel focaccia bread. (From the Saturday farmer's market at Grand Army Plaza.)

Neti Neti

The Secret Michael Buhler-Rose

Michael Buhler-Rose sent me some info about Neti Neti, a group show he's in at Bose Pacia.

"Coming from the Advaita Vedanta branch of Hindu philosophy, Neti-Neti means "not this, not this" or "neither this, nor that." Artistic practice today seems to comfortably inhabit many interstitial grey areas in terms of content, forms, materials, techniques and cultural identities. Artists are attracted to subjects and ideas from all over the world, with scant regard to provenance or pedigree. Life is, ideally, multi-layered and confounding, full of cross-referencing as well as overlapping concerns. Cultural indeterminacy has become a preferred language and attitude, the most appropriate response for both the inhabitants of cyber-space and the polyphonic community of creative travelers."

Neti Neti (Not This, Not This)
a group exhibition curated by Peter Nagy
July 8 - August 16, 2008
Bose Pacia
508 West 26th St, 11th FL
New York, NY 10001

Apricot salad

Here's a recent salad creation with apricots.

Emily Shur

Jason Schwartzman copyright Emily Shur


Fire, Japan copyright Emily Shur

Over on the Nymphoto blog, Nina posted a great Conversation with Emily Shur this morning. I'm enjoying this series quite a bit as I'm learning more about artists that I've only heard bits and pieces of. Emily is a great celebrity photographer and I especially love this photo she made of Jason Schwartzman but what I also really admire is that she makes amazing personal work. Fire, Japan is entirely different but has the same wonderful sensibilities as her celebrity work.

Ask me & sidebar updates (help needed)

Nina created this badge based on Liz Kuball's original. Nina's Community Building post explains what it means. Because I host this blog on my own server, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to put this badge in the side bar. If you happen to know how, email me the code!



And while I was rummaging around blogger, trying to figure out how to put the badge on my sidebar, I went ahead and updated my blogroll to include more fav design blogs- Jeana Sohn, Fine Little Day, Lena Corwin, and added Hee Jin Kang's photoblog and website.

A big shipment

My life is a bit hectic right now. I just receieved five huge boxes of good stuff yesterday afternoon. Here are some photos of the chaos at home.





We were up to our earfuls in bubble wrap, peanuts and foam. (We are going to try and reuse as much of it as possible. We've already recycled the cardboard boxes.)



Here are the goods, unwrapped, and safe.





The last two photos are shots of where the new stuff is going to go. Right now I have to climb into bed because everything has been displaced. I'm hoping to have this resolved before the weekend. More photos and details soon.

Pittsburgh for the Fourth

Over the holiday weekend I went out to Pittsburgh. I saw a great fireworks display downtown and also had a famous Primanti Bros. sandwich. The NYTimes just published 36 hours in Pittsburgh, I will have to keep it in mind for my next trip.


How did you celebrate the Fourth of July?

Fishnet bowl

I saw a fishnet bowl that I really liked while thrift shopping in Vegas. I didn't buy it because the design was faded on the inside, and I was sure I could get something similar in Chinatown. It also had a hefty $6 price tag. While surfing the net I found the same one- voila! And for the bargain price of $2.95 at Pearl River plus some other nice patterns.

(images from Pearl River)

Washing or wiping- mushrooms

When it come to mushrooms, my mom insists on wiping while I think it's kinda gross to leave the dirt on (you can't possibly get it all off by wiping, and who knows what's been hovering aound the mushrooms). This post on AT confirms my beliefs! Washing is the way to go.

Hooks

I first saw these hooks in my friend Randy's bathroom. He makes them himself. If you want some and are not as handy as Randy, you can find it on Live Wire Farm. If I had a cabin in the woods, my decor would definitely go in this direction.

(images from Live Wire Farm)

Nakashima-esque DIY Table

I saw this DIY table (instructions are included) on Casa Sugar a while back and am totally wowed. I want one! (except I don't have the elbow grease!)

(photos from Casa Sugar)

Hee Jin Kang and The Insistent Object

Sandy's Deli (receipts) Hee Jin Kang

A Conversation with Hee Jin Kang that I have been working on for the Nymphoto blog just posted this morning. Have a read. I really like her work, it's making me think of still-lifes.

Just came across the 1987 catalog for The Insistent Object, a show of Black and White still-lifes at the Frankel Gallery in SF featuring works by Fox Talbot, Arbus, Watkins, Muybridge, etc. Beautiful.

I finally got my hands on a Bert Teunissen

Saugnac et Muret #1, 27/12/2005 11:27
by Bert Teunissen

I snatched up one last week from 20x200.

(photo from 20x200)

Domingo in Amsterdam

If you happen to be in Amsterdam, check out my dear friend Domingo's Paesaggi series at the Photography Museum. More info here.

Domingo Milella - Paesaggi
27 June to 31 August 2008
Amsterdam’s Photography Museum, Foam.
Open daily from 10.00-18.00, Thurs/Fri 10.00-21.00

(image from foam)