Spices from Egypt

It must be four, perhaps five years ago that my friend Paul went on a grand tour of Egypt with his family. He brought back for me a string of spices that he purchased at an open market; I imagine that the spices were all stacked up in aromatic pyramids and from there the vendor scooped a bit into each of these little packets for the tourists from the West.

I could never break open the spices because they were so beautiful in their packets, and the handwritten labels exotically accented in their idiomatic spelling that you can almost hear the vendor calling out the names: Rose Marry, seZam, Lora...

Of course, I wanted to preserve these spices as they were forever, but the writing is now starting to fade, and with the exception of the indigo, the spices don't appear as vibrant as they once were. So, before the black marker fades completely, and the plastic bags begin to crumble, I held a photographic preservation session with the spice packets.

The very top packet is filled with hibiscus flowers, the only packet that wasn't labeled.

And then followed by the Saffrons:

Indian Saffron powder

Egyptian Saffron powder

Indian Saffron flowers

Egyptian Saffron flowers

Cinnimon Powder

Cinnimon Stakes

InDigo

Indigo as a spice?  Not to be consumed, but used as a brightener for whites in the laundry, I am told.

SeZAM

Rose Marry

Lora

Black Cumin

Ginger

Organo

Chily

Anis

The Last of the Bialys

Not included in my recent cataloging of Eats Back East was my visit to Kossar's on the last morning we spent in New York City. I trekked down to Kossar's - a short three blocks from where we were staying - to pick up a baker's dozen to bring back to California. On July 4, a month since we've been back, and I've just taken out the very last bialy from the freezer. Who knows when I'll get to have a good decent bialy again.

What's in a street name?

Saintly Streets Tell a City's Long Tale

This story brought back memories of moving to California from New York City in the mid-eighties, marveling at the exotic imagery so casually invoked by the designations for the towns, their streets and avenues.  I'm inspired to find his exhibit next time I'm down in the City of Angels.

 

Hippeastrum Chronicles 1/26 to 2/15

Jan 26, 2008  First sign of life emerging.  This was a gift from a friend 2 X'mas' ago.  A new challenge because it was my very first Amaryllis.  It turned out to be a beautiful white bloomer; I think it rebloomed three times before it became a much smaller bulb.  So, this is its second season.  Not quite sure if it's had enough rest and recuperation.
Feb 8, 2008  A very straight and narrow leaf has emerged.  Hmm... not enough energy to send up a bloom.
Feb 13, 2008   And then, something is peeking out.
Feb 14, 2008  And there is daily progress.
Feb 15, 2008  It looks like it's going to send up some blooms!

On Suburbia

The end of suburbia as we know it?
In the March issue of the Atlantic Magazine, a look at suburbia as we know it, and the idea that it may be even less sustainable than we we thought it was.

What Main Street can Learn from the Mall

The thinking that goes into the design and layout of a shopping mall:  I suppose it makes perfect sense that a background in landscape architecture would be well suited to take this to the next level.

A Stressful Finish

How interesting it is that the cracks and flaking are concentrated around the word "stress." Makes me wonder if, somehow, this was all intentional. But I think ... not.

After talking to some of my informants in the construction trade here and there, it seems that this unsightly finish came about because:

Although the low wall was freshly poured, for some reason, the outer surface was finished with a sack mix, applied in a 1/8" or so thick layer. You can see some of the aggregate from the inside concrete layer in the photo where the letters have been routered. Obviously, the lettering was carved in after this thin plaster-like layer was applied. While additional care in the curing and application of the sack mix may have alleviated some of the flaking and mosaic cracks on the surface, such failure was probably inevitable given the waterfront location of the wall where it is constantly exposed to extremes in moisture. The better choice would have been to carve the letters in the wall without applying the additional layer of concrete. Of course, a more elegant and permanent solution would have been to use a granite stone or such, with finer workmanship as would have befit the occasion (this is a memorial tribute at the Rosie the Riveter Memorial Park in Richmond, Calif.)

Compare the understated but beautiful presentation of the message at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, below.

More photos of the Tiled Bench Project at Peralta Park

At the time, I had very little idea of what was involved in plastering the concrete barricade with the tiles.  It was a lot of work, and took a lot of precision planning and a creative vision, especially on the part of Susan Steinman and Andree Singer Thompson, the project artists.

Over the holidays, I finally got around to finding my negatives from eight years ago to document this project here. I am still looking for the photos that I took of the classroom session with the kids making the tiles.  I know they are somewhere...

Whenever I drive by Peralta Park on my way downtown, I try to catch a glimpse of the bench and the playground.  From what I can tell, it's still lookin' pretty good, I must say.  After looking at these pictures though, I think I will go and rub that tile that imagines a potion in the Future, that will let you "live forever, even if ur 1,000,000 years old, u won't feel old!"