Precious

Director Lee Daniels' recent film, Precious, is set in Harlem in 1987. It's about an illiterate, overweight, sexually and physically abused 16 year old African American girl named Precious. It is based on the novel Push by Sapphire. The story's grim circumstances becomes one of survival when Precious finds strength as she begins to attend an alternative High School and ends the vicious cycle and culture of abuse in her life. In this breakthrough performance, first time actress, Gabourey Sidibe plays Precious, a 350 lb. girl who is pregnant a second time by her father. The cast of the film includes the comic Mo'Nique as the abusive mother Mary, who offers the horrifying role a realism that shook me. And there is a surprising performance by Mariah Carey as a welfare social worker, whose frankness of the situation was refreshing. I didn't even realize that it was Carey until after I read the credits in the movie. Lenny Kravitz also appears in the film as nurse John, where he charms all Precious' classmates.

Here's an insightful interview with Daniels, who has been the director of a nursing home, a casting agent, and a producer. He also elaborates on the physical abuse he suffered as a child and how that affected and formed his relationship with his father. And here's a short interview with Academy Award nominated Sidibe on Studio 360. I highly recommend this movie, and commend all the teachers that deal with students who come from a home situation where they lack a nurturing atmosphere, including my mother.

Oasis Pool

Oasis Pool Rona Chang

Oasis Pool was taken at the bottom of Colca Canyon in Peru. It was the perfect place to reach after an arduous hike. I was seriously limping by the time I reached the oasis. The temperature of the water was perfect and the swim was so refreshing. I was exhausted but I must have swam for close to an hour, I was so happy. I would love for this to fit somewhere in my portfolio but it doesn't quite fit into The Hold Over Water as it stands I think.

For Mother's Day, I made my mom a version of Jeana's veggie dumpling recipe. I added shrimp so mine weren't vegetarian. It took me just about all day to buy the ingredients, make and cook them. I had not made dumplings in about 20 years so I had no idea how to seal them properly, and make them look nice. Jeana's look so perfect. I didn't take any photos so you can't laugh- they were bordering on hideous but definitely were edible. My mom told me at the end of the night that she thought they were very tasty and that's all that counted.

Here's the ingredient list:
(I didn't measure anything, I just figured it out by consistency and smell.)
2 packs of store bough dumpling wrappers (my mom thinks I had problems sealing them because they weren't fresh wrappers.)
shelled baby Greenland shrimp (from Ikea)
firm tofu
baby bella mushrooms
Chinese leeks
Chinese celery
glass noodles
red onion
carrot
salt
white pepper

For the sauce:
dash of cayenne
pinch of brown sugar
lots of finely chopped garlic
rice vinegar
soy sauce

My Mom Rocks!

My Mom's completely awesome. I have an old light purple TJ Maxx rug that I accidentally discolored while washing with an olive green Crate & Barrel rug. (I wash everything in the washing machine, the rugs are cotton.) I had a small piece of crewel fabric that I bought years ago laying around. So I decided to revamp the rug. Since Mom is so helpful, she took on the sewing portion of it, I'm just the person who comes up with the ideas. The rug is being recovered with the 60's vintage crewel fabric and is bordered by some olive green wool felt. It will go next to the bed I think.