Sometimes when it comes to certain things in life I put a hurdle up, for absolutely no other reason than just to see if I can clear it, which boggles my brain a bit. It’s a curious question/thing I do and I totally do it to myself; it is no one’s fault other than my own! But I do make things harder on myself every now and then (or more often than I’d like to admit) and it is something that I would like to explore. It’s funny (or just normal for me!) because I can think most abstractly about this best when I apply it to food. Sometimes I think to myself “When I put my mind to making X (stuff in my kitchen like baking bread, a three tiered cake, thai food–which is my favorite but also the hardest for me to make!–) I can do it and usually do it pretty well; so why wouldn’t that apply to doing Y (stuff in the big wide world)?
These are some pretty big questions and are probably going to need to simmer a while before one boils with an answer! But what I have found is that when I do apply the same attitude I do in the kitchen to other areas of my life–feeling things through, going with my intuition, listening to my gut (pun intended)–things move in the direction that want and am happy with. It is like a neat trick which I am still wrapping my mind around! But maybe that’s why I put those hurdles up every now and then, to test myself and the ability to manifest what I truly want/need in life. So interesting.
Anyway, I decided to make vanilla custard sans the brulee part last night (I don’t have a torch yet) with this in mind. Actually, I didn’t have much in mind other than I just wanted to do it! And I think that is what made them so good, honestly. Whenever I try a new recipe, I am not scared which I think is key to how it tastes; it means that I am approaching this new task with an open and clear mind, intent on being present with each step along the way but excited for the fruits of my labors: a treat! Cooking and baking are such wonderful ways to reward yourself for staying present in a moment, even if it’s only for a few minutes, because that can be really hard to do with so many other things going on in our lives. And at the end, if you’ve truly stayed present with your recipe and food, you will get instant gratification!
This custard recipe is simple and amazing. From one of my favorite chefs, Alice Waters, she approaches food in a similar way I think: clearly, presently, simply, and with intent. These custards were fragrant with vanilla and warmed cream and the texture was like silk, better than most custards or flan I’ve had. These were a seriously simple treat, so good on a warm summer evening. Try tossing some raspberries or blackberries (whole or compote-style) on top with a sprig of mint or even freezing them for a day to make frozen custard–yum!
Vanilla Custard or Pots De Creme, by Alice Waters
Whisk until just mixed in a medium bowl: 4 egg yolks
Measure and pour into another medium bowl: 3/4 cup heavy cream
Combine in a small pot:
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup sugar
One vanilla bean split lengthwise and seeds scraped into the pan with the bean
Warm the pot of half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla bean until steaming over medium heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve sugar. When warm, whisk into the egg yolks. Strain this mixture into the cold cream and mix well. Remove the vanilla bean from the strainer and squeeze all the seeds and liquid from it back into the custard mix. The mixture can be refrigerated for up to two days.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a 2 1/2 cup custard mold, or into 4 custard cups. Place the mold or cups into a large, deep pan and pour in boiling water until it reaches about halfway up the sides. Cover the top of the pan with foil and seal tightly. Bake until the sides of the custards are set but the center is still soft when jiggled, about 50 minutes for the large mold and 25 to 30 minutes for the smaller cups. Remove from the water bath and let cool. Serve warm or cool in the refrigerator.
Cheers!
Rainer cherries are de-licious! For some reason, cherries were never at the top of my favorite fruits growing up. I have a vague memory of myself eating too many tart ones (looking for a sweet one!) and it made my stomach hurt, thus turning me off to cherries for a long time. It wasn’t until I moved to the pacific northwest that I discovered the rainer cherry. The rainer cherry is like a crisp sauvignon blanc where as a bing is more like a deep cabernet. Each have their place in the flavor wheel and are equally as good, but good in different moods and with different foods. I used a really good vanilla extract in this pie which gave it a wonderful aroma, complimenting the fruitiness of the cherries. Next time I want to use a vanilla bean, I think it would taste wonderful!
It seems only appropriate that I am on a super pie kick lately! In getting ready for Pietopia, I’ve sent some of these special pies out as a little Pietopia PR 
. I hope the recipients like them! I saved myself a little bit of the filling and dough and made a pocket pie so I could taste what I was sending out. It was good .
This is not your average cherry pie–this is the crisp, summer, warm-weather version that would be great with a glass of a crisp white wine! A truly excellent edition to any pie-maker/pie-eater’s repitore. Cheers!
Rainer Cherry Pie
Filling:
2-3 pounds of cherries, pitted (you have enough when they make a nice mound in your pie plate)
1/2 c sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, pods scraped out
Pit cherries and mix with sugar and vanilla. Set aside
(pitted cherries mounded in the pan) Dough:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup earth balance
1 tablespoon apple cidar vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon ice cold water
Combine flour, butter, earth balance, salt, and vinegar. Mash together with your hands until butter is incorporated in chunks with the flour. Add the water and continue mixing with your hands until a big clump forms. Split into fourths and roll each out (2 for pie bottoms and 2 for pie tops). Line the bottom of the pan, fill with cherries, and then place the top dough on. Cut around the edges for any extra hanging off, and then pinch around the sides with your thumbs to seal it. Make some little slits in the top for air vents. Place in a preheated oven of 400 degrees F and bake for 45 mins-1 hour.
Enjoy!
Yesterday I posted about the Bread Friend Map experience I did for the JOIN Design Seattle show. Today, I wanted to give you a taste for the other fabulous design that was a part of the show with me! Some really great stuff from artists and collectives Fruitsuper, Andrea Claire, Elisa Werbler, Timothy Liles, Misewell, Hankbuilt, and Ladies and Gentlemen just to name a few.
The Bread Friend Map experience in Seattle went great! People were excited about the humongous bread, the chance to connect, and it was neat for me to see another map grow so organically in a different location.
I was excited to meet the people behind BRITE Collective as well as the brains and brawn behind the Seattle JOIN design collective. Seattle has a really dynamic and progressive design community that I was so excited to be a part of. The sheer size of Seattle lends to a wider range of designers from all walks of life to be a part of their community. This particular group (members of BRITE and JOIN) are interested in trying to break free of the “designer” mold that can creep up on practicing designers. What I mean by this is designers (especially in the states, I’ve found) can find themselves trapped in the business side of design not feeling as creatively free as their artist counterparts. They would like to show case the beauty and functionality of our everyday lives because of design through projects, charrettes, and possibly eating design events! By showcasing how design impacts much of our daily lives, they would like to bring awareness and a more widely percieved value back to what it is they love and do: creatively express, make, and design for the world around them. Bravo! I was very excited to be a part of their discussions and look forward to possible future collaborations and/or discussions!
Here are the Bread Friend Map Seattle pictures as well as a video of us putting the loaf into the wood fired oven over at Taste Bud. Bon appetit!
Hey everyone! I wanted to put it out there that I have about 30 limited edition Pietopia 2009 posters and am looking for a few good places to hang them and spread the word about the contest. They are really fun and would look great most places (in your restaurant, cafe, coffee shop, grocery, store window, building entrance, etc…) so if you’d like one, give me a shout! and write me: tricia at eatingisart dot com
I’d love to drop one off for you!
August 20th, 2009
3:30-7pm
Eastbank Farmers Market (SE 20th and Salmon)
Just a quick recap:
If you’d like to participate, please submit your 300 word blurb and recipe, including why you chose the recipe and how the taste of it relates to the current state of your life by July 15th, 2009. Each winning pie will receive a limited edition screen print reflecting the ideas in the written statement. Pies will be judged upon the creative and innovative ideas reflecting the ingredients used in the recipe.
Get as creative or as traditional as you want with your pies! Savory, sweet, fruit, cream, custard, meat, vegan, or raman noodle, do it up! The winners will bring their pie’s to the farmer’s market for some good old fashioned tasting. Come and taste what your community is feeling on August 20th, 2009 at the Eastbank Farmers Market! Plus check out the amazing silk-screens that will be specially designed for each winning pie.
Email blurbs and recipes to: pietopiacontest at gmail dot com
Check out the Pietopia Pie Contest site here.
We letterpressed the front of our Creative Force cards yesterday, they turned out pretty great I think!
In between mega screen printing sessions for the Recommendations: Spring series, I have managed to start my latest work on The Favorite meal #3. I am doing this meal for Lalena Dolby who’s favorite is the late Florence Broadhurst. Ms. Broadhurst was (amongst many things) a pattern designer and created her own wallpaper company in the 60′s out of Australia. She was a fascinating woman with fire red hair and great style. And this favorite meal has been so much fun to experiment and play around with! I am recreating one of Broadhurst’s signature prints out of licorice for the project. The actual meal will be held later this week which will be a blast .
I did my second Favorite meal for myself and decided to have my Favorite be about my brother. There is no one on this earth who is closer to me as we come from the same parents. Yet there isn’t anyone who could be any more different than me either. My brother is younger than me by two and a half years. Growing up, he had an array of medical issues (epilepsy and aspergers syndrome) that distanced our sibling relationship. It made those couple of years between us seem more like decades. There was a disconnect between us from early on that neither of us have yet to fully understand. This project was my attempt to have a conversation with him without actually having to use words, as words tend to be useless and confusing for him. (He was not present at this meal because he lives on the east coast.)
My brother was diagnosed with a severe mental illness about five years ago. He was 19. The entire basis of his condition is the disconnect the individual has from himself with reality. I began thinking about what a ‘total disconnect’ from oneself and reality means and things he does that are ‘disconnected’ as a starting point for thinking about this meal.
Sub sandwiches were a specialty of my brother’s as a kid. He would put so much attention, pride, and care into what his sandwiches became, that they became creations in and of themselves. I made one of his favorite sandwiches: roast beef, sharp cheddar, mayo, spicy mustard, tomato, lettuce, and red onion on a loaf of fresh baked wheat bread that was shaped like sub sandwich bread. I then baked two more loaves of French bread, also shaped like sub sandwich bread, and made my childhood favorite sandwich peanut butter and jelly. The sandwiches then were wrapped together, the two pb&j’s sandwiching the huge roast beef one. This in and of itself was a disconnect both visually and imagining the intermingling of those flavors.
I then took the sandwiches to the downtown bus station. I decided to hold the meal there because my brother will go to the city bus station whenever he is looking to connect. He doesn’t know where he is going or why he needs to go there, but there he is at the bus station anyway, ready for what is to come. He also has a habit of giving everything he owns away, or simply throws it out. Something about his disease makes him compulsively get rid of all personal affects. As I was sitting in the bus station, huge sandwiches in tow, I knew this is what I needed to do: give them away. So I started the rounds. People were apprehensive at first, and would not take the sandwiches. But finally, a Mexican family (a boy who could speak some English, his dad, and his grandfather) took the first slices. Soon thereafter, people began approaching me, asking for a piece. I left the station empty handed, as my brother would have done.
Going through this process was important to me. It is impossible to put yourself into someone’s shoes that has a mental illness, but it is another to go through similar motions and experience them as your own. Building his sandwich, going to the bus station, and giving away everything that I brought were all part of this. It was another way for me to connect with him as well as connecting my thoughts and feelings about him. The disconnect that we have as siblings I believe can be bridged through simple actions such as these, especially in this case where conversation is not easily had.
This type of project is a real deviation away from my usual highly planned, coordinated, and thought out event. I admit, it was difficult to let the situation take me where it would, but it turned out just right especially for my connection with my brother. So in effect, the event designed itself. As situations arose, I went with it, allowing to be taken where I needed to go. I am discovering that letting life take me where it will every now and then has huge rewards, but then again, the hardest things usually do.
Whole Wheat Bread (recipe adopted from here)
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
*Combine first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir.
Add flours and yeast, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.
Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If loaf starts browning too soon, lightly lay a piece of foil on top of the loaf to prevent too much darkening.
Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth. Is excellent served warm with butter or let cool and slice to serve as a sandwich bread.
French Bread Loaves (recipe adopted from Mireille Guiliano)
4-5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 heaping teaspoon salt
Place 1/2 cup of the warm water in a small bowl, add the yeast and let froth, about ten minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour and salt. Add the yeast and rest of the warm water (1 1/2 cups). Kneed for about 10 minutes, until smooth. Let rise in a covered bowl in a warm spot for an hour or until doubled in size. Punch down and form into small baguette loaves on your bread stone. Let rise again for about a half hour. Scour the tops and wisk 1 egg with about a teaspoon of cold water mixed in, to brush on top of the loaves before baking (this gives them a beautiful golden color and texture on top). Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Turn the oven down after the 15 minutes and back for 5-10 minutes more at 400 degrees. Place a small pan of water in the bottom of your oven to bring it to the correct humidity while baking. Enjoy!
Photos by Megan Holmes
The greater the tension, the greater is the potential. Great energy springs from a correspondingly great tension of opposites. -Carl Jung
Last Friday night, we held MFA open studios. In my studio, I hung documentation from my last two projects (Uprooted and the Jackson Middle School residency) and put my drafting table square in the middle of the room covered in white butcher paper. On the table, I placed markers and large plate of snickerdoodle cookies. I asked people if they took a cookie, to write down the first thing that came to mind when they bit into the cookie right onto the table. It was a fun “mini event” with memories ranging from the quirky to touching.
I admit I was extremely surprised to come into my studio space earlier today to find this piece defaced and ruined. Who could do such a thing? And why would they? After the initial shock, I went back and re-examined the piece. What I found most interesting was this beautiful gesture I was in the midst of creating now had the tension of opposites juxtaposed on it loud and clear. In searching for the beauty of an honest answer from people, I received a well-rounded portrayal of man kind.
What also came as a surprise, but a pleasant one, was the wild abandon of the organic nature the project took on. Already an organic piece, it took off like a Mile-A-Minute weed in an ornamental garden, giving it whole new shape and dimension. In my previous post,
Food Typ (ologies)/(ographies), I wrote that I was using food as a gateway for a holistic approach to probelm solving. “By identifying that we as people are dynamic and in no way one dimensional, we are opening up the door to a well-rounded creative approach to problem solving. Through this approach, it is not about airing our dirty laundry, but simply about bringing our whole selves to the table, not denying the many parts of our selves, and helping contribute to a new way of generating ideas.“
I do not think that anything more holistic could have presented itself in this situation. This became a true testament to the tensions or dynamism that makes us up as individuals and how those attributes contribute to the greater whole.
When there is beauty, a shadow is always near. This incident was a lesson to myself that these inexorable opposites are always present. But more importantly, this duality is what ignites new ideas, change, and progress. Without war, how could we know peace, without lame graffiti-esk vagina’s, how could we really know or appreciate someones memory about their grandmother. By having these contrasting elements right on top of one another, it creates a true tension, adding another element of duality and human-ness to the piece as a whole. Defaced art? or life lesson? Well, I think a little of both as they have become inspirations for new ideas and approaches.
We must be able to let things happen in the psyche. For us, this becomes a real art… Consciousness is forever interfering, helping, correcting, and negating, never leaving the single growth of the psychic processes in peace.
-Carl Jung
Why is it that there are so many food cliche’s out there? I mean think about it, everything from “piece of cake” to “when you are served lemons, make lemonade.” I find the last one to be especially true right about now. With the semester coming to an end in a few weeks, it is hard to believe that there is an end in sight…yet it is so close! It is true, I can’t see it but I can smell it closing in on me. And when it’s over, the sweet taste of honey will ensue!
Speaking of honey, I was reading Design Observer, and found The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School, by Michael McDonough. It was great reading through these, finding someone who has come to some of the same conclusions I have been lately. They are applicable across a wider genre than just art or design. However, being in grad school they rang absolutely true for me, so I thought I’d share:
1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
Talent is important in any profession, but it is no guarantee of success. Hard work and luck are equally important. Hard work means self-discipline and sacrifice. Luck means, among other things, access to power, whether it is social contacts or money or timing. In fact, if you are not very talented, you can still succeed by emphasizing the other two. If you think I am wrong, just look around.
2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
Only 5 percent is actually, in some simplistic way, fun. In school that is what you focus on; it is 100 percent fun. Tick-tock. In real life, most of the time there is paper work, drafting boring stuff, fact-checking, negotiating, selling, collecting money, paying taxes, and so forth. If you don’t learn to love the boring, aggravating, and stupid parts of your profession and perform them with diligence and care, you will never succeed.
3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
You hear a lot about details, from “Don’t sweat the details” to “God is in the details.” Both are true, but with a very important explanation: hierarchy. You must decide what is important, and then attend to it first and foremost. Everything is important, yes. But not everything is equally important. A very successful real estate person taught me this. He told me, “Watch King Rat. You’ll get it.”
4. Don’t over-think a problem.
One time when I was in graduate school, the late, great Steven Izenour said to me, after only a week or so into a ten-week problem, “OK, you solved it. Now draw it up.” Every other critic I ever had always tried to complicate and prolong a problem when, in fact, it had already been solved. Designers are obsessive by nature. This was a revelation. Sometimes you just hit it. The thing is done. Move on.
5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
In design this means “draw what you know.” Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as “Be where you are.” It works.
6. Don’t forget your goal.
Definition of a fanatic: Someone who redoubles his effort after forgetting his goal. Students and young designers often approach a problem with insight and brilliance, and subsequently let it slip away in confusion, fear and wasted effort. They forget their goals, and make up new ones as they go along. Original thought is a kind of gift from the gods. Artists know this. “Hold the moment,” they say. “Honor it.” Get your idea down on a slip of paper and tape it up in front of you.
7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
Overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. Be humble in approaching problems. Realize and accept your ignorance, then work diligently to educate yourself out of it. Ask questions. Power – the power to create things and impose them on the world – is a privilege. Do not abuse it, do not underestimate its difficulty, or it will come around and bite you on the ass. The great Karmic wheel, however slowly, turns.
8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn’t depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything.
9. It all comes down to output.
No matter how cool your computer rendering is, no matter how brilliant your essay is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if you can’t output it, distribute it, and make it known, it basically doesn’t exist. Orient yourself to output. Schedule output. Output, output, output. Show Me The Output.
10. The rest of the world counts.
If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was “If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn’t count.” Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.
As I was reading over these, it occurred to me that I have been learning these lessons all along, figuring them out on my own path. What does this have to do with taste? Well, not much. But what this list did for me was to start reflecting over my grad school experience which has been rich, difficult, exciting, enlightening, scary, and amazing all at once. The one thing I have learned that Mr. McDonough didn’t state precisely is: believe in yourself because in the very end, you are the only one you’ve got. Basically, be nice to yourself, give yourself some props sometimes because if you don’t, nobody else will.
Now for some Le Petit Ecolier dutch boy cookies! Yum!!
