Blog No. 184: Pete Muller House Concert, Practical Things You Might Find Useful, More Mary Oliver

June 28, 2024

CORRECTION: Sonabai Rajawar: Indian Folk Artist coming next week

You can find additional content by clicking many of the images and photos below as well as the underlined links. And scroll all the way down for previous blog entries.

Pete Muller House Concert

I held a really cool house concert last Sunday with Pete Muller and his band the Kindred Souls (Martha McDonnell on violin, Andy Mac on drums). I got the idea many years ago when I attended a David Bromberg concert in the Ann Arbor living room of Dave and Linda Siglin--they called their place The Ark (after Noah). The Ark still exists but now in a much more official, larger space...At that time, and still now, they attract the big names in the singer/songwriter folk roots blues genre...

I hosted my first house concert just before the pandemic--I had my friend Sloan Wainwright come play in my living room and it was a big success. I wanted to continue the trend but covid got in the way. When Pete Muller put out a call that he loves doing house concerts, I jumped at the occasion.

I personally love this informal approach. It is the way I sell my art, going into people's living rooms and showing my work in that informal setting--it is the direct contact with an audience and the intimacy that has meaning for me (and obviously for Pete too).

I took some video which I will share with you here. And if you like what you hear (they are really good!) and you are in NYC on July 10th, you may want to catch them at Joe's Pub. They are playing all over these days so check out their facebook and instagram for more information and future concerts.

Practical Things You Might Find Useful

Here are a few practical life tips I didn't know. Hope one of these comes in handy for you too one day.

And here are a few more:

How to Grow Vegetables from Vegetables

How to Easily Hang a Picture

A few more general tips

How to Put on a Duvet Cover

Miracle White Vinegar

Natural Bug Repellent

Dogfish by Mary Oliver

I just can't resist sharing these Mary Oliver poems I come across. So beautifu, so seemingly simple and yet so profound. And accessible...

DOGFISH
By Mary Oliver

Some kind of relaxed and beautiful thing
 kept flickering in with the tide
 and looking around.
 Black as a fisherman’s boot,
 with a white belly.

If you asked for a picture I would have to draw a smile
 under the perfectly round eyes and above the chin,
 which was rough
 as a thousand sharpened nails.
And you know
 what a smile means,
 don’t you?

I wanted the past to go away, I wanted
 to leave it, like another country; I wanted
 my life to close, and open
 like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song
 where it falls
 down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery;
 I wanted
 to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know,
whoever I was, I was
alive
 for a little while.
It was evening, and no longer summer.
 Three small fish, I don’t know what they were,
 huddled in the highest ripples
 as it came swimming in again, effortless, the whole body
 one gesture, one
black sleeve
 that could fit easily around
 the bodies of three small fish.

Also I wanted
 to be able to love. And we all know
 how that one goes,
 don’t we?
Slowly

the dogfish tore open the soft basins of water.
You don’t want to hear the story
 of my life, and anyway
 I don’t want to tell it, I want to listen
to the enormous waterfalls of the sun.
And anyway it’s the same old story – – –
 a few people just trying,
 one way or another,
 to survive.
Mostly, I want to be kind.
 And nobody, of course, is kind,
 or mean,
 for a simple reason.
And nobody gets out of it, having to
 swim through the fires to stay in
 this world.

And look! look! look! I think those little fish
 better wake up and dash themselves away
 from the hopeless future that is
 bulging toward them.

And probably,
 if they don’t waste time
 looking for an easier world,
they can do it.
-– Mary Oliver

Photo of the Week

Charity of the Week:

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 183: Usonia Video, National Dance Institute Event of the Year, Two Strawberry Recipes

June 21, 2024

You can find additional content by clicking many of the images and photos below as well as the underlined links. And scroll all the way down for previous blog entries.

Usonia Video

Many of you know that I grew up in a cooperative community called Usonia, founded by Frank Lloyd Wright and disciples of his in the 1940s. It was a truly unique place! Last summer many of us past and future inhabitants gathered to celebrate 80 years of this amazing community that endures to this day.

I felt it was very important not to let this opportunity go by so we hired a film crew to come shoot footage to document the event and conduct interviews with Usonians, past and present.

It has been a long time coming but we finally have a short video/teaser which is an overview of the community and what it means to all of us that have been connected to it over the years...

Have a look and let me know your thoughts. I welcome the feedback! My hope is that turns into a bigger project...

National Dance Institue Event of the Year Excerpts

These videos below are really worth watching!

Just coming off a high of spending the weekend immersed in the wonder that is National Dance Institute, New York's premier non-profit arts education organization that brings children together through inclusive dance and music programs in the New York City public schools and beyond.
This week was the performances of their Celebrations and SWAT teams entitled Earth Song. It was the culmination of a year of study on the environment. Below are a few videos for you to feast on--there is nothing like seeing them live but this will have to suffice. I have seen them perform ever since my daughter particpated in their amazing program beginning 21 years ago. I can honestly say I only missed one or two annual events that take place every Father's Day weekend. If you are in town then next year or thereafter, you won't want to miss it. People literally walk out of there saying this is the best thing I have seen in NY this year, not just the best kid's program...It is a shot of joy straight into the heart...

2 Strawberry Recipes

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
by Betty Crocker (remember her!)

INGREDIENTS
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/3 cups Bisquick™ Original Pancake & Baking Mix
2/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oven to 425°F.
In large bowl, mix strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; set aside.
In medium bowl, stir Bisquick™ mix, milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and the butter until soft dough forms.
On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.
Bake 16 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
Split warm shortcakes; fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

STRAWBERRY GINGER LIMEADE
by Millie Peartree
Courtesy New York Times Cooking

INGREDIENTS Yield: 8 servings
1 tablespoon zest and 1½ cups juice from 12 to 14 large limes, plus 1 for garnishing
¾cup honey
1(3-inch) piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 cup mint leaves picked from 1 bunch
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered
Ice, for serving

PREPARATION *
1 combine lime juice, honey and 4 cups water in a large pitcher. *

2 To a blender or food processor, add ginger, ½ the mint leaves, all the zest and ½ cup water, and blend until smooth. Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the mixture into the pitcher, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. *

3 In the same blender or food processor (no need to clean), add strawberries and ½ cup water. Blend until smooth and strain into the pitcher. Stir and chill until ready to serve. *

4 Taste for sweetness and add more honey (or sugar) if need be. Muddle remaining mint leaves in glasses, add ice and pour limeade over. Garnish with slices of lime.

Painting of the Week

Orange Fantasy mixed media on canvas 60” x 40”

Charity of the Week:

Blog No. 182: Krista Tippett Interview with Ross Gay, An Interesting Reincarnation Story, Songs I am Listening to These Days

June 16, 2024

You can find additional content by clicking many of the images and photos below as well as the underlined links. And scroll all the way down for previous blog entries.

Still time to attend this joyous performance…click image for tickets

On Being: Ross Gay, On the Insistence of Joy

When I am in search of wisdom, Krista Tippett, creator of the podcast On Being is someone I often turn to. She introduces me to many interesting people, and through the interviews she conducts, I walk away a little wiser.

In this week's episode, she poses the question: How can we possibly be joyful at a time like this? If you seek the answer to this question like me, you might want to listen to this interview with Ross Gay, poet, essayist, gardener, professor, and ex-college football player Ross Gay.

ODE TO SLEEPING IN MY CLOTHES
by Ross Gay

And though I don’t mention it
to my mother
or the doctors
with their white coats
it is, in fact,
a great source of happiness,
for me, as I don’t
even remove my socks,
and will sometimes
even pull up my hood
and slide my hands deep
in my pockets
and probably moreso
than usual look as if something
bad has happened
my heart blasting a last somersault
or some artery parting
like curtains in a theatre
while the cavalry of blood
comes charging through
except unlike
so many of the dead
I must be smiling
there in my denim
and cotton sarcophagus
slightly rank from the day
it is said that Shostakovich slept
with a packed suitcase beneath
his bed and it is said
that black people were snatched
from dark streets and made experiments
of and you and I
both have family whose life
savings are tucked 12 feet beneath
the Norway maple whose roots
splay like the bones
in the foot of man
who was walked to Youngstown, Ohio
from Mississippi without sleeping
or keeping his name
and it’s a miracle
maybe I almost never think of
to rise like this
and simply by sliding my feet into my boots
while the water for coffee
gathers its song
be in the garden
or on the stoop
running, almost,
from nothing.

An Interesting Reincarnation Story to Consider

I found this story on Facebook in a group called Signs of Reincarnation: Experiences and Research that I joined a while ago. It is hosted by a man named Jim Matlock, someone like me fascinated with this subject and unlike me, has become a real expert in the field. This particular anecdote was written in by a woman named Anne Ward and it struck me as particularly compelling. Judge for yourself:

"My adult son brought a young lady he was seeing over to my house one evening. We were talking about various subjects when out of the blue she said, "I have something to ask you. I understand you have abilities and I need help with something that has been bothering me for years. " She went on to say that she knew she had lived in the south in a previous life and she felt she had lived during the 1960s because she recalled watching tv shows that were only in the 60s and she remembered many other things about her childhood. She felt that she had lived in either Alabama or Georgia. She had never been to either state and was born in Arizona. She said she remembered having long red hair because she drowned in a swimming hole and she could see her hair flowing in the water as she was drowning. She also recalled that she was a young teenager when it occured."

At first I didn't know how to help her so I told her that I would mediate and see if anything came to me. Later, I did a meditation and requested help. Quite unexpectedly, a message came from the other side that her name was Joy Morgan (I'm not listing her real name) and that she died in 1978 in the state of Georgia. I was excited and immediately began my research the following day. It took some time but I found the grave in Georgia through a great website called Find a Grave The name and the age were spot on. I contacted the newpaper in Augusta GA and asked them for a copy of the obituary. Still, it didn't say how she died. I then contacted the name of the person who entered the memorial info on the cemetary site and she was very forthcoming with info. She said that Joy was her first cousin and that she was a zany kid with long red hair. The 14 year old had gone with a friend to a local swimming hole (common in the southern countryside). She wanted to get the attention of some boys there by pretending she was drowning and she actually couldn't swim well. She went under and didn't come up. The red hair was the clincher. I knew for sure that it had to be her. Another interesting tidbit....her initials then and her initials now are the same, except in different order. Her photo was on the site and there is a resemblance in the eyes. I continued and found her old residence and copied the photo. I showed it to her to see her response and her first reaction was, "that's the tree I used to play in." She was amazed and so relieved to know that her memories and feelings were now authenticated. I feel this is truly a verifiable case. I have others with family and pets but this one is unique

A Few of the Songs I am Listening to These Days

Theme Song from Big Little Lies

James Blunt & Iam Tongi, Monsters

Michael Kiwanuka Cold Little Heart

John Hiatt What Do We Do Now

Bruce Hornsby Big Swing Face (the whole album)

Shakira, Hips Don't Lie

Leonard Cohen sung by Jennifer Warnes, First We Take Manhattan

George Harrison, sung by Astrid Samuelsen, Beware of Darkness

Los Lobos, Kiko and the Lavender Moon

Uniontown (whole album)

Tracy Chapman, All That You Have is Your Soul

Sergio Mendes, Mas Que Nada

Painting of the Week

Charity of the Week:

Blog No. 181: Ezra (the Movie), Nobel Laureates Doris Lessing and Kazuo Ishiguro, Art by Diana Arcadipone and Susan Hostetler

June 8, 2024

You can find additional content by clicking many of the images and photos below as well as the underlined links. And scroll all the way down for previous blog entries.

It’s that time of the year when I look forward to National Dance Institute’s Event of the Year! Don’t miss this—one of the wonders of New York City…Trust me—you won’t be sorry…

Ezra, The Movie

Went to the movies last night--my friend called spur of the moment to see if I wanted to go--and I realized it had been a long time since I was in an actual movie theatre...it really does beat netflix at home...And by sheer coincidence, or I prefer synchronicity, the movie theatre was designed by the same architect, Benjamin Schlanger, who designed the Waldo Theatre, where I go often for concerts, in Waldoboro, Maine....

I had no idea what the film was about but EZRA is a sensitive tale about a comedian (Max) and his ex-wife coming to grips with the struggles of raising an autistic child (Ezra), whom they love dearly. Trying to do the best and protect their kid, they are "forced to confront difficult decisions about his future, which leads the father (maybe on the scale himself) and his son to flee on a cross-country road trip. This has a transcendent impact on all of their lives."

EZRA is not an easy film to watch (I had to cover my eyes a few times, not because of violence but because of emotional pain), but the movie does have moments of humor carefully laced in to provide some relief. Robert DeNiro puts in a commanding performance as Ezra's grandfather, as does Bobbie Cannavale (the father Max) and his real life partner Rose Byrne (the mother Jenna). Whoopi Goldberg has a small part as Max's agent but the star of the show is William A. Fitzgerald, a first time actor who in real life is autistic.

I don't want to give the whole story away but suffice it to say that the film, as described by Deadline Magazine is "a touching testament ot the power of love", and it moves us and presents what I think is a realistic and very tender nuanced portrait: of autism, the entire family and what they are all going through. What makes EZRA even more compelling is the fact that it is based on a true story and is a labor of love between the director, Tony Goldwyn, and his real life best friend, screenwriter Tony Spiridakis, whose son is autistic.

There aren't many movies like this these days anymore--they were popular in the sixties and seventies but now the movie houses go for the big bang blockbusters and the sensitive, emotional pieces just don't sell out and bring in the big bucks...I am hoping to see more movies like this in the future.

Nobel Laureates Doris Lessing and Kazuo Ishiguro

Here are some thoughts on two of my favorite writers: Doris Lessing and Kazuo Ishiguro. What they have in common is that they are both Nobel Prize Laureates so I give myself credit for knowing how to pick them...

I have read multiple books from each of these authors but the two that stand out for me are Shikasta, Doris Lessing's foray into science fiction with her Canopus in Argos series (actually canned by many critics but I just found out through an interview that she thought were among her best) and the classic Remains of the Day, also made into a movie starring Anthony Hopkins, by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Doris Lessing does not have a conventional mind and has written many series of books exploring the themes of male/female relationships, political disillusionment, and the social and political issues of our time. All I can say about Shikasta is that it really had a major impact on me and in fact what used to cause me great angst by the end of the book gave me great comfort--not about the future of our particular planet but of the expansiveness of the universe..."Blending myth, fable and allegory, Lessing's astonishing visionary creation both reflects and redefines the history of our own world from its earliest beginnings to an inevitable, tragic self-destruction." As is often the case, science fiction can be a predictor of the future and it will be interesting for me to reread this book (it was originally published in 1979) to see if that is true. I fear it is...

Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day brings us back to earth in a slow moving, profound reflection on what it is like to be human, aging, and to look back and question one's life. Seen through the eyes of a butler that has sacrified his body and soul to service, it is a moving story that explores themes of dignity, integrity and emotional repression....

Both these authors are interested in the need for individuals to "confront their fundamental assumptions about life in order to transcend preconceived belief systems and acquire self-awareness." Their work has stuck with me, even though I have read their books many years ago. I find myself wanting to revisit them again...

Here are some interviews if you are interested in delving further:

Doris Lessing on Dreams and the Unconscious
Doris Lessing long interview.

And Kazuo Ishiguro interview about Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro official Nobel Prize interview

Susan Hostetler & Diana Arcadipone Art

Diana Arcadipone, mixed media on magnolia leaves

Susan Hostetler, mixed media on handmade paper

Diana Arcadipone, Triptych, mixed media on paper

I have lately gotten involved in helping to curate some shows for the Waldo Theatre Gallery (officially The Bill and Joan Alfond Gallery) in Waldoboro, Maine. The latest show, featuring Diana Arcadipone and Susan Hostetler will run for the whole month of June, 2024. Both artists are friends of mine--Susan going back to my Barcelona days in the 1980s and Diana being a relatively new Maine friend...But more importantly, they are old friends themselves from their college days at art school in Michigan and have maintained a life-long dialogue through their common artistic interests, their exploration of handmade paper, printmaking, painting and the natural world.

Diana Arcadipone lives in Otisfield, Maine and her passion lies in the use of natural materials and the combination of mediums including traditional crafts: embroidery, book arts, basketry in additon to paint and pastel.

Susan Hostetler works in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional arenas with a focus on animals, something both artists have in common. Most recently Susan focuses on birds and their murmurations.

To see more of their work which spans a lifetime, here are links to their websites: www.susanhostetler.com and www.https://www.arcadipone.com/

Painting of the Week

Gert Mathiesen, Purple Birds, mixed media on rice paper, available in various sizes in giclee form…

Charity of the Week:

Blog No. 180: Rock Paper Scissors Store, A Beautiful Simple Salad, Story Songs of the 70s (Copy)

June 6, 2024

You can find additional content by clicking many of the images and photos below as well as the underlined links.

Rock Paper Scissors Store in Wiscasset, Maine

Erica Soule, owner of my favorite store, Rock Paper Scissors

I just simply love this store. Rock Paper Scissors, located in Wiscasset, Maine is an eclectic mix including housewares, accessories, art supplies, stationary, textiles, books, jewelry, children's toys, etc. etc.--all beautifully curated to include items of the highest quality and top notch sense of design...The owner of this small, independently owned shop, Erica Soule, has an uncany ability to choose the best of the best from all over the world. In her own words: "Over twenty years ago, I opened rock paper scissors in my hometown of Wiscasset Maine. Spending days as a kid on the coast of Maine with my ever-curious grandmother peering into tidal pools, I learned to look for the small moments of wonder in the world. Finding a perfectly smooth stone, oddly colored lichen, and searching for only the yellow periwinkles started my love of collecting, the search, the hunt."

Rock Paper Scissors is now online for everyone to enjoy. It has been one of my favorite stores for a long time now and a go to place for all kinds of wonderful gifts. It was a summer destination for me and my family. My daughter Morgan used to buy many of her school supplies there: Japanese folders, cool pens, interesting notebooks—not your usual Staples fare. My sister Judy would always get herself a special piece of jewelry every year on our summer vacations. And I would always find something unique: a cool mug, beautiful earrings, unusual patterned origami papers…

Erica has carried some of my Smilow + Mathiesen products over the years and I’m proud to be a part of the Rock Paper Scissors shopping experience.

Follow Rock Paper Scissors on instagram.

A Simple Beautiful Refreshing Salad

CUCUMBER MANGO SALAD
Courtesy @beeyawellness
Serves: 4 portions
Prep time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
✨1 english cucumber
✨1 ripe mango
✨2 green onions, sliced
✨1 green chili pepper, sliced
✨1 tsp grated fresh ginger
✨1 lime, juiced and zested
✨1 Tbsp fish sauce
✨1 Tbsp sesame oil
✨handful of cilantro

Instructions:
1️⃣ Use a vegetable peeler to create ribbons of cucumber and mango.
2️⃣ Toss ribbons with green onions and green chili pepper in a bowl.
3️⃣ Whisk together grated ginger, lime juice, zest, fish sauce, sesame oil and chopped cilantro to create a dressing.
4️⃣ Toss everything together. Add salt to taste if needed.

Story Songs of the 70s: Tom DiMenna with Eddie Holm

Click image to follow Tom DiMenna on instagram

I just got back from traveling for a couple days with my musician friends Tom and Eddie (sounds like a cartoon!) who were performing first in Cohasset, Massachusetts at the historic Red Lion Inn and then last night at City Winery in Philadelphia after a ten day tour in Canada and the Midwest of the United States.

Maine-based singer/songwriter Tom DiMenna has an impressive vocal range and guitar style, perfected by decades of stage performances. Accompanied by the talented bass player Eddie Holm, they bring to life Story Songs of the 70's, performing classics by Gordon Lightfoot, Cat Stevens and Harry Chapin. With their permission, I thought I would share some of the video clips I took of them from the last couple of days…

Gordon Lightfoot, Sundown

Cat Stevens, Father and Son

Harry Chapin, Cat's Cradle

Gordon Lightfoot, Race Upon The Ruins

If you would like to hear more, go to www.tomdimennamusic.com for their upcoming shows and follow them on instagram and on youtube.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow mixed media on canvas 50” x 80” approx.

Charity of the Week:

Blog No. 179: Rupert Sheldrake, Jacob Holdt American Pictures, Chicken Rhubarb Recipe

May 24, 2024

You can find additional content by clicking many of the images and photos below as well as the underlined links.

Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake has been on my radar for a long time but only peripherally. I knew there was a lot of controversy around him so when I came across this banned Ted Talk of his from 2013, I was curious. In it, he challenges basic scientific principles, so I decided to listen to it and explore this interesting figure in more depth.

Sheldrake has been extremely controversial, mostly because he challenges scientific dogma and the foothold science has had on all of us for a very long time. Below are what he considers the mistaken assumptions/dogmas he is talking about:
1. The universe, nature, animals and people are machine-like.
2. Matter is unconscious—there is no consciousness in stars, galaxies, plants, animals, and humans, etc.
3. The laws of nature are fixed—and have been since the time of the Big Bang and will never change.
4. The total amount of matter and energy is always the same.
5. Nature has no purpose.
6. Everything you inherit is material and in your genes.
7. Memory is stored inside your brain.
8. Your mind is inside your head.
9. Psychic phenomena is impossible and illusory.
10. Mechanistic medicine is the only kind that really works.

In Sheldrake's mind, science must be set free and returned to being a legitimate system of inquiry rather than a rigid belief system.

In 2013 Sheldrake was called a heretic and condemned for these ideas as his Ted Talk was removed from the air. But this didn't stop him. Since 2013, Sheldrake has continued to operate at the margins of his discipline, looking for phenomena that "conventional, materialist science" cannot explain and arguing for a more open-minded approach to scientific inquiry." I would like to think we have made some progress in this arena nowadays. I wonder if he would agree...

Jacob Holdt, American Pictures

Click image above to hear Holdt talk about himself and his inspiration for the book.

Danish photographer Jacob Holdt might be a household name in Denmark but he is little known in the United States, even though the bulk of his work has to do with the study of culture and social issues in the United States. In the tradition of Frenchman Alexis de Toqueville, Holdt came as a visitor and in the course of his travels hitchhiking across the States, he photographed and wrote, witnessing the underbelly of life in America. It culminated in his book American Pictures, published in 1977--it is internationally renowned.

In the words of one reviewer: The moral and physical courage it took to do what Jacob Holdt did is just...staggering. How many people from a comfortable background would dare to travel through the economic underbelly of America, for years, depending for daily survival on the kindness of strangers? Who but a foreigner could paint such a portrait of structural oppression and its effects on the American underclass? If you haven't read Tocqueville, or Jacob Riis, or "Black Like Me", start here, with this book, whose emotional power is so much greater.

Although Holdt's American Pictures was published in 1977, it is sadly still very relevant today. To see the collection of these photos and more, click here.

Pan Seared Chicken with Rhubarb Thyme Sauce

I met Linda Augustine in Seattle at one of my shows out there. She is a talented writer who writes her own beautiful blog called A Year at the Table, where she celebrates and shares seasonal food recipes.

Linda recently sent me this Pan Seared Chicken with Rhubarb Thyme Sauce recipe. I never really know what to do with rhubarb aside from the typical rhubarb pie, and since it is in season right now, I thought it apt to include it in this week's blog. Doesn't it look delicious! I haven't tried it yet but plan on making a meal of it someday soon...

PAN SEARED CHICKEN WITH RHUBARB THYME SAUCE (Serves: 4)

INGREDIENTS
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 5-6 ounces each (see note)
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
½ cup all purpose flour, optional (see note)
2-3 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chopped sweet yellow onion
2 cups chopped rhubarb (2 medium stalks, about ½ pound)
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (1 medium clove)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup chicken broth or stock
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon lemon zest

INSTRUCTIONS
Place each chicken breast between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and pound to ½-inch thickness or cut in half widthwise
Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper
Dredge in flour and shake off excess
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter with olive oil. When butter starts to sizzle, add chicken and cook for 3 to 4 minutes (do not move chicken – allow it to brown).
Turn chicken and cook until browned on other side, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove chicken to a plate and keep warm
Add onion to the same pan, adding additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil if needed and cook and stir until softened, about 2 minutes.
Add garlic and cook and stir an additional 1 minute.
Stir in rhubarb and brown sugar, then add chicken broth and thyme;
bring to a simmer, then return chicken to the pan (chicken on top of rhubarb), cover partially, and cook on low just until rhubarb is softened and chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Transfer chicken to serving plates or a platter.
Lightly mash part of the sauce with the back of a spoon, leaving some of the rhubarb in the sauce in pieces.
Add lemon zest and season with salt and pepper.
Spoon sauce over chicken (chicken can also be thinly sliced and sauce spooned on top of it). Makes 2 cups sauce.
Notes
Two large chicken breasts (weighing in the range of 10 ounces each) can be cut in half, lengthwise, and then pounded to get 5-6 ounce size breasts. Dredging the chicken in flour can be eliminated for those avoiding flour.

The only other thing I know about rhubarb is that my late husband as a kid used to treasure his summer afternoon naps under the giant leaves of a rhubarb plant in his father’s garden.

Painting of the Week

Charity of the Week: