October 8, 2019 · 5:59 pm

Check out the Wangechi Mutu sculpture at the MET – NYC

(After the fact post)

You don’t even have to go into NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art  to see these four new haunting sculptures. They’re in the four niches of the MET’s facade — the first time that sculpture has been placed in them.

The commission went to Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu, whose work I know from the Des Moines Art Center where her Water Woman sculpture of an enticing and somewhat menacing mermaid/siren is a big hit with the fourth-graders I take on tours.  The Met installation is temporary so see it while you can!

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October 8, 2019 · 3:20 am

DUMBO, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the East River Ferry – Brooklyn!

What a glorious day in Brooklyn’s DUMBO (“Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”) neighborhood. Now I understand what the fuss is all about. Last time I explorer the old cobblestone streets and warehouses in the rabbit warren of streets between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, I didn’t find much going on. Flash forward several years and the place is full of people, strolling along Brooklyn Bridge Park, with it’s great views of the bridges, lower Manhattan and even the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Old brick warehouses are now home to trendy shops (Empire Stores, The Modern Chemist), food courts (TimeOut market in Empire Stores), coffee roasters (Brooklyn Roasting Co.), bookstores (Powerhouse Arena/books) and theaters.  (And now I know where Bargemusic – the outdoor music venue – is. And the venerable St. Ann’s Warehouse theatre, where I sat at an outdoor table in a lovely courtyard in the shell of an old brick building, looking out at the water.)

I bought some excellent Thai food at a food truck and ate in the Pearl Street Triangle picnic area,  carved out of a patch of street beside the massive Manhattan Bridge, with the subway rumbling by high above.. Another cool picnic area nearby is the Archway Under Manhattan Bridge.

I took a New York ferry (for a whopping $2.75) that stopped at several Brooklyn spots before the final stop at East 34th street (which was a bit of an odd drop off, right by the midtown tunnel but I walked to Third Avenue and hopped a bus to the upper east side.)

Met some nice people on the ferry including a young family from Argentina and a woman from Montana. Several ferry options are available and the pier is next to the venerable River Cafe (where we attended a bar mitzvah about 30 years ago) and a stand next door that touted famous lobster rolls. (Next trip!)

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October 6, 2019 · 11:49 pm

Amy Sherold show, Mission Ceviche, Fabrique Bakery, High Line, Hudson Yards, Central synagogue – nyc on a fall day

Is there anywhere like New York city on a sunny fall day? The place was humming with activity, crowds of people outside everywhere enjoying the sights and sounds of a vibrant city.

After a quick direct morning flight from DSM (thank you delta) we had an afternoon to play in the city. What a treat! We took the 6 train south from the upper east side where we are staying at my aunt S’s apartment to 14th Street, stopped at The Strand bookstore (where I did find a copy of a 20-year old book about Vietnam that I hoped to find, except it was hardback), and then walked west along 12th street (relatively quiet and charming compared to 14th), past 5th Avenue (and One Fifth Avenue, where my parents had their wedding) thru Greenwich village to Gansevoort market, where we had delicious ceviche bowls at a Peruvian stand, Mission Ceviche, sitting on seats around the cooks. Across the street, we bought cardamom buns at Fabrique, the first nyc outpost of the bakery we discovered last summer in Stockholm.

The High Line seemed narrower and even more jam packed than usual, which added to the excitement and frustration. Many people speaking foreign languages. Stunning plantings, art installations, architecture, city and river views from on high. Very slow walkers (and I am not exactly fast.)

The eight Amy Sherold portraits of ordinary striking black people (not Michelle Obama this time) jumped off the stark white walls of the large airy open gallery on 22nd street. Stunning. As with the Obama portraits in DC at the National Portrait gallery, I saw black people in particular posing next to these portraits, which I found moving.

We continue north on the High Line to the glittering new colossus of Hudson Yards, which felt like a cross between a Batman set and Disneyland, with huge hulking dramatic buildings and skyscrapers and a copper-colored tower of tunneled walkways that tourists and presumably locals were lining up to walk up and up and down and down. Overwhelming and disorienting and showy and unnecessary are the words that came to mind. (Here’s a promo blurb: Hudson Yards is unlike anything ever built before — a living, breathing neighborhood that champions first-to-New York experiences. Climb Vessel, the interactive centerpiece of Hudson Yards. Visit The Shed, a new center for art and inspiration. Or take in the scene from thrilling new heights on Edge — an outdoor space a thousand feet in the air.)

For a far more charming encounter with architecture, we sat in the ornate cavernous Moorish Central Synagogue and enjoyed the gorgeous singing and ceremony of a Shabbat service (we are here for a family bat mitzvah). Also was relieved, sadly, that we had to go through a metal detector to get into the sanctuary.

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October 2, 2019 · 5:52 pm

For future reference: WaPo travel story on San Miguel de Allende in Mexico

Unlike many Americans, I haven’t been to Mexico much — only to the border town ot Nogales, an easy drive from Tucson where we used to visit my dad. But I’m getting  a little more interested in the place — especially in visiting the colonial town, San Miguel de Allende.

Here’s a helpful story about it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/in-central-mexico-a-retreat-thats-perfect-for-families/2019/06/13/130d39b6-86fb-11e9-a870-b9c411dc4312_story.html

 

Far from the packed resort beaches of Cancun, Cabo’s nonstop party atmosphere and the hipsterdom of Tulum, San Miguel de Allende exists as its own singular slice of Mexican life. Located in the state of Guanajuato, 170 miles north of Mexico City, it boasts cobblestone streets and colonial architecture, giving visitors the impression they’ve stepped out of time. It’s helpful to know traveler’s Spanish when making deals at the market or figuring out your lunch order, but there’s a large community of retired Americans, so the locals are used to English speakers. Overall, San Miguel de Allende is easy to navigate, safe and rich with activities — an ideal family vacation destination.

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September 30, 2019 · 3:29 pm

Another annual Iowa farm tour – this time Union and Madison Counties (with a quick drive through Earlham)

We enjoyed the annual Iowa farm tour so much last year that we did it again this year — picking a different area of the state. This time we headed southwest, to Union and Madison Counties.  Very pretty rural countryside, more hilly than in central Iowa around Story County where we went last year.

Millie, our lab, came with us again and enjoyed sniffing around the old barns. The first we visited was a 19th century red wood beauty we finally found (GPS kept sending us to dead ends) in a little c county historical village in the small city of Creston. The “(New) Union County Barn” aka “Harris Barn” built in 1896 had been relocated from the countryside so it felt a little less authentic but inside, it was the real deal, with old dairy equipment, wood stalls for animals, a high hayloft and a rope, presumably to swing in the hayloft. (Or hoist hay bales into the loft.) (We’re told it’s:  a perfect example of post and beam construction with diagonal braces. Horizontal cladding is rare and is associated with Civil War veterans.

Next stop, two barns in Madison County, the first west of town on Highway 96. A nice woman showed us around inside the big white 19th century barn with a pretty cupola atop. She even pointed out the dead cat hanging from the rafters that she reported noticing early in the morning but didn’t want to deal with it.

North of Winterset, on Highway 169 just north of the Winterset Cidery, we stopped at our last barn — the McBroom-Hargis barn, five miles south of I-80, an enormous red barn  sitting on the edge of the highway and part of a country estate with several buildings that appeared to be old but were actually new-ish construction. The owner is apparently a talented carpenter — and we marveled at two miniature toy barns inside the big old barn. An 1884 story in the local newspaper referred to it as “the largest barn in this part of the county.” It has a wooden track, post and beam, pegs and was designed by I.F. Carter of De Soto.  More photos here.

We also drove at the onset through the town of Earlham — and spotted the Restaurant the Hare and the Hound there, which I’ve had on my list for awhile. It’s next to RJ Home (RJ stands for Rescued Junk) which sells vintage, salvaged, junk items one weekend a month.  We went once several years ago and didn’t find much but it was a fun outing and worth another visit, especially with the restaurant nearby.

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September 27, 2019 · 3:21 pm

Spring Road Trip option: Bentonville Arkansas to see The Crystal Bridges’ Museum’s new ancillary art space, The Momentary, and its latest State of the Art exhibit

21C Museum Hotel in Bentonville

We’ve been to the fabulous Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville twice (2012, 2018) since it opened in 2011  and it looks like we need to go a third time, maybe spring 2020 to see the “State of the Art II” exhibit next year — and a new ancillary exhibit space, The Momentary, opening in a former cheese factory. Bentonville also has a another art space, the 21c Museum Hotel which has contemporary art exhibits (Des Moines is supposed to get one of these hotels sometime soon!) A PBS documentary that aired in spring 2019 on the museum’s first State of the Art Exhibit is available for streaming here.

More details here. https://themomentary.org/crystal-bridges-museum-of-american-art-announces-new-developments-for-its-state-of-the-art-exhibition/

Crystal Bridges Museum 2018

State of the Art Documentary on PBS

Remember the State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now exhibition at Crystal Bridges? It was based on a journey in which museum curators visited over 1,000 artists across the country and created an exhibition featuring 102 of these artists whose work had not yet been recognized on a national level. This groundbreaking exhibition is now the subject of a one-hour documentary produced by the Arkansas Educational Television Network premiering nationally on PBS Friday evening, April 26th (2019). Filmmakers Brent and Craig Renaud captured the personal stories of seven diverse artists featured in State of the Art, traveling from the woods of North Carolina to the deserts of Nevada, the backstreets of Pittsburgh to the foothills of Arkansas and the riverbanks of New Orleans.

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September 26, 2019 · 3:35 pm

For future reference: Malta

A friend from Malta who somehow ended up living in Des Moines recommended these travel stories for people contemplating a visit to her beautiful country. I also learned that you can hop a ferry from Malta to Sicily — all the more reason to visit. (We visited Sicily six years ago and loved it.)

4 days in Malta: A Malta itinerary on things to do in Malta without a car

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September 25, 2019 · 7:14 pm

When next in Omaha – Farine & Four, Time Out Foods, Block 16.

This courtesy of the NYTime’s Sam Sifton: (although I gotta say, I DO know what crag rangoon is (after 30 years living in the vicinity of Nebraska) and putting it on a burger sounds, well, awful.

 

Good morning. I was in Omaha over the weekend, talking food and culture with the good folks of Lauritzen Gardens and driving around town with Sarah Baker Hansen, the food critic for the Omaha World-Herald. We drank tall lattes from Archetype and ate ridiculously good focaccia at Farine and Four, then woofed down fried chicken for elevenses at Time Out Foods in advance of lunch at Block 16, downtown. Later there were slabs of Flintstone’s-style beef from Omaha Steaks.
It was a wild day of eating, and if I remain haunted by the Time Out chicken and the size-large T-bones, it’s the food of Paul and Jessica Urban at Block 16 that I’ll be messing around with in my kitchen at home, no-recipe cooking to recall their sly, joyful takes on late-night Midwestern restaurant food. First up, their Three Happiness burger, named for a local Chinese restaurant known for its crab Rangoon — fried won ton dumplings filled with crab-flecked cream cheese.
The Urbans cover a griddled burger with that filling, top it with a stir-fried coleslaw and chile sauce, and serve it on a soft sesame-seed bun. This is shockingly delicious even if you are not inebriated — even if you’ve never heard of crab Rangoon! —

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September 25, 2019 · 3:12 am

Super 8 in LeClaire/Helix Cafe in Chicago

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Linus Paul

(Posted a few days late) We are in Chicago yet again to see our new grandson Linus, now 3 weeks old. We haven’t done much beyond what we came to do, which is to hold Linus and stare at him in wonder.

The “Wanda Isabelle”

En route, we stayed in the lovely Mississippi River town of LeClaire, Iowa and the unlovely Super 8 (lumpy pillows, a noisy portable frig that was loud enough to keep me up). In Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, home to Linus and parents, we went on walks with and with our baby and pugs and E&R, stopping once briefly at the Helix Cafe on Clark, with a big used bookstore next door.

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September 21, 2019 · 9:16 pm

Next visit to Detroit — Ochre Bakeryp

Just read that Ochre Bakery in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood has landed on Bon Appetite’s 10 best new restaurants in the U.S. (Details below). So hope to visit. It appears to be not far from Woodward Ave. (my main reference point), west of the Shinola Detroit Store and the Wayne State U. campus. Now if I can only figure out a way to hear the Detroit Youth Choir, which recently took America’s Got Talent by storm!

 

8:43 a.m. I’m at Ochre Bakery, and the first thing I’m eating today is a danish, the crumbly, deep-golden pastry barely holding on to the squiggles of still-juicy rhubarb in the center.

8:46 a.m. Watching the guy behind the counter make a cortado, I realize that this is as much a Serious Coffee Shop as it is a bakery, which makes sense given that it’s owned by Jessica Hicks and Daisuke Hughes, the same people behind Detroit’s much-loved Astro Coffee. I’m getting lost in the idea that I could live in Detroit and this could be my coffee shop and I could eat this Danish every morning when…

8:57 a.m. My plate of scrambled eggs shows up, but to call it a plate of scrambled eggs is kind of rude given that it’s eggs softly scrambled with turmeric; tzatziki with slivers of kohlrabi; a big pile of bitter greens; a very generous serving of very good butter; two holey slices of country bread; and a tiny handmade ceramic bowl of cumin seeds, Aleppo-style pepper, and flaky salt that I can sprinkle over whatever I like.

8:58 a.m. Can we talk about this bread? I was so fixated on the pastry case, I didn’t notice the room behind the counter where cult local baker Max Leonard babysits the sourdoughs. So not only does this place turn out pastries and coffee and savory food at the highest level, but there’s also a high-key bread program?

9:18 a.m. I’m the person taking pictures of the blue and ochre (duh) tiles hand-painted by Hicks.

9:28 a.m. Yeah, I’m going to need a slice of the lemon-pistachio loaf cake, a piece of the chocolate banana bread, and one of every cookie (espresso shortbread, chocolate-hazelnut, oaty Anzac) to go. Or maybe I’ll just never leave. —J.K.

Wanna try Ochre Bakery’s food? Get tickets to the Hot 10 party.

THE PLAYERS: Chef-owners Jessica Hicks and Daisuke Hughes

THE SETUP: The dream of a sun-soaked bakery/café

THE ORDER: Spiced scrambled eggs with tzatziki, a seasonal Danish, and an Anzac cookie

THE MOVE: Grab one of everything from the pastry case to go—and a loaf of bread too.

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