Zorah on the Terrace, By Henri Matisse (1912)

Since we’s in Morocco and all…

Amanda Hesser explores some recipes for a spicy organge salad, Moroccan style. Mmmm.

Malcolm McLaren, most famous for bringing us the Sex Pistols, died yesterday. He was 64.

McLaren also was the brains behind a seminial Hip Hop record in the early ’80s.

Dig the classic, Buffalo Gals:

Three Musicians, By Pablo Picasso (1921)

The Yanks have the night off. But feel free to chat about art, baseball or the weather. Whatever’s clever, y’all.

No game today so no battle rhymes. How about happy times, like this classic remix by Pete Rock from the days when everything Pete touched turned to butta:

From the vaults, dig this classic 2006 Harper’s magazine article by Frederick Kaufman, Debbie Does Salad: The Food Network at the Frontiers of Pornography.

Baseball illustration by E. W. Kemble

Okay, so while we’re talking battle rhymes why not take a moment to acknowledge perhaps the greatest battle MC of ’em all, KRS-ONE. Dig this freestyle from Tony Touch’s classic Power Cypha mix tape 50.

1-09 KRS-One

I rocked the 917 when it was 718…

There’s a fun piece in the Times today about food bloggers who like to take pictures of what they eat:

Dig ‘um (smack).

[photo credit: Edith Zimmerman]

Since we’re in battle mode and all, I figured I’d drop this classic diss record on you. From Sun Dullah, formerly King Sun, produced by Doo Wop, this record took aim at Tupac Shakur during the height of the East Coast-West Coast nonsense in the mid-’90s. Three verses, one better than the next, and a bumpin’ beat. I first remember hearing this on late night college radio–Stretch and Bob–and it still holds up as a banger:

Before I left New Mexico, I watched my sister-in-law make a simple red chili sauce. She put a selection of chiles in boiling water, covered them, turned off the heat and let them sit for close to an hour to reconstitute. Then, she removed the chiles from the water, cut-off the stems, and got rid of any seeds. She put the chiles in a blender, along with a little bit of onion and garlic–enough for flavor but not enough to overpower the chiles. Then salt, and a small amount of the water to help blend. Finally, she strained it, and man, it was lovely.

Problems of Being Left-Handed, By John Robertson (acrylic on unstretched canvas)

Got to give it to this kid. He knows how to spread the mustard on the ol’ Hammond:

Happy Opening Day!

Ballpark favorites…

I don’t know from wide variety of chiles and peppers that exist in the world but out here they reign supreme. I’ve heard that chile can be addicting and after trying my sister-in-law’s Chilaquiles yesterday I think I understand why. The dish is simple–toasted corn tortillas covered with a radiant-looking sauce of New Mexico Red Chile covered with grated cheese and some raw onion and served with eggs and re-fried beans.

The chile sauce had some spice to it but not overwhelming heat–instead, I really tasted a deep, complex flavor. The addiction part is no joke because my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Em’s sister has bags of chiles in her freezer. The chiles are reconstituted in hot water before pureed into a sauce.

Happy Eats with my brother-in-law…with a side order of Matzoh.

I saw an interesting show of photographs–mostly by Man Ray, some by Walker Evans and others–of African Art yesterday at the University of New Mexico’s art museum.

Photograph by Walker Evans. Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luba peoples, Gelatin silver print; 7 x 9 3/8 in. (17.8 x 23.8 cm)

Ocean Park #122 By Richard Diebenkorn, 1980; painting; oil and charcoal on canvas, 100 in. x 80 5/8 in. (254 cm x 204.79 cm)

So I’m out here in Albetoikey, New Mexico for a few days visiting family with the wife. It’s like being on the light side of the moon, man. I hope to have a couple of good meals, and although the famous Hatch Green Chiles are out-of-season, my sister-in-law has plenty on hand–she freezes them every fall–and I’m all about trying them because heads from New Mexico are crackheads for their Green Chiles, B.