Happy Caturday!

One of my guilty pleasures is Animal Planet's Too Cute! The show chronicles baby animals (usually kittens and puppies) for the first eight weeks or so of their lives; it really is too cute! I think the show airs Saturday nights, but I usually catch the reruns on Sunday morning or watch them on demand. It's the perfect show to wake up to and kind of reminds me of being a kid and watching Saturday morning cartoons. Hope you enjoy the clip!

Ribollita

The other day I got the urge to make a light, but tasty vegetable soup. I was thinking along the lines of minestrone, but wanted to try something new. Searching for inspiration I visited The Wednesday Chef's recipe index and sure enough, I found what I was looking for: Ribollita. I liked that the recipe (included at the end of this post) called for cabbage and fennel, which are veggies that I enjoy but for some reason don't cook with very often. Ribollita is a Tuscan soup that traditionally uses day old bread although this recipe omits it. I ended up adding quite a bit more liquid (a 32 oz carton of chicken broth) than the 2 cups of water that recipe calls for. I also added the spinach at the last minute rather than allowing it to simmer for 30 minutes. I'm don't sure if my soup still qualifies as a Ribollita, but it was good! Buon Appetito!

Here's the recipe from the Wednesday Chef:

Ribollita di Luana
Serves 6 to 8 1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, cut intо 1/3 -inch-thick slices
4 carrots, peeled and sliced intо 1/3 -inch-thick rounds
2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut intо 1/3 -inch-thick slices
2 yellow squаsh, halved lengthwise and cut intо 1/3 -inch-thick slices
1/2 fennel bulb, cut intо 1/2 -inch-thick pieces
1/4 savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
2 15-ounce cans cannellini bеans, drained and rinsed
1 14-ounce can peeled whole tоmatоes, drained and divided intо pieces
1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon finely chopped sage
1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 bay leaf
1 bunch spinach (about 6 cups), rinsed and roughly chopped
Red-pepper flakes
Extra-virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese, grated
Crusty bread, optional

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add thе oil. When hot, stir in thе onion, garlic, celery, carrots, zucchini, squash, fennel and cabbage. Season with salt. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add thе beans, tomatoes, herbs and 2 cups water. Seаson with more salt, thеn gently fold togethеr until combined. Press on thе solids so thеy are submerged in the water. Bring to a boil, then lower thе heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour. Stir gently only once or twice.

3. Fold in the spinach and simmer 30 minutes more. Remove thе bay leaf. Stir in more salt and red-pepper flakes tо tаste.

4. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls. Drizzle each with olive oil and sprinkle with grated Parmesan. If you choose, serve with bread.

Art Everyday

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John Singer Sargent, Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs. Wertheimer, 1901, oil on canvas

Detail:

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Happy Birthday Mies/Because I'm a Nerd

I'm a huge fan of modernist architecture and when I stumbled across this YouTube video a few years ago I thought it was basically the best thing ever. It's Mies van der Rohe's birthday today, so I finally have a good excuse to share it! Happy Birthday Mies!

Warning: It's very likely that you'll have this song stuck in your head for weeks.

Patrick Brennan and Apartment Therapy

It was so fun to be a part of this Apartment Therapy project! Lute especially enjoyed being able to ham it up for the camera. Click here to view the entire feature.

I'm Going Back Home to the West Coast

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As many of you already know, Ian and I are moving back to Oregon! Ian accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Portland, his dream job! In addition to landing a great job, we are looking forward to being closer to family and reconnecting with all of the great friends we have in the area. Portland is one of our favorite cities and we can't wait to put down roots there and make it our home.

While we are thrilled to be heading back to the West Coast, moving is bittersweet. We've truly enjoyed living in DC and I'm crushed to be leaving my job at the gallery. Ian and I moved east just a few weeks after we were married and we've started our lives together out here. Although we've missed Oregon, we are so grateful we had the opportunity to experience East Coast living.  I know we will look back on our stay out here as a very happy and precious time in our lives.

Since we learned we'd be moving I've had this song by Coconut Records floating around on repeat in my brain. Happily, I really like the song.

An interesting side note about Coconut Records is that it is a solo project by the actor Jason Schwartzman. Who knew?

For Your Monday

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This is such a great idea and looks like so much fun! I see a date night for Ian and I in our future.

Why we love beautiful things.

What could be cuter than a minute and a half of Bernese Mountain Dog puppies?

A portrait of a family in human ash and meth.

We're one step closer to bringing extinct animals back to life.

Um, yum.

Happy Caturday!

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I'm loving this cat print shirt on Etsy! (via Design is Mine).

Art Everyday

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On Sunday Ian and I went to the National Gallery of Art's screening of the documentary Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters.  Before seeing the film, I was unfamiliar with Crewdson's work and I was blown away by his process. Crewdson uses actual locations and residents of three small Massachusetts towns, as well as elaborately staged sound sets to achieve his incredible hyperrealistic photographs.  If you see the film pop up on Netflix, it's worth watching.  Check out the trailer here.  You can also listen to an NPR interview with the artist here.  In the introduction to the interview the NPR reporter says that Crewdson "doesn't take photographs, he makes them," which seems very apt.

Armory Week in NYC

Two weeks ago, Margaret and I were in New York for work.  The gallery was participating in Salon Zürcher, one of about a half dozen satellite fairs occurring in conjunction with The Armory Show. The Armory is a massive art fair that features one pavilion of contemporary art and one of modern art. Salon Zürcher is an alternative fair hosted by the gallery Zürcher Studio at their SoHo location (they also have a gallery in Paris) and is much smaller in scale, only six galleries were invited to participate. This year's theme was "Out of Town" and the fair featured galleries from outside of New York City. Here's a shot of the space:

We brought work by four artists, Rachel Farbiarz who create the chair sculpture, Avery Lawrence's film Moving a Tree, a photograph by Jon-Phillip Sheridan, and another photograph (far wall) by Satomi Shirai. We thought these pieces did a good job of representing the gallery's aesthetic and functioned well together in a small space. 

I roped Ian into driving the van full of artwork from DC to New York (thank god nothing broke; we were pretty nervous about Rachel's sculpture!) and he stayed in the city with me for a few days. One of our first stops was the High Line, which is an elevated railroad track that has been converted into a park.

When I was living in New York a couple of years ago, Ian and I loved to visit the High Line and it was fun to go back for a little stroll. The High Line also features artwork and one of my favorite pieces is this installation by Christopher Finch.  Finch took an 11 hour boat ride up the Hudson River (which is visible from the High Line) and photographed the water each minute of the journey. The 700 glass panels all represent a distinct color that the camera captured of the river water.

A few days later I had to head back to Chelsea to deliver some art work we had borrowed from Asya Geisberg Gallery. It turned out to be the last day of Todd Kelly's show and I'm so happy I had a chance to check it out. One of my favorite works from the show below:

Since I was already in the neighborhood, I decided to pop over to the Independent Art Fair. I really enjoy the Independent because of its manageable size and fresh artwork. They also have a great roof top deck where you can chill out for a minute or two. Here's the view:

Love these little abstract paintings! Space is usually very tight at art fairs and I thought the gallery was clever to hang work on the sculpture pedestal.

 I fell head over heels for this pink and yellow print by Matt Connors at Printed Matter's booth.

Then it was on to the Armory. The Armory is a totally overwhelming experience (especially for those of us that don't like crowds)...

 

Below is an installation of David Kramer's work. We showed David's work at the gallery shortly after we opened and it's one of my favorite exhibitions that the gallery has put on. I was lucky that David was at the fair when I stopped by and it was great to catch up with him for a bit. 

My love of pink and yellow art continued with this piece by Ghada Amer. (I think this would make an amazing wallpaper pattern!)

This itty bitty artwork is by Patrick Jacobs and was featured at Pierogi's booth. It's about the size of a half dollar.

From the smallest artwork at the fair, we move on to the largest. A huge 30 foot long Warhol camouflage painting at the Gagosian booth. Pretty ostentatious...

Along with the Independent and Armory I also went to Volta and Spring Break. I didn't take any photos at Volta and while I thought there were a handful of strong booths for the most part I thought the fair seemed a bit tired. Like Salon Zürcher, Spring Break is an alternative fair. Unlike most fairs which are gallery-oriented, Spring Break featured 20 curator-led projects fitting within the theme of New Mysticism. While I liked a couple of the curated rooms, most of the projects were a bit too avant garde for my taste.

After the craziness of the fairs, I was happy to escape to the Met for a morning to see the Matisse Retrospective. I'm so glad I caught this show before it closed! Matisse is one of my all time favorite artists! No photos were allowed in the exhibition, but I had a much need moment of calm in one of the Met's sculpture galleries. 

I also squeezed in a few non-art-related outings. I was able to do a bit of retail therapy and Ian and I had several great meals including lunch at Eataly's Birreria, a very fancy dinner at Mas, and yummy noodle bowls at Noodle Bar. We also came across the cutest coffee bar near where we were staying in the West Village called Mojo. If you are ever in the neighborhood I highly recommend their oatmeal. 

We also  took the train up to Connecticut to visit my Aunt Kim, Uncle Scott and much younger cousins Oliver, Kaitlin and Grace. Kim made an incredible meal and it was wonderful to visit with them for an evening. Unfortunately, Ian had to headed back to DC, but I was able to meet up with Uncle Scott again in the city as well as my Aunt Dawn, Uncle Jim and cousin Ani. Jim picked a great organic restaurant called Siggy's. I went back the next day to try one of their smoothies which was so good! I've been craving them the past couple of weeks in DC. 

There was a restaurant supply store about a block from Salon Zürcher, so I popped in on a break from the fair. It was fun to see all the different gadgets! I can't believe I left without buying anything!

A funny little house in the West Village that we walked by on our way to Mojo. I wonder what it's story is?

And this happened...

New York was a whirlwind, but so much fun! I can't wait until our next visit!

For Your Monday

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The LA Times recently published a provocative article about the planned collaboration between the National Gallery of Art and MOCA.

As an introvert myself, I appreciated this TED talk.

27 heart-melting moments of childhood discovery.

Photos of lost tourists looking at maps. We've all been there, right?

A shift from microlending to microsaving.

Disney princesses after their ever afters.

Happy Caturday!

Here's an adorable story of kitten and puppy love.  From Love Meow:

Back in August last year, Kitten Rescue and Best Friends responded to a plea to rescue a litter of pit bull puppies from the South LA shelter. While Best Friends was pulling the puppies, they were given a 4-day old kitten who still needed bottle feeding. Kitten Rescue took in the babies. When they saw the little ones, they knew that these guys were meant to be raised together.

“The kitten has grown up with the two puppies like they are family. They eat together, play together and sleep together in a constant visual display of adorableness that would melt even the coldest of hearts. The foster parents named the kitten ‘Mango’ and the two puppies ‘Milkshake’ and ‘Boo Boo’,” Kitten Rescue wrote on their website.
Mango and Milkshake are extremely close. They are totally inseparable!

 The two are still best friends. Here's a more recent photo:

There's also a cute little video of the two of them shortly after they were rescued.  So little!

...And here's one more when they are a little older. I love how uncoordinated and spastic they are.  Also, the bulldog that shows up at the end is pretty hilarious.

 

Chocolate Mousse

I love this quick, easy chocolate mousse recipe by Giada De Laurentiis. I've read through several other chocolate mousse recipes and I think this is the fastest and simplest. While I haven't tasted the other recipes for comparison, I can certainly vouch for the tastiness of this one.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
3 large eggs white

To make the mousse, in a small saucepan stir the milk together with the granulated sugar and the espresso powder over medium heat until the milk is hot, but not boiling, and sugar is dissolved.

Place the chocolate chips in a blender. Pour the hot milk over the chips. Run the blender on high until combined, just a few seconds, then add the egg whites and run the blender on high until light, about 1 minute. Transfer the mousse to 4 small serving cups. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about three hours.

(Giada recommends serving with whipped cream, but I think berries are great alternative when you don't have any whipping cream on hand)

Art Everyday

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I got an email from Artlog this afternoon featuring this photograph by Narahashi Asako. Love it!

For Your Monday

Will Wegman's first GIF. So cute! Image source

The Met got a great deal on some art.

Baby Red Pandas playing. 

A mysterious sculpture was uncovered in Brooklyn 

A new design for airline seats.

Homemade room sprays.

Happy Caturday from New York!

I've been in New York this week for work. It's the week of the Armory Show and the gallery is participating in one of the satellite fairs, Salon Zürcher. I had some time this afternoon to check out some of the other fairs and came across this little gem. Perfect for Caturday!

By Marc Hundley at White Column's booth at the Independent Art Fair.   Looking forward to posting more about the week in NYC when I get back to DC!