HEDY LAMARR ATTENDS A PARTY

“I just thought of this.  Back in the Village.  We were having a party, the painters, in one of the studios, and a wealthy West Coast art dealer who was invited wanted to know if he could bring a lady friend.  Sure.  She turned out to be Hedy Lamarr.

   I can still see her, that white turban, the gown.  Great.  She was the only girl, and a bunch of us were taking turns dancing with her.      

      Late in the evening and the wine, she said, 'I don’t know if you gentlemen know it, but today’s my birthday.'

Hey.  Wow.  We had to do something for Hedy on her birthday.  So the painters began to tack up canvas on the walls, everywhere, and each of them – deKooning, Johns, Guston, several others – made a painting or sketch of Hedy. 

     She carried home a package of paintings, still wet, by artists who were to become world names in the following years.  What Hedy brought home, I’d put the market value today at something like $400,000.”

Note:  This charming story is included the equally charming "Give My Regards To Eighth Street – Collected Writings of Morton Feldman" (Cambridge, Exact Change, 2000).

  The book is a collection of essays, lectures, short observations/sketches and epigrams by the famous 20^th century American composer of indeterminate music and it makes rewarding reading from beginning to end.

  Much of the book naturally focuses on music and musical performance, but there is a great emphasis (for reasons of aesthetic comparison and, I think, close examination of the sources of artistic inspiration and technique) on painting also.  Feldman’s remarks are mostly subtle, unexpected and trenchant; some seem obscure and beside (or somewhere away from) the point.  However, everything is communicated with energy, passion and humor.

  As for Hedy Lamarr at the artists’ party, what can you say?  All thoughts of Miss Lamarr bring on breathlessness and early memories of photographic stills from “Ecstasy.”  What a beauty!  I had no thoughts whatsoever of posting photos of De Kooning, Johns, Guston or Morton Feldman here.

Morton Feldman: Piece For 4 Pianos, Part 1 (Link)

Latkes Interruptus

   

George Segal, Cinema, 1963

     Life's Tilt-a-Whirl apparatus  tilted unxpectedly yesterday when we arrived home in Orange County to find ourselves with no power, no heat and only the utility company to complain to. "They" say Death Don't Have No Mercy (link), but "they" have probably never encountered the folks at Orange & Rockland Power and Light (and Darkness and Cold).

     We were planning to attend a holiday party today in Stamford, CT given every year by good friends who knock themselves out creating a faith and cuisine-crossing cusp-of-winter extravaganza.  Unfortunately we needed to turn right around and head back to Pennsylvania or risk turning into simulacra of Jack Nicholson's icy rigor mortis effigy at the end of The Shining if we dared to remain overnight.

   The centerpiece(s) of this party are my friend Ken's latkes or potato pancakes, which are always excellent.  I grew up eating these Eastern European beignets, but they were originally a novelty for Jane and Caroline that they've now grown to love.  To salve their disappointment, we're preparing them at home tonight for the first time.

    Sorting through recipes, I found the one which follows below in the 1977 Museum of Modern Art Artist's Cookbook.  It comes from the kitchen of the sculptor George Segal (1924-2000), who was best known for his Edward Hopper-esque "American scene" tableaus featuring white plaster-cast figures.  (Actually, these latkes are Segal's mother's recipe.)   I also decided to include here Martha Stewart's variation in last position, where beer replaces baking powder as the leavening agent and pink applesauce and caviar are suggested as garnish lily-gilt. 

      I hope you enjoy these (and that our own dinner experiment works out).  Please try not to let that Jack Nicholson image linger too long in your brain.

 

George Segal, The Tar Roofer, 1964

Sophie’s Potato Pancakes

Makes about 2 dozen

4 large potatoes, peeled and finely grated

3 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

4-8 ounces of vegetable oil for frying

1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl, beat eggs lightly.  Add salt, baking powder and pepper.  Add egg mixture to potatoes and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.   Mix in flour.  In a large frying pan heat 3 tablespoons of oil until it smokes.  Spoon potato mixture by the tablespoon into the pan.  Brown 2 minutes and lower heat.  Turn and fry another 3 minutes.  As pancakes absorb oil, add more to the pan so that half the thickness of the pancakes is always covered.  Drain pancakes on paper towels.  Repeat until all batter is used.  Serve hot.

NOTE:  These pancakes are delicious with applesauce.  George’s mother Sophie substitutes matzo meal for flour during Passover.

 

George Segal preparing to plaster cast art historian Barbara Novak, Dublin, 1993

Martha Stewart's Potato Pancakes

Martha shares her favorite recipe for latkes -- potato pancakes that are traditionally prepared for Hanukkah dinners. Serve them warm from the oven with warm applesauce, sour cream, or caviar.

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes, peeled
• 1 small white onion, finely grated
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup beer
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Pink applesauce, for serving (optional)
• Sour cream, for serving (optional)
• Osetra caviar, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Grate potatoes in long strips, using smooth strokes to run the potatoes across the grater into a large bowl of cold water. Drain potatoes well, reserving liquid, and transfer to a second bowl.
2. Set reserved liquid aside for 10 minutes to allow the starch to sink to the bottom of the bowl. Carefully pour the liquid from the bowl, reserving the milky residue (potato starch), and discard. Transfer potatoes back to bowl with potato starch.
3. Add onion to the bowl with potatoes. Stir in eggs, beer, flour, salt, and pepper.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with paper towels; set aside. In a heavy skillet, heat 1/2-inch of oil. Spoon 1/2 cup of potato mixture per pancake into skillet. Make a few at a time, being careful that they don't run into each other.
5. Fry on both sides until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to prepared baking sheet to drain. Keep warm in oven while preparing the others. Serve hot with applesauce, sour cream, and caviar, if desired.

George Segal  Seated Man In Front Of Window sculpture adjacent to Jasper Johns Target painting




12-11 POST-SCRIPT:  Our own dinner, created using Malvina W. Leibman's Elizabeth David-like recipe in her Jewish Cooking From Boston to Baghdad (1975), was really superb and is very similar to Martha Stewart's version.  I think Sophie Segal uses much more flour than is needed, but that the George Segals displayed here are nicely balanced in terms of observation and execution.  Would love to try this with caviar, but to everything there is a season, I guess, and now is not the time, unless you happen to be invited to a soiree at the Russian or Iranian embassies or, perhaps the White House.

Massive Networks Of Stripes Appear In Chinese Desert (from SlashGear)

Talk about your morning weird. Some people studying Google Earth for some reason managed to run across some very weird patterns in the Chinese desert that have a bunch of folks stumped. The patterns look like stripes that were etched or dug over the top of the landscape in the area. Some of the lines appear to be made from a silver/white material.

Considering these can clearly be seen from orbit the formations are raising some eyebrows with geeks trying to figure out what exactly they are for. Are these some sort of alignment or targeting grids for space weapons or what? In one of the photos, you can clearly see a grid of structures with three of them either destroyed or partially standing as if they were for target practice.

The strangest one is the intersecting grids lines; the structure covers 18 miles of space. The other pattern that looks like some sort of targeting grid is set up with concentric rings of what appear to be structures with straight spokes radiating out from the center. There are aircraft placed in the center of this circle. I have no idea what it is, but it reminds me of how the military would test the blast radius of some sort of bomb to see what the damage is like further out from the point of impact. What do you think? Is this a military testing ground or the Chinese equivalent of crop circles?

 

NOTE:  Some interesting points of visual comparison follow below:

Jasper Johns, Between The Clock and The Bed, 1982-3.

Walter de Maria, Line In Tula Desert, 1969.

Jasper Johns, Flag (Detail), 1957.

Cooking For Madam (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Summer Recipes)

        Trying not to eat yesterday, or to complain about that or the sweltering heat, which assumed an increased degree of difficulty because I chose to perform strenuous outdoor chores and save money by not turning on the air conditioning inside, I managed to cool down my spirit and body temperature a little by reading these three summer dessert recipes from Marta Sgubin’s charming book, Cooking For Madam: Recipes and Reminiscences from the Home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. (New York, Scribner, 1998) 

        Marta Sgubin worked for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis from 1969, when she was first hired as governess for Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr., until Mrs. Onassis’s death in 1994.  Her role in evolved as the Kennedy children got older and eventually she became Mrs. Onassis’s cook and household major-domo. Later, she continued working as part of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s household.

        After Mrs. Onassis’s death, Ms. Scubin was encouraged by the Kennedy children to assemble this discreet memoir/recipe book and it’s excellent, entertaining and useful.  Most of the recipes, including these three, are highly appealing and absolutely within the mastery of practicing (as opposed to expert) and enthusiastic home cooks, which is really how it should be.   Caroline and I, realizing that we’re currently in a sort of recipe rut, will undoubtedly cook from this book this summer.

 

        Charming details abound, including the one included below about what it’s like to have Jasper Johns supply your mangoes for mango ice cream.  Gossipy, really interesting stories, are missing, such as those concerning Mrs. Onassis’s strict dieting habits (inserting a fork in items of food to extract the essential flavors and calling that a meal; making a day’s total calorie consumption a small portion of a single dry baked potato topped with Beluga caviar), but I don’t think that’s any cause for concern.  Those stories might be fiction; so might the stories included in this volume.  Anyone who has ever tried caption writing knows that pictures say 1,000 words and words can be used to paint various artistic pictures.  The point is that they seem real and they weave a part of American history that is still very much with us.  

 

        Democrats, Republicans and Independents can all cook from this book and, I think, enjoy it.   The Raspberry Sauce, which is paired with the Frozen Lemon Soufflé here, also accompanies the Peche Cardinale in Marta Sgubin’s book.  I’ll publish that highly appealing recipe another time.  

 

Frozen Lemon Souffle

(Serves 6)

 

        I used to make this soufflé often for parties, multiplying the recipe as needed to serve the number of guests.  I always try to allow enough so that everyone can have two generous helpings and then there will be some left over to go back into the freezer for snacking time.

        The orphan egg whites can be frozen to be thawed and used later.

12 egg yolks

1 ½ cups plus 2 teaspoons sugar, divided

¾ cup lemon juice

Grated zest of 1 lemon

½ cup heavy cream

6 egg whites

        Select a deep-sided skillet or sauté pan that will comfortably hold a medium-sized heatproof bowl and allow room for water to come up the sides of the bowl on the outside.  After testing, remove and dry the bowl and bring the water in the skillet to a boil.

        Beat the 12 egg yolks with 1 ½ cups of the sugar in the bowl, using either a whisk or an electric mixer until light and lemon colored.  Add the lemon juice.  (Note:  It’s easier to grate the zest off the lemon before squeezing the juice, so do it in that order and set the zest aside.)

        When the water in the skillet is boiling, set the bowl in it and continue to beat until the egg mixture becomes smooth, creamy and custardy.  Be very careful, because if you aren’t paying attention at this point, the mixture can scramble in a minute.

        Scrape the mixture into a larger bowl and stir in the grated zest.  Let cool, and then refrigerate and chill thoroughly. 

        Prepare the soufflé dish.  Tear off a length of waxed paper that will fit around the dish and overlap itself by about 2 inches.  Fold the paper lengthwise into thirds to make a long, thin strip, then wrap it around the upper rim of the soufflé dish to form a high collar rising above the rim. Make sure the ends overlap by at least 1 inch.   Secure with string tied under the rim of the dish.  

        Beat the heavy cream until it starts to thicken, then add 2 teaspoons of the remaining sugar and continue to beat until the cream is stiff.  Fold carefully into the chilled egg mixture.  

         In another clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites.  When they start to mound, beat in the remaining ¼ cup of sugar.  Keep beating until the whites hold stiff peaks, then fold them carefully into the soufflé base.

        Pour into the prepared dish, smooth the top, which should come up almost to the top of the paper collar, then place the dish in the freezer for several hours or overnight until frozen.  Before serving, remove the collar and decorate the top with thin circles of sliced lemon and mint.  I put a little sprig of mint right in the middle so it looks like it was growing there.  

        If the soufflé has been frozen overnight, you might want to leave it in the refrigerator for half-an-hour or so before serving so the texture won’t be icy.

(Serve with Raspberry Sauce, if desired.  Please see recipe below.)

Mango Ice Cream

(Makes 3-4 quarts)

8 cups heavy cream

1 ½ cups sugar

4 cups pureed fresh mango (6-8 mangoes; they must be very ripe)

Juice of 3 limes, strained

        Scald the cream, then, off the heat, stir in the sugar until it dissolves.  At that point, stir in the mango puree and the strained lime juice.   Let cool, then freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions.  When the ice cream is ready, store in a container in the freezer.

        This should be served the same day it is made so it doesn’t get too hard.  I used to scoop it into the serving bowl a little ahead of time and leave it in the refrigerator so it would be gooey but firm.  Madam always liked her ice cream slurpy.

        Madam loved this ice cream, especially when I served it with a sort of julienne of fresh mango over the top.  We were lucky.  Jasper Johns, a friend of Madam, used to send mangoes to us from his house on Captiva.

        Another good idea is to grate some fresh ginger over the ice cream just before serving.  I can just see the expression on her face as she took a bite.

Raspberry Sauce

(Makes 1 ½ to 2 cups)

1 pint fresh raspberries

Juice of ½ lemon

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon arrowroot

1 Tablespoon Framboise or Kirsch

        Combine the raspberries, lemon juice and ¼ cup water in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Strain through a fine sieve to remove all the seeds.

            Pour the puree into a small pan, add the sugar and bring to a boil.  Then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Dissolve the arrowroot in the liqueur and stir into the sauce.  Remove from the heat and let cool.  When cool, cover and refrigerate. 

            This can be made with frozen raspberries, but  in the summer, when fresh berries are available,  it tastes so much better.  

       

Marta Sgubin (l); Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (r)