Exhibition 'DRAWING WORK' @ CBK Amsterdam Zuid Oost, Anton de Komplein 120, 1102 DR

Thursday 25^th February until 26^th March Donderdag 25 februari te zien t/m 26 maart

An exhibition with the work of 17 international artists about work and work experiences Een tentoonstelling met tekeningen van 17 internationale kunstenaars over werk-en arbeidservaring

Lezing: do 3 maart 17:30 tot 18:30 uur Tekenworkshop: zat 5 maart 14 tot 17 uur

Last night I went to the opening of the above – I had to go. I was commissioned by the curator and one of the contributing artists Siobhan Wall to write a couple of pieces about 'Work'. I did a text performance and the pieces are to be included in the exhibition.

I am writing a review, not because I was in it or because you can see some of my writing but because although, I spent a large part of the evening doing my best to drink as much red wine as possible, it was a super experience because the selections of work were brilliant, sometimes challenging, funny, inspiring and very thought provoking.

My absolute all time favourite(s) were the 3d cut outs by Marleen Kappe. These looked almost impossible to photograph (so I was like, if I can't take photos of this one/these why take any!). They showed industrial and possibly film or theatre work situations. They are so difficult to describe I'm not even going to bother saying any more than that. The link to her website will give you an idea but they honestly do need to be seen 'live' to really 'get them'. http://www.marleenkappe.nl/

I can't think of anyone other than Siobhan who would have included portraits of homeless refugees. No longer in danger of being sent back but denied the opportunity of working and contributing to the society to which they have been forced to flee. Not being able (allowed) to work is also relevant to exploring work.

There were a few of the works that really stood out for me. They made me spend the latter part of the evening travelling to and at the Bimhuis trying to convince everyone I spoke to to go and see.

I had struggled the whole evening between making photos and not doing so. There were a number of professional photographers, including Siobhan and I thought it was much better to try and get some of those to put with this review than twitting about with my mobile and doing everyone an injustice.

I like seeing art. I don't make enough time to do it. One of the reasons is I know so clearly what I like and why. I rarely see stuff that I like, so all most people (especially my partner) ever hear is me ripping someone or others work that I don't like to pieces. Last night was a welcome relief. I was 'mwah' about a fair amount, but the joy of finding so many exhibits that made me feel enthusiastic was wonderful.

One was a collection of doodles – they reminded me of stuff that I, my sister and partner do! Is there a basic doodling universal style? Loved that they were on post it notes and office paper. Some were free hand geometric later reproduced with compass and rulers. Most were pencil or pen and a small group were coloured in.

The cartoons exploring women, career, and parenting were really well drawn, spot on commentaries and hilarious.

A wall of images of black men was poignant, the text; words to the effect that they didn't want their photos taken so their mothers wouldn't know they were homeless but a drawing or painting was OK. Their inclusion was a super subtle, damning of our world.

Some of the art was from photographs – not really keen on that. I'm like, why bother? For a portrait OK but to present a a painting or drawing when it's always soooo obvious you're just reproducing a photo – I don't get it. You may call me a peasant.

Due to the amount of drinking, a lack of pen and paper and my reluctance to take photos with my phone. I didn't get (remember) the names of the other artists whose work I really liked.

Marleen Kappe has the opening Drie Tekeningen exposities the small format section 5^th March at Witteveen Visual art Centre 17.00

 and here's me reading with the photos of the processed asylum seekers as background

photos: Marleen Kappe and Siobhan Wall

Melizioso© dinner

Delicious food is my passion so I felt privileged this evening to be invited to partake of a Melizioso© dinner. The menu; coq au vin, sautéed mushrooms and pan fried crispy creamy polenta.

The coq au vin was truly amazing, multi layered flavours of an authentic chicken braised in wine sauce with veg. The texture of the slow cooked chicken thigh, flavoured and softened to fall off the bone was perfection. 

 

Many would of course not eat it but for the lovers of rich food... (if fat makes you squeamish skip the this line!) The beautifully browned and deliciously (never thought I would say that) soft skin was the perfect accompaniment to the meat. The divinely intricate flavouring of the sauce was rich, thick, with caramelised onion, slightly sweet omami, herby and permeated with a berry twanged wine. The rich brown colours of the sauce and onions were lifted by julienne carrots. Sauteed button mushrooms were cooked and served separately.

At some point in the past I decided that I like to separate starch and protein as a preference rather than a rule. As such I will in a meal with both, eat the protein first and find that an ideal second choice for after dinner digestion. I have also learnt that having seconds (of protein) trashes the work before. When offered seconds tonight I was amazed to find myself choosing to avoid risking a bloat so I could continue to enjoy the lingering play of the after flavours around my taste buds. Which is a prelude to describing the star of the evening.....

When I arrived for dinner Melissa apologised for the polenta, which she was frying as I entered. She had a vision in her mind of the polenta being much firmer but would have needed more hours in the day to have had the time to pre cook it earlier as needed. The fact that it had been very recently cooked gave the polenta the most amazing contrast between the crispy, cheesy pan fried exterior and the tasty, creamy interior. With the sauce and mushrooms it was the perfect foil and utterly delicious on it's own.

Melivision© provides artistic services; interior design, art and daughter company Melizioso© luckily for me, do food. An intimate dinner for two or not intimate with eight, a banquet, a (wedding) party, conference? Whatever the occasion, if you can't or don't want to make it your self you can get delicious, well made, healthy food with options for a huge range of diets. Coeliac, vegan, pescatarian? No problem! Carb free, gluten free, sugar free. No problem! 

 

Not being much into desserts and having foresworn chocolate you'd need to look elsewhere to find out about the apple and other fruit pies, brownies etc. but I will mention the pizza (she now also does a carb free verion!), the foccacia and the risotto.

However it's such a long time since I tasted her pasta I can't remember any more – hint, hint!

See -  https://www.facebook.com/Melivision2014

Cihan - Food centre Hoofdweg 578 a & b 1055AB Amsterdam NL

I've been going to the Cihan for more than 10 years but they just hit the third strike and they're out!

First was a while back, the manager I think, definitely someone who was asked to solve problems, was wearing a pair of the new fashionable low cut jeans, it looked like a family of spiders was crawling over the waistband. the mama was a giant piece of bum fluff and the babies were the hair springing out of him bum crack! I couldn't go back until this week. 

There was a new guy there, never seen him before. Began positive; the first time I ever went in there and didn't have to wait an age to get served at the deli counter. Bad news the guy was a jerk, the smallest container is now more than double the size it previously was and in addition to him totally ignoring the meaning of “just a small amount please”, he also hassled to sell more, I mean really hassled. I got to the till and found I had spent more than 30 euros!

I made a point of getting the receipt and for some reason, for the first time ever, when I got home I weighed everything I had bought. Not one of the weights that was on the receipt was the same. To be on the safe side I used both of our sets of scales to weigh them – the scales agreed with each other, neither agreed with the receipt both of them showed the ingredients as lighter.

To be fair I phoned the guy. He told me to come back the next day with photos but, made no promise to reimburse me, just to 'check it out'. 

Their scales seemed to be out about 15-40 grams on each item. All the ingredients cost the same kilo price (which has go up to 12.50!) I bought five items to be weighed but there were only 3 weights shown, the first one was 840 grams which is a lot, plus two more of over 250 and almost 300. There was no combination of the containers that came to the first sum and none of them singly were as much as the other two.

I will shop elsewhere. If you shop there, try weighing your stuff again at home!

The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams

'… have you ever known anybody to die at the right time?

No, don't happen that way. Some guys fall over before their lives have properly gotten started,

some right in the middle of the best part. Others kinda linger on after everything is really

over.' George R R Martin

My dear, dear C gave me 'The Salmon of Doubt' a book put together of Douglas Adams writing after he died. I love the Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy but I did find it very 'British public school boy; Aren't I clever?'. I liked the two Dirk Gently novels much better and to be honest there are many British writers I prefer. Adams wrote as he was and of course all the other clever British public school boys miss him and think he was a genius – which they all think of each other btw. Do note how many of the foremost members of British public and political life all went to school together and do tell me what you think of our class system as it thrives.

e.g. Lily Allen's dad is Keith Allen, another clever boy who incidentally went to the same school as Adams, her brother is Theon/Rank in HBO's The Game Of Thrones, notably peppered with the British Peerage etc., etc., et al, ad nauseum.

All the above aside, Adams was a sharp, observant, intelligent writer who placed his social criticism carefully and subtly within the context and storyline of his books, never lecturing just showing or putting a small spotlight on certain issues for those who are open to them

His blatant advertising for Apple in the book (who I loathe) turns my stomach. I hope it earned him some freebies. The middle section of the book which is, it seems all about computers and people who have the time and money to indulge themselves in them (though as I skipped lots of it I can say for sure) was tedious – obviously because or I would have read it.

I don't make myself 'read the whole book' any more. I used to. Now I skip if I'm liking the authors style and just don't like a subject matter of a bit of the plot (like mutilations (of women), or murders etc – I always record programs like GOT so that I can skip through the gratuitous violence or sex I those too!)

Reading Salmon did however inspired me to write again and to start amoungst others this blog.

For those of you who haven't read it. I'm really delighted to share some of his thoughts with you...

“I used to hide under the bedclothes … and listen enraptured to … anything that made me laugh. It was ike showers and rainbows in the desert. …..comedy was a medium in which extremely intelligent people could express things that simply couldn't be expressed any other way.

But nowadays everybody is comedian... We laugh at everything. Not intelligently anymore, not with sudden shock, astonishment or revelation, just relentlessly and meaninglessly. No more rain showers in the desert just mud and drizzle everywhere occasionally illuminate by the flash of paparazzi.

To my embarrassment, I remember and also laughed at the joke that started his disillusion with comedy.

...It was hearing a stand up comedian make the following observation: “Those scientists eh? They're so stupid! ..those black box recorders they put on aeroplanes.... it's always the thing that doesn't get smashed. So why don't they make the planes out of the same stuff?

The audience roared with laughter at how stupid scientists were.... but I sat feeling uncomfortable..... Was I just being pedantic...flight recorders are made out of titanium if you made planes from titanium instead of aluminium they'd be far too to heavy to get off the ground.....?...There was no way of deconstructing the joke that didn't rely on the teller and audience complacently conspiring together to jeer at at someone who knew more than they did. It sent a chill down my spine and still does. I felt betrayed by comedy in the same way that gangsta rap makes me feel betrayed by rock music.

*

The only one who couldn't make a joke to save his life was Shakespeare. Maybe it's because our greatest writing genius was incapable of being funny that we have decided that being funny doesn't count.

What Wodehouse writes is pure word music. … He is the greatest musician of the English language.

Beauty doesn't have to be about anything

Healthy Choices: one on one yoga lesson

I cannot recommend the one on one yoga lesson from healthy Choices Sinead Daly highly enough.

http://www.healthychoices.nl/ 
 

€60 per hour and you can go with as many a three (or four I think!)

 The class, was long enough, helpful, incisive, challenging. Sinead is very calm, her voice is soft yet carries perfectly. Her demonstrations are easy to follow. She is supportive, encouraging and very softly pushes a little for that extra bit of effort. The instructions are clear, the reminders to breathe come exactly when needed, also how to focus to create space to be able to relax.

There is no one else so everything goes at ones own pace. It really is about the conversation one has with your own body. The session was like the difference between having a one to one with a friend or finding that you are competing for their attention in a group.

I had done some yoga classes in the past but usually found the atmosphere in most impossible to bear. Being a fuller figure I felt I got dirty looks in a busy class 'taking up room for 2'!

Then I found Therapeutic Stretching with Lilith Turk, it is brilliant.

An accident, a move, a virulent (on going) case of chalk toenails and somehow I haven't been to a class in years. Again it's getting over the barrier of the group. Arriving early enough to get a good spot, being able to get changed and out quickly and unable to avoid the social aspect.

At Sinéad's beautiful 1st floor apartment and studio I had the option of a massage - next time maybe (could also have had psychotherapy or hypnomassage!) But I am so happy that I chose the yoga. I couldn't have made a better decision for my head/mind/spirit or my body.

Otto Lungi - Islington

It's not the kind of place that you could normally drag me into but I was with two mates who didn't actually offer a choice and for them it was the obvious place to go.

It's quite small there is a long table down the centre and lots of tables and chairs, they were all full. We were told we had just 40 minutes until closing time but were welcome to order.

I don't drink coffee for political reasons so I try to avoid anywhere that magnetizes picky coffee addicts and they give me a queasy feeling in my stomach! Unfortunatley my two mates are indeed picky, unashamed coffee addicts, which leads to interesting discussions and for me a need to drink alcohol!

The wine menu is of course excellent and the waiter was happy to discuss the various merits of the wines but I tend to know what I like and go for countries as much as grape sorts.

I have to say although my hackles rise at the price of food (and pretty much everything else) in London the standard of the food and service make this a very reasonable place to go. Apparently it's a favourite of theatre buffs heading for the Almeida, which is just across the road.

The Salads were exquisite, perfectly cooked aubergine with yoghurt dressing, broccoli with chillies and garlic, and a mixed bean green salad which all very delicious with the last being superlative, we had ordered a large salad and our friends a small one but we ended up with the small salad because they brought the large with a basmati salad and coleslaw, which I refused to eat as the rice was a little under cooked (In my opinion grains are supposed to be firm yet soft not nutty - only nuts as supposed to be nutty) and the coleslaw had more fruit than cabbage in it (YUK!)

The potions are reasonable to fairly generous and as I said the service from our Italian waiter and the maitre d' was excellent; friendly, chatty, helpful.

As I said at the beginning there are a lot of tables/people in quite a small space but it it light and has a feeling of space but any less of either and the priced would undoubtedly be higher.

Three coffees, one glass of wine, one small and one large salad came to just over forty quid.

Byron proper hamburgers Shoreditch

It said proper hamburgers, I passed it on my way to buy a ukulele case. On the way back I decided I needed a treat so I went in.

It wasn't busy, there are a lot of tables in there. The menu was a stunner, including an explanation of why your beer is served in cans! What can I say? They do indeed make well proper hamburgers.

The service was excellent, unobtrusive but I was checked twice during the meal to make sure I was happy. In a way I wish I hadn't been so I know how they deal with issues but everything was fabulous, though I probably shouldn't have had the second beer.

I ordered 'Le Smokey' with chipotle mayo instead of chilli bbq sauce - no problem and no extra charge - with extra jalapenos and portobello mushroo, no bun  which meant that you automatically get a side salad which was great, baby spinach, beet greens and rucola, toms, cuke, a piquant yet smooth, herby dressing and not too much of it. (No bun is called a skinny burger, I couldn't bring myself to actually call it that and I'm sure the waitress had a twinkle in her eye when she said it!) The burger was a perfect medium, the portobello juicy, a serious portion of jalapenos and the chipotle mayo really tasted of chipotle. I had courgette chips and was seriously impressed by houw good they were, I make them at home but these wiped the floor with mine. two cans of Brooklyn lager 35,5 mls and 5,2% served in an iced glass and a second glass was no problem, when I asked for it (though I wasn't offered it).

It's the trendy end of London so it came to just under 30 quid with a tip which means that it's not like an American burger at all in the sense that they are not only great but usually cheap too!

http://www.byronhamburgers.com/menu