Hummingbird Nest – Lisa Meyer-Kairos (acrylic, Mixed Media, 2008)

Starlings in Winter

by Mary Oliver

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly

they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,

dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,

then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can’t imagine

how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,

this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;

I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

“Starlings in Winter” by Mary Oliver, from Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays. © Beacon Press, 2003.

This poem was read this morning on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor. If you would like to hear him read it yourself, go here: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

Also, you van see more of Lisa Meyer-Kairos work here: http://www.lisakairos.com/

process of.

triple ginger cookies

I love ginger! When I ran across this Triple Ginger Cookie Recipe in my December Bon Appétit, I could not hardly wait to try it. It has crystallized ginger, ground ginger, and fresh ginger, giving it a intense full, complex ginger flavor. Also, they are very soft and chewy – excellent warm, right out of the oven. I adapted the recipe a bit, using full flavor molasses instead of mild. Also, it suggested using a 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar. I just used 1 cup of the brown sugar I had on hand.

Triple Ginger Cookies

(adapted from Bon Appétit)

Makes about 40 cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup minced crystallized ginger
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed)  brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/4 cup molasses (I used full flavored)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh peeled ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/3 cup (about) sugar

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, crystallized ginger, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy and light, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in both brown sugars. Beat on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, molasses, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat to blend. Add flour mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed just to blend between additions.

Place 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl. Measure 1 tablespoon dough. Roll into ball between palms of hands, then roll in sugar in bowl to coat; place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookie dough, spacing cookies 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until surfaces crack and cookies are firm around edges but still slightly soft in center, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on sheets on rack. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight containers at room temperature.

thanksgiving

Last Wednesday, Jonathan and I spent the entire day in the kitchen, attempting three new recipes to contribute to the Thanksgiving day feast. We listened to Sufjan Steven’s Holiday tunes and danced and tasted and smelled and succeeded! We made Real Creamed Corn Pudding, Pear Struesel Pie with homemade caramel sauce, and Golden Onion Pie.  It was a joy to travel the next day to visit with Tyler’s family. We are so thankful! A few photos and a recipe:

Golden Onion Pie

(Gourmet November 2009)

Ingredients:

For dough:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm whole milk (105-115°F)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For filling:

• 3 1/2 pounds onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 pounds bacon, finely chopped
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 large egg yolks

Equipment: a 9-inch springform pan

Preparation:

Make dough:
Stir together yeast, milk, and sugar in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in a bowl to mix by hand) and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Add flour, salt, egg, and butter and mix at low speed (or stir) until a dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes (or knead by hand 5 minutes).

Sprinkle dough lightly with flour and cover bowl with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Make filling while dough rises:
Cook onions and bacon in butter with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a 12-inch heavy skillet, covered, over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 20 minutes.

Remove lid and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool onions.

Whisk together sour cream and yolks, then stir into onions.

Bake pie:
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round. Fit dough into springform pan (stretching slightly if necessary to hang over edge) and spread filling evenly in it. Fold edges of dough over filling, leaving some filling exposed in center. Let pie stand 20 minutes at room temperature.

Bake until crust is golden-brown and filling is bubbling, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Note: Pie can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Reheat, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

I just finished this painting. I am afraid the image is a bit of a poor representation because each one of the three canvases is three by three feet. At any rate, it will give you an idea. The detail of the flower, below, shows that I have started working with my paint much thicker. (Inspiration coming from Frank Auerbach and Anselm Kiefer.)

I am beginning to explore personal history, and the relationship between childhood/adulthood, innocence/realization, light/dark and the place of love in this often unforgiving world. The inspiration for this painting comes from a photograph of my brother and I in our childhood. It is something of leaving home, the treachery and confusion, and hope.

I am constantly learning and growing, and am always happy to dialogue about my work.

autumn lunch

Butternut Squash Apple Cider Soup from Market C

Salad of mixed greens, Broccoli, Dried Cranberries, Almonds, Red Onion, and Goat Cheese

 

an artist to like

DWELL DEEP:: Sam Wedelich, a lovely artist to follow. She does these fantastic little drawings, among other things. Her work is filled with whimsy, humor, and heart.

http://www.dwelldeep.com

where the wild things are

Where the Wild Things Are in theaters on Friday!

october.

and that’s why i have to go back to so many places in the future, there to find myself with no witnesses but the moon & then to whistle with joy. ambling over rocks & clods of earth, with no task but to live with no family but the road. – pablo neruda

one day you finally knew what you had to do, and began. though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice, though the whole house bgan to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles, “mend my life!” – each voice cried, but you didn’t stop you knew what you had to do. though the wind pried with its stiff finger at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible, it was already late enough and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches & stones. but little by little as you left their voices behind the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds. and there was a new voice which you suddenly recognized as your own and that kept you company as you strode deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do, determinded to save the only life you could save.  – mary oliver

there is a beautiful spirit breathing now
its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
and, from a beaker full of richest dyes,
pouring new glory on the autumn woods,
and dipping in warm light the pillared clouds.
morn on the mountain, like a summer bird,
lifts up her purple wing, and in the vales
the gentle wind, a sweet and passionate wooer,
kisses the blushing leaf, and stirs up life
within the solemn woods of ash deep-crimsoned,
and silver beech, and maple yellow-leaved,
where autumn, like a faint old man, sits down
by the wayside a-weary. through the trees
the golden robin moves. -longfellow

move, skip, and dance.

On occasion, there is a song that sweeps me away and changes everything for a moment. Pick up Phoenix’s new album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and get your dancing shoes, kids, this one’s for fall movement. The song that I cannot keep still during is track two, 1901. While walking to my car from class, I could not help myself from grinning and throwing up a fist pump.

Cold air, scarf, track two, dance. It’s all so fresh.

Stream the MP3: Phoenix: 1901