Harrietts Tomato

The Last of the Merlot

This and more kinda creepy art straight out of the second chakra at Art of Mark Bryan.com.  Please don't take all the red wine.

July 4th at The South Pole

Yep, here is part of the motley crew in one of the construction/maintenance shops we fondly refer to as the L.O. (Logistics Office) part of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station.  This was where we dined on charred whole pig and various burgers, dogs and bbq chicken with all the fixin's. 

 We played darts and poker and drank beer that was kept chilled in a sled.  Then had red white blue cupcakes.  Americana all-round!  Happy Birthday, USA!

 

Shoot It and Eat It Photo Workshop with John Bentham

John Bentham, whose photo graces this post,  is a friend of mine and a top-notch photographer whose work spans many moods.  Always rich in texture and detail, his street scenes are just as beautiful and interesting as his food photography.  He doesn't give classes all that often, and there is only space for 15 students, so if you are in the New York area, take advantage of his Food Photo Workshop at Gradisca Italian Restaurant on Sunday, July 12.  Details here.

Fast Food Desperation at the End of the World

This here is the insane group of people that purchased the last bits of fast food at the Midwinter Auction at the South Pole.  Midwinter is on Solstice, June 21, and marks the halfway point of our season...only another 4-1/2 months to go. To celebrate, we made a ginormous dinner and the following day had a live concert and festival with putt-putt golf, tarot readings, ring toss, trivia games, and homemade beer.  But the auction was a hoot.  At left here you see the last Dr. Pepper on station which took in a $20 bill.  A Snickers Bar then went for $10 and the promise of 20 handmade croissants by our resident French person, Camille Parisel, went for $50.

On the right you can see the last peanut M & M's that took $3.50, forked out by Ms. Tomato.  At the moment, the only chocolate at Pole aside from cooking nibs, is a box of regular old M & M's and when we say 'old' we mean it, as most of our candy and chips here are well past the 'best by' date.

But the crowning glory, the most inane buy of the evening, was surely by our own David Barud, seen above proudly holding his precious bag of Cool Ranch Doritos for which he paid...gulp....$66.  Wow.  For that price, we hope he at least slept with it first. 

Mona Lisa in Toast

Oh the Lady with the Beatific Smile....and made over in Toast.  I'nt she lovely and Who doesn't love Toast? 

The Mona Lisa on Toast by Tadhiko Okawa recreated Da Vinci's Mona Lisa ... from pieces of burnt toast. Okawa creates these edible works by etching the picture on aluminum foil, wrapping each piece of toast in a section of foil, cuting out the design, then toasting it in a horizontal toaster.

Also at Ripley's...President Obama...in Gumballs.  Maybe later.

From Personal Projects -- Extraordinary Works from Ordinary Objects. The World of Ripley's Believe-it-or-not. New York, Black Dog and Levinthal Publishers, 1999, p. 100.

MFK Fisher on Food

"The things men come to eat when they are alone are, I suppose, not much stranger than the men themselves.... A writer years ago told me of living for five months on hen mash."

--M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992), U.S. author and food expert. An Alphabet for Gourmets, “M is for Monastic” chapter (1949)

Birthday Cakes at 90 Degrees South..Not Yer Average Cake

Mark Weekly, who works with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), recently had a birthday at the South Pole.  We like to make a big deal of anniversaries, since there aren't too many events to be had down here with no reminders of outside holidays or special events. Whatever excitement happens, it's all made up, homespun, and down to our little group, and odds are, with 43 of us, there will be a birthday every week or two...whoopee! 

Mark won the pingpong pancake championship a few weeks ago and is on the fire team - thus the cake decor.  The cake was 6 layers high and weighed 35 pounds, baked and built by Chef Francis, grinning here.

How Amusement Turns to Masochism When There is Nowhere to Go

In our little hive on an ice sheet here, we have a gym, a screening room, a pool table, a library and an arts&crafts room.  That's about it.  One cannot come here and hope to be taken care of and entertained.  One must come with the idea of taking care of things themselves and creating their own fun.  So first-timers here tend to end up  either very disappointed, or very resourceful and creative.

Ms. Tomato grew up locked in her bedroom most of her youth (not her choice) and had a good deal of early training in the ways of self-amusement.  Therefore we like to think of ourselves in the latter  group.  When Cinco de Mayo showed its face this year, around the same time South Pole Greenhouse Farmer Joe presented us with a large baggie of fresh jalapenos, a plot virtually hatched itself. 

Here you see big doings at the South Pole - two sturdy science nerds attempting to outdo each other in a Jalapeno Eating Competition.  Dr. Erik, who oversees science this winter,  (photo #1 at above right)  won with a total of 20 raw jalapenos, a mixture of red and green, which he ate like so many apples. 

Runner up Ross, left, who is a cosmologist with the South Pole Telescope project, didn't fare quite as easily..after choking down 13 exclusively green peppers, he looked so green himself we ran for a bucket.  No loss of points for giving up the goods, however, as the wave passed, 'though he did offer a few large burps.

Happy times, happy times.

Another Day at the South Pole...

We have sunk into deep winter here at the Pole.  The above photo-herald of what is no longer to come is a collection of the very last carrots on our little island in the snow.  We divided them up among the 43 of us and ate them.  Notice the trimmed ends which had to be amputated due to rot…a scene reminiscent of the film Soylent Green where Charlton Heston’s daddy brings out a precious, limp couple of raw vegetables as his last meal before voluntarily becoming a grocery store biscuit.

  Although ambient temperatures have not yet hit the –100 F mark, they are hovering and, with windchill, outdoors are often around –120 F.  Photo at side shows Chef Keith organizing our exterior refrigerator, specifically the bread and dough shelf.  Behind him are stores of potato product, and Ms. Tomato, in the photographer’s p.o.v., leans on a box of diced carrots and peas, part of the mound of brick-frozen vegetables we avail ourselves of on a daily basis.

In an effort to drink a chilled cocktail, Erin here placed her vodka in a snowdrift, in the firm belief that a high-alcohol liquid such as this  cannot freeze.  Indeed.  It is solid as a rock after an hour or so.  Vodkasicle, and inaccessible at that.  Let this be a warning.

How Vegetables Behave at 100 Below Zero

Here at the South Pole, we keep our vegetables on the outdoor deck.  This is the famous Asian Mix, a combination of once-living flora that has by now spent most of life in temperatures between 20 and 100 below zero Farenheit.  Currently close to 100 below.  When these greens fall on the ground, they shatter like glass...and straight out of the bag they stick together in freeform sculpture like the one seen here.

And, for your information, we are tough enough characters that we go out there to rescue the vegies wearing only our cotton chef's whites.  And leather gloves.  Brisk!

Whitehouse in Jello

Artist Liz Hickok once again wows with her architectural Jello sculptures, this time a series of Whitehouse pieces resplendent in shades of fruit.  See more on her website here.

Weekend at the South Pole in Pictures

Well, we must amuse ourselves somehow. This fine New Zealand egg came to us before we were stranded on Valentine's Day.  He arrived with his sweet little tuft of hair, begging for a face.  And Chef Francis gave it to him.

A weekend in Antarctic terms means Sunday off.  Saturday night we celebrated 25 hours of freedom with a party in the Logistics Office, which is a loose term for a building that houses cranes, and all manner of ropes, electrical equipment, and beaten up sofas.  A strictly BYOB affair, the catered food included jalapeno poppers and hot dogs recently discovered on the berms that have a rather mature date of expiration. 

The cult cocktail this season seems to be Crown and Coke.  It may have something to do with the dearth of choices in mixers (no Tonic) as well as spirits, as one makes do in the best style available.  At least our diet isn't beef suet porridge and gutrot rum as in the days of old... circa 1911. And we have central heating.

On Sunday the crew was so elated at receiving an extra hour of sleep that Camille made crepes for passersby as Chef Francis assisted Weeks (real name)  in making bagels.  A Looney Tunes marathon carried on in the screening room.  Boyd geared up to teach a fly-fishing lesson in the gym. 

The dark descended quite suddenly during the past week and we spotted the first two visible stars off the back deck where our frozen vegetables sit.  The atmosphere on the ice is most definitely moody...and the lighting very conducive to sleeping.  And soup.