A Day at the Museum of Fine Arts - Boston

The main reason for this trip to the Museum of Fine Arts was the Luis Melendez exhibit. The above painting is Still Life with Watermelons and Apples. Luis Melendez is regarded as the leading Spanish still life painter of the 18th century. Despite his talent, Luis Meléndez lived in poverty for most of his life and died indigent.


Melendez was a master of highlights and shadows, his use of subtle texture give the fruit, vegetables, breads, sweets, fowl, meat and other kitchen items their realistic quality.

Below is a self-portrait, why he painted himself holding a drawing of a naked man, who knows? Maybe it's a self-portrait within a self-portrait.

The exhibit includes more than twenty still-lifes, many from the Prado in Madrid, several from private collections. Two of the paintings are from the personal collection of Theresa Hines (Mrs. John Kerry). Can you imagine gazing at a pair of Menedez' while you're having dinner, money can buy happiness, at least when it comes to art. Definitely worth seeing. The exhibit is showing through May 9, 2010

Other exhibits included Toulouse-Lautrec's Cafe and Cabaret painting and sketches, and Secrets of Tomb 10A. Neither of these really interested me. Egyptians apparently were the original hoarders. This tomb belonging to King and Queen Djehutynakhts was found in 1915 by a team of archeologists from Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Egyptian government let the archeologists keep all that they found. Unfortunately the tomb had been picked clean of the "good" stuff by marauders but if you like rows and rows of 4000 year old wooden boats you might like this exhibit. The mummified head was kind of cool.

The Lion King

The Lion King

I have seen a lot of plays, here in Boston and in New York City. I have a lot of favorites and plays that I've seen more than once - Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Grease, Mama Mia. BUT I left The Lion King absolutely floored. It was unbelievably incredible!

The costumes looked odd and I didn't really understand the concept of the whole play. You could see the actors and the puppets and their masks. It looked bizarre in the commercials. And The Lion King was never one of my favorite Disney movies.

But it was getting great reviews, and winning Tony awards - Best Musical, Best Scenic Design for a Musical, Best Costume Design for a Musical, Best Lighting Design for a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Direction of a Musical - so when I heard it was coming to Boston I had to see for myself. Tickets were not cheap but we had great seats, 6 rows from the stage on the aisle. This was absolutely the best time to have aisle seats, several times the characters come down the aisles singing and I had to restrain from touching the costumes.


Julie Taymor - a native of Newton, Massachusetts, directed, wrote the lyrics for the song Endless Night, designed the costumes, co-designed the masks, and co-designed the puppets. She is a genius! Vocally the actors sounded like the characters in the Disney movie but visually it was mesmerizing! There was so much to see and hear, so much to take in all at once. The whole play was enveloping. With only three dancers, a herd of gazelle would run by,

the actors who were giraffes walked on stilts with ungodly tall giraffe hats. And while the cheetah were "creative", they were a bit freakish.
The play left Boston yesterday but if you ever have a chance to see it, go.... you won't regret it!

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Last week I had the great opportunity to go to a luncheon and performance at Symphony Hall here in Boston. The luncheon was for the Walter Piston Society named for Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and noted musician Walter Piston. (The Piston Society recognizes and honors those who have provided for the future of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, or Tanglewood through one of a variety of irrevocable deferred gifts, or by including the BSO in their long-term plans.)

The luncheon was fabulous! Held in a small private dining room, we were served a frise salad with herb coated goat cheese balls, toasted pine nuts and citrus fruit. The main course was poached sea bass in a beurre blanc, roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake and some small chocolate goodies. It was like heaven. The bass melted in your mouth, it was cooked perfectly.

After lunch we were ushered into the concert hall. Symphony Hall was finished in 1900. An MIT student designed the acoustics of the building. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999, and it was then noted "Symphony Hall remains, acoustically, among the top three concert halls in the world and is considered the finest in the United States." There are 16 gold statues of Greek and Roman gods (which was interesting just having finished Ancient Greek History).

The performance was Bartók, Martinů and Dvořák. It was very dynamic! The whole day was wonderful. Great food, fabulous art and architecture, and incredible music!

End of the Semester

Classes are over, Thank goodness! It's not easy going back to school after so many years away. BUT this semester went very well and I'm ready for a break. I've deleted all the school work and renamed this blog.

Three Course Greek Meal

For my Greek project I chose the 3 course meal. When I was in Savannah I went to a fabulous Greek restaurant. The first course is flaming Greek cheese.
My main course is Moussaka. I used Tyler Florence's recipe from Food Network although I substitute the feta for goat's cheese (milder flavor) and I slice my eggplant and bake it instead of sauteing it in oil.

What else could the dessert course be but Baklava. Here is the recipe and a tutorial.

Baklava
1 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tablespoon orange rind
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 package phyllo dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1.) Grate the orange rind, out skin only.
2.) Bring the honey, sugar, water, orange rind and cinnamon sticks to a boil. Let cool. Reserve 1/2 cup for the final topping.

3.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4.) Fit a piece of parchment paper to your pan, grease with crisco.
5.) Remove the phyllo dough from the package and keep under a wet towel. Phyllo dough are thin sheets that break very easily. They can be very frustrating to work with. They don't have to be perfect.

6.) Place a sheet of phyllo dough on the tray, brush with butter, add another sheet of phyllo dough, brush with butter, add another piece of phyllo dough, brush with butter. Brush liberally with the honey mixture. Sprinkle with nuts.
7.) Repeat these steps until you use all the phyllo dough. The top layer will have butter only. Cut through all layers on the diagonal, then on the diagonal the other way to make diamonds.

8.) Bake for approimately 3o minutes. I have a convection oven and it took 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them. Remove from oven, recut your diamonds. Pour the remaining honey mixture on top. Enjoy!!

Back to School

This year I'm taking internet classes towards my Bachelor's. One of the projects is this blogspot. Wish me luck!