Drive Right In.

Dear Sympathetic,

I know, I know, things are just things;  but they take a lot, sometimes, with them, when they go- people and time and plans.  They have closed public skating at my nearest and favorite roller skating rink:  There go the birthday parties, and the turtle races, and the numbers game, and the irrational pop songs, and the charming sistered proprietresses, and many, many, long looping afternoons of fun for me and mine. 

So, what can you do?  Same ol' carpe diem, I suppose.  Here is a thing that might leave your area with a deafening finality soon:  Your nearest Drive In Movie theatre.  Even if your Drive-In sticks around a bit longer, you'll feel an utter fool being driven there by your GoogleCar.  Let me remind you visually of the charms of the Drive-In movie:








Listening to the All-Melancholia FM Radio station a few days ago, I heard this song.  I hope you enjoy it.  Once the song ends, get in the car, and get out there, and go see what's playing three stories high in your area.





PS  Is Ray LaMontagne the new Tim Buckley?  Decide for yourself, by listening here.

Atmosphere.

 

Autumn Serenade.

Things that are Still Here.

Dear Dodo-ists,

Here are two things that have not entirely gone the way of the dodo:  Candy Pez and metal lunch boxes.  These are not the things one would think to build an ark for, but one can appreciate the efforts of any zealot artifact archivist of cultural remnants.  

I'll bet you have had one;  either a Pez dispenser, or a lunch box, and maybe you were even fortunate enough to have had both.  I have two old lunch boxes of my Grandfather's-   When they came into my ownership they were (and still are) filled with rocks. I think we have a Bunny shaped Pez dispenser in the butter-keeper bin of the refrigerator, but I can't be sure. 

A few years ago we visited the Pez Museum.  Now we must make plans for a pilgrimage to the Lunch Box Museum, but first I must chase my refrigerator;  I think it might be running.








PS  The Pez dispensers above are Green Hornets, from 1967.  See more at the official Pez website:  www.pez.com.

I do not like them with a goat.

Dear Sam I Am,

Attending an artist's lecture a few days ago, I determined that I wanted to remind us all to do something, or rather, not to do something- not to say "I am."  I hear a lot of this "I am blankety-blank" all over the place, not just in The Arts.  This is what we all want to hear:  I love, I like, I do. 

I would like you to try roller skating, not because I am a roller skater; but because I like to roller skate.  I love it, even, and I know you will too.  Yes, it is a little tricky and you might fall.  But this is what makes it all so compelling- trying not to fall will keep your sometimes bossy and annoying mind completely occupied, and the rest of your corpuscles will be thrilled! 

Still, some of you will resist, some of you will say "I am a person who does not roller skate."  I applaud your strength of will.




Resisters, please enjoy this short video:




ANATOMY OF... The Insane Legs (2013, Neue Massenproduktion) from Neue Massenproduktion on Vimeo.






Likers, lovers, doers, and even dreamers, sample some, or all, of this longer video.




NUMBERS (2013, Neue Massenproduktion) from Neue Massenproduktion on Vimeo.




Both of these fine films are skated and made by the Infamous Skating Couple.

Bake Well.

Dear Tarts,

Life will imitate art, or rather craft, eventually.  You can either bake a Bakewell Tart, or you can knit one.  The knitted is based on a pattern in Knitorama, by Rachael Matthews.  Her book also gives instructions for a crocheted sunny-side up egg, a knitted chocolate cake, and many other delights.  I knitted this Bakewell Tart several years ago.  Just recently, I baked the more edible Bakewell below, in a fine new French-made oblong tart pan- like this one, from Fante's. 
 
Bakewell Tart comes to us from Britain- it is a delicious dessert, and almost as charming a dish as Battenberg Cake- which is pure poetry to speak, and elegant to make.  We'll bake it one day, you and I.



Recipe adapted from Gourmet's Sweets- Desserts for Every Occasion, Conde Nast Books, Random House, New York, 1998.

Bakewell Tart

Pastry dough:

1/2 cup cold butter (if you use unsalted butter, add a 1/4 tsp. of salt to the dry ingredients)
1 1/4 cups flour
2 to 4 tbs. cold water

Cut the butter into the flour in the usual way- trickle in the cold water, once it holds together, wrap it up and chill it in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out the dough, fit it into your tart pan (an 8 or 10" circle, or an 4" x 13" oblong), prick it on the bottom with a fork, and then line it with foil and fill it with rice, beans or pie weights.  Bake it for around 10 minutes- then remove the bean laden foil.  Return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or so.  You want it to look pale golden, and not wet.  Cool the shell while you make the filling.


Filling:

1/2 cup butter (if unsalted, add a dash of salt to the filling)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup almond flour
1 whole egg
3 egg yolks

1/3 cup raspberry jam

Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg, then beat in the yolks, one at a time.  Add the flour and almond meal- mix just until combined.

Spread the jam on the bottom of the tart shell- then spoon the filling on top.

Bake the tart for 25 to 30 minutes, or until puffed and golden.  Cool in the pan.


Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract- or a mix of the two
water

Mix the sugar with the extract and add water until the consistency is drizzle-worthy.  Maybe, 2 or 3 teaspoons of water.  Get it onto your tart in any way you see fit- Gourmet uses a icing filled Ziploc bag with a cut corner, but it looks good if you just ladle it, or let it fall from the tines of a fork.

Serves 10- ha!  It serves 10 people who don't like tart- tart people will have this eaten in 6 to 8 ecstatic slices.

The Sparks; Sparked.

Dear Everyone,

Do you have a cream pie parked outside?  Would you care for a little light ballet?

Until we meet again.

Build Your Boat.

Ahoy Mateys,


It's elemental: Take a thing, add another- make something.  Make use of our oft-celebrated opposable thumbs; Honor the ancestors- build something.  How about a boat?  *As usual, we open with a song.

My family made all sorts of things:  Additions, pools, gingerbread houses, fountains, gardens, tables, sheds, policies, dresses, dolls, bicycles, tablecloths, ponds, bread & jam, pickles, ice cream, kites, & sail cars.  My Dad made rubber band powered paddlewheeled tugboats with me and my brother- later, my Dad and I built a wood strip canoe- naturally, here at the Dodo we continue this fine tradition of boat building. 

The boat you see here being made is a Car Topper, from Harold H. "Dynamite" Payson.  Who doesn't want to follow the instructions of a person known as "Dynamite?"


You can make one too, here are information and plans.  Want to begin a little smaller?  Here is a paddlewheeler plan, and a very nice toy yacht plan from Make.  If you want to make something else entirely with wood, try this website with many links to free plans for all kinds of wonderful things.








*I hope you recognize this phrase, from Jeff and the I Love Toy Trains video series.  If you don't know the series, here is a small taste.  Read all about all their films here.