Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

A Christmas classic.. the fact that there's a music video is amazing.

Brooklyn Museum: In Conversation

Last Thursday evening I attended an event at the Brooklyn Museum, In Conversation: Sanford Biggers with Marcus Samuelsson and Mos Def. Mos Def was my initial draw to the event. Not only is he a talented hip hop artist from Brooklyn, but he happens to be in one of my favorite movies (you know, the kind of favorite movie you can watch over and over and it brings comfort rather than annoyance), Brown Sugar, which is just one notch on his acting belt. To be honest, I didn't know much about the other two men beforehand, but was interested in the theme of the discussion, which was how culture and society has shaped their work.

Sanford Biggers is an artist who happens to currently have an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, Sweet Funk. Marcus Samuelsson is an award winning chef who most recently opened the restaurant Red Rooster in Harlem. The three men are well known in their fields for not only their talent, but for being a part of their communities on different levels.

Although Sanford was meant to facilitate the discussion, the conversation gradually fell into a relaxed one among friends, as the three men already know each other well. Each very different in their art form and personality, I found all to be inspiring, not without a sense of humor, and grounded. Discussion topics flowed from how their work is impacted by their roots and childhood as well as issues in society, challenges they face, particulary as black men, the message they hope to send through their work, lessons learned, and future goals. The audience was responsive and passionate. There was a high level of comfort between everyone in the room.

Cookies and peanuts were passed around throughout the evening and not until the end of the discussion did we find out that Marcus had made these specifically for this event. The peanuts, which were spiced with wasabi, were a nod to Sanford's work, where Japanese influences can often be found. The cookies were a mix of vanilla and chocolate, made to reflect how one of their goals as artists is to reach all types of people and, hopefully, bring them together over their music, art, and food.

peanut butter

This weekend I went to the Nutropolitan Museum of Art, the world's first PB&J exhibit! I love peanut butter and was promised a free jar, so my decision to visit this exhibit was a no-brainer.

Peanut Butter & Co, an amazing PB company that I don't know how I hadn't heard of before, presented the exhibit, along with the National Peanut Board. Peanut Butter & Co sells a variety of peanut butter products and has a sandwich shop in the village, which I'll obviously be checking out. Death by Peanut Butter Sundae? Yes, please!

The exhibit, which was only presented over this past weekend, consisted of delicious photographs of creative peanut butter sandwiches, creating your own peanut butter sandwich (which you then got to enjoy), information on how peanuts are healthy for you, and a free jar of Peanut Butter & Co peanut butter on the way out, along with a special knife for ideal peanut butter spreading. For every jar PB & Co handed out, they donated one to the Food Bank for NY. I received a jar of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter, which I never knew existed, but it is delicious. When I created my own peanut butter sandwich, they used White Chocolate Peanut Butter, which was also tasty.

peanut butter banana split

with caviar and champagne.. fancy

starry night

the king - bacon, banana, honey

make your own sandwich...

don't forget the toppings!

Bagged peanut butter jars waiting to be handed out

the mexican suitcase

Currently, the International Center of Photography, in New York, is displaying The Mexican Suitcase exhibit. The exhibit contains photographs, with negatives included, of the Spanish Civil War, taken by three young photographers - Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and Chim. After the war ended in 1939, the negatives had been passed on from person to person in order to keep them protected, but then went missing for almost 70 years before turning up in Mexico in 2007.
 


According to the exhibit, these three photographers "laid the foundation for modern war photography." The photographs include shots from the battle field, images of soldiers, citizens, and political figures, and insight into how the war affected various parts of the country. The images are really fantastic; you almost feel like you were there, especially since almost all of them are candid and many capture what was going on behind the scenes. Many of these photographs had been published in national and international magazines during the war, sometimes with credit given, but many times lacking a photographer's name. Now that these negatives have been discovered, photos are matched up and credit can now be given to one of these three photographers.

One of the things I found most intriguing were the boxes of negatives themselves. Like a box of chocolates, the rolls of negatives are separated, each in their own little square, inside the box. On the inside of the lid, the photographers drew their own squares to match those holding the negatives, and hand wrote what each roll was of. The detail and time that goes into a project like that, compared to the way we quickly categorize our photographs today, is amazing. Not to mention the weight of lugging all those rolls around, rather than dumping them on your computer.

smokin' in the girls room

My first day in Spain was a long (but great) one. Most people like to get off an overnight international flight and wash off the plane smell before heading out for the day, exploring whatever foreign city they landed in. Not me. I like to drop my bags off without a shower, grab a quick cafe con leche, and go teach English. Which is exactly what I did when I landed in Madrid in December to visit Paul.

After an afternoon of speaking in slow English, stumbling over my Spanish, dancing as if there were ants in my pants or a bear on my head, coloring in and gluing Christmas ornaments to the paper tree, and meeting a ton of people (5 year olds and adults alike), I was already having a great time in Spain. After the school bell rang and we were all dismissed, the good times continued because a group of us went to happy hour and then bowling. Two of my favorite things. At this bowling alley, they even had men manually sending back the balls to you, like in Argentina. It's a dangerous job, but someone's gotta do it?

Before we knew it, it was 10pm and we were all bowled out and hungry. My body and mind were exhausted from the traveling and lack of sleep on the plane. Although I was having a great time, I couldn't wait to get some sleep. After grabbing dinner (which inspired one of these pizzas) we headed home, where I planned on passing out, as it was almost midnight, which is actually early on Madrid's watch. As I was organizing my things and pulling out my pajamas, Paul pointed out that it was my only Friday night in Spain, and maybe we should take advantage of it by going back out for a walk and seeing what was going on in the city? He was absolutely right, and I immediately agreed, putting my pajamas back down. Suddenly we both seemed to have a second wind as we walked out into the cold night air to see what was waiting in Madrid.

We walked and chatted for a long time, giving me a great opportunity to take in the city all lit up. I just followed Paul, as I clearly had no idea where I was going, and wouldn't have even known if he was lost and hiding it. After walking for at least 45 minutes we stopped into this super cute and cozy bar. Paul had been to the bar next door before and this one had caught his eye. We sat at a table in the window and ordered our drinks, but of course I had to go to the bathroom before I could get settled (me and my small bladder). I got up and asked one of the servers where the restrooms were, and he pointed to the door and explained to me that they were outside, to the right, and in the bar next door. Now, those who know me know how gullible I am, so although I was a bit skeptical, I thought it made a bit of sense because maybe the 2 bars were connected or owned by the same people or something along those lines.. plus, this kind of oddity would somehow be completely normal in Argentina. So I kindly thanked him and turned back to our table to tell Paul that the reason I'm walking back outside into the cold night is to use the bathroom at the bar next door, not because I was ditching him. And I would probably want to grab my jacket while I was at it.

"No no no!" the server laughed, before I had a chance to get back to the table. This bar actually had their own restrooms and they were right downstairs! Imagine that. Lesson learned: Spaniards have a sense of humor.

So I head downstairs to the women's restroom, without having to go outside first, and find one stall that is already occupied, so I wait. A couple minutes later, the woman emerges from the stall... with a lit cigarette in hand! My goodness, all I can think about is how did she possibly do all she had to do in there while smoking a cigarette. Plus the fact that it just seems extremely unhealthy.. even more so than smoking a cigarette in a "normal" setting.

I go back upstairs and obviously tell Paul both of these stories, who replies, "That's really funny. you should write a blog post about that."

cuba

For all us Americans who have been wanting to go to Cuba and haven't found the loophole yet, although some of you have, Cuba is coming to us this Spring. A taste of this Caribbean island will visit New York through a Cuban Arts Festival called ¡Si Cuba! Dancing, music, paintings, photography, film, and more, will give New Yorkers a taste of the lively culture of Cuba, while taking a step in the right direction of forming a positive relationship between the states and the island.

pizza pizza

I've made a couple of South American dishes in the past few weeks and meant to take pictures, but forgot. oops.

One night I made 2 different types of homemade empanadas - one with mushrooms and cheese, and one with ground turkey (in place of ground beef) complete with hard boiled egg and spices such as cumin. Good, but not as good as the place on the corner in San Telmo.

Another night I made a Colombian chicken, corn, and potato stew following this recipe. It is known as Ajiaco in Colombia, and although the stew I made was delicious (if I may say so myself) it did not live up to the Ajiaco my Colombian roommate in Buenos Aires made. She recently sent me her recipe, so that will have to wait for another cooking adventure.

Tonight, I didn't completely follow the South American theme, but I did remember to take pictures! Well, I guess they do eat a lot of pizza in Argentina, but that doesn't make it Argentine. Anyway, Trader Joe's $0.99 pizza dough was the foundation for the 3 different pies I made. I used garlic and herb dough for the plain pie, and whole wheat for the other two. They were all delicious, especially washed down with some Malbec ;) The brie and green apple pizza was inspired by a dinner eaten at a random Italian restaurant in Madrid, and I think it was my favorite one that came out of the oven tonight.

ready for the oven

half plain, half pepperoni

pesto, mushrooms, goat cheese

 

caramelized onion, green apple, brie