Double Victory for Dana O!

Two of the loves of my life have been honored by the president... AT THE SAME TIME.

Midnight Baking

So, lately I've taken to making cookies at odd hours of the night with my roommate's dog. I started off with the standard chocolate chip, but since I ran out of chocolate chips, I was forced to get more creative with my flavors. This time, I'm making cinnamon and brown sugar cookies in honor of this winter weather.

Tonight's recipe is based on the "Smart Cookie" recipe in Cheap & Easy: A Cookbook for Girls on the Go by Sandra Bark and Alexis Kanfer (which I highly recommend!), but as usual, I've made some adjustments.

The recipe calls for:
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour <----- I pretty much always triple the amount of flour. I just add enough to make the consistency more doughey and less like batter.
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

** I added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the dough.**

With the oven at 350, I tried desperately to reasonably portion the dough so that we won't end up with just one huge cookie on a lightly greased baking sheet. After that, I brushed some melted butter over the dough and sprinkled brown sugar on the top. You can afford to be generous with the brown sugar.

Andrea Fraser

Just a few quick links about an artist I not only find compelling, but has quite a bit to do with my thesis.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-02-13/art/critiqueus-interruptus/1
kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/files/AndreaFraser.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_10_43/ai_n27870052/

Are the arts REALLY worth our money?

After giving away dozens of oil paintings to people from craigslist last night, I saw this post on the artblog about an upcoming panel concerning how much public money should be spent on the arts.

Lately, I've been curious about the function and value of art in contemporary society, so perhaps I should go to the panel and let some experts answer all of my questions.

I have an unreasonable crush on paintings.

Especially these Lara Viana paintings. (Via Daily Serving.)

A Perspective on Wilhelm Reich

Oddly enough, through the latter part of my upbringing, I became quite familiar with Wilhelm Reich and his ideas about orgones. It's always fun to meet other people who "know about orgones" and compare notes.

So, naturally while I was enjoying some Chianti and Easy Mac, looking for a full text online verson of Debord's "The Society of Spectacle" and came across this article, I thought I ought to pass it along.