My artist Brother

Konsaeng Chris Everson follows his Zen spirit. He writes poetry and publishes books of his uniquely personal poems. Konsaeng composes music - primarily for his favorite "axe" his toy piano and is featured on You Tube. Check out his piece called "Simple Study" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9AO1P66xLQ.

Kongsaeng is also a painter, often working on found materials in acrylics. Although it took him a long time to warm up to the idea and give up pen and paper, he now also does digital paintings on the computer.
The painting above is one of my favorites titled "The Old Lady Dances"

I have to hand it to my brother. While he doesn't make much money for what he does, he pursues it passionately every day.

Aarggh! Gotta go gluten-free

After 2 years of unbelievable pain and 13 doctors....I finally figured it out. I've got a gluten-intolerance, possibly celiac disease. That means no wheat, barley or rye. Sounds simple enough...
That is until you start reading labels on all the processed foods I used to eat. Plus it means no pizza, no beer, no regular cakes or cookies or even soy sauce.

So it means most of my cooking has to be done from scratch. My strategy is to make one or two "vats" of food a week and freeze some to have an instant meal later on. Here's my latest recipe for creamy cauliflower soup:

Dice a medium onion, a couple stalks of celery and a few cloves of garlic. Saute in 1T butter and a film of olive oil in a large pot. Add two diced potatoes and one medium head of cauliflower that is cut into segments.. Cover with 4 c. vegetable broth. Add salt, pepper, thyme and a dash of cayenne to taste and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until vegeables are soft. Mash vegetables with potato masher and finish with milk, half and half or cream. For carnivores serve with crumbled bacon and a generous helping of shredded cheese. Makes one vat.