A Saturday Song...

Do you know that feeling when you wake up...and before you open your eyes...you are trying to figure out what day it is.  And when you figure it out...and it's Saturday...you sink back into your pillow, and close your eyes once again. 

I LOVE that feeling : )

I hope you have a wonderful weekend : )

The Friday Five...

{ Mother's Day spent in Old Salem...a very nice surprise }

{ Binoculars? Check! Sheriff's Badge? Check! Cowboy boots? Check! Gypsy skirt?
Check! Random ribbon typed about your waist? Check!  Ok. Let's go : )  }

{ I fell in love with these typeset letters at the Old Salem printing press }

{ learned how to make home made oatmeal creme pies...definitely going to make ASAP }

{ watching pewter spoons being pouring and polished...the patience that goes into one spoon is amazing }

What are Your Five?

Fabulous Food: Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe is inspired by the Mexico City style soup I used to eat at Houston's restaurant in Kansas City.  It had a light chicken broth base with tons of fresh veggies.  All the traditional flavors that I love were there, but the soup was not too heavy to eat on warm days.  

For this recipe, I combined my favorite elements of the Mexico City soup- fresh corn, zucchini, avocado and a light broth base...and my favorite elements of a traditional tortilla soup- black beans, shredded chicken and a smoky green chile flavor...to create one of my favorite soups to eat right now-  Chicken Tortilla soup (Mexico City style). 

The ingredients:

2 cups chicken boiled and shredded
2 small sized zucchini diced (approximately 1 cup)
1 medium sweet onion diced (approximately 1 cup)
2 cups of fresh corn cut from the cob
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
2 cans of diced tomatoes with mild chiles
2 cups white rice cooked
5 cups chicken broth
1-2 tsp taco seasoning or your favorite Mexican seasoning
1 Tbsp olive oil
serve with shredded cheddar cheese and tortilla chips

Directions:

1) Boil the chicken in salted water.  Drain and shred the chicken and then set it aside.  Prepare the rice per the directions and set aside. 

2) Saute the onion in the olive oil until it is tender and slightly translucent.  Add the zucchini and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until the zucchini is heated through, but still crunchy.

3) In a large pot, combine the onion, zucchini, tomatoes, black beans, corn, rice, chicken and chicken broth.  Stir together until well combined.  Add the taco seasoning.  I like a more light and fresh taste to my soup, so I usually use 1 tsp.  Feel free to add more to fit your taste.

4) Simmer soup for 15 minutes and then it's done.  If you want it to be more soupy, add an additional cup of chicken broth and a little bit more seasoning.  

Serve the soup topped with cheddar cheese and cubed avocado.  You can also sprinkle tortilla chips on top, or you can scoop it, like I  do : )

This soup is very light.  It has a slight sweetness to it, with a small kick of spice at the end.  It's very, very good and easy enough to make after a long day at work.   

Have you ever "experienced" art?

About a month ago, I wrote about Marina Abramovic's performance piece called The Artist is Present.  In this piece, she was reunited with a long lost love, and we all got to experience the moment with her (you can see it here).  This moment was obviously emotional...so much so, that I almost forgot about the experiences of the 1500 other people who sat across from her during the 3 months, or 716 hours and 30 minutes, she sat in the Met's atrium.  

There is a new tumblr page dedicated to all the people who had an emotional experience staring into Marina's eyes.  The page is appropriately named "Marina Abramovic Made Me Cry".  Just looking at some of these photos, I begin to tear up. I have never participated in a piece of artwork like this, but I have been moved to tears while experiencing art...many times.  

One has to wonder what these people were thinking...and feeling...the moment they could not hold back the tears.

Art moves me greatly, and doing a weekly Artist Spotlight post has made me cry more than usual, which is a lot : ) 

In recent memory, my most memorable cry was standing in front of Edouard Manet's painting Olympia in the Musee D'Orsay in Paris, France.  I think Jason may have been a bit embarrassed, but I stood there in front of that massive painting...knowing the woman who I was looking at.  Knowing that she was a painter herself.  Knowing that the closest she was ever going to get to the Salon, was to be a model...and muse...for the master Manet.  Knowing that when this painting debuted at the Salon in 1865, she was perceived to be a prostitute instead of one of the hundreds of nudes gracing the Salon at the time.  I like to think that her brazen gaze was announcing to society that she was comfortable in her own skin, and that for the first time, these people were being stared at as they stared at her naked body.  I LOVED her as soon as I saw her, and I LOVED Manet for giving her the gaze that got his painting banished to the darkest halls of the Salon.  

So, I stood there and cried...while most just saw another nude : ) That is the beautiful role art plays in our lives. 

Have you ever begun to cry while experiencing art?

(all photos are by Marco Anelli, from his book Portraits in the Presence of Marina Abramovic © 2010 via the Tumblr page Marina Abramovic Made Me Cry)