In the Studio Today... Open-faced, Late Summer Zucchini meets Cow Girl & Brickmaiden

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Late Summer Zucchini Sandwich, originally uploaded by cproppe.

Here is my spontanteous, sandwich contest entry story. (Mezzetta Foods annual "Make that Sandwich" Contest is underway, and entries are due on September 1, 2013 "Labor Day").

Back from Connecticut with the twins, and a day after their orientation to 6th grade, I remembered I'd purchased a Groupon for surfing lessons at Stinson Beach Surf Camps and we raced out there to join Tommy and his band of merry, banana wielding monkeys, ages 6 to 16, in the balmy waters of late summer Pacific Ocean surf.  What a beautiful day it was... but for the fact that Blake, my 50 lb. eleven year old ballet dancer, arrived at the beach with a pounding headache and stomach ache.  I have to give the kid huge credit, as he managed to make it through an afternoon of surfing and stood up on his own several times before he had to let loose the rage within his tummy in a sand bucket.   He was fine afterwards, another amazing miracle of youth; surfing one minute, sick the next, and then singing songs with his brother all the way home on winding roads.  Impressive, right?

Well, this little day trip lead me to create something of a small miracle of my own, although I am not as youthful and bouncy.  Well, maybe bouncy, but not necessarily in a good way.

The open-faced sandwich was a spontaneous, Stinson Beach gourmet and refrigerator concoction that will be repeated soon.  I had picked up a large artisan round loaf of Brickmaiden Breads (Pt. Reyes)whole grain, sourdough bread at the Stinson Grocery, and another round of Cow Girl Creamery's Mt. Tam, soft cheese.  The previous night, I had sauteed several dark green and heirloom zucchini from the garden, with fresh garlic, olive oil, and sea salt.  These were great cold, having been refrigerated overnight.  I had fresh tomato from the garden, and specialty olives on hand.  A 3/4" slice of the fresh, whole grain sourdough with the creamy cheese spread on top, then layered with tomato slices, zucchini coins, and salty olives was really an amazing and quick dinner after a long day at the beach.  Add a glass of red wine, and "Mangia, mangia!"  My Italian Grandmother used to say this at our feast-like, family meals.  An appropriate salute, given that Mezzetta Foods is a 4th Generation, Italian family run company and this sandwich reminded me of the Mezzetta "Make that Sandwich" contest that I have seen on Twitter.  This sandwich could easily be made using several of their products.



Sauté
1/4" fresh Zucchini coins until lightly browned on each side in:
• 2-3 TBS of Mezzetta Olive Oil
• with 1 TBS Mezzetta Crushed Garlic
Remove from heat, cool to room temperature, drain liquid, and refrigerate over night in covered glass pyrex.


Slice
• several 3/4" slices of Brickmaiden Whole Grain Sourdough Bread

Spread
• bread with Cow Girl Creamery, Mt. Tam Cheese

Layer
• thinly sliced, fresh tomato and cold zucchini coins

Top with
• halved, seasoned olives (You may wish to use Mezzetta Pitted Kalamata Olives or Mezzatta Greek Olives, or others of your choice.)


I'm sure it would have been even more yummy with the addition of roasted bell peppers sauteed with the zucchini, but I did not try this yet.  Mezzetta also makes jarred, Roasted Bell Peppers, that would be perfect for my next attempt.

Note***   Sandwich photos coming soon... all ingredients were eaten during the brainstorming and creative process, plus, the kids ate 3/4 of the bread in the car on the way home, leaving me very little materials left for creative photography after I ate the two slices left over!

The Art of Glass: Google Glass to Oil Painting

Friday evening  |  July 12, 2013

"Celia on the Rocks" 5" x 5" oil on canvas, ©2013 C.Proppé

The Google Glass video I uploaded to Vimeo today (Mountain Biking Marin) is part of my process to document cyclists and bikes for reference for my oil paintings.  Tonight, I was inspired by a friend and amazing painter, Kanna Aoki, to paint something small from my work.  I knew I was going to do this, but Kanna gave me the extra push on Facebook today.  Thank you, Kanna, for getting me going.  It's hard to just start painting sometimes!  This is a tiny, 5" x 5" oil painting of Mt. Bike rider, Celia Graterol from the beginning of the video.  I took photos to document the process with Google Glass, but I'm having trouble uploading them tonight.  It used to do it automatically, but for some reason, my Glass is FULL and I can't empty it! (eek!... I guess it's not so bad to have a Glass that's full... that's supposed to be a positive thing, right? ;)

The Art of Glass: Mountain Biking Marin

Mountain Biking Marin with Google Glass from Colleen Proppé on Vimeo.
A Google Glass visit with the Founder of Mountain Biking Marin, Celia Graterol. Mountain Biking Marin offers guided bike tours and corporate trips to ride the best mountain bike trails around the San Francisco Bay Area + Tahoe, as well as customized mountain bike skill clinics.

Wed - Friday July 10-12, 2013

Founder + Instructor, Celia Graterol of "Mountain Biking Marin"

This week, I had the pleasure of riding my bike alongside(well, behind) a former US National Downhill Champ in Mountain Bike Racing.  Celia Graterol is a resident of Mill Valley, and married to the marvelous, "Sally around the Bay".  Sally walked my dog, Mesa, while I followed Celia through shin-scratching chaparral and marveled at her goat-like prowess on rocks that dropped off into the fog.  I have had my days with such rocks, but I am ten years rusty from raising twins... so, Celia is very impressive, also being a mommy and three years my elder.  She is fun and inspiring, and knows all the best legal trails and deer paths in Marin and Tahoe.  She also is known for bringing her Ukelele along on rides, and being from Brazil, she can sing a mean Mariachi tune that will warm your heart after a Summer ride through "Carl the Fog".  Celia founded Mountain Biking Marin in 2002, where she has many instructors who assist her in corporate mountain bike rides, group lessons, clinics and individual instruction.  Check them out!  They have a new website in the works but for now, you can find them here.

The Art of Glass: Running with Glass - Day 6

Day 6 with Google Glass, a set on Flickr.

Monday July 1, 2013

Today, I tested Glass while trail running up and downhill. These are some photos from 6pm in the summer. Glass does a nice job with scenery and wide angles. Glass has a harder time with close up images, like the 2 lizards pictured in the last photo here.  The explorer version currently does NOT have a "zoom" feature for the camera, so you can only take wide angle shots, and that is it. It relies on you being able to go in and crop what you want to share later. Hopefully, Google will come up with a zoom feature for the future versions.

Here is the video of my run!  Music: Sigur Ros. All images via Google Glass. Click the X box on the annoying Google pop up ads to get rid of them.

Enjoy these other videos I created using Google Glass:

• Kayaking with Google Glass

• Mt. Biking with Google Glass

• Interview with Google Glass: 3 Ring Cycles, Bike Shop in San Anselmo

• Kids, Word on the Street, and Google Glass

• My San Francisco Adventure to Pick up Google Glass

The Art of Glass: Bike Ride in Marin Watershed

Saturday June 29th, 2013

Today is day 4 beta-testing Google Glass.  See my previous 2 posts for how I picked up Glass in SF, and shared it with 20+ kids so far.  Today, I had the pleasure of a casual, solo mt. bike ride in the Marin Municipal Water District.  I am stoked!  The best thing about GLASS is that it allows me, someone who loves to take photographs, to not have to stop and pull out my camera all the time.  This is HUGE!  Watch the video.  I edited in iMovie this evening.  From bike ride to video, all in one day.  Pretty amazing.  I have included a few of the still shots from Google Glass, below.

Go, Google Glass!  Go iMovie.  Feeling much better after some exercise too.

Left:  Dark, polarized twist-on visor.         Right:  Clear, twist-on visor.

Enjoy these other videos I created using Google Glass:

• Kayaking with Google Glass

• Trail Running with Google Glass

• Interview with Google Glass: 3 Ring Cycles, Bike Shop in San Anselmo

• Kids, Word on the Street, and Google Glass

• My San Francisco Adventure to Pick up Google Glass

The Art of Glass: Google Glass Exploration Begins!

June 26-27, 2013

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being escorted by beautiful, happy, young Bay Area employees of Google, on my first "Google Glass Adventure".  It was the best day of the week, having been sunny and hot after two days of rain in both Marin and San Francisco.  There was a great, cool breeze on the water, but not so much to make you cold enough to need a jacket.  Perfect day.  I arrived at the Embarcadero with enough time to wander the shops.

It was the day that SCOTU struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and vacated the ban on same-sex marriage in California.  Many of my friends were in SF waiting to hear the results, and in general, it was a special day for a lot of folks in all of the Bay Area.  I have a lot of gay friends, and many of them are already married, but today was really special because it finally said that we are all human beings and we all have rights no matter who we love.  This is an amazing time to be alive-- not only do we have equality in marriage and women "Leaning In"... but we have Google Glass to record these amazing new chapters.

As I was marveling at the beauty in this day and all that had happened thus far, I headed out to the secret pier we were told to meet for the Google Glass fitting.  My adventure began at 4:30pm, and we departed by motorboats with pontoons and a below cabin area for storage.  There were 5 Google Explorers in our boat, and 3 assistants to help us get to our next location.  Note here that all the employees and boat crew were already wearing Glass with the polarized shade attachment.  It was an entire Glass operation, from the moment we met at the pier, all the way back, Google Glass was being worn by all.

The boat ride took us under the Bay Bridge and across the Bay to Alameda.  There was a bus waiting to meet us at the next location!  The bus and more helpful Glass staff took us to the building where we would receive our Glass.  Not only Google Glass, but glasses of champagne, heirloom tomatoes, festive white lights, music and beautiful young people dressed in clean, matching GAP-like, uber-casual Friday fashions.  It was the Google version of the Apple Store, but somehow pumped up a notch, with all the employees wearing colorful Glass computer headgear and being super hip and helpful.  I think my guest and I may have felt a little bit old in this environment, but they all made me want to fit in.  I surely wanted to be one of these shiny, happy people with Glass.

Yes!  It was cool to be an explorer.  I'm in!  Sure, I'm 45 and a single-mom, but I can pretend I'm 30 again, and but for a few wrinkles around the eyes and my not so 30-something body... well, I really do look 30.  Yes, I am ready to start over with Glass!  (For all those 20-somethings out there, who have no clue how quickly you will be older, these are the thoughts we think at 45, when life is starting to feel like it's moving too fast in the wrong direction.)

From the moment I signed up to pick up Glass (having been selected as one of the 8,000 tweets to get to Alpha-test this device) it has been a clandestine, and fun journey.  Having had three contract jobs in the last three months, I wondered how this would financially come to fruition, but magically, it all worked out.  Just to remind those who are big time planners out there, this moment never could have been planned.  I worked very hard to stay employed, and I spend a lot of time sharing with friends and others that care about art, cycling and the Bay Area on Twitter.  These are the reasons I am here writing for you today.  I tweeted to Google that I wanted to use Glass to record cycling shots from my bike for use in my paintings.

Riding a bike, we see a lot of colorful people and shapes pass by us, but don't have time to stop the bike and pull out a camera.  I thought that Glass could help me to capture these brief but fantastic moments that I can only have in my memory for less than a second.  Inspired by this new way of seeing things, I believed it would only inspire my art in a new way.  Here is the start of my journey.  Please follow along as I learn about Glass and work to use it in my art, and hopefully in the art of others in my community.  I would like to also feature other local artists while I am testing Glass, so if you are reading this and are in the Bay Area and would like to be interviewed through Glass, send me a note below in my comments.  Click the thumbnails, below, to view more from the Google Glass Fitting.  My next post will be about the pros and cons of Glass as it is right now, including photos taken by my 11 year old twins.  Stay tuned...

Google Glass Fitting, a set on Flickr.