Oppenheimer Catalogue, Nerman Gala, and Asad Faulwell

Ok, I'm about ten weeks late on this post. But, today my second copy of the Oppemheimer Catalogue came in the mail, though so it's not totally out of line.

Last spring I wrote a handful of catalogue entries for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art's Oppenheimer Catalogue. The collection of contemporary art housed at the museum is fantastic, and most of it can be traced back to the Oppenheimer collection. In any case, I wrote on four amazing contemporary artists, and the catalogue in it's hardcover-hundreds of pages-color plate-glossy paper-glory was published this past fall. In conjunction with the catalogue release, the museum hosted a gala. A fabulous-lavish hors d'oeuvres-champagne-truffles-gobs of shrimp cocktail-ice sculpture kind of affair. One of the benefits of being an author is that I got two tickets. So cool!

We went with a few friends who were also authors, and enjoyed the fabulousness of the entire event.

And-- It. Was. Fabulous.

In addition to all the amazing food and drink there was a commissioned performance by the contemporary dance troupe Quixotic, roving electronic string players, and a neat video piece in the central hall of the museum.

Then there was all the art. And the artists! One of the artists I wrote on, Asad Faulwell, was in attendance. It was really great to meet Asad, he was super friendly, and we had a nice chat about his work, the art scene in KC, and the Nerman Museum. Here is a photo of his painting Mujahidat #11, me, and him. The thing you can't tell from this photo is how detailed his work is. From a distance it appears like a geometric pattern, but upon closer inspection there are tiny news photographs of women who fought with the National Liberation Front in the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62). I love the subtle political message- one needs to be aware of the women, their plight, and their appearance to fully understand the work- but the overriding aesthetic beauty of the piece allows for appreciation on any level. Definitely an artist to watch, Asad is young and up-and-coming.

Once you have absorbed the art, your next question might be, why are you standing so strangely? Gripping your bag with an iron fist? Oh, that.... well, the photo below is your answer. I wore the cutest little-wrap your feet up like a gift-amazing match for my dress-sugar sweet- kill your feet shoes. Ouch! But they looked so adorable.... and I even matched the nail polish and lipstick. Snazzy! And I match the painting!

 Here's Joe with the video work looking swanky and getting some drinks. Because I had to sit down.

Awww... KU art history in action. And a shoe shot!

Thanks

 Ah, Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday of all. A day of cooking and drinking, no commercialization, family and friends, and lots of food from scratch. We usually have a big to-do at our place, but this year we wanted to scale it back. We had seven adults, a toddler, and a baby, so a pretty easy meal.

One thing we did this year to mix it up was to skip our traditional Butternut Squash Ravioli. This is an amazing addition to the table, but making pasta, rolling out dough, cooking the filling (usually starting with roasting the squash), and making up tons of tiny ravioli can be very time consuming to say the least. With both of us swamped with work the weekend before the holiday and up to Wednesday evening, it felt overwhelming, so we skipped it this year. I'm thinking ravioli will make an appearance on our Christmas table instead.

What we had in place of ravioli was a tart, but a last minute one at that. I love tarts and went through a serious tart phase a few years ago, but I think my pâte brisée skills have improved since the mid-2000s. The tart and a bonus chocolate pie were actually the result of a baking error I made the night before Thanksgiving. In a rush to bake my pumpkin pie crust I didn't spend the time to seek out my pie weights, and tried to use dried couscous instead. Not a good idea....and I totally should have known better. The crust shrunk down without the proper weight, leaving not enough space for the pumpkin filling, and looked a bit funky around the edges. After a bit of sulking and panic late at night (the best pâte brisée takes a few hours of on and off refrigeration, even pre-chilling the flour) I decided to try the pumpkin pie again in the morning with a basic crust (meaning a lower flour-butter ratio). As a result I had two pâte brisée crusts that weren't beautiful to look at, but still tasted fantastic. Joe had the idea to make a chocolate pudding pie for the kiddo, a great and super easy solution. For the other crust, I decided to wing it with a tart. Tarts are kind of fussy, so this was a bold idea, but it worked out.

Alison's last minute rustic mushroom tart:

One pâte brisée shell (the internet has a million versions, none of which I used, but this one is interesting)

16 oz mushrooms, I used half baby portabellas and half button

1 large shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 egg
Heavy cream- about 1/4 cup- I winged it on this one too
1/8 cup grated Parmesan (or so, again, I used up what I had)
Generous amount of thyme, dash of basil, dash of oregano
Fresh ground salt and pepper
Olive oil
Fresh parsley (about 2 tbsp)

Simple as can be- sautee the garlic and shallot in olive oil in a pan, add the mushrooms, sautee until they start to release their juices, adding a generous amount of thyme (maybe 1/2 a tsp), basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Cool. Add the mushroom mix to the prepared tart shell. Mix together the cream and beaten egg and pour into the shell. Top with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Top with parsley. Tart perfection!

 Other dishes at our table were our Spiced Cranberries, A standard stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, Joe's veggie gravy, roasted Brussels sprouts, and our favorite centerpiece, Tofu Roulade (from the Chicago Diner cookbook). We realized that we only had recipes for the roulade and the cranberries, everything else was invented (fun!).

 The croissants were brought by friends, and came from the always fantastic Wheatfields Bakery in Lawrence.

 There was a non-natural not-from-scratch addition to our table this year- cubes. As Joe and I were preparing for our meal, we were reminiscing about the holidays of our childhood. My Dad's family meals always included this bizarre better-living-through-chemistry-era concoction called cubes. Frozen cubes (literally from the ice cube tray) that consisted of canned fruit cocktail, Miracle Whip (I kid you not), and cream. They were usually served with dinner as a side, often next to the cranberries. As a child, these things freaked me out, but my Dad and his siblings loved them. I had never eaten one, but thought I'd wing it as a surprise, which was also part of my Thanksgiving morning grocery run (we do not stock fruit cocktail or Miracle Whip in our house). I guessed at the recipe (and didn't know about the cream, turns out the internet does not know about cubes), and they turned out not too bad. We added whipped cream once I learned about the cream part, which took off the bite of the Miracle Whip. My Dad ate about six of them (!), so I'm guessing they weren't too far from the originals, heehee.

I have so much to be thankful for this year, most of all being surrounded by such great friends and family and having such bounty in our lives. I hope you had a great holiday, and the leftovers are treating you well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday afternoon

Museum Studies class field trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum on a lovely Friday afternoon.

Trick-or-treat

 Hard to believe this was two weeks ago.... Trick-or-treating this year was great fun, despite the munchkin's initial hesitancy to put on his costume. Once we got going, it was great. We like to do the Brookside business trick-or-treat, lots of kids and the businesses are close together, so there's a high reward for one's efforts. We received many compliments on our homemade Thomas the Tank Engine costume- which admittedly was constructed late into the night on October 30. Now, 14 days later the candy stash is nearly depleted, and we're looking forward to concocting ideas for next year. Happy (late) Halloween!

Il Trovatore

When it rains, it pours.

The last few weeks were filled with much work and much play. The work part has left blogging to the back burner, the play part has left much to catch up on. Halloween, a birthday, museums, I hope to get caught up on all of it in the coming days.

For now I'll write about the opera Il Trovatore that we saw on my birthday weekend. For as minimal and singular Madama Butterfly was (and I mean that in a positive way), Il Trovatore was full and plural. A huge cast, a bountiful drama, dark passion, gypsies, castles, this is what one thinks of as opera in the fullest sense of the term. Verdi's score is brooding and heavy in the best 19th century way (the anvil chorus is part of Il Trovatore), and the dark visuals of the Lyric's performance contributed to the intensity of the opera.

I'm still an opera newbie, so before we go I like to read various blogs and summaries so I better understand what we're about to see. In the case of Il Trovatore, I was definitely glad that I did so. Some of the summaries left me confused and wondering if I'd be able to follow the plot on stage over the course of three hours, but the stage direction and dialogue left no confusion (the Italian is translated into English subtitles on discreet little digital screens in front of each seat). My snazzy new opera glasses (above photo!), which were my birthday gift from Joe, also helped in keeping track of the performers and stage action.

Overall, I'm finding that as we attend more opera I'm learning to better distinguish my appreciation for the score, the performers, and the stage direction each time. I think Il Trovatore is high on my list of operas, and the performers were fantastic, but I'd like to see a different stage and art direction on this ambitious drama before passing judgement on the sparse, eerie direction we saw at the Kauffman Center.

Halloween Hooplah

 This past weekend we had a small Halloween get-together complete with karaoke, pumpkin painting, snacks, and decorations. I think we had as much fun preparing for the party as we did with our friends- stringing lights and fake cobwebs, making up funny names for the snacks, finding the amazing goth tablecloth pictured above at Target. I recycled an old high school formal and dressed as a flapper, Joe was a Classified Document. Our guests included Mrs. Mia Wallace (a la Pulp Fiction), Tobias and Lindsay Funke (a la Arrested Development), Rosie the Riveter, and Minerva, as well as some non-costumed pals.

 The buffet included Waldo Witches Brew (white wine sangria punch), Mummies Toes (cheese puffs), Dried Bat Wings (preztel flats), Witches Fingers (dried peas), Troll Toenails (peppitas), and a Bloody Mary Bar, which included Vampire's Kiss (the Bloody Mary base), Frankenstein Fingers (celery sticks), Goblin's Eyeballs (olives), Cat's Tongue (peppers), and Owl's Brains (mini pickles).

 We also had Beware Brownies and Reese's Pieces. Some of the mini-pumpkins we painted are below. Happy Halloween!

Baby Brancusi

 The ways we project onto our children are fascinating.

Above is one of little man's latest drawings- he called it a face. The composition instantly reminded me of Constantin Brancusi's sculpture The Newborn from 1915 (below). Although my pre-schooler likely knows more about art history than most Americans, I am realistic enough to know that he doesn't *really* know early twentieth century art well enough to be referencing Brancusi. I should also say that I'm not comparing his drawings to the fully developed work of a modernist master. I am left wondering, what does my projection say about me?

Jack-o-lanterns

Pumpkins from patch to porch.

Much like our apple excursion a few weeks ago resulted in apple cakes and snacks, our pumpkin patch outing took the veggies from farm to home. We visited Shaake's Pumpkin Patch near Lawrence on a chilly day a few weeks ago- perfect fall weather- overcast and cold enough to warrant hot apple cider. Each year we go here for our pumpkins and enjoy the hay rides, farm animals, and pumpkin picking. Sadly, we've had a warm front this week, so when we carved our pumpkins on Sunday it was humid and not even cool enough for sweatshirts. Today was even hot (in the 80s, more gross climate change weather), so I'm worried about the jack-o-lanterns rotting in the heat. Hopefully the weather forecast is correct, and tomorrow will be the last day of this icky weather. In any case, we had a great time out at the farm, and an even better time carving our jack-o-lanterns.

 This is an annual tradition for us. Joe and I have been carving pumpkins for over a decade, and we always get into the spirit- Halloween music, hot apple cider (with a shot of rum, of course), snacks, it's truly an event. This year I went for a witchy Hello Kitty, and he went for Jack Skellington. We collaborated on little man's with a traditional face that he helped design with the assistance of the Disney Junior pumpkin decorating game. In addition to the jack-o-lanterns that will grace our front porch for the next week, we also have roasted pumpkin seeds to snack on for the next few days. Happy Halloween!

Apples from tree to table

 

 A few weeks ago we spent a Sunday afternoon out in the country, apple picking with a group of friends at the Pome on the Range Orchard. The half peck of apples we gathered didn't seem like much while we were out among the trees, but back in our kitchen it seemed like a ton. In the week after we went apple picking we had apples for snacks and Apple-Walnut Cake with Caramel Glaze. This past weekend we made Apple Sauce, which was really easy and surprisingly tasty, and which made a great ingredient in the Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting which graced our table this evening.

Fall foliage hiking

We wanted to go camping this weekend, but the weather wasn't with us. Saturday brought heavy thunderstorms and rain to the area, so we passed on our hopes of a fall camping excursion. Instead, on Sunday we took a day trip up to the beautiful Weston Bend State Park, about an hour from KC. The leaves are gorgeous this week, and the park has a system of hiking trails that can be connected for varying lengths. We went about three miles, not far, but far enough when climbing hills with a thirty pound kiddo on your back, or controlling a rambunctious dog. Interestingly, this is the same area through which Louis and Clark traveled over two hundred years ago. After hiking along the Missouri River bluffs and through the forest, we had a cookout in the lovely day use area, prolonging our time outdoors. I can't imagine a better way to spend a cool autumn afternoon.

Green tomatoes

 Last weekend brought the first frost to KC, and therefore a huge harvest of summer veggies from our garden.

The above photo shows the bounty of produce that we brought in from the yard on Saturday afternoon- green tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, Anaheim peppers, jalapeno peppers, green beans, chard, and basil. This led to a good deal of processing. We made juice with the melons, and froze three huge batches of pesto with the basil, as well as one batch of just basil. I can't wait for the bright flavor of summer basil to come out of the freezer in the depths of winter.

The one thing I wasn't sure what to do with were the green tomatoes. I have had Fried Green Tomatoes once, and enjoyed them, but wasn't really ready to jump into this myself. A few ripened in a box with shredded newspaper, but most were still green. So, we found a soup recipe that sounded interesting, and which we made tonight. The soup tasted like a BLT in a bowl- fresh and like the flavor of a warm summer day, an especially nice meal on a rainy fall day. It's worth seeking out green tomatoes at the farmers market just for this fantastic soup!

Green Tomato Soup:

Heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large, heavy stock pot.

Saute one and a half cups of scallions, two cloves of garlic, five ounces of ham (we used veggie "ham" slices) and one bay leaf for about five minutes.

Add two pounds of chopped green tomatoes (keep seeds and skins on), two cups of water, one cup of vegetable broth, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 25 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a side of fresh bread.

Nom!

Fall leaves

My favorite season is here.

The weather has been beautiful this week, cool and crisp, chilly in the morning and evenings, just enough so to wear a light jacket. Yesterday's drive home was filled with beautiful fall scenery, and as I drove through my neighborhood in the early evening, I was struck by the color on all the beautiful old trees. Happy fall!

Hot sauce

 Of all the crops I grew in the garden this year, the jalapenos were the most prolific. We used them in various dishes throughout the late summer and into early fall. I made baked poppers for the first Sunday of NFL games. I gave some away to a friend. We've dried some for later. But, there are still a few pounds of peppers left. So, I decided to try to make my own hot sauce. I took about one pound of peppers (above) and blended them with about a teaspoon of freshly ground salt in the food processor, what you see below. When I processed the peppers they were so spicy that just breathing the air made my nose tingle and my eyes water a bit.

 The pepper blend sat in a mason jar on the counter for 24 hours. The next evening, I added about a cup of vinegar to the jar, and allowed this bright green mixture to sit for two days, letting the flavor deepen.

 The final step was to re-process the blend and put it through a sieve, thus making hot sauce- success! It should have a fridge life of about four months- spicing up our lives well into the cold winter months.

Nothing like a good book

Somewhere in the midst of my written comps, I hit a bit of a wall. It was a hot weekday afternoon in August, I had been writing and gathering sources for days straight, and felt completely blank and drained. After being in the house for many days with little human contact other than talking to my husband for a few minutes late in the evening and a brief daily skype with our son and my parents, I had to get out for something other than a two block walk-to-the-coffee-shop, or my daily spin around the block with the dog.

I went to the bookstore.

This seems a bit ironic, doesn't it? Drowning in a sea of books, reading, and writing, I decide to go to a bookstore. But, for a long time (years, actually) I wanted to stop into the adorable Rainy Day Books, a local, independent bookstore nestled among the idyllic shops in Fairway, KS. Somehow, in the middle of being tortured by books, the smell of a small bookshop, the discussion about recent reads with the friendly employees, and the hum of people doing normal things (read: not comps), was completely comforting.

After talking with one of the knowledgeable clerks, I selected Rules of Civility, which became my nightstand book for about two months. As much as I love to curl up in our over-sized armchair with a hot beverage and a good book on a cool day, I rarely have time for such indulgences, so instead it is an evening ritual in our house to retreat to bed with a cup of herbal tea and a few minutes of reading. This was a great book to end each day with- a Gatsby-esque story of youth and chance, wit and wealth, set against 1930s Manhattan. The book was filled with literary and artistic references, and provided the perfect escape to a stressful few weeks.

Fall tomato harvest

It's hard to believe that I can harvest tomatoes on October 2, but I'm not going to complain.

The garden is still producing really well- we had chard yesterday, carrots tonight, cantaloupe, Anaheim chilies, jalapenos, basil, and eggplant last week, and lots of tomatoes on salads. If the weather stays warm enough in the next few days, I should have a watermelon and some green beans before this weekends cold front. Then it'll be on to the cold crops that are currently seedlings- radishes, snow peas, India greens, kale, and bok choi.