Category : Blog

This recipe was printed in the Oregonian today. You can try to make this yourself, or you can just be reverent and pick up the untouchable, ineffably good real deal at Jim and Patty’s, 4951 NE Fremont Street, Portland. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9-by-13 inch deep baking pan. TOPPING: 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (1/2 sticks) 1 cup finely chopped roasted hazelnuts CAKE: 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks) 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 eggs 1 1/4 cups sour cream TO MAKE THE TOPPING: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar and continue reading…

“Like Earth, we receive the gift of life through an act of Divine creation. From birth to death the vital force of sexual energy is a primal influence. Profound intimacy and ecstatic pleasure are realized when sexuality is embraced with deep sensitivity and passionate awareness. Understanding the synergistic harmony of love, sex, and spirituality is fundamental to a happy life.” ~ Heather Firth I recommend looking further into Heather Firth’s work. She’s got a good eye for sexy rocks. Keep a keen eye peeled for whether sexy artifacts exist in a synthetic environment such as your neighborhood sidewalk or workplace conference room. If they do, are they sexy? Or just silly and obscene? Is the ultimate sexual object organic/coincidental or synthetic/intentional? Like clothing over a beautiful skinscape, Christo & Jeanne-Claude drape cloth over beautiful landscapes. I might venture to say continue reading…

It’s National TV Turnoff week, and Americans will play along (in theory). This event seems geared towards getting children off the sofa. We found this month that television is both bad and good for children. What about grown-ups? And don’ forget Earth Day this week, Thursday. As a resident of Stripmallville, Oregon, I think I’ll adopt sprawl as my personal theme for Earth Day, and maybe I’ll come back with my ideas (aside from dirty bombing) as to how to combat it. In Stripmallville, it’s the first time I haven’t lived in the hub of a city (or even in a city at all). Today in Portland I walked several blocks to use a payphone because my mom doesn’t have a land line. Portland felt like my own livingroom. While on the MAX today, I got nostalgic for the way continue reading…

For some reason I have Grace Quek in my head, aka Annabel Chong. She’s fascinating and it’s horrible. Spiros Markou, the Greek writer and critic, summed up Chong’s dilemma when he recently said to me “emptiness, she seems to be filled with emptiness, and therefore tries to get fulfilled through the body.” While pondering his remark, an early scene from the documentary kept coming back. It is of Mrs. Quek reminiscing of happier times, when her daughter was very young. She fondly remembers her daughter’s independence from a young age, and tells of leaving her alone while she and her husband were away. She used to pin a handkerchief to little Grace’s clothes, she says, and instruct her daughter that if anything went wrong, or if she wanted to cry, to use it. ~ Senses of Cinema Last night I continue reading…