Sacred Doodling Space:

Have you ever heard of Laurel Lukaszewski? Laurel is an artist who creates installations and sculptures primarily from clay -- usually porcelain or stoneware. Most of Laurel's works are composed of extruded forms resembling 3-D line drawings or calligraphic brushstrokes. Her work is based on line, rhythm and form, playing with positive and negative space. Some of her pieces are just a few inches and some are as large as sixteen feet. They are created from her study of Japanese Buddhist mandalas... and the product of incessant doodling. Pretty amazing doodling I'd say!

A Gift for You:

this Tuesday morning... beautiful, beautiful music by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), Piano Concerto No. 2 in F, written for his son Maxim's high school graduation. This version is conducted by Maxim and the piano is played by his son Dmitri Shostakovich Jr. (father, son, grandson).

Let me try to describe the way it makes me feel: When the piano answers the strings and wind instruments, it sounds forlorn but happy at the same time. I close my eyes and feel like I'm floating on a raft down a soft current in dappled sunlight. The light is blinking on my eyelids and the rays are warm on my face but the water is cool underneath.

Close your eyes and try visualizing that scene. Like I said, truly this is a gift for you.

Yummy, Yummy, In My Tummy:

I love winter food -- the soups, the stews, the gumbos, the casseroles, the crock-pot meals... you know, rib-sticking-hot-steamy-comfort food. But for some reason this week I've been craving tacos. Being a bonafide Texan, I do love my Tex-Mex Tacos just as much as the next cowgirl, but what I'm cra-cra-craving right now is Korean Tacos, albeit Fo-Korean Tacos! Wish we had street food vendors like they do in other big cities... it seems we are always on the other side of the trend periphery! Anyway, homemade will have to do. Try this pork version and be sure to load it with plenty of Napa-Romaine Slaw and/or Cucumber Kimchi and/or bean sprouts and/or cilantro... and don't forget the fresh lime squeeze. Yummy, yummy!

Spicy Pork/Dwaeji Bulgogi

Makes enough for about 12 tacos

1 pound pork shoulder, thinly sliced (preferably from a Korean or Japanese market)

3 tablespoons coarse-ground hot Korean red pepper powder

1 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons mirin pinch of black pepper
Combine all ingredients and marinate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Cook meat on a grill or in a skillet, then chop for tacos.

Napa-Romaine Slaw
Makes about 6 cups, enough for many tacos, with leftovers

For the dressing:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1-1/2 teaspoons lime juice

1-1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon sugar

For the salad:

4 cups (5 ounces) shredded romaine lettuce

2 cups (3 ounces) shredded Napa cabbage

1/2 cup (2 ounces) thinly sliced onion toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Toss the salad in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Add more dressing to taste and garnish generously with sesame seeds.

Cucumber Kimchi
15 to 20 small cucumbers, the kind that are used to make dill pickles, or the equivalent amount of any other type of cucumber

3 green onions, chopped

1/4 small yellow onion, chopped

2 flat tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes (ka choo kah roo)

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 tablespoon honey
Give the cucumbers a good rinse, then chop them into bite-size pieces. Put them in a large bowl, add about two flat tablespoons of sea salt, and toss well. Allow salted pickles to sit overnight at room temperature, or at least for a couple of hours. The salt helps draw moisture out of the cucumbers, which creates a natural brine. Add 1/2 to 1 full teaspoon of minced raw garlic, chopped green and yellow onions, chili flakes, honey, and vinegar. Put on a pair of gloves to protect your skin against the heat of the pepper and give everything a good toss. Pack your cucumber kimchi away into glass bottles, and don't forget to add a bit of brine to each one - just a couple of tablespoons of brine per bottle will do. Leave capped bottles of cucumber kimchi out in room temperature for 24 to 48 hours to give it a chance to ferment. After 24 to 48 hours, transfer the bottles to your refrigerator.
You can serve cucumber kimchi with just about anything.

The Common Courtesy Basics:

Everyone knows the rules but I think sometimes we forget. I urge every mother to copy this and laminate it and give it to each one of your children -- boys and girls alike -- even if they are fully grown!

In case you can't read the copy above of the very, very old Tiffany & Co. newspaper ad:

There Are Times

To hold open a door,

To surrender your seat,

To thank someone, in writing,

To let bygones be gone,

To remember your parents,

To listen with care,

To surprise with a gift,

To mind your table manners,

To honor tradition,

To give voice to your heart.

The Pistilli Roman:

Just discovered "Parliament - A Creative Company." Interesting and thought provoking place... lots of young guys and young ideas.

I love-love-love typeography so I was amused by the following quiz provided by Parliament. Please take a few minutes... it's fun! The pentagram “what type are you” quiz. (where it asks for a password use the word: character). I'm Pistilli Roman... spot on, I'd say!

The Fashion Stylist:
While I was rummaging around in my closet and finding the Cilla Black LP, I also found an old fashion magazine (a really, really old fashion magazine!) from The Sixties. The magazine pages seemed frozen in time, and yet, as modern as a copy of this month’s Vogue. It was full of “Swinging London.” Faces of women with names like Tania Mallet, Jean Shrimpton, Pattie Boyd, and Twiggy looked back at me. The fashions were created by people with names like Mary Quant, Pierre Balmain, Ungaro, and Yves Saint Laurent. And the black and white images were caught by the camera lenses of talented photographers with names like David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Patrick Lichfield, and -- my favorite -- John French.

John French was one of London’s top fashion photographers of the 1950s and 1960s, an era when those who wore and photographed clothing for a living could become famous overnight. The models he worked with included the most famous of the time, many were debutantes who went on to become well-known society figures. French was hugely influential, in particular for his use of natural light and bringing fashion photography into the mainstream mass media. He persuaded the art editors of the national press to use his flawlessly lit images of top models and his work appeared in virtually every newspaper and magazine.

After his death in 1966, the John French archive was presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the worlds greatest museum of decorative arts and design, and his work has been celebrated as part of a major exhibition “The Golden Age of Couture.” John French in one word: timeless.

The New England Mystic:

"Love is anterior to life,
posterior to death,
initial of creation,
and the exponent of breath."

-Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886