I popped into the fabric shop the other day to pick up some black cotton to make a hooded cloak for my son for Carnival. I left the store with a slippery satin-y mulitcolored nightmare of a material. The lady assured me it was a material that is “facilissimo” to work with (she actually said it was probably the easiest material to sew with). Call me dumb to have believed her. Call her evil to have said it. In any case it was the most trying experience I’ve had in a while. That fabric was slipping and sliding the whole time I was cutting and sewing it. I just have to finish the hood of the cloak and it will be done and I can hide it away forever. 
Just look at this material and all it’s shiny slippery evil-ness.
Scivoloso
25 JanRobert Mapplethorp with the kids
23 JanFor those of you who are familiar with the famous photographer Robert Mapplethorp you’ll be surprised to hear that we took our three young children to see one of his exhibits last week-end. And I must admit there were a few photographs that were very explicit (if you get my drift). We’ve been taking our children to all sorts of art exhibits and shows since they were months old. Most have been thoroughly enjoyed and a few a bit less (I remember one Paul McCarthy exhibit in Milan where we had to carry out a few of the kids in tears). Some people disagree with exposing kids to topics that are out of the average comfort zone. We decided long ago to expose them to a wide range of different artists and types of art. We find our kids don’t register or even really see the stuff they’re not ready for. And the animated conversations we’ve had with our kids after these exhibits have been amazingly interesting. 
The kids have been refering to this art show as “the penis exhibit” due to…well….the hundreds of photos of penises. But there were also Mapplethorp’s beautiful flower portraits (also quite erotic but the kids don’t see that). If interested the show is on at Fondazione Forma in Milan until April 2nd. Go on…take the kids as well!
Learning Japanese (in Italian)
23 JanEvery Monday morning I attend a Japanese language class which is taught by a wonderfully sweet Japanese woman who has been living in Italy with her French husband for years. The teaching language of the class is Italian due to the obvious fact that we’re in Italy. But surpringly enough there are few Italians actually taking the course. There are Spanish, Mexican, British, Russian and Canadian (me!) students. The level of the class is very high and my fellow students VERY keen (most are older and without kids to occupy most of their time and brain cells). I’m trying my best and actually learning an amazing amount of Japanese characters (it’s primarily a writing and reading course). I’m hoping this will help us out during our upcoming vacation to Japan (although not likely).Amazingly enough I can actually read what she is writing on the board here. Seriously!
Look what a good student I am. As you can see I can even ask “Are you happy?” in Japanese. I think it will come in handy when we’re there.
The Tea Party
22 JanThis morning I noticed that my twin daughters were busily cleaning up and organising their room. I heard furniture being moved, saw dishes being stolen from the kitchen and noticed their little hands rummaging through our party decoration box. This is what I found when I finally went upstairs to see what all the commotion was about.
Apparently they had decided to have a tea party for their two friends who live next door.
They decided that Pumpkin Spice cake was to be served (and baked together with their invites). The guests arrived, baked, played then ate. And were all very happy. A perfect Sunday afternoon.
Ghiacciato
22 JanThe other day I was driving on my way to do some errands and came across this scenery in Piemonte. The whole countryside was white, frosty and covered in a thin layer of ice. I felt like I could have been on a back country road in Quebec in the middle of winter. These photos were taken 15 minutes from my house where it was sunny and no ice or snow was to be seen.
As you can see, the risotto fields are covered in frost and ice. I don’t know if this will affect the crops this spring but in any case it was a beautiful sight to see.
Pigment Gland
21 JanGuess whose pigment gland is loaded up and ready to produce? Our Marans chicken is finally laying again even despite this freezing cold weather we’ve been having the last few weeks (we’ve had below zero temps….BELOW ZERO IN ITALY!!!). Once a year Marans chickens “reload” their pigment gland so that their eggs are again a dark Bordeaux wine colour. Slowly as the year goes on the eggs become lighter and lighter in colour until they are a light tan/ brown.
Mercatino Usato
17 JanToday I discovered, with the help of a friend, a new mercatino usato (second hand shop). Amazingly enough it is only a 15 minute drive from my house. Why did I not know of this place this past 10 years!? It is absolutely gigantic and filled with everything under the sun. There are buildings upon buildings jam packed with old accordians, wrought iron bed frames, antique cameras, hand painted eggs, ceramic vases, horse saddles, crystal glassware, fireplaces, wash basins, wooden closets/desks/drawers/beds. Among all the garbage there are treasures to be found. At one point we were poking through one of the derelict warehouses to find an actual tree growing in the middle of it and poking out of the roof. Here are a few photos I took incognito while wandering around (never know if these shop owners appreciate people taking photos of their wares).
Bran Muffins
15 JanThis morning I made some bran muffins for the family. For some reason bran muffins have been a favorite of my kids since they were wee little ones. They started calling them” chocolate muffins” ages ago and I always “forgot” to correct them and tell them that they’re actually made from a very healthy whole grain that keeps you regular. This morning I did indeed tell them that I had made their “favorite bran muffins” and they all looked at me quite strangely and asked me what bran was exactly. I told them, they shrugged like it wasn’t very interesting and continued to eat. 
Recipe for Bran Muffins:
1 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup All Bran
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1/4 cup shortening (or butter)
1/2 cup raisins or dates (we skip this ingredient)
1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt
2. Mix milk and molasses together and add all bran. Let sit for a few minutes.
3. Add egg and shortening (or butter) to milk mixture and stir.
4. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture. Stir together but don’t overmix.
5. Bake in muffin tins at 400 f/200 c for 15-20 minutes.
The fix
15 JanDuring my recent trip to Canada I enabled my not so secret addiction and bought some very nice new fabrics (or actually they were very generously bought for me). Not that I am in NEED of any new fabrics (see post about my “addiction” and you’ll notice that I’m not lacking in material of any sort). In any case, I’m very happy with my new fabrics and I’m already busy thinking about some new sewing projects for 2012.
Thank goodness for Canada and their buy one metre get two metres free fabric shops!
Jan Fabre
13 JanI don’t know why but the last few days I’ve been thinking about the Belgian artist Jan Fabre. We went to see an exhibit of his at the Kroller Muller Museum in Holland last year and I still catch myself thinking about him and his art. The exhibit that we saw was one with his jewel beetle pieces. Paintings, sculptures and installation pieces were covered with these beetles. At first glance you can’t even tell that it’sactual beetle shells that are the medium he uses. He actually did a mural of jewel beetles on the ceiling of the Royal Palace in Brussels (1.6 million were used). His art definitely lingers in the mind for a very long time.
The famous jewel beetles.
The whole foreground is made of thousands of beetles. The paintings in the back as well.
Beetle covered street lamp.
In the garden of the Kroller Muller Museum there were some of Fabre’s bronze head statues.
If I remember correctly a lot of these statues are actually of the artist himself.
We all found the whole exhibit very fascinating. The kids still mention the beetle exhibit often and are still in awe of the works of art that they saw that day.
For an interesting article about Jan Fabre (with explanation of his human bone pieces) look here…
http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag04/march04/fabre/fabre.shtml
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