food as art, art as food.

Pies Pies Pies, 1961 via ArtChive

Bakery Counter, 1962 via ArtChive

Cakes, 1963 via ArtChive

i love the work of Wayne Thiebaud, don't you? he does some incredibly beautiful landscapes, but not surprisingly, my favorites are his renderings of 1960s diner-style desserts. so delightful, so pretty, so sweet. they just make me happy, happy, happy! i'm moving in with The Cute in a couple of months, and i'm dreaming of getting my paws on a few Thiebaud prints to decorate a kitchen wall. if he knows it will inspire me to make a weekly Chocolate Puddin' Pie, he'll be all for it. right?

oh, boy. food photography and art. i love it. when i go on trips, some folks complain that i take too many pictures of food (Paree, par example). so what!? i think a person's meals tell a very interesting story! i also think it makes total and complete sense. i've spent years fearing food, avoiding it, abhorring it, devouring it with almost no regard for its taste or texture. i am now in the courting phase, developing and nurturing what i hope will be a lifelong love and appreciation of the taste, the smell, the texture and the glorious appearance of food. taking pictures of a meal, or a cup of creamy coffee, or a perfectly-frosted cupcake helps me really pay attention to all those parts, like one would to the composition and the brushstrokes in a work of fine art. i've learned to see food as many things, not just physical sustenance, but spiritual and creative sustenance as well.

surrounding myself with images of beautifully-prepared, wholesome food reminds me how very lucky i am to be back in The World of the Eating. in the old days, i might have spent hours flipping through cookbooks and back issues of Gourmet magazine, salivating over meals i knew i would never let myself have. now i bake my cake, photograph it, and i eat it too. there was a time i never thought this would be possible. so glad i was wrong.

what food is most visually beautiful to you? i love a platter of halved figs and shelled walnuts scattered on a plain, white plate. then there's french fries. monochromatic maybe, but blissful.

what if you looked at every meal as a work of art? do you think it would change how you prepared it? as well as how you eat it (faster, slower, with more attention and intention)? try it. maybe even take a picture of it or draw it before you eat it. and?

a delicate reminder

from anongrrl via etsy

i came across these tags today on etsy. aren't they wonderful? i'm always drawn to jewelry that uses inspirational words and phrases. it combines my love of the delicate, artistic object with the need for a reminder, a talisman of what i'm striving for in my day-to-day life. not that different from a Christian wearing a cross, or a Jew wearing a cross of David, i guess. i once made a bracelet for myself out of wire and a Shrinky-Dink type substance that said "breathe." it wasn't super-elegant (and i seem to recall it digging into my wrist), but it really did help, in the middle of an overwhelming day, to look down at my wrist for a reminder to do just that.

BREATHE.

oh!!! riiiiiiiiight.

seeing these tags got me thinking about what phrases and words i'd like to put on my own jewelry:

i (heart) butter.

this too shall pass

i am a size (infinity symbol).

sometimes, the most empowering thing a girl can do is eat (from a N.O.W. t-shirt)

wear life like a loose garment (Ghandi)

now, please.

what would your talisman say?

let her eat steak.

from Mitchell and Dent on etsy

how annoyed do i get when i'm having dinner with The Cute, the waiter brings our meals and places the salad in front of me, assuming that because i'm The Girl it must be mine?

quite.

how much pleasure do i get in looking up at him through my fluttering lashes and saying, "oh, no, no, no. the BURGER is mine. might i also have a side of mayo for the fries?"

tons.

does this ever happen to you? how does it make you feel? do you feel guilty for ordering the "bad" food? or do you revel in ordering the food that makes your body hum? what are some witty (though kind) ways of handling it?

when i grow up, i want to be a supermarket cashier.

there's this cashier at the A & P in Jersey City where The Cute and i shop. for the past two years, we've always made an effort to go to her when we're there because she's the sweetest, friendliest lady ever. she almost makes my heart melt with gratitude. the first time she rung us up, i was so touched by her kindness (she's an aberration amongst Jersey City grocery store employees, i hate to say), i think i said to The Cute:

oh my god. i love her. i want to take her home.

she's very serene and soft-spoken. always patient, always helpful. i imagined she must live a pretty quiet (read: lonely) life. a single spinster who goes to church every Sunday, sings in the choir, knits, collects canned food labels for the local elementary school, eats tuna fish salad on melba toasts every day for lunch.

you can imagine my surprise when i saw her in a preview for America's Got Talent. first, i freaked out. second, i assumed she was going to sing a church hymn, "How Great Thou Art" or some such ditty. third, i was pretty certain she was going to be bad. really, really bad. my heart hurt for her. a sweet, little, unassumming lady was going to be humiliated on national television!

i missed the show, but i was digging around on hulu.com last night, and i found this clip of her performance.



i've never been so happy to be so terribly and completely wrong.

Carol Lugo is my hero.

you pretty young things.

you're assignment today is to stand in front of a full-length mirror as nude as you can muster, put this tune on full-blast, and sing this song to yourself... just like i did when i was 9. my self-confidence was soaring at that age. coincidence? i think not.

what is your favorite M.J. song?

my stomach: gurgle, gurgle, pop, splat.

ever eaten a "nutrition bar" on an empty stomach?

don't.

i had one stashed in my desk at work from some "wellness seminar." i was starving, so i had a few bites. never again. those things aren't food, they're mortar.

anyway...

have a happy, happy friday, y'all.

do something you love this weekend: sleep in, rub a leaf of fresh basil between your fingertips and inhale deeply, buy yourself a coloring book and a Crayola 64, make a batch of homemade ketchup, take a walk in the sunshine (or in the rain, in flip-flops!).

i'm gonna pay someone to wash my hair with yumscious shampoo and blow it dry. i'm gonna make mojitos with the fresh mint from our herb garden and, well... that might be just about all i can handle this weekend. as lillian hellman once said, "productivity is not the only proof of a serious life."

amen.

what will you do?

and so am i.

from Yellowgoat's Feel Good series via Etsy

if i were wealthy, i'd buy all you ladies this necklace. wouldn't it feel great walking around with this on? just think about how many smiles you'd elicit!

3 awesome things about me?

i can make popovers from scratch.

i can still do a toe-touch (on a trampoline).

i am fiercely loyal and loving, usually brave, and very forgiving.

quick! tell me 3 awesome things about yourself!