photo by Chris Corrie

its the time...

so, yeah it seems like forever since I posted something and since I am taking some time off right now I feel like I should post something to make up for my long absence from posting...


So, what's going on right now... not much. I am in the santa fe right now and loving it here as always... Yesterday I went to the Santa Fe School of Cooking and learned how to make some amazing New Mexican food... hmmmm, tasty. The chef who was teaching the class was really informative, I learned a lot of cool things the coolest of which was the origins of the chef's coat. Here is some research I did to confirm this story:
"The traditional chef's hat, or toque blanche, is what is most distinguishing and recognizable of the uniform, and also the component which often causes the most debate. Chefs as far back as the 16th century are said to have worn toques. During that period artisans of all types (including chefs) were often imprisoned, or even executed, because of their freethinking. To alleviate persecution, some chefs sought refuge in the Orthodox Church and hid amongst the priests of the monasteries.
There they wore the same clothes as the priests-including their tall hats and long robes-with the exception of one deviating trait: the chef's clothes were gray and the priest's were black.
It wasn't until the middle 1800's that chef Marie-Antoine Carême redesigned the uniforms. Carême thought the color white more appropriate, that it denoted cleanliness in the kitchen; it was also at this time that he and his staff began to wear double-breasted jackets. Carême also thought that the hats should be different sizes, to distinguish the cooks from the chefs. The chefs wore the tall hats and the younger cooks wore shorter hats, more like a cap. Carême himself supposedly wore a hat that was 18 inches tall! The folded pleats of a toque, which later became an established characteristic of the chef's hat, were first said to have been added to indicate the more than 100 ways in which a chef can cook an egg." (- Guy D. Sockrider, C.E.C. http://www.chefolio.com/Articles/HistoryoftheChefsuniform.html)

Isn't that interesting...? ok, i am a huge nerd. I admit it. but the food was really tasty, and i highly recommend the School of Cooking if you are in Santa Fe and are interested in regional cuisine... It really teaches you to appreciate the ancient art of cooking here in the high desert plateau. Northern New Mexican cuisine is all about the local ingredients, the green chiles, the corn, beans and squash... It really kind of humbles you to think that this food has been prepared pretty much the same way, with small hygienic changes of course, for thousands and thousands of years. Its amazing to think how advanced the pueblo cultures really were. Now i am getting hungry! hmmmmmm....

other than that I am attempting to read all the plays on my long long list for Yale... there are quite a lot of them to get through... woah. its only slightly daunting. Much like the thought of exactly how much my life is going to change in the next two months! Moving to a whole new place (with my large library, ugh!) and having a schedule mapped out for me for the next three years. I am still convincing myself that this is for the better. So, yeah I have read about 10-15 plays on the list. My fave so far: "Yerma" by Frederico Garcia Lorca.


Oh, PS... This show I designed for the outdoor stage at STNJ was reviewed in the NY Times, which is a first for me... check it out! Does this make me a ligit designer now? i guess so...