mustard petals

L brought me these roses the other day, she called them "honey dijon", the petals ,unopened, were pinkish yellow. It wasn't until today when the flowers exhaled that I saw the amazing color emerge.....

squeaky good

special day. birthday.
art, wine, flowers, phone calls dinner out, and more.
went to see the Squeak Carnwath show at the Oakland Museum, and loved, loved loved it.
I think I finished a new painting, and put it behind a beautiful eye catching bouquet that significant brought back .
life is squeaky good.

trippin'

The Friday night event at the De Young Museum was hard to pass by: a show of Warhol's works, cocktails , music by the Elastic Amoebas, a Warhol's Factory party room, silkscreens with Obama's portraits, and more. The exhibit was a sensory explosion: music piped in, T.V sets playing his shows and movies, acid colors on his hyper graphic canvases, and a space that sent you back to a world that Andy might have experienced and created: plush square sofa/bed/mattress in a center of a room with a psychedelic show of concert footage and images with a light show tagged on,recording of the velvet Underground group that used to reside at the factory.....
I really admired his work, was inspired by some early drawings that showed great talent from the start, and was amazed to see how prescient he had been about the whole celebrity fascination. I had forgotten his magazine Interview that captured the global frenzy for the "people" press. And what of reality T.V with his movies of people sleeping, kissing,eating ? Again, precursing hints of the voyeurism and narcissism of today.

We grabbed a G and T, listened to the band, and watched the crowd walking by.Some people looked a little too much like their sixties ghost, so I had to ask "Edie S" if I could take her picture , lounging in the factory party room:

But the evening was young, and we headed to Farinafor a fabulous meal. I love the room where every design details is thought through and hand made, just like the food, prepared delicately but with bursting flavors. Their pasta made there is in my mind unparalleled. I am still dreaming of my dish of hankerchief pasta with ligurian pesto. a melt in your mouth...
Dot ordered the tiramisu which I thought deserved a picture for its presentation, if only you had been there to taste it ! an inch close to sublime.

nourish

L and I are working on some images for a slideshow event that sounds just too hip and fun.Artists get together in a cool space ,share a potluck and watch a slide show of art that they submitted. so why not have a little fun when the world is coming to pieces, ponzis are still scheeming, and Sunday school teacher maim and kill. Theme of the show: nourishment, which is something we all need,heart, spirit and stomach.
so off we went with it, and with the idea of Farm to table, I sent L to a local garden and we worked on some food shots with ingredients growing there.Artichokes,meyer lemons, garlic,chard.....the strawberries were from the farmer's market and I couldn't resist their cocky little stems, the oranges were for one of my plating.

SLIDELUCK POTSHOW SF II
Friday, May 8th, 2009
7pm Potluck | 9pm Slideshow | Afterparty to Follow
LeftSpace | 2055 Bryant St. | San Francisco, CA 94110

lunch with applications

photos by Chloe H. taken with i phone.

The i phone was in my purse when we got back home to have lunch with Dot who was going to hold my hand and take me through the tech maze: music, facebook etc....well, leave it to the teacher to come up with the best shots of the kitchen counter to test the phone camera !. My head spins up a bit, but I am excited. Now I just have to learn to turn the mail to manual or something when I go to France in May.Otherwise consider me.... connected !

la fleur du citron apres la limonade

limonade

It is scorching hot today.one of our little heat waves that happens one or twice a year.cats are on their backs, trying to find a cool floor, and others drink chai, like they do in hot India.Then, others put up lemonade stands,and pour it out of icy pitchers.

have you heard of panachés while in france ? a favorite drink for warm days: half beer, half fizzy lemonade......

mood lifter

the chicken was sick.The vet had told them to put her in the sun. She was still, her eyes closed and he was trying to get her to drink with a eye dropper. Further in the garden, my friend L had planted these glowing poppies. After a licorice tea, she gave me a bouquet that made my heart smile every time I caught a sight of it.

sculptural and retro

It is a work out to get 12 recipes styled and shot in a day, may be a sign of the times or not. I was set to record a few vignettes, and got some shots of the mountain of dishes in the sink, my car overflowing with bags to be unloaded and some interesting little set ups I came up with.But you are not really going to see those. Instead, you are getting my funny eyes on things as they happen:dumping a jar of frozen pineapple chunks upside down, ready for a frappe of pineapple , mint and yogurt ( delicious), or a cleaned up glass after we had transferred its content..... or a pie we were working on and some very red strawberries against a blue plate......

shrimp for easter

worked on this image recently. had to create an "asian" mood... coconut fried shrimp with herbs and dipping sauces.

a new novel

I have known Summer for decades. I have known her as long as L. We all worked in a store for 2 women who had the instinct of hiring a great crew: a mix of talents and temperaments with heart and style. these two married brothers, handsome young men with dreams of rock and roll fortune.When Summer gave birth to her daughter, I remember visiting her in her little cottage ,a skip and a throw from the store. Her son, would sit on my lap,working on his coloring.Summer has always written . poems when I met her, and novels more recently.Her new book was inspired by a terrible event that took place in Berkeley, where a salacious and greedy businessman ( restaurants, buildings etc) had lied to immigration pretending that 2 young women were his nieces, and had them trapped , prisoners in one of of his apartment, reduced to being his sex slaves. One of them died tragically and the whole ordeal was revealed. So now Summer wrote a story about a woman who got caught in a similar web.I will go to her reading at Moe's in Berkeley on April 28 at 7:30 PM and I cannot wait to read the book.

fish and currry

O.K, lets' start with the fish part. It is spring time and the plants need a little attention, some stroking, and an occasional treat: I keep a nice little jug of fish emulsion that I mix with water, and the whole fancy cocktail gets greedily absorbed by the thirsty roots.So, I had gotten started on the process and left the jug next to the shed.One morning, the jug was tipped over, and the gooey drink had spilled a bit in a crusty river worthy of Andy G. I am bad with tops, always have, and often fail to screw them tight.This time, the top was secure, but the next morning the jug was over on the other side of the lemongrass roots that I keep wet in a saucer before I can figure out where to plant them. a little weird, but I assume some night creatures ( raccoons , opossums, squirrels,leprechauns) were fond of the stuff.Then, yesterday, as I am getting ready to water my new herbal plot:no jug, gone. What the hell ! got on my knees, looked under the shed, and thought for a minute that I was getting loopy. I imagined a grinning raccoon, teeth clenched around the pink plastic top, climbing over the fence, looking forward to his bouillabaisse that day .... now, what ?
Now on to the curry:
Have you seen or heard of curry leaves ? cooked with them ? I was just working on a project with Indian spices and learned that curry leaves are not part of the curry powder concoction. they are used widely to make all kinds of curry dishes ( actually a curry is really a dish, vegetarian or not, that is mixed with different ingredients and a sauce, it doesn't have to look yellow).The small pointy leaves ( looking a little like fresh bay leaves) are usually thrown fresh, in the pot with oil, cumin seeds, turmeric and what not, then when translucent and a little toasted, the rest of the dish is added and tossed in the fragrant melange.