11:20 a.m. - 2004-02-18
Opening Thoughts
DId ya'll go give your latte money to Domi's cancer fund? Well, what are you waiting for!!Save The Pug!!
Yeah, I'm a sucker for animals with pushed in faces!!
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A few vignettes from the last week:
Bare Hands opening reception was on Friday. I took a bottle of cheap cabernet savignon (like I really know anything about wine) and a tray of bread, cheese and dip. The dip was a result of my continual quest for cheap food appropriate to bring to openings.
I have to confess, this quest has become something of an obsession with me. I've been an artist for....well, many years, and putting food together for openings without spending a small fortune just goes with the territory. Getting a breadmaker as a gift a couple of years ago was really helpful - you can make a classy looking bread tray for about $1! But, of course, you then need something to put on the bread, and lots of little squares of cheese make up the bucks you saved on the cheap bread. Might as well just buy an expensive deli tray!
So I've been on the lookout for cheap spreadable recipes to smear on the cheap bread. And this past week, I found the Ultimate Cheap Bread Spread!!
2 cups of cooked white beans (you can use canned Great Northern like I did, or if you are a masochist you can soak the dry ones overnight and then boil the hey out of them for hours)
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
Either blend in a blender or, if you are like me and have made so many batches of homemade paper in your blender that it is no longer safe for food processing, an electric mixer works fine. It should be smooth and creamy, and will be slightly bland but perfectly serviceable for an opening where people will have had so much wine they won't know what they're eating anyway.
You can also substitute horsseradish for the mustard, if you want your opening guests to be a tad more alert.
I should do a cookbook. The Starving Artist's Guide to Cheap Food For Openings. Any recipe suggestions?
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So it was a fun opening. My only beef being that, as usual, I didn't have nearly enough time to spend with everyone. And the gallery looked beautiful, with new work from the wonderfully funny Kim G., and a show of ceramic art from all different folks.
I bought a few things that are still making me smile - a little box from Deborah which is amazing to me because the lid fits precisely. I've never seen a ceramic box with a perfectly fitted lid!! And a bowl from one of my favorite ceramics artists. It's somewhat plain until you flip it over, and there the base has a flower design and the message "Sarah Jane gives me big grin."
I just fell in love with the "secret message" aspect of it. It's just a mild mannered bowl until you flip it over!
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Rachel, if you are reading this entry - you looked damn fine, my dear!! And the story you told me was amazing - synchronicity is a wonderful and mysterious thing, no?
Rachel did look damn fine, too, and has inspired me to start thinking about making myself some clothes with all the fabric I've been squirreling away over the years. She had on a big pouffy pink skirt, a red velvet blouse, and a beaded belly dancers belt. Fab-oh!! She looked like the Goddess of Valentine's Day.
Actually, everyone looked lovely. Someone had brought camellias (yes, camellias are in bloom here! This is the South!) and Wendy and a few other people were wearing them. And there was a big vase of them on the food table.
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I did get to talk to a few folks. I met a wonderful woman named Mia who is as crazy about her African Grey parrot as I am about my rabbits and cats. She even invited me to her bird's birthday party later this year!!
Wow, I've never been to a bird's birthday party! What to bring for a gift?!!
I realised, as I was talking to her, that I really am too much of a hermit. I had to keep reminding myself to focus on what she was saying and not just go off on my own little rants about rabbit pee. In general, I think when you've first met someone it's a bad idea to talk about rabbit pee.
I think I got the hang of it, though. It really isn't that hard. Usually when I get other people talking I find that what they are saying is far more fascinating than anything I ever have to say!
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