Babette'd Feast, is one of my favorite movies-- i own it. it not just about an artist never being poor, but about the giving, totally selfless giving, and how that changes your life.. the sister gave Babette a home, a safe haven, and she in return gave them her all..

Natural History magazine, for years, had a column on food.. its was about the anthropology of food.. how cultures the world over had the same problems to solve; how to make the cheap, abundant local food interesting to their families, with as little or effort as was possible. cultures all over the world come up with new ways to do the same thing..
(see buritoes, blintz, sping (egg) rolls, wraps (sandwiches),manicotti, knishes, pork pies, calzones, etc.--cheap local food, cooked, and wrapped in a dough,)

i have joked about knowing all the cultures of the world-- via a menu.. but that is wonderful way to learn about people.

good design, does the most, with the least. it meets specific cultural needs. and when its done well, it has legs.. (pizza comes to mind, for food, for design.. well industrial design, the volkswagon beetle.. and architecture, domes.. domes are a great idea.. the pantheon, and the great mosques, and the capital building, and st peters in rome..

and as for reading.. well, being well read, that contributed to everything! --


my other obsession