Fufú: This is how you do it

That image to the right is not a banana, but a plantain (in Spanish platano).

The plantain is most commonly eaten as a side dish in many Latin American cuisines, where it is simply boiled and then served as a side dish with perhaps a little olive oil and salt to add some flavor, especially if it's a green plantain, which are rather tasteless by themselves. The ripe ones are quite tasty and sweet, and are usually served sliced and fried.

A few years ago you could only find them in Latin American bodegas, but now most major supermarkets carry them.

But let's look at the green plantain. In most Latin American restaurants where it is offered, it is offered as a boiled side dish. In Cuban restaurants (and many Miami art galleries) it is also served as tostones, which essentially involves slicing up the plantain, frying it in olive oil for a while, taking it out and crushing it, and frying it again. Add salt and you're done.

But Fufú is the real king of plantain dishes and it is rarely seen in any restaurants, even Cuban ones. I think that maybe it is because Fufú possibly developed in the eastern part of Cuba (a province once called Oriente), and it may not be as well known or served in Havana, which is the only place that most tourists visit.

With its massive forests and mountains, a large African population from Spain's terrible slavery trade, coupled with its large French immigrant population which migrated to Cuba after the Haitian independence wars, and its concentration of Galician, rather than ethnic Castillians, Catalans, or Andalucian Spaniards, Oriente evolved into a very distinct region in Cuba, quite different from Havana and the other Cuban provinces, and so did its cuisine.

Oriente is where Bacardi rum was invented, and where Hatuey beer was created, and where the mojito and Daiquiri were invented... get my drift?

And in Oriente the humble plantain is eaten as a very delicious side dish called Fufú, with the accent in the last "u" like in Hai-ku.... foo fú!

Start with a couple of green plantains. Wash then and cut out the tips of the plantains but leave the skin on.

Cut the plantains into three equal pieces per plantain and bring to a boil in water and boil for a few minutes until the green skins start to peel away.

While they are boiling, in a frying pan heat a generous dose of olive oil with a seasoning dash of salt and pepper (or Goya Sazon is you really want some exotic spices).

Add chopped fresh garlic and chopped (very small pieces) onions to the hot olive oil and fry the garlic and onions; lots and lots of garlic.

While the onions and garlic fry (don't overcook), the plantains should be ready, so pull them out, throw away the green skins and put the cleaned hot plantains on a large flat plate and mash them as you would do for mashed potatoes, but not to an extreme - they should be lumpy.

Once they are broken up some, add the frying pan mixture of oil, garlic and onions and mash it all into the plantain mixture.

Salt to taste and this culinary work of art is ready to eat!

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: May 15, 2009 5 P.M.

Boston's Fort Point Arts Gallery is seeking proposals for 2009 group shows and performances. Proposals are open to all media and shows will be selected by guest juror, Heidi Kayser, the founding director of both the Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media and the newly formed Art Technology New England Consortium.

Submissions are due at the gallery by 5pm on May 15th.

You can email questions to: gallery@fortpointarts.org.

Robin Rose

In each major city around the world there are a limited number of artists in that city's art scene who can be best described as "firsts among equals," in the sense that their presence and influence goes beyond just being a painter or a sculptor, etc. to being a major part of that city's art tapestry.

Such an artist for the Greater Washington, DC region is Robin Rose, and although I haven't seen the show yet (but I will), I am hearing some good things as well as surprise, from his current show at The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

Titled Robin Rose: Cypher, the exhibition opens today, and there will be an artist's reception on April 23 from 6-9PM. The show will remain on view through May 17, 2009. The show at AU is concurrent with Robin Rose: Endeavor at Hemphill Fine Arts, which represents the work of Robin Rose.

The reason that his AU show is raising eyebrows from those who have seen it (someone described it to me as "out of the box!") is that what AU has on display (described as "aggressively altered found object assemblages") is so different and so very far from Rose's well-known and beautiful abstraction, that people are doing a double take.

I am also told that a lot of it is just plain funny!

I have never hidden my opinion that artists should always explore all facets and experiences and visual offerings of their artistry, rather than just deliver cookie-cutter art based on one concept.

I love seeing a single Mondrian, but lose interest when I see a dozen of them all in one room.

The way to see Robin Rose in the next few weeks is to visit his show at AU to discover this new side of this influential artist, and then drop by Hemphill Fine Arts to see what's new with his well-known encaustic on aluminum panel paintings.

Wanna go to a Bethesda opening this Friday?

Award winning artist Kristy Simmons opens her solo art show, Inklings to showcase her latest paintings exploring the intersection of the material world with virtual, or nonmaterial, reality. Thin glazes of underpainting are overlaid with thick brushstrokes, applied to both canvas as well as sheets of plexiglass on top of canvas – to give the audience the "inkling" of their combined and interdependent existence.

Orchard Gallery
7917 Norfolk Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20815

Orchard Gallery located at 7917 Norfolk Avenue. The opening reception is April 10, 6 – 8:30pm, and is part of Bethesda's monthly "Arts Walk."

Wanna go to an opening at UM tomorrow?

The University of Maryland's Stamp Gallery has an opening of the first ever solo show by Ding Ren.

Titled Here/There, the show is curated by Megan Rook-Koepsel and Jennifer Quick. Exhibition Dates: April 8 - May 6, 2009.

Opening reception: Wednesday, April 8, 6-8pm (with performance by Ding's band, Bible Kiss Bible.

You gotta listen to this

Amazing musical videoworks! Let it play at leat a minute... you'll be hooked: Click here.

NGA Partnership Encourages Children Artists

By Prelli Williams

Last March 5, it seemed that the National Gallery of Art moved to J.C. Nalle Elementary School in Southeast Washington as attendees marveled at the student Art exhibition of clay sculptures created by fifth grade students while the fourth graders recited Haiku poems as they stood beneath Drip paintings in the main corridor.

Principal Kim Burke said that a team of fifth grade teachers had submitted a proposal to the NGA, then the school was interviewed, and were finally selected out of eleven other schools that went through the process leading to a partnership between J. C. Nalle Elementary School and the National Gallery of Art.

Sara Mark Lesk, Coordinator of Art Around the Corner said that Nalle students visited the National Gallery of Art multiple times to experience works of art, develop their critical thinking skills through active looking, and explore creativity through art making. All lessons complied with the DCPS curriculum.

Student Brianna Hooks delivered the Welcome Address and the Gallery teachers presented certificates to eighty-six fourth and fifth grade participants. “This is awesome,” said Prelli Williams of Ward 7 Arts Collaborative to teachers Ms. Jones and Ms. Preston as Dr. Buaful, Ms. Staffer, Ms. Surles watched the fifth grade perform “A Day at the NGA” inspired by Art Around the Corner, and directed by Ms. Bailey.

A family activity making Clay Creatures ended with a dessert reception. The Mark and Carol Hyman Fund, The Mead Family Foundation, and the Janice H. Levin Fund made Art Around the Corner possible.