eat; quinoa spaghetti with broccoli and toasted pine nuts

hort.purdue.edu

One of the many things I love about the States (well particularly California!) is that you have choices! Quinoa pasta is not an option in Australia, so whenever I am here, I stock up on this amazing food! As you all know, I LOVE PASTA!!!! As Sofia Loren once said "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti". Love that! And having an option that is gluten free is amazing. This is one of my mother's recipes but I've spruced it up with roasted pine nuts, which just lifts this simple dish to the next level.

What you need;

8oz (250g) Quinoa Spaghetti

2 heads of broccoli

1/2 cup water

2 cloves garlic

1 small chili

1/2 cup pine nuts

olive oil

Parmesan cheese or Nutritional yeast for vegan option

salt and pepper to taste

Start by placing a big pot of salted water on the stove, with heat on high and lid on, so the water can reach boiling point by the time prep is over. Chop the garlic and chilli into tiny pieces. Cut the broccoli into florets placing them into an awaiting colander and rinse under running water.

The water should be at boiling point and ready to throw in the pasta. Follow directions on the pack, making sure you reach an al dente texture and not over!!!! Nothing worse than soggy pasta!!!!

Toast the pine nuts in a dry fry pan (no oil) until golden in colour, tossing frequently. Keep an eye on them as they can burn quickly!!! Set aside.

Add a little oil to another pot and saute the garlic and chili until fragrant. Add the broccoli florets and 1/2 cup of water. Be careful not to splash it in as you may burn yourself! Stir it all through and place a lid on it. Allow it to simmer on a low heat until the broccoli is well cooked, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to your liking at any stage. Keep an eye on it as it's cooking, making sure it doesn't dry out too much. Add more water if it does, but only a small amount at a time. You certainly don't want the broccoli to swim in it!

Your broccoli should look like this picture. A little mushy, but still holding shape when cooked.

Look at this picture of beautiful golden heaven!!!!! Your pasta should be ready by the time the broccoli is ready. If not, just set the broccoli aside, off the heat until the pasta is done. Strain the spaghetti and then place back into the pot you used to cook it in. Add the broccoli and toss gently.

To serve, use tongs. I've put this picture in to show you how I do it. With one hand holding the plate and the other holding the spaghetti, turn the plate around as you slowly let go of your grip on the spaghetti. The effect will be a lovely 'pile' of spaghetti as seen in the picture at the beginning of this post. Add the pine nuts to the individual plates and serve with Parmesan or nutritional yeast.

YUMMMMMMM!!!!! I'm outta here to buy some quinoa pasta to make this tonight!

Buon Appetito!!!

pink; padded cell

http://jenniferrubell.com/images/happenings/upload/_MG_3606copy_2.jpg

Check this out!!!! I came across an article in The New Yorker whilst lazing on the beach in San Diego on the weekend about Jennifer Rubell. She is an artist who uses food in her work, which caused me to do some research. AND I FOUND THIS!!!!! It is a padded cell made of fairy floss (cotton candy!!!!).  I thought I would love ANYTHING made with fairy floss but this gives me the creeps! 

It is a freestanding structure to replicating a padded cell and was created for a dinner party Rubell hosted as part of her exhibition. The guests were not allowed in until after 9pm causing them to be excited about the idea of being surrounded by pink fairy floss (cotton candy) yet disturbed by the thought of entering a padded cell.

 

Here is an excert from Rubells website;

Padded cell is an 8’X16’ freestanding room constructed of basic building materials, with a single door that contains a plexiglass window. Inside, the walls and ceilingare padded with pink cotton candy, and a bare light bulb hangs in the center. The door is opened at 9pm, but the interior is visible through the window throughout the evening. The Red Party’s main dinner is served inside a Russian-themed constructivist set, and Padded Cell acts as an escape from that, an all-American funhouse that is at the same time confining, threatening, claustrophobic. It is an object that addresses the dark side of pleasure, the price of pleasure, the possibility that pleasure is its own punishment. Approximately 1,600 cones of cotton candy are used in its construction.

I do love the pics of people eating the fairy floss and the way it looked after the attack!

Rubell has totally inspired me this week. She has been the first artist in a long time to really get me going with my own practice. As you all know, I love food but will never give up art for it. This artist has reminded me I don't have to and has inspired me to bring the food into my practice. Watch out guys! The next exhibition I have might require you all to come with an empty belly!!!!

love; ten things i love this week

wikio.com

1. This video David Lynch created to promote his new coffee range. Pretty wacky really but what do you expect from a man who hung outside on a busy corner in L.A with a live cow and a picture of Laura Dern to promote her role in Inland Empire for best actress?!?! LOVE!

3. This crazy video on youtube I came across while doing some research for an upcoming project. I really love the reactions from the people sitting there on their way home! LOVE!

4. I showed you months ago cats with wigs, this week I stumbled across dogs with wigs! Check it out here! LOVE!

5. These 'typewriter paintings'! how cool is this?!?!?!

6. More paper...check out Jum Nakao paper dresses! Here is a link to his fliker account. LOVE!

ontravel.com

7. The reports about mating turtles stopping traffic on the JFK runway. What better way to stop traffic! LOVE!!!

8. Going to San Diego with Nat for her birthday and wearing our tiara's all weekend! What a way to get free drinks!!! LOVE!!

9. Spending the day at the beach at Coronado, San Diego. Nothing like just hanging with friends, reading magazines and eating! LOVE!!!

10. Taking video footage of carousels!!! It's all happening and I'm soooo loaded with ideas that I can't wait for my next exhibition!!! The carousel in this picture is the one at Griffith Park. It's where Walt Disney was inspired to create Disneyland!!!!  LOVE!!!

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!!!

dcist.com

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!!!

mlleparadis.blogspot.com

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!!!

remodelista.com

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!!!

vegetarian.about.com

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!

holistikhealth.com

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!!!

afemininemanifesta.com

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

eat; cupcakes!

mnn.com

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!