The Art Chute

Photography: Fragmented Reflections

2010-08-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

This is the second image in a series that I began in September of 2009. The initial image of the series was a self portrait that I posted on The Art Chute back in September of 2009. You can find that image here. You'll can also find the original test image for this series on The Art Chute as well.

The series is titled "Fragmented Reflections" and each photograph is meant to relay things about the subject in an unusual and interesting way. I also give participants some input on some aspects of the photograph, though the primary concept is my own. When the series is complete the related images will be exhibited life size, side by side. The tests I've done to that effect are pretty impressive and I'm looking forward to seeing them all up in a good gallery.

I'd like for the series to progress a little quicker, but being in puritanical and mostly utilitarian Southern New England, I don't have lot's of people lining up to pose nude. Such is life in the second dark ages!

Thanks for checking it out.

Painting: Hei Tiki Complete

2010-07-18T14:40:00.003-04:00

Anyone who follows this blog will remember previous entries regarding the preliminary work regarding this painting. Most of my abstract work tends to be the product of hundreds of little exploratory drawings and work ups. The Hei Tiki took about two hundred or so. Some of which I posted in previous entries related to this painting. If you would like to read those earlier entries, click on the links below:

Maori Hei Tiki Post No. 1

Maori Hei Tiki Post No. 2

My official entry for the Hei Tiki from my online sales page:

This is an abstract I created of the Hei Tiki of the Maori of New Zealand (Aotearoa).

From Wikipedia: "One theory of the origin of the hei-tiki suggests a connection with Tiki, the first man in Māori legend. According to Horatio Gordon Robley, there are two main ideas behind the symbolism of hei-tiki: they are either memorials to ancestors, or represent the goddess of childbirth, Hineteiwaiwa. The rationale behind the first idea is that they were often buried when their kaitiaki (guardian) died and would be later retrieved and placed somewhere special to be brought out in times of tangihanga (mourning and associated activities)."

It is mixed media on canvas and consists of acrylic paint, gold leaf paint, silver leaf paint, graphite and ink. It was created by using multiple layers of all the materials and both opaque and gouache layers of the acrylics. The painting is off to its home in Auckland, New Zealand, where it belongs. I created it as a gift to honor my many friends there. Kia ora! -Henry

In summation: I'm very pleased with it and I'm about to begin another version of the Hei Tiki in the next few weeks. With that painting, I plan to post the actual painting process.

If you are interested in seeing a larger version of Henry Krauzyk's Maori Hei Tiki painting online, or you'd like to purchase a print, please visit the online gallery by clicking here!

Mixed Media: Voices (1995)

2010-06-05T19:45:00.003-04:00

Not many people have seen this piece of work. It's not because I'm embarrassed of it and hide it. It's just that it has only been exhibited in two shows and it's not the kind of work you hang in a casually decorated home like mine. It's never been on any of my websites or any of the art sites I exhibit my work on because until very recently, I lacked the proper photography gear to photograph it successfully. You see, the damn thing reflects light and glares like a somovabitch! Finally, though, I was able to get a decent shot.

If I had to guess its original title, I think it was "Influence". Though I can't be sure, and I'm just too lazy to go through old zip disks (remember those?) to find out. For the sake of argument, the piece is about influence and I tend to be pretty practical in naming my work.

It is constructed out of wood planks, tin cans, staples, cardboard, paper, screws, nail, cloth, string, animal sinew, wire, plastic and paint. It's a very heavy piece and is 24" high x 24" wide x 2.5" inches deep.

This piece came about from some conversations I had with a friend. During those conversations my friend disclosed some unpleasant memories regarding abuse she experienced when she was growing up. Thinking a little too much about things as I am want to do, I couldn't help feeling melancholy about infants and children and how they come into the world so open, dependent and helpless and many just never get a chance at normalcy at the least, and others are just subject to unthinkable horrors at the worse. So I started sketching the ideas for this piece. Unfortunately, (for me, you will feel indifferent) this work was about a lot of compromise because I couldn't create it exactly as I wanted. Some of the items I required for the concept just were not available or they were uneconomical. Though, that is something I can tackle in the future at my own fortune and whim. The original concepts for this piece would translate into several others. If you know someone or some organization with a few thousand dollars burning a hole in their pocket give me a ring. I pay commission!

In the execution of the piece I also decided to stear clear of my friend's personal details and instead make the piece and message general and universal so perhaps more people would understand it.

As I mentioned earlier, the work has only been exhibited twice. On one of those occasions the director of the show told me it was the only piece that he felt captured the spirit of the exhibit's theme. That was hefty praise for me and very satisfying. When I display my paintings and non-photographic work publicly, I like to hang back anonymously and listen to what people have to say about it. Art is subjective and it is always interesting to hear what people like and don't like about my work. Believe it or not it's actually cool to hear someone INTELLIGENTLY describe what they don't like about your work (thanks RISD). It gives you a unique perspective on you and your work. It can also be funny when you get the occasional buffoon that tries to impress their friends with inaccurate artsy shitspeak.

Regarding this piece in particular, there are also a lot of stupid fucking people out there who unthinkingly instantly react to the iconography and they never get past their ignorant revulsion to see what's going on here. So, when looking at this work, feel free to dislike it, but please don't be fucking stupid.

I think I'll write that on the gallery card next time I exhibit this. I think I'll also find out what it is called.

Writing: The Gun

2010-03-24T15:22:00.005-04:00

(Author's note: So, every once in awhile bits and pieces of this story kind of come popping into my mind. So, I started writing them down. Then in my head it plays like a movie so I started selecting actors for the parts. I like Alan Cumming as Palmer Gray)

It lay in the the drawer. The light reflecting off it in long, soft and satiny highlights that appeared to draw it into existence from the darkness of its surroundings. Its tobacco-colored wooden grip glowed warmly in contrast to the steely, blue-blackness of its metal parts.

The strange thing about a found gun, the weird, most-often-overlooked thing, is its intoxicating invitation to be held. That's why so many accidents happen. So many tragedies. So much pain, loss and sorrow. Because a found gun begs to be picked up, pleads to be held and marveled at, to be fidgeted with. Against all danger, in spite of all their good judgement, many otherwise clear thinking people whom have no business picking up a gun, succumb.

Palmer lifted the pistol.

A room over, in her brightly lit kitchen, Chloe quietly prepared tea for her accidental guest. She hummed quietly while she arranged the cups and saucers on the tray. She added a small bowl of sugar and a tiny pitcher of cream. She rearranged things slightly, to perfection, her perfection. "Yes, there it is" she whispered to herself.

Outside she smiled lightly, inside however her heart smiled broadly, her eyes betrayed that. She looked out her window into the black, rainy night. She watched the lights of a car making its way up the street play against her water streaked window. The rivulets of water playing a soft jazz over the reality outside. Chloe liked such things.

She turned to her tea pot marking its progress and then busied herself tidying things while she waited for the water to come to a boil. While Chloe was happy for her company, she still preferred to avoid the uncomfortable pauses that light conversation could bring.

Palmer marveled at the pistol's weight and heft. He hadn't expected it to be so heavy and so cool to the touch. He noted the weird comfort of the grip, how the checkered surface bit a little into his hand. He looked down at this machine of destruction in his hand. It seemed a natural extension of his own body. He raised it at arm's length and the sights fell quickly and naturally into his view, that made Palmer uncomfortable yet did little to abate his fascination.

He studied the pistol closely, noting the small levers and buttons. He studied the small scratches in its finish, its grooves, notches, knurls and the little white dots on the sites. All the while images of every movie, book and television show involving gun play whispered in his mind. Westerns, spy dramas and movies involving organized crime. His eyes ran all over the gun. He noticed the silver trigger and strangely, he even lifted the pistol to his nose and smelled it. There were hints of things he was familiar with like oil and things he was not familiar with like tetrazine.

He was lost in the gun, blindly fascinated.

In the blurry darkness of the room he picked out a photograph on the wall and raised it. He lined up and then focused the gun's sights on it. It seemed to come with ease. His target cleared in his vision. Then the voice in his head whispered something, Palmer felt his brow tighten, his eyes squint in anger. Only half-thinking, he felt himself tightening on the trigger which slowly drew the hammer back...

"It's an automatic." Chloe whispered, her voice shattered him from his bewitched state.

Palmer's head snapped to the right to see her silhouette in the doorway holding the tea service.

"It's an American Colt .45." she added, slowly walking into the dark room until the table lamp dimly lit her. She placed the tray down.

"Oh, ah, sorry, is it?" Palmer heard himself blurt out as he clumsily placed the gun back in the drawer. His movements made him seem a long, skinny balloon deflating ever-so-quickly, a dynamic deconstruct, a weird ballet of retreating anger, resolute propriety and abject guilt at having been caught snooping, or worse.

"It's okay Mr. Gray, I've unloaded it."

"Yes, well, there it is." Palmer said looking into the drawer, his eyes uneasily lingering on it a little too long.

His bewilderment subsiding, a series of questions began flooding in... (copyright ©Henry Krauzyk 2009)

Design: Recreating the KBHR neon sign from Northern Exposure

2009-12-30T13:22:00.010-05:00

I've always been a fan of the 1990's television series "Northern Exposure." In case you are wondering why, allow me to explain: It is the best television show that was ever created.

Okay, now that raw logic is out of the way, I'd also like to explain that I started designing t-shirts based on the show for my own use. Then realizing other people may like them as well, I started selling them online. Apparently, a good number of intelligent people out there feel the same way I do about Northern Exposure, because my shirts are worn by people all over the world. More a testament to the program than my designs, but still - confirmation nonetheless.

One of the aspects that I enjoyed about Northern Exposure was the local radio station called "K-BEAR" (call letters KBHR). It hosted a show called "Chris in the Morning" in which the DJ, Chris Stevens would play great music interspersed with poetry, philosophical meanderings and deep perspectives. Something I have regrettably NEVER heard on a real radio station. More reason to feel truly alone in the universe I guess.

KBHR is big with Northern Exposure people and I have already created one INTERNATIONALLY POPULAR, INFLUENTIAL and copied (you f@ckers!) design. With this original design, I opted to go low-tech and low design. Something that would have actually been created by the small-town fictional radio station for its fans. See below:

Lately, I have been in a Northern Exposure - KBHR kind of mood so I decided yesterday to create a new design for a variety of clothing and other products. One of the things I always liked about KBHR on TV was the late night scenes with the actors illuminated by the neon KBHR sign. So, I wanted a design like that. First I needed to find some resource info, and to the web I went. Luckily, other hugely intelligent people feel similarly about Northern Exposure and KBHR so I was able to find some decent source images from: KBHR Cicely Alaska: Philosophy, Art & Literature. See below:

That in hand, last night I began to recreate the original sign in PhotoShop:

I used the "warp function" to create a scaled and linear version of the sign from the source images so that I could path them to create some high resolution outlines. Once I had the outlines I was able to use color fills and the outer and inner glow functions to create the look of a neon sign. To unify the image as a shirt design, I added the fictional town's name in blue and bordered the whole thing with a red neon frame. A few more details that mimic an actual neon sign and then I fixed the colors and sharpness so they'd translate well to printing on fabric, ceramics, plastics and a variety of other mediums (If you want the step by steps, just write me and I'll give a descriptive outline of the process and steps).

That done I had my new design and it'll be up and available for sale on hundreds of products from Aboriginalz a day or so after this posting, and the Northern Exposure fandom will have one more design to revel in:

I also write a blog loosely based on the KBHR programming model. If you're interested you can find it here.

Photography: Christmas Set-up and Shoot

2009-12-22T15:05:00.009-05:00

This year I wanted to offer prospective portraiture clients a different angle on traditional children's Christmas portraits. So instead of the static poses in front of some hokey Christmas backdrop or the involuntary-looking child on some Santa's lap, I wanted to create a seasonally-specific immersive environment that the kids would have fun in. Because happy and focused kids make for superior photos. That got the gears in my mind spinning.

The answer came at a large discount store chain where I saw over-sized Christmas ornaments on sale for a few dollars each. I grabbed a number of those and then went to a local craft shop to buy some Christmas ribbon that would suit them. That done I suspended them from the ceiling at a variety of complimentary heights (lay-person-speak for "artfully"). The heights would allow for two kinds of shooting. One style with the children just beneath the hanging ornaments, the second set of photographs with the children elevated so that they are amongst the ornaments.

I used three lights for the shoot, one 7' x 4' strobe soft box to 10 o'clock camera right, another 7' x 4' strobe soft box to 2 o'clock camera left (camera being at 12 o'clock). The third light was a snooted strobe used as a hair and detail light that was set up 35° over and behind the subjects at 7 o'clock camera right (subject being the center of the clock). The background was a mottled gray muslin back drop. I also set up large black fabric flags to absorb and limit reflections from the ornaments and other places.

Then, I just let the kids go and create the shots I needed. Camera-wise, I kept the aperture wide and the shutter speed up so I could move around with the camera to get the desired angles I needed to get good shots. I was very happy with many of the photographs.

Processing was straightforward with minimal Lightroom or PhotoShop manipulation (blemish and dust removal). I was also happy with the as-shot color and white balance so post-process was really limited to cropping.

I offered this kind of shoot for $99 for a one hour session and an 8" x 10" included.

Above: The first shooting perspective put the children just below the ornaments for one type of photograph.

Above: The second shooting perspective placed the children amongst the ornaments for the second type of photograph that this set up allows.

If you live along the South Coast of Massachusetts and are looking for a creative studio, please consider Taylor Photographic Studios of Fall River, Massachusetts.

Visit my art photography website for a variety of fine art photography prints including large Nantucket and Azores galleries.

Photography: New Photography Blog and New Online Store!

2009-12-17T11:19:00.005-05:00

I recently began a new photography blog related to my fine art photography website. Each entry offers some background and insight into each photograph from my various series and galleries. I'll also be using it to debut new art photography work. I hope you check it out and enjoy it.

I've also added an online photography print store to the Henry Krauzyk - Photography website. I'm adding new prints to it daily and it already contains a great deal of my most popular photographic work. Photographs from my Coastal New England Series - Nantucket and the Sao Miguel Azores Series are selling well there. If you're looking for some new art, or know someone who might be interested please send them my way!

Earlier this month I launched Taylor Photographic Studios, a portrait, family and commercial photography studio serving the Greater Fall River, Massachsuetts/South Coast region. I'll be posting some of my work from Taylor Photographic Studios here on Art Chute and some of my other creative blogs. If you're looking for high-quality and creative photographs of yourself, family or products, check us out.

As always, "Behind the Glass" my online photoblog is still a clearing house for some of my best work. The portfolio area is a great way to see a good selection of my work as a whole. From there you can click on individual photographs to enlarge them.

In the mean time I'll be cross linking a lot of work to the online sales outlets and adding Facebook and Twitter links for anyone that is interested in following my work on those services. Just look for the little icons and click on them to friend or fan me/us!

Finally, I'd like to thank you for your support, ideas and encouragement over the last year or so. It's good to know that people appreciate and believe in what I am doing.

Happy Holidays! - Henry Krauzyk

Photography: Purchase Art Photography Online

2009-12-03T16:00:00.004-05:00

I'm pleased to announce that you can now purchase high-quality reprints of my art photography online. I have partnered with Fine Art America to not only have my work reproduced professionally as fine art prints, but they also offer a variety of options for those prints including mounting, matting, framing and printing on canvas.

I'm adding more photographs to the online store daily and presently much of the work from www.krauzyk.com is already online. There are many images from both the Coastal New England Series - Nantucket, Sao Miguel - Azores Series and others online and ready to purchase in a variety of sizes! I'll also be adding new, never-before-seen work in the coming days so please check back often.

We're also moving right along with Taylor Photographic Studios which is our new portraiture, family and commercial photography business. Please be sure to take a look at our new website and please think of us when you are considering professional photography for your family or business!

Thank you for your support!

Photography: We've officially opened our studio!

2009-11-25T09:09:00.006-05:00

It's official, we've opened our own portraiture and commercial photography studio. We're calling it Taylor Photographic Studios and we're looking forward to creating some really artistic and original work for our clients.

Here's a snippet from our web site:

Our yesterdays, our todays and our tomorrows - photographs are our personal art treasures. Whether they are of our children, loved ones, celebrations or special events, photographs are beautiful records of priceless moments in ours and our family’s lives. They are our windows through time, our visual connections to our past.

So when it comes to capturing your precious moments, you need a photography studio that creates with the eye of an artist. You need a photography studio you can count on to be there. One that will produce your personal art treasures using the highest quality methods and materials. You need a photography studio that guarantees that your treasures will stand the test of time.

You need Taylor Photographic Studio.

We offer them all in a variety of historic and contemporary styles from the classic age of photography all the way to the latest trends coming out of the photo studios of Hollywood and New York.

If your needs are important enough to consider hiring a professional photographer, you should consider hiring the best. Contact Taylor Photographic Studios of Fall River, Massachusetts.

View a gallery featuring selections of Taylor Photographic Studios' portraiture, event and family photography.

View a gallery featuring selections of Taylor Photographic Studios' commercial and advertising photography.

Commercial Design: NPP Logo T-shirt Design

2009-11-24T21:16:00.006-05:00

This is a design I've had in my head for a little while. The inspiration for it comes from my daughters who tend to be kind of tomboyish yet still girly and sweet. Both are under 5 years old but good swimmers and hikers. At the end of this winter they'll both be snowboarding; at the end of this coming summer at least one should be surfing. I wanted them to have a logo for some personal t-shirts and I'll eventually offer others for sale at my t-shirt store at AbOriginalz.com

I'm not the first person to put ponytails on a skull. I may however be the first person to use hearts for eyes in a skull, but statistically? I don't know. I think I can say with some certainty that I am probably the first person to put ponytails and heart eyes on a skull. As a bonus the little bows are the first I've seen. The colors of course lean toward gender specificity and the result is a soft and fun image of something that usually tends to be dark and foreboding.

I did some "borrowing" on the overall design because my girls are fans of Pucca, a cartoon of a little Korean girl who kicks ass, and I wanted the logo to be stylistically similar. As I develop the design a little more I'll move it towards a completely original.

Right now, this is where I am at. I'll post the final design when I arrive at it in the near future. I'll post a link for the t-shirt store if you'd like your own! For now it is a Henry Krauzyk ©2009 all rights reserved.

Commercial Design: BLUE!

2009-10-21T16:06:00.005-04:00

Above you'll see a comp for two large graphics (44" x 76") that I designed for an automotive trade show in Las Vegas. What's the big whoop? Allow me to explain!

I do a lot of industrial style advertising and design. It's an industry full to the brim with technicians, engineers and sales people (who used to be technicians and engineers!). Do you know what technicians, engineers and sales people (who used to be technicians and engineers) love more than their calculators? Blue! That's right, they just love blue. BLUE, BLUE, BLUE, BLUE! It's all about blue!

It's not that they don't like other colors, it's just that other colors are scary. Other colors represent choices and risk. Blue is comforting! Blue is their friend! Blue is the color of the lines on graph paper. Blue is the color of the ink in their pens. Blue is the color of their cars! Blue is the color of their ties, their Dickies, their shirts and baseball hats. Blue is the color of the wonderful, wonderful sky. Blue is the color of the deep sea!

Blue is the color they want for their logos. Blue is the color of the colored parts of their tools. Blue is the color of their catalog covers and the color of their trade booths. Blue is also the predominant hue given off by steel tools. I'm not talking just about the people that I did this for either. I'm talking about an entire international industry!

Red is too risky. Yellow is too girly. Black is okay. White just yearns to be filled. With what? Why blue of course!

Okay, I'm poking fun here and ranting a bit, but it is really true about blue.

So what's a designer to do? Whatever he/she can to make blue on blue on blue work in a blue environment and still get some message across through all the blue. That's what these graphics represent.

It's not my best work by a long shot (usually four or more distinct colors), but it's doing what it can. It's kind of like keeping a candle lit in a hurricane.

The big sin? You see that white car faded into the background? Well, that's an actual car a friend of mine owns. I shot it for a number of uses like this. It is a beautiful, meticulously cared for and perfect glowing red Dodge Viper.

Not in this environment though. Some engineer, technician or sales person (that used to be a technician or engineer) sees that big sexy red car at a trade show and they just might pee their blue pants pants. Which of course would darken to a deeper shade of BLUE!

I did try red once. Never heard the end of that. BLUE IT IS!

: )

Art Project: Mirrors - How we reflect each other

2009-10-20T14:29:00.006-04:00

"Mirrors" is an ongoing art/photography project that I've been working on and off for some time. It's a peek at people through their close associations. It's about the reflections we cast on each other via our relationships both familial and social. My longtime friend and editor Margaret McLeod did a better job explaining it in her foreword for the book. I've added it, as well as a link to the PDF file of the project in its current form below. WARNING!: I'll be adding new friends and family to the book in the coming weeks, YOU may be next.

Foreword

“I like the way these people emerge from the darkness. I think it is important because the light ends up where it belongs and in a way these people emerge from a gloom” - Henry J. Krauzyk, 2007.

When I first heard about “Mirrors”, I loved the idea, the originality and intimacy of it, the interconnection of friends and family, the 6 degrees of separation-ness of it all. This might seem to be a very personal book, perhaps with a limited audience and of most interest to the author’s family and friends but it’s much more than that. It’s about trust, love, respect and exposure. The subjects allow themselves to be captured in a way that exposes more than they realize.

Personally I hate having my photograph taken and I don’t think I’m alone in that. Yeah I don’t mind the ‘holiday snap’ – ‘party fun’ kind of photograph, but to actually seriously present myself to the world, well, I’d prefer not to. That Henry has persuaded his family and friends to be captured and presented as he wants speaks volumes. There’s a powerful thing happening between the photographer and the subject. There’s a lot of trust involved.

The people within are exposing themselves to the photographer’s lens and artistic eye, but they also reveal more with their own words. They tell you about their biggest fears, their biggest regrets, their loves and hates. They are baring their souls, letting you into their lives. There’s a lot of courage in this book.

Months ago, when Henry was explaining the idea of Mirrors, a particular phrase he used struck me; “It’s my gift to them”. It’s also a gift to the future. The gift of a glimpse into normal people’s lives, their hopes and dreams, and a moment of time, captured, immortalized. It’s a future treasure to the unborn children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the people contained within its pages. It acknowledges that we are who we are because of the many people, past and present, who touch our lives.

Whether you’re reading this book in my present or at some future time, don’t think of it as some kind of coffee table book, put out for show, for a quick flick through. These people have allowed you to see them; they have exposed themselves to you in many ways. You may find yourself reading about a complete stranger, maybe a relative you know little about, perhaps your grandmother as a young girl, or your long since passed great grandparents. Not only reading about them but also reading their own words and seeing them as they were at that particular moment.

It’s been my privilege to write the foreword for “Mirrors”. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. Whoever you are. - Margaret McLeod

Cooking: Jonnycakes (Rhode Island cornmeal pancakes)

2009-10-16T09:52:00.002-04:00

Here in Southeastern New England you just can't get more down-home-swamp-yankee-soul-food than jonnycakes. Their history is long and finds its root in the pre-European-invasion food traditions of the local Wampanoag and Narragansett Indian tribes. Corn cakes were a tribal staple and the Native Americans generously shared their corn, its farming methods and its preparation with early settlers. In the case of Plimouth Plantation, jonnycakes (or something very similar) were in-part, the difference between the life and death of the colony. A error on the tribes' part which the intolerant Pilgrims soon made them regret. The negative aspects of American history aside, the early settlers took a serious liking to jonnycakes and they became synonymous with Southeastern New England farm life and are still available today. Which is something, because the ingredients while simple, take a little effort to produce.

Genuine jonnycakes are made from stone ground white cap flint corn. It's the same variety of corn that was favored by the local Wampanoag and Narragansett Indian tribes before the arrival of the Europeans. Still grown by local farmers, white cap flint corn (or Narragansett Indian Flint Corn) must be grown in areas isolated from other corn crops to avoid hybridization. It is also a low yield crop with stalks producing one to two ears of corn with each ear having only eight rows of kernels. The corn once harvested takes approximately eight months to dry enough to get to the point where it can be milled. Which takes us to the next step.

Genuine jonnycake meal has to be stone ground between granite millstones. This slow and traditional method not only produces a superior meal, but the one-pass method used in grinding the flint corn also allows a higher nutritional value in the resulting meal. Several historic mills currently produce the stone ground flour required to make jonnycakes. Among them are: Gray's Grist Mill in Adamsville, Rhode Island which is the oldest dating back prior to 1700, Carpenter's Grist Mill in Perryville, RI, dating to 1703 and Kenyon's Grist Mill in Usquepaugh, RI, dating to 1886. Their products are available in a few local markets. Both Gray's Grist Mill and Kenyon's Grist Mill offer their products online. Each mill claims their product to be the genuine item and all other products are inferior, but a lot of things with jonnycakes are like that.

Like all things much loved by passionate adherents, there is much dispute over jonnycakes. Points of view tend to form regarding where you live, what mill you get your flour from and who your ancestors are. There are several variants of the jonnycake that are defined by where one lives on Narragansett Bay. Mills aside, each variation has its faithful proponents whom will profess their favorite's advantages above all others. At the time of this writing I am aware of three general regional variations (also: subtle variations of each recipe can be found within its region):

East Narragansett Bay Jonnycakes which are small and thin with lacy and crispy edges and use only milk.

Mid-Narragansett Bay Jonnycakes which are medium-sized and on the thick side. These seem to be the newest variant.

West Narragansett Bay Jonnycakes which are large, thick and soft and made with the addition of boiling water.

Even the name "jonnycake" has been disputed in the past. One story I came across tells of a couple of 19th century politicians coming to blows in the Rhode Island State House over the need, or not, of the "h" in the name. Apparently, the fellow who wanted the "h" kept out won, because most places refer to them as "jonnycakes". Even the origin of the name comes into scholarly debate. Some scholars believe the word jonnycake is derived from "joniken" the Algonquin Indian word for corn cakes, while others point to jonnycake being derived from "journey cake" because the corn cakes travelled well. Here you choose the story that most fits in with your personal feelings. I know where mine lie.

While a fan of ALL jonnycakes (and nokake and cornbread), I grew up eating the East Narragansett Bay variety on my grandparent's farm in Tiverton, Rhode Island. My grandmother was a wizard at the stove and indulged me whenever she got a chance to. At the ignorant age of seven I once challenged her that I could eat all the jonnycakes she could make. Testing her love like that was pure folly and in under an hour I was stuffed to the gills with the crispy corn goodness produced in her cast iron skillet. My jonnycake pedigree is deep and can be traced back through Yankee farmers all the way to Native American ancestors. That makes me pretty damn romantic about jonnycakes and puts them high on my list of personal supreme comfort foods.

Jonnycake purists will tell you these have to be cooked on a well-greased cast iron pan or griddle. I can't say that's true because I mostly cook in cast iron anyway. Purists will also tell you that you serve them with sweet butter only. Well, when I ate them at my grandparents that's how I had them and they were GOOD! These days though, with concerns about cholesterol, I don't think it's a sin to use maple syrup or some other heart-friendly topping. You can use jonnycakes anywhere a pancake, biscuit, dumplings, potatoes or corn would be served. Thinking about it now, the next time I make some chili, I'm going to cook up a bunch of jonnycakes. I can't lose.

Behold the famed jonnycake,
easy to cook and quick to make.
Fare of Indian brave and white man
Crisp, golden joy in a cast iron pan.

I've presented three recipes below of the Narragansett Bay variations and one personal recipe. Try what you like and experiment a little. In the words of Richard Donnelly, Rhode Island's own "Jonnycake Man": There is no wrong way to make a jonnycake! I hope you try, and enjoy this simple and historic Southern New England pleasure.

East Narraganset Bay Style Jonnycakes (Courtesy: Gray's Grist Mill)

1 cup stoneground white cornmeal 
1/2 tsp salt 
2 tsp sugar (optional)
1-7/8 cups of milk

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Let stand a few minutes as mixture will thicken, (Add extra milk if necessary to keep the mixture thin).
Spoon onto on a well-greased, hot griddle or cast iron pan.
Cook, flipping after the edges turn brown so both sides brown evenly.

Mid-Narragansett Bay Style Jonnycakes (Courtesy: Richard Donnelly, Edible Rhody Magazine)

1 cup stoneground white cornmeal 1/8 cup dry milk 1 tsp of sugar 1/8 tsp salt Pinch of either allspice, or nutmeg or ginger (optional) 1-1/2 to 2 cups boiling water

Place dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add the boiling water slowly and use the back of a spoon to smooth it and keep it from lumping on the spoon.
Drop spoonfuls onto a well-greased, hot griddle or cast iron pan and flip when the edges are brown.

West Narragansett Bay Style Jonnycakes (Courtesy: Kenyon's Grist Mill)

1 cup stoneground white cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Sugar
1-1/4 cups of boiling water

Place all ingredients in bowl and gradually add boiling water.
Let stand a few minutes, as mixture will thicken.
Thin down with boiling water to a consistency that will drop off the end of a spoon.
Drop on a well greased, medium hot griddle by the spoonful, and cook for about 6 minutes each side, until brown.

Henry's East Narragansett Bay Style Jonnycakes

1 cup stoneground white cornmeal 
1/2 tsp salt 
2 tsp sugar
1-1/8 cups of milk

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Let stand a few minutes as mixture will thicken, (Add extra milk if necessary to keep the mixture thin).
Spoon onto on a well-greased, hot griddle or cast iron pan.
Cook, flipping after the edges turn brown so both sides brown evenly.

Cooking: Sweet Corn Cakes/Fritters

2009-10-10T08:03:00.002-04:00

Sweet Corn cakes (or "fritters" as they are more commonly known outside of New England) taught me a valuable lesson about people and cooking. You can go out of your way and create an entire dinner, all the food can be great but one small thing can become a standout. Such was the dinner on the front porch of my old apartment one summer evening. I prepared all manner of Mexican specialties for my guests including smoky refried black beans, chicken fajitas, homemade salsa, etc. It was a basket of warm corn cakes drizzled with honey, prepared as an afterthought that was the hit of the party though.

Cakes/fritters are popular all over the United States, from the New England clam cake to the hush puppies of our Southern states. They are served as additions to other meals or popular stand alone snacks. They're not difficult to make and prepared mixes abound, but what's Zen about dumping a box of ingredients bolstered with chemical preservatives, compared to working with a nice recipe of wholesome ingredients? NOTHING!

I'll offer you a little advice in the way of quantity. Correctly made these things disappear faster than your cheap friends when it's round buying time at the bar, so make more than you think you'll need. I serve them drizzled with mesquite honey, but any flavor will probably do. They are also very good served as a side for chili or corn chowder.

Corn Cakes/Fritters are really versatile and you can steer them between savory or sweet as you like. You'll notice below that I keep the sugar kind of low. That's because this recipe should get most of its sweetness from good sweet corn. Also, you may be drizzling honey over them before serving them which will add additional sweetness. Another variation of this recipe that I prepare includes diced red bell pepper. To prepare that use 1-1/2 cups of sweet corn and 1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper instead of the 2 cups of sweet corn below.

Sweet Corn Cakes/Fritters

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white sugar
2 cups whole kernel sweet corn
1 egg lightly beaten
1 TBS peanut oil
1/2 cup milk
3 cups vegetable oil

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Stir the sweet corn kernels into this dry mixture.

In another mixing bowl beat the egg, peanut oil and milk together.

Pour the wet and dry mixtures together, stir until just blended.

Heat the 3 cups of oil in a heavy pot to 350°F.

Drop tablespoons of the batter into the hot oil and cook, turning occasionally until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and serve warm, brushed with butter, drizzled with honey or sprinkled with salt.

Photography: The Sao Miguel, Azores Series

2009-10-08T15:30:00.003-04:00

I have always been interested in photography. The first thing I bought with the first money I earned at my first job was a Minolta 35mm camera. By my recollection, that was sometime around the summer of 1976. Soon after I bought my first tripod at K-Mart (which back in the day, had a pretty respectable photography department). Weirdly, I still own that tripod along with five others, but it is my favorite. It's just an all-around good size and quick-using tripod. Those two items in hand I spent a lot of time hiking and taking photos along the way. That was my introduction to "serious" photography.

Over the years I picked it up and put it down as it suited me. The experience was also helpful when I got to college and photography was among my required courses. So cameras came and cameras went. My dad is a contractor and one of the services he used to offer customers along with roofing and remodeling was cleaning attics and cellars. One day he showed up with a Nikon F2 camera and 50mm lens that someone had asked him to throw in the trash along with a lot of other "junk". I checked it out and it was in prime condition and worked well. Surprise, surprise, I had my first Nikon and I've preferred them ever since.

So, in 2003 at the invitation of a friend I traveled to the Azorean Island of Sao Miguel. I decided to take my Nikon F2 and the 50mm lens with me. What impressed me most about the island apart from the hospitality and good humor of the natives, was the beautiful texture everywhere. I was never at a loss for interesting subject matter. The limitations of the 50mm also forced me to use a pleasing “selective focus” on some of the images which (to me) gave them a feeling of timelessness. Upon my return to the United States I developed my film and was pleasantly surprised with the results. A few friends asked for prints, then people started buying them online and I had my first success in art photography. The photos have now sold all over the world and several of them are still long time favorites.

If you're interested in seeing some of the photos from the Sao Miquel, Azores Series please check out this gallery.

Photography: Fantastic Fortunes Gourmet Fortune Cookies

2009-10-07T18:43:00.013-04:00

This was a pretty straightforward shoot for a company called "Fantastic Fortunes" that makes giant gourmet fortune cookies. The whole idea was hatched by a housewife who, one Christmas decided to hand out money to her family and creatively decided to do it by inserting it in giant fortune cookies that she bakes herself. One thing leads to another, a little creative marketing and the next thing you know she's baking hundreds of them with special messages inside for weddings and other large celebrations. At six bucks a pop, you can imagine the profits come rolling in.

For this shoot I used a Nikon D100 digital SLR (yeah they still kick ass) and a Nikon PC-Micro lens. I wasn't shooting in my home studio so the space was limited and I could only do a front-lit, two strobe shoot. The strobes were positioned camera left and camera right at about 45° to the subject at about 20° height to subject. Most of the images were shot at ASA 200, at f13 to f21 with a shutter speed of between 60 to 125. Like I wrote above: pretty straightforward.

Fortunately, a photo stylist I have worked with in the past and I like to work with was available for the shoot. She's VERY talented and even though she had no prep time she was able to work MIRACLES using found items to help create some styled shots. One of them is below. All the props and supports (which you can't see) were found items. That luxurious red cloth in the shot is actually a nylon rain coat we borrowed from a nearby office.

She's a lot of fun to work with and I have the potential opportunity of a rather large high-profile project coming up that I'd like to work with her on. When and if it happens, you'll see our work here.

Post production was done 80% in Adobe Lightroom with custom written presets and 20% in Adobe Photoshop for some touch ups and color fine tuning. Considering the lack of space and lighting and the McGuyver-type styling we had to do, we're very happy with the resulting work and the customer was tickled.

Cooking: Slow Cooked Pot Roast

2009-10-01T14:42:00.003-04:00

At the risk of sounding like one of the Beverly Hillbillies I'm going to confess that this dish kind of reminds me of something my grandmother used to make when I was a kid - roast raccoon. That's no lie, it's not even an exaggeration. We ate a lot of strange things at my grandparents house. For the record, it was all good. They were country people and products of the depression. My grandfather was a hunter and fisherman and my grandmother was a hell of a farm wife. She once saved me from a blood-thirsty and crazed fighting rooster. That story is elsewhere on this blog, something tells me it's probably got to do with a chicken recipe.

If my memory serves me well (and it usually does) roasted raccoon looked like roasted turkey only reddish brown with four drumsticks. There were of course, potatoes and carrots. I imagine a dinner like that will freak some people out, but it was good. Everything the woman cooked was good.

Okay, my freaky memory aside, this recipe is a great rainy Autumn Sunday dinner. Which coincidentally is just the kind of day I prepared it on when I finalized, prepared and photographed it for the blog. It is rich, hearty and delicious and of major importance: SIMPLE! You basically just do a little prep, chuck everything into a crock pot or dutch oven* and slow cook it and not touch or look at it for ten hours. It cooks while you do vastly more important things like watch television, play with the kids, do your yoga, read poetry or run around all day and do errands. Start it at 8:30 AM, do what you want all day and an amazing dinner is ready at 6:30 PM. Pretty sweet huh?

My only recommendation is that you don't over-pack your crock pot or dutch oven. The meat and vegetables will give off a lot of moisture during the cooking process and you don't want the liquid rising over the top. If you have a small crock pot or dutch oven, adjust the recipe as needed.

*My home range has a slow-cook feature so I prepare dishes like this in a covered dutch oven. Of course it works equally well in a crock pot.

Slow Cooked Pot Roast

3 lbs. Boneless bottom roast
1 TBS Dijon mustard
1 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of red wine
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 medium onions chopped
3-4 small onions peeled
4 carrots cut into 3-4" pieces
1-1/2 to 2 pounds small red and white potatoes (golf ball to egg-sized)
Your favorite homemade or store-bought biscuits
2-4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Put the chopped onion in the bottom of your cooking vessel.

Mix the sea salt, black pepper, onion and garlic powders together and coat the roast evenly on all sides. Place it on the onions in your preferred cooking vessel - fat side down.

Take the potatoes, carrots and whole onions and arrange them around the roast. Be sure that you'll be able to close the crock pot/dutch oven completely when ready.

In a mixing bowl whisk together the Dijon mustard, brown sugar and red wine until the Dijon mustard and the brown sugar are completely blended in. Pour all the mixture equally over the roast and the vegetables.

Cover the cooking vessel, set it on low and let it cook for ten hours (If you're using a dutch oven, cover it, place it in the oven and use your range's slow cook feature and instructions).

When the time is up remove the roast and vegetables to a large serving bowl. cover it with a plate and towels to keep it warm while you prepare the gravy.

In a small bowl, whisk together the corn starch and water.

Pour all the liquid from the roast into a suitable pan and place it over high heat until it begins to boil (if you're using a dutch oven prepare your gravy in that). Lower it to a high simmer and slowly add 1/2 the water and cornstarch mixture while stirring constantly. You'll need to use your judgement here to get your gravy to the desired thickness. It is better to add it SLOWLY as you PROBABLY WILL NOT NEED IT ALL. If you add it all quickly, I hope you enjoy extremely thick gravy!

Slice or chunk the roast, plate it with the vegetables and a biscuit, dress it with the gravy as you like.

Commercial Design: Abe Froman - The Sausage King of Chicago

2009-09-30T12:00:00.009-04:00

I have a t-shirt and product business that I run on the internet. Apart from the added income, it also affords me the opportunity to design t-shirts and products that I would like to have but otherwise cannot find, or I've found, but not to my liking. Today's blog entry: "Abe Froman - The Sausage King of Chicago" is a case in point.

If you are unfamiliar with Abe Froman or just need a little reminder allow me to fill you in. The 1986 movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" stars Matthew Broderick as "Ferris" a likable, charismatic yet manipulative high school wise-guy who convinces his depressed friend Cameron to join him in skipping school for the day. They both also successfully conspire to get Ferris's girlfriend Sloane out of school as well so they can all enjoy the day together in downtown Chicago.

Among the many hi jinx they engage in on that day is attempting to have lunch at a very upscale restaurant. When they find out they will need reservations to dine there, Ferris takes the opportunity to look at the guest list when the maitre d' is momentarily distracted. He sees the name "Abe Froman" written on the list. The resulting exchange goes like this:

Maitre d': Hello, may I help you?

Ferris: You can sure as hell try. (pause) I'm Abe Froman, party of three for...

(Maitre d' makes a strange disbelieving face)

Ferris: Is there a problem?

Maitre d': You're Abe Froman? (pause) The sausage king of Chicago?

Ferris: (confidently) Yeah, that's me

Maitre d': I'm very busy Why don't you kids go back to the clubhouse?

Ferris: Are you suggesting I'm not who I say I am?

Maitre d': I'm suggesting that you leave before I have to get snooty

Ferris: Snooty?

Maitre d': Snotty!

Cameron: (nervously) Okay, Abe, let's go

Ferris: (defiant) I'm not going anywhere! No, we'd like to be seated.

Maitre d': I'm going to have to call the police

Ferris: You're going to call the police?

Maitre d': Yes

Ferris: Fine! I'll call them myself

Maitre d': Yes? Call the police. This'll be a hoot.

(Ferris picks up the phone and begins dialing. Another line begins ringing in...)

Maitre d': Give me the phone I have another call! (he reaches to take the phone from Ferris)

Ferris: (pulling away with the phone) You touch me, I yell "rat"! Find another phone!

Maitre d': (walking away) I weep for the future!

The incoming call was in fact Ferris calling the restaurant on the other line. The maitre d' answers the phone from another location and he hears a woman's voice. She asks if Abe Froman has arrived yet. The maitre d' smiles and asks her to describe him. She describes Ferris. The maitre d' is devastated.

The camera cuts away to Ferris's girlfriend Sloane finishing the exchange with the maitre d' and hanging up the phone. The apologetic maitre d' arrives a few moments later and seats Ferris, Cameron and Sloane for lunch.

I don't know why, but that line: "You're Abe Froman? The Sausage King of Chicago" has always stuck with me. Apparently, I'm not alone because it has kind of become embedded as a popular cultural reference for people my age. Kind of like "This was no boating accident" is for the movie Jaws.

I decided I wanted an Abe Froman shirt and started looking on the Internet. As I expected, there is no real Abe Froman who is the "Sausage King of Chicago". There were however hundreds of people selling shirts that depicted the fictitious meat company. Unfortunately, none of them were really what I was looking for. Most just seemed to be hastily slapped together at best. So I decided to do my own design and offer it on my website. Well, and to use as one of my running shirts.

For my concept, I decided to come up with an old-school company logo for the fictitious "Froman Sausages and Meats" first. Something believable and business like. So I selected a color palette, a stylized badge and a couple of good fonts and came up with the logo for "Froman Sausages and Meats":
That done I figured a happy cartoon sausage with a crown would seal the deal and tie the whole concept together nicely. So, I created the entire feature design:
I'm really pleased with the result and my customers responded well to it. It is one of my highest selling designs on products like t-shirts, sweatshirts, things, buttons, mugs, etc.

If you're interested in Abe Froman - The Sausage King of Chicago products or any of my other designs, you'll find them at www.aboriginalz.com.

Cooking: New England Clam and Scallop Chowder

2009-09-27T15:36:00.002-04:00

Annually there's a big clam chowder festival a short drive from my house in Newport, Rhode Island. For a stretch there I attended every year. It was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see how different restaurants and organizations approached making what they considered a good chowder. There were New England, Manhattan, Bahamian and Seafood styles as well as a few others including a pretty good quahog chili one year.

They offered different categories to compete in, and in the seafood chowder contest one restaurant reigned supreme and that happened to be the restaurant I hung around at and eventually met my wife at. They made a great chowder, no, they made a phenomenal chowder! It was so good and they won this contest so often that eventually they were politely asked to retire from competition to give other establishments a fair shot at the prize.

Ah, what a great restaurant and chowder, but things change. That is why I am going to offer you a short lesson here on economics. The restaurant of which I speak is doing rather poorly these days and I don't think it will be around for long. I'd like to explain why.

You see each restaurant has a geographical location that it serves. This means that on the average you can count on a certain number of people coming into it from a given distance. They call this your "customer base". If the restaurant is doing well and you decide that you want to open another one, you have to open the new one outside the territory of the first. Two good restaurants owned by one entity in one area don't double the custom base, they divide it. Now a restaurant that used to pull in $30,000 on a Friday night divides that lucrative customer base in half (more or less). So in effect you have doubled your cost but not your profits.

Worse yet, suppose you're not clever enough to catch on before the slump begins to show? What do you think you do? Well I guess you open a third and then a fourth restaurant in the same geographical area as the first popular one, because that is what they did. Guess what? The customer base that didn't double when you opened the second restaurant doesn't multiply again. So now you've divided your customer base by four! Your biggest competition becomes YOU and even the areas that don't overlap between the restaurants cannot generate enough new customers or income to cover that kind of expense! Never mind the other new restaurants that are opening around you that you don't own!

This is what happened to my beloved bar and restaurant. It wasn't long after all this that it took on the desperate feel and vibe of one of those places we've all been to: The "Doomed Eatery". They try anything, changing the menu, coupons, anything! They're cutting corners and missing details to save money but it's all moot, the slide has started and they're on their way out.

Some day soon, if a couple of friends can keep a promise, I am going to have that award winning seafood recipe and I'll put it in this cookbook for you. By then I think that restaurant will sadly be gone. That recipe could have saved it, if the owner had put his money and efforts into packing and marketing that seafood chowder to the masses out beyond his regular customer base. Instead they spent all that money and time to do nothing but compete against themselves.

Bummahs huh?

New England Clam & Scallop Chowder

24 ozs Clam juice
1 lb. of potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold) cubed small
2 Tbs sweet butter
Pork fat back (piece about the size of a pack of gum)
2 cups of finely chopped onions
1-1/4 cups of celery chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic chopped fine
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2.5 lbs of chopped clams (strain from juice, save juice)
1 lb. bay scallops (strain from juice, save juice)
1-1/4 cups of Half and Half
1 tsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp Saffron threads (mince or crush into a powder after measuring)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the clam juice and the potatoes to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes are just tender. Remove from heat.

In a larger heavy pot, melt the butter and add the fat back and cook until the fat back begins to brown.

Add the onions, celery, garlic and the bay leaf and sauté until the vegetables begin to soften. Slowly add the flour, mixing thoroughly and being careful not to let the flour burn.

Stirring constantly, slowly add the reserved clam and scallop juice to the vegetable mixture.

Add the clam juice and potato mixture, the half and half, hot pepper sauce and the saffron. Simmer chowder for 5 minutes to blend flavor stirring frequently.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve hot with clam cake/fritters.

Cooking: Panko Chicken with Red Bell Pepper - Peanut Sauce

2009-09-22T19:59:00.002-04:00

I would like to tip my hat to my wife for the inspiration for this recipe. While she is not as passionate about cooking as I am, she does turn out her own really good dishes when she feels inclined. One of the areas of cooking where she surpasses me is with the venerable crock pot. She is a crock pot master and I am just a humble student.

Beyond a stew, I don't think I'd be able to coerce much good from a crock pot. Not so with my wife. She has produced all manner of wonderful things from crock pots. From tasty dishes like the one the recipe below finds its roots in, to delightfully gooey and delicious chocolate desserts. There are no clinkers in her cadre of crock pot cookery creations! So, unlike many homes in which the crock pot either collects dust or is relegated to warming cocktail weenies or beans at parties, our crock pot sees regular use.

Recently, she created a version of a Thai dish she found in one of her crock pot cook books. It was of course delicious and pretty authentic tasting. I loved the rich, satay-like peanut sauce and at some point mid-dinner, after my compliments and comments regarding its various delicious aspects I got the idea to take elements of the recipe in a different direction. My idea was a Japanese and Thai fusion of sorts.

Chicken Katsu is a popular dish in my house. Easy-to-prepare and loved by all. So, I just thought I'd bend my wife's dish a little bit by preparing my version of the sauce from it with katsu-style fried chicken dish along with steamed Jasmine rice (or noodles like my wife's recipe). The resulting dish is rich and delicious and will certainly find its way on our dinner table again.

NOTE: If you are on a low sodium diet, you may want to prepare this recipe using low-sodium options where you can.

Panko Chicken with Red Bell Pepper - Peanut Sauce

4 boneless breast of chicken
2 red bell peppers (one cut in 2" slices, one cut into a 1/4" dice)
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup of smooth peanut butter
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1-1/2 tsp Thai red curry paste
2-1/2 tsp corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water
Peanut oil for frying
1 cup of flour
2 eggs
1 TBS milk
Panko bread crumbs
3 Green onions (cut into 2" pieces
3/4 cups peanuts (chopped)
3/4 cups cilantro (chopped)

Trim the boneless chicken breast and flatten to 1/2" with the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Season with salt and pepper and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a sauce pan combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, peanut butter, garlic, red curry paste and sliced red bell pepper. Place over medium heat and bring to a low simmer. Whisk frequently until the peanut butter is dissolved and sauce is smooth. Set to a very low simmer and cover pan while you prepare the other ingredients. Stir occasionally.

Prepare the Jasmine rice the normal way. While it cooks prepare the other ingredients.

Place the peanut oil in a deep frying pan and bring to frying temperature.

Place the flour in a plate, beat the eggs with the milk in a wide shallow bowl and place the panko flakes in a plate. Dredge each chicken breast in flour (removing excess), then dip it in the egg wash (draining excess), then coat well with panko flakes. Fry each breast in the peanut oil until golden brown on each side and cooked through. Place on draining rack.

When done frying the chicken remove the cover from the sauce pan. Raise the heat to a simmer and slowly drizzle in the cornstarch and water mixture while constantly stirring until the sauce thickens well. Add the green onions to the sauce and continue stirring for 1-2 minutes being careful not to scorch the sauce. Remove from heat.

Plate with a bed of rice with the panko chicken breast on top. Cover the rice and chicken with a generous portion of the red bell pepper-peanut sauce and garnish heavily with the chopped peanuts, cilantro and the diced red bell pepper. Serve immediately.

If you'd like it a little spicy, add some sriracha or some chopped red chilis.

Enjoy this recipe with an ice cold Thai beer!

Painting: "Reclining Nude" (Concept to Completion)

2009-09-19T01:00:00.004-04:00

Some of my friends recently expressed an interest in my painting and asked me to show how I get from concept to finished product with a painting that I am presently in process with. That project is an abstract of a Maori Tiki and you can find it here. In the meantime I've also been trying to (mostly unsuccessfully) color-accurately photograph "Reclining Nude" (one of my paintings from 2000) so that I can create some prints from it for gifts and sale. Yesterday morning I happened to be going through some old sketch books and I came across the work up sketches from that painting and I thought I'd do a blog entry showing the process of one of my completed paintings from concept to product.

"Reclining Nude" is one of my favorites of my own work. At 5 feet by 2 feet it is on the large side as my paintings go. I've never offered it for sale because for some reason I can't bear to part with it. So I keep it, I put it on display at different times and hopefully, some day, perhaps one of my children may want it. It has been exhibited several times and won an award on one of those occasions. It has its fans, especially in New Zealand.

Speaking of fans, I've always been a fan of the way both Matisse and Picasso handled the female form and often when my mind is blank and I'm inclined to draw, some sketches tend to bear that out. So, on the occurrence of my 38th birthday My lovely girlfriend (and now wife) Michelle took me away for a weekend in a cozy bed and breakfast on the-much-loved-by-me island of Nantucket. While there, in the garden of the B&B, I unknowingly began "Reclining Nude" by making a hastily drawn color sketch using black ink and water color pencils (and some saliva, hey that's gross but there was no water at that moment and well, it is putting yourself into your work!).

I really liked some aspects of that hastily done drawing, so while I was on Nantucket and also on the ferry ride back from my birthday weekend I completed five more sketches of my concept. Each time attempting to take it in different directions and see where it would go. Upon my arrival home in Fall River, Massachusetts on May 1st, 2000, I completed one more image in pen and ink. Those discovery drawings are in order below

A week later Michelle gave me a second birthday gift with a trip to Boston. We were staying at the Omni Parker House near Faneuil Hall. I love the Parker House it is fertile ground for me to come up with creative ideas. Perhaps it is the hotel's history. Among many notable occurrences, both Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh worked there and the hotel is also famous for other things including the invention of Boston Cream Pie and Parker House Rolls. Who knows? I just know that I can sit in the room or the lobby and sketch for hours. Which is what I did in early May of 2000 when I was there. I was working on several projects while there but as it relates to "Reclining Nude", my sketch book tells me that while on the train to Boston and during my stay at the Parker House I created seven more discovery drawings before settling on the final one that would become "Reclining Nude". The sketch book also shows that I created one more sketch afterwards in Fall River, MA. Though I do recall that that image was for a wrought-iron sculpture concept I have planned in the fashion of Reclining Nude. That's another project that is yet to be realized. The discovery drawings from the train to Boston, the Parker House and the wrought-iron sculpture concept are below.

When I look at the sketches now, I am happy with them. I see that I could use them to prepare new work even today. There are other paintings and sculptures in those sketches and I may just revisit them. In hindsight I'm not sure what to make of the sketches as they relate to the finished painting. I don't know why I obviously abandoned some primitive and organic examples in favor of something dimensionally simple, geometric and colorful. Creating is a weird thing. More often than not the product of all your thinking and work is a compromise between what you desire and what the thing is going to be. I find that true even in photography. I've always liked that because there's a lot of discovery and surprise in that.

I hope this example of how I get from a concept to a painting was interesting. Until a friend asked me to do it, I never realized how much background material I kept for my work. It is interesting to revisit. It's sort of like looking at an old photo of yourself. Weirdly it makes me love some of my work more and and hate some of it more. You won't see the latter.

Photography: "Oh No You Didn't!"

2009-09-18T09:11:00.005-04:00

My daughters are budding artists (go figure!). A little while back I purchased a wooden drawing model for my older daughter to sketch while she sits at our table. I was looking at it one day and I got the idea to shoot a small series of it to offer for sale.

My concept is similar to what you see in a lot of contemporary decorating. Three to five prints of a related object or subject all identically matted and framed the same size, hanging over a sofa or across a large wall. I thought "Woody" would be the perfect subject for a kind of slightly humorous but artful series like that.

So one day I did a simple set up and shot Woody and got the images I was looking for. You can see a few larger examples on my photoblog.

If anyone is interested, this is how I did it:

1.) I used a 30% gray paper background that falls off behind the subject and then comes back up under it and creates the surface that Woody's base sits on. I did this to soften the background and make it as discrete as possible to place emphasis on Woody's very basic structure and surfaces.

2.) I shot Woody with two large Photoflex Silver Dome nxt softboxes powered equally with 300 watt Bowens-like flash strobes. The softboxes were placed equally on either side of the camera at about 30° forward of, and about 45° high to the subject.

3.) I used a fairly wide aperture to further soften the background. Probably around f 5.6.

4.) I placed Woody in a number of interesting and humorous poses and fired away.

5.) I did my post processing in Adobe Lightroom using a developing preset I modified just for this shoot. I tried to soften and mute the image to give it a nice soft appeal. The resulting images were ready for print. Though, I did have to do some slight tweaking in Adobe Photoshop to get the images to look decent as JPEGs for use on the Internet.

When I was done, I got five or six relative shots that I will probably narrow down to three or four shots for their intended use. Side by side, they're pretty interesting (in my opinion), especially when you consider the simplicity of the subject matter.

Thanks for checking it out!

Photography: Native Squash

2009-09-15T08:19:00.004-04:00

I do a fair amount of cooking in my home as anyone who knows me or visits my food blog can attest. One of my favorite cuisines to prepare in Autumn is Native American. Squash is a Native American staple and it plays a frequent part in our Autumn dinners. Recently, we picked the last of our squash and we had them all in a big ceramic bowl on our table. I was eating breakfast one morning and I was admiring how the soft light was playing off the skin and the stalks of the squash and thought a photograph would be nice.

So this past weekend I decided to shoot a still life of several of the squash. While the colors vary, all the squash are of the same variety, so I chose a good representation of the color range and placed them (I think) in a pleasing arrangement. For those of you who may be interested in the how-to, here was the basic setup:

1.) There was a large natural light source (window) about 45° to camera right, and a smaller natural light source (also a window) to camera left also at 45°.

2.) I was going for an "old school" type of photo so I used a fairly wide aperture of F7.

3.) Staying with the "old school" look with a "fine art" slant, my post processing was in both Lightroom and Photoshop. I wrote a Lightroom preset for this photo because I plan on doing a few more like it as a small series. If you'd like a copy just drop me a note. I then continued the image processing in Photoshop. I found that Lightroom wouldn't give me the control of tone I had imagined for this image so in Photoshop I desaturated the image and then faded the desaturation to get the color tones I required. I then bumped the blacks a little in "Selective Color" to get a little more (but not too much) pop in the image.

The finished image has really beautiful lighting and colors, but well, who knows what it looks like on your monitor. I'm NEVER satisfied with the way my images appear on the internet (different urls, browsers, monitors, etc. can cause unpredictable results). Hopefully, it's pleasing to the eye.

To see a larger version of this image, please visit my photoblog by clicking here.

This image and many of my others are available for sale in a wide variety of formats and art-value standards.

Cooking: Pork Loin Marsala

2009-09-14T10:40:00.004-04:00

As I was preparing this dish last night and transcribing the final version of the recipe, I came to a surprising realization: In my house, we go through a lot of alcohol just for cooking purposes.

For instance, this recipe calls for 3 cups of Marsala wine. That is quite a bit of wine (but worth it!), and we tend to keep two big bottles handy. We also keep big bottles of Port wine for a couple of pork recipes we cook frequently. Then of course there's Penne à la vodka which doesn't earn a name like that for nothing! In fact it's the ONLY reason we keep vodka in the house.

This list goes on and on. Bailey's Irish Cream for French toast, Chinese wine for Chinese sauces. Two kinds of sake for teriyaki and tonkatsu sauce. Cognac for steak diane, as well as regular and cherry brandies for a variety of flambés. Portuguese cachaca for Azorean chourico bombeiro and surely more that doesn't readily come to mind. That's just the specialty stuff. I couldn't even calculate how many bottles of white or red wine we go through a year for marinades, deglazing and sauce building!

I wonder what chefs did during prohibition?

This is a great recipe. For the best results you'll want to use fresh pork and pay careful attention to how you build your sauce. The objective is too create a nice silky sauce that clings to the pasta. If it seems watery, simmer on!

Pork Loin Marsala

4 Pork loin cutlets (cut 3/4 to 1" thick)
1/2 cup of flour plus 2 TBS
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBS sweet butter
8 oz. Portobello mushrooms chopped coarse
3 cups Marsala wine
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
2 medium tomatoes diced (the redder, the riper, the better)
1 lb. dried pasta (your favorite)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Start the water for your choice of pasta. While you are preparing the pork cutlets and sauce, time your pasta to be ready just as your sauce is finishing.

Season the pork cutlets with salt and pepper, dredge/dust the cutlets heavily in flour and set aside.

In a large dutch oven set on medium-high to high heat add the olive oil and butter. When the butter melts sauté the mushrooms until they are half-cooked. Remove the mushrooms from the pan with a slotted spoon. Be sure to save the butter, oil and mushrooms behind in the pan. It's okay to add more olive oil if necessary.

Sear all the cutlets at once in the reserved oil and butter mix. Don't worry about browning them, you just want a good sear on both sides of all the cutlets to lock in the juices and keep the pork moist and tender.

Once the cutlets are seared, add two cups of the Marsala wine and tomato sauce to them (don't mix). Bring to a simmer and then lower the heat until the mix is barely bubbling. Cover the pan and braise the cutlets for 20 minutes. FOR OPTIMUM TENDERNESS, BE SURE THE MIX DOESN'T BREAK INTO A SIMMER! You'll have to readjust the heat a few minutes after you cover the pan. Do not lift the lid more than absolutely necessary.

After the 20 minutes is up carefully remove the cutlets and set them aside in a covered bowl to keep them warm.

Add the chopped tomatoes to the Marsala mix and raise the heat to cook down the tomatoes and thicken slightly. Stir frequently. Lower the heat if necessary.

Whisk the 2 TBS of flour into the remaining 1 cup of Marsala wine. Add that mix to the Marsala mix stirring constantly as the sauce thickens.

Once the sauce thickens, reintroduce the mushrooms to the mix. Stir well, letting the mushrooms reheat and cook a little (about 3 minutes).

Taste the sauce and adjust for seasoning.

Reintroduce the pork cutlets. Gently stir in to coat with sauce and warm (about 1 minute).

Plate pasta, top with a pork cutlet and a generous amount of the Marsala mix over the cutlet and pasta.

Photography: High Key Children's Portraits

2009-09-12T13:12:00.007-04:00

This is a high key portrait I shot of my daughter. It is one of a small series of about 6 photos I recently shot. I'm very satisfied with the resulting images. I love the colors and softness, it is something I will be offering clients from now on.

For those interested in doing something similar on their own, allow me to describe how I shot the photos.

1.) With children you just have to keep shooting. Beyond calling their name occasionally to get them to look at you (as in the shot above), I don't really do anything else but fire away. This shoot stands out because I only shot about twelve photos to get some pretty amazing shots. More often than not you're looking at hundreds of photos. I had a tired subject, I got lucky.

2.) I used an extremely powerful light source for the shoot. It was a one light shoot. That light was positioned at about 11 o'clock to the viewer's left. Instead of flash I opted for continuous light. That light's power was somewhere around 386 billion billion (not a typo) megawatts. Yeah, you cannot handily get anything else brighter. Right, I used the sun. How did I managed to get such even and wonderful light? Check out number 3 below.

3.) You know those fold out canopies that you find people under at picnics, swap meets and flea markets? You know, the fold out metal structure with the lightweight nylon (or some similar fabric roof)? Like this:

I shot underneath one of those. You get beautiful soft, gorgeous white light as long as the tent is between the subject and your 386 billion billion megawatt light source. Here's a big hint that may not be obvious to everyone: Use a white tent unless you want greenish or blue looking babies!

4.) I shot at a very wide aperture, not looking at it now I'm betting somewhere around f4.5. You do this to get those soft, fuzzy, nicely-subject-supporting tones and shapes behind the subject. It's not rocket science, but some people just don't have a clue.

5.) I purposely shot out of the lense's focusing range. Everyone has done this, though usually it is by mistake. Just creep right in there and fire away. If you can't manage or control this, don't worry a little digital blur will work fine. You just won't feel as competent.

6.) For post production I used Adobe Lightroom. I used a developing preset I wrote just for these types of photos. In fact I named it after my daughter. Sure there's always a post process catch whether it is film or digital. Not too much out of the ordinary here. By that I mean that this image could be recreated with a film camera and a good color lightroom (a real one). For most people familiar with Adobe Lightroom looking at the photo may be enough for you to figure out what I was doing in there. If you have Lightroom and you can't figure it out, or you're just lazy, drop me a request below and I'll give you a version of the preset.

I hope this entry was helpful in some way. Happy shooting!

Cooking: It-Doesn't-Necessarily-Have-To-Be-Sunday, Sunday Gravy

2009-09-07T19:40:00.004-04:00

There's no bones about it, I found my cooking passion by making my own Italian food at home. It's not a recent thing either. It started when I was a teenager when I would "dress up" jarred sauces (often with chourcio - NATURALLY!), and it continued right on into my very first "from scratch" dinner recipes and it still goes on today.

I may cook all kinds of authentic world food for my family these days, but there's no world food I feel more comfortable preparing than Italian. It's one of the world cuisines I'm quite comfortable improvising with. Give me anything, as long as you include a few basic Italian ingredients, and I'm going to feel safe cooking something good for you. My cook's confidence is in Italian and to a lesser degree, Thai and Native American cuisine.

Which makes it kind of weird that I didn't have a proper, personal "Sunday Gravy" recipe after all these years. Anyone familiar with Italian cooking or gangster films (real ones not that Hip-Hop nonsense) knows what Sunday Gravy is. For those of you who don't know, allow me to direct you to Italian cookbooks and gangster films to find out. I'm not in a typing mood today.

Anyway, I never found a Sunday Gravy recipe that I really liked all that much. Everyone who is Italian or knows Italians or who cooks Italian is always going to crow about their Sunday Gravy or their friend's Sunday Gravy or their mom's Sunday Gravy or their aunt's or grandmother's Sunday Gravy and how it is the best in the world.

Well, as with most food, they are all right of course. The food you like best is the best in the world - to you! So up until a few days ago, I never had a Sunday Gravy that I could crow to the world about being the best. Then I flipped through the September 2009 issue of Esquire Magazine and I got an inkling.

The picture is what captured my imagination. I saw the photo of all that rich, glistening sauce with all those chunks of meat and well, it got my attention. I sought out the recipe on the following page. There, courtesy of Peter McAndrews (hey! He married an Italian!) I found the recipe and some important words that convinced me to try the recipe. Words like "spare ribs", "bones" and "hours".

That recipe was the basis for my own recipe below. I've made enough significant changes to the original recipe to confidently call this one all mine. (I'm not in the habit of changing recipes just to call them my own. If that were true, you'd see Giada De Laurentiis's Rosemary Roast Pork with Port Wine and Fig sauce in here under a different name! Search recipe out folks because it is FLAWLESS and delicious!).

Anyway, I made changes to suit my taste and preference. The most notable, was starting the whole thing with a onion-hefty mirepoix. Yeah, that's a French word in a classic Italian recipe, but trust me it helps make one hell of a good sauce. I also changed the kinds and amounts of tomatoes, added more garlic and tomato paste, as well as the addition of a pork tenderloin and a little GOOD QUALITY balsamic vinegar. Finally, the fact that your chucking in the World's Best Meatballs doesn't hurt either!

Without further adieu allow me to introduce my NEW, old-family recipe for Sunday Gravy:

It-Doesn't-Necessarily-Have-To-Be-Sunday, Sunday Gravy

1/2 cup olive oil
3 lbs. country-style or southern-style spare ribs
3 lbs. sweet Italian sausage
2 lbs. World's Best Meatballs
1-2 lb. pork tenderloin
3 lbs. large beef bones
4 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
10 cloves garlic chopped
3 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
3 28 oz. cans of whole tomatoes (lightly crush the tomatoes with your hands)
3 28 oz. cans of ground tomatoes
3 large bay leaves
1 TBS turbinado or light brown sugar
1 TBS GOOD QUALITY balsamic vinegar (the syrupy type)
Sea salt to taste

Take a LARGE stock pot. A large one. A BIG stock pot. I mean BIG, like a 14 quart stock pot. Pour in the 1/2 cup of olive oil and coat the bottom and the sides of that stock pot really well. Place the stock pot on medium high heat. When the oil comes up to temperature and is hot and shimmering (not smoking), brown and remove all your meat in this order: spare ribs, Italian sausage, meatballs and tenderloin. Place the browned meat in a covered pan or dish and set aside.

If you need more olive oil at this point feel free to add it. Let it come to temperature and then brown your beef bones on all sides.

When the beef bones are browned, add your onions, carrots and celery and continue to saute until tender and starting to brown slightly. If the oil begins to smoke, lower your heat. You want the onions, carrots and celery to sauté evenly.

Add the chopped garlic and sauté along with the bones, onions, carrots and garlic for about 2-3 minutes. Be sure not to burn the garlic or it will turn bitter!

Add the tomato paste and mix it in well so that it coats the mix and bones. Continue to sauté until the tomato paste darkens. Again, be careful not to burn the mix.

Add the hand crushed whole tomatoes with their juice, the ground tomatoes, the bay leaves, sugar and the balsamic vinegar. Stir all together until it is well blended. Bring it slowly to a lively simmer. Special note: When you are cooking a quantity of sauce like this, it is always wiser to bring it up to temperature SLOWLY to avoid burning the sauce in the bottom of the stock pot.

When the sauce reaches a lively simmer and is an even, slightly thick mix, add your spare ribs and pork tenderloin. Reduce to a medium simmer and allow to continue like this for one hour stirring occasionally.

At the end of the first hour, add the Italian sausage and allow to simmer for another hour. Always be sure the simmer is low to medium to avoid any burning. Stir occasionally.

At the end of the second hour, add the meatballs and continue simmering for another hour. Stir occasionally.

At the end of that hour, you will notice a layer of red oil forming at the top of the sauce. If you're health conscious you can skim off some of this with a ladle. It won't reduce the fat all that much, but it'll give you a false sense of responsibility that will get you past the guilt of eating all this pork and beef fat goodness.

Season with the sea salt to your preference. Stir sauce well.

Remove from heat. Remove all the meat and bones to a separate serving platter and serve the sauce over your favorite pasta perhaps with a sprinkle of your favorite cheese (as long as your favorites are parmesan-reggiano or pecorino romano).

This sauce kicks ass and is the World's Best Sunday Gravy - TO ME, FINALLY!

Industrial Design: (Followup) Fowler Mini-Mag Electronic Protractor

2009-09-03T09:56:00.004-04:00

I received a sample of the Fowler Mini-Mag Protractor (see original post here) today for appraisal and photography purposes. They did a decent job applying my front panel design to the instrument. Also, when I first looked at the prototype I had noticed that the tool's surface behind the control panel lacked substantial contact area for the panel to be securely applied. Because of this the panel would have prematurely worn or fallen off altogether. We mentioned this to our Chinese supplier and they did a great job correcting it.

I shot the application image above yesterday morning. The Fowler Mini-Mag protractor is shown measuring the upper surface of a Mercedes auto engine block.

Photography: Commercial work - Bowers Ultima and Sylvac D-50S

2009-08-25T12:10:00.004-04:00

This is a photo of a Bowers Ultima electronic bore gage and Sylvac D-50S digital read out that I styled and shot . The technology is used for very accurately measuring bores, cylinder walls and similar spaces. It's rare that I get to shoot instruments like this in such a "still life" circumstance. More often than not, I shoot images of instruments like this against a highly contrasting background as they will be silhouetted with a transparent background for use in a variety of print and online publications. This shot was for high profile use and required a solid background and a good amount of styling.

I wanted to create a very sleek representation of the image to play off its high-technology aspects. I also needed to keep it in a familiar situation so the image would make sense to prospective industrial buyers.

To do this I purchased a large, dark gray, marbleized section of formica from The Home Depot. This material is nearly identical to what is known in the industry as a granite surface block/plate. Surface plates/blocks are enormously large and heavy tables constructed with steel legs and a thick piece of granite as a measuring surface. They can weigh a ton or more. The granite offers a high degree of flatness and thermal stability to insure a high degree of accuracy in related measurements.

Even though an actual granite plate was available for this shoot, its irregular surface (from years of use) and location made it impractical for the shoot. Also, the formica allows enough flexibility to bend it into use as an "infinity background" which removes any lines or borders of color and light that a table would surely create which can "confuse" a background.

The shot itself was taken with a Nikon D-100 with a Nikkor PC Micro 85mm lens. This would seem a completely inappropriate lens for a shot like this, but I offer the final image in my defense. The lens was perfect for the shot.

Camera speed would have been ASA 200 with a aperture of F16 (or slightly higher), the shutter speed would have been appropriate to the F-stop.

For lighting, I used three Photoflex Starlites with 1000 watt tungsten bulbs. Each was outfitted with large Photoflex Silver Dome nxt's with full diffusion panels to kill any harsh glare. The primary light was camera-right at about 25° height to subject. The secondary light was of equal distance and height to camera-left. The fill light was directly above the subject.

Overall, I am very pleased with the photograph and it has been included in my commercial portfolio.

For more information on the instruments in the photo please visit the following links:

http://www.fvfowler.com
http://www.bowers.co.uk/
http://www.sylvac.ch/

Painting: Maori Tiki

2009-08-24T08:48:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what to write here, but in fulfilling my promise to my friend Meg about offering all the background info and images I use when working up a painting I offer my second entry regarding the Maori Tiki painting I am currently in the process of creating for Margo, my friend from New Zealand.

Until, it's removed from my presence, no painting or drawing is "done". Even after years, I've gone back to some projects I thought I'd finished and made a change or alteration. For a greater good I'm unsure, for my satisfaction I am positive.

So, even though I've come to three solid concepts for painting the tiki in my style, the project is still in my head and until I am "finished" painting it and it is gone, it is susceptible to alteration.

Yesterday, I took my family to breakfast at IHOP and unfortunately, a disproportionately high number of people had a similar idea. The place was jammed. I'm not even a big fan of chain food, but I wanted a certain kind of pancake and well... that's just a whole 'nother future blog entry on a different blog.

So, after we got our table and while we were waiting for our breakfast, I was doodling along with my daughters on the paper place mats. This is what we usually do in restaurants. It helps maintain order at our table, which in turn maintains order in the restaurant, we tend to be "lively" otherwise. As an artist it is convenient to have young children because mom ALWAYS has crayons! I do believe she keeps them for my benefit at times.

Somewhere in the expansive, cavernous and twisted halls of my mind the tiki came whistling and it became the subject of about twenty doodles while we waited the fifteen to twenty minutes for breakfast. Each little crayon drawing offering some new twist or turn to an as-of-yet-unfinished painting.

In the end, I streamed all that design-o-goo into the two doodles above. As sloppy and haphazard as they appear, elements of these two little drawings will play heavily into the finished paintings.

You wanted to witness the process Meg, well here is some more!

Photography: Homemade 4 x 5 Large Format Camera

2009-08-23T09:11:00.004-04:00

A few years ago, I decided I wanted to experiment with large format film photography. So, like anyone I did the necessary research until I felt comfortable with proceeding. Then I hit a road block of sorts. Good large format cameras are expensive. Not wanting to drop a chunk of cash on something I just wanted to experiment with, I took a different route. I did some looking online and found a guy who sold plans to make your own 4 x 5 camera. Even better, he also sold the bellows for the camera. So, I ordered the plans and when they arrived I gathered the materials.

Building a large format camera isn't the daunting task it seems. All of the critical and accurate mechanisms are in the lens itself, and well lens building is just a whole other science. So building your own 4 x 5 camera is mostly basic wood working. You just need to pay special attention to the fit and finish of the parts. Cameras obviously need to be light-tight and you want the insides flat black to kill all glare and reflection. Mind the details as they relate to the inside of the camera and the outside can be as hack or glamorous as you like.

As the photo of my homemade 4 x 5 camera shows above, I went kind of utilitarian but with (I think) a pleasing approach to simple-beautiful aesthetics. In the end, I don't think you need to have a remarkable woodworking skill set or need a full blown cabinetry shop to make your own large format camera. It's just about approaching it with patience and a mind for detail.

The real test of my large format camera was when I used it with real film. If you've got any light leaks or glare, you're going to see them and well I didn't. So, I practiced shooting some non-critical stuff for a bit before I moved on to a small series that I shot for my kitchen (and also sell online). You can see one of the images from the series "La Cocina" below.

I love using the 4 x 5 camera. The flexibility offered by the bellows opens a lot of creative and practical avenues for expression and exploration. Though, shooting with film that large in the days of digital is kind of a logistical and economic nightmare. Even using a Polaroid back is expensive. If the price of digital backs for 4 x 5 cameras will just come down from $15,000.00 I can start having some REAL fun with my homemade 4x5 camera!

Photography: Cataloging a Private Asian Art Collection

2009-08-21T13:08:00.003-04:00

For the past several weeks, every 5 days or so, I have been photographing a private collection of Asian antiques and artifacts. The photographs are for a catalog that is being published to assist in the promotion and sale of the collection.

While the collection is very interesting and makes for intriguing subject matter, the manner and timeliness in which the items need to be photographed is a little frustrating. The collection consists of over one hundred objects. The pieces themselves run from as little as one inch across for the smallest to six feet hang and 8 feet wide for the largest. Because of the amount of pieces, the variety of sizes and materials the lighting varies greatly and most pieces need to have their own lighting set ups. UNFORTUNATELY, I get about 3 to 4 minutes to shoot each piece. As you can imagine that can impose a lot of restrictions and many compromises for most photos.

There are pieces in this collection that I would like to take at least an hour to set up before shooting, but for the intended use of the photos, that is just not possible. That's not to say I am unhappy with the work. It is enjoyable and I am getting photos that are decent enough for my portfolio and photoblog.

To see some of the best examples of the objects from this private collection hit up "Behind the Glass" my photoblog.

Photography: Simultaneous Fragments

2009-08-19T22:12:00.008-04:00

Ahem, this is the first shot of a new portraiture series I am currently involved in shooting. You can see a previous test shot I did of my friend Sandra earlier on this blog.

I can't tell you that I was comfortable posing, working to create this image or posting it here or on my photoblog. You may ask "Why do it then?" The reason I did it is because I have asked other people to do it and how can I expect people who have never done it before to participate if I don't have the balls to do it myself?

That may all seem much to do about nothing to my artist friends out there. My defense against that is to say that narcissism isn't universal. Most people have real insecurities and concerns about posing partially or fully nude. It's also hard for them to relate doing things like this "for art" to their friends and working class or religiously-minded families. They all know once it is done, once it is "out there" it is something that could really come back to haunt them.

On the plus side, out in the future, posing nude offers an opportunity to revisit yourself more thoroughly. I've often wondered if older men and women regret not capturing themselves similarly at a time when they were at the height of their physical beauty and youth. I don't regret it. This is not my first nude self portrait, I took one when I was 18. This happens to be the first one I've ever felt compelled to share. It is unsettling and that's strange when you realize that I'm only partially nude.

I don't want to write about the concept of this work just yet. I'd like to post a few more portraits from this series before I address my concept and goals.

So, there it is.

Painting: Maori Tiki

2009-08-10T19:35:00.002-04:00

I have a friend from New Zealand that has always been a wonderful supporter of my work. She is a dedicated and loyal fan, a dear friend and a trusted source of opinions in all matters (Take a bow Margo!). So, I decided well over a year ago to paint something "New Zealand" for her. Being fond of indigenous people from all over the globe, I decided to do something that was themed after New Zealand's original inhabitants: The Maori. Looking for some base or seminal symbol I decided on the "Tiki". Please read Margo's comments below regarding the origin and the meaning of the potent Maori symbol, (Trust me, they'll be there, just be patient).

Now my plan for the painting was along the lines of an abstraction. Now I know the symbol is an abstraction in and of itself, but hey, you have to follow your vision. So, I began the process I use to come to painting something along those lines. It was VERY difficult because each time I started to do what I do to abstract things, it kind of got too simple. When you take something simple and try to strip away it's complexities to reveal its essence guess what? You basically get an entire drawing of what seems to be a cartoon face. Not a cartoon face of the Tiki's face, but rather a cartoon face from the entire tiki. Go on, look at the tiki above blur your eyes a bit and you'll see that cartoon face. It was very frustrating.

I made many, many, many small drawings and at first all I got was that damn cartoon face shape. So, I kept drawing and thinking over the days and then weeks and then months. Here are some of the initial drawings below. You'll see that they kind of explore different aspects of the tiki and its lore (as I have been made to understand it). Feminine, grotesque, etc., etc. While some of them are appealing and aspects of them will show up in the end product, none of them were the puzzle or solution that I was looking for.

Eventually, I gave up on coming to a resolution via drawings and decided to see what I would do cold on canvas.

My first attempt was kind of a cubist interpretation. Think Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso meet Robinson Crusoe. As hokey as that may sound, the resulting image was pretty complex, authentic and impressive. Enough so that my wife said "I really like that." I mentioned I was painting it for Margo and my wife said "No, I want it." I explained it wasn't done and proceeded to pull more of the tiki through the building layers. It got even better, but like a damn fool pot thrower on a wheel who keeps pulling the pot ever higher and ever thinner the (expletive) thing collapsed on itself and turned to (expletive) (expletive).

I attempted starting it on canvas two more times with similar results. The problem was that using the cubist approach I was, enough of the tiki never emerged from the geometry of the painting to satisfy me. If you understand cubism and look at the tiki, you'll see the problem. We have a wholly SIMPLE organic subject and I was trying to translate it via a very geometric "language". I could have cut corners and forced it, but that's (expletive). The next thing you know I'm nailing sardine cans to the canvas and well that's even more (expletive).

So, I literally went back to the drawing board looking for at least the basis of what would be my road map to take on the canvas which is the normal way I paint. I don't like complexities, I don't like doodads, I don't like a lot of things when I paint. If anything I want to pare down as much as possible and relay what something is without using firecrackers, bright lights and beeps. Making small drawings helps a great deal.

In fact, I've gotten three successful abstraction ideas for the tiki and will make three paintings of it. One for Margo of course and two I will sell in New Zealand. At this point my frustration has abated and my confidence in the task ahead is high and my success (to my satisfaction) is assured.

The drawings below represent my most recent modifications. They are small and simple and relay basic ideas rather than concrete guides to what the finished painting will look like. I'd like to add images of my first nearly successful attempts on canvas, but well, I am prone to angry outbursts when I am frustrated and those canvases no longer exist in this dimension, (it's a wonderful anger-really!). I will however begin photographing the new canvases in successive stages as I see fit. That was requested by another good and supportive friend from California named Meg.

Photography: Test image for new series

2009-08-09T13:27:00.000-04:00

This is a portrait I took of my friend Sandy. It is a test for a new series I have in mind. I don't want to explain just yet how I created it. I'd like to work out some more details and variations and post them here and on my photography blog before I start to comment on the concept and processes involved. So far I am quite pleased with the results. I'm expecting other experiments regarding this series to go well.

Industrial Design: Large European Railroad Clock

2009-08-08T19:15:00.000-04:00

When I bought my first home in 2002, I noticed I had a large area over the passageway to my kitchen that was just begging for a giant clock. While there are plenty over oversized clocks to be had in even the most vanilla of outlets now (Walmart, Target, etc.), back in 2002 I couldn't find anything suitable. I came across one nearly suitable one, but it had fake plastic gears and wouldn't fill the bill. So, I set out to build my own.

The first I did was measure the space I had available over the passageway. I decided that a clock of 25" would be perfect. Then I started looking for designs on the internet. The clocks I found most attractive were the old rusted steel skeleton clock faces of European railroad stations. So, I gathered some images and opened up Adobe Illustrator and started working up a personal design that I'd like.

Below, is the design I liked the most.

Once I had most of the dimensions covered, I started thinking about how I would handle the materials and textures of an old rusted and worn railroad clock face. The clock structure would have to look like old, rusted 1/4" metal stock layered and bolted to look authentic. For the clock face proper, I wanted it to appear to be painted and worn wood. That decided, I worked the clock face up in a 3-D program (Bryce) and did some rough detailing in Photoshop. I also did the mock-up on a wall color similar to the actual one where the clock would hang. Her is the finished 3-D mockup with sizes noted for example:

The general look finalized I started to think about the materials it would take to make the clock look like an aged, metal structured clock with a weathered face. The first consideration was the structure of the clock itself. For that I used 3 layers of quality plywood. To get the rusted steel look I added some sand and vermiculite to a neutral colored house paint and gave the pieces thee good coats. Then the three separate pieces were all bolted together, (you can see the 12 bolts in the photos above and below). That done, I painted the whole structed with a faux rust kit that I bought at Home Depot. The result is very authentic.

To create the clock face, I used a good piece of smooth finish utility board. For the first coat of paint I used a neutral gray to mimic weather wood. Over that I used a the first step of a white crackle paint from a kit I also purchased at Home Depot. Then I used a flat black paint to paint the Roman numerals and the black borders. Then I added the second part of the crackle paint to distress and crackle the whole face.

To further the worn look, I very lightly sanded the clock face. Then I repainted the black parts again, lightly sanded the face again, repainted the black parts again and then lightly sanded one more time. I wanted the numerals to look like they had been repainted over successive years for authenticity.

For the clock works I chose a high-torque Seiko quartz movement to handle the extra large clock hands. While I originally intended to create my own custom hands I could not find the right material to use in their contruction. I ended up buying extra-large hands and aging them with sandpaper and more black paint.

The resulting clock has now hung in place for seven years and works very well. It occasionally gets compliments from guests with remarkably good taste.

Here is a photo of the clock I took this evening for this article:

Writing: (untitled) Character: Chloe Za

2009-08-04T13:54:00.000-04:00

Unassuming and easy-to-miss is how many people would describe Chloe Za. Quiet, plainly and sweetly-pretty and tastefully dressed in clothes she bought at second hand shops.

Chloe was the kind of person who didn't make conversation and even when engaged in a conversation she offered no personal opinions or revelations unless asked directly. Kind people who thought they knew her would guiltily admit she was a labor to talk to. Other, less-than-polite people would say she was quietly boring.

Truth be told, Chloe was a thousand libraries of knowledge, thought and substance. Chloe Za was more intelligent than most of the people who would have called her laborious or boring. In fact, Chloe Za was perhaps the smartest person any of them knew.

Her brilliance was not necessarily in the traditional avenues of study of which she was still formidably equipped. Her brilliance was of another kind. The kind that the unknowing cannot find in books. It was of the kind that cannot be learned or taught. It was a have or have-not brilliance. Chloe was in a state of having it.

She was also unencumbered with the type of ego that necessitated her to ever exhibit her intellect unnecessarily. She was what people who are not imaginative call an "old soul" when they seek to seem imaginative.

She was a plainly and discreetly gift-wrapped box that contained an exquisite and rare jewel. She was a surprise, a find that was as yet unfound. Chloe knew things deep in her heart of hearts that made her brilliant and special beyond compare. Things that scare some people, uncomfortable but should-be comforting things. One that was in her mind on this very morning turned itself over and over in the great halls of her mind: Without the shadow of death, life would be empty.

With such things Chloe Za was brilliant.

Chloe worked at the Tinderbox Café, the same café that Palmer Gray visited every morning of every day, working or not, for the same beverage and the same package of biscuits. Of whence once received he would retire to the same chair and table in the corner of the café. Unless of course, someone else was already sitting there and then the voice inside him would invite action...

Writing: (untitled) Character: Palmer Gray

2009-08-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

(Author's note: So, every once in awhile bits and pieces of this story kind of come popping into my mind. So, I started writing them down. Then in my head it plays like a movie so I started selecting actors for the parts. I like Alan Cumming as Palmer Gray-Henry)

Palmer Gray had always labored under an average life. Average clothes, average job, average friends, average needs and average desires. He labored so long and low that way, that "average" was an unconscious comfort to him. An excruciatingly slow, steady and relentlessly crushing comfort.

His mind resisted of course. Occasional sparks. Small thoughts. Teeny-tiny moments of sweet indulgence that would crackle from deep within the place of his last resistance. The home of the chaos that lurks deep within us all. It is the source that will make some of us flee danger like a wild animal, trampling all before us. It is also the same place that makes some of us run into that danger hungrily and mad, resisting all that would sanely stop us.

"Hit him!" it would whisper.

"Steal that!" it would beg.

"TAKE OVER!" it shouted. Only to be quieted by Palmer's omnipresent sense of civility.

The excruciatingly slow, steady and relentless crushing comfort of Palmer may have lasted forever if it wasn't for a chance meeting with a strange woman and Palmer's discovery of a discarded book. Then, as some would say, he began his descent into a madness guided by his dark whimsy. Others, would see it quite differently. I am one of the latter.

Palmer's day started just like the one that preceded it. In fact it started like they all had for so many years that were they to make a sound it would be an irritating and head-splitting drone. His day started with him waking a few moments before his alarm. He always woke before his alarm. He did so with such regularity and certainty as to negate the need for a fucking clock altogether! The clock however, was his failsafe, a small comfort. Palmer was all about small, subtle comforts..."

...5:58 a.m.

Palmer, was lying in his bed wide-eyed. He rolled to face his alarm clock. He stared into the dim LED the way he did every morning at 5:58 a.m. He refused to blink, the way he did every morning. It made his eyes burn. Had he thought about it he would have realized that he made his eyes burn as punishment for doing this every morning. The fact was, he didn't think about anything at 5:58 a.m. If he did, what was going to happen today would have happened a long time ago.

5:59 a.m.

"Fucking hell" the first words of the day yawped into his mind. "Fucking hell, fucking hell, fucking hell" the worlds repeated. ...

6:00 a.m.

Palmer's alarm clock squawked its announcement into the zero space blackness of his bedroom like a hammer thrown in a glass warehouse. "Fucking hell" Palmer whispered to himself as he swung his arm in a wide arc and silenced the alarm.

Industrial Design: Fowler Mini-Mag Electronic Protractor

2009-08-01T11:54:00.002-04:00

One of the many aspects of my job as Creative Director at the Fred V. Fowler Company is designing branding and labeling for our products. The nature of the tool and instrument industry usually doesn't offer a great deal of time to come up with and implement product design or enhancement. Unlike consumer advertising, there are no focus groups and most brainstorming sessions are just informal discussions. Today's entry is the perfect example of the usual product and related process.

Many of our inexpensive instruments are wholly or partly designed and manufactured in China. The advantages of this are obviously economic as it allows Fowler to bring innovative and useful products to the marketplace at greatly reduced prices.

The disadvantages are poorly written support information like operators manuals, etc., and poor or primitive graphic design which effects not only the packaging but often the instrument itself.

Case in point: The Mini-Mag Electronic Protractor which is an instrument used to accurately measure angles.

Above, is a photograph of what the Mini-Mag Protractor looked like when I received it from our manufacturer in China.

To be honest this is a relatively inoffensive example of graphics for a Chinese-made instrument, I've seen horror shows marred by horrendous design and complimented with misspellings or inaccurate language.

The Mini-Mag wasn't horrible, but it just wasn't pleasing to the eye and the graphics failed to add any perceived value to the product. It just had that "cheap" Chinese look to it.

More often than not, designers and marketers of industrial products fail to recognize how much eye-appeal can play into purchasing decisions. Good graphic and packaging design will certainly increase an item's perceived value and dramatically increase its sale potential. All to often a perfectly innovative, useful and high quality tool or instrument will go unsold just because it looks "cheap". The sum of its parts and function are diminished just because it looks poor compared to the competition right beside it in the catalog, on the shelf in the store or on the internet.

The Chinese concept in hand, I asked for and was given one day to come up with a more appealing design and color concept for the Mini-Mag and at the close of the day I had these two:

The first example while, my personal choice, was rejected in favor of the blue and silver one because it was thought that the blue and orange example might offend one of our European suppliers because they previously used similar colors on one of their old products. We e-mailed the new graphics file to China and several weeks later we received the finished product below:

In the end, I think the finished product is a vast improvement over the Chinese concept and it certainly looks better in our promotional publications and in our distributor's catalogs and websites. It's selling very well and will probably do so into the future.

All that because I spent some time trying to make an instrument look as good as its functionality. Now if I can just convince the entire industry that there are more colors in the spectrum that are equally effective as, or will outperform BLUE!

Engineers! BLECH!

The Fowler Mini-Mag Electronic Protractor is an instrument used for accurately measuring angles with ease. If you're interested in purchasing one or you'd like more information, click here to visit Fowler's website.

Advertising: Tiverton Coffee House (Commercial Script)

2009-07-17T08:39:00.000-04:00

I was asked to write a commercial for a local coffee house that I like to frequent. This was an informal creative job so instead of having to pay for formal demographic research. etc., I just asked important questions regarding the kind of people they wanted to get in the door, etc. Then I just kind of thought about the place and its vibe and benefits and their commercial goals and went from there.

As of this writing the commercial is in the casting phase and should be in formal production soon. Once it is finished I will post the related video here.

Title: Tiverton Coffee House Commercial 1

Subject: Tiverton Coffee House (TCH) Products and Services

Demographic: M/F 20 to 45 UM

Approach: SOL/VALS

Synopsis:

Young woman leaves her home in the morning for errands. She starts at the Tiverton Coffee House for her coffee. That in hand she begins to walk out, she notices a hot guy, she also catches his eye. They share a very quick "moment".

Young woman goes about her day. Carrying her bags/bundles she rounds the corner of a building and smack into a guy. The bundles and bags drop. In a moment of confusion, girl drops down to collect things, guy also helps. They both look up, recognize each other and smile. He helps her gather items, they appear to talk.

Scene cuts to the TCH at night, golden light, a musician plays guitar. Camera fades back reveals our girl and guy in the foreground "connecting" (smiling, laughing, hooking up). Camera pans to close up shot of two coffee cups with TCH logos on them.

TCH logo fades in, a moment later the tagline fades in: "Where great days begin and end!"

Fade to black, contact info appears (Address, URL)

Creative Outline & Suggestions:

Background music: Some upbeat lite jazz or folk guitar for pace. (Perhaps even we find at the end that the musician in the cafe was playing the score the whole time.)

No audible dialogue

Opening shot: Morning dawns, fade into a shot of the TCH morning sun lights it. Cut to: Close up of the open sign clicking on.

We find our female subject busily leaving her home/apartment for her errands for the day. (This could be relayed via close up shots: grabs keys, car door closing, etc.)

She enters the TCH, warm, inviting. (Busy, but not too busy, personal, warmly lit, again, a number of quick shots)

Quick shots of coffee prep stuff.

Gets coffee, pays, smiles heads out. (again close ups)

On the way out notices guy seated with laptop, he's cute, he notices her, same. They "connect".

Cut scenes of her errands, maybe a split screen showing different moments of her day/errands to relay a frenetic but harmless pace,

Walking in city with her bundles, goes around corner, smack into guy.

Items fall, both drop to knees to gather.

They both look up at each other the same time, connect, smile, seem to chat before parting.

Scene cuts to the TCH at night, golden light, a musician plays guitar. Camera fades back reveals our girl and guy in the foreground "connecting" (smiling, laughing, hooking up). Camera pans to close up shot of two coffee cups with TCH logos on them.

Fade to logo/info shot. Perhaps create a small musical flourish and use as a standard in all TCH audio/visual promotions.

Printmaking: Linocut Skulls

2009-07-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

In the autumn when the days get shorter, I like to spend some of my free time creating linoleum block prints. I like the process of drawing out my ideas, then transferring them to the linoleum block and carefully cutting out the negative print from the surface. It has than mind-quieting zen be-here-now aspect to it and it is quite relaxing (as long as your blades are shop).

I've been a fan of Edward Gorey ever since I found his book "Amphigorey" in a $2.00 bookstore back in the mid-'80's (What a score!). Well, flash forward about twenty years into the future and I was hosting two younger creative-types (Kate McLeod and Jason Aldous) from New Zealand and they asked me to take them to Edward Gorey home (now a museum) on Cape Cod just a short drive away.

It is a great little museum full of interesting artifacts of Mr. Gorey's life and plenty of art as well. We had a good time and I remember Miss Kate charming quite a bit of Gorey paraphernalia out of her beau Jason.

After they departed my home to further their travel to Washington D.C. and points beyond, I got to thinking. Inspired by Edward Gorey's work and wanting to take a personal approach, I decided to do a series of lino cuts of whatever quasi-macabre imagery might come my way.

I got four done last year and I expect to create more this year though I think the subject matter may move from skeletons to some other suitable creepy or weird focus. I like doing them and I hope some day to have enough of them to do an annual Halloween show at a suitable location.

I present the four original ones below. If you are interested in more information regarding them, I may have written more about them at their sales point of Fine Art America. That's kind of handy isn't it?

Advertising: Tiverton Coffee House logo

2009-07-01T11:52:00.000-04:00

The Tiverton Coffee House (Tiverton, RI) asked me to design a new logo for them. The owners had already created a design with a rising sun's rays and the great retro slogan: "Rise and Shine!" to go from. So it was just a matter of coming up with a logo that would seem the next logical step from that one.

The coffee house itself is a bright and cheerful place. It is also owner-operated by a great family and that gives it the personality that corporate places will forever lack. It's also my local café of choice so I had a personal interest in the design as I will possibly by a shirt with it on it in the future.

Basically, I wanted to create something related to the original logo and also had a kind of slightly retro-feel to go along with the slogan. It also had to translate well in both color and black and white and be useful on letterhead, apparel, etc.

Below are the three final examples I offered to the owners. They ended up selecting the third one which was also my favorite. It's a silhouette of the actual coffee house which I found definitive and appealing.

Industrial Design: Fowler X-Pro Surface Roughness Gage

2009-07-01T10:33:00.000-04:00

A short while back circumstances necessitated that my employer had to radically change one of our popular electronic instruments. The instrument is called the "X-Pro" and is used for measuring the roughness of a surface or finish of an item being measures. It is very accurate and compared to many of the alternatives in the market our version is very economical.

So I was approached to redesign the "X-Pro" for several reasons. They wanted a new and more modern look that would be cheaper to manufacture. They wanted something a little more robust, and they also wanted something that would stand out visually from the competition.

Below, you'll see how the old instrument looked before its redesign. It's a little dated and "old school". Also, it was kind of thin which in a tool that you use your hand to move around is a little uncomfortable.

The first thing we did was come up with a concept for a redesign of the unit's housing. When I first saw it in this drawing below, I realized right away that we were going to need to use some bold graphics and textures to get away from the "blobbiness" that molded plastic can impart.

So, I started creating a number of comps of the new design. I also had to consider where the user would place his hand on the unit and wanted to insure a good grip and comfortable use. I forget exactly how many variants I created in the end, but the image below shows the final ones I went into my meeting with.

In the meeting we discussed manufacturing and ergonomic issues. We also talked about the limitations of communicating with the Chinese. So we settled on a less radical design so as to avoid potential problems with the Chinese manufacturing, which have a way of going unrealized for months. The concept below is what we finally decided on.

In the end, the Chinese put their unpredictable spin on it. They went with a darker (and inexpensive) plastic. They also didn't wrap the logo graphic around the unit like I spec'd. In a consumer product design project, you'd throw it back at them, fly over there and see that they get it right. In an industrial situation it is an acceptable triviality that won't limit profit. Delaying manufacture and the product getting to market while taking time to argue about a pigment and a wraparound graphic will stall or limit profit so you let it go. Below, is the photo of the final product. The X-Pro is a popular product for Fowler. It is economical, easy-to-use and accurate. If you're interested in it you can find it on Fowler's web page here.

Photography: "Behind the Glass" my photography blog

2009-06-30T13:42:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to add an entry here for "Behind the Glass" which is my photography blog. I do a lot of different photography work. From "soup to nuts" as you might say. I try to put some of the best examples on my photoblog. There, you will see great examples from a cross section of my work, from fine art work to commercial work. You can comment on any image you like. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think. Click here to visit "Behind the Glass."

Cooking: "Chop Onions, Boil Water" my food blog

2009-06-29T13:53:00.000-04:00

Hello, this is a recent dish I prepared. You can find the recipe for these delicious ribs and a host of other great original recipes at "Chop Onions, Boil Water - World Food at Home" my cooking blog. Along with a variety of world food recipes, you'll also find equipment reviews and other great information to help you prepare top notch world food at home. Please check it out, your comments and welcome and appreciated! To visit "Chop Onions, Boil Water - World Food at Home" click here!