An Artist, An Interview and A Documentary

December is the month for thinking about things. It’s the end looking toward the beginning. Was it good enough, will it be better? What happened, what’s next? Lists happen now. Resolutions begin to form. Resolve to be better, do more, improve, adjust, learn. During the Thanksgiving holiday and the calm that comes with days off, I found some inspiration in my reading and watching that will change me. Will? Yes, change is an ongoing thing.

An Artist
Maira Kalman is an artist and the author of many children’s books. She illustrated Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E. B. White. Yes, that book you were required to study in High School and now realize it’s value. I’m wishing I had a copy right now to check my use of the apostrophe. Her NY Times blog last week was about food and included in the essay was a bit about another hero of mine, Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley CA and her foundation.

An Interview
Charlie Rose’s guest on November 26th was Tim Burton. (Edward Scissosrhand, BeatleJuice, Big Fish, The Nightmare Before Christmas…) He currently has an exhibition at the NY Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). I hope it comes to LA. Tim makes some interesting statements during this interview. He resists categorizing people because he feels that it is a dismissal of People and their individuality. “Let People be who they are.” He says. He mentions that he wants to continue to view the world with 'New' eyes, like a child discovering the world. There it is. Be the observer and you will learn.

A Documentary
Food Inc is a documentary about our Food. What we eat today is radically different from what we ate 50 years ago. It happened gradually, legislatively, greedily, corruptly. It will make you think. Watch it, or read the book by the same title and check out their website. Consider what you hear and then we’ll talk about it.

What does all that have to do with my once a week vegan diet? A lot. More than ever I am committed to eating vegan once a week. And on those other days, I will know where my meat came from. I will open my eyes to new vegetables and fruits and see the old ones anew. Meals will be prepared carefully and consumed slowly. (the slowly part will be a challenge) And I will experiment with the documentation (this blog) – so here goes.

Squash Soup

The muscular Organic Farmer sold me a Butternut Squash getting too big for it's own skin.

HEFTY

I roasted it at 400 degrees F for an hour.

Toasty. Fragrant.

Then I peeled it, cut it in half and scooped out the seeds and chopped it up a bit to fit nicely into the blender with 2 cups of Vegetable Stock.

There is a lot of squash left for another meal.

I turned on the blender and disturbed the house.

They knew it would be worth it.

I grated a nice tart green apple, peel and all. Then put the blended squash and the grated apple into a pot to cook together, with a little salt and pepper and cumin.

A little taste said something was missing.

A little grated ginger.

Garnish with something green - Parsley or a combination of your favorite herbs.

Or a spoon of spicy salsa.

Serve it up with A little Green Salad. A little bread.

Savor it.