Second Breakfast

I visited Santa Fe this weekend to attend the board meeting of More Light Presbyterians, a national organization in the Presbyterian Church, (USA) that is working towards the inclusion and full acceptance of LGBT persons in the church. I arrived a bit early, and was encouraged to visit a couple of local museums, including the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and The Awakening Museum. While the O’Keeffe museum was nice and kind of what I expected (landscape, abstracts, and flowers that the artist did not intend to look like labia but rather do), I had no idea what to expect regarding The Awakening Museum. And when I arrived, the nice woman at the reception desk told me that it was a single large installation piece by a French artist living in America. I was a bit skeptical, and she apologized for the cellist who was rehearsing in the space and offered me free admission. I paid anyways, as I love the cello and museums always need money. I was expecting a room full of pink plastic, since that’s what I associate with the phrase “French artist” for some reason. What I experienced instead was profound and a little overwhelming.

The piece consists of a set of over 400 carved and painted wood panels which cover the walls and ceiling of a space the size of a small gymnasium. They were produced by Jean-Claude Gaugy, a French artist living in the US. The work was done over a 13 year period and was part of and a response to a spiritual journey that Gaugy was experiencing. The work itself depicts a number of New Testament stories, including the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12), the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28), the Resurrection (Luke 24), and the “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” (Revelation 6:1-8). It is both awe-inspiring and very moving, and I found myself in tears as I listened to the Bach cello suite that the beautiful young man, Timothee Marcel, was playing. This is truly an amazing work, and if you are ever in the Santa Fe area I encourage you to visit.

www.flickr.com Brian Spolarich’s The Awakening photoset

This is another favorite in our house. Its a fairly basic recipe that can be modified based on what ingredients you have on hand, and could be modified for other cuisine styles. I can think of a nice southeast Asian-style variation w/ peanuts and cilantro that would be good.

The basic idea is cooked spaghetti that’s tossed with a light sauce, then cooked with eggs and cheese in a large sautee pan until its a solid cake. You can slice this into wedges, and serve hot or cold (it works well as a party dish).

Items

• 12″ Nonstick Sautee Pan with a heatproof handle (you’re going to broil in the oven).
• 1 lb spaghetti or similar long pasta
• 1 1/2 cups (about 4oz) finely grated Parmaggiano-Reggiano cheese, or another similar hard strong cheese.
• 1 cup basil pesto
• 5 large eggs, beaten (I don’t like this dish to be too eggy…if you like eggs, add another egg)
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 lb spinach leaves, washed and stemmed and chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup greek kalamata olives in brine, pitted and chopped
• 2 Tsp kosher salt
• 2 Tsp black pepper freshly ground

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain pasta, rinse briefly, and allow to cool somewhat.
3. While the pasta is cooking, sautee the onion in the sautee pan over medium heat in a little olive oil until soft. Add the spinach and sautee until the spinach is wilted. Set aside to cool.
4. Toss pasta with pesto until strands are finely coated.
5. Add the spinach mixture to the pasta, and toss to combine.
6. Beat the eggs with the cheese, salt and pepper. Add the egg mixture to the pasta to coat.
7. Melt the butter in the sautee pan over medium-high heat. Add the pasta mixture to the saucepan.
8. Add the olives on top of the pasta, distributing evenly. Use a saucepan lid or something similar to press the pasta firmly into the pan and the olives into the pasta.
9. Cook until the bottom sets, about 4-5 minutes.
10. Place under the broiler for another 7-8 minutes until the top is golden brown and the eggs are completely cooked. I like mine a little crunchy around the edges, so I cook a little longer.
11. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and let it rest on the stove for 5 minutes. Be sure to remember that the handle of the saucepan is hot (I always burn myself at some point when I broil with stovetop equipment, but then I’m an idiot).
12. Invert the torte onto a cookie sheet. Let rest another 2-3 minutes.
13. Carefully flip the torte so its right-side up again (with the olives on top). Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 4-6 as a main course. Serves 12-15 as an appetizer.

I have had a hard time getting a lot of reading done lately. This is, I think, largely due to the amount of activity in my life lately (high), and my overall energy level for reading or other intellectual activity (low). I’m also still dealing with some (mostly) seasonal depression and sleep problems, and I have found it difficult to finish a book (or much of anything of substance).

I’ve recently finished “The Morgaine Saga” by C. J. Cherryh. Cherryh is a rather prolific sci-fi and fantasy author who I recall reading when I was probably about 12 or 13 (my mother bought me “Yorath the Wolf” when I was sick once, and I recall really enjoying the writing style and characterizations in that short book). Cherryh seems to be a “reader’s favorite” kind of author, judging from the volume of her writing in publication and the amount of shelf space at Borders given over to her books.

I wanted to find something engaging and diverting that I thought I could actually finish and not get bored with. Part of my problem has been that several of the books I’ve been reading just aren’t that good and by the second half I really am just “slogging through”. The central premise of this novel, which is really three short novels printed in a single paperback volume, is that humans, after entering space, find the existence of “Gates”, which connect far-flung worlds both in space and time. These gates were built, or at least controlled (it seems unclear), by a humanoid but alien race called qual or sometimes qhal, who have a rather “elvish” sensibility about them (long-lived, powerful, unconcerned with the affairs of humans, etc.) These Gates traverse time as well as space, and eventually the cumulative effects of tampering with the past causes the qual to be mostly wiped out[1]. Humans discover the Gates and eventually their legacy, and after many years of deliberation decide to try and close them.

These three novels focus on Morgaine, a woman sent as part of a team to close these Gates (and the only survivor apparently), and Vanye, an exiled man who comes into the protection and service of Morgaine. Despite the science-fictional premise of the series, the action occurs mostly in a traditional fantasy “sword and horse” context. The tone is rather anxious and dark, and both Morgan and Vanye are at the center (and sometimes the cause) of a lot of suffering and destruction as the consequences of the Gates and those who use them become revealed.

I was intrigued by the sci-fi context of the books, and was surprised by the departure from this vein after the introduction. Regardless, Cherry’s writing is tight and the pace is exciting and interesting (if a little dark). Putting these three short novels together yields for a bit of repetitious plotting (each book takes place on a different world, and there’s a repeated motif of Vanye’s separation from and reuniting with Morgaine). Vanye is an interesting character himself, although he is really the only fully-developed character in the series.

1

In the words of the immortal Captain Janeway, “I swore I’d never let myself get caught in one of these Godforsaken paradoxes. The past is the future, the future is the past, it all gives me a headache.”