What’s better than cheese and crackers? A good excuse to eat them. And that, my friends, is exactly what this super cute slate cheeseboard will give you– All for under $5.

1 | Slate tile (you can get free samples at tile & flooring stores)

2 | Felt Circles

3 | Olive oil

4 | Chalk marker / chalk (optional)

1 | Scrub (thoroughly) and rinse your slate piece, and pat dry.

2 | Coat all surfaces of the slate with olive oil, then scrub and rinse slate again. This will condition the surface and help create a barrier between the slate & food. Once you’ve scrubbed and rinsed the second time, apply one last coat of olive oil and dab away the excess. *

3 | Apply adhesive felt circles to each of the four corners.

4 | Using a chalk marker, label the cheeses.

5 | Display and eat. You can also refrigerate the slate to keep your cute cheese cold, it’s a win/win!

* The most obvious question of this DIY is if the slate board is food safe. The answer to that is yes and no depending on if you are using it for it’s intended purpose (this is also why the conditioning process is important). The cheeseboard is for display use, and as such is food safe, but should not be used as a dining plate (As with many kinds of serve-ware). Handwash only.

The bare bones

witchy webbed against fomenting skies,

dormant

with barely a breathy promise of life.

Is your haunting silhouette a shadowy blight or a prayer upraised for spring?

Cars do not belong in cities.  A standard American sedan can comfortably hold 4+ adults w/ luggage, can travel in excess of 100 miles per hour, and can travel 300+ miles at a time without stopping to refuel.  These are all great things if you are traveling long distances between cities.  If you are going by yourself to pickup your dry cleaning, then cars are insanely over-engineered for the task.  It’s like hammering in a nail with a diesel-powered pile driver.   To achieve all these feats (high capacity, high speed, and long range driving), cars must be large and powered by fossil fuels.  So when you get a few hundred (or thousand) cars squeezed onto narrow city streets, you are left with snarled traffic and stifling smog.

Even if you ignore the pollution, cars simply take up too much space.   Next time you are stuck in traffic behind what seems like a million cars, try to imagine if all those cars where replaced by pedestrians or bike riders.  Suddenly, the congestion is gone.

60 Cars, 60 Bike Riders, and 60 Bus Passengers in Munster, Germany.

But why am I complaining about traffic?  Traffic only affects those stuck in it, right?  Once all cars go electric, essentially eliminating inter-city air pollution, then there will be no more problems for pedestrians, right?  Wrong!!  Probably the biggest problem with cars in cities is that they require huge amounts of land for storage (a.k.a. parking).  Here is a photo of Midtown Atlanta between 5th street and 12th street.  This is one of the densest and most pedestrian-friendly ares in the entire state of Georgia.  The red blocks indicate parcels of land that are 100% dedicated to car storage.

Red Squares Indicate Land that is 100% Dedicated to Parking in Midtown Atlanta

Dedicating all this land to car storage basically reduces the density by about half, doubles the average distance between locations, and reduces walkability.  Throw in the 16-lane interstate and the 45+ mph traffic on most of these streets, it becomes exceedingly hard to believe that this is one of the most walkable areas in the entire state.  Such is life for pedestrians in a car-dominated city.

It wasn’t always this way.  Atlanta, like all cities, used to be walkable and people actually lived IN the city instead of commuting 50 miles every day.  But as more people moved away from the city, the more Atlanta had to become like a suburb, being retrofitted to handle all the automobile infrastructure required by a million 40 hour-a-week temporary citizens.  The result of this retrofit is a wasteland of asphalt and isolated neighborhoods, a slow decimation that has rolled along since the innovation of the automobile.

Contrary to how it may sound, I do not want to rid the earth of cars.  I just want to use them smarter.  Do you really need a 2-ton vehicle to pickup your dry-cleaning?  Probably not.  Although I do see the appeal in loading a family of 6 into an SUV and traveling to Florida for vacation.  That is a totally reasonable use of an automobile.  What I really want  is clean, walkable, safe, affordable, and family-friendly cities and towns.  In a strange way, I kind of want to live in Mayberry.

In the next post, I promise to discuss a few ideas that may get us a little closer to this goal.

Hanoi is loud, busy, wet, smelly, colorful, hot and much more. Here are some of the images I captured along the way. Stay tuned for week 2 in Vietnam.

Being a photographer, and one who was taught using film and processing my own film (and subsequently spending years in the dark), I can speak from my own experience and say that film is officially dead. I remember my days in art school, and if you were in the photography program, the darkroom was your night club. We would spend days, nights, weeks in the darkroom. The ones who were “serious” about photography would make photographs on film, and process their own film and make their own prints. Digital was emerging, but if you were serious about photography, you shot on film.

Photographers have always imbued film with nostalgia and memories. The physical act of learning the craft of photography is a very intimate one, intertwined with memory, context, and content. Since my time at art school, digital photography has seen rapid transformation, and the technology has evolved to the point where today, quality is at a premium. Much like filmmakers who insist on shooting on 8 or 16mm, their time has come and passed. Digital technology has reached its tipping point, where cost and availability have made the old technologies obsolete.

We are now at the point where image making is so commonplace, it’s not a matter of who is doing it, it’s a matter of where to share your memories. We are so focused now on social media and living in a real-time network of status updates and images, that the craft of photography is now standing on its last legs. Technology has removed the barriers to those who did not learn the craft, making everyone a photographer, and memories everywhere. So with the old technologies now obsolete, photographers can now focus on what is most important, creating content, making images, and sharing their stories with the world.

Sure, you can still tell the difference between a photographer and a hobbyist or your average joe shooting on his/her smartphone. Photographers have a natural understanding of composition, light and framing, and are able to produce photographs that still amaze others. Photographers do not depend on Instagram filters, or HDR to make an image interesting (but heck, they are sure fun to play with). They still have the eye for photography that sets them apart in this image obsessed world. But we have changed as people. Immediacy is more important than time, and instant gratification is key. You want to snap a photo, apply a filter, upload it to Facebook as fast as your smartphone will let you. You want to share your photos, and can do so instantly and to anywhere in the world in a moment. You would rather pick up a chair from Ikea than have one hand-crafted.

With the passing of Kodak, a little piece of every photographer has died, but it’s more of the process of photography for photographers, that will be missed. Today’s kids probably won’t even know who Kodak were, and more importantly, they couldn’t care less. As a photographer, I certainly won’t miss the cost of buying film in bulk, or spending every cent on chemicals, paper, and equipment. I will however miss the process or shooting, processing, printing, and then sharing. So maybe the ‘Kodak moment’ hasn’t really died with the passing of Kodak… maybe it has just begun. With technology giving everyone the means to make photographs, we suddenly find ourselves on an even plane… and quality of content will become even more important.

I’m sure many will miss the excitement of running to the local photomat, picking up your prints, and the excitement of seeing what you captured appear before your eyes. Ask any photographer who has ever processed their own film, and they will all tell you that there is simply nothing quite as amazing as watching your film process, and seeing a chemical bath make your images come to life. But it’s now time for us traditionalists to accept technology, embrace it, and move forward telling the stories we have always told, just with a new and improved medium.

Now on to our next challenge, managing our digital lifestyle. We will cover this in future posts. Let us know what you think about where photography is headed, and what you will miss from the Kodak moments of the past.

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The Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter. Photo by Chago Akii-bua.

At some point, “The new Roots album is really good” became a cliché we’ve been taking for granted since the release of their fourth album, things fall apart, in 1999. They’ve since dropped six more gems, some better than others, but all so consistent and at times stunning in their quality that we’ve just become immune, desensitized, and unappreciative. Oh, yea… The Roots have a new album. I heard it’s really good.

Every other year I find myself telling this friend or that about how great the new Roots album is, stressing its brilliance and begging to be taken seriously… feeling like the boy who cried wolf, except I’ve never lied.

Their legendary live shows, their solid canon of classic studio albums, their recent high-profile gig as house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon… the bar has been set pretty high. And yet with each new release, as they continue to sail over that bar and raise it higher and higher, we shrug our shoulders and nod our heads and put The Roots on our year-end best-of lists and that’s that.

Since 1999′s things fall apart spawned the hit “You Got Me,” the Roots have quietly blessed us with a run of albums that could rival others entire careers, starting with the wildly eclectic Phrenology (what I call their White Album in how experimental and psychedelic it is) and continuing through The Tipping Point, Game Theory and Rising Down. These four albums over six years seemed to come and go, pure genius being ignored right out in the open.

Then in 2010 came How I Got Over, a late-career classic. A “mature” hip-hop album that was still a banger, it was universally hailed as a masterpiece (and yet still probably shrugged off as “another great Roots album”). With their killer collab album with John Legend, Wake Up!, released on its heels that same year, I assumed How I Got Over might be their last album for a quite a while…  And then at the end of 2011, bam!, they hit us with undun. And once again, they’ve outdone even themselves.

As the press releases and subsequent reviews have said, undun is “an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999),” a loose-narrative concept album told in reverse about the death of the fictional struggling everyman from the hood. It starts with the flat-line beep sound of his death and then goes back to tell the story of ghetto inevitability.

After countless listens on repeat, I don’t see (or hear) it as “told in reverse,” as much as it seems circular. You can come in at any point and pick it up. It’s like a classic movie on cable, like Goodfellas, where no matter what part is on when you find it, you feel compelled to watch the rest even though you know how it ends. And when the instrumental suite that closes the CD ends…. it starts again with the flat-line beep, and before you know it you’re circling around for another turn with this all-too-familiar American tale of desperation and destiny… like the endless cycle of lives trapped along the poverty line.

To catch a thief, who stole the soul I prayed to keep
Insomniac, bad dreams got me losing sleep
I’m dead tired, my mind playing tricks, deceit
A face in the glass, unable to admit defeat
All that I am, all that I was is history
The past unraveled, adding insult to this injury
I’m fighting the battle for the soul of the century
Destiny is everything that I pretend to be
Look, and what I did came back to me eventually
The music played on, and told me I was meant to be awake
It’s unresolved like everything I had at stake
Illegal activity controls my black symphony
Orchestrated like it happened incidentally
Oh, there I go, from a man to a memory
Damn, I wonder if my fam will remember me

That’s the very first verse we hear from Black Thought. If I decided to quote any more of his brilliant one liners and verse-long portraits, it would fill this whole post. Just go read them, or better yet, submerge yourself in this record and hear a lyrical master at work, in both writing and delivery. His basic style/flow may have been birthed by the legendary Rakim a generation ago, but Black Thought absolutely belongs in any type of “Top 5 MC’s of All Time,” list/argument you want to make. He might not have the cultural impact of Tupac or Biggie; He’s been around for close to 20 years on record, but he’s not quite a pioneering legend like Chuck D or KRS-One; he’s not as flashy as Nas, Eminem, or Andre 3000. And while he’s undoubtedly benefited from the beats, production and leadership of ?uestlove, it’s also possible that Black Thought’s “legacy” is diminished cuz we just hail them as The Best Hip-Hop Group (by a mile) and we never quite give BT his due. Taken for granted once again.

On this latest album, Black Thought is so concise, as plain spoken yet creative with his wordplay and metaphors as ever. Anchored by a revolving door of guest MC’s led by veteran Roots role player on the mic Dice Raw, Black Thought gets the most out of every line, no words are wasted, every rhythmic turn and lyrical phrasing complementing the beat as if it was actually part of ?uestlove’s drum kit.

One of the most interesting recent quotes I read from Black Thought was about his serious approach to the writing:  “Everything you hear me saying on this record is at least the fourth or fifth draft. I would write a verse and then rewrite it and rewrite it. I don’t sit down and write a song, and then slam down the phone like, ‘We got another one!’ and pop some champagne. It’s like if someone’s writing a novel: You write a series of drafts.”

Like a great American novel, I hope that after all the accolades and Grammy nominations and glowing blog reviews, we all remember this incredible album, this snapshot of a society crumbling… with too many people “face down in the ocean, and no one’s in the lighthouse,” and too many others too busy watching the throne.

Compared to it’s predecessor, undun is sonically stark, but still extremely effective. Musical storytelling that paints pictures behind the stunning verses. If they’d never sent out the blurbs about this being a “concept album,” we still would have picked up on the cinematic vibe. It’s like the kind of movie that makes you fall in love with movie making again. And while this particular one has sadly played out in American streets over and over again, undun will still be worth revisiting and repeating for years to come.

Undun is not just “another great Roots album,” (though it is that). It reminds you that albums are an art form and luckily artists like the Roots are still making them.

I actually came up with this recipe ages ago, probably influenced by some long forgotten recipe, or photo torn from a magazine. I remember, when I first made it, the Cinderella-like makeover from pale tasteless cubes to mouth-watering umami silky softness (although back then no-one but the Japanese knew about umami). But for some reason I rarely make it now, preferring to try and develop tricksy and cunning recipes to convince tofu-haters of the folly of their ways. Well, this is neither of those. But it is particularly delicious – and very simple to make. Now that I’ve rediscovered this recipe, I will be making it much more often. Especially because once you have all the ingredients out, it takes all of 10 minutes to prepare.

I have blathered on in previous posts about the nutritional virtues of tofu, so if you want the detail of what it is and why it’s good for most of us, see one of my very first posts – Tofu and Aubergine Lime-Basil Stir Fry. The photos are well-dodgy, but the recipe and information are sound. If you can’t be bothered to wade through that post, I can tell you briefly that tofu is cooked and pressed soy beans, made up into little pale blocks. Sounds yummy so far, I’m sure. In those little blocks, which you can find in long-life UHT cartons (these may be the most tasteless), in open containers of brine at Chinese markets (not keen on the germ potential) and in refrigerated packs (favoured option),  is one of only two plant-based complete proteins. That should be enough to have most vegetarians hooked, but it is also low GI/GL, low-fat, cholesterol-free, a good source of iron, magnesium and some B vitamins, and a terrific source of calcium, owing to the way in which it is made. It may also help with menopausal symptoms, and reduce the risk of colon and prostate cancer. I mostly use tofu in its unadorned form because I like to flavour it myself, but you can get all manner of titivations – bbq, marinated, smoked, herby, etc – just watch out for too much added fat and salt.

Back to the recipe. If tamarind paste is a bit tricky to come by, head to your closest Asian grocer. There you will either get a nice big tub of paste for the price of a dinky one at a supermarket, or – what I have – get a bag of squashy, black tamarind pods to soak in water, squidge between your fingers and push through a sieve. The latter does sound a faff, but it’s weirdly pleasing (yes, I’m easily pleased) and no added ingredients. Both the paste and pods keep for a long time. Oh, and if you think you have never had tamarind, think again: it’s a main flavouring in Worcestershire and HP sauces.

tamarind pods for mashing

making tamarind paste is messy business - buy it pre-made!

And as for the shiitake, fresh shiitake are commonly available but dried shiitake are fine when re-hydrated (various makes available; I use Merchant Gourmet). Although you can really taste the ‘shiitake-ness’ in this recipe, try chestnut mushrooms if you fancy this recipe but can’t immediately find the shiitake. But, please try it with earthy, chewy shiitake if possible.

In a medium saucepan or wok heat the tamarind paste, pepper, sugar, stock and soy sauce.  Let the sauce bubble up and thicken for 2-3 minutes. When the sugar has dissolved, add the baked tofu, mushrooms and carrots and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Serve over rice or buckwheat noodles and sprinkle with sesame seeds or the sesame ‘seaweed’ (see below).

buckwheat noodles - gorgeous and gluten-free

Sesame ‘Seaweed’: Take 4 large leaves of kale (cavolo nero for preference) and rub with a small amount of oil. Remove the ribs from each, stack and cut the leaves into thirds, then take these thirds and slice thinly into matchsticks. Pop these onto a baking tray, sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds, and bake at 180C/350F for 5-6 minutes. Watch the shreds like a hawk as, depending on the type of kale, it may bake more or less quickly. I do this while the tofu is baking.

Serves 3-4 (although no harm in two people sharing!)

Had a nice relaxing day at a friend’s place followed by a family event. Also had the opportunity to use my new gear, which is always good fun. Here’s a collection:

Happy Australia Day! See you next year!

- PX.