Coleslaw and a Surprise

The Field Goods bag contained a coleslaw mix – cabbage, a little carrot, and a teeny bit of kale so what’s a girl who loves coleslaw gonna do but make coleslaw? Like right away! And I had to have some, like right away even though I know it’s better after a couple hours in the frig. But that’s ok. It was still delicious. I’ve mentioned it several times over the years and I’m just going to post it here for reference. Get the book: Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe by Peter Reinhart. I can promise you that you will not regret it and you will find things you will make over and over again including this coleslaw. And BBQ. Don’t forget the BBQ.

Coleslaw, serves six

1 large head cabbage
1/2 cup finely diced onion (yellow, white or red)
1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise – (Hellman’s, Best Foods)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (you may adjust this upward to taste)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar (you may adjust this downward to taste)
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper.

Grate or shred* the cabbage as thinly as possible. Combine it with the diced onion and all the other ingredients. Depending on the size of the cabbage, you may have to adjust the amounts of mayo, sugar and vinegar to taste. The slaw should be sweet, sour, peppery, and creamy. Allow it to sit for at least 1 hour before serving. It will taste even better the second day.

Coleslaw will keep up to a week in the refrigerator (although it usually will have been consumed by then). After a few days it gets runny, as the cabbage leaches out its water, and a taste of onion starts to dominate. Regardless, it will, to the end, be a conversation stopper.

* I use a sharp knife and cut very fine but leave in fairly long strands. I just don’t much like confetti-like or ground up sort of coleslaw.

Having had a delicious dinner I did some other things. Reached into my top drawer to pull out a new nightie for later and my hand pulled out this:

Posted in badass-ness, food, Journey to NZ | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Seizing the Everyday

An interesting article to come upon after my recent musings about changes in photography and the photography I do. Paul Graham describes what his working process is like and what he is showing you, as well as what he sees.

“Why is everyone addicted to prepackaged spectacular moments, as if that’s all that’s worth photographing?” Mr. Graham said. “There is so much more to the flow of life all around us that isn’t revolving around perfect page-one moments.”

I am intrigued by both the physical processes described and the creative process described in the article, including how he describes his periods of apparent distractions.

Like those of most photographers today, Mr. Graham’s computer is a virtual studio. Pictures can be enlarged, minimized and moved around on the screen, which was not possible looking at exposures in a linear fashion during the long epoch of the contact sheet.

He is hands-on at every stage, including the wall-size exhibition prints he makes during several weeklong stints throughout the year. He has access to a wide-format printer for his own printing — up to 64 inches to 80 inches — but emphasizes that his images are not altered or manipulated; what you see is what he photographed.

Posted in Art in the world, Do the Work, photography, the creative process | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Seizing the Everyday

Behind the Logging Truck

Had this moment today on the way to work.

Behind the Logging Truck

Stacked high, raw cuts with
broken cowlicks and
slants of saws
the load looks top heavy
but holds past the curve
to the top, past the fields,
now down the hill.
In the morning light
gently now
trees move over it,
a last blessing.
Farewell,
we will miss you friends.
Farewell.

update: adding this photo from the annals of 2000 taken somewhere up above East Nassau.

Posted in In the neighborhood, Poetry and Lyrics, taking time to look, the creative process | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Things seen on the way to work

I didn’t get very far. Walked out of the house, put down all my stuff, got the “real” camera and took a few more photos and then off to work.

This is photo No. 2 in the 7 day #challengeonnature . I was tagged by Sharron Shimbel. This is #challengeonnature you post a picture every day for 7 days identifying me as the one who tagged you and you pick a different person each day and give them the same instructions. The pictures are awesome…you’ll go so many places.

Posted in challengeonnature, life around us, photography, taking time to look | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Yvonne Porcella

“I’ve only ever used three blocks in my quilting career, I don’t know anything else and I don’t care to learn anything else and I managed to parlay those three blocks into museum quality quilts.” — Yvonne Porcella (who goes on to say she’s never won a quilt show ribbon (and yet has a quilt that was purchased by the Smithsonian.))

Boy do I remember first seeing Yvonne Porcella’s quilts with all those pure bright solid colors and black and white, stripes and checkerboards and abstract shapes. So modern, so from her. So freeing and inspiring! Such a contrast to the quilts of the day.

She died this week and leaves a huge legacy for us. Listening to her describe her life and how she came to quilting is inspiring. Do the work, do the work, do your own work! She did serious sewing of clothes and weaving before coming to quilting and was dedicated to each thing in turn.

Enjoy the video and tour of her studio and then go out and look for her in all your books and magazines. Thank you Yvonne for everything. And thanks for another reminder: Do the work, do the work, do my own work!

Posted in badass-ness, Do the Work, quilting, the creative process | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Yvonne Porcella