Rodin's 'Monument to Balzac'

Considered the first ‘truly modern’ sculpture, Auguste Rodin’s sculpture of Monument to Balzac graces the Hirshorn Sculpture Garden on the capitol’s Mall.   It is always striking to see the dramatic portrayal of a vigorous mind embodied in the representation of a man acting in time – and here it reaches many people to tell its message.

Rodin took seven years to study his subject and make provisional attempts, then finally complete the commission he’d taken.   The work was developed over that time as non-representational and took the direction in which it eventuated – a spirit in its form as statue of the man.

Finally in 1898, Rodin presented a plaster study of the Balzac statue in the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The sculpture was not received well by the critics; Rodin took the negativity as a personal attack. Many disliked the grotesque stature of the figure while others criticized the work to be very similar to that of the Italian impressionistMedardo Rosso. As well, reports surfaced before the unveiling of the sculpture regarding anticipated dismay over the final outcome of the artwork. The Société des Gens de Lettres decided to disregard the commission to Rodin and not accept the sculpture.

Regardless of rejection from his commissionaires, contemporaries such as Paul Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec andClaude Monet supported Rodin in his point of view. A backlash against the rejection along with a petition signed by supporters in the artistic community proceeded, yet in the end, Rodin decidedly declined any bids for the work and placed the plaster artwork in his home at Meudon.

In the end, the statue was moved into the home intended on the Boulevard de Montparnasse.   Casts of it are in several places, which include the Hirshorn sculpture garden.

Representation of a person rather than a portrayal of his appearance was a shock to the audience that received it originally, but over time had an effect on our standards.   While the figure of Balzac speaks to us of inspiration and genius, its conception broke through a barrier to visions in the world of art.  Rodin gave artists a new direction that opened up expression they took in – and developed into new spirits they could work with in pure artistry not seen before Balzac.

View from beneath 'Monument to Balzac'

pic: chollingsworth, flickr

- Thanks, demi, for hosting today while I’m on the way to PA so can’t be here.   -

As most of you are aware, this past week I had to fly, and as this time it was in the late afternoon, I had to think about what sort of dinner/eats arrangement would suit me for getting to D.C. without either starving or taking chances with upset stomachs the rest of the trip.   As we all get to face this some days, here are a few necessary considerations I’ve discovered over the course of several trips.

First, I highly recommend you take along some basic and edible nutritious grain bar/cookie.   I may not touch it at all, but having something to hedge off disaster is always my first plan.   Another family member who flies a lot in his work takes along a bag of dried nuts.   Things that are filling but not edgy suit best, in my experience, as a backup plan.   Frontier Airlines used to serve cookies, but I hear that’s gone out the window, or escape chute anyway.

If you are like me, you choose a low priced flight, and have your reservations enough in advance to fit it into your eating schedule.   This past one was at five p.m. out of DFW, which means for me leaving the house around one p.m.   No surprise, a good sized lunch is mandatory.    I thought about taking along a sandwich, but really wanted to have a late dinner when I got in, instead, since there are such wonderful ethnic restaurants in the area that I love to try.

Flight delays occurred.   Great.   Okay, at that hour, there will no doubt be snacks on the plane, right?   You knew it, for $4 you can have evaporated potato chips, etc.   Not an option.   Of course, there are good meals in airports these days, even fresh salads and smoothies, but I admit I don’t like to buy airport food on general principles, it’s an ‘out’ for airlines that already charge for basic luggage – so get enough profit out of your necessity.    The backup food bar was my last resort.   Fortunately, flying usually takes away any appetite I had anyway, so this time I did fine on the large lunch and water from the fountains in the airport.  (In Houston, forget it, no fountains.)

There are efforts of all sort to provide airplane passengers with edibles, but a major obstacle is the flight condition, and the air we have to breathe.

Even before a plane takes off, the atmosphere inside the cabin dries out the nose. As the plane ascends, the change in air pressure numbs about a third of the taste buds. And as the plane reaches a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, cabin humidity levels are kept low by design, to reduce the risk of fuselage corrosion. Soon, the nose no longer knows. Taste buds are M.I.A. Cotton mouth sets in.

All of which helps explain why, for instance, a lot of tomato juice is consumed on airliners: it tastes far less acidic up in the air than it does down on the ground. It also helps explain why airlines tend to salt and spice food heavily and serve wines that are full-bodied fruit bombs. Without all that extra kick, the food would taste bland. Above the Atlantic, even a decent light Chablis would taste like lemon juice.

Label for gourd bowl

Gourd bowl

Thank you, demi, for hosting today, because I can’t be around this morning.

When the Europeans arrived on this continent they met a culture that made extensive use of the natural resources around them.   The native tribes lived in a welter of products that sprang from the plant and animal life around them, products that had been reduced to a much lower level back in their European lands by the larger populations there.

Then they found abundant fur/pelts and such appealing new products as tobacco, the new colonists started a trade with native tribes that replaced some everyday items, and this included the use of gourds for cooking, eating, and general storage.   Today, native cultures have revived those products and are recapturing some lost history from excavation of past sites of their occupation as well as from traditions still handed on among the people.  There is a growing recognition of objects and art from gourds; “No longer considered just a craft, gourd art is being elevated to the point where it has been featured in a number of galleries and magazines and exhibited at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C..”

In visiting the Native American museum of the Smothsonian this past week, I’ve seen a number of gourd works, many of them contemporaneous, and some from the past.   It’s interesting to me that when I try to research ‘gourd bowls’, I find lots of site for the craft itself, lots of sales pitches, but little background information.

The State of New York has about the only historical information I came across, a mention that metal pots and bowls replaced the use of gourd cooking gear – as metal objects proved more durable and were not a craft item the tribes had learned before Europeans came here.

What did the Native Americans want from the Europeans?   They wanted metal pots and copper kettles to replace the gourd bowls and clay pots they had always used. They also wanted metal ax heads that would cut better than their stone ones.  They also wanted glass beads, decorative jewelry, woolen blankets, and guns.  They became more and more dependent on the European goods and even welcomed the setting up of trading posts.

Guns dramatically changed the Natives’ way of life.  Hunting with a gun allowed the Natives to kill more animals for food and fur, which upset the natural balance.  In some areas, the beaver population was nearly wiped out by the fur trade.  Beavers were near extinction in New York.

Today, we’re relearning the use of nature’s offerings, and rediscovering its beauty.  

(Creamed Tuna in a casserole. Picture courtesy of dharder9475 at flickr.com.)

Here’s hoping that this is a day that’s easy on all you moms of whatever sex or situation.   Mothering is a good thing we do for a variety of others, and it’s not about the flowers.

A meal that I always found easy to do, and with ingredients I had on hand, was creamed tuna.   My kids enjoyed it, it’s healthy and warm, and speaks words of comfort to me even now.

The following recipe uses a beaten egg, and paprika, but I didn’t.   I did chop up some boiled eggs to make the final dish.  Of course, it doesn’t have to be tuna, canned meat or just boiled eggs – yes, iguana eggs work, make the same dish, giving it a slightly different wrinkle.

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, white pepper preferred
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 cups hot milk
• 1 1/2 cups cooked tuna
• 1 egg, slightly beaten

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika.

Stir well, pour in the milk, and when this has thickened add the tuna fish.

Heat the tuna fish thoroughly in the sauce

Add the slightly beaten egg and cook until this has thickened.

The vegetables can be any kind you have around, and can be chopped small so the kids can’t pick them out if they’re going through that anti-veggie time.   Flavoring the final product with a buillon cube worked for me, adding it while the milk was being stirred with the butter mixture.   The creamed sauce can be served over rice, toast, mashed potatoes, pasta, quinoa, grits, anything that’s hanging around or ready to be used up.

This is one of those easy dishes that was always welcome to both mom and kids, and takes very little time and effort.

Enjoy your mother’s day, however your mothering happened, and thanks.

Sioux soft cradle, 19th century

When a baby came into a tribe, there was a special present for it that the expectant family prepared – what the Europeans termed, from Narragansett tribes, the ‘papoose’.

While in other parts of the world some other nationalities developed the baby sling, we associate them with the American continent. Decorative as well as healthy design varies with the principal quality remaining the same, keeping the baby with the mother while she moved about. As a child on Okinawa, I saw not only mothers, but often older sisters, carrying the baby strapped firmly onto the back while the older person did her tasks.

Today we’re used to seeing many different nationalities wearing the baby carriers, but originally these had been developed by natives of this continent to give the baby comfort, the mother freedom of movement, and decorative art to everyday life.

Doll cradle - Created about 1800

A papoose (from the Algonquian papoos, meaning “child”) is an American English loanword whose present meaning is “a Native American Indian child” (regardless of tribe) or, even more generally, any child, usually used as a term of endearment, often in the context of the child’s mother. The word came originally from the Narragansett tribe. In 1643, Roger Williams recorded the word in his A Key Into the Language of America, helping to popularize it.^[1]….

Cradle boards and other child carriers, which were used by Native American Indians and went by many names. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the term papoose is used to refer to a child carrier. ^[2]

Preparing for the baby required making a safe, soft carrier out of animal skins, but the beadwork to make it art were the family’s own. There are several of the carriers on display in museums, and I was delighted to see several, as well as a doll’s carrier, in the Museum of the Red River.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Andrew Huf, flickr

This is another post about mix, so if you think I’m going too low, sorry.   One day I was doing my usual browse through silly looking packages in the spice shelves in the local grocery store, and found a cajun area that featured a package of ‘Roux mix’.   As most of you realize immediately, this is akin to packaging milk and flour.   Of course, it was pricey too.

Of course, I had to try it.   Yep, surprise, surprise, it was an overly salted package of milk (evaporated) with flour, instructing the user to keep stirring over medium heat.

Things you probably learned from Mom, or at least by practice, early in life;

The fat is heated in a pot or pan, melting it if necessary, then the flour is added. The mixture is stirred until the flour is incorporated, and then cooked until at least the point where a raw flour taste is no longer apparent and until desired color has been reached. The final results can range from nearly white to nearly black, depending on the length of time it is over the heat, and its intended use. The end result is a thickening and flavoring agent.

Roux is most often made with butter as the fat base, but it may be made with any edible fat. In the case of meat gravies, they are often made with rendered fat from the meat. In regional American cuisine, bacon is sometimes rendered to produce fat to use in the roux. If clarified butter is not available, vegetable oil is often used when producing dark roux, as it does not burn at high temperatures as does whole butter.

When combining roux with water-based liquids, such as broth or milk, it is important that these liquids are not excessively hot. It is preferable to add room temperature, or warm, roux into a moderately hot or warm liquid, or vice versa. To ensure the desired viscosity, they should be added in small quantities while stirring, briefly bringing the temperature up to boiling. Otherwise the mixture will contain lumps.

When making a gravy or sauce, I usually use EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) these days, but for some things, like sausage gravy, it has to be butter.

Prickly Pear

Hello, welcome to the very minor Hispanic holiday of Cinco de Mayo.   The battle it celebrates didn’t do much, but in this day it’s a celebration of marketing TexMex stuff.   I recommend the fresh salsa.

What is your background in our adopted continent?   I am descended from Scotch Irish and Cajun, am Sephardic Jew by marriage.   Sadly, no tribal relatives that I know of.

My own heritage is one that I’ve only come to know by accident, because as a child I was taught about True American blood, meaning European.

My grandfather was a very obvious Cajun, a big shock of white hair, and he’s the only grandparent I remember.   He was named White, but I have heard the family name was LeBlanc.   As a small child, I was given cafe au lait and knew some French words, one being what the kids in the Homer, LA, area called Cajun, ‘labalabas’.   La bas means ‘down there’.

I so wish I had native blood, but do not know that I do.   Of course, it’s possible, but history was something we learned from our families, and they didn’t care for that sort of factual background.

I have learned that some of my family was Quaker, and part of the underground railway on the Eastern Shore of VA and MD, that helped escaped slaves to the north where they were, sometimes, freed.  I am very proud of them.

How did you learn about your background, and what did you learn?

(Photo courtesy of Sarah Jane at flickr.com.)