Tibetan Temple #2

From The Once and Future King by TH White:

“It is God who keeps the price secret, Uther. Not I.”

“God? God? What god? I have heard you speak of so many gods. If you mean Mithras...”

Says Merlin, “Mithras. Apollo. Arthur. Christ. Call him what you will. What does it matter what men call the light? It is the same light, and men must live by it or die. I only know that God is the source of all the light which has lit the world and that his purpose runs through the world and passes each one of us like a great river and we cannot check or turn it but can only drink from it while living and commit our bodies to it when we die.”

God is in the details. Of everything. And the Light.

The Shrines to the Divine project began in early 2018. I have cataloged here in the blog the process of the first little tea house and the final Japanese Shrine, the Zendo, both built in 2018.

Along the way of my life, I have had the privilege to study with, cook for and generally be around some lovely teachers, in the name of art, or food, or spiritual advice. I have sat at the feet of gurus, pranced around the fire as a deer with a Huichol shaman on Mt. Shasta, meditated on Paramahansa Yogananda's houseboat with Steven Seagal, studied with and fed Deepak Chopra and myriad other pop culture stars, looked at Tibetan Buddhism through the eyes of the Thangka painting monk, and cooked for large groups at a retreat center while spending my nights in a 400 square foot tipi. Alison Stillwell Cameron lived next door to my mother and sparked my interest in Chinese Sumi painting, my bookbinding instructors shared Japanese print making, Shibori fabric design, marbled papers and so much more.

I feel closest to the source of all the light when I am being creative.

The top image above floated across my Facebook timeline, posted by a friend. It is an art deco painting by Vittorio Zecchin who died in 1947. Look him up. He blows my mind. The Dominican nuns never showed us his paintings in Art Appreciation class.

When I saw this painting, not just the goddesses themselves but the intensity of the colors hit me like a whack in the chest. The moment pushed me into the long talked about Tibetan temple, because I had to get involved with those colors.

As a dedicated DIY nut job, I set out to make some fabric for the backdrop to the buddha's throne. Although I used red and gold on black in my first draft of the fabric pattern, the colors of the shrine with mimic those above in Zecchin's: orange and purple and violet ...with some red.

I took a photo of the finished 12 x 12 canvas and shrunk the design to the size of a postage stamp, repeated the pattern to fill an 8.5x11 sheet of paper-backed silk for printing, and voila!












A tiny silk curtain of my own design.

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Tibetan Temple #1

When I begin a project, I often have no idea where it will take me, creatively. I do know that I will learn something new, develop a latent skill, or just be amazed.

As part of my Shrines to the Divine project, the Tibetan Temple (working title - I don't know the name of the piece in the beginning, either) is featured because of my deep appreciation for my Tibetan Thangka painting teacher, Tulku Jamyang Rinpoche, at a monastery in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Every Monday for three years we sat cross-legged on the floor of the one-room cabin he shared with his wife and two small daughters. Our workbench was his 3 year old's pink plastic play table. We drank roasted teas out of thin porcelain cups. My knees creaked.

Here, I have rolled out a sheet of polymer clay for the tile floor. While doing these mundane tasks (roll out, score, bake, build) I remember the patience of the Tulku when he corrected the shapes of the buddha's ears by guiding my hand. (I am left handed. He is not).

The base of the temple will be approximately 8x8 inches, following my 1.12 scale for the whole Shrines to the Divine project. I am using balsa and basswood, easy to saw and glue and manipulate and yet still structurally sound.

Tibetan Thangkas are scrolls, usually hand-painted and gilded by masters, which tell the stories and parables of the path of the buddha. I was drawn to the meditative ritual of the painting of thangkas, the sacred geometric patterns on which each buddha is precisely designed, the shapes of ear, nose, toe, nostril.

After about six months of drawing nose, ear, lips, eyes, brows, fingers, toes, hands, I risked a question to the ever-calm monk beside me, who also drew shapes - ears, nose, knuckles - with his very sharp pencil.

"Tulku," I began... "uhm, how long will I be doing body parts?"

The room was quiet as he continued to draw shapes I knew he had been drawing exactly the same for many many years.

He looked up at me with the kindest eyes.

"As long as it takes," he replied.

This polymer clay tile floor will be bakes for 30 minutes and then painted with Unicorn Spit, my current paint of choice. For the temple, for sure, because of its intensity of color. I believe it will be blue.

One of the other thing I love about creativity are the tools. On the right is a knife from my mother's silver flatware service, perfect for scoring tiny tile floors. Also, a ruler that Allan, husband #2, gave me in 1974 out out of his tool kit. I left the man, but I learned a lot from him, and he adopted my son, and he gave me this ruler. And an eraser. I still have both.

Below on the right is a bone paper folder my friend, Cary, gave me when I was deep into the creation of the book studio at the Barnyard in Carmel, also in 1974. The skills learned from my various and talented bookbinding teachers inform all my art projects.

"As long as it takes." Lesson in Buddhism for the day.

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Lucky Valley Press author, Judy Tatelbaum

Recently a  friend came to visit. After she left. I sent her a copy of Inspiration for Living.

Here is a quote from her thank you note:

"Dear friend of 5o+ years!

"What a lovely surprise to receive your thoughtful (and beautifully printed) gift of Judy Tatelbaum's latest book. Her first book, The Courage to Grieve, was a huge help to me after my mother's death back in the early 80s. She also helped me "let go" of my mother in a profound Gestalt therapy session - I had to tell my mother goodbye - I felt like I was jumping off a thousand foot cliff when I actually said the words... I am looking forward to reading the book. I think Judy is a very wise person. Thank you with all my heart."

From the Introduction to Inspiration for Living:

"For me the joy in writing is the opportunity to
inspire others. In 2009 I began writing a free
monthly inspirational email newsletter. I sent it to
people I knew, and they sent it on to people I didn’t
know.

"Although I am known as an “expert” on grief, I
wanted to write about all kinds of aspects of living. I
thought I’d have about a year or two worth of ideas,
but as of today I have written over 100 articles, and
I am not done. My readers kept requesting that I
combine all the newsletters into a book to which
they could refer. At last I have done just that.

"This is not a book to necessarily be read in order
or cover to cover. It is a book full of ideas to encourage
the reader to live life ably and fully. Just open
up to any of the articles that strike you or close
your eyes and pick one. Hopefully you will find a
spark of inspiration, some moment of insight that
fits just for you.

"Know that it is a pleasure for me to have written
these articles. Thank you reading them. Thank you
for using these ideas to enhance your life."
– Judy Tatelbaum

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Christmas 2018 Gingrbread Cookies

 Granddaughter, Taylor rolls out the cookie dough,

using 1/8 inch guide sticks on either side.

Sienna made the vibrant colored icing. Devon knitted. Chips of the old block.

The decorating begins.

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Pam & Joe's Afghan, Complete

 Making this afghan for my faerie godchildren, Pam & Joe, has been a joy, not to mention the biggest knitting project of my life - on the right.


(Just as an aside, I also just finished the smallest knitting project ever, tiny slides (above left) for a friend with a broken finger who has to keep two fingers taped together. From the ridiculous to the sublime, and I don't know which was which.

Knitting, for me, is a pass-time, with no solid deadlines and very squiggly goals. My craft and knitting hobby motto is "No Hurry," so there is built-in flexibility.

 But this is truly an accomplishment. My husband, David and I calculated the time involved in a project like this. More than 300 hours, and that is just actual knitting time.

I knitted four panels of different colors with cable patterns and some filler panels and then sewed them all together .

The piece got kind of unwieldy (almost 6' x 8'). I went to a friend's studio several times to lay the pieces before sewing them together.

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First You Make the Cookies

 Birthday Dinner for David

 Smooch loves to watch me make things, from beadwork to baking. She sits by the counter with her face as close to the action as possible.

For his birthday, David asked for Chocolate Chip Cookies instead of a cake. Not just any chocolate chip cookies, Dana's cookies.

And he's right. They are the best chocolate chip cookies on the planet. She was generous enough to share her recipe, which originally comes from Cook's Illustrated. 

So, for David's birthday dinner, first I made the cookies so he could have warm chocolate chip cookies all afternoon.

 

Here's my version of Dana's version of the Cook's Illustrated recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 3/4 cups unbleached white flour*

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

 

1/2 granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

14 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 large egg plus one egg yolk

1 1/2 cups  milk chocolate chips

Set aside dry ingredients. In a mixer, Blend sugars with cooled melted butter and vanilla about three minutes. Add the egg and yolk and blend well. Add the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips by hand. Drop by teaspoonful onto a parchment covered sheet pan.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.

 Fish Pie

After making the cookies, I poached a bit of cod in half and half, doctored up some bechamel sauce and veggies from a Veggie Pie Dana and I made the day before. The cod turned out so flaky and beautiful, I didn't want to bury it in the veggies and sauce, so I gently laid it atop the filling, see below.

Basic Pastry
Although most of my meals are gluten free, if I want a pastry dough, I'll make it myself. This is my recipe for enough pastry for one pie shell or four individual pies, bottom only.

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour*
1 stick unsalted butter, chopped in pieces
1/2 tespoon salt
2-3 tablespoons ice water

Put the flour, butter and salt in a food processor and blend until "mealy." Slowly add some ice water until the dough begins to hold together. Wrap the dough ball in flour dusted parchment and refrigerate until 1/2  hour before using. Let it rest and come to room temperature before rolling it out.

I like to lightly spray the pie tins for a good release at serving time.

These pie tins date back to the early days of my cooking career. I used them at Rainbow Ranch in Calistoga, at the Chopra Center in La Jolla, at Ginna's Cafe in Carmel Valley, for Chicken Pot Pies to Lemon Meringue. I love these pans.









When rolling out the dough, I like to keep it thick for a pie like this, so the sauce stays inside the pie, even though it is basically open-faced.

















After placing the poached fish on top of the bechamel filling, I fold over the edges and brushed it all with egg wash.

This bechamel,/veggie filling is comprised mostly of roasted carrots, celery and zucchini mixed with sauteed mushrooms, onions and garlic and blended with the bechamel white sauce.











Baked at 375° for about 40 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.

Let the pies cool for a few minutes before slipping onto a plate. Serve with a green salad or cooked green vegetable.


Then, more cookies.








 Smooch has lost interest...




*although I am 90% gluten free, when I do bake with wheat flour, I use unmodified, organic Einkorn flour, just to be on the safe side. Don't get me started on the Glyphosate/Gluten conversation.

Love, Ginna

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GB's Awesome Brownie Kit

My go to brownie recipe, from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book. My version is doubled and has less sugar.

I love getting my baking kits together now that I have my Julia Child bowl set from my friend, Gail. All those years, in all those many kitchens, I never had a tiny glass bowl.

GB’s Awesome Brownies

325˚ 

Baking spray 

jelly roll or ½ size “hotel” sheet pan

12 ounces     bittersweet chocolate

8 ounces        butter

8                      eggs

3 1/2 cups     superfine bakers' sugar

1 teaspoon    vanilla

1 teaspoon    salt

1 cup              flour

1 cup              chocolate chips

 Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl set over warm water (or, sigh, in a glass bowl in the microwave, I can't believe I just said that). 

In KitchenAid bowl, beat eggs at medium speed until pale yellow, about three minutes. Slowly add sugar to egg mixture. Add vanilla and chocolate/butter mixture. Add salt and flour and mix well. 

Pour into sprayed jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. 

Bake about 30 minutes, 

or until center is firm. Do not over bake. 

Cool completely and then cut away edges before 

serving. 

Makes 24 brownies.

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