This is my all time favorite month and these have been perfect September days. Sunny with a hint of Autumn in the air during the day, just cold enough for light sweaters, blankets and an open window at night. I've always wished that this time lasted longer. With the arrival of this new season come some of the best comfort foods of the year. Apples, peaches and pears, apple cider, buttermilk old fashion donuts, winter squashes, and dark leafy greens.
This recipe is one I just made a few days ago and it was so ono (yummy), I just had to share it with you. Normally, I'd say pie is best cold, the next day for breakfast. However this peach pie recipe is served best warm, ala mode with vanilla bean ice cream on top. Add a rich, creamy coffee mixed with a hint of cinnamon and snuggle up with your bunny.
There is another side to the soft, swaying-hips hula that many people think of when you hear the words, "hula dancer". It's the men of hula who tell their story - of strength, power, nature, battles, and love - who overcome stereotypes and distractions to dedicate themselves to the artform and who I find so very amazing. Sexy? You bet!
In Lisette Marie Flanary's documentary, Na Kamalei - The Men of Hula, we see the story of Hawaii’s oldest all-male hula group celebrating 30 years of renegade Robert Cazimero's unusual teaching style and performance at the Superbowl of hula, the annual Merrie Monarch Festival. "I'm doing this for your self-fucking-esteem!" he shouts when his men fall out of line. These aren't a bunch of sissy dancers. No way - these are "men's men" - barrel chested surfers, rugged firefighers, and gray-haired fathers who have a strong passion to celebrate their Hawaiian heritage and share it's resurgence in the art form of hula. It's a fascinating story of reclaiming masculinity and it's a powerful one to watch develop. There are tears and hugs and swearing and it all fits in perfectly with who Robert is as a Kumu and who all the men are who perform with him. My halau Kaleinani o ke Kukui has put on annual workshops with both Robert and Kaliko Chang, one of the dancers featured. We are so proud to see men's hula not only continue through Robert's talents, but flourish absolutely.
Watch the video of their powerful kahiko HERE to get what we locals call "chicken skin". It's a long video for those new to hula, but make sure you at least watch the opening and then last minute and a half.
Designer nerds rejoice!
Back in 2000, Crap Hound author and pal Sean Tejeratchi briefly worked in a cavernous, decrepit bookstore called Amitin's, in downtown St. Louis. Finding beauty in the lost, he picked and scanned some of the best covers and as usual, is generously sharing them with the public on Lost and Taken's website. His beautiful, broken book covers can be found and downloaded HERE. He includes the whole book, tattered edges and all.
Lost and Taken's high res textures of everything from woodgrain to concrete can be found HERE. He says "feel free to use it in any of your work, personal or commercial...and don't worry, no credit is needed. If you do something cool with the image, I'd be more than happy to check it out, so hit me up with a link."
It's wonderful when designer's share their knowledge and help art happen. Thank you.
UPDATE: Click on the highlighted link for images of the IKE aftermath
September 9, 1900, Galveston, Texas
I'm keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ike which is predicted to make landfall this Saturday in Galveston. One of my most favorite books of all times is "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson. It's a fictional account of real life people and events based on a deadly hurricane that hit the seaside town almost 108 years to the day. To read it from the viewpoint of Isaac Cline, a highly trained first-generation employee of the brand new U.S. Weather Bureau - and then see the actual photos of what happened is a haunting experience. Isaac was a real man, he suffered greatly and the story builds and builds as the hurricane approaches.
Winds estimated at 140 mph swept over the island on that day, leaving behind utter devastation. After the storm surge of 15.7 feet subsided, Galvestonians left their shelters to find 6,000 of the city's 37,000 residents dead and more than 3,600 buildings totally destroyed. Orphanages, churches, opera houses, rich homes, poor - nothing was spared. More people were killed in this single storm than have been killed in the three hundred hurricanes that have struck the United States since, combined, as of 2006. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
We'll see how it goes this Saturday. My heart goes out to the citizens of that town and all who live nearby.