Last night I attended a lecture by Chef Jamie Kennedy called How Not to be a Starving Artist at the AGO's Weston Family Learning Centre. The event was conceived by Paul Butler, the centre's inaugural Artist-in-Residence, who has crafted a wicked program of classes that he feels should have been taught in art school but weren't. And unlike art school, this Post-Post Graduate Studies program is absolutely free! These lectures and activities cover a range of topics from discussions on healthy living, a vinyl listening party and early-morning yoga in the Henry Moore sculpture gallery.
Since I was already at the AGO for other business, I thought I'd stick around for a bit until the class started at (what I thought) was 5:30pm. Then I quickly realized that I'm a giant dork who wrote the time wrong (because I need glasses and apparently can't read emails) and had to wait it out till 7:00pm. However, the AGO is not exactly the worst place to be stuck for a few hours. That's what sketchbooks are for!
I staked out a spot at the AGO Cafe downstairs and grabbed the most delicious curried lentil soup for supper. The crowd was mostly employees and volunteers grabbing a bite before heading home, but after 6pm it started to fill up with guests taking advantage of the free admission on Wednesday evenings.
I finished up with a cup of jasmine tea and headed down the hall to the seminar room.
To secure a spot at any of these talks you have to register in advance with a limit of 20 people per lecture. Which is nice because you can really get involved in the conversation.
Since the topic was How Not to be a Starving Artist there were a lot of people from various arts disciplines who wanted to know how to create great meals on a budget. And nobody knows that better than a Chef.
Jamie Kennedy discussed the importance of shopping at farmers markets and disproved the notion that they are more expensive than supermarkets. Sure, if you're shopping for truffled honey or bison sausage that's going to be pricey, but you can buy a basket of beets and pickle a winter's supply for less than 20 bucks. Throw it in the oven with some potatoes and Niagara Gold cheese and you're good to go. It just takes a little work and some planning, but the results are astronomically better and way more delicious than a salty bowl of Hamburger Helper. Oh, and way cheaper too!
Then he moved on to the subject of creating your own soups, one of the most basic skills in a Starving Artist's repertoire. Jamie distributed a great handout of recipes which included a simple chicken stock. Gone are the days of crappy Campbell's broth! The homemade stuff is exceptionally tasty and way less work than you think. At the farmers market a few pounds of bones can be purchased for a dollar and will do you for 6 cups! Just simmer with it some thyme, carrots, onion and celery to fill your house with the intoxicating scent of your first homemade soup. Do like your Bubba did during The Great Depression. Fabulous things in life can be had for cheap. There's no need to starve on an artist's budget!
Seminars and Workshops for the Artistically Inclined
Runs from now until the end of November
Cool! :D
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