eat; gazpacho

As the heat sets in here in Lala Land, everyone is on the search for cooling food, fresh ingredients and simplicity in food preparation. I was invited along to a friends place for a barbeque for the 4th of July celebrations and asked my hostess what I should bring along. To my surprise, she said Gazpacho. I made it for her over a year ago and she still remembered the amazing flavours. It has happened before too, when I made it for another beach event and had my friends mum hooked on it for weeks! She still makes it years later; now that's saying something!

It really does make sense to serve this amazing cold Spanish soup on a hot day for a bit of something different to salads and grilled things at a barbeque. It super easy to make as all you do is throw all the ingredients into a blender and whiz away! I made it on that same day, very early morning as it is the sort of dish that tastes better after the flavours have infused for a few hours at least. It always tastes great the next day (if it all hasn't been gobbled up!) so I reccomend if you can, make it the day before. To serve, I always pour it into a large bowl and then create individual 'cups' of the soup adding one or two ice-cubes to keep it cool just before serving. It's really fun to eat soup out of a ceramic cup for some reason, don't you think?!

The recipe that follows is taken from one of my all time favourite Australian cooks, Stephanie Alexander.

What You Need;

1.5 kg (1.5lbs) ripe tomato

200g (7oz) cucumber

150g (5oz) red pepper

2 cloves of garlic,

100g (4oz) sourdough bread

1 jalepino

1/2 cup really good olive oil

1/2 cup red wine viniger

1-2 cups of chilled water

salt and pepper to taste

So what's the next thing to do? Simply roughly chop everything and throw it into a blender!! Too easy!

 

Check the consistency and add as much water as you would like. I like mine on the thick side, so I only added one cup. I needed to do it in batches, and you'll probably find this too. Have an awaiting large bowl and pour your batches into it. Once done, give it a big swirl with a spoon to mix it all up. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least a three hours. Overnight is better.

To serve, thinly slice a cucumber for garnish, set aside. Pour into small ceramic cups, add one or two ice-cubes and gently place a slice of cucumber onto the edge of the cup. Vola, a yummy tasting summer soup!

Buon Appetito!

pink; night and fog, tubes on black mountain

 

This past week, I felt very bodily. Maybe it's the heat which is causing me to show more flesh (remembering I have just come out of two winters!!!) or maybe because it's 'that time of the month' for me. Either ways, this work both repulsed and intrigued me. It is a video/sculpture work by Naotaka Hiro on exhibit last year at Las Cienaga Projects, here in Los Angeles as part of a two person show.

Hiro is a Japanese born artist living and working in Los Angeles and his practice is all about the body; particularly focusing on the unseen parts of our bodies. In this video, Hiro takes on the role of a puppeteer with an animals intestine filled with minced meat, creating a very long sausage like form. During the video, the viewer is exposed to a play between the organic form of the meat and the static and hard surface of the pyramid-like sculpture, manipulated entirely by Hiro with a string.

The video stills above suggest not only a play with organic and non-organic matter but we see a strong relationship with the gloss surface of the two conflicting materials. This ties the forms together in a poetic play of opposite attracts. These opposing materials create a beautiful image of attraction and repulsion, all in the same breath. We are reminded of our own bodily relationship to non-organic materials and things, such as our bodily relationship to the automobile. Two opposing forces that once upon a time would have been unfathomable to imagine we could actually travel faster than a cheetah in a metal contraption in the future.

What remains after the poetic play of these two forms is the monolithic pyramid sculpture and the remains of the string that powered the dance of the meat stuffed intestine. It is a sad ending for the organic matter but a beautiful reminder of what we, as organic matter, are dealing with in our very fragile and short lived lives.

Unfortunately, I could not find much information about this work, so the details of materials, duration of the video and it's size are not available.  Never-the-less, this work communicates on a poetic scale that is beyond it's dimensions, duration or details of it's media. I'll be keeping an eye out for Hiro's next exhibition and do hope I will be in town for his next show.

love; ten things I love this week

1. This great picture my friend Natalie found at a yard sale while I was back in Australia. She thought of me straight away! It is super creepy and one does wonder what the hell is going on in there! LOVE!!!

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2. Watching fire works from my friends front lawn in Echo Park for the 4th of July celebrations. The Mexican neighbours were all out with there fireworks and entertained us for hours with their sky rocketing displays. LOVE!!!

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3. Hanging out with friends at a German beer garden, drinking beer and eating German food! I'm not a fan of German food, but this beer garden was the closest thing I've experienced to Australian Pubs here in L.A which I always miss when the heat is on. BTW, my German friend on F.B was MORTIFIED that I ate a soy sausage at a German Tavern. lol!!! LOVE!

4. Cooking and eating with my friend glo (yes she spells it with SMALL g!) I love introducing her to the amazingness of raw food and teaching her a few tricks! She loves food as much as I do and is always up for going somewhere to check out food. This week gone by, we were on the hunt for Persian Fairy Floss! LOVE!!!!

5. This great TED video about giving yourself a 30 day challenge to try something new. I've incorporated a walk in the mornings after my coffee and morning pages sessions and loving it! Try it out! LOVE!!!

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6. Buying myself a fan! It is ridiculous how a fan can change your world when the heat is on! And it's recycled as I bought it for 10 bucks from the thrift store! LOVE!!!

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7. Non-dairy, non-soy ice-cream! This IS what I love about the United States of America; the variety to choose! I had a whole tub the other night of ice-cream made out of coconut milk. YUM!!!!  I will be attempting a few recipes for raw ice-cream soon, so watch out for upcoming posts! LOVE!




 

8. Hanging out with one of ex-roomies in the back yard of where I used to live, here in Lala Land. We would spend hours chatting away about the universe. It was lovely to relive it again. LOVE!

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9. Adding spirulina into my green smoothies.As if spinach and kale was not green enough! If you haven't tried incorporating this green amazingness into your diet, I highly recommend it!  LOVE!!!

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10. The latest book I devoured in a day!...A Feminine Manifesta! LOVE!!!!

eat; cupcakes!

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I've been eating salads since arriving in L.A as I have just returned from a three month stay with my mum in Australia. Most of you know that I haven't been home in a year and so my good old Italian mum pulled out all the stops in feeding me all my favourite Italian foods over the time I was there. Yep, all carb fueled deliciousness; from amazing bread to pasta. I ate like a horse!!!! I even indulged in Italian cheeses!!!!

So now I'm back on track and really haven't been eating anything that amazing, even though I know salads can be amazing. Basically I'm detoxing for a while. And of course, when one does detox, they begin to crave all sorts of things that one doesn't normally eat! I'm not much of a sweet tooth but all of a sudden, all I'm wanting is luscious cupcakes! RIDIC!

To keep with the kitsch theme of eatpinklove this week, what is more kitsch in food than the humble (not so these days!) cupcake? Nothing! So for this weeks post, I thought I would direct you guys onto some vegan and raw blogs I keep an eye on. Some do amazing vegan desserts, some only raw, but all are great resources when you're feeling the need to experiment and create an amazing mouth explosion that is actually good for you! Enjoy!

1. Chef Chloe must be THE Vegan Cupcake Queen! She also does all things vegan and some crazy looking fun vegan biscuits for my favourite holiday, Halloween.

2. For a raw treat, check out Sweetly Raw. Her deserts are amazing and yes, you can make a raw cupcake! She only does raw sweets and so can easily be crowned the Queen of Raw Desserts!

3. Golubka is an amazing blog for raw foods. She isn't into cupcakes at all saying they "make [her] yawn uncontrollably".  Check out this blog for amazing photos, crisp clean food, design and yummy raw desserts.

4. Post Punk Kitchen has a very cool take on presenting vegan recipes, including savoury dishes. They have published a book called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. Very funny indeed!

5. The Daily Raw Cafe is AMAZING! The post I have linked is her first attempt at making raw cupcakes and they look great! Will have to try this recipe for sure!

Well, that's it on my search for vegan and raw cupcakes. Let me know if you've come across an amazing raw or vegan blog that is a MUST to know!

Until next week,

Buon Appetito!

pink; pink panther

Yep, if Charles Pheonix is King of all things Kitsch in Los Angeles, then Jeff Koons must be crowned King of Kitsch in contemporary art. Googling Jeff Koons and looking at a wall of images of his work made me think of a little boy who was let loose in a 1950's toy shop. Full of vibrant colours, shiny surfaces, giant sized balloon toys and...boobies! Koons' work definitely excites the little kid in all of us and he uses the colour pink A LOT in his work! I've decided on Pink Panther as I'm particularly interested in porcelain at the moment and how it is used in contemporary art. 

Koons has created a number of large works in porcelain, probably his most famous Michael Jackson and Bubbles. I saw this work in San Francisco last year and I was completely blown away by it. It was lush, large, opulent and gob smacking! Images on google do not do it justice and I would imagine Pink Panther would have the same effect.

Googling Pink Panther, I found that I had to scroll through the first few pages of articles relating to it's recent sale on the art market, most of them predicting it hitting an all time high price for an artwork sold by a living artist. This is very common for Koons' work; the price it fetches. He has created a career that is controversial within the artworld. Critics either love him or hate him. Whatever your opinion of him, he is an artist that cannot be ignored.

With a luscious finish due to the use of porcelain, Pink Pather was created in 1988, stands at 104.1cm (41") and creates a scenario that is far removed from our reality. A Jayne Mansfield character stands tall and proud in a curvacious and fun pose as if just about to step out into wonderland. She lovingly holds cartoon character Pink Panther, who seems to have surrendered to his fate. Both these characters would have been present in Koon's American upbringing in the late fifties and early sixties and the influence of porcelain reminds us of our Grandma's kitsch collection of porcelain statuettes on her mantle piece or display cabinet.

By using these two characters, Pink Panther brings our attention to what is real and what isn't. Jayne Mansfield may have been a real woman living an ordinary life, but her on screen character was fused with publicity stunts, mainly of her boobs 'accidentally' falling out of her dress at inappropriate (or appropriately depending on how one saw it) times and steamy love affairs. Her off screen 'character' was a mother of five children and it was reported she was a proud homemaker.

Pink Panther is a commentary on pop culture and how we are seduced by it. It reflects on what is reality and non-reality between what we see and what we want to see and the distance we have with our own lives and the lives that are created on screen. 

Below is an intriguing interview with Koons discussing Pink Panther. There is definitely something really, really strange about this man! He mentions an ashtray his Grandparents had that I sooooo want in my life right now!

Enjoy the video and it's soundtrack!

love; ten things i love this week

1. Charles Pheonix! Sorry guys but this week is going to be a little influenced by kitsch as I went to see the King of Kitsch here in L.A on Friday night and fell in love with all things kitsch! If you're in town, you MUST check out the dates of his performances and tours as he is a gem right here in L.A. LOVE!

2. Programmatic Architecture! Australia definitely has it's fare share of Programmatic Architecture, but nothing like what's here in L.A! Here is a link to some existing and some long gone Programatic architecture in L.A. LOVE!

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3. Galco's soda pop store here in Los Angeles! I'm venturing out to it later in the week to check out the store and have a chat.  I'm not a huge fan of soda pop but what makes this store different is that he holds only small independent companies soda's bringing back Americas favourite oldies, in glass bottles! LOVE!

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4. So I stumbled across this bulldog photo whilst googling for images and I really can't find anything that goes with it. Have no idea WTF it is or where it is but I do love it! I think I might have to make her my F.B profile pic! So wrong, but oh sooo right! LOVE!

5. Which brings me to poodles!!! I think I may need to own a poodle one day and have it groomed like this one. Too funny! Check out the array of grooming that has happened here! CRAZY!

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6. I know we are no where near Christmas but this poodle sitting all raunchy as a Christmas decoration was tooooo cute to leave out this week when I stumbled across her! LOVE!!!

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7. Papa Christo's Greek Tavern here in L.A! Coming from Melbourne, Australia, which has the largest population of Greeks outside of Athens, I'm definitely going to have high standards! I'm hoping to head out there in a few weeks to check it out. They have Big Fat Thursday Greek Dinners with a bellydancer dragging people up to dance! Too funny! Check out the mural!!!!

8. Which brings me to my friends new adventure...making those gorgeous ear rings and selling them on etsy! Totally not kitsch but I couldn't resist adding her earrings this week. I love them so, but I don't get into earrings much. She has promised to get onto rings and bangles very, very soon. Check them out here! LOVE!

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9. Being back in Lala Land. As soon as the airplane hit the tarmac, I felt like I was home. And it's HOT! Gotta love that! Been eating salads all week...my favourite food in the world! LOVE!

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10. Living in Los Feliz! Such a great area full of bars, eateries and GELATO! OMG! Loving the gelato a little too much! People have dining tables set out on their front porches and spend their evenings having dinner there. How great is that! Makes an evening stroll quite lovely. LOVE!

eat; raw zucchini pasta with yellow pepper cashew cheese sauce

fifthelementparfumerie.wordpress.com

A few weeks ago I posted how to make cashew cheese and said that I would post the amazing dinner I had using the cashew cheese as a sauce. So here it is!

Serves 2

What you need;
Cashew cheese recipe, watered down a little
2 zucchini at room temprature
2 handfulls of rocket (arugula)
2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
marinated artichokes, as many as you like
handful of olives, which ever flavor you like

I now have a spirooli in my life which makes making raw zucchini pasta a hell of alot easier! If you don't have on and can't really be bothered cutting it by hand, you can always make papperdelle pasta by using a vegetable peeler. Peel the skin off the zucchini first.

In a big bowl, add the zucchini pasta, rocket (arugula) and tomatoes. Pour the sauce over it all and mix well. Add as much as you like onto each plate and then lay the artichoke pieces on top. Best not to mix them in. I haven't stated how much artichoke to use as I LOVE them and always heap them on when I get a chance, but maybe four to five pieces will be fine.

Top with cracked pepper and serve!

Buon Appetito!