Yusef Salaam
Jusef Salaam may not be a household name yet but he sure should be and hopefully will in the future. Salaam was one of the Central Park Five, five teenagers accused of raping a jogger in 1989 and pressured into giving false confessions. He spent seven years in prison before being exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. (If you remember back then, Trump took out a full page ad in the newspaper calling for the death penalty for them--Why am I not surprised!).
Fast forward to 2023, the Democratic Primary in New York City that just took place on June 27th. Yusef Salaam decided to try and affect change from within, choosing to run for City Council in his district of Harlem and he beat the odds and won, overwhelmingly! He chose to turn all what could have been extreme bitterness and anger into hope and action. He truly is an inspiration to us all. Hear him here talking to Joy Reid on MSNBC about his journey. And for a more in depth exploration of his very interesting and wise inspirational take on exoneration, education and change, listen to him recently address the public at Fordham University in New York City. If Yusef Salaam can be positive, then we all better follow his lead and get off the couch and fight (non-violently) for our rights...
Click here to watch the Ken Burns documentary about the case.
And Netflix also made an original movie about the case—neither of these films is for the faint of heart…so hard to watch—just imagine living it!
Georgia O'Keefe's Hands
Full disclosure, Georgia O'Keefe is not one of my favorite artists--but I do have to say I love her hands as documented by the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz. I discovered these hands in a sepia toned book I found as a teenager on the books of the Strand Bookstore, while venturing into the big city from the suburbs. I remember the book like it was yesterday and I was so taken by the sepia tones of the photographs that I ended up buying it as a gift for my dad, a very expensive book for me at the time. Wonder where it ended up today...
Steiglitz and O'Keefe had a very interesting modern, complicated relationship/marriage from 1915 through 1933, as documented in the book My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.
P.S. Just a thought--maybe I should give Georgia O'Keefe another try and go see her art in the current show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. I am interested in seeing the work that goes beyond her most famous pastel flower paintings. I really don't know her full catalogue..
Gjelina Restaurant and Cookbook
Gjelina Cookbook by Travis Lett, Photographs by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott
I look forward to visiting the restaurant Gjelina every time I go to LA, as I just did with my good friend Mara and her terrific kids. I originally heard about it through my friend Gina and it never disappoints. Their food is delicious--fresh producee as only you can get in California and I love their veneration of vegetables, much like ABCv in NYC does and the old Gabrielle Hamilton restaurant Prune (I still miss it) used to do...You really can't go wrong with anything on the menu but I especially love their pizzas, their crudos, and any of the vegetable dishes and salads.
PAN ROASTED BABY CARROTS, ORANGE, CILANTRO, SESAME AND SPICED YOGURT(serves 4-6 as side dish)
INGREDIENTS
2 lb. small carrots cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup spiced yogurt*
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
In a medium bowl, combine carrots with 3 tbsp. oilive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add thyme and 2 tbsp. orange juice. Let stand.
In a small dry frying pan over medium heat, toast sesame seeds approx. 3 minutes, until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a roasting pan or cast iron skillet, add 3 tbsp. olive oil, and arrange carrots on a single layer on high heat brown 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer pan to oven and cook until carrots carmelize around the edges but are still firm, 5 to 7 minutes.
Return pan to stovetop over medium heat, add the wine, remaining 6 tbsp. orange juice and add the stock. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape off brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, until the liquid thickens and begin to coat the carrots for 2 to 3 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a serving dish, drizzle with the spiced yogurt (see recipe below) and with sesame seeds and garnish with cilantro. Serve warm.
Recipe for Spiced Yogurt (makes 2 cups)
Ingredients
1/4 tsp. coriander seeds
1/4 cumin seeds
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
1 tbsp. chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. white wine vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Kosher salt
3 tbsp water, or as needed.
In a small, dry frying pan, toast the coriander and cumin seeds until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before grinding to a powder in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
In a food processor, combine the yogurt with the ground coriander and cumin, cilantro and mint. Process until the herbs are broken down and the yogurt is tinted green, about 5 seconds. Add the olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice and pulse just until incorporated. Taste and season with salt. Stir in the water, a little bit at a time, stopping when the yogurt is still thick but thin enough to drizzle from a spoon.
Make just a small amount because the lemon juice makes the yogurt lose its creaminess.
Charity of the Week:
The Innocence Project
Painting of the Week
Childhood’s End Series: Yellow Bird, mixed media on paper, 19 3/4 x 29 1/2”
New York, NY 2022
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.