Best of 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Top Ten CL Recipes of 2009: Sweet Edition
Posted by Brian Ries on Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 12:38 PM
2009 was the year that CL recruited a host of talented and experienced home cooks and professional chefs to write recipes for us. The result was more than 200 recipes ranging from peanut butter cookies to braised rabbit, and almost everything in between. Here are our ten favorite sweet recipes of the year (find the top ten savory recipes here). Of course, if these don't get your pots thumping and saliva flowing, check out the CL Cookbook, where you'll find all the recipes from this year and CL's past.
By Susan Filson
The dough for these cookies is super easy to make. They're icebox cookies, meaning that you can make the dough ahead of time and just keep it in the fridge or freezer, slicing off what you need as you desire. The finished product is nothing short of sublime! Who knows? If enough of us do, maybe we actually can get a little closer to world peace.
By Colleen Sachs
Colleen Sachs had one goal: a tasty dessert that could be enjoyed by friends who can't tolerate wheat products. That limitation turned into an advantage thanks to these pillowy, meringues topped with ripe fruit fresh from the farmers' market.
8 more tasty treats after the break:
Monday, December 28, 2009
The best of 2009 in visual art: Visions of paradise at the Ringling, artists' books at the Dali and more
Posted by Megan Voeller on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Even with the Tampa Museum of Art closed (pending its reopening in February on the downtown waterfront), Tampa Bay managed to keep art lovers busy in 2009 with a diverse slate of exhibits and events. Here are my top ten visual art offerings of the year.
The Ringling’s sleek Searing Wing hosted this exhibition of contemporary photography featuring more than 150 images by 37 artists from around the world exploring the idea of paradise. From prints in surreal, super-saturated color to ones in painstakingly balanced black-and-white, the showcased works reminded viewers that there’s no single recipe for a compelling image—or ironclad expectation for what constitutes photographic art—in contemporary practice. Highlights included Binh Dahn’s camera-less prints, pale but indelible memories of the Vietnam War, on dried leaves encased in resin. Smart, sensuous and substantive, this show was a little slice of heaven. (Pictured: "Structure of Thought #15, by Doug and Mike Starn.)
2. I Heard a Voice: the Art of Lesley Dill (Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg)
Voices and visions played a prominent role in an exhibition of work by New York-based artist Lesley Dill. A profusion of words, letters and images combined to form concrete bodies, freestanding garments and psychic extensions (e.g., an expanse of icons literally flowing out of one seated figure’s mind, or a verbal "soul" hovering behind another figure) in her sculptural installations. Drawn from the poetry of Emily Dickinson and others (Salvador Espriu, Rainer Maria Rilke) as well as the artist’s own musings, this visionary language constitutes human beings, for Dill, paradoxically "speaking us" even as it passes through our lips and our minds.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The Best of 2009 in Theater: The year's top 10 productions
Posted by Mark E. Leib on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 12:55 PM
2009 was a tiptop year for theatre in the Tampa Bay area. Here’s the cream of the crop:
1. Shining City (Stageworks). Richard Coppinger as an Everyman who can’t do anything right; Glenn Gover as the therapist who himself needs healing. Intense and heartbreaking.
2. Doubt (American Stage). Sister Aloysius, the Dirty Harry of nuns, sets out to prove that a priest is a sex abuser. The priest resists. Make my day.
3. Wonderland (Straz Center for the Performing Arts). A modern Alice traverses eight levels of reality in search of her daughter. A hip, hallucinogenic thrill-ride.
4. Fences (American Stage). August Wilson’s great play is about Troy Maxson, a rubbish collector, poisoned by dreams deferred, but radiantly human.
5. Rabbit Hole (Jobsite Theater). A lovingly detailed study of the effect of a child’s death on his family and others near him. Meg Heimstead as his grief-stricken mother was splendid.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Autopsy IV's Top 20 Albums of 2009: Roots Rock, Alt-Country, Americana and more (Florida bands included!)
Posted by autopsy4 on Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Well, I guess it's list time! This year was particularly difficult due to the sheer amount of great music that came out, and had I made this list tomorrow it would certainly change. That said, you can edit forever but eventually you have to settle on something and call it your list. So, with out further ado let's get this show on the road:
20. Eilen Jewell - Sea of Tears
19. Those Darlins - Those Darlins
18. Strawfoot - How We Prospered
17. Justin Townes Earl - Midnight at The Movies
16. Malcolm Holcombe - For The Mission Baby
15. Jon Snodgrass - Visitor's Band
14. Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light In The West
13. Cam Penner - Trouble and Mercy
12. The Fox Hunt - America's Working So We Don't Have To
11. William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In The Dark
Top 10 (with mp3s) are under the cut...
