new images

kudos and brickbats

Had two wonderful classes at Amore Beads in Coral Spring, Florida. This is a very new bead shop and Linda has put together a great looking space just chocked full of goodies. The classes were about half and half (half residents of the area and half snow birds). It is always fun to teach eager, skilled people new techniques. Linda is looking to schedule several more classes in November so that I can stop on my way to Clay Quest in St. Marys, Georgia. Give her a call at 954-227-1115 for directions and tell her I sent you.

In case you didn't know it, there is incredible competition among bead shops. Whenever a shop books a teacher they demand an exclusive arrangement for a fifty mile radius. This makes it hard for a new shop to book teachers and attract customers. It just so happens all the classes I taught in the area previously were private and a friend introduced me to Linda.

Vintage Lady 1
284-001H

Well the third annual Creative Palette has come and gone. If anything it was even better than last year and the weather was gorgeous. Lots of classes, lots of vendors and the feeding frenzy continued and I sold all of my amulet bags and most of my beaded bracelets and necklaces. As amulet bag collectors go, Luke now leads the pack with eight. I have this image of her wearing them all at once and looking a little like Mark Spitz on the cover of Life magazine after he won seven medals at the Olympics.

If you ever find yourself north of Jacksonville, Florida you owe yourself a trip to see Paula Amari at Old Town Crafts in St. Marys, Georgia. The store is so full of stuff that I have visions of it exploding one day. Check our her web site.

The classes scheduled at Stampers Anomymous in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in March did not work out. Celia just could not generate enough interest.

Vintage Lady 2
284-002H

the rub and buff caper

I have a vision of the agent arriving home after work and saying “Hi honey, look what I got for you.”

pewter and other cool stuff

Expression magazine has featured my pewter faces in the New Tools section of the latest issue. Also a number of major artists, including Lisa Pavelka (a major polymer clay artist) and Kathy Riker (a major gourd artist) are using my pewter faces and charms in projects that will appear in their newest books, due out early next year. Presenting new and different project ideas is always a challenge for an author and several artists who saw the faces at various shows say they were inspired to go in new directions. Lisa is also using the faces in the next project she is taping for the Carol Duvall Show.

As I mentioned a while ago I have been quite taken with gourds. In St. Marys last month I taught a two classes using them. Working with my friend Carla Bratt (aunt of Benjamin Bratt of Law and Order fame), who is a major gourd artist and is in like a bazillion galleries and sells tons, I am pushing the gourd envelope. Be prepared for some of the coolest stuff I have ever done. There will be some kickin' classes coming out of this as well. Check out Karla's web site

While we are on the subject of gourds, I will be teaching two gourd-oriented classes at Art Unraveled in Phoenix in August (Art Unraveled web site). One is the Gourd Evening Purse and the other is Huichol Bead Work on a Pendant (this project uses seed beads but no needle and thread.

For the purse we will be using all the good stuff you already have like re- inkers, stamps, acrylic paint, foil, etc. You'll also learn knotless netting for the top of the piece. The class at The Creative Palette made knock-your-socks-off bags.

Vintage Lady 3
284-003H

bistro hun

With all this as a preface I thought I would give you my usual unadulterated views, this time on some of the on-air chefs. Here goes The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Cooking With Kylie Kwong – An exuberant Australian, with her own restaurant (in Sidney). You really believe that she loves cooking for people. No surprise that she has a strong bent on Asian techniques and flavors, but she blends them well with western food. She is simple and direct, with excellent technique, that produces fully flavored food that will start your fire. Artfully produced from food styling to cinematography. One of the few TV cooks who actually smell and taste the food they prepare.

Every Day Italian – Giada (pronounced Jada) de Lorentis is a pretty, very skinny (hate her), lively cook who presents simple, flavorable and easy Italian-influenced recipes. She is not afraid to use pre-prepared ingredients like store-bought ravioli or lady fingers. Needs work on her limited adjectives and knife skills.

Tyler's Ultimate – Tyler Florence, housewife heartthrob and professional chef is as good looking as he is enthusiastic. The format is to pick an everyday dish, such as cheesecake or mashed potatoes, and show the approach of a European and an American cook. Then Tyler takes the best aspects of each and prepares his own.

Jacque Pepin – Without question the best chef on TV and the best technician I have ever seen (after all these years I just learned the proper way to crack an egg). Also a noted food historian with a masters in French literature from Columbia, Jacque started his career as a Comise at 14. He is the MAN and does it without being stuffy (in fact he is so charming you want to give him a hug). His two books on technique are classics.

Julia Childs – The recently deceased doyen of the American food scene. JC (and to foodies she was) was knowledgeable, charming in a strange sort of way, and increasingly curmudgeonly as the years past. It was JC who started me on the path to cooking when back in grad school days I was home with a cold and being bored, turned the TV on. She has two shows constantly repeating on various PBS channels; Baking with… and In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs, both dating from the mid ‘90s. These shows are the best produced of all cooking shows; clarity, continuity, camera angles. From Flo Breaker to Charlie Trotter complete dishes with no shortcuts and flawless technique. There is no pandering to the home cook and some shows are so complicated a pro would blanch. You will get a culinary degree from just watching.

Some interesting shows that are more about food than cooking.

Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares – Ramsey, the enfant terrible of the London restaurant scene, is invited to revive a failing restaurant somewhere in the UK each week. It makes you think twice about why people actually start a restaurant since they invariably have not a clue about running one. Also you will never watch a show with more BLEEPS in the dialogue than this one.

Rosemary: Queen of the Kitchen – A very rotund cooking teacher from England comes to the US to teach neophytes how to prepare restaurant level meals. Her shtick is verbally dressing down and embarrassing the fledgling cooks and hitting them with her spatula.

Cookin' In Brooklyn – Fun, fast, sloppy - the epitome of guerilla cooking.

Ermerald Legassie – The class clown. I simply cannot see the entertainment value in his show much less the culinary value as no one would want to watch for the recipes or techniques as he is sloppy and leaves out stuff.

Alton Brown – Not really bad but his shtick gets in the way of his conveyance of information. He is not a comedian and his antics are not funny. Epitomizes every thing that is wrong with the Food Network.

Rachel Ray – Should be arrested for being too perky. Asks questions of her guests but doesn't wait for the answers. Has no palate, if it's made by a celebrity it's terrific.

Iron Chef – The Japanese original was a deserved cult classic. The first knockoff with William Shatner was horrible. The new incarnation has almost got it right. And Bobby Flay deserved to lose his first two match ups.

Jacque Torres Chocolate – Watch only to be amazed at how he builds an entire gas station, Inuit village or life sized Atlas booster rocket out of white and dark chocolate.

Wolfgang Puck – Hopefully a better cook than a teacher.

That's all for now!
Roberta