During the Passover holiday’s of the Jewish religion observant Jews go thru the laborious but important task of cleaning out all and any trace of “Chametz” (or leavened bread) from their home. And they get VERY intense about it as its one of the greatest religious transgressions if one ingests any bread during the holiday (All of this bread business relates to the story of the exodus of the Jews fleeing Egypt with Moses and not having time to wait for their bread to rise so only unleavened bread of “matzoh” can be eating for the entire holiday). I attended a passover seder in a Lubavitch family home whose kitchen was covered in tin-foil so I made my way back a couple of days later and shot in the homes of four families. They cover the bookshelves the entire kitchen cabinets, stove, etc., to make sure any sort of crumb doesn’t mix with their food. At first what I mistook to be some sort of alien radar transmission set up turned out to be yet another modern day incarnation of ancient tradition.
I went to Stonehenge on the Winter Solstice in search of Neo-Druids and I was not let down. As there is no public transportation there I opted for a 3 mile hike in the dark on a confusing public footpath which went thru farms and fields. Thousands of pantheist, pagan, neo-druids and hippies arrive in mass before sunrise on this day, one of the four during the year in-which people are able to get in amongst this giant, 6000 year old monument, touching, communing and praying with the stones. Epic photos of this to come soon.. film being souped!
Child of Neo-Druid.
And after a day of photographing and communing amongst pantheists of all stripes and visiting some other ancient sacred sites and doing an epic sound healing ceremony with multiple gongs working male and female energy while holding a tiny stone lingam, what else was there to do but partake in the oldest of English traditions, Fish and Chips. Those are “mushy peas” on the bottom right. Fish was tasty and I must say, they do have some damn good “chips” (french fries in the US) in the UK. Our “chips” are their “crisps”.
After waking up in my new hippie friends RV in Glastonbury I had to hustle back to Brighton but not before a sunrise hike up to an ancient “Tor”…This tower, which used to be part of a monastery, and had once been surrounded by water, has been a pilgrimage spot for Christians for 1000′s of years. Its steeped in celtic mythological lore and is said to be a possible burial ground of the Holy Grail. From Wikipedia: “Gwyn ap Nudd, who was first Lord of the Underworld, and later King of the Fairies,.. The Tor came to be represented as an entrance to Annwn or Avalon, the land of the fairies”.
The roaring, loud winds sent ravens buzzing around the tower and I and lent the atmosphere a welcome Hitchcockian ominousness.
Back in Brighton, a seaside English town that people once used for beach escapes but are now, in greater numbers, choosing to live in year round as a respite from London’s hustle and flow ($$) and commute to work via a 45 minute $23.00 train.
My first European Football game. The Brighton and Hove/Albion Seagulls. Was a huge thrill. Splurged on a ticket out front of the game paying around $50.00 With two red cards against the home team in the first 5 minutes the audience was out for referee blood but not forgoing their English niceties, the crowd chanted, in perfect unison (a practice unheard of in the U.S.) “What a loooaad of rubbbish, What a looaaadd of rubbbbish”. It was a bloody good game and I was completely knackered after.
Here is a video of them complaining about the terrible refs in a very mannered way.
Refreshment stand at the stadium.
Loved this happy bloke though I couldn’t understand a bloody word he spat out but as far as I could tell, he was a mighty good chap.
On the menu I spotted a “Gammon Steak” and thought I deserved a bit of an indulgence after a couple of days of roughing it. This funky dish appeared in front me after about 30 minutes. The perfect Guinness helped wash it down.
No idea. Didn’t try either. Did have the originator of the “Egg McMuffin” which was delicious.
The sign reads, “commit no nuisance”. Was a non-working 400 year old public drinking fountain and the locals, the heathens, had not heeded their English manners.
This guy scared me into photographing him at a local Brighton mall of sorts.
Off to London.. And the first thing my brilliant, thoughtful girlfriend does is take me to this bit of tasty history, down in Brick Lane, one of the hipster/bohemian parts of town. As it used to be the Jewish Quarter there was ”beigel” place from 1855. Has a synagogue from 1701! Living in the Lower East Side of NYC for a couple of years I was fiercely protective of my local old school bialy/bagel shop Kossars, loving the fact that it had been around for what I thought of as ages. Turns out only 65 years ?? What? Feels like 100.
And, they pile mounds of “smoked meat” into the pillowy middle of the delicious, simple and semi-small bagel. Corned Beef. Unreal. Line was out the door. Mustard was like yellow wasabi..had crazy brain burn.
Ai Weiwei, Sunflower Seeds at the Tate Modern. The piece is one million hand-made porcelain sunflower seeds made in Jingdezhen, where I passed thru with my mom travelling a couple of months ago. Photos.
I loved the design and really appreciated the simple formality and functionality of these railing/benches in the Underground, London’s clean, rat free, easily marked, running on time, mass transit system. BUT, its spendy as hell and does shut down at midnight so if I had to choose, I would take our decrepit, filthy, unreliable, laborious to use, NYC Subway anytime.
Grannie brigade in search of christmas bargains.
Side trip to Canterbury. This is the Cathedral, built-in 597 A.D., the oldest in the UK and where Christianity first landed in England . Been a Pilgrimage spot for a 1000 years. The Archbishop of Canterbury calls it home, the main dude in the Church of England.
And then, we finished up with some nature taking in some of the English walking paths. The country is littered with trails that connect hamlets and villages. At 500 ft., this is England’s most favored spots for suicide. They have an emergency chaplaincy team who hurry out to the site to thwart poor tortured souls plans.
We did the “Seven Sisters” hike, a 10 mile hike along the cliffs just 20 miles East from Brighton. I hadn’t experienced a similar topography before and its rolling hills, short natural grasses and mud, its grazing animals and views of picture perfect hamlets was something to behold. We timed it for great weather and Radioheads new album had me running up the last mile uphill doing weird little side stepping dance moves. Calves locked up for two days after. Totally worth it.
The Sea, France lying just 2o miles off in the distance.
(If u have ZERO patience proceed directly to AMAZING culinary ACTION video below!)
In 1997 I cruised thru China from Korea on the way to a 3 month traipse around Mongolia. While acquiring the Beijing Hack during the wait for a Visa to Mongolia I ate the same truly magnificent sandwich everyday for 8 days. Last month I got to revisit China and luckily, one of these sandwich artisans was literally a steamed buns throw from my sisters apartment in Suzhou (in 1 AD, the 14th largest city in the world), which sits just 2 hours SW of Shanghai (which daily hosts the worlds largest pajama party). It was a chance I would not miss. Monumental in both its complexity of taste (savory, sweet, spicy, crunchy ) and construction (crepe +eggs+veggies+sauce+wontons, folded over itself into a burrito all under 2 minutes) and in its simplicity in acquisition (street-side) and monetary procurement (they cost about 80 cents).
WATCH THE AMAZING MAGIC of the making the CHINESE EGG SANDWICH!!
Ingredients.
Wontons
The change basket, which works on the honor system, while she makes the sandwich.
The Chinese classic and it was perfect: Slightly charred fried green beans with garlic and chicken in a light brown sauce. Shanghai.
Head Cheese. (wondering what the character means for Head Cheese. Just learned that Chinese words are formed by combining different words into one character. Might word for Head Cheese be the combination of: brains, repulsive, congealed and waste not?)
An employee meal in Jingdezhen (where Chinese blue and white porcelain obtained its finest form 1700 years ago). Food of note: far left, an amazing shredded fried potato dish, the classic and my favorite, sautéed greens with garlic and a pancake with scallions.
Green tea.
Wide array of tofu in a fantastic, local only market in Suzhou.
Curried lamb soup with hand-pulled noodles. Incredible curried fried rice at rear. I recently discovered Arabic influenced Chinese cuisine after reading a hilarious Sunday Routine in the NYT with Gary Shteyngart. I have been eating quite a bit in NYC but was a bit surprised to find it so prevalent. Loads of curry, lamb, skewers of bbq'd meats, hot fresh bread.
Shucked nuts
Attacking a stalk of sugarcane on a local bus from Wuyan to Guanxi in the Jianxi province..
Rice stuffed lotus root in sweet sauce.
Barrel baked bread. Coal bricks in the center, fresh dough (at left) is stuck to the interior walls and bakes in less than 2 minutes. Two types: One round piece stuffed with honey, the other an oval shape with scallions. One piece cost about 8 cents.
Another incredible bread dish. This fried bread with sesame seeds was served piping hot and one had the choice of a brushing of a spicy red pepper sauce. 15 cents for the bag.
30 types of Rice Wine. Two main types, dark or clear. The dark was similar to a tasty port. Clear was like moonshine. Some were quite expensive.
One of the best dished I had in China (though my stomach would dispute this the next day). Small whole fish in an extremely spicy pepper sauce. I would open up the fish with one chop stick and pull out the whole spine in tact, meat falling away. Must of eating 10. Washed down with lots of terrible Chinese beer which color could not have been a lesser yellow.
Egg sandwich from street vendor. Incredible sandwich I had waited 14 years to have again. A crepe batter with egg, scallions, sweat bean sauce, spicy pepper sauce, cilantro and fried wonton cracker folded over itself. Larger blog post devoted solely to this breakfast miracle in coming days.
I shot a story on a family breaking their Ramadan fast last year in the Lower East Side and it is in the current Edible Manhattan magazine. Here is the layout.
Just returned the other day from my second jaunt to the land of my girlfriend. Spent 3 weeks, a couple in Lima then a week in the south where my moms and I tackled a day on the famed Inca Trail and then took in Machu Picchu. Twice in 9 months..never thought that would happen..so don’t need to go there for about 5 years but lots more to see in Peru. I would like to visit a more recently discovered ruin in the north named “Kuelap” that is said to rival Machu Picchu and gets just a handful of tourists. Also, the deserts of Ica are amazing for paleontology. Take a walk back in there and u will literally stumble on exposed whale skeletons.
All the images here are from my G9 Point and Shoot. I shot 20 rolls of film but haven’t gotten them souped yet. The images are actually in the chronological order I shot them starting on Dec 21 to Jan 11th. Lots more to come…
Step out of the seclusion of the up-scale areas of Lima (a city of 11 million) and this is a typical street corner with fairly typical people in Peru, excluding the highlands (the Andean regions) or in the Amazon.
Unintentional art installation from third world telephone wiring
Sunset at the beach two hours south of Lima. Colors have not been tweaked.
Clowns are all the rage at parties in Lima these days. They come in mid-party and pass out balloons and shit. We made a crazy hat which we were obsessed with doing for at least an hour...New Years night, from about 2-3am.
Flash lighting up water in the air at the beach during a quick New Years ceremony on the beach before sunrise.
These ghosts haunted us on our way back to the crib.
Paracas, a chain of islands off the Southern coast of Peru. Labeled the "poor mans galapagos" by Lonely Planet, its populated by tons of birds and fat little penguins. 100 years ago the tens of thousands of tons of bird guano was harvested there every year was Peru's richest exportable resource. It still is 5o meters deep on the islands and groups of men live on the islands for periods of four months at a time harvesting it every year.
A gorgeous lake in the desert isn't impervious to the spoils of Coke.
Controlled(?) burn off the Pan-American Sur on way back to Lima. Would of pulled over if I was driving..love the arrangement of people
Had Chicharron for breakfast. Super tasty/super greasy ham sandwiches.
Pigeons at the San Fransisco Church in Central Lima. The catacombs below it house 100's of mid-evil skeletons.
On our way up to a giant jesus statue on the top of mountain in Central Lima.
Lima.
Street scene in outer neighborhood of Lima.
Tico taxi's, a Korean mini, are ubiquitous in the south of Peru. This was in Cusco, the mid-evil city which one departs from to Machu Picchu
3 Andean girls descending from their mountain village south of Cusco.
It rained on my dear mum and I for about 5 hours on our hike on the Inca Trail. This was an amazing blossom off of a yucca plant, probably 15 ft high.
Even on our one day hike of the normally 4 day hike of the Inca trail, we still witnessed changes in Eco-systems. Here, we rounded the corner into a cloud forest valley with waterfalls just down the way. Was one of the most stunning natural settings I have ever laid my fairly well traveled feet.
Cloud Forest
Winay-Wayna ruin. Only accessible from the Inca Trail. Pre-Colombian Inca ruin with a huge amphitheater of terraced farming, 3 hours from Machu Picchu.
A bromeliad growing on a moss covered tree in the cloud forest.
The feet of an Andean porter on the Inca trail. His sandals are made from car tires.
Machu Picchu.
Llama at Machu Picchu. The flashy earrings are so the owners can tell them apart in a herd as they roam.
Survey of beef heads in market in Cusco.
Gordo nino en la mercado en Cusco.
Andean women of different regions wear different style of hats. This woman had such serious business concerning the man in the picture she is holding that I could freely shoot this usually camera shy culture.
This was a hilarious attempt of Chicken Cordon Bleu. The restaurant was called "Gordon Blue" and it was the house specialty so I gave it a try. 15/soles which was $5.00. The ham was baloney and the cheese was a white farmers fresh cheese so didn't really work but chicken was fried deliciously but jesus, they were nuts! That's a ton of food!!. Clockwise from Chicken at bottom: Choclo, the giant corn of Peru. Fresh cut french fries. Salad with strips of the fresh cheese, white rice with a poached egg, fried plantain.
View of mountains across from Machu Picchu.
The Urubamba river flows by Machu Picchu on its way north 450 miles to meet up with the Amazon river and then flows east to the Atlantic. This is the same river that the community I worked with in the amazon lived next to. At this point, the river is still near its headwaters in the high Andean mountains but its making its way down into the rain forest.
This little hog-tied pre-historic reptile was in the Belen market in Iquitos. It was nice to get with-in inches from an animal you would never really get to see let alone study but it was bitter-sweet, as it sucks seeing a beautiful animal waiting to die in such a manner.
My small glass of a chilean Pinot Noir I had before heading out to the Dwarf for beers and late night food became this young gents liquid coffin. Mother nature works perfectly and fast down here. Drop a crumb of bread and you’ll a line of ants feasting on it with-in minutes trailing 8 ft. away from the window. Leave a wine glass out and a giant, ancient bug will find a way to get a buzz. There was a spider web across the top as well..a mystery. Did the spider spot and smell the soon to be dead bug and head down to eat?
