love; ten things i love this week

1. Having another application approved!!!!! I'm off next year to spend three months as artist-in-residence at NARS in New York!!! YAY! LOVE!!

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2. Watching Pee-wee's Big Adventure at LACMA out door film series. Check out this article on Pee-wee's bike whereabouts today. I'm predicting that replicas of his bike are going to be on the market very, very soon...and I'll be the first to line up for one! LOVE!!!!

3. This lamp my friend Natalie bought for her new apartment!!! Looks amazing sitting atop vintage books! She was sooooo in love with one we had seen at a bar in San Diego that the second she was home, she had found one on-line! It made me want one too!!! LOVE!!!

4. Seeing sunsets/rises on the aeroplane. One of my favourite experiences whilst up in the air! LOVE!

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4. Having a Martini date with a friend of mine AT 2.30AM!!!! She was soooo excited about me arriving to New York that there was no better time than the NOW! LOVE!!!!

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5. Walking in the rain! Well, specifically, walking in New York! I think I've been living in L.A for a bit too long! I was like a gitty little girl at the rain this morning that all I wanted to do was stand in it NAKED!!!! LOVE!!!!

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6. The sound of ice-cream trucks in the distance. Last night, as I was walking home in Brooklyn on a hot New York evening, the sounds of ice-cream truck music filled the air and made my long walk home all the more pleasant. I did enjoy this unexpected sound track. LOVE!!!!

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7. New York. Yep, I am now officially in love with this city! It's my third visit in the last year, and yes, it was not really love at first sight. Maybe because L.A had stolen it and now the romance has subsided allowing room in my heart for New York. LOVE!!!

8. Working in cafe's with WIFI that have great coffee. That's exactly what I'm doing right now! I could sooooo get used to this way of life! LOVE!!!!

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9. Girly night tonight with one of my besties. Yep, nails, facials, champagne, the works! LOVE a girly night in...WITH VEGAN PIZZA DELIVERED! LOVE!

10. Last week I mentioned being excited about something happening in New York, well, I'm pleased to say that I can now officially announce it...ONE OF MY BESTIE'S FROM MELBOURNE IN GETTING MARRIED HERE IN NEW YORK!!!!! She hadn't made the 'official' announcement via social media, so that's why I had to keep it from you all. Tomorrow's the big day and I am their witness! City Hall for the wedding then off to spend the afternoon row boating in Central Park and I'm going to coax everyone into a bike ride through the park as well! LOVE! BTW I'm the photographer, so I'll be posting some pics next week!

eat; thai salad with fried tofu

This Thai Salad will knock your socks off (and those of your guests!) so make sure you aint wearing socks with holes (lol!). If you are wanting to keep it raw, simply add more cashew that have been soaked for at least 4 hours and then dehydrated for 2 hours. You can also replace the fried tofu with a plain firm tofu if you aint up to the deep fried option.

I used to make this A LOT when I was living in Echo Park, as one of my housemates was soooo addicted to it, she would salivate just thinking about it!

Serves 4

What you need;
6 pieces of fried tofu
1 English cucumber
1 red capsicum
8 carrots, grated
4 spring onions
4 cups fresh coriander (cilantro)
8 basil leaves
3/4 cup cashews, raw
Dressing
4 Tbs lime juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 Tbs white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 birdseye chili
2 tsp white sugar
cracked pepper on serving

Start by making the salad dressing by combing all the dressing ingredients in a glass. Stir and set aside. Toast the cashews by dry frying (no oil) in a non stick pan on a medium to high heat. Be careful as they kind of toast 'all of a sudden'. I have been caught out getting distracted and burnt the crap out of them before. Once done, set aside to cool.

Grate carrots on the large hole section of the grater. If you have a food processor with the grating attachment, go for it! Place the carrots in a big bowl.

Cut the red capsicum into quarters going length ways. Remove seeds and then cut into thin strips. Add to the carrots.

If using organic, keep the skin on the cucumber and cut into big sections. Stand the cucumber sections and slice as above into thin slices.

Cut into julienne pieces and add to the salad bowl with other ingredients.

Pick the leaves off the stems of the fresh coriander and place into the salad bowl .

 

Cut the spring onions into small pieces and add to the salad bowl. Add the salad dressing and gently toss all these ingredients together using tongs. Make sure you are ready to serve as the dressing will break down the salad if put on too early.

Slice the tofu as above but do not add it to the salad bowl. Set aside.

Now for the serving. Add a good amount onto each plate, stacking up high. Add the slices of tofu and then drop some cashews onto each plate.

Vola! An amazing salad that I know you will make again and again!

Buon Appetito!!!!

pink; rash room

Blind Rash - Shooting Blanks: 30"x38" Lambda Photograph 2008

Gina Osterloh is an American/Fillipino living and working in Los Angeles. Her practice melds together performance, photography and sculpture. This series of works I'm featuring was created for an exhibition in Manilla called Shooting Blanks in 2008. Appearing as if giant diaramas, Osterloh's work merges the individual and their environment, in an attempt to bond together psycholocial and physical space. 

The women in these works has their eyes and mouth covered and stuffed with the same pink paper that makes up the background. By placing patches on her eyes, and stuffing pink paper in her mouth, she cuts off our access and communication as a viewer into her world. Our instant reaction to seeing someone is to look into their eyes, but Osterloh blocks this access and so we are confronted with where to look, where to place our focus. Without a focal point, our eyes meander around the figure and into her environment to question what it means to be an individual in a space that has become part of the individual; or be it the other way around. The boundary of individual and environment is broken and blurred as a result. 

The figure becomes devoid of identity. This may have been a direct reflection of how she felt being a foreigner in Manilla,  potentially feeling disassociated from her new environment, where she was sent through a scholarship program to participate in the exhibition and undertake research. Most of us have felt this way. We sometimes feel it walking into a party where we only know the host/ess and  especially when travelling. I know this feeling very well, having been in a transitional space for nearly two years now. A connection to environament is a very important part of being human. As our environment changes, so do we. These works reflect on the sense of loss that is felt when we remove ourselves from our familiar space and try to relate to a new one, with a new sense of identity and connection.

The images below continue the series. Empty (Rash Room) is the most chilling of all. After experiencing the photographs with a figure within, we are confronted with a 'padded cell' environment void of any human existence, questioning what happened to that woman who allowed us to attempt to connect with her, even though there is distance between us and her with her covered eyes. We can still relate to a figure who is slumped, exhausted by her environment, but once she is removed, we are left with only our feeling and a further disconnectedness to the environment.

Empty (Rash Room) - Shooting Blanks: 30"x38" Lambda Photograph 2008

Mute Rash - Shooting Blanks: 30"x38" Lambda Photograph 2008

Gina Osterloh has a large-scale performance commision at LACE in Summer 2012. Check out the details of this upcoming interactive performance here.

love; ten things i love this week

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1. Adding wheatgrass powder to my daily routine. It's not as bad mixed in with cranberry juice as it is with water and will give you that added kick desperately needed in the afternoon. LOVE!

2. Drinking a litre of water upon rising. I must admit, this was very difficult for the first few mornings! I'm an espresso kind of a girl. Now, I'm reaping the benefits of this small but effective health habit. LOVE!!!

3. All the pics on facebook regarding the double rainbow in Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday night. Soooo great to see everyone really enjoying such an amazing show by nature! LOVE!!!!

4. House sitting for a friend with a claw foot bath!!!! OMG! Is that not every girls dream?!?!? LOVE!!!!

5. Buying a new mask. This is 'AMAZING' and I highly recommend it! Find it here. LOVE!

6. The William Mulholland Memorial Fountain here in Loz Feliz, built in 1940.  It is a beautiful art deco fountain which has become my turn around point on my morning walk. LOVE!

7. Getting lovely comments posted on my F.B wall about my old place in Melbourne, Australia, affectionately known as 'Number 12'. I used to throw the most outrageous parties and miss it so. I was told I am Number 12, which made me all warm and fuzzy inside. LOVE!

8. Being a part of my friends raw supper club. How lovely to see people eat 'raw' cuisine for the first time. It really is a special way to prepare and eat food! My favourite was the raw ravoli! YUM! LOVE!

9.  Getting my eyebrows done. Sometimes, that's all a girl needs...LOVE!

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10. Being invited to an amazing event, that I really can't give details of yet, in New York. Sooooooo exciting!!!! I'm out to buy a new dress today for it! I think hot pink is going to be very, very appropriate! LOVE!

eat; raw spaghetti puttanesca

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Seriously, if you don't have a spirooli in your life yet, then you really don't know what you're missing out on, do you? Today I am going to try and tempt you that little bit more with this raw zucchini spaghetti recipe. But don't worry if you don't have a spiooli in your life, this recipe can still be made. Simply use a vegetable peeler to make fettuccine instead of spaghetti. Another trick is to have the zucchini at room temperature, so it is not cold straight out of the refrigerator. I have a tonne of recipes for sauces that I've been trying out and I think I finally got it!

This Punttanesca is a variance of Julie Morris' recipe. Check out her site for recipes using superfoods. A-MAZ-ING!

In this current share house I'm living in, there is no food processor :0( I'm totally missing having one around but am grateful to my friend Natalie who has let me borrow her blender for the time that I'm here. I can just live without a food processor, but no way in hell can I live without a blender! Even for one day! This recipe calls for the use of a food processor, but I cut everything by hand into tiny little pieces, which worked well. If you have one, please use it, if not, you can do as I did.

 Serves 2

What you need;

3 zucchini, at room temperature

8 sundried tomatoes

1 large ripe tomato

10 kalamata olives

1 small glove of garlic

4 Tbls olive oil

4 basil leaves

1 Tbls nutritional yeast















Soak the sundried tomatoes in filtered water for at least two hours. If you have a food processor, add all the ingredients except for the zucchini and pulse until all chopped up. If you don't, simply chop all the ingredients into small pieces and mix in the rest.

Peel the zucchini and either use your spirooli to make the spaghetti or use your vegetable peeler to make fettuccine, remembering to go the full length of the zucchini in one long firm stride. Add a squeeze of lemon and a splash of olive oil and mix it through.

Add half the puttanesca into the awaiting pasta and mix through. Pile up a serving onto each plate and top with the rest of the puttanesca and serve.

Buon Appetito!

pink; passport to the playground, act 2

Nick Cave is an artist working in sculpture, installation, performance and video, currently practicing in Chicago. His background is in fiber textiles and modern dance and in his art practice, he brings these two influences together. The images in this post are video stills of Passport To The Playground, Act 2, which is going to be on show at Mary Boone Gallery from September 10th (I will have just missed it!)

Nick Cave creates these 'suits' with various materials and then proceeds to perform in them with other dancers in a choreographed dance. He calls them 'soundsuits' as most of the suits actually make sounds from the fiber choosen. This link will take you to the video created with the pink suit above. It's sounds are fun, reminding me of plonking infront of the TV on saturday afternoons to watch cartoons as a kid when bongs, dongs and splats were the background sounds to this time of the week. 

Or they could also bring to mind animated long haired penis' doing their dance to attract a mate in a hilarious imitation of how sex can be oh soooo funny, with the noises of love making turned into a sound artists delight! I do love that!

These soundsuits are captivating to say the least. A long haired pink think bonging up and down to annimated sounds defintiely puts a smile on my face, whilst captivating my imagination as to who is actually in there? What does it feel like to perform in the suit? Can I have a go?

His youtube channel has a collection of his suit performances. You can peruse his varying videos and sound suits and really get to enjoy what this artist intended with his creations. He wants his audience to smile, enjoy and laugh at his work, to forget their real life and real dramas, if only for a second.

Below is a short interview with the artist talking about his work and where it all began. I love his child-like spirit that comes through in this video and how he simply wants to bring joy to the world with his art. Love that!

love; ten things i love this week

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1. Riding a beach cruiser along Venice Beach up to Santa Monica. You must do this when coming to L.A, but preferably not on a Sunday! LOVE!

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2. Walking in the morning for an hour everyday. It's still early stages in terms of it becoming a habit but I have been doing this all week! I've been walking for half an hour since being back in L.A but decided to increase it and I feel great! It is amazing how we forget that exercise actually makes us feel better, instantly! LOVE!

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3. Walking with my ipod! I'm one of those people that doesn't like listening to music in public, preferring to hear the sounds of the city around me, but since taking up walking for an hour, I LOVE IT! Especially walking to the beat! It really does inspire. LOVE!

4. Silly string! I went to see a band in East L.A on the weekend called The Maxies who offered a box full of silly string to the crowd before getting on stage! How great! LOVE!!!

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5. Watching Food Matters and being inspired to eat well again. I don't need much convincing but like most, I do fall off the wagon sometimes. The movie has inspired me to introduce wheat grass into my dieta nd drink 1 liter of water the second I wake up. It is amazing what this does for you! LOVE!!

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6. This article in Hyperallergic. One day my artist home will feature in an article like this and it will be way more exciting than these houses! LOVE!!!

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7. Japanese artist who makes dresses out of balloons! LOVE!!!!

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8. Spending a night home alone having a facial, doing my nails and drinking champagne. One of my favourite self dates!!!

9. Painting my finger nails a different colour to my toe nails! LOVE!

 10. All the great comments I've received relating to my new blog adventure. It truly is a nice feeling when your work inspires others. LOVE!!