Three Beautiful Things: Art For The Sake Of Art
1. Stopped at a red light near Halal Bilal’s “Steak and Take” in Germantown, I was minding my own business. The driver of the car in front of me looked as though he accidentally dropped a rectangular card out of his window.
Within moments, he opened his car door, and stepped out— revealing that he was in a clown suit. Without so much as a glance in my direction, he bent down to pick up the card that he dropped, got back in his car and drove off as the light turned green.
As he was picking up the card, I saw that it had one word on it in black marker:
“OOPS!”
To this day, I have never come across anything more perfectly executed. It was comedy for the sake of comedy. Art for the sake of art. Beauty for the sake of beauty.
2. Despite having had my own place for years and hosting dinner and chai parties, I’ve never cooked anyone dinner. The opportunity presented itself when I met a woman who lives only a few miles away from me at the last ISNA convention. She’s a bit of a character, and I just had a feeling we’d be buddies. We’ll call her Timatim-Fitfit (TTFF).
TTFF was a whopping an hour-and-a-half late (for which she totally lost some cool-buddy points) but she was quickly forgiven because she liked the food I made her.
Appetizers included hummus, blueberries, and raspberries. I also warmed up some whole wheat pita and cut them into little pizza-shaped slices like Paani taught me for maximum dippability. A quickie salad out of spring mix, feta cheese, and a mix of tomatoes complimented the main course: half-assed tandoori chicken and a pot of daal. For dessert? Cake. A couple weeks later, a group of us ate from the same plate at an Ethiopian restaurant Sharing food with people? Always beautiful.
3. Speaking of cake. See that baby at the top of this post? That, my friends, is an Espresso Spice Cheesecake made by yours truly and eaten by my family before a day of fasting. Here is the recipe. You’ll see this cheesecake again in an upcoming episode of Cooking Vith Lowe.
What about you guys? See anything beautiful lately?
P.S. This week’s This American Life is available for download/listen as mentioned in my previous post. Another Frightening Show About The Economy
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Aychezistanian at 7 October 08 :: #
That cake doesn’t look yummy, but I’m sure it is. No really.
I saw something beautiful on T.V
A new cooking series has started and I saw the chef-dude-person-thing cooking a tajine! Hardly ever do you see these celeb chefs making Moroccan cuisine on T.V…it made my day - and reminded me of when I had nothing better to do apart from munching on bread and chicken tajine whilst everyone else was sleeping by the AC during siesta..
(this was on holiday in Marrakech)
Those lovely days..<3
amster at 7 October 08 :: #
that clown story — lol truly priceless =)
Nadiyya at 9 October 08 :: #
You can cook? kidding.
I just wanted to add one a beautiful thing. My 3 year old brother was born deaf but that’s to surgery he know has been hearing his first sounds. Something beautiful is now hearing him yelling “mommy” on the top of his head at 3am. Even though it could wake a dead sleep, it’s still something beautiful.
C* at 10 October 08 :: #
Beauty; not seen, but heard.
Because of a I-could-become-blind-at-any-moment-scare I’ve come to appreciate beautiful sounds. Next door there is a house which doubles as a pretty loud nursery/daycare. I overheard a little girl crying which was interrupted by what seemed like a surprise birthday song. Little tiny kids with their big voices all singing in unison to console her. I wonder if it even was her birthday. yay! singing clapping kids. =) Can I get an alhamdulillah?