mohit.santram

the power of the internets

Last night I posted about the Mass Moca, a haven for great artwork in Western Mass. I pulled some favorite shots of 2006 from flickr and blogged a little about each - before I blogged about the Moca, I went to their site to see what was happening. The rice exhibit sounded great, but I wasn’t sure about going up just to see that as I have seen most of the other exhibits last spring. I thought nothing of it, only to get a personal email this morning from Katherine, the director of Marketing & PR of the Mass Moca.

Saw your blog posting. You’re right that we only have one smaller show that’s new in the galleries since last spring, but you should come anyway in the end of February as we will have Of All the People in All the World in our Hunter Center. Its here from 2/10 – 2/25 and well worth the trip from NYC. 875,000,000 grains of rice sorted into an array of human statistics and MASS MoCA is the only place to see it on the East coast. Here’s more info: http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/ofallthepeople/index.html

Hope you can come!

Katherine

Wow. I’m speechless. It’s really nice to get feedback on your blog, and it’s even better to get an email like the one I received from Katherine. After that, how could I not go up to the Moca in Feb?
Here’s how to get there: http://massmoca.org/visiting.html

MASS MoCA
1040 MASS MoCA Way
N. Adams, MA 01247

A Long Time Coming…

Tonight, well early on the am of the 31st, Rich reminded me that I haven’t posted in some time. It’s been on my mind to post, but I found other things to keep me busy. Let’s see if I can recap.

A Cousin was visiting with me, the trip took a little longer than expected, but all went well and after Thanksgiving, my place was all mine again. I did make some kick ass creme brulée at home, see below for a few pics.  I completed my work at frog design, and began december with a great trip to hawai’i.  i was gone for nearly two weeks, saw a few pearl jam shows, surfed some waves, caught some sights, and ate quite well.

So now that i’m back on schedule - I’ll be posting once a day, if not more.  Thanks for the reminder and subtle push Rich.  blog on…

Step 7: Add to Sauce

Step 7: Add to Sauce

Back again to pasta, this was another inspiration from Lidia. Since leaving frog and coming back from Hawai’i - I’ve been working from home one several ideas. Needless to say all of this cooking has two purposes; 1 - creative outlet, 2 - practice. oh and having something good to eat that you’ve made on your own hasn’t been bad either. It’s funny to really change some habits, like eating out, and see the difference. Since mid December, i’ve been slowly cooking more and more at home. I think i got out to eat twice a week tops. I’m saving money, eating well, and practicing quite a bit. NYC kitchens are small, which makes it harder to cook, but you can still make some good stuff. Here you can see the nearly finished product. I added too much filler (bread crumbs, etc) to this set of meatballs, but once you lightly fry them, and cook them in the sauce - they take on a whole new flavor.

chocolate mousse

chocolate mousse

Remember the Chocolate Soufflé I was telling you about? Well two weekends ago I felt the inspiration again, and made this. It turned out well, though it could have been a little sweeter. I held back some sugar so people could savor the chocolate. For the mix, I used a blend of chocolate to create a layered flavor. I’m not sure if it worked, but the mousse sure went quick. I didn’t even get much, until i cleaned out the bowl at the end. Anyway, remember to use good, rich, dark chocolate. The darker the better.

wild mushroom gnocchi + linguine

wild mushroom gnocchi + linguine

recently I’ve been watching some of lidia’s shows. my folks love her show, though it would be nice to see my mom with a show of her own. anyway lidia is like mrs. teti, except a lot younger and a lot more friendlier. when i was a kid, one of my dad’s patients was an older gentleman in his 70’s. a mushroom farmer, mr teti and his wife were a nice older italian couple who would babysit me from time to time. my mom enjoyed spending time with mrs teti, guess she reminded her of my grandma back in india; and from time to time i’d get dropped off there for the night. though there wasn’t much to do - mrs teti did make some mean pasta. maybe that’s where this comes from, but i made everything from scratch, except the linguine. though i can see the pasta machine in Mrs. Teti’s old house now…

burgers for dinner

burgers for dinner

In December I went to Hawai’i. It had been nearly 20 years since I had been, I figured it was time to finally head back. Jason liked the idea of my trip and joined me. I found this great house in Kauai and we rented the first floor for the week for 750. not bad for a two bedroom place in paradise. while we were there, we cooked every night. this night i cooked burgers, mushrooms, asparagus, salsa, guacamole, mashed taters, garnished with fresh pomegranate and a few dos equis. we ate quite well, and had an amazing time. i can’t wait to head back to kaua’i. good times!

Ingredients

Ingredients

The Creative Act II is starting up soon. Going back over some of the projects I made, I remember with fondness how much fun it was to make Chocolate Soufflé. The secret though is really in the chocolate. If you use bittersweet and dark chocolate, the better the result. Don’t ever, ever, use milk chocolate - unless you have no other choice. Choc Chip cookies are indeed great, but if you have the means to spend a little extra on better ingredients and get a little less, you’ll be happier.

banana bread - in m+d’s new oven

banana bread - in m+d’s new oven

over thanksgiving, i finally got to see mom’s new oven and microwave. after almost 27 years, they got a new set. we moved in 1980. sheesh. anyway, what better way to check it out, and to escape boredom at night, by baking some banana bread. i decided this time to split banana bread up and use the mini bread pans. my mom is a professional chef/caterer, so it’s no wonder, cooking is in the blood. anyway what i found was that every oven has a different feel, a different effect on baking. it’s a subtle art, one that i’m getting better at.

the layered iced coffee day

the layered iced coffee day

one of the good things at frog, aside from working with really great smart people, was the daily ritual of snack time. i’m now working that daily ritual off in the gym, but i did enjoy making iced coffees in the am. the a/c in the new ny office was notorious for breaking down almost every other day. you could go in 5 days one week and have 5 noticeably different climate zones in the same physical location over time. iced coffees seemed to ease the pain…

mass moca - north adams, ma

mass moca - north adams, ma

The other day I was thinking about heading up to the moca for a visit. it would be nice to get out of nyc for a bit and see some snow on the ground. though it finally started snowing - i still may see what’s opening up north in western mass.

http://massmoca.org/

well maybe not, seems most if the exhibits haven’t changed since last spring. some have, but not enough to warrant a trip until late feb or so.

nearly perfect (for this round)

nearly perfect (for this round)

I started cooking more and practiced making creme bruleé. it turned out really well - i even got one of those little flamethrowers. sweet right? mmmm.