All posts for the month February, 2016

Have You Met Hieronymus Bosch?

Ciao Readers!

Today I introduce my latest artist obsession – Hieronymus Bosch. Now, I admittedly know very little about Bosch (apparently no one does)*, but what I’ve seen of his works, he deserves much more attention than he gets (plus, how great is his name?). He lived and painted during the Renaissance period (1450 – 1516), and while others were painting lovely Madonnas or venturing as far as “Venus” and “Spring,” Hieronymus was painting fish-headed-demon creatures and cave houses growing from people’s rear-ends (in all fairness, he did also paint some “normal” looking religious scenes).  His art seems to be closer to the surreal genre of Salvador Dalí, who painted almost 500 years later, than to his contemporaries. Where did this guy’s imagination come from?!?!?! You can literally spend hours looking at all the weird creatures in any one of his triptychs (3-paneled paintings) – they are mind-blowing!

I discovered Hieronymus a few years ago and was looking forward with great anticipation to seeing one of his more famous works at the museum in Brugge (The Last Judgment) when we were there in January.  Alas, after we were already in the museum, we learned that The Last Judgement, and almost all of his paintings, are currently on loan to a museum in the Netherlands for the single largest showing of his work ever. (Though the Prado in Madrid was not willing to part with the most famous work – The Garden of Earthly Delights (links to interactive tour!)). I was sooooo disappointed! To help sate my new-found obsession with Bosch, Steve got me a GIANT (11 pounds) book of his complete works for my birthday – so when I learn more I will certainly share, but for now check out a few of his creations (as photographed out of my book, photo 1):

* “Very little is known about the artist Hieronymus Bosch. His date of birth, thoughts, writings, personality, and the meaning of his art have all been lost to time. What is left, though, is a series of paintings that defy the imagination as well as any set art form before him.”  Wikiart.

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by Newmexicotoitaly on February 15, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in Art, Diversions to Other Places
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Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on February 15, 2016

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2016/02/15/have-you-met-hieronymus-bosch/

Five Reasons to Boycott Valentine’s Day

Ciao Readers!

So, today I go off on a tangent (i.e. mini-rant); one of my only posts not about travel or food. I figure, I have this grand public forum, why not totally abuse it?  If you don’t know this about me, I HATE (yes H-A-T-E) Valentine’s Day and have since I was a teenager.  I honestly think it is the worst, most sadistic/masochistic, commercialised abomination ever.  I hope you’ll agree and join my 3-decades long boycott.  Here’s why…. (in no specific order and somewhat redundant)….

  1. No one ends up satisfied.  Seriously, how many people are out there right now building up their expectations for Valentine’s Day and how many people are fretting about the expectations put on them? What percentage of people on February 15 think “YAY, let’s do that again!” v. “Whew, thank goodness that’s over!” or “Boy, am I disappointed!”?
  2. It makes kids feel bad.  Do you remember counting the valentines cards you got in elementary school?  How about the carnations you got in jr. high or high school?  I remember the “popular” girls would all have tons – it took a couple of years to realize they were buying them for each other – they weren’t more loved than us other kids, they just had more spare lunch money and a marketing plan.
  3. It makes adults feel lonely.  If you don’t have that “special someone” to spend Valentine’s Day with you end up feeling left out, sad, lonely, etc. It seems like a day that’s specifically meant to make you feel bad (crappy premise for a holiday, no?!). As I am old and un-hip, I am not 100% certain how this works, but I am guessing this societally-induced feeling leads to alot of poor [tinder?] [grindr?] decisions at about 11:30 p.m.
  4. Big Hallmark owns you.  Seriously, do you need Hallmark to tell you when to express your love, appreciate the people around you, buy your wife flowers, call your mom, and so on?  Okay, maybe you do, but you could revolt and just pick any other day of the year.
  5. The candy is 50% cheaper the next day.  Seriously, same delicious chocolate, half the price.  ‘Nuff said.

Since this post does not readily lend itself to photos, but I’ve learned that photos are de rigueur, I am about to randomly pick some that I think would make good anti-Valentine’s day cards….

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by Newmexicotoitaly on February 9, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversions to Other Places, Uncategorized
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Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on February 9, 2016

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2016/02/09/five-reasons-to-boycott-valentines-day/

Ode to the Perfect Fry

Ciao Readers!  And HAPPY FRIDAY!

Today I wax poetic about the most humble of foods, but one that if done correctly can be elevated to soaring heights of yumminess….the simple fry (or frites).  Probably a remnant of my 1.5 years working at McDonalds as a teenager, I used to think fries were junk food, never really thought much about them, and definitely was too snobby to eat them. Oh, how misguided was I!?!?!

If done correctly (in the European fashion – sorry, yes, they really do kick our butts in the fry department), fries are hot and soft and fluffy in the inside and brown and crisp (never greasy) and slightly salty on the outside. (And by the way, it is most likely that the Belgians, not the French, invented the fry, though Thomas Jefferson and WWI soldiers discovered them in France).  The key is to 1) soak them in water for a few hours before frying (then dry), 2) fry them twice (once on lower heat to cook through, the second time on higher heat to crisp up), and most importantly 3) be patient! – a proper fry is worth waiting a few minutes for it to take its last hot bath in oil (for the love of the gourmet gods, NO heat lamps!).  If you really want to gild the lily, serve with a euro-style mayonnaise sauce and use duck fat or ox fat or some other extraordinarily unhealthy but delectable type of animal fat for the frying (yes, this is coming from a person who was a vegetarian until age 31 – what can I say, I saw the light).  (If you ever happen to be in the area, Duckfat in Portland, Maine makes the perfect duckfat fry.)

Since we’ve been back from our trip Steve has tried to make fries twice – both times successfully, the last time, perfectly!   The pictures in order: Belgium frites in Brugge, French fries in France, frites in Amsterdam, jalapeño fries I MacGyvered in Italy, and last but not least, the fries Steve made last week (insert drool here):

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by Newmexicotoitaly on February 5, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversions to Other Places, Food, Travel Tips
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Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on February 5, 2016

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2016/02/05/ode-to-the-perfect-fry/

Eating and Art in Amsterdam

Ciao Readers!

Today we go back to one of my favorite topics – the art of Van Gogh, with some yummy food thrown in for good measure. Despite catching colds and being rained on for several days, we ate well and overloaded on art while in Amsterdam. Being from land-locked, non-cosmopolitan New Mexico, any opportunity to eat interesting foods (and any from the sea) is a welcome opportunity. And any chance to see great works of art, another score. Instead of going on about everything we saw and did, I wanted to focus on two highlights – our “Rijsttafel” (rice table) dinner and the Munch/Van Gogh comparative exhibit at the Van Gogh Museum.

Rijsttafel – Since Indonesia was a Dutch colony for about 300 years, it’s no surprise that the Dutch gained an affinity for Indonesian food.  However, while the “rice table” is made up of a grand sampling of Indonesian dishes, this way of presenting them is uniquely Dutch.  It was created as a way for Dutch folks to sample dishes from islands all around Indonesia at the same time. And lucky for us! I lost track of how many dishes came out (you can count for yourself, below), but they were each unique and yummy (or at least interesting) in their own way. Some dishes reminded us more of Thai food (chicken in peanut sauce), while others had more of an Indian flare (curried goat).  They all had some level of heat (an added bonus for us chile-loving New Mexicans) and next to the meal in Rouen, it was the second-grandest feast of our trip – Yum!!!

Munch/Van Gogh Exhibit –  Man, I really have a hard time wrapping my brain around how I went from being someone without a passport to someone who has been to the Van Gogh Museum 4 times in the past 8 years!!!  Since I’ve gone on about Van Gogh in several posts, I’ll stick to the unique exhibit we just happened to catch during its final week in Amsterdam –  “Munch: Van Gogh.”  The exhibit focussed on the parallels between the two artists, who, while painting about the same time and some of the same subject matter, never actually met. One really cool thing was there was a TON of paintings on loan from the Munch Museum in Oslo, including one of the iconic “The Scream“-s (though since it’s done in crayon, I guess it’s not technically a “painting”).  The other cool things was, in addition to the hundreds of Van Gogh’s usually at the museum, they had many more on loan from around the world (including one from the Kröller-Müller Museum we’d been to the day before).  It was such an overload of amazing art that they actually had Stendhal syndrome boxes you could close yourself in to calm down!  All in all, between the Kröller-Müller Museum, the usual Van Gogh’s on exhibit and the on-loan Van Gogh’s, I think we saw almost 300 Van Gogh’s on this trip!!!

Pictures of Amsterdam, the rice table, a Munch/Van Gogh self portrait comparison (the one picture Steve was able to take before being reprimanded – unlike the Kröller-Müller, no photos allowed), and some seafood thrown in for good measure….enjoy:

 

2 Comments
by Newmexicotoitaly on February 2, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in Art, Diversions to Other Places, Food, Travel Tips
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Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on February 2, 2016

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2016/02/02/eating-and-art-in-amsterdam/

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