Their vibrant presence
In solidarity with the Iranian women / Kostrena, Croatia / May 2005
~ Why Now by Azadeh Moaveni
In solidarity with the Iranian women / Kostrena, Croatia / May 2005
Bread as an edible plate: pizza on the boardwalk at the Olympic Flame Restaurant / Wildwood, NJ / June 2008
You are also the “in croûte” around my potatoes; Another recipe for hard times: Pommes de terre Boulangères in croûte
(“Baker's Wife” Potatoes in a Pastry Crust) — looks fancy but is filled
with potatoes and onions; this was fun to make as it uses puff pastry
and smelled fragrant and exotic while baking / June 2009
... thinking of the elections being held in Iran today and hoping that the Iranian women can gain more freedoms ...
Bruno's circle drawings / Design As Art
"If the square is bound up with man and his works, with architecture, harmonious structures, writing and so on, the circle is related to the divine. The circle has always represented and still represents eternity, with no beginning and no end. An ancient text says that God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.
The circle is an essentially unstable, dynamic figure. From it arise all rotating things, and all vain efforts to produce perpetual motion."
~ from Design As Art by Bruno Munari
The Hard Luck Pound Cake / New Jersey / June 2009
Last week I went to see the doctor. On the way I heard the radio talking about how if Woody Guthrie were around he wouldn't be writing songs about “the economy” but rather how “times are hard” or these are “hard times.” My doctor asked about business and I said, oh, a bit slow — it's the economy I guess (in my head I thought “hard times”). He said that with the exception of one man (who sold some sort of internet-connection widget), all his patients talked about business being off, losing their jobs, losing their health insurance, etc. Driving home I got it in my head that I needed to make a pound cake (partially attributed, I am sure, to the weakness that comes after getting my blood drawn). I found a recipe for a swirled pound cake —the dark and light mixed together, kind of like life — and made a few “hard times” adjustments. The recipe called for 1 cup of butter; I substituted canola oil for half of the butter (butter is expensive and has more health-problem fat). The recipe called for 2 cups of white sugar; I substituted dark brown sugar for half of the sugar (dark brown sugar seems like the poorer relation to white sugar). The recipe called for 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract; all I had was a drop (I protest buying vanilla extract because it costs so much and I can never taste it in what I bake). The recipe called for a cup of milk and I had none; I substituted a cup of Paulo's Half-and-Half (it was in the refrigerator and is a little hidden richness to add comfort). The cake was wonderful — hard luck doesn't feel so bad with a good piece of cake. (Full recipe after the jump.)
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More of Bruno's wonderful chairs / from Design As Art by Bruno Munari / the Munari Principle: lucidity, leanness, exactitude and humor
And when we are there we need some place to sit down / Bruno's chair sketches
Paulo sees flowers growing in the microwave oven / New Jersey / May 2009
The ease of the backyard garden and the deep brilliance of spring blooms / New Jersey / May 2009