Frida Feast

Frida Kahlo, self-portrait

One of the highlights of the summer was going to an exhibit featuring the works of  Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and other modern Mexican artists at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City with my son Jesse. I've long been interested in Frida's work, tortured soul that she was. She painted 60 self-portraits during her lifetime, most of them with a surrealistic flair and powerful iconic images. Her obsession with painting herself was one way to assuage a sense of loneliness and fears of being forgotten. She suffered from polio as a child, and later, was in a horrific accident that broke her back, pelvis and legs. She started painting during long bouts of lying flat in bed, due to body casts and recovery from more than thirty surgeries. Many of her paintings are painful to view, but impressive at the same time, as they give some insight into her difficult experience of life.

Nude with lilies, Diego Rivera

During the next week, we borrowed the DVD Frida from the public library, and made a Mexican feast to enjoy before watching the movie. I made tacos and guacamole, while Jesse was more inventive, creating Stuffed Nopales (cactus) with Black Beans, Cheese, and Roasted Red Peppers (supposedly a favorite of Frida's) and Limones Rellenos de Coco (Coconut-stuffed limes) for dessert. YUM!!!

a Mexican feast

"Feasting" on Frida was a nice way to round out the summer with images and food from Mexico before I head off to Italy again. I'm taking some condiments to make Mexican food while staying with my Italian friends, a unique treat that is often hard to come by in Italy.