Ceago Series at Ceago Vinegarden Sun Oct 11: Mexican cuisine by Arminda Flores

A  unique dinner will accompany my exhibition at Ceago Vinegarden on Sunday,  October 11, 2009

Mexican Cuisine by Arminda Flores

The evening will begin at 6 PM with a tasting of wines selected specially for this event by Jim Fetzer. At 6:30 we will sit down to a Mexican dinner created by Arminda Flores. Arminda is flying up from Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacan, Mexico for this occasion.

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About Arminda

Arminda Flores was born in the ancient Purepecha town of Ihuatzio on Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacan, Mexico. Her mother supported the large family by making tortillas every morning and selling them in the market in Partzcuaro.

She currently resides at Rancho Santiago near Patzcuaro with her husband Kevin Quigley, where they run a guest house, Casa Santiago. They specialize in introducing guests to indigenous culture around Lake Patzcuaro, and Arminda cooks sumptuous meals upon request.

Jon Carroll, of the San Francisco Chronicle, has stayed at Casa Santiago a couple of times. I take painting groups there once a year.

In January 2009 Arminda hosted the owners of Picante Restaurant in Berkeley,  Jim and Laura Maser .

She has collaborated with Betsy McNair of My Mexico Tours preparing regional dishes for her groups for the last 6 years.

Gourmet Magazine published an article by Deborah Madison (06.25.08) about Arminda's traditional cuisine entitled "A Purepechan Stew"

More about Arminda and Lake Patzcuaro:

Arminda, her singing, Lake Patzcuaro and Casa Santiago may be viewed in this short video on youtube titled "Painting around Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacan, Mexico"

For more complete information about this event and to view a video of the 'Ceago Series' scroll down to the next blog.

The Urban Garden

Last Wednesday while I was considering writing this blog I turned to a column by Jon Carroll, in the Chronicle. He began "Food is important. We cook it, we eat it, we talk about it. It sustains us. It is also politically important." He went on to cite the work of Alice Waters and the Michael Pollan and to opine that perhaps we are sometimes guilty of being faddish and snobbish here in "this center of good food and good food opinions". But what really bothered him, in this deepening recession, was the realization of just how expensive it is to eat good food.

He promised "more on Thursday", and I thought "Jon you're going to tout urban gardens!" But no. He was not about to tear out his flowers or frighten his cats by introducing chickens. Instead he's frequenting inexpensive, local ethnic restaurants.

When we eat out we usually choose inexpensive ethnic restaurants. But mostly we eat at home. Alice Waters maintains that 85% of good cooking is good ingredients. We have two excellent sources of good ingredients. The Farmers' Markets and our own urban garden.

All these paintings were created in our garden. You may enlarge the images by clicking on them.

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Only the corner of our garden which has a stream, pond and rock garden is landscaped. The rest is a motley collection of vegetable beds. Lettuce, basil, carrots, sugar snap peas and other vegetables rotate through these beds. The asparagus, raspberries, artichokes, rhubarb and lemons are perennial. Everything flourishes on layers of household compost mixed with my 'house blend' of cocoa hulls, coffee grounds and ash.

As well as providing maybe thirty percent of our vegetables the garden has become my outdoor studio. I've started a series of time lapse paintings of the growing plants. "The Three Sisters" which is posted at the top of this blog is an example. The "Three Sisters" are the "Las Tres Hermanas" of pre-Columbian agriculture. Corn, beans and squash which were grown together, and together were the foundation of the diet .

The pond is the primary source of excitement in the garden.

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It attracts an astonishing variety of creatures. There are the regulars: morning doves, mocking birds and jays (who eat my snails), and a variety of migrating birds. One day a red-shouldered hawk flew over my shoulder as I was bent over the pond. He settled on the rock garden twelve feet away and gazed at me.

A Grey Heron passes by occasionally. After one visit two of my three frogs were missing. Only this one remained.

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The other day my son Mario and I were observing a humming bird skittering over the pond's surface catching insects. Our local hunter, the black cat Pilar, was also interested and set himself in ambush. The humming bird passed within inches of the frog. To our astonishment the frog sprang at the hummingbird jaws agape. He barely missed him. Pilar dashed towards the source of commotion drawing the attention of a jay. This jay makes it his business to constantly harass Pilar, and proceeded to drive him out of our yard.

Mario and I were left to speculate whether the frog mistook the humming bird for a large insect. How would he have ingested this whirring ball of beak, feathers and claws? Or was he simply chasing the bird away from 'his' turf?

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Our garden produces 30% of our produce most of the year. It's the best tasting food on our table. I've always thought that the taste of unadulterated food is a good indication of it's nutritional value. At the farmer's market we buy organic food if it's reasonably priced. We also purchase from farmers who claim not to use chemicals if the flavor of their food supports their claims. Many small farmers who have no use for pesticides and chemical fertilizers prefer to avoid the cost and hassle of certification. The beauty of obtaining our food from these two sources is that the, nearly, expense free garden vegetables more than offset the cost of organic purchases.

Study after study indicates that organically grown food is 20% or 30 % more nutritious than industrial food as well as being free of poisonous residues. Which justifies paying more for it. This is admittedly a hard sell among impoverished minorities. Many label my point of view 'elitist.'

Not the young, urban pioneers around my studio in West Oakland who are establishing market gardens in abandoned lots and unused yards and selling the vegetables cheaply around the neighborhood.

Urban gardens are not only a good, healthy response to the current recession but anyone who works regularly in the soil will tell you it's a 'grounding' experience.

Joaquin Torres: 'In the Next Room' at the Berkeley Rep

If you haven't yet done so, follow Jon Carroll's advice and see "In the Next Room" at the Berkeley Rep. It closes March 15th. This delightful new play by Sarah Ruhl, set in the 1880's, is less a historical reconstruction of that period than a bemused examination, from our 21st century vantage,  of the mores of our predecessors. The denial by the nineteenth century medical establishment that the use of electric vibrators to treat 'hysteria' was connected in any way with normal sexuality or, god forbid, might serve as a tool for liberating female sexuality strikes us as extremely odd.  Sarah Ruhl probes this conundrum with gentle humor.

So of what truths is our 'enlightened age' in complete denial? I can think of one or two that will undoubtedly provide grist for future generations of playwrights - if we're still around in a 125 years! .

I had the pleasure of being shadowed for a couple of afternoons by actor Joaquin Torres who was preparing for his role in the play as the English oil painter, Leo Irving, just returned from Florence.  My son remarked wryly when we viewed the play that I was the perfect object of study for this role - being an English oil painter obsessed with Florentine culture!

Madelaine Oldham ( Berkeley Rep's 'dramaturg') put me in touch with Joaquin who expressed a desire to observe me in action. I gave him my street painting schedule. He caught up with me at the Old Oakland Farmers' Market one Friday as I was working on this painting.

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Old Oakland Farmers' Market # 4

Joaquin didn't betray his presence until he'd  had the opportunity to study me surreptitiously for some time. When he introduced himself I was impressed both by his charm and his penetrating intelligence. It was an odd experience for someone who spends his time observing and delineating others to be the object of such intense scrutiny.

He  joined me for an afternoon on Bernal Hill where he grilled me on technique and art history.

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On Bernal Hill # 1

At my suggestion he also attended a painting class. He proved to be a 'quick study' mastering basic concepts in a nonce. We were both sorry that his rehearsal and performance schedule didn't allow him to continue his painting.

I didn't recognize much of myself in Joaquin's portrayal of the flamboyant Leo Irving though my son claimed that he'd adopted several of my mannerisms in the painting scene. I was impressed by his complete assumption of the role of painter. I also appreciated the way Sarah Ruhl had made this willfully eccentric artist the catalyst who precipitates a moment of clarity that frees Cathrine Givings to speak and act her truth.