salmon salad

As many of you know, my greatest love in this city resides at a place called 'Puccini' - a sweet little cafe behind the University of Amsterdam and just before you hit the Waterlooplein market. The salad served at this place is one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. Seriously - no exaggeration. This salad has been the 'reset' button for many a moment in my life here in Amsterdam. When you come out to visit, please please please make sure that we go there to expereince this culinary wonder. If you are not able to make it out here for whatever reason, here are the main components:

baby field greens
1 small quartered tomato
1 quartered hard-boiled egg
4 sun-dried tomatoes
2 halved artichoke hearts
handful of seed mix (pinenuts, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds)
2 blanched asparagus spears
filet of smoked or fresh (but cooked) salmon
dallop of creme frâiche/dill/pepper/salt/paprika mix

Toss the lettuce, SDT and seed ingredients with a simple white wine vinagrette (dallop of whole-grain mustard, bit of honey, salt, pepper; mix together and add 2 Tbsp of white wine vinegar. then add 2-3 Tbsp of olive oil while stirring all the other ingredients). Around the edges of the salad, place the artichokes, tomatoes and eggs. Place the salmon atop the salad, with the asparagus spears crossed over it. Finish with the dallop of creme frâiche mixture and a bit of ground pepper. (can you tell I have had this a couple of times?)

ENJOY!!!

Presenting...

As promised, here is the cast of the oh-so-talented people that were involved in the 'Geboeid' production that is now going to tour Holland and beyond...

Suzanne Marx - Senior coreographer and Director. More coming from her soon... very lovely woman that had the vision for this piece and surrounded herself with very talented people to pull it all off beautifully!

Francis Sinceretti - Dancer in the role of the Shiek - part of the Nationale Balletacademie and the Nationale Ballet in Holland. Classical background and was hemmed into the 'hip-hop' fold very well

Martin Tint Barnes - Dancer in the role of the 'Love interest' - from Manchester, England, has been here in Holland for 2 years and is with the ISH dance company - amazing perforrmance and the first queation I got from people was 'how does he do that with his body?'... seriously, watch for this guy...

Sarita Keilman - Dancer in the role of the 'Turkish girl' - recently graduated from dance academy here in Holland and is very soon coming out to LA to fulfill a scholarship with the Millenium Dance Studio! I will be contacting some of you soon to hook up with her out in Cali! Extremely talented girl - watch for her as well...

Martin Buter - Assistant Director and Advising - my dear, dear friend that really helped bring polish to the show and can visualize and insert powerful emotion into an already good performance, thereby making it magical. It was great working with him and I sincerely hope there will be more of that to come.

Streamer/DJ Alec Smart (Gary Shepherd) - Very talented DJ that mixed the music for the show, held it together and applied that push to turn it into a great preformance. He does other shows, parties, all kinds of projects - great man to have on your side.

Maximillian Erhardt - Harpist - another darling friend that brought the blending of the classical with the 'hip-hop' feel and made it WORK. From Germany, he is in his final year that the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and will be a world-famous harpist before you know it.

Rosa Ana - Rap and Song - this girl is fabulous - wrote the raps that glued the whole show together. Like other rap divas, she owned the story and made it come alive with edginess and glamour. More coming from her very soon as well...

Kirsten Schötteldreier - Soprano - a sweet woman from Germany, she has performed in operas here in Holland, Germany and Italy. She is pursuing more productions like this and was very kind to work with.

And Beyond... - Yoland and Brigitte - Costumes - These girls have a great place in the middle of the red light district and made innovative costumes that worked really well for the show. Check out their stuff @ www.andbeyond.nl

Overall, it was a lovely production, very privilaged to have worked with these people and I wish them all the best in their upcoming endeavors. They are going to tour around Holland and I am hoping to join them, but we will see if that ends up materializing.... More to come (of course)
pictures of the production will be on picasa soon...

'Geboeid' premiering TONIGHT!!!

Of all weeks that I should be blogging...

Here is reason for hiatus - I have been working as production manager ('production bitch' has become the affectionate term - long stroy involving Britney Spears...) for a show that is opening TONIGHT at Podium Mozaïek

for a hip-hop and classical dance and music blend called 'Geboeid'. I am very very proud to be a part of this production - everyone involved is fabulously talented and we have had a really great time working on this. It is the story of a young Turkish girl that finds herself torn between the hip-hop life and boy that she loves and the obligations of family and culture. Beautiful... I will list the first and last names of the lovely people that involved tomorrow for you so that you can follow their careers ;) Martin Butler and Maximillian Ehrhardt are my dear friends that got me involved in this and it has been really wonderful working with them!!! I think I adore them even more, if that was possible!

Show starts at 9pm tonight and Saturday - come out and see it!

Overseas Voting - DO IT NOW!!!

For all of the lovely Americans overseas that need to vote before it is too late (like tomorrow), here is some info that can help you get this done... the ladies at the American Women's Cllub Amsterdam pointed me to all of this info - thanks Ruth!

First, the deadline for us to register for the absentee is SUNDAY!!! Take a couple of minutes and do this NOW if you haven't already...

- For the registration and write-in https://fawco.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/FwabStart.htm
or https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/overseas/home.htm
After you fill this in, you still have to MAIL IT IN... you can find the office that you need to send it into on the assitance guidelines site below...

- Voting assistance guidelines (if you need a notary or anything like that...) http://www.fvap.gov/for-voting-assistance-officers/vote-guide/index.html

Also, I heard the US Consolate is doing something on tomorrow or Monday (you would have to call them...) to help people if you feel that you need the extra bit of help.
I am not the most politically-active person on the planet, but i think we can all agree that this is pretty important...
Good luck and happy voting!

ps - for a good laugh, check out Leo DiCaprio's youtube commercial trying to get people to vote...

silly celebs...

Amsterdam is awesome

and here is a wonderful little article from the New York Times online magazine to prove it.

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2008/09/21/style/t/index.html?WT.mc_id=TM-D-I-NYT-AD-BIG-TRV-HP-0908-RF&WT.mc_ev=click#pageName=21intro

A good friend of mine here in Amsterdam that is a fellow international forwarded this to me - reading articles about the city you are currently residing in is always fun and slightly weird at the same time. There are several places, restaurants, sights and shops mentioned that I have had the pleasure of frequenting or at least visiting. Very fabulous to hear that someone else the same opinion of many of these places, and I find myself wishing there were some other places that are note-worthy as well. The weird part is reading another person's take on it - especially when it is written with language like 'scenesters', 'avant-gardists' and 'beer and babes crowd'. I abide just near the '9 straatjes' and have been in/ridden past those shops a million times. Truly is one of the best neighborhoods in the city. The funniest is the timeline of 'things to do' - I would LOVE to meet the person that can pull all that off on that timeline!

Enjoy getting to know this lovely city in the way I have always wanted to be able to tell it...

Linkedin updated!

In the on-going effort and desire to network and connect with as many lovely people as possible, I have finally updated my Linkedin profile! Just what you were all waiting for, I am sure.

Where's the art?

In soaking up all of the information and innovations being offered here at PICNIC 2008, new questions are starting to develop in my mind. As an agent seeking to sell, promote and propel artists and galleries, searching for greater networks and exposure to get in front of collectors and companies is a neccessity. How can web presence and connectivity impact and change the face of business in the art world?

There are many ideas that are rolling around about webwork for the arts: 'virtual museums', galleries selling their work online rather than face-to-face, artists relying on their blogs and website to do the selling for them. How can we make these ideas work better for us? How can we make it more personal? And how are we supposed to find all of this information?

A couple of things have stood out -
Blogging and using tools to make the visual stand out (Zemanta and Visualblog), using keywords for easier searching, copyright protection for the artists and galleries through Creative Commons, etc. These are all tools that can bring great exposure to the artists and galleries, make them easier to find, and protect the value of their work.
How can all of these tools be tied together and keep the connectivity personal for the collector?

Check out networking sites like ArtLimited, ArtOlive and the big-wigs like Saatchi Online and others. There are loads of places you can gain information on the market: Luxury Culture magazine, EYEMAZING, GUP, and many more. These are all great resources for gaining a better idea of what type of work is out there, the quality and background on the artists and what is on the horizon for 'the next big thing'. These are webs that are incorporating comprehensive images, information and background on the work that is showcased. But in the end, most people want to SEE the work in person, they want to MEET the artists or connectors. How can we get them there?

An interesting idea presented yesterday here at PICNIC by Fiona Romeo from the Maritime Museum in London - mapping artifacts and artworks to tell a story about the items they have in their collection. Using Google topigraphical maps, they insert images of the pieces from specific collections in meaningful patterns that create context for the objects. This makes the work come 'alive' on the web! There is a way to find where these pieces came from, why they are important and what makes them distinctive. What if we could do the same with mapping for galleries and artists? Give context and access to these places that look intimidating to new crop of collectors? What would that look like?

Considering the overwhelming amounts of information on the internet and the intimidation factor many percieve galleries to have, one can conclude that most are not terribly motivated to dive into finding the work they want. What if by mapping these galleries and artists we could reach collectors and companies more effectively? By personally working in partnerships with galleries and artists to create 'virtual walking tours' we can provide context and information and invite them into these places that they would not have ventured into on their own. This could also serve to give access to people in other cities and countries to find context in a place where they had none. This way, when people choose to visit the galleries or contact the artists, they will already have a connection to the work they are asking about and would be more prone to purchase work in a shorter time frame.

Saying this will take work is an understatement, but it is work worth pursuing if it can connect more collectors and businesses to valuable and emerging artworks.