I've been going through one of those creative incubation periods. I can sometimes tell because one symptom is thinking of good blog post ideas but never seeing them to fruition. I've been inspired; I am riffing. ¶ One of the reasons why I like Martin Scorsese so much, as an artist, is because he's a personal artist. He is, if this isn't too pat, an honest filmmaker. He responds to criticism with a shoulder shrug. He does what he does well, technically, and everything else is just his spirit. You either dig that, or you don't. But his films resonate with people, emotionally, like my emotional connection to GoodFellas; to Taxi Driver; to Casino. He expresses his ideas without deception through film, and he has good ideas. He also feels the same way as I do about flying. ¶ I've been working to inject more cinema into my work of late. That's why I haven't been updating my feature illustration. As I mentioned above, I'm incubating a few competing ideas on what next to showcase on Siteway, so please stay tuned. By cinema I don't just mean my subject matter, although I do mean that, too. I also mean those elements of cinema that are so appealing: the still-grandness of it, the iconography of it, the spirit of film. In the short term I think it means I'll be depicting not just characters from film, but whole scenes. This involves more labour than pure portaiture, but it's where I'm headed, so there's no sense worrying about the degree of difficulty. ¶ I've got a bunch of work out there or coming soon. I've done a few illustrations lately for Canadian Home Workshop, Meetings & Incentive Travel, and you can continue to see my work in L.A. CityBeat and NewAngeles. ¶ We've been making a bunch of Cypriot meatballs lately. Kief-TE-thez, similar to Greek meatballs, are a combination of beef, pork, potato, parsley, cinnamon, mint, salt & pepper.

Here's my Mom's recipe:

about half a kg. ground meat, half pork and half beef
5 good size potatoes
1-2 onions
quite a few sprigs of parsley
1 egg
salt, pepper
cinnamon, a few shakes
dried mint, 1 tsp
Here's how I prepare it (which differs slightly from my mother's version). I grate the potatoes and add them (grated potato plus their juices) into a big bowl with the meat. Then I chop up the onions into tiny bits, and add them to the bowl, along with the egg, the parsley, and the rest. Then I form them into smallish balls (not the rugby-ball shaped ones you see in Greektown) about an inch in diameter. Heat up some vegetable oil in a large skillet and cook away. It's pretty involved, the frying that is, so get ready (apron, drink) and you'll be fine.

Labels: CareerTalk, Cinema, Clear, Recipe, Vague

¶ 4:01 PM

Nothing says Friday like talk of martinis and their creation. Pauline made her first the other night and it didn't turn out all that well. She added too many non-gin ingredients. Classic trap. When I was younger, and browsed every Time magazine in existence, I saw countless booze ads depicting all sorts of cocktail party scenarios. I mistakenly thought that all adults knew how to mix drinks (this is, in part, because my parents held social gatherings and the drinks seemed well made by my not-at-all-big-drinker parents). However, not all adults know how to mix drinks. I know this now. Especially tricky is the martini. The secret lies in seeing how simple a drink it really can be. Think of it as a marginally watered-down frigid gin drink with a pickled garnish (in most case this is two to three olives). ¶ Here's how to make my favourite martini: Throw about seven or eight large ice cubes into a Boston shaker. Pour two ounces of your favourite drinking gin (fancy or not; Beefeater and Gordon's make fine martinis) into same shaker. Go a little further than leer at the dry vermouth, which does actually need to be a part of the action. Remember the dish detergant ads when one drop would remove the grease? That's how much vermouth you need. A drop, or two. Shake closed shaker with much vigor until it gets so cold you can hardly bear to hold on. Pour strained and chilled and marginally watered-down gin into a refrigerated martini glass. Insert two to three olives on a toothpick, and drop into the cloudy dream. Drink, in three to four gulps. ¶ People in my peer group were bombarded with cocktail culture done wrong. Misguided martini bars serving vodka-cranberry in fancy shakers for too much cash. Horrible gun-tap mixed drink stations that leave the mouth and body feeling battered. And I know this world is a complicated one, but for basic bars, here are a few key fundamentals: use lots of ice, use fresh cola or soda, don't chince, and have a wide variety of fresh garnish options available. First ice, then booze, then mix, then garnish. Bonus tip: to take the edge of too-sweet simple mixed drinks like Jack and Coke or rum and Diet, splash a little club soda into the mix. ¶ Have a good weekend, everyone. I don't know about the rest of the world, but in London, Ontario it is spring. Oh, and don't forget to check out Monday's National Post, AL1. I've got a bunch of illustrations in that I did for their calendar of events.

Labels: NationalPost, Recipe

¶ 11:17 AM

Coastalmatic Chowder
1 table spoon, butter
1 shot, Stoli
1 and a bit cups, water
1 clove, garlic
2 large cooking onions
2 stalks, celery
2 carrots, peeled
4 good sized potatoes, peeled, quartered
1 can, Italian tomatoes
1 can, tomato paste, no name is recommended
4 pieces of bacon
4 filets, white fish, sole is recommended
Dried bay leaf, Parsley, Worcestershire sauce, sea salt, pepper, chili flakes
 
Melt butter in large pot. Add garlic, onions, and celery and sauté until tender (or smell awesome). Add chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Be reasonable. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, vodka, heat to simmer, five minutes. Add water, carrots, potatoes. Simmer some more. Add Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf. Simmer some more. Take a break and have some wine. Now you need to cook up some bacon. Cook it up in a frying pan, drain fat and pat dry. Crumble cooked bacon into pot. Things should be going well and smelling fantastic. After some simmering and more wine (that you're drinking), throw in the fish. It doesn't take long to cook but there's no harm in letting it soak in for as long as you've got. Watch you don't overcook the carrots. Serve with fresh parsley. The wine you've been drinking? Frisky Zebras Sauvignon Blanc (Tetra-pak). ¶ This week's feature illustration is Chris Bosh. Let's watch him this Sunday in the 2007 All-Star game, shall we?

Labels: FeaturedIllustration, Recipe

¶ 12:08 PM

Chicken Bizeli
2-3 cooking onions
1-2 chicken breasts
6-7 white potatoes
1 can, stewed tomatoes
1 can, tomato paste
frozen peas
bayleaf
salt
black pepper
cooking oil
—
It's easy to make this traditional Cypriot stew for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. Chop up two or three good sized cooking onions and throw them into a midsized pot that contains warming oil. Cook onions until they start to smell awesome. Throw in some chicken. I prefer chicken breast but any kind will do. The stew will cook for quite some time so size and bones are totally up to you. If you throw in chicken bone-in by the time the stew is finished the meat should fall off the bone at the slightest touch. Turn up the heat from low to medium to cook the chicken. Add some salt at this point. Salt is a building block of life! It should start to smell really good now. Throw in your tomato paste, some water, and the can of stewed tomatoes. I'm partial to Unico products but use what you like. Now might be a good time to throw in some ground black pepper. Somewhere in between cooking the chicken and adding the tomato aspect you will have chopped up the potatoes into pieces just larger than the size of pool chalk. Throw them in the stew. There should be enough liquid to cover all the solid ingregients. Add some bayleaf, return the element to low heat, cover, and let this simmer for as long as it takes. I like to wait until the potatoes are soft and fully flavoured. By the time the potatoes are done you know that the chicken is well cooked and infused with the flavours. At this point you'll want to throw in enough frozen peas. 'Enough' is based on your personal preference. Cover pot again, and let simmer for another ten or fifteen minutes. My mother adds lemon at this point, but Greeks add lemon to everything so I'll leave this final flavour up to you. Serve with white bread. ¶ Well I've been watching while you been coughing / I've been drinking life while you been nauseous.

Labels: Recipe

¶ 2:55 PM