Greetings Creators,
It's officially Last Supper season! Incubate, Roast, and Ready your creative juices for 5th annual Last Supper Festival. This year's salon of ideas will bigger and better than ever, with an excellent cast of projects/planners/curators, pre-Season events (upcoming fundraiser, symposium), and more community interaction. Spark conversation, engage in critical analysis, gain exposure to a diverse audience, and enjoy your work in the context of other media by submitting your emerging projects to the 2009 call.
Submission Deadline: August 21, 2009
Submission forms available for download at: http://www.lambastic.com/about.html
For more information: http://lastsuppersalon.blogspot.com/
The Last Supper is a multimedia, project-based collaborative festival that addresses the act of consumption. Viewing the creative process as a cyclical, communally interactive conversation between media, it is a non-profit benefit event for the Food Bank of New York City. The Last Supper is an indoor-outdoor salon of ideas occurring in NYC during the crux of seasonal change at the end of September. As a feast for the senses and a symposium of genres, the gathering kindles the creative miasma infused by the city’s autumnal shift, harvesting the cornucopia of media in our own backyard and sparking an atmosphere for open dialog and collaboration. Short films and works from emerging directors and artists, edible installations from creative culinarians, performance, design projects, writing and music from several local bands and DJ’s will grace the dinner table. Each year, the show sparks dialog about consumption by curating projects based on a theme of global and local import. This year, more than 50 creators and volunteers will discuss ideas about “Means” with an audience of peers to evaluate our state of consumption. The decay of Summer and the emergence of Winter will be celebrated at the Fifth annual Last Supper.
Curatorial Theme: Means
In an atmosphere of political and economic crisis, along with dwindling resources, our precarious societal climate demands a review of the way we consume locally and globally. An artist’s resource, whether medium, message, or muse, is the voice of its cultural language. Creating is making something from nothing. Consuming, like all laws of matter, transforms the states of products. As creators, we must cherish this cyclical process and consider its affect. Repurposing traditional practice to our contemporary needs and desires has become vital to both aesthetic and functional life. Whether in the form of urban victory gardens, reclaimed handmade objects as art and design, DIY techniques, prevailing independent films and bands, the self-sustaining artist is a simultaneously complex, imperfect, and idyllic model for contemporary life. The Last Supper’s 2009 salon is the creative dialog about consumption where Means as motive, economy of Means, ways and Means, and Means of production are all tools for storytelling.
History
What began four years ago as an intimate word-of-mouth dinner party in a small backyard has evolved organically into what is known today as The Last Supper Festival. The event, which falls in late September--thus symbolically marking a change of seasons--is a multimedia experience that challenges the traditional methods of exhibiting and viewing artwork. Instead of singular artistic moments, the festival presents, in concert--just as it unknowingly did at the original backyard dinner party--a range of artistic mediums from local emerging talent including visual art, culinary art, film, performance and music--ie: a stimulation of all five senses. This unique approach to curation blurs the defined creative boundaries, thereby facilitating an exchange and connection between various artists, communities and audiences.
"..a feast for all five senses that will likely leave you with an unbuttoned fly." -Village Voice
"Will edible art give ‘artsy fartsy’ a new meaning?" -NY Magazine
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wisco Disco: Farmer Tan and Farmers' Markets
My hometown has 1000 people in it and looks something like this:
As the crow flies, it's an hour or two from where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." In Spring Valley, all the women are unassuming, the men soft-spoken, and the children blond.
Farmstock on both sides, Sara, Brent and I spent our childhoods with skinned knees, scarred chins, and dirty fingers. Going home now is no different. After gamboling through the Minneapolis Farmers' Market, Sara and I planted apple trees, laughing at the idea of bagged manure, in her backyard.
Cultivation--whether trees or souls--is a magical process. Much like baking, it requires care, a few simple ingredients, wonder, a little bit of luck, calloused hands...and time. At home, time passes differently; life is measured in seasons not seconds and the adventure is more important than the destination. Every so often, I need to be reminded of that.
These lessons are best learned over a rustic feast: fried red potatoes with fresh sage, mixed green salad with strawberries and balsamic vinegar dressing, tender cherries, turgid plums, and leftover Thai. We followed it with a variation of my favorite dessert: vanilla ice cream with fresh berries and Grape Nuts sprinkled on top. (Mom is a hippy-sort who didn't let us eat store-bought sweets. Grape Nuts were our Magic Shell). It's also good with pure maple syrup in place of the berries.
Below, please find a photo essay of our adventures.
As the crow flies, it's an hour or two from where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." In Spring Valley, all the women are unassuming, the men soft-spoken, and the children blond.
Farmstock on both sides, Sara, Brent and I spent our childhoods with skinned knees, scarred chins, and dirty fingers. Going home now is no different. After gamboling through the Minneapolis Farmers' Market, Sara and I planted apple trees, laughing at the idea of bagged manure, in her backyard.
Cultivation--whether trees or souls--is a magical process. Much like baking, it requires care, a few simple ingredients, wonder, a little bit of luck, calloused hands...and time. At home, time passes differently; life is measured in seasons not seconds and the adventure is more important than the destination. Every so often, I need to be reminded of that.
These lessons are best learned over a rustic feast: fried red potatoes with fresh sage, mixed green salad with strawberries and balsamic vinegar dressing, tender cherries, turgid plums, and leftover Thai. We followed it with a variation of my favorite dessert: vanilla ice cream with fresh berries and Grape Nuts sprinkled on top. (Mom is a hippy-sort who didn't let us eat store-bought sweets. Grape Nuts were our Magic Shell). It's also good with pure maple syrup in place of the berries.
Below, please find a photo essay of our adventures.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
ButterSuite Delivers: Coming Soon to a Kitchen Near You!*
*If your kitchen is in the 5 boroughs: WOOT!
Hello Friends!
For as long as I can remember (Madison peeps can attest to this), I've been giving away baked goods. While collaborating on SweetTooth it was clear that my heart was in the sharing and caring as much as the baking and making. So, it is joyfully that I announce my plans for belligerent kindness: Watch out world! Here I come with sweet treats and hugs!
For a small fee, you can enjoy some of my tasty morsels. In exchange, I get the pleasure of making strangers smile (one of my very favorite things ever)!
Click to enlarge the menu below. Details, logo, and photos forthcoming.
Hello Friends!
For as long as I can remember (Madison peeps can attest to this), I've been giving away baked goods. While collaborating on SweetTooth it was clear that my heart was in the sharing and caring as much as the baking and making. So, it is joyfully that I announce my plans for belligerent kindness: Watch out world! Here I come with sweet treats and hugs!
For a small fee, you can enjoy some of my tasty morsels. In exchange, I get the pleasure of making strangers smile (one of my very favorite things ever)!
Click to enlarge the menu below. Details, logo, and photos forthcoming.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sticky Fingers: Upside Down Apple Cinnamon Muffins
What started as an attempt to use up yogurt, honey, and apples before a trip home ended up as it so often does in my kitchen: a delightfully sticky-fingered mess.
It began with the honey.
I have the worst/best luck with sticky things. Once I knocked over a jar of molasses, with the lid unscrewed, in the cupboard above my sink. I didn't notice until doing the dishes, when the brown plop-plop-plop of molasses slowly drip-dropping into the dish water made me think I was in a Korean horror movie: EEK! This time, the plastic honey-bear had cracked, oozing its contents all over my baking cupboard. Hence the plastic (sleeping?) bag this bear finds itself wrapped up in.
Upside Down Apple Cinnamon Muffins
4 Tables sugar
1 teas gr cinnamon
2 apples, chopped (peels optional)
2 Tables honey
1 1/2 c all purp flour
1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 teas baking powder
1/4 teas salt
2/3 c lowfat yogurt
1/4 c butter, melted
3 Tables skim milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
*Mix the 4 Tables sugar with the cinnamon. Set aside.
*Grease/spray 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle less than 1 teas cinnamon-sugar into each cup (I used about 1/2-2/3 teas in each). There will be some left over.
*Mix chopped apple with honey. Divide equally among muffin cups.
*Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium-sized bowl. Put well in center.
*In another bowl, mix wet ingredients.
*Add wet into dry, mixing only until combined. It will be very thick.
*Spoon muffin batter into each muffin cup, about 1 Tables per cup. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Put another layer of batter on top. Then finish with the remaining cinnamon-sugar. I added a pecan for good measure.
*Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
*Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning upside down on a wire rack.
The apples are tart, the honey doesn't oversweeten them, and the muffin texture is not too dense nor too cakey: damn fine muffin!
Now I need to figure out how to unload 12 muffins in 24 hours...Woot!
It began with the honey.
I have the worst/best luck with sticky things. Once I knocked over a jar of molasses, with the lid unscrewed, in the cupboard above my sink. I didn't notice until doing the dishes, when the brown plop-plop-plop of molasses slowly drip-dropping into the dish water made me think I was in a Korean horror movie: EEK! This time, the plastic honey-bear had cracked, oozing its contents all over my baking cupboard. Hence the plastic (sleeping?) bag this bear finds itself wrapped up in.
Upside Down Apple Cinnamon Muffins
4 Tables sugar
1 teas gr cinnamon
2 apples, chopped (peels optional)
2 Tables honey
1 1/2 c all purp flour
1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 teas baking powder
1/4 teas salt
2/3 c lowfat yogurt
1/4 c butter, melted
3 Tables skim milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
*Mix the 4 Tables sugar with the cinnamon. Set aside.
*Grease/spray 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle less than 1 teas cinnamon-sugar into each cup (I used about 1/2-2/3 teas in each). There will be some left over.
*Mix chopped apple with honey. Divide equally among muffin cups.
*Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium-sized bowl. Put well in center.
*In another bowl, mix wet ingredients.
*Add wet into dry, mixing only until combined. It will be very thick.
*Spoon muffin batter into each muffin cup, about 1 Tables per cup. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Put another layer of batter on top. Then finish with the remaining cinnamon-sugar. I added a pecan for good measure.
*Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
*Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning upside down on a wire rack.
The apples are tart, the honey doesn't oversweeten them, and the muffin texture is not too dense nor too cakey: damn fine muffin!
Now I need to figure out how to unload 12 muffins in 24 hours...Woot!
Friday, July 3, 2009
The Last Supper / Call for Lady Bakers and Domestic Damsels
Last fall, Tracy and I (as Sweet Tooth of the Tiger) participated in The Last Supper as food artists. It was pretty neat to take part in a gustatory gesamtkuntswerk: a feast for the eyes, ears, tastebuds, and more!
Coralina and I are collaborating in two ways in 2009: Wahoo! First, I'll be working as Community Development Planner/Liaison, enhancing the educational (for all ages) components of the festival, while reaching out to emerging artists. Look forward to updates about upcoming events and fundraisers! Yay!
Second, and equally exciting, I'm working on a piece for the show/catalog/website that combines my intellectual and baking pursuits, while simultaneously telling stories, probably in video/essay format. Because much of my academic work has focused on performance (cabaret/burlesque and pornography in undergrad, disabled dance performance in grad) and has been heavily informed by Judith Butler's notions of gender performance (and the resistance possible in each performative iteration), I've wondered about the cultural meaning in the resurgence of lady bakers and lady crafters (quilters, knitters, etc): Are these activities simultaneously feminine and feminist? How can this re-domestication be theorized as feminist art and labor practice? Are these practices always already gendered?
I look forward to finding out :)
Coralina and I are collaborating in two ways in 2009: Wahoo! First, I'll be working as Community Development Planner/Liaison, enhancing the educational (for all ages) components of the festival, while reaching out to emerging artists. Look forward to updates about upcoming events and fundraisers! Yay!
Second, and equally exciting, I'm working on a piece for the show/catalog/website that combines my intellectual and baking pursuits, while simultaneously telling stories, probably in video/essay format. Because much of my academic work has focused on performance (cabaret/burlesque and pornography in undergrad, disabled dance performance in grad) and has been heavily informed by Judith Butler's notions of gender performance (and the resistance possible in each performative iteration), I've wondered about the cultural meaning in the resurgence of lady bakers and lady crafters (quilters, knitters, etc): Are these activities simultaneously feminine and feminist? How can this re-domestication be theorized as feminist art and labor practice? Are these practices always already gendered?
I look forward to finding out :)
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sourpuss: (Adventures in) Vinegar Pie
At the suggestion of Ivy and Kim, I'll periodically try out recipes that seem to appeal to some tastes rather than others, most often due to familiarity or lack thereof with the ingredients/flavors. That is to say, I'll make things that I think sound gross, just to get over my food-borne prejudice. We'll call these experiments "Sourpuss"...in honor of what tops the list: vinegar pie
But first, the crust.
But before that, a meditation on butter. Oh, how I love thee! I've loved butter since early childhood in Wisco. Perhaps it is due to an ingrained desire to support local farmers. Or, perhaps because it is tasty and its texture so smooth. Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: Butter has made me who I am today. While other kids were doing cool-kid things after school (like playing sports and interacting with each other), I was probably eating butter by the tablespoon while reading... or talking to myself... or daydreaming (about butter). I love(d) the creamy, salty, sweetness of good butter. My fingers would slicken as it melted in them on the way to my mouth. I couldn't imagine a better afterschool snack, especially when chased with a cold glass of milk. And while I now hesitate before eating a tablespoon straight from the stick, I do enjoy baking with it.
Making pie crust, and incorporating the butter and flour with my fingertips, always reminds me of those halcyon days. Especially when the recipe is as involved as this one. Because I get to touch butter at least 3 times while making it, it may become my new favorite.
Flaky Pie Crust
2 cups all-purp flour
1 teas salt
14 Tables butter (1 3/4 sticks), 11 Tables in 1/2" cubes
5-6 Tables ice water
Blend together flour, salt, and half of the cubed butter with your fingertips (or pastry blender) till it resembles coarse meal. Blend in remaining butter til pea-sized lumps form. Drizzle 5 Tables ice cold water and incorporate. (If a small handful doesn't hold together, add remaining Tablespoon, 1/2 Tables at a time)
Form dough into a ball, flatten into a 5" square. Wrap in plastic, chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out on a floured surface with (floured) rolling pin, so that it's 12" x 9" (1/3" thick). Cut remaining 3 Tables of butter into thin slices and arrange over dough-rectangle. Fold in thirds, like a letter (each section 4" x 9").
Roll out, again, to a 12" x 9" rectangle. Fold like a letter (in thirds, each 4" x 9"). Wrap in plastic and chill for 3 hours. Let dough soften at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling it out to line pie pan. Trim and fancy the edges, poke holes in the base using a fork, and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (with foil and pie weights or rice in the bottom). Remove foil and rice, bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
While the crust bakes, prepare the filling.
Filling
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Cinnamon for dusting
Nota Bene: the recipe calls for a 9" or 9 1/2" tart pan, with 1" sides. I substituted a glass pie pan and wound up with an empty-looking pie.
Coulda/Shoulda/Woulda doubled the filling.
In bowl of medium size, whisk eggs and 1/4 cup sugar until frothy. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk flour and remaining sugar. Then add water and vinegar. Whisk constantly, until sugar melts and mixture boils, over medium-high heat. Pour into egg mixture, whisk constantly.
To make it magically custardy, pour contents from bowl into saucepan. Heat over medium flame, stirring with wooden spoon until the mixture coats the back of it, or it registers 175 degrees. Should take 12-15 minutes. While it simmers, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
If you've timed it correctly, the crust will be ready at the same time as the filling. Pour filling into crust and bake another 15-20 minutes (at 350).
At this point in the baking process, I grabbed the pan with my bare hands: awesome!
Having just pulled it out of the oven--even with a dusting of cinnamon--I'm dubious. This could be the least appetizing thing I've ever put in my mouth. We'll find out tomorrow.
30 MINUTES LATER: Penny loves it. I still think it's weird. Having used cider vinegar (along with the dusting of cinnamon), the custard tastes vaguely of apple pie, sans apples, or variations in texture. The vinegar gives it bite, but there's nothing to bite into (eek!). However, the crust IS best ever.
But first, the crust.
But before that, a meditation on butter. Oh, how I love thee! I've loved butter since early childhood in Wisco. Perhaps it is due to an ingrained desire to support local farmers. Or, perhaps because it is tasty and its texture so smooth. Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: Butter has made me who I am today. While other kids were doing cool-kid things after school (like playing sports and interacting with each other), I was probably eating butter by the tablespoon while reading... or talking to myself... or daydreaming (about butter). I love(d) the creamy, salty, sweetness of good butter. My fingers would slicken as it melted in them on the way to my mouth. I couldn't imagine a better afterschool snack, especially when chased with a cold glass of milk. And while I now hesitate before eating a tablespoon straight from the stick, I do enjoy baking with it.
Making pie crust, and incorporating the butter and flour with my fingertips, always reminds me of those halcyon days. Especially when the recipe is as involved as this one. Because I get to touch butter at least 3 times while making it, it may become my new favorite.
Flaky Pie Crust
2 cups all-purp flour
1 teas salt
14 Tables butter (1 3/4 sticks), 11 Tables in 1/2" cubes
5-6 Tables ice water
Blend together flour, salt, and half of the cubed butter with your fingertips (or pastry blender) till it resembles coarse meal. Blend in remaining butter til pea-sized lumps form. Drizzle 5 Tables ice cold water and incorporate. (If a small handful doesn't hold together, add remaining Tablespoon, 1/2 Tables at a time)
Form dough into a ball, flatten into a 5" square. Wrap in plastic, chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out on a floured surface with (floured) rolling pin, so that it's 12" x 9" (1/3" thick). Cut remaining 3 Tables of butter into thin slices and arrange over dough-rectangle. Fold in thirds, like a letter (each section 4" x 9").
Roll out, again, to a 12" x 9" rectangle. Fold like a letter (in thirds, each 4" x 9"). Wrap in plastic and chill for 3 hours. Let dough soften at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling it out to line pie pan. Trim and fancy the edges, poke holes in the base using a fork, and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (with foil and pie weights or rice in the bottom). Remove foil and rice, bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
While the crust bakes, prepare the filling.
Filling
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Cinnamon for dusting
Nota Bene: the recipe calls for a 9" or 9 1/2" tart pan, with 1" sides. I substituted a glass pie pan and wound up with an empty-looking pie.
Coulda/Shoulda/Woulda doubled the filling.
In bowl of medium size, whisk eggs and 1/4 cup sugar until frothy. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk flour and remaining sugar. Then add water and vinegar. Whisk constantly, until sugar melts and mixture boils, over medium-high heat. Pour into egg mixture, whisk constantly.
To make it magically custardy, pour contents from bowl into saucepan. Heat over medium flame, stirring with wooden spoon until the mixture coats the back of it, or it registers 175 degrees. Should take 12-15 minutes. While it simmers, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
If you've timed it correctly, the crust will be ready at the same time as the filling. Pour filling into crust and bake another 15-20 minutes (at 350).
At this point in the baking process, I grabbed the pan with my bare hands: awesome!
Having just pulled it out of the oven--even with a dusting of cinnamon--I'm dubious. This could be the least appetizing thing I've ever put in my mouth. We'll find out tomorrow.
30 MINUTES LATER: Penny loves it. I still think it's weird. Having used cider vinegar (along with the dusting of cinnamon), the custard tastes vaguely of apple pie, sans apples, or variations in texture. The vinegar gives it bite, but there's nothing to bite into (eek!). However, the crust IS best ever.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Tube Steak! A Photo Essay
Anne, Ivy, and I just returned from a trip to the Catskills: Weenie Weekend!
When I was growing up, we'd spend Memorial Day weekend camping with my dad's family. I always enjoyed the self-sufficiency of carrying everything in and out on your back or in your car. As novices, we ladies did our best to keep it simple.
Day One:
hummus and pita, carrots, strawberries, grapes, gorp, chips and salsa, hot dogs, smores, lime sugar cookies. Oh...and booze.
Ganache left over from peanut butter-oatmeal sandwich cookies. So decadent and delicious!
Day Two:
same, with addition of bananas. Not even worth documenting
Day Three:
We avoided weenies for breakfast in favor of hot food, seats, and electric lights at Johnny G's diner. Diners are best ever: I was clearly the most excited about this.
When I was growing up, we'd spend Memorial Day weekend camping with my dad's family. I always enjoyed the self-sufficiency of carrying everything in and out on your back or in your car. As novices, we ladies did our best to keep it simple.
Day One:
hummus and pita, carrots, strawberries, grapes, gorp, chips and salsa, hot dogs, smores, lime sugar cookies. Oh...and booze.
Ganache left over from peanut butter-oatmeal sandwich cookies. So decadent and delicious!
Day Two:
same, with addition of bananas. Not even worth documenting
Day Three:
We avoided weenies for breakfast in favor of hot food, seats, and electric lights at Johnny G's diner. Diners are best ever: I was clearly the most excited about this.
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