Bon Voyage!

For the last year I've had the amazing pleasure of living with a viking ship (6'x6' painting) in my dining room. Interesting that you think you know a painting but every other day, something new comes to light. You discover a new paint drip, a pencil mark, a strange lint snot, something shiny, or something matte that you hadn't notice before. On temporary loan, it is set to make its return voyage back to the East Coast soon, so I threw an asian seafaring-themed gastro junk-et this last week to celebrate its time here, beginning with a visit to the SFMoMA to check out Matthew Barney's japanese whaling ship (all in good campy fun) and invite friends to come wine, dine and ogle a boat for a night.

The painting's artist thought I was a little nuts, but the boat's been such a lively, animated part of the household that I thought it deserved a fond farewell. I cooked, simmered, stewed and baked that morning (a valuable studio day of another kind), and even managed to make menus for each place setting. First time people wanted to take the menus away with them as souvenirs of the evening's events. (Thanks for humoring me, dinner people.)