art and such

 Today Mr. M and I meandered down to the big city of Portland, Maine. Specifically to go to the Portland museum of art. There was a new exhibit on drawing I thought it would be interesting to check out and I had scored free passes through my local library. 

The museum has a few permanent exhibits that are both beautiful and they allow you to take photos of what I affectionately call the statuary. 

I imagine that Pemberley would have had a room such as this.

Then we came to the modern art. 

A Maine artist had her own exhibit there. I'm not entirely sure I understood the whole process. Its was both sculptures and these photographic prints of miniature versions of her larger sculptures. 

Her largest piece took up the main entrance hall and hung from the skylight and was made up of woven and sewn bits of plastic and blue tarp.  The way the light played with the colors was beautiful and I'll bet the birds eye view of the inside was fun. If one could see such a thing. 

It was quite massive though. 

There was a second large piece made of plastic and tape and went through a 16 minute cycle of deflating and then being inflated once again. 

It was intriguing to watch and when blown up reminded me more of geodesic domes than anything else. It also makes me even more confused as to categorizing art. Though maybe not as confused as when I was viewing the plywood nailed with empty sardine cans or the "black on black" canvases.

missed it by "this" much

       Rest assured world, when you recommend books I read them. Oh yes, my local librarian has long since given up on guessing what I will read next.

When people talk about the amazing places they have been or the great find that have been found, I mentally add it to my list of places to visit should I ever reach that part of the world.

Sometimes. Just sometimes. I read a blog post about some sort of structured activity that I could have participated in and didn't hear about it, have missed the deadline, and if I want to join in the fun must try to remember next year.

My case in point this morning is found At Number 98 and she had participated in a farmers market swap.
A swap that had been organized by The Transplanted Baker.  A farmers market swap, how great does that sound?

(via we heart it)

If I understand it correctly people from anywhere in the world send to each other a box of local treasures. In my case it would be things like local maple syrup and handmade jam and maybe some coffee roasted by the guy who sells it at the market.  I am so sorry to have missed it.
Does anybody else think it sounds like fun?  Is there anything you are sorry to have missed?

SMS Sunday: The Sweet Plum Clafoutis that wasn't

    Its been a few weeks since I participated in a Sweet Melissa Sunday, I've been busy on Sundays. Realizing now of course that there is nothing to stop me from completing the project earlier in the week and waiting to only post about it on Sunday. Or even better, write the post and have blogger upload it on Sunday.

     This was the baking project doomed from the start. To begin with I decided to use cherries. Instead of plums. I wasn't quite sure what the equivalent would be so I pitted a little over half a pound of some beautiful cherries to saute in cinnamon and sugar (quite delicious eaten out of a pan). Instead of the orange zest I went ahead and used a tad or orange oil. Except, I had never used it before. Except, I knew in theory how strong it was so I only have myself to blame for a batter that had an overwhelming orangey taste. Did I mention how delicious the cherries were sautéed? Like hot pie filling or preserves. So good.

  I also didn't have a cast iron pan but the recipe provided alternative directions for this so I was more secure on this part.

My end result was the outside quickly on the path to burning in the oven and an inside that was raw in the middle. These "interesting" results didn't stop my taste testing brother from volunteering to try a bowl of it in all its hot gooey glory. He claims the cherries totally balanced out the orange, and as he is still alive three days later  I feel confident that the hot raw dough didn't hurt him in some way.
I'm sure other people had far better results with this than I did and if you want to check out the recipe and the host of this project FlourChild. Her's looks amazing.
I promise that next time I bake I will follow the recipe closer and try very hard to get a pretty edible result.