A plug for something I am obsessed with: Osborn/Shoes

This morning, I have been thinking about tattoos. I'm ready for number two, and I have a lot of ideas ranging from an Ikat style print to botanical drawings of carrots and text. I really hope to be able to afford to have my next tattoo designed and inked by Amanda Wachob here in NYC. Her work is beautiful and totally anachronistic in the world of tattoo art. Rather than cartoonish, it's elegant, complex, and artful. Anyway, this post is about shoes, not tattoos...While google image searching Ikat prints that might work as a tattoo design, I came across Osborn/Shoes, an independent cordwainer/design company run by Carla Venticinque-Osborn and Aaron Osborn in Greenpoint. (The shoes are produced in a workshop in Guatemala that Carla and Aaron own.) Osborn/Shoes are hot. The fact that they have taken such a responsible and committed approach to humane and sustainable production and considered design makes me swoon.

Osborn/Shoes describes their studio as:

...a working environment where fine art and commercial art are conceived, blended, expanded upon, and produced. Our inspiration is drawn from human relationships, the vibrancy of life within its conflict and resolve, and artisanal grit. We showcase an evolving line of products, and through the continuous collaboration with friends, economically disadvantaged artisans, creative entities, and with each other, we seek now, more than ever, to embody hope in design. 

...And of course the shoes are really, really awesome. I'm particularly fond of these, which are not offered in a vegan version.

But, I may just buy these to support their efforts towards offering vegan shoes. (Rest assured that I sent them an e-mail asking if they had any plans to make more vegan offering in the future!)

I'm always excited to discover companies like Osborn/Shoes that are independent, artist run, efforts toward producing unique and sustainable products that are thoughtfully designed and interesting as opposed to mass-produced and generic.

I'll be sure to report back with their response to my query about vegan options!

* All images from the Osborn/Shoes website.

Summer Salad of Carrots, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Black Eyed Peas, Canellini Beans, and FRESH herbs

I know, I know, Its the hottest New York July on record why am I using the oven? Because, dear friends, I have a window unit that I am not afraid to use when the need for a warm salad or home-made pizza strikes. When the cooking is complete, I throw open the windows and go eat in the park until the house cools down.

After a lovely trip to the New Museum for the Brion Gysin show and an afternoon planted at the Think coffee on Bowery reading Foucault (Thesis research!) I was starving, and once again not in the mood to go to yoga. Summer is making me lazy. More on that later.

When I went to the Dual-Specialty store a couple weeks ago I bought a big bag of dried black eyed peas and cannellini beans. They pair quite nicely together and pack some serious nutritional punch. Tossed with lightly roasted carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes in a decidedly french-inspired dressing they transform into a great meal. I especially like this salad along side some simple lemon-dressed raw kale and a pile of Maine blueberries.

Ingredients

1/2 cup black eyed peas

1/2 cup canellini beans

1 bay leaf

1/2 large sweet potato, cubed

1 Yukon Gold potato, cubed

4 large carrots, chopped into discs

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 handful chopped fresh dill

1/2 handful chopped fresh tarragon

1/2 handful chopped fresh basil

1 T dijon mustard

1/3 cup champagne vinegar

Soak the beans in cold water for 8 hours. Rinse the beans and put in a pot with 4 cups cold water. Bring the water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Skim any film that is sitting on the top of the water and then add the bay leaf. Simmer the beans covered for about 1 hour, until the beans are tender. Add 1/2 T of sea salt and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the chopped veggies in a minimal drizzle of olive oil and a little bit of salt. Roast for 25 minutes.

Drain the beans. Toss with the vegetables, add the minced garlic, and a dash of sea salt. Roast for 25 more minutes.

In a large bowl mix the mustard and the vinegar. When the beans and veggies are done (veggies lightly browned, beans firm but not dry) toss them with the dressing and the chopped herbs. Garnish with black pepper. Serve cold or warm.

Makes about 4 servings, keeps well in the fridge and will keep for 4 days or so in the fridge.

An army of lovers can never be defeated

On July 10th I went to an incredible screening at Light Industry, an amazing venue for film and video in Brooklyn. The program, coordinated by Scott Treleaven, featured his own films, collaborations with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Genesis's own work and was sealed with a performance by Locrian. It was an intense Saturday evening that found me in no mood for bars. As I wandered back, over the Manhattan bridge and through the East Village on foot I was consumed with thoughts about the possibilities of art and music, life, love and revolution. When I returned to that strange apartment that I am calling home for the Summer, I put on a particularly lovely John Cale and Terry Riley record and languished in the particular rush of being blown apart and then gently put back together by a visual/sonic/spatial experience. Because, isn't that, on some level, what art is supposed to do?

>It is a process ov individual and collective experimentation and research with no finite answers, dogmas or unchallengeable truths. It is for each to discover his or her own understanding ov thee questions that suggest themselves, and through that voyage ov discovery to find their personal and true identity, thee True Will.

Watching Temple Ov Psychick Youth ritual videos from 1990, Treleaven's Salivation Army and Breyer P-Orridge's new works Weird Woman was an appropriate end to a day that had me thinking long and hard about the incessant quality of binaries, wondering as I often do why we want to be either this or that and well-named and labeled instead of acknowledging that it is never that simple. I think binaries are at the root of a lot of civilized problems, and I am not alone. The Burroughs/Gysin-esque cut up technique that appears in both Treleaven's and Breyer P-Orridge's work speaks to that concern, it refuses to let things settle, so they don't cohere into this or that, things that we can name. I have not only a great respect for the work produced by Breyer P-Orridge, Treleaven and their cohort, I really like it.  I like that it effects me on both a cool intellectual level and a raw, vulnerable emotional one. I like the way it looks, and I like it's tone and it's aim to undo the impulse to be complacent and accept that things are as they are and remind the viewer that (in)actions and identities have consequences and should be undertaken mindfully.

Mini-post: Ice cream made (almost) exclusively from fruit.

Last Summer my best friend and collaborator, Danica, and I were (f)unemployed together for three-months. While we may have been feeling a bit pinched in the wallet, we were definitely eating well...Meal after grilled meal, endless home-made pizzas, and some seriously successful homemade ice cream experiments. (Moroccan mint tea was my favorite.) After we'd been stuffing ourselves silly for months, The Kitchn posted a recipe for one-ingredient ice cream. The secret ingredient, as with most things, was banana. Since its been blazing hot in New York for most of the last month, I've been revisiting that oh, so simple recipe. Since the base is fruit, this makes a great afternoon snack with little to no possibility of a sugar crash. Also, making this "ice cream" is way less expensive than buying my favorite vegan ice cream at Whole Foods.

So, just for fun, here's my current favorite "recipe" for Peach/Banana Ice "Cream"

2 large, ripe bananas sliced and frozen

1 large peach, peeled, sliced and frozen

1 teaspoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To make magic happen: Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend, blend, blend until that magical moment when the bananas turn the whole shebang into creamy, delicious, ice cream.

I'd also recommend that you try this with no peaches, 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, and a swirl of vegan chocolate sauce...Maybe you should also play some Elvis Presley records while you're at it.

The best (not so healthy) cookies that I've made in a while

Super Chocolatey Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies (Minimally adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen)

These tasty little morsels won over my office today and not one single person believed me when I told them that they were vegan! These are somewhere between a brownie and a cookie...The perfect treat when the afternoon starts to make you feel a little woozy and in need of a nap.

Ingredients

3/4 cup walnut oil

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 t vanilla

1 T + 1 t whole flax seeds

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

1 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grind the flax seeds on high in a blender until they become a powder. Add the almond milk and blend for another 30 seconds or so. Set aside.

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

In a separate large bowl cream together oil and sugar. Add the flax seed/almond milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla.

Fold in the dry ingredients in batches. When it starts to get too stiff to mix with a spatula, use your hands until a nice stiff dough forms. Add the chocolate chips and mix with your hands again.

Scoop the dough into balls using a 1T measuring spoon. Place on the prepared cookie sheet about an inch apart. (They won't spread much.)

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, then set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

As Ina says, these lend themselves well to variations. Add nuts! Coconut! Dried fruit! These may also be awesome with coconut oil instead of the walnut oil and I've used olive oil instead of walnut oil with no ill effects at all.

A simplified version of my favorite Winter soup.

I think I made that Kabocha squash and French lentil soup from 101 cookbooks at least 20 times in the months since Heidi posted it. I am obsessed. It is the best soup ever. (Okay, its tied with the white beans and greens soup and black bean soup that my mom has been making me since I was very wee.)But, it's labor intensive and uses a lot of dishes and squash season is over. So, I've re-done the recipe to make it a one pot, one cutting board, one knife kind of pantry recipe. The lovely thing is that this soup costs about $5 to make, thins out beautifully (so you can really stretch it), and lends itself to impulsive variations. It also makes its own tasty broth, so there's no need to whip up or buy veggie stock saving both money and time, things I am definitely short on lately! I've made it three times this week and have had it cold, over rice, with a salad, thinned out with water, thickened up with greens, topped with red pepper purée...and it just keeps satisfying me. So, I hope that if you try it, you'll like it at least half as much as I do.

Necessary Ingredients

(about) 1/4 cup olive oil

2 carrots, 1/4" dice

1 small sweet onion, 1/4" dice

1 medium size thin skinned potato, 1/4" dice (I like Yukon Gold and you could add 2 potatoes if you want it to be heartier.)

1 large clove garlic, minced

3/4- 1 cup French Lentils

2 dried bay leaves

1 star anise

1/2- 1 t dried ginger OR 2 T fresh grated ginger (If you use fresh, add it after the onions and potatoes have begun to sweat.)

5- 6 cups filtered water

1 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar

sea salt to taste

Optional Ingredients

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, 1/4" dice (added in with the carrots and onions, this will add a rich sweetness to the soup)

any cubed vegetables that you have lying around. I think some quartered and roasted brusssels sprouts sound like they'd be good thrown in at the end.

puréed roasted bell pepper (1/4 cup) (as a drizzle on top)

chard or kale, chopped

cooked wheat berries or brown rice (to thicken the soup and add body)

a hefty wedge of warm bread (because soup is better with bread!)

cubed avocado (because its great on everything)

Chopped and toasted walnuts as a garnish (Omega 3's!)

...you get the idea.

Start with a large or medium soup pot. Heat the oil and add the onion and carrot, cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. The onions can get a little brown, but you're going for clear, fragrant and that good caramelizing smell.

Add the cubed potato and garlic. Stir and cook for just another minute. Do not let the garlic get any color or it will be bitter.

Add the lentils, 4 cups of water and the bay leaves. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Let it boil for about 5- 8 minutes (This is a good time to wash your cutting board and clean off the counter...Or, check your email or whatever...This is truly a procrastinatory soup!)

Reduce the heat to low and add the ginger and anise. Simmer partially covered until the lentils are soft. Then add the balsamic and salt to taste. It is important not to add salt or acid until the lentils are fully cooked! Remove the anise and bay leaves and set aside. (I like to throw them in with the left overs...But, you can probably thrown them out.)Add 1- 3 cups more water (depending on how brothy a soup you want) and simmer uncovered for about 10 more minutes. At this point you can ladel out what you're going to store and add greens to the pot, but I wouldn't put the greens in the soup you plan to hold as leftovers.

Enjoy!

A new favorite Summer meal: Black-Eyed Pea and Potato Tacos!

Two weeks ago I went on an awesome date with a very cute boy who rides a very nice bike and smiles a lot. In addition to lounging in Tompkins Square Park for hours, that date involved a visit to an amazing spice shop in the East Village where there are also amazing bulk dried fruits, beans, jarred chutneys, etc. I may have gone a little overboard...But, I'm not one to argue for 5 pounds of dried Turkish apricots for $6! The day after the date and the spice-spree, I found the most beautiful watercress at the greenmarket. And so, this little gem of a dinner was born. These tacos (plus the spicy dark chocolate and trappist ale I washed it down with...) were the perfect end to a beautiful day and the satisfying meal I needed after a 30 mile bike jaunt around the manhattan! Sadly, I gobbled them down before taking a picture...But, I guarantee you that it was a BEAUTIFUL, colorful meal. These are light and surprisingly complex and flavorful for a super quick meal, and seriously satisfying. I think these would be great with sweet potatoes or squash in place of the yukon golds too! Dare I recommend pairing these tacos with your favorite beer and an evening on the porch with someone sweet? Bliss.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 yukon gold potatoes, cubed

1/2 large sweet onion, sliced

1 cup cooked black eyed peas (Save the rest of your batch for another meal...I'm thinking tumeric scented empanadas!)

1 clove garlic, minced

smoked paprika

ground cumin

ground coriander

cayenne pepper

1 t agave or maple syrup

sea salt

lime

A healthy amount of rinsed and dried watercress

1 bell pepper, chopped small

1 large carrot, chopped small

A hefty handful of chopped cilantro (like 3/4 cup!)

1 avocado, sliced

whole grain tortillas (I like the Ezekiel ones, toasted over the stove until a bit crispy)

In a large nonstick skillet, heat some olive oil over low-medium heat and start caramelizing the onions. When they start to get clear, add the potatoes and let them sit until they begin to brown. Cook the potatoes and onions together for about 8 minutes and then add the cooked beans and chopped garlic. Let the beans brown for a minute or two and then add about 1/2t each of cumin, coriander, and smoked paprika. Stir lightly. Let the beans, onions and potatoes continue to brown. When they are getting a lot of color, add a dash of cayenne pepper, some salt and the syrup. Let cook until dry...You want like a hash consistency, this takes some time and requires that you not stir too much. Remove your delicious pile of smokey carbs and beans from the heat and squeeze half a lime over the top.

While the beans and potatoes are turning into magic taco filling, toss the watercress with the carrots, peppers, most of the cilantro, a little olive oil, lime juice and some salt and pepper.

Assemble each taco with a bit of the salad, a scoop of the potatoes and beans, a slice of avocado and some more cilantro.