Sunday, February 26, 2012

Drawing Cats!

So I have decided to teach myself how to draw. I have tried all kinds of motives, but it turns out that I really only like to draw three things: cats, flowers, and trees. It just so happens that cats. as I have learned, are not the easiest things to draw. Below are my attempts at drawing cats, and I will use this post to chronicle my journey towards a real drawing of a real cat! And please remember: I never said I'm GOOD at drawing, I just said I LIKE to do it! 



Above you see a photo of one of our family cats, Einstein, and my version of it. Well, it was my first attempt, and even though it looks nothing like him, it kind of does look like a cat. I took that as a success and encouragement! I also learned that Black fur is really difficult to draw, and that express more with their eyes than I would have ever guessed. Then, I moved on to another family cat, Raja.



Again, I do think my drawing does kind of look like a cat, but not at all like the picture. The angle is all wrong, and I struggled with textures (fur, whiskers) again, quite a bit. After these two experiments, I decided that I need a new strategy, and so I turned to books (always my favorite fall-back option: when you don't know how to proceed, try to find a book on the subject!). I am using two books, Drawing Cats and Workshop Zeichnen: Katzen, and the first thing I've learned is to start with details, "parts" of cats if you will, and work myself up. So I spent some time drawing paws, and here are the two most promising results


The texture/fur is still not quite right, but better than in my earlier drawings. Somehow the balls of the feet look "fuzzier" than they should, but it's getting better. Next, I turned to whiskers.


Here, the main lesson was that sometimes it's more important what you DON'T draw than what you draw. In order to make the whiskers stand out, you have to leave them white, and color the space around them. The same applies to fur.


I played around with different patterns, textures and hair lengths. I realized how important it is to use harder and softer pencils together. Short stroke with a hard pencil create the impression of thick, wooly fur, and long, darker strokes with softer pencils make individual hairs stand out, for a more realistic appearance. Then it was time for the first trial drawing from a book. It's a picture of a cat with her two kittens.


I do think that I did a fairly good job with the cat's face and head. The way the head is turned, the way she hold her ears, and her expression are convincing. The body is nothing short of a small disaster, since her front leg looks much too big, and her paws are of different sizes. The kittens are acceptable, but far from good. Back to drawing body parts, more precisely: eyes!


I attempted to use what I learned about fur and apply it to the tiny hairs around the eye, and the result is not bad. I even managed to make it look "striped" underneath the eye. The white spots, which are supposed to be reflections of light in the eye, are too small, and their edges aren't smooth enough, but the shape and expression of the eye are promising. Lastly, the nose!


I think I managed to give the nose itself some plasticity, especially in the second attempt, where I did not press down quite as hard when drawing the "line" in the middle of the nose. I need to work on the whiskers more, they are better in picture one, but they need a lot of improvement.

So these are the lessons so far:

- sometimes you highlight things and draw attention to them by leaving them out, and filling in the space around them. That can draw attention to them, and give the drawing a more three-dimensional quality

- using harder and softer pencils, as well as charcoal, helps create different textures. Sometimes, it is best to create a smooth, thick, furry texture and use an eraser to make individual hairs stand out

- always draw with strong, confident strokes, but don't press down to hard. Drawings that are done too hesitantly will show it, and lines drawn with too much force can never be corrected

- cats are hard to draw!

And remember: just because I enjoy drawing doesn't mean I'm very good at it! More in part two, which will follow once I've practiced more!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

A vegan twist on Dampfnudeln (German Yeast Dumplings)

I've always been a huge fan of sweet dishes, and this recipe combines veganized versions of two of my all-time favorites: the southern German/Austrian Dampfnudel and the Germknödel. Both are sweet yeast dumplings, but the Dampfnudel is cooked in a pot or deep pan, usually in milk, whereas the Germknödel is filled with plum jam, and steamed. Here, we combine the filling traditionally associated with a Germknödel, but the method of preparation typical for Dampfnudeln, to create a delicious, vegan dish! Many thanks to my mom, who played a major part in creating this recipe!


Ingredients (for 10 Dampfnudeln):


For the dough:


- 500 grams all-purpose flour (2 1/4 cups)
- 1 tsp salt
- 250 ml (soy/oat/almond) creamer (1 cup)
- 15 g dry active yeast (2 envelops of 1/4 ounce each)
- 2 Tbsp soy flour
- 50 grams vegan margarine (like Earth Balance) (1/4 cup)
- 50 - 80 grams of sugar (1/3 cup)


To cook/simmer:


50 grams vegan margarine (like Earth Balance) (1/4 cup)
- 250 ml soy milk (1 cup)
- 20 grams sugar (1.5 tbsp)
- dash of salt


For the filling and to serve:


- 20 tsp plum jam (you may use any type of jam you want)
- vanilla sauce
- ground poppy seed/powdered sugar mixture



Mix yeast with 1 tsp of sugar and a little bit of lukewarm creamer, and let stand for 15 minutes. All ingredients should have room temperature. Add flour, salt, soy flour, margarine,  the rest of the sugar and the rest of the creamer to the yeast mixture, the dough should be pliable and only a little sticky. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour (it should double in size). Knead the dough and divide into 10 pieces. Stretch out and fill with about 1 tsp of jam, pull dough over filling and press edges together to seal.



Melt 1/4 cup margarine in a flat pot/sauce pan (it needs to have a lid; a glass lid works best, that way you can see inside without lifting the lid, which, if done too soon, would ruin your Dampfnudeln), add soy milk, salt and sugar and place the 10 filled balls of dough in the mixture. It works best if you place them with the "sealed" side down, that way you minimize the risk of them splitting open while cooking. 



Let them rise a few more minutes, then place the lid on the sauce pan, bring to a boil (medium heat), then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the Dampfnudeln start to "sing" (the milk mixture should be gone at that point, and they will have developed a nice crust). Do NOT open lid before they are done, otherwise they will collapse. Ladle some vanilla sauce onto a plate, place a Dampfnudel in it, and sprinkle with poppy seed and sugar mixture. Enjoy!





"They are the one thing that has never failed me"

Source: ABC.com

With Desperate Housewives (clearly one of my guilty pleasures) in its eighth and final season, it's time for me to finally confess, so I'll come out and say it: I have always had somewhat of a soft spot for Bree. She has been my favorite character right from the start, and I have always been moved the most by the things that have happened to her. I'll explain why, to me, she's always been a feminist character, despite the fact that she has tried so hard to be the perfect homemaker, to be a traditional, old-fashioned woman.

Bree starts out torn between her desire to fulfill what she sees as her role, and the wish to be really good at something. When she and her first husband, Rex, see a therapist, it's partially because Bree feels under appreciated and undervalued. She works hard, and she knows she's good at what she does, but her husband (and her kids) don't acknowledge it at all. They take her for granted, and disparaged her accomplishments.

You can see some of the underlying resentment Bree carries around in her rant about Sigmund Freud. When being able to project her feelings onto somebody else - Freud's mother - Bree is able to express how hard she works, and how much it hurts her that, with all the sacrifices she has made, nobody appreciates what she does. 

Bree's is the one character in the show that grows and evolves the most. She starts out with very rigid values (which lead her to tell her son that he will not get into heaven if he is gay), but she is able to recognize when she is wrong, when she is making a mistake, and not only does she correct herself, but she has the strength and courage to apologize and ask for forgiveness. She apologizes to her son Andrew for the things she said. She can take criticism (for example by her future son-in-law), think it over, and accept if and when there's truth in it. She, who's always so concerned about being humiliated, about giving people something to talk about, learns to trust her friends with her feelings, to reach out to others, to admit mistakes. She overcomes obstacles, not because she never falls down, but because she always gets back up.

Bree is strong. She overcomes alcoholism, the fact that she has lost, or been betrayed by, a number of husbands and boyfriends, even the loss of her hugely successful business. She stumbles all the time, and she is deathly afraid and ashamed, but she does find the strength to go on, even when it means being on her own.

Bree believes in herself. She, who has never worked outside the home after college, when faced with the need to earn money, has enough guts, enough faith in her abilities, to go out, start a catering business, and write a cookbook. Even though her first husband had told her that "every bored housewife" thinks she can write a cookbook, Bree believes that her cooking is good enough, noticeable enough, to stand out, to compete in a market place - and it does. When the photographer taking the cover photo for her cookbook belittles her, she doesn't smile and take it, she calls him out, and confronts him about it.

Bree believes in true friendship among women. She never betrays her friends, and never turns them away. In the last season, when an angered ex-boyfriend is looking for ways to destroy her, he knows that the only thing that she will not be able to take is losing her friends. He knows that, while she has lost almost everything else in her life at one point or another, her friends are "the one thing that has never failed" her. They are the ones she could always depend on - and who could always depend on her. In a world where female friendships are portrayed as temporary at best, she risks a lot for her friends. She gets the others to protect Katherine after the showdown with Wayne, Katherine's ex-husband. She helps Gaby and Carlos after the incident with Gaby's stepfather. 

She's not perfect, but that's what makes her believable, what makes it so easy to relate to her. She wants to do what is right, but she carries a lot of baggage, and she is haunted by society's expectations, many of which she has made her own. She can be harsh at times, but she reconsiders. She's proud, but not too proud to admit when she was wrong. She has a hard time expressing her feelings, but that does not mean they are not there. She has weaknesses, but in time she learns to own up to them, and to face them. 

I think Bree is a feminist character because of how far she has come. Because of how strong she has been, and how resilient. Many times she has been the leader of her group of friends, taking charge when nobody else wanted to, protecting them when she felt she had to. 

I only hope that, in the end, she and the other women will go back to being friends, because I think that the one thing she wouldn't be able to bounce back from is losing them. And that, all by itself, is a feminist message in its own right.

Source: ABC.com

Friday, February 24, 2012

Meet Dana and Scully

After introducing myself, I have to do the same for the other members of my household: Dana and Scully, the Best Cats Ever!




This is Scully. Two years old in May 2012, he is the one that makes life at my place exciting with his creative ideas. I use "creative ideas" as code for opening cabinet doors, cleaning off magnets and papers from the fridge, and eating long pieces of string. Yes, he will go through a lot of trouble to do that, as I have found out in the past, the hard way. He actually watched me "hide" the string in a drawer, waited for me to leave the apartment, jumped up, grabbed the drawer with his front paws, pushed with he back paws to get it open, climbed in, and ate 2 ft of string!!! I freaked out when I got home, and called the vet, who tried to calm me down. He was ok, and I have been paranoid about hiding all types of string or yarn ever since. He's obsessed with yarn, which makes it impossible for me to knit or crochet at home. 

But he's also one of the sweetest cats I've ever met. He was found by the side of the road by good friends of mine when he was only about 4 weeks old, and he's generally suspicious of people who aren't ... well, me. But once he gets to you, he is so full of love and affection. He came to live with me on Thanksgiving 2010, when I took a road trip to Kansas to pick him up (he had been staying with very good friends of mine until then). He was such a trooper for the entire 11 you drive, and the day after we got back to Wisconsin, Dana moved in with us.



I adopted Dana from Dane County Friends of Ferals. I specifically wanted them to move in around the same time, so there wouldn't be any territorial issues, and it worked well. They really seem to like each other, and play together a lot. I think it's good for them to have each other, to keep one another company during the times when I can't be home with them. And just to have someone of the same species around. Dana's arrival even got Scully, who, since "strangers" (aka: other people) were in the apartment, had chosen to hide under the bed, to come out and follow her around, curiosity trumping fear!

Dana does the cutest thing when playing by herself. She'll pick up a little spongy ball, one of her favorite toys, and throw it to the ground. She'll then jump straight up in the air, kicking out all four feet, and race after the ball. She and Scully chase each other around the apartment, and will take time to groom each other regularly. Dana is 2 months older than Scully, and will be 2 years old in March. All her life, she's been battling with her weight (or rather: she has been enjoying her favorite hobby, eating, and I have been battling with her weight!), and she has been on a diet since October 2011, which has resulted in her not gaining any additional weight - a huge victory, in my humble opinion, and one we are very proud of!



Dana and Scully (yes, they are named after Dana Scully, of the X-Files) will play a big role in my posts, as they, naturally, play a big role in my life. Every day, they teach me the value of patience, of enjoying life at its own pace, of not taking myself to seriously. They remind of the importance of play and relaxation, and, last but not least, of cuddling up on the sofa on a quiet afternoon.



       

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Why Vegan? Why Wisconsin?

With this being the first post, I decided I'd start out by introducing myself, and talking a little about what kind of blog this will be. It's about veganism, feminism, animal rights, and politics. I will talk about recipes, (pop) culture, arts & crafts, about cats, traveling, and vegan products. About restaurants and movies and TV shows. About life, and living vegan in Wisconsin.


I'll start by answering two valid questions: Why vegan? Why Wisconsin? I will try to answer both as best I can, telling you a little bit about myself.

I grew up neither a vegan, nor a Wisconsinite. In fact, I spend most of my life living in rural Bavaria, Germany. When I was thirteen years old, "Mad Cow Disease" was a big deal around where I lived (as it was in other parts of the world). This prompted one of the most important decisions of my life: becoming vegetarian. Now, even though this may sound like a "health vegetarian", I wasn't. Not at all. In fact, when my mom started reading about "Mad Cow Disease", and then animal "farming" in general, it was the ethical aspect of it that shocked and moved us most - and it remains, to this day, the most important aspect of the veg lifestyle. So I (along with my mom and my brother) became ovo-lacto vegetarian. And I was content with that, for many, many years. For fourteen years, to be exact. It wasn't until 2010 that I ever thought - ever wanted to think - about the truth behind milk and eggs, behind all animal products. Even though I had made the first step, had learned about "where meat comes from", and had made the conscious decision not to eat it anymore, a long time ago, I was afraid of going "all the way". I thought vegan food was a joyless, drab, tasteless, and boring affair. I thought vegans were humorless extremists, full of misery, and unable to enjoy life. I thought I could never give up cheese. I thought I would have to give up baked goods, all kinds of desserts, if going vegan. And so I chose not to. I chose not to think about the implications of eating dairy, of eating eggs, of supporting animal agriculture. I knew, in my heart, that something was wrong, but I closed my eyes. That wasn't, of course, a fully conscious choice. But it was a choice.  


In 2010, I couldn't make that choice any longer. I started reading about veganism, and started learning. And I was amazed. Amazed by the choices, the possibilities, the joy. Amazed at all these people feeling the way I felt, going through the processes I went through. I was introduced to new food, new ways of cooking, new ways of looking at the world. And it all resonated with me. It wasn't as if I had changed. It was as if I had finally opened my eyes to who I had been, all along. So I decided to give veganism a try. It couldn't hurt, and if it was too hard, I could always go back, I told myself. And again, I was amazed. It wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. In fact, it was almost easy. Most of the foods I loved could be veganized. I realized that I didn't even miss cheese. And the more I learned about animal agriculture, the less I wanted to eat animal products. Ever again. To my surprise, I suddenly liked to cook and bake. I had always avoided spending time anywhere near the kitchen, I had always eaten what was fast and easy and available (as long as it was meat-less), and suddenly I enjoyed trying new recipes. I also started feeling more at ease with myself. At peace, if you want to say it like that. As if I was suddenly living the ideals that were important to me.


Two other events (not related to veganism) have shaped me more than I would have expected. One of them was September 11, 2001. That was the day when I started paying attention to what is generally called "politics". I started caring about what was going on in the world around me. Well, maybe that's not entirely true. It's not that I hadn't cared before, it's just that I was too busy with my own life. But on that day, I realized that what goes on in "the world" can (and will) affect what goes on in my own little world.
Alright, you may say, but what does that have to do with Wisconsin? Well, it was my interest in politics that caused me to decide to major in political science, and then to go on to grad school in the same field. And this is what brought me to Madison, Wisconsin. You may call it ironic that I moved to the "dairy state" right after becoming vegan. Maybe. But that's how life is, oftentimes. Unpredictable, and sometimes it seems to be playing jokes on you. And I have realized that Madison is an incredibly vegan-friendly city, with a wonderful, and active, vegan community.


The last event that "shaped" me (even though I dislike the drama inherent in that word) was, ironically, the Democratic primary election of 2008. I started out without strong feelings about any of the candidates (why would I? I couldn't vote for any of them, anyways). I was aware that everybody thought Hillary Clinton was "certain" to win the nomination, that she was "inevitable" as the Democratic nominee, and I liked the idea of a female US president. And then strange things happened. It wasn't so much that she made mistakes, that the Obama campaign was surprisingly successful, that she started losing when she should have won. It was something else. Suddenly, I realized that there was pervasive sexism, still today, that politics was, after all, still a "man's world". You may think that I was incredibly naive, and that is probably true. I thought that a woman running for president in 2008 wouldn't be a big deal, that she could win (or lose) just like any other candidate - and I realized, as the campaign went on, that I had been wrong. Now, I am not trying to argue that she lost because of sexism. Many factors, some external, some internal to the campaign, caused her to lose (or not to win) the nomination. She made mistakes, she listened to the wrong people, she didn't see how strong Obama could be, it took her too long to find her voice, or to find the right strategy, she wasn't perceived as "charismatic" as Obama, she was the establishment candidate in a time of change. But on top of all that, the amount of misogyny and sexism that surfaced, that was expressed freely, was shocking, at least to me. And so I became an active feminist, when before I had thought that all the important battles had long been fought.


And this is where I stand today. I study politics. I live a vegan life, and feel better, healthier than I ever have before. I volunteer at a sanctuary for farmed animals. I am a feminist, aware that sexism is alive and well, and that the different forms of oppression in the world are interconnected, and can only be overcome together. I am saddened by all the cruelty in the world, but hopeful that we can change things. That we can make a difference, one step at a time, in our own lives, our own homes. I share my home with the two most amazing cats in the whole world, Dana and Scully. I love to cook and bake, to travel, to read. Nothing can lift my spirits like a Madonna song. And those are the things I will write about, because those are the things I know.