lunch

butternut squash soup, portabella mushrooms
apple pie, broiled sharp cheddar cheese

philly flower show set-up

i had already walked past the guards at the bottom of the truck ramp and eased through the bustle on the loading dock behind the convention center by the time i realized the camera was without its battery (around nine pm). picked up my pass and drove back to wilmington, round and round.

ting tings : kruger : greenspan

twelve

lyricology: WORD

Lupe Fiasco's songwriting is absurd. I purchased The Cool last year; lyrics are a tapestry rich with conceptual continuity spanning from his previous album, Food and Liquor. I'm listening to that disc now, continually impressed by the light Lupe sheds - genuine, sharp, playful, empathetic, brilliant.

This lyric from a track on Food and Liquor caught me off-guard:

A two family habitat for humanity
With a view within the insanity.
Live? My vida loca was built
like Bob Vila villa gone.

Yo, did my man just drop a Bob Vila in there? That's what's up.

individual-ism

"The illness that the western world faces isn't liberalism, or capitalism for that matter; it's the distortion of these 'isms' based on the delusional hubris that man has in regard to himself. When people value themselves over their community, society begins to deteriorate."

~ Cliff E.

cognitive dissonance - noun

Psychological conflict resulting from simultaneously held incongruous beliefs and attitudes (as a fondness for smoking and a belief that it is harmful).

enchiladas

sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chili powder (ancho/western)
1/2 tsp ground cumen
finely chopped onion & garlic (taste)
1 tbsp flour
8-12oz tomato sauce (one can)
1 cup water
1/2 tbsp salt

Medium/low heat oil in fry pan, add chili powder & cumen - simmer for a couple minutes to infuse the oil. Add onion first, then garlic (about 1/2 onion, 3+ cloves garlic). Add salt, cook until garlic is brown, add flour. Stir in tomato sauce, add water - simmer for 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

filling

Note: this is a flexible dish. I've used boiled chicken, smoked turkey, grilled steak, refried beans, etc. as the base for the filling. If it's going to be all veggie you may need to include some long grain rice for structure. I like to sauté diced pepper (poblano is nice) and extra onion/garlic to go into the filling mix.

Combine your base ingredient (if meat, shred finely) with veggies, 1/2 cup shredded cheese and 1/3 stick cream cheese, broken into bits. I sometimes put some sour cream in, it's also good as a topping. The goal is a thick, formable paste that will be easy to roll in tortillas.

Preheat oven to 325-50°. Before you roll the enchiladas it's important to soften the corn tortillas. Dip each into sauce briefly and stack 'em up. By the time you're finished dipping the last shell the others should be ready to roll. Divide your filling amongst 6-10 shells (customize based on how they fit in the pan).

Place in an oven pan, pour sauce on. You shouldn't end a sentence in a preposition at. If you only use half the sauce you'll have crispier tortillas and leftover sauce to freeze for next time. Top with shredded cheese, a few dollops of sour cream, black olives, a can of green chiles, whatever. Bake for at least 20 minutes, probably better to go for 30. All the ingredients are cooked already, so your main concerns are thorough warmth, crispy tortillas, and happy flavors.

I like to serve with finely shredded lettuce with a squeeze of lime and a dash of kosher salt. Leftovers are good reheated.

firenze : aosta : milano

floo floo bird

from Aaron Britt's contribution to the dwell blog:

President Obama's inaugural address sent me running for William Safire's splendid compendium of great speeches (he used to write speeches for President Nixon), Lend Me Your Ears. I set out to consult Jefferson's first inaugural address - notable for those wonderful lines: "Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle," but found myself wandering around inside the book until I hit upon a doozie from Frank Lloyd Wright.

Given to the Association of Federal Architects in Washington DC in 1938, Wright's speech castigates the direction of American architecture by comparing it to a floo floo bird, "that peculiar and especial bird who always flew backward. To keep the wind out of its eyes? No. Just because it didn't give a darn where it was going, but just had to see where it had been."

...

Obama may be one hell of an orator, but Wright had him beat in at least one category: orneriness. He closes the speech with two thunderous lines that every libertarian should have stuck to his fridge: "I know of nothing more silly than to expect 'government' to solve our advanced problems for us. If we have no ideas, how can government have any?"

In his 1957 interview with Mike Wallace, an 89-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright betrays his elitist attitudes toward architecture and society (and demonstrates a bit of orneriness).