a billion tastes and tunes

John Pusateri

2011-08-04T11:07:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted the work of John Pusateri before! He makes beautiful images of dead birds (lithographs, drawings, and photographs) and of insects and animals and people. His sense of light and color are astounding.

Walmor Correa

2011-08-02T11:19:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness. I almost posted Walmor Correa's entire portfolio, I love so much of his work so much. (It may look like I still posted a lot, but, well, this is me trying to exercise some restraint.) Anatomical drawings, pencil, color, insects, imaginary creatures, ahh, all gorgeous!

watercolors of buildings by flaf on flickr

2011-07-28T12:16:00.006-05:00

Gorgeous linework and watercolor washes by flaf on flickr. Discovered, I believe, via kizioko on tumblr, though I can't find the exact post at the moment.

idlethumbs illustration on flickr

2011-07-25T12:14:00.000-05:00

I really connect with and am inspired by these lovely scientific illustrations by idlethumbs on flickr, discovered via the scientific illustration tumblr.

2011-07-21T12:13:00.003-05:00

Oof. It's hard to know when these gaps in posts will happen. I have a ton of inspiring images to share with you, as well as some recipes, but in the last few weeks I've taken a class at the Center for the Book, a weekly extended ed class at the California College of Art, gotten really busy at my full-time job, been volunteering frequently at the Center as well, blogging for the Center, getting into Pinterest (above, more below), and had literally half-a-dozen house-guests all while trying to keep drawing and working on my portfolio. I've been prioritizing my art blog, and will continue to do so, but I am also going to queue up some posts for this blog whenever I can. While I'm still cooking a lot, working full-time means that I'm not usually around when there's the best light in my kitchen (about 10 AM in my opinion) for photographing food, so I don't have much. I've taken some photos -- a wilted spinach salad, my favorite tofu dish, some of my favorite snack and comfort foods -- but the light is no good and some of them are even blurry, so I'll have to wait to share those recipes until I have better pictures. In the meantime, I am working on a post rounding up my favorite recipes from around the internet lately (but this too is more time-intensive than tumbling or posting my favorite artwork, so I don't know when that will be either).

But back to this post! If you're on Pinterest, check me out! There is definitely some overlap with my tumblr and with this blog, but there is also lots of other things that don't quite fit, or that I'm simply using to organize my thoughts for projects or my daydreams for super-unaffordable products.

Spirited Away and more Ponyo animated gifs

2011-06-24T10:38:00.000-05:00

Definitely check out the animated gifs label for more!

Gif directly via birazdenizbirazuyku.

Via lovegifs.

Marimekko

2011-06-17T10:46:00.001-05:00

Who doesn't love the bold and beautiful prints of Marimekko Fabrics? A wonderful way to start a Friday. Here's hoping it will be a lovely sunny day.

Alex Votsmush watercolors

2011-06-10T11:27:00.000-05:00

I love the juicy brushstrokes and dripping pages in Alex Votush's epic watercolor work.

I learned about Alex Vosmush via Blog of an Art Admirer and History Lover.

update to naomibardoff.com

2011-06-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

One of the things I did in my super-busy last month was revamp my website! (Again!) And then, like the art I was working on then, I was too busy to post about it. I liked my old design, with the hand-drawn touches, and while my web design experience means I'm perfectly able to update it, I found that I didn't do so as often as if it were more standardized. So here's the new, hopefully-easier-to-navigate, naomibardoff.com!

(PS: Yes, this is another one of those posts that will be a duplicate for those of you who also subscribe to my art blog. Won't happen again for a while, probably!)

My Neighbor Totoro Animated gifs, part three

2011-06-02T10:21:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know just what all of you have been thinking: it's been so long since Naomi did a My Neighbor Totoro or other Miyazaki-related animated gif post! Well, you're in luck.

See parts one and two here! Also check out the animated gifs tag for more animated gifs.

The above catbus gif is via badminton.

Via suzywire.

Ernst Haeckel, part 2 of 2

2011-05-31T10:35:00.000-05:00

More of the wonderful work of Ernst Haeckel. Check out part 1 for more!

Ernst Haeckel, part 1 of 2

2011-05-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

If you like the drawing style in the Codex Seraphinianus, then you'll probably share my love for Ernst Haeckel's scientific illustrations from Art Forms in Nature. See more of his work here, and in the 2nd part of this post tomorrow!

Wendy Macnaughton

2011-05-27T10:54:00.003-05:00

I love, love, love San Francisco illustrator Wendy Macnaughton's wonderful lines, transparent colors, and handwriting. Really powerful. I highly recommend scrolling through her blog and seeing how her work has changed and developed.

I discovered her work via teaching literacy's post linking to her popular Meanwhile, at the San Francisco Public Library series (which I have since seen linked just about everywhere!).

Anatomy Pop-Ups

2011-05-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

I often turn to medical and anatomy pop-ups and fold-outs when I need inspiration for my own pop-ups. I'm working on some animal pop-ups at the moment, and was pleased to discover this Duke University Library exhibit of anatomical flap books.

I learned of them via bioephemera.

Aino-Maija Metsola

2011-05-13T14:45:00.000-05:00

Here's some of the vibrant and luscious illustration and watercolor work of Aino-Maija Metsola to brighten up your Friday!

I originally learned of Aino-Maija Metsola's work via Pikaland.

Louise Richardson

2011-05-09T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm in love with Louise Richardson's shoes, clothes, butterflies, books, fiber art, and paper works. Wonderful combination of materials and content. See more on her flickr.

I originally discovered her work via Ullabenulla.

Julia Manning

2011-05-06T18:09:00.000-05:00

Love, love, love these prints by Julia Manning! Animals, birds, fantastic colors, wonderful shapes. Mmm, and the rich golden yellow she favors is positively yummy.

Discovered via A Polar Bear's Tale.

San Francisco Center for the Book Blog

2011-05-04T13:02:00.001-05:00

First of all, I'm sorry for those of you who subscribe to both this and my art blog, because you'll be getting almost perfectly duplicate posts about this. Duplicate posts like these will happen only very rarely, when the content of the two blogs overlap.

For the last few months I've been volunteering at the wonderful San Francisco Center for the Book. And recently, I've started contributing to their new blog! So far I've been posting about my favorite book art and artists. Many of my planned and past posts touch on work that explores the relationship between analog books and digital media or e-books. Other posts are simply appreciating and ruminating on some of the beautiful work that book artists have created. Other posts so far have been about events, workshops, and classes held by or connected to the Center. Definitely check out the blog! You can also see all the posts I've made so far.

Illustrations by Himmapaan on Deviantart

2011-05-02T11:26:00.000-05:00

Mm, there's something so satisfying about the bold contrasts and clean lines of these illustrations by Deviantart artist Himmapaan. Wonderful way of storytelling.

A Bird Seller

2011-04-26T15:22:00.000-05:00

Ah, took a bit of an inadvertent blogging break for a week or so there! I'll be back to posting at least weekly now. Though posts here might be slightly less frequent than in the past -- now that I'm both making art again and have a full-time job, I'll be focusing on that blog. I'll still be posting all my favorite inspirational images, and occasionally, recipes. Cooking original recipes is something else that's gone by the wayside with this full-time working and art-making! I still cook, but I mostly cook my favorites. A post on my favorites is forthcoming!

This is an image I first found on tumblr, and it's been inspiring me since. I love the man's stance, not to mention all the birdcages! More on the image can be found here.

Jacqueline Rush Lee book sculptures

2011-04-18T11:53:00.010-05:00

Beautiful book sculptures and altered books by Jacqueline Rush Lee. Discovered via Sweet Station.

Carl Larsson

2011-04-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

Beautiful light and color in these garden and interior scenes by Carl Larsson.

I first discovered his work via arsvitaest.

expressive watercolor animals by Brian Wildesmith, Mirko Hanák, and Janusz Grabianski

2011-04-11T11:34:00.001-05:00

The birds immediately above and below are by Brian Wildesmith, the first bunny is by Mirko Hanák, and the fox and the second bunny are by Janusz Grabianski.

I found all of these images on art.crazed's flickr.

Alex Stoddard

2011-04-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

Mysterious and magical photographs by Alex Stoddard.

Discovered via fubiz.

book art, part 2

2011-04-04T11:40:00.028-05:00

I've discovered more wonderful book artists since I made my first post of book art by various artists. Here are some of my recent favorites.

Above: "Eternity" by Míla Fürstová. Discovered via how to make a baby elephant float.

Unsure of title, by Louise Richardson. Via Imagine Gallery. I first learned of her work, and Imagine Gallery, via Ullabenulla.

Peat Stack by Joanne B. Kaar.

Seafarer's Log by Joanne B. Kaar.

Bird Book by Chela Metzger. Via f yeah book arts.

Wood Book by Lexi Hayman. I couldn't track down a source for this image, but I found it via f yeah book arts.

Edge Painting by Louisa Boyd. Via winterlief.

Forgotten Knowledge by Rachael Ashe on flickr.

Unsure of creator, found via poppytalk.

Georgia Russell

2011-03-31T11:41:00.013-05:00

Book arts! Paper-cutting! Bell jars! So much to love in the beautiful work of Georgia Russell.

Discovered via how to make a baby elephant float.

more favorites from They Draw and Cook

2011-03-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to post a recipe a week, but I've been struggling with a minor head cold for over a week now and while I've been cooking a bit, don't have anything beautiful or interesting to share with you this week. So I figured now would be a great time for my to share more of my favorites from They Draw and Cook! (I know my links in that post are dead, I'll fix them soon.)

Above is Ekaterina Muratova's Summer Vegetable Soup. I love the character of the little people assembling the soup, and their beautiful shadows. A really wonderful and wonderfully executed idea.

Chickpea Dip by Sali Swindell. Fantastic composition and linework, really satisfying!

I love the simplicity and innocence of this Little Star Soup by Stefanie Hess. Great use of negative space.

Wonderfully laid-out and delicious-looking, I can't wait to try making this Yaprak Sarma by Serkan Toros.

Fennel Saute, another beautiful recipe by Sali Swindell. More gorgeous layout, typographic, shapes, and lines.

I love the old-fashioned specimen-style in this Butternut Squash Soup by Heidi Aldin Monteleone. Very classic style.

Carrie Marrill

2011-03-28T12:35:00.003-05:00

Wonderful paintings, gouache, and watercolor work from Carrie Marrill. I love all of her subject matter: animals, birds, strange scenes with cross-sections, plants, mushrooms, things on white backgrounds. She has such a lovely and diverse body of work, it was hard to choose what to post. Check out her website for sure.

I originally learned about Carrie Marrill via but does it float.

Trina Schart Hyman

2011-03-25T11:30:00.000-05:00

Trina Schart Hyman has been one of my favorite illustrators since I was in the age group for her books. Her Rapunzel (above, some below) and Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins were my among my favorite books.

The images in this post were mostly found on plum leaves' flickr. The scans that aren't as good are scans I did myself.

Quinoa Tabouli

2011-03-23T13:14:00.017-05:00

I love tabouli, but I can't usually afford the pre-made packaged stuff -- even more so because I could eat two of those things in one sitting. Since I've been taking lunches and snacks to work, I've been loving this recipe for quinoa tabouli. The protein-rich and nutrient-rich quinoa and green green parsley and mint make me feel brilliantly healthy as I guzzle tubs of this throughout my day.

This recipe is adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health. It takes about half an hour to make (less, with a food processor or lots of practice). One batch of this usually only lasts me two, maybe three days, but if serving as a side salad, could probably serve 4.

QUINOA TABOULI

1 cup raw quinoa

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried mint or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

4 scallions

5 garlic cloves

2 or 3 bunches fresh parsley

3 or 4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

Rinse and drain the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer to remove any residue of the grain’s bitter coating. In a covered saucepan on high heat, bring the quinoa, water, salt, and mint (if using dried) to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and place in a serving bowl.

While the quinoa cooks, mince the scallions and garlic, and finely chop the parsley and mint (if using fresh). Add them to the serving bowl with the cooked quinoa. Pour on the lemon juice and olive oil and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

watercolor ceramics

2011-03-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

Love these watercolor ceramics from PALAiS XIII. Would love to feel like I'm part of watercolor world.

Via bloesem.

Emily Ferretti

2011-03-18T11:25:00.000-05:00

Emily Ferretti's watercolors are work I have been turning to lately in my own work, ever since discovering it while browsing tumblr.

More of her work on the Saatchi Gallery website.

pasta, lentils, and artichoke hearts

2011-03-16T13:51:00.010-05:00

I love making this pretty and simple pasta dish for dinner parties, or for just me and my roommate to have tons of leftovers. The recipe that follows makes 4 - 6 servings, and is adapted from Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites. I like to use French lentils, which hold their shape better than other varieties. Red lentils would also be pretty.

PASTA, LENTILS, AND ARTICHOKE HEARTS

1 cup dry red lentils (3 cups cooked)
3 cups water
1 tsp olive oil
2 onions, diced
5 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 tsps grond cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 cups canned diced tomatoes (18oz can), liquid reserved
1 1/2 cups quartered artichokes (9oz package frozen or 15oz can)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb farfalle, rotini, or spirali
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Bring the lentils and water to a boil in a saucepan. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 mintues, until the lentils are tender.

While the lentils cook, heat the olive oil in a separate pan (a saucepan, not a frying pan). Add the onions and saute on medium heat until golden. Add the garlic, cumin, and coriander and cook for a couple minute mires, stirring frequently. Add the lemon juice, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and crushed pepper and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. By now, the lentils should be done cooking. Drain them and add them to the tomato and artichoke heart mixture. Simmer for 10 minutes or so more.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta and transfer it to a serving bowl. Top it with the lentil and artichoke heart sauce, add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve immediately.

Meta Wraber

2011-03-14T11:45:00.001-05:00

I've been following the work of Meta Wraber since her wonderful work appeared on They Draw and Cook. I absolutely love her sketchy, folksy watercolors, bright colors, and idiosyncratic line work. Definitely check out her blog for more lovely drawings of animals, food, people, landscapes, and more.

Luci Everett, design & illustration work

2011-03-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

The loose, drippy work of Luci Everett. I found her illustration work on {frolic!} and Miss Moss. Her design work is fantastic as well: it's refreshing to see some stylistically messy and expressive in the design world, which so often seems to be all about perfectly-rendered computer-aided flat-as-a-pancake colors. Which I love too! But can be frustrating when I try to attain it. This fresh, loose work is inspiring to me both for the vibrant visuals and this wonderful reminder to stick with what I love doing and doing well.

Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Soup

2011-03-09T11:16:00.015-06:00

I love this light, colorful roasted red pepper soup. This recipe is modified from a number of places on the web and a couple favorite recipe books. It makes a great starter or main dish for a light meal; I had plenty of leftovers that were a lovely addition or star of thrown-together meals for a couple days.

It's harder than usual for me to estimate how many people this would feed, because it's so light and can be used so many different ways in a meal. But based on the amount of liquid, I'm going to say that, in a full-sized soup bowl (rather than a cup-sized one) it will feed between 4 and 6 people. Estimating the prep and cooking time is difficult too; I always plan a lot of extra time when making this so my soup can cool before I blend it (I have one of those blenders that hates blending boiling-hot liquids, and no immersion blender) and then reheat it. I'd say if you have an immersion blender, though, the whole process takes between 40 and 50 minutes.

(above: a not-fully-roasted yet red pepper)

VEGAN ROASTED RED PEPPER SOUP

4 large red bell peppers
1 medium sweet onion, peeled and diced
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
3 - 5 cloves garlic
4 cups vegetable stock (or water, if necessary, though the soup will be even lighter and slightly less flavorful)
1/4 cup vegan white wine (optional)
cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste
to garnish: vegan sour cream, soy creamer, etc. (optional)

(above: roughly chopped peeled and roasted red peppers and peeled carrots)

To roast the peppers: If you have a gas stove, you can use tongs to hold the peppers one at a time over the flame of your stove. Turn the peppers frequently. The skin will start to pop, blister, and turn black. Unlike my photos, the skins should be almost entirely black, and already beginning to peel from the pepper. (For more on roasting peppers and different methods of roasting peppers, check out this thorough eHow article on it.)

A lot of recipes say to put your peppers in a sealed plastic bag after roasting them, but my peppers are always too big for even one to fit in a sandwich-sized bag, so I prefer to place them all in a large bowl and cover as tightly as possible with plastic wrap. Let the peppers steam in the bowl (or in the plastic bag) for 5 - 10 minutes, or until the skins slip off easily. Then, remove the skins, cut the peppers in half, core them, and remove the seeds.

To prepare the soup: Heat 1 tsp or so of olive oil in a large heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften. Add the potatoes and cook for another one or two minutes, then add the carrot, garlic, and roasted peppers. Stir well and cook for another two minutes.

Add the stock (or water), stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over medium heat until the potatoes are soft.

If you have an immersion blender (which I don't!) puree the soup in the pot until it's smooth. Otherwise, transfer it to a standing blender and puree in batches, using another pot to keep the pureed soup separate from the un-blended soup, if necessary. As I mentioned above, my blender -- and pretty much every standing blender I've ever worked with -- will kind of explode if near-boiling liquid is blended in it, even if I use teensy-tiny batches. So I try to plan at least an hour or two for the soup to cool a bit before I puree it, and then some more time to re-heat it. As a bonus, letting it sit allows the flavors to blend together more.

Season with the white wine (if using), cayenne, salt, and pepper. Ladle into bowls and swirl with vegan sour cream or soy creamer, if using.

(above: an un-roasted red pepper, and another partially-roasted one)

Janusz Grabianski

2011-03-07T11:21:00.001-06:00

Love the expressive, folksy style of Janusz Grabianski.

Discovered via laceandflora.

Jonathan Solo

2011-03-04T10:30:00.001-06:00

Enjoying the graphite work of Jonathan Solo.

Discovered via Phantasmaphile.

Sweet Potato and Zucchini Hash

2011-03-02T11:25:00.030-06:00

I've been trying to eat more meals that are mostly vegetables, instead of a starch with veggies as an addition. Here's one I've enjoyed as a breakfast, lunch, or dinner side dish. It's great with ketchup (especially as a breakfast) or with salsa.

This recipe is modified slightly from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates, in which it's suggest for a New Year's Day brunch. (They also suggest serving a poached egg in the middle, which obviously I omitted!)

This takes about 40 minutes to make, and the full recipe serves approximately 4 people. I halved it, and it made a great side dish for 2. I love how colorful this dish is. It's a beautiful, rewarding, and simple way to eat more vegetable matter.

SWEET POTATO AND ZUCCHINI HASH

4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (2 sweet potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes will yield about 4 cups)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups cubed zucchini

Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Ease in the cubed sweet potatoes and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Warm the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper flakes, black pepper, and thyme and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the zucchini and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the drained sweet potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Add more salt to taste.

Serve immediately. It looks pretty brought straight to the table in a cast-iron skillet, if you have one.

from Joel Henriques' studio

2011-03-01T11:44:00.002-06:00

I love this homemade paint rack and brush holder from Joel Henriques' sneak peak on Design*Sponge. A really clever way to keep one's supplies easily accessible.

More interior photos on my interior tag; more workspaces, specifically, in my cluttered spaces post.

Sam Wolfe Connelly

2011-02-28T10:23:00.006-06:00

Some lovely illustration work by Sam Wolfe Connelly.

More on my tumblr.

Carl Kleiner

2011-02-25T10:33:00.008-06:00

Weirdly fascinated by these strange photos by Carl Kleiner.(And you're not imagining it in the second set here: it's from a series called "Sex.")

Katie Lockhart

2011-02-21T09:56:00.008-06:00

Amazing color, light, and atmosphere in this series of still lifes by Katie Lockhart.

vegan "buttermilk" cornmeal pancakes

2011-02-17T11:24:00.028-06:00

I'm picky about my pancakes (in fact, I'm picky about a lot of things – but that's a topic for another post!). I need them to be fluffy, but also be mostly whole wheat flour or cornmeal or another hardy, non-white flour. I prefer taste like they're made with buttermilk, or at least a dash of lemon juice to balance out the oodles of maple syrup I'll be piling on. Blueberries are pretty much the only fruit product I enjoy in my pancakes, though I could maybe accept bananas. (This recipe is wonderful with blueberries. There's a note about them in the ingredients list. I just didn't have any when I made these and photographed them.) And no nuts are allowed in my pancakes at all.

Since I started working full-time, I've been preparing less elaborate breakfasts, but I love having my very particular pancake fix on the weekends. Especially since the stove in our apartment has an awesome griddle built-in. It's actually really exciting for a rental kitchen.

So here is my "buttermilk" cornmeal recipe, inspired by a buttermilk pancake recipe in The Joy of Cooking. Which obviously did not originally call for soy yogurt.

Makes about a dozen 5-6 inch pancakes, which will please even an arbitrarily picky person (or this arbitrarily picky person, anyway!).

VEGAN BUTTERMILK CORNMEAL PANCAKES

whisk together in a large bowl:

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

combine in another bowl:

1 cup soy milk

2/3 cup soy yogurt

1/2 cup vegan margarine, melted; alternatively, 1/2 cup safflower, canola, or other mild oil

1/2 cup maple syrup / agave / honey

2 cornstarch eggs (4 tablespoons cornstarch mixed separately with 4 tablespoons cold water)

1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (optional)

vegan margarine for frying up the pancakes

Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Don't over-mix, or the pancakes will be too tough. It's okay if they're a little lumpy and not completely mixed. Sometimes I get pockets of agave in my finished pancakes! It's a yummy surprise.

Get a large frying pan or griddle hot. Melt a little vegan margarine in the pan. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop the batter out and pour into the pan. Cook the pancakes until they're brown on the bottom (you'll be able to see that the edges are brown) and bubbles are forming on top. Time will vary depending on what kind of pan you're using and how hot it's gotten for the first batch, but it should be 3 -5 minutes. Flip pancakes over with a thin spatula. The second side should go much faster; you'll be able to tell both sides are down when the bottoms are a similar golden brown and the whole pancake is somewhat firm to the touch.

Transfer to plates (or into a slightly warmed oven to keep them hot while you make the rest or prepare any other breakfast foods). Repeat with remaining batter.

the Codex Seraphinianus (post 2 of 2)

2011-02-15T09:45:00.029-06:00

After yesterday's post with my thoughts about The Codex Seraphinianus, I'm following up with a post of links I've collected regarding The Codex. And, of course, more pictures!

(A warning, though: I don't know about you, but I sometimes wish I didn't know very much about the book's origins and author. It's more mysterious that way, and that's its own fun.)

An article from The Believer: How Mysterious is a Mysterious Text if the Author is Still Alive (And Emailing)?
Serafini's Codex: An Alien Encyclopedia More info, images, and author information.
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, Orqwith, and the Codex Seraphinianus Discusses the Borges story in relation to the Codex, as well as similar ideas in comic books and other media. Some great quotations about the Codex and good links.
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius The Borges story in full.
This page is pretty strange. There's no html. It's a description of attempts to decipher several famous ciphers, including the Codex.
Codex Seraphinianus - Links Another Codex link round-up. The rest of the site has some small images from the book, and short descriptions of the different sections.
The "Codex Seraphinianus" flickr tag. An okay place to find more images of the book, if you want.
Another post with a blogger's thoughts about the Codex, and some links.

the Codex Seraphinianus (post 1 of 2)

2011-02-14T10:49:00.006-06:00

One day a few summers ago—when she and I were still spending summers at our parent's house—my sister called me into the dining room, telling me there was something awesome I needed to see on her computer. The screen showed two pages of a high-quality scan of a book’s pages, showing row after row of bizarre, plantlike hybrids of bananas, grapes and radishes, roses and turnips, and walnuts and collards. Flipping through digital page after digital page revealed the flora, fauna, technology, cultures, and architecture of the imaginary world created by Italian architect-turned-surrealist Luigi Serafini in The Codex Seraphinianus. The illustrations, drawn in colored pencil, are accompanied by an indecipherable script. “Let me show you my favorite page,” she said, suddenly flipping through the pages quickly. We passed over a fish camouflaging itself as a submarine, analyses of the script’s components, and a diagram showing what must have been the anatomical parts of a streetlamp and the light it emits, before reaching, in the section on inventions, a contraption seemingly made from a combination of a cloud, a mobile, a rainbow, a set of wheels, and a series of propellers. “It’s a flying machine that draws rainbows,” my sister said, flipping to the next page, an illustration of the different patterns and formations you could fly the machine to draw rainbows in the sky.

After securing my own digital copy, I tried to find out as much as I could about the book. There isn’t much to find out. Having finally held, cuddled, and examined a hard copy belong to an acquaintance, the Codex remains as impenetrable as before. The book’s creator has remained silent on the topic since its publication in 1981. Attempts at using cryptography to decipher the script have failed. The only American edition, from 1983, has little to offer beyond a literal description of the contents.

The book’s closest relative is The Voynich Manuscript, an illustrated manuscript discovered by rare book collector Wilfrid M. Voynich in 1912. Also as yet un-deciphered, The Voynich Manuscript has been attributed variously to Voynich himself and to Roger Bacon, a 15^th-century Franciscan friar. (I have a lengthy post on it here.) Like The Voynich Manuscript, the Codex is an artifact, a solid, object reminder of the power of books and paper. The entire book was drawn by hand. Copies are difficult to find, especially in the United States, and often prohibitively expensive. The rarity of the book both in its creation and for viewers to obtain makes the content all the more precious.

Other than The Voynich Manuscript, the Codex’s closest relative is the encyclopedia of a world so imaginary that the encyclopedia itself doesn’t exist. At least, it doesn’t exist in the way that The Voynich Manuscript sits in the rare book library of Yale University, or copies of The Codex Seraphinianus can be ordered from Italian publishers for $1,165. This encyclopedia is A First Encylcopedia of Tlön, a book discovered by a character in the Luis Borges’s story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.” “Now I held in my hands a vast methodical fragment of an unknown planet's entire history,” the speaker writes of the encyclopedia, “with its architecture and its playing cards, with the dread of its mythologies and the murmur of its languages, with its emperors and its seas, with its minerals and its birds and its fish, with its algebra and its fire, with its theological and metaphysical controversy.” This description could just as easily describe The Codex Seraphinianus. Both books meticulously and completely detail every aspect of their respective fictional worlds. Without spoiling the story for anyone who hasn’t read it, let me share this anecdote: once I was trying to convince a friend with a linguistics hobby to read “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” and I told her, “Anna, in this story, instead of describing reality, words become reality.” (She quickly checked Borges out of our school’s library after that.)

I wrote about the Codex when I was applying to become an art major in college and had to write about a piece of art that inspired me. My essay also included a passage on The Voynich Manuscript, Mud Pies and Other Recipes, and Gnomes by Huygen and Poortvliet. (All posts tagged "self-contained book worlds": one of my favorite artistic concepts ever.)

After showing her my digital copy, one of my favorite professors, Laura Battle, bought a copy for the department and even taught an advanced drawing class called Codex. The class was, roughly, about book-making and world-building, though different students took these concepts in varied directions, from series of paintings, to a deck of cards, to a fiber construction filled with pockets and sensory objects. My book of spells, one of my favorite pieces I've made, was my final project for this class.

I've posted images from the Codex extensively on my tumblr. I also have a ton of links saved about it. Tomorrow I'll have another post, with more images from the book, and a collection of my favorite Codex-related-links.

Fay Ku

2011-02-11T11:33:00.007-06:00

The work of Fay Ku. I love the sparseness of these pieces, the use of materials, and the minimal use of color with her line work.

I've posted her work a few times on my tumblr, ever since discovering her work via arsvitaest.

golden broth & golden noodle soup; a vegan maybe un-chicken noodle soup

2011-02-09T11:45:00.046-06:00

This is a recipe I've been meaning to make all winter. Except that we don't have much of a winter here, and lately the sun's been shining all day long! It's still a bit chilly, though, and it gets dark early, so it's still heavy soup season as far as I'm concerned.

I've adapted this recipe from The New Laurel's Kitchen. I haven't changed too much; it was vegan to begin with. I only had one carrot when I made this, though, so it went into the broth puree rather than the soup itself. Also, I think it needs more celery than Laurel did. In my experience, a lot of these measurements are approximate – and that is the fun of soup, after all. So if you have one potato that doesn't come to quite one cup, or you want to add extra celery, it's fine.

The following instructions will produce about 10 cups of soup. If you make the broth ahead of time, this is a really no-fuss meal. If you're short on time and don't have the broth already, though, you can make the broth while you cook the noodles and vegetables separately, and combine them after the broth is strained and pureed. Then the cooking time is just about half an hour.

One final note about the whole wheat noodles. Whole wheat pasta (much like brown rice) is something I wish I really enjoyed, but usually don't. However! It's perfect in this soup. I wouldn't like this recipe with another kind of noodle.

GOLDEN BROTH

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup yellow split peas

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

8 cups hot water

1 chopped, unpeeled potato (optional)

1 stalk celery, roughly chopped, with leaves (optional)

1 carrot, roughly chopped (optional)

Sauté onion, whole garlic clove, and split peas in oil until delicately brown. Stir in turmeric and add water and any of the optional vegetables. Simmer at least half an hour. Strain for a thin stock, puree for a thick one. I like pureeing, then if I run out of noodles I have a light vegetable soup!

If you can’t find yellow split peas, or just want to try something different, green broth is as good as golden broth! Just substitute green peas for yellow, add a bay leaf and omit the turmeric.

GOLDEN NOODLE SOUP

about 8 cups golden broth (1 recipe of the above)

big handful whole wheat ribbon noodles

1 cup or so peeled and chopped potato

1 cup or so each diced carrot and/or celery

1 teaspoon salt (or more – I find I usually need more)

½ cup parsley for garnish

Bring the broth to boil in a heavy pan. Add potatoes and salt. Reduce heat and simmer gently until the potatoes are starting to get tender, about twenty minutes. Then add the celery, carrots, and noodles, and cook until noodles are al dente and carrots and celery are cooked, but still crispy. (If you don’t like crispy veggies in your soup, you can add the carrots and celery with the potato – but I think 30 minutes total is a bit of a stretch for vegetables like celery and carrots, which have such a great crunch to them.) Stir in the parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Cendrine Rovini

2011-02-07T10:31:00.003-06:00

Delicate, surreal figurative work by Cendrine Rovini. Her work can be found on her flickr, as well as on her amazing blog Hortus Noctis. I've posted a lot from both (here and here) on my tumblr.

Gnomes by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen

2011-02-04T12:50:00.000-06:00

Gnomes by Wil Huygen, illustrated by Rien Poortvliet, has been one of my favorite books for a long time. I love the style of watercolor, the handwriting, the diagrams, and the scientific field guide style. It was hard to pick which spreads to scan!

pie crust: flaky, vegan, & versatile

2011-02-02T10:35:00.102-06:00

This is based on the Betty Crocker recipe, which is, of course, not vegan. I love the Tassajara Bread Book's pie crust, too (made from vegetable oil and whole wheat flour) and it can be great for savory pies. But it can also be very tough. Made with tons of vegan margarine, this simple, fatty pie crust recipe is just awesome, and is always delicate and flaky, even when it's made with whole wheat flour.

The other thing I have to say about this recipe is that I've doubled it. It's supposed to be the right amount for both a 9" pie and a topping. But I don't know, maybe I'm rolling-pin-deficient or something, but it's never enough. It's not like I'm one of those people who can sit around eating raw pie dough, or cooked pie dough by itself for that matter: I need the tasty filling to get the most out of pie dough. So I don't know. If this makes too much dough for you, you can always save the rest for later. (Or feed it to one of those people who does enjoy eating raw pie dough -- there's one in every household.)

YUMMY FLAKY VEGAN PIE CRUST

3 - 4 cups white flour (or for a savory pie, half white flour, half whole wheat)
2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup - 2 cups vegan margarine, room temperature
6 - 8 tbsp ice water

Measure the flour into a mixing bowl and mix the salt through it.

With a pasty blender, cut in half the margarine finely. The mixture should look like meal.

Cut in the remaining margarine coarsely, until there are particles are the size of large peas.

Sprinkle with the water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a for until all the flour is moistened. You may need more or less water; be careful not to get the dough too wet. It should form easily into a ball, without sticking too much to the sides of the bowl.

Gather the dough together with your fingers so it cleans the bowl. Press into a ball.

Divide the dough about in half. Take the slightly larger part onto a lightly floured cloth-covered board. I've done this without the cloth, and it works, but it's a pain.

Roughly flatten the dough with your hands, then take a flour-covered rolling pin and roll out the dough until it's about 1/8" - 1/4" thick. Work quickly and roll lightly, being careful not to add too much flour. Keep working the dough into a roughly circular shape.

Lift the cloth with the circle of dough still in it, so you can slide / scoop it into the pie pan. Betty Crocker has you fold the dough in half, slide it into the pan, unfold it, and pat it into the pan. Mine always falls apart when I try to do this! And if I don't use the cloth, I have a lot of trouble getting the dough up in one piece to transfer it to the pan. If yours falls into pieces, it's okay. Sometimes I even end up rolling out my dough in the pie pan, and just scrunching it to size with my fingers (and maybe this is why I always need more dough than recipes call for!).

Pat the dough into place. Try to keep the thickness of the crust consistent over the whole surface of the pan. Trim any overhanging edges with kitchen scissors.

My mom's 1950's edition of Betty Crocker follows those instructions with this tidbit:

Recent experiments prove it unnecessary to chill the pastry, so let it stand on the table.

Next, take the other slightly-less-than-half of dough, and follow the same instructions as above, except roll it out a bit thinner, to have an extra 1" or so in diameter.

If your filling has a very short baking time, you might want to pop the pie into the oven for 5 - 10 minutes to make sure it isn't too doughy and raw in the final product. Don't worry as much about the pie topping, which is thinner and will bake faster. If you're really worried about the top of your pie not getting baked enough, you can pop the whole thing in a broiler for a couple of minutes after baking the whole affair.

Prepare any filling that will go in the pie, and arrange it in your dough-lined pan. Place the topping dough over it whichever way worked best for you getting the dough into the pan in the first place. Fold the extra edge of top dough under the edge of the lower dough. Seal thoroughly by pressing together on the edge of the pan.

And now would be when you'd build up a fluted or crimped edge by pressing the dough with your fingers. It looks pretty, but for some reason I can't get it to work right! (Which is why, among other reasons, there is no picture of a beautifully fluted crust!) My pies are usually more rustic. But now would be the time!

Amanda's illustrated sushi book

2011-01-31T10:11:00.029-06:00

My roommate, Amanda, and I both made recipe books to give as gifts this winter. After I posted a photo of her homemade vegan sushi, I wanted to post recipes to go with it. But she doesn't follow a recipe, exactly, and I also didn't feel qualified to transcribe it, since I've never made sushi myself. So I'm posting her beautifully illustrated veggie sushi recipe book instead! Most of her favorite combinations of fruit and vegetables are pictured here. Then I guess she makes the rice and wraps it and all that normally? I like to leave the veggie sushi construction to her!

Above: celery and pomegranate seeds with scallions, and sauteed mushroom with scallions (pages 1 and 2).

Above: the index page (page 0).

Above: sauteed mushrooms with scallions, sweet potato with red cabbage slaw and red pepper (pages 3 and 4).

Above: kale, left, and carrot, sweet potato, and red onion, right (pages 5 and 6).

Above: an interesting arrangement of pickle, spinach, and onion (pages 7 and 8).

Artecnica's Witch's Kitchen

2011-01-28T13:47:00.017-06:00

I am just so enamored with Artecnica's Witch's Kitchen. Magic and cooking just go together! And the design and photography of this set is so fantastic.

From the website:

An Artecnica Design with Conscience™ project, Witches’ Kitchen™ is a handcrafted kitchenware collection inspired by the witches and wizards of western lore. The extensive collection is a collaborative exercise in sustainable design. Designed by Studio Tord Boontje and handcrafted by artisan groups from three different South American countries, Witches’ Kitchen features black ceramic cookware hand-molded by Colombian artisans, wooden kitchen utensils handcarved by Guatemalan craftsmen, and kitchen couture hand-sewn by Brazil’s Coopa-Roca women’s cooperative.

Originally discovered via Cabinet of Curiosities, way back in 2008.

Judith Scott

2011-01-26T11:02:00.008-06:00

I'm enchanted by these wrapped sculptures by outsider artist Judith Scott. I was reminded of them after I posted those nests by Richard Barnes.

decemberists dictionary

2011-01-24T10:16:00.000-06:00

It's been a number of months now since I made this dictionary of Decemberists' words for a friend. I kept putting off posting it until I knew it had reached him in New York, and then I got distracted. I made it this summer while I was fiddling around with Adobe InDesign. The Decemberists theme was a good excuse to use tons of over-the-top fonts, and it was a fun way to practice the software. It would be fun to case it in someday (that is, "cover" it with a bookboard and bookcloth cover or case), though it's really only pamphlet sized.

Erika Somogyi

2011-01-21T11:36:00.000-06:00

I'm so in love with the colors and images and silhouettes and light in the watercolor and gouache work of Erika Somogyi. Apocalyptic, eerie, magical, and somehow cheery.

vegan cream of mushroom soup

2011-01-19T14:07:00.000-06:00

My roommate and I keep getting entranced by the mushrooms at Berkeley Bowl. Seriously, every week, we go there to get our produce, checking things off our list, and we pass these dozens of different types of beautiful fresh mushrooms. And we can't get them every week, and they're not on our list. But they're there, and they're so beautiful, and they're mushrooms. So finally, I gave in to their siren call, and got some chanterelles. Then I compromised and also picked out some regular, but adorable, brown mushrooms. And I made soup. It's inspired by a non-vegan cream of wild mushroom soup recipe in Barefoot Contessa at Home, which my roommate got for Christmas. Except with lots of adjustments for vegan-ness, what I had on hand (lots of celery, no carrots) and the fact that the 3 cups of pre-sliced, pre-packaged white mushrooms I'd bought to fill out the soup a bit had actually gone bad, even though they were all safe and sound in their vacuum-packed abode. Which was really sad. (And one of the sadder aspects of buying from the Bowl, I guess.)

Also, I was really lucky when I made the broth for this soup, because my roommate had cooked with dried mushrooms the previous night. And there was a cup or two of the yummy mushroom water she'd hydrated the dried mushrooms in leftover. (As you can tell, we went a little mushroom-crazy in my apartment!) If you have this on hand, or mushroom stock, I recommend it, because I didn't have enough mushrooms stems to make this broth as mushroom-y as it would've been without my leftover mushroom water. Or just get extra mushrooms to use just for the broth. I probably wouldn't have had this problem if my pre-packaged mushrooms hadn't gone slimy before I could use them.

VEGAN CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

10 or so ounces of fresh chanterelle mushrooms

10 or so ounces of fresh brown mushrooms

optional: extra mushrooms for the broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 - 6 tablespoons vegan margarine

1 chopped onion, white or yellow

1 celery stalk, chopped (and/or 1 carrot, chopped)

2 tsp dried thyme

2 cups chopped leeks

1/4 cup flour

1 cup white wine

1 cup soy creamer, other non-dairy creamer, or non-dairy milk

parsley to garnish

Separate the stems off the brown mushrooms and cut them off the chanterelles. Coarsely chop the stems. Slice the mushroom caps 1/4-inch thick and, for big pieces, cut them into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the margarine in a large saucepan. Add the mushrooms stems, half of the thyme, the onion, carrot, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook for 10 or 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft. Add 6 cups water, vegetable stock, or mushroom stock, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. When the broth is done, strain the veggies and mushroom stems out, reserving the liquid. You should have a little over 4 cups of liquid.

Meanwhile, in another large saucepan, heat the remaining butter and add the leeks. Cook over low heat until the leeks soften and begin to get golden-brown, about 15 minutes or so. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for a minute or so. Add the white wine and stir for another minute, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the mushroom broth, the remaining thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and a 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the non-dairy dairy product, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.

Valerie Hammond

2011-01-17T11:52:00.000-06:00

The beautiful lines and textures of Valerie Hammond's work. Images from Design*Sponge posts, here and here, and from the Carrie Haddad Gallery.

Richard Barnes

2011-01-14T20:03:00.000-06:00

Loving the Refuge photo series by Richard Barnes. Similar to my obsession with things on white backgrounds, I also really enjoy things on dramatic black backgrounds. I was just joking with my roommate that I don't really understand photography, but can relate to it pretty well it's just a picture of an object; then I can relate to it as I would the object itself.

More by Richard Barnes on my tumblr.

Amy Cutler

2011-01-12T12:05:00.008-06:00

I am so enamored of Amy Cutler's work, and her balancing act between illustration and "fine art," whimsy and sinister, dream-like and unfamiliar, and between figure and ground. These gouache works are charming without being too sweet. I wish I could find larger images of her work, because the detail and linework are so wonderful.

new year; also, food

2011-01-10T11:27:00.002-06:00

As promised, regular posting is starting up here again.

I've had a few different ideas of where I want this blog to go, and I've finally decided that this blog is just going to go where it wants to! The original idea I had was that all of the posts here would fall squarely into one of five categories: images I was using, at that moment, in art projects I was working on at that very moment; photos and recipes of food I had made; things going on in my life; various websites and products that strike my fancy; and photos and screenshots of design projects. Instead, it's been more like: images I find inspiring at the moment; photos and recipes of food I had made; some website screenshots as I complete them; and some random things as they strike my fancy.

I haven't really posted about things going on in my life any further than they relate to food I've made or why I haven't been posting much. And it's been helping me more to catalog and categorize images that inspire me generally, rather than organize images that are helping me think about and plan specific projects (in part because I've been a bit of a slouch with art projects in recent months). Sometimes I think I "should" post more recipes, or make this blog only about recipes, or make another blog just for recipes, and so on. But I want this to stay fun, and what's kept this fun for me is to post whatever I feel like posting at the moment. So my plan is to just do more of those same types of posts I've been making!

In the meantime, here are some food photos from the last couple months! At top is a basket of fruit and squash after a trip to our local farmer's market. And directly above is some amazing homemade vegan sushi my roommate made.

More veggie sushi! On our end tables before we bought a real kitchen table.

And my favorite snack of the moment, whole wheat toast with the tofu "deviled egg" recipe from 500 Vegan Recipes and sliced celery.

They Draw and Cook favorite illustations

2011-01-07T13:59:00.002-06:00

They Draw and Cook is a fun blog posting illustrated recipes by artists and illustrators from all over the world. I originally learned about it via notcot. My own recipe is up on their blog now, as well as on my art blog. These are some of my favorites.

Above, Marmalade Flapjacks by Matt Dawson. (See the original post for a full-size, legible version!) I love how all the arms end up showing all of the steps at once. (Also, the helper bees!)

Vegetable Stock by Nate Padavick. Beautiful colors and specimen-like arrangement.

Meatballs by Kevin Valente. I had lots of favorites, and tried to pick only vegan or vegan-izable ones, but the combination of watercolor and graphite and the perspective of the road and the text and the speech bubbles were all just too wonderful for me to exclude this one. (Just pretend that there aren't 3 kinds of meat, including veal, in this recipe, and look at the pretty picture.)

Fly off the Plate Pancakes by Erin Watson. Another fun and dynamic composition. This is one of the few pieces in this project that really challenges the space, by creating its own frame and then bursting out of it. (They're all the same size because those were the submission rules -- some of them will be part of a book.)

A Well-Salted Salad with a Little Vinegar and Good Olive Oil by Bozena Wojtaszek. This one is all textile and thread! How awesome is that. I would love to have a whole soft book of lovely recipes (especially for salad!).

The Original Spaghetti, Garlic, Oil and Chili Pepper by Sara Lecca. A fun combination of textures and images. The illustration of the guy eating spaghetti is so animated, and so like eating spaghetti.

Spring Garden Soup by Meta Wraber. I just adore this expressive, evocative style of watercolor. And we all know I'm a sucker for interesting handwriting. The brushstrokes and lines and colors are all fantastic.

cozy holiday preparation

2010-12-20T14:52:00.000-06:00

I love this picture (found via frolic); I love all the colors and patterns and how it illustrates the coziness of holiday preparation.

I'm definitely going to make some vegan cardamom bread this week.

Posting is going to get more consistent again after the new year. I've had a busy last few weeks, and now I'm sick, so blogging is taking a back seat. I'm excited to see where A Billion Tastes and Tunes goes next year! I've been intermittent with my posting and with my ideas for where this blog is going, but I've always had fun posting to it.

mud pies and other recipes

2010-12-03T09:18:00.015-06:00

Mud Pies and Other Recipes, by Marjorie Winslow and illustrated by Erik Blegvad, is one of my favorite books from my childhood. It encapsulates so much of what I love! Children's books and charming illustrations and children's imaginations; it's a fictional, self-contained artifact, almost like the Voynich Manuscript; and it's in the format of a recipe book (and I mean, I love cooking, I love recipes, and I used a similar format for my book of spells project).

Images via vintage books my kid loves, a delightful blog I've added to my blogroll after seeing the cover reblogged on myaloysius' tumblr.

the Voynich Manuscript

2010-11-29T16:46:00.001-06:00

The Voynich manuscript is a mysterious, undeciphered illustrated book. It is thought to have been written between 1450 and 1520. The Voynich manuscript has been the object of intense study by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including some top American and British codebreakers of World War II fame (all of whom failed to decrypt a single word).

I love this book visually, as well as the mystery surrounding it. If it's a hoax, it's an incredibly marvelous one, and a wonderful example of early book art. Whether the text is a real language or cipher or gibberish, it's gorgeous, and took a creative mind to invent.

The book is mostly arranged into sections. Except for the last section, which contains only text, almost every page contains at least one illustration. The sections are more or less:

· Herbal

· Astronomical

· Biological

· Cosmological

· Pharmaceutical

· Recipes

Content:

· By current estimates, the book originally had 272 pages.

· About 240 vellum pages remain today, and gaps in the page numbering (which seems to be later than the text) indicate that several pages were already missing by the time that Voynich acquired it.

· A quill pen was used for the text and figure outlines, and colored paint was applied to the figures, possibly at a later date.

· There is strong evidence that at one point in time the pages of the book were rearranged into a different order.

The text:

· Definitely written from left to right, with a slightly ragged right margin.

· Longer sections are broken into paragraphs, sometimes with "bullets" on the left margin. There is no obvious punctuation.

· The ductus (the speed, care, and cursiveness with which the letters are written) flows smoothly, suggesting that the scribe understood what he was writing when it was written; the manuscript does not give the impression that each character had to be calculated before being inked onto the page.

· Consists of over 170,000 discrete glyphs. An alphabet with 20–30 glyphs would account for virtually all of the text; the exceptions are a few dozen rarer characters that occur only once or twice each.

· Spaces divide the text into about 35,000 "words" of varying length.

· Statistical analysis of the text reveals patterns similar to those of natural languages.

· On the other hand, the Voynich manuscript's "language" is quite unlike European languages in several aspects. Firstly, there are practically no words comprising more than ten glyphs, yet there are also few one- or two-letter words. The distribution of letters within the word is also rather peculiar: some characters only occur at the beginning of a word, some only at the end, and some always in the middle section – an arrangement found in Semitic alphabets but not in the Latin or Cyrillic alphabets (with the exception of the Greek letters Beta and Sigma).

· The text seems to be more repetitive than typical European languages; there are instances where the same common word appears up to three times in a row. Words that differ only by one letter also repeat with unusual frequency.

· There are a few words in the manuscript written in a seemingly Latin, but ultimately illegible, script. However, it is not known whether these bits of Latin script were part of the original text, or were added at a later time.

Suspected origins:

· Roger Bacon, as suggested by Voynich and Newbold, and suggested by some later historians. Since then, this idea has been largely rejected.

· A Cathar cult of Isis followers, as suggested by Levitov, but later completely disproven.

· A coded almanac by Anthony Askham, as suggested by L.C. Strong. The name of Askham derives from his decryption of the manuscript, which seems complete except that it depends heavily on a correct reading of the characters in the text and does not account for repeated words

· A hoax by John Dee and/or Edward Kelly, associates of Roger Bacon, as suggested by many, though this has been shown to be a historical impossibility.

· An early form of a synthetic language, as suggested by Friedman and Tiltman. This cannot be disproved.

· An early attempt to convert Chinese (or a related language) to an alphabetic script. This theory is based on certain peculiar text statistics and is by no means disproved, but there is difficulty with the fact that the entire manuscript has a Western European look. A specific connection with any specific oriental language has also not yet been proposed.

· A modern fake by Wilfrid Voynich. Disproved by the recent discovery of earlier references to the manuscript.

· Jacobus Sinapius, whose signature seemed to appear in a reproduction of the first page of the Voynich manuscript, taken by Voynich. However, that writing does not match Jacobus's signature. Also, the chemicals applied by Voynich have so degraded the vellum that hardly a trace of the signature can be seen today; thus there is also the suspicion that the signature was fabricated by Voynich in order to strengthen the Roger Bacon theory.

· A fake by Jan Marci as a political move to discredit an opponent. Not sure of the status of this idea.

· Raphael Mnishovsky, the friend of Marci who was the reputed source of Bacon's story, was himself a cryptographer (among many other things), and apparently invented a cipher which he claimed was uncrackable. This has led to the theory that he produced the Voynich manuscript as a practical demonstration of his cipher. However, there is no definite evidence for this theory.

These images are from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, where they've posted scans of every single page.

Some more Voynich-related links / my sources: a Scientific American article on the book, and how it may be no more than gibberish; a site on attempts to decrypt the text (among other ciphers); a thorough historical chronology and analysis; a general historical overview of the manuscript and its possible origins; further analysis, and a weird bit on how one of the drawings looks exactly like the Andromeda Galaxy; and an xkcd comic parodying the book (and dungeons and dragons).

white rooms

2010-11-22T12:41:00.021-06:00

In many of my other posts about interiors, I've been mentioning the sparse, white rooms I love. This post is a collection of some of my favorites of these unattainably (for me, anyway) clean, white, and empty rooms.

Picture above via sfgirlbybay. I like how all the disparate things work together in this room, from the amazing chandelier, to the books in the fireplace, to the almost-invisible TV screen, to the slightly mismatched white armchairs.

Cozy architecture, lovely sunlight, and low furniture via seenandsaid.

Pretty white floorboards and white background with bright, joyful prints via lolita blog.

Warm porcelains and etched mirrors via lost dot net (a whole post of more white rooms).

Awesome white backdrop with amazing bell jar and bird's nest lamp via design*sponge.

For more, see my tag for this on my tumblr.

Jon Duenas

2010-11-19T12:50:00.001-06:00

Very cool imagery in these photos by Jon Duenas (to find this group more easily, look in the Allison set). Also, seems appropriate for fall, and a gray day like we're having here in Oakland...

via how to make a baby elephant float.

Amanda Vissering

2010-11-17T15:51:00.000-06:00

I finished building Amanda Vissering dot com, a portfolio website for my friend and roommate Amanda.

Also did a brief update to Naomi Bardoff dot com, mostly to reflect this new site, new Green Living designs, and a couple new drawings. A big update is coming soon.

in-between clutter and unrealistic sparseness (unrealistic for me, anyway!)

2010-11-16T11:52:00.001-06:00

After my post on attainably-cluttered rooms and my post on sparse, white spaces, I found a few more cluttered and cluttered-ish or in-between spaces that I love.

Above is one of my favorite interior decor pictures ever, via the style files. (It was also one of my very first tumblr posts.) It has color! Plants! Flowers! Porcelain! Rustic wood! Sunlight! Slanty ceilings! Pots and pans and things hanging!

From Meryl Smith's feature on the Selby. This is some clutter I can seriously relate to! All the specimens and natural items on the walls really make this room for me.

The above and remaining pictures are from Ann Wood's sneak peak on design sponge. I love Ann Wood's work a lot (I post her work and in progress pictures all the time on my tumblr) so it's a treat to see what her place looks like. I love how much like her work her apartment is, especially that decaying curtain in the picture above.

Christina Bothwell

2010-11-12T09:37:00.010-06:00

Totally enchanted by these glass, clay, and wood sculptures by Christina Bothwell.

Discovered via how to make a baby elephant float.

vegan thin mints!

2010-11-10T12:23:00.002-06:00

Finally, here are the vegan thin mints I've been promising! In this recipe, I only put glaze on one side of the cookie. It's a yummy, thick, and very minty glaze. You can double it if you want to glaze both sides (though I recommend letting the first side firm up before glazing the second side), or you can just spread the glaze thinner to cover both sides.

VEGAN THIN MINTS

makes 50 - 70 cookies

Cookies:

1 cup margarine, softened

3/4 cup sugar

equivalent of 1 egg (I used 2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 - 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Glaze:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vegetable or coconut oil

2-3 tsp peppermint extract

Beat margarine and sugar together until well-mixed and fluffy (above).

Prepare egg equivalent (my cornstarch and water mixture is above).

Add egg equivalent and extracts to the margarine and sugar mixture and beat until smooth and consistent. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined (if you over-mix, you'll deactivate the baking powder). It's hard to mix at this point, but it will be a clearly consistent mix and stop sticking so much to the sides of the bowl, as in the picture above right.

Divide the dough into halves. Turn one half onto a piece of wax paper and roll into a log about 10-12 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter (or whatever diameter you think thin mints should be! though you'll end up with a different number of cookies than my estimate). The wax paper is just so the dough won't stick to your counter or cutting board; now that it's in log form, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or freeze for about 1 hour or more). Repeat with remaining down. A log just after being taken out of the freezer is pictured below left. (You can also keep the dough in the freezer for a moth, then follow the directions from there! Or finish making the cookies and keep in the freezer for a long time anyway.)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Remove the logs of dough from the fridge or freezer. Slice into 1/4- to 1/3-inch rounds. If the cookies are too thin, they'll burn in the oven, but if they're too thick, they won't bake all the way through. A good balance gets them nice and crispy. Place on a cookie sheet. They shouldn't touch, but can be pretty close together, since they shouldn't spread much (above right).

Bake until the cookies are firm around the edges but somewhat soft on top, about 13 to 15 minutes (may be more like 15 - 17 minutes if they are straight from the freezer).

When the cookies are done baking, let cool on a cooling rack or on plates. Then line baking sheets with wax paper.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips for the glaze. I find the best way for me to do this without burning the melted chocolate is to slowly melt them in a little pan while stirring constantly, but I usually end up using the microwave anyway! Anyway, melt as you like, until they're nice and liquid-y. Stir in the vegetable or coconut oil and peppermint extract.

Using a butter knife of a small rubber spatula, spread the glaze over the top of each cookie. Place the cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm.

They won't go bad if stored in an airtight container at room temperature, but they may get melty! Margarine usually has a lower melting point than butter, so they get gooey fast. I try to keep them in the fridge, or even the freezer if I plan on having them on hand for a long time.

Enjoy your vegan thin mints!

plants make all houses beautiful

2010-11-08T14:21:00.009-06:00

I have this idea that potted plants make rooms like awesome, and can overcome clutter and other setbacks just by being alive and green. So here's some more interior decor pictures, of rooms with plants.

The above picture is via design sponge.

Besides the plants and all the light from these windows, I also really like all the baskets and textures in this picture, via seenandsaid.

Another plant-filled room via seenandsaid.

I think this is a great example of how much power plants have for me, because other than the beautiful windows and the plants, I don't really like this room! By Petra Bindel, via sfgirlbybay.

The above and remaining photos are from Nicolette Camille's sneak peak on design sponge. She's a florist, so there are plants aplenty! One of my favorite things about this series of photos is that, other than the huge amount of plantlife in the last photo, these are photos I love but are still somewhat attainable for me. A lot of my furniture and belongings are already in the same style that I love in these pictures, which is promising!