Poodle Time!-Miscellany

Wonderful Vintage wallpaper

We have made it through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and I know that all of our minds are on Christmas and Hanukah. 

We have holiday posts planned, but for today I am going to just put up a collection of images that just don't really fit into any category. I just really like them. So without further yak-yak, here they are:

Boy was Prince Rupert's constant companion until the dog's death at the Battle of Marston Moor (2 July 1644)

My dream is to design a modern day version of this vintage sweater.

 Sophia and I actually got kicked out of a gallery-Lucky woman.

I love this-Poodle goes Victorian

Neat fashion illustration

A dedication to my favorite period in design-Mid-Century Modern

Sophia in Richard Schultz Chair for Knoll, circa 1960's 
(the chair, not the poodle)

Arts Alive in Kansas City

Art and Culture is alive and well in Kansas City, Missouri. One way to explore this varied cultural life is through Arts Alive. Once a month this group explores visual art (including private art collections), music, theatre, and dance. There is always great food to accompany the events. 

The price for this unique experience is only $25.00. This is a deal folks. We live an hour from the city and drive up for these events. 

Let me share our last outing. The group went on an art crawl in the West Bottoms. The first stop on our journey was Amigoni Urban Winery. We tried a sample of their wine with snacks and picked up our main event ticket. Main event tickets are always at the first venue stop.

Amigoni's vineyards are located near Warrensburg, Missouri. They make their
wines in The Drover Telegraph Building in the West Bottoms.

The next stop was the Bill Brady Gallery which is next door to the winery. 

The Bill Brady Gallery has a wonderful space for showing large and small works. It is a
great use for a west bottom abandoned building.

The Dolphin Gallery was next on the list. An incredible selection of food and drink was waiting for us. Food is always well selected by the Arts Alive board. No one had an excuse for going hungry that night. 

Exterior of the Dolphin Gallery

After we ate and enjoyed the galleries at Dolphin, there was one more gallery to visit before going to the main event. This was  PLUG Projects. 

"PLUG PROJECTS is a curatorial collaboration by four Kansas City artists who share the mission of bringing fresh perspectives and conversation to the local art community. Our goal is to energize artists and the public at large by exhibiting challenging new work, initiating critical dialogue, and expanding connections of artists in Kansas City as part of a wider, national network of artists."-quoted from the PLUG Project website. 

Our last and main event was two hours of live jazz with Megan Birdsall and some of the best jazz musicians in KC. It was held at the former R bar now run by Moxie Catering. 

Interior of R Bar

What's Happening This Month

On Friday December 17th, Arts Alive is having a double venue. We will start out at Studio and home of Jason Pollen, former head of the fiber department of Kansas City Art Institute and then will head over to the Unicorn Theater to see "Inspecting Carol". There will be only 70 tickets up for grabs. Private resident viewings always have about half the regular amount of tickets available. This outing will sell out quickly. If you want to go, act fast. I already have my tickets! May sure you have a PayPal account. It is the only way to pay for Arts Alive events. 

Visit the Arts Alive website to read all about the group and check out the event for yourself. It is a great all around art experience.

There is no membership fee or meetings to attend, (unless you want to volunteer for the board). You just need to buy a ticket and go. 

Poodle Time! The Colorful Abstract Poodles

It is time for another "Art Wednesday".

I have wanted to do a collection of modern abstract art inspired by Poodles for a while. My criteria for selection was that an artist made a personal statement which was inspired by Poodles.  Use of design and color was also considered   

 Links have been added if pieces are available for purchase or if there is information about the artist. May these Poodles brighten up your day. And Happy Thanksgiving!

Today's Gallery

By Sandra Cointreau. I don't think this is available at this time.
Her website has many other wonderful works by her.

Collage Poodle by Amanda Beckman. This image is from Spread-shirt.
Amanda Beckman's website can be found here

Pop Poodles by Laura Sotka-This work can be purchased at Dog-Art

Whimsical French Poodle by Jo Lynch. This print can
be purchased at Fine Art America

Prize Poodle by Peter Clark. He is represented by the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London.
Examples of other works can be found there. 

This looks to be a fun time on Photoshop. It is along the Warhol theme. I
might try this with one of my Poodle pictures.

The Flower Power Poodle-This can be found at Deposit Photos

Sort of a modern folk art take on the Poodle. This artist's works can
be found on Ebay

And speaking of color Mom, it is time for my mani. Look at my nails. I want to
look good for Thanksgiving!

Lucienne Day's Tea Towels

This is the time of the year to dust off recipes, get back into the kitchen and cook, cook, cook.

Batterie de Cuisine-If restocked,
 is available at the
twentytwentyone shop.

With this in mind, today's post is a gallery of Lucienne Day designed tea towels. Through the wonders of digital reproduction, some of her towels are available today. 

At the moment, the only shop that I can find them is twentytwentyone in Britain. Unfortunately, they are out of stock. When available they are £16.50 or about $26.00. I am not sure about the shipping. 

Other Tea Towels In Current Production

Night and Day

Provencal

Too Many Cooks

Gallery of Out of Print Tea Towels

Pears & Cooks Illustrated

This was one my first blogs.  But it's cooking season again, so I decided to dust it off and republish. 

We subscribe to the Cooks Illustrated website. My Pear Crisp 
came from the members’ only section. My daughter also made another Pear Crisp from the site so I am going to list both recipes. Her's had an Oat topping and mine had the nut topping. I like this web site.  Not only can I read the monthly magazine from this site but there are videos, equipment reviews and more. When I want a never fail and well researched recipe, this is where I go. 

Lately, some recipes are blocked unless you want to upgrade your membership. I don't like this and limit myself to dishes that are included with the regular membership.

I served frozen yogurt with my Crisp. That added to the "yum" factor. Michael says that our tree is a Bartlett. I think I remember reading that CI liked them the best in cooking.

Pear Crisp

Serves 6. Published September 1, 2007.

The test kitchen prefers a crisp made with Bartlett pears, but Bosc pears can also be used. The pears should be ripe but firm, which means the flesh at the base of the stem should give slightly when gently pressed with a finger. Bartlett pears will turn from green to greenish-yellow when ripe. Although almost any unsalted nut may be used in the topping, we prefer almonds or pecans. Serve the crisp with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

3/4	cup coarsely chopped nuts (3 ounces), see note above-I used Almonds
1/2	cup unbleached all-purpose flour (2 1/2 ounces)
1/4	cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
4	tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8	teaspoon ground nutmeg
	Table salt
5	tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled
1	teaspoon cornstarch
2	teaspoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
3	pounds ripe but firm pears (6-7 medium), see note above

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Process nuts, flour, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in food processor until nuts are finely chopped, about nine 1-second pulses. Drizzle butter over flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles crumbly wet sand, about five 1-second pulses, pausing halfway through to scrape down sides and bottom of workbowl. Set aside while preparing fruit.
2. 2. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and pinch of salt together in large bowl. Peel pears, then halve and core each (see illustrations below). Cut each half into 4 wedges and then cut in half crosswise (pieces should be about 1 1/2 inches). Gently toss pears with sugar mixture and transfer to 8-inch-square baking dish.
3. 3. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Bake until fruit is bubbling around edges and topping is deep golden brown, 27 to 32 minutes. Cool on wire rack until warm, at least 15 minutes, and serve.

This is the recipe that Michelle used. I have not talked with her to see how she liked it.

Pear Crisp With Oat Topping

Serves 6. Published September 1, 2007.

The test kitchen prefers a crisp made with Bartlett pears, but Bosc pears can also be used. The pears should be ripe but firm, which means the flesh at the base of the stem should give slightly when gently pressed with a finger. Bartlett pears will turn from green to greenish-yellow when ripe. Although almost any unsalted nut may be used in the topping, we prefer almonds or pecans. Serve the crisp with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

1/2	cup coarsely chopped nuts , see note above
1/2	cup unbleached all-purpose flour (2 1/2 ounces)
1/4	cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
4	tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8	teaspoon ground nutmeg
	Table salt
6	tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled
1/2	cup old-fashioned oats
1	teaspoon cornstarch
2	teaspoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
3	pounds ripe but firm pears (6-7 medium), see note above

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Process nuts, flour, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in food processor until nuts are finely chopped, about nine 1-second pulses. Drizzle butter over flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles crumbly wet sand, about five 1-second pulses, pausing halfway through to scrape down sides and bottom of workbowl. Add oats to food processor and process until evenly incorporated, about three 1-second pulses. Set aside while preparing fruit.
2. 2. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and pinch of salt together in large bowl. Peel pears, then halve and core each (see illustrations below). Cut each half into 4 wedges and then cut in half crosswise (pieces should be about 1 1/2 inches). Gently toss pears with sugar mixture and transfer to 8-inch-square baking dish.
3. 3. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Bake until fruit is bubbling around edges and topping is deep golden brown, 27 to 32 minutes. Cool on wire rack until warm, at least 15 minutes, and serve.

Poodle Time! Poodle In The Kitchen

Cooking season is steaming towards us.

Vintage linen tea towel from my personal collection

 I am sure many have had their executive meetings to figure out who is making what (for at least Thanksgiving). It is time to dust off the tried and true favorite recipes and maybe throw in some new ones to stir things up.

With the holidays coming, I explored how to add a little Poodle to the kitchen.  Here are a few ideas from online shops.

A smart looking tea towel-found at Cupcake Provocateur

Retro inspired kitchen apron from Jessica Steele-can be found at Elizabeth's Embellishments

Le Woof Plate from Anthropologie

This is a poor picture but a great cookie cutter-it's copper and
yes a bit pricy for a cookie cutter.  I found it at
Copper Gifts

Try to make clean up as fun as possible with some outrageous Poodle gloves.
You can get a pair at Wayfair.

And maybe your furry kid needs to lose a few ounces after the holidays? We have found a great idea for Niko. It's the Kibble Nibble. Here's a short video of him and it in action. 

I purchased his at our vet's, but Premier Pet has a huge selection of interactive toys. The Magic Mushroom looks to be next on our list.

Our Museum-The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

A knitted purse from Germany dated from 1814-1840. Read about it here.

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is part of our wonderful national treasure, the Smithsonian Institution. The Cooper-Hewitt is America's design museum and--good news!--it is becoming easily accessible to students of design worldwide. Recently, the Cooper-Hewitt began displaying its collection on the Internet. 

At this time (Fall, 2012) nearly 60% of the collection is up. That is a lot of significant design, ladies and gentlemen.

This effort by the museum to make the collection accessible is an Internet Alpha program--which means there may be a few glitches yet in the presentation. Rather than waiting for everything to work smoothly, and keeping access limited, they went ahead with open access to the public. While they continue to work out possible bugs, you might end up at some dead ends. So far, I haven't.

Works may be viewed by media, countries, artists, periods, or just at random. It's like a huge Pinterest of beautiful things quite likely to inspire--so be careful! I think this site is a lot of fun: there's such a bounty of fascinating things. But having said that, it does takes a little work to navigate the site. Things aren't listed like Google Images. 

Perhaps the easiest way, and for me feels like my daily-cup-of-design, is the Cooper-Hewitt "Object Of The Day". I am hooked. "Object Of The Day" is not a blog, so it needs to be bookmarked on your browser. If you miss a day or two, no biggie. All objects are in a chronological list to make catch up easy. At the end of the page, there's a way to sign up for their design newsletter.

A Sampling From The Cooper-Hewitt

These are just a few that I really liked. I am sure you will find many of your own. Two notes: many of the objects are "sleeping," which means that they are resting in storage and not on view for the visiting public. So for most of us, the only way to appreciate them is virtually over the Internet. Also, these objects are from all over the world. We can be inspired by numerous cultures from about any century. 

Woman's gloves from Spain-dated circa 1800-1829. Read about them here.

A Japanese tea ceremony rug dated from the late 19th century.
It is tie-dyed felted wool. Read about it here.

Modern bobbin lace circa 1982. Read about it here.

Drawings by Joseph Hoffman for a textile called 'Ozone," dated 1923.
Read about it here.