"Traditional Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage... My Recipe!"

Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage...

A couple of days ago I mentioned making New Orleans style red beans and rice. A friend replied that I was one day late. Traditionally, beans are cooked on a Monday when the servant, housekeeper or wife washed clothes. 

It was a Tuesday when I decided to cook beans and rice.

Another friend ask me, facetiously, to FedEx him some. I told him that the best I could do is take a photograph of the dish before the family voraciously descended upon it. After posting this nice place setting on Facebook, a few friends requested my recipe, so here it goes.

Soak overnight a one pound bag of red kidney beans by filling the pot with water about one inch from the top of the beans. When you awake, the beans will have soaked up most of the water. Do this especially if you are gonna slow cook it in a crockpot!

The beans usually cook in a regular pot within five or six hours, so the sooner you start, the sooner you can eat!

Chop one medium onion, fine and three large stalks of celery with the leaves, if possible and chop fine about three cloves of garlic. Throw all of this together in a pot of boiling water with the beans for about five minutes and then turn down the heat to about simmer, or on my stove, where the dial sets at 10 o'clock. Make sure the water level is always just above the beans. While you are in a chopping mode, you can chop either fresh parsley or cilantro. Traditionally, it is parsley, but I sometimes use cilantro to change the taste a bit.

Then, as the beans are cooking, add about one table spoon of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch or two of cayenne pepper and two bay leaves. I wait until about five minutes before I serve it to add sea salt. Adding salt earlier just makes the beans tough!

Then, go about your daily chores or if you crockpotted it, leave for work and return home in the evening to do this. If you are at home, you can occasionally stir the pot and make sure the water level is just above the beans. If in a crockpot the water level usually stays high, especially if you had soaked them the night before. In the fifth or sixth hour, you can start to mash the beans to help create a thick bean texture or soup which is why, besides having it burn,  you wanna maintain the water level. You accomplish that by using the back of a large spoon ( I have a favorite wooden spoon for the job! ) and start crushing the beans up against the sides of the pot. You don't have to crush all of the beans... just enough to create that soupy texture.

I use brown rice because it is healthier, but traditionally white rice is used. White rice
doesn't take as long to cook as brown rice, but while either version is cooking, you can cut and add your favorite piece of meat.

Traditionally, when feeding a large family, or just a few Cajuns, a ham bone is used and it is added as soon as the beans are cooking, but I find with this recipe, the meat should be added just about ten or twenty minutes before serving... long enough for the rice to cook. With this recipe, I used a small ham steak cubed with one and a half andouille sausage, sliced. If I'm using hot Italian sausage, or any other pork product, I normally cook it separately to get rid of the fat content, but again, traditionally, New Orleanians feel the fat adds to the taste and they just add it to the beans as is. 

I feel adding any meat to the beans earlier than that adds to the sauce, but dries out the meat and makes it rubbery or tough.

When the beans are soft and the bean sauce texture is creamy, you are ready to serve it over rice. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top and have at it...

Bon Appetit...

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

"I Thought You Needed Some Sort of Commendation!"

No editorial comments needed...

It's funny. You just never know what's gonna happen on Facebook sometimes. When my muse slaps upside the head, usually around ten at night, I create what I call my "beddy-byes." It is my silly way of inviting the Sandman to your Facebook page. I don't always post the song spoofs that I write, but if I start laughing at myself or one of the beddy-byes that I would be writing at the time, I post it. Some are really good... and some have a moment or two, but if I am on the computer at that time, I usually try to cap the day with a goodnite "beddy-bye."

Well, there is this group page that I post almost every time I post my beddy-byes. It has gotten to a point where, with the exception of two or three other members, I have back to back to back beddy-bye posts. The group page was created by a music man who worked for many, many years in the rock 'n roll biz and thought it'd be fun to post music vids and new acts on this page. It has been around, to my knowledge over two years, but in the last few months, for whatever reason, fewer and fewer folks post or even visit the site.

As Phil and Don once sang, "it's so sad to see a sweet thing die!"

But I got in the habit of automatically posting on his site regardless of whether anyone reads it or not and one day, I opened up the page to see someone had changed the cover photo to read, "Reflections" ... The Daily Musings of Ben Bensen!

At first, I thought I had gone to another cyber world where everything is created by Ben Bensen. It kinka freaked me out, Twilight Zone, type freak out, but then I saw a comment that read, 

"Well with all of your posts, I thought you ought to receive some sort of commendation! lol

They assured me that it was just a temporary thing and that it would go back to the original name eventually. I replied to them that I just write those spoofs for my own enjoyment, but I was touched and very flattered with their playful spoof on me.

As everyone knows, Facebook is full of quick one syllable kudos and "like-styled" acknowledgement that says that even if they didn't actually read it, or like it, your post has been seen by them.

It was truly a nice acknowledgement... and so well designed!

I'll have to ask where they got those beautiful curly-cues from. I like those!

Copyright2013/ Ben Bensen III

Another in a Series of Nixon Galloway Paintings...

The Waco "Taper Wing"...

Serving as a trainer, sport plane, racer, mail plane and also as a high performance fighter, the Waco was a very versatile platform for the Waco Company. It was call the "Taper Wing" because of the back sweep of the upper wing outer panels, and the matching low wings. In 1928, Fearless Fred Lund performed the first outside loop in a commercial aircraft.

It was performed in a Waco 10T Taper Wing.

The Pacific Air Transport, which would soon be bought by United Airlines, used the speedy Waco to haul mail. In 1928, the Waco's 135 mph was considered pretty fast behind a 225 horsepowered Wright J-5 engine.

I love the blue swatches of sky Nick used to back light the aircraft!

Copyright 2013/Ben Bensen III

Portraits from "Escape From New York"...

Inset portraits to the movie,"Escape From New York."

Sometimes, I wonder what the hell happened here. Sometime in late 1981 or so, I was contacted by a design firm, Butler and Associates to design and illustrate the seven cast members of the movie, "Escape From New York." When I originally came into the upstairs studio, I noticed a movie poster with a large destroyed head of the Statue of Liberty between two buildings and New York pedestrians fleeing for their lives. The painting was quite large and very well done. At the time, the LA based illustrator, Stan Watts, was all the rage and I was told the painting was his. 

It was beautifully done...

Apparently though, as it occasionally happens, another artist doing another "comp" gets the gig and  gets the piece printed. I've done a bit of research and remembered that the poster that was used was Barry Jackson's version, which he created for a rival design studio. It too, was very well done and very well received. So, why do I now bring this all up?

I was asked by an educational film company to send some samples of my portraiture work that is created traditionally... in paint. I've done quite a bit of movie work back before the digital age, but I was maybe a bit too blase about the work I did back then. I couldn't really find too many of my painted portraits. Ah, youth!

The digital age provided art directors and designers the flexibility of creating with little knowledge of how to draw or paint. You just cut and paste and push a few buttons. The computer cut out the cost of using a comp artist for presentations or even an illustrator for the final poster. The studios could just pay one or two on staff designer's to illustrate whatever would be needed. I can't be bitter about it all because I found the computer to be a pretty cool tool, too.

Of course, the difference is, I can paint and draw. 

But, in my search to find print worthy samples, I ran across these inset portraits that were originally painted as comps. Only later, when I received a pretty handsome check for the portraits, that were each illustrated at about four by eight inches in diameter, was I told that it was going to be used for the original poster. I was excited about the check, but once again, wish I had known it was gonna be used as illustration. I would have asked for more time which would have afforded more of me to be put into it. It probably wouldn't have made any difference anyway. I was only given a four day weekend to produce these pieces, regardless.

When the movie came out, the Barry Jackson poster was in the marquee and my work was nowhere to be found. When I asked the designer at the studio about what happened, I was told that they decided to use it for the European market. Today, cruising the internet for pics and posters from the low budget movie, I am amazed at all the reference and the many various treatments to the basic visual premise. I wish that I had had access to all this reference material at that time. And yet...

I never found an ad or poster or anything of my inset artwork.

Like Barry Jackson's story, who apparently never got the original artwork back, I never saw the poster my art was designed for. Maybe it was used... and maybe, not! It's just classic Hollywood. 
But hey, you got paid, right? 

No hard feelings, you know?

Yeh. Right!

Copyright 2013/Ben Bensen III

"I Can't Imagine How Jack Would Have Done It!"

One in a series of storyboard frames for the original Spiderman trailer!

This is a comment I made in a conversation with a fellow Art Center College of Design student.

Yeh Karen, Jack would have given me that smirk if I tried to tell him my problems with this piece. I remember how he would jokingly say create an obvious mistake that would be easy to correct so that the art director would have something to say which would validate the art director's job.

When I first did this piece it occurred to me, someone would have a problem with the kid since it was the focal point of a dubious concept. So, I did it in two pieces and the original "kid" was more in line with the atmosphere of an early urban morning. There were no contrasts.

The many folks from art directors to movie execs made me beef it up and add wind blown hair and shirt...

Three more times.

I started to wonder if doing it separately was a mistake. Maybe, if I would have drawn it all in one piece, they would have been more receptive to approve it. Doing it in pieces just seemed to spur them on, perhaps! Sometimes, you can out smart yourself by anticipating possible scenarios of disapproval.

I must say having the computer to cut and paste was a godsend regardless of how many times I had to change the kid and reassemble it into a composite piece of art. Looking closely at it,  I thought I did a pretty good job of selecting the kid and pasting him into position.

Today, they'd probably "google" a NewYork skyline and pose a buddy, if they couldn't find a pose that worked with the layout. They'd then, photograph the buddy and assemble it... if they needed to go to that extreme for a presentation.

And every time I see and relive this frame, I wonder to myself, " How would Jack have done it?"

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

"And A Good Time Was Had By All... I Think!"

My first serious Plein Air painting!

About three weeks ago, before the rains came and the colder weather returned, me, Mary Monk, Carol Hallock and later, Louis Morales, drove our rolling studios out to the end of a road through Big Branch nature preserve in LaCombe, LA as far as the shell covered roadway could take us before dead ending into Lake Pontchartrain. 

It was a gorgeous afternoon just right for a Plein Air outing. It was my first serious outdoor painting attempt and I learned a lot just getting reacquainted with acrylic paint and a few flat brushes. But, later on, I was invited to watch Carol attempt to capture a gorgeous setting sun. Carol moves very quickly with very decisive, bold strokes capturing, if not the reality of what she sees, most definitely, she captures the mood, the color and the intensity of the moment. Her style seems to embrace the kinetic energy of her subject matter. It was fun to watch her work! Also, I learned when you paint outdoors, you can't afford the time to render a painting unless you want to return two or three times to the same site and hope you can get the same kind of environment you had on your first visit.

Pretty much, that's what I did with this 11x14 canvas board painting. Like Carol, trying to capture the spirit of a setting sun, I could not stop the waves or the gulls and pelicans from their perpetual motion.  It took me three visits to finish this piece and, classic Ben Bensen, it probably will never be considered finished! All tolled, I think I put in about another three hours in two more visits to the site before I announced to myself that the painting was completed.

I'm pretty satisfied with my first effort. I acquiesced to the need to have a definite focal point, which is  the landing pelican. The artist in me said leave it out, but the salesman in me demanded it be put in. Oh well...

Watching both Mary and Carol record their visions was a real treat. One this first day, I put in almost two hours of setting up, painting and packing up, but in between paint strokes, I sauntered over to Mary's van, where she was working on a rather huge horizontal pastel drawing, and, while she worked, we talked about each other's art and sensibilities, selling one's work, art gallery etiquette, and goals. As it grew darker and Carol had finished two of her paintings, we later went to dinner where I got to meet and speak with another pretty good outdoor artist, Louis Morales and his wife Debbie. Apparently, Louis is a regular with this group and pretty much keeps in touch with the art scene here in the Northshore area. It has to be a scene I'll have to get more acquainted with too if I am gonna pursue this type of painting.

As I drove away, having said our goodbyes, I assessed it was a very profitable experience. It was nice to be the student again and be with people with similar yet divergent interests.

All things considered, a good time was had by all...

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

Just Some Early Morning Observations...

A ham, tomato, swiss cheese and onion quiche...

Just some observations in the morning. I'm sitting here with the laptop, staring out the kitchen window, enjoying a third cup of CDM and a large slice of quiche which I made for my wife. She had to leave before it was finished, so I guess I have to save her a piece.

The birds are pissed and squawking 'cuz there's no grub in the feeder. I noticed, no matter the season, all species of birds descend on my feeder between 8 am and 8:30 am. They are very timely. If there's no grub, they move on and won't return till the late afternoon, en masse.

I wonder about their time clocks... they don't have wrists!

After loading the feeder, I threw out some egg shells because I believe in putting back to nature what we and the animals take away, and I found that many times, birds will cart off pieces of the shells and devour them especially the females during mating season.

I guess they know they need to replenish their calcium.

I also noticed, not just today, but over a period of time, ground feeding birds love it and sort of cheer on the jays and woodpeckers as they fling out the sunflower seeds to the ground to get to the peanuts!

The goldfinch always stay for the winter, but I never get to see the males in full resplendent color. They fly back north to mate. With their stay here, they bring along the Sharp-shinned Hawk which seem to follow them here and occasionally prey on the locals.

I wonder if the locals hate the goldfinch for screwing up the neighborhood by bringing in a bad element!

Maybe, that is why they occasionally slam up against the windows in a fit to escape. It makes for a skittish bunch of birds while at the feeder.

Just some observations...

Also, though this quiche is quite tasty, I've exhausted all my recipes for quiche. I wonder how an anchovies and olive salad quiche would taste!

Whadda'ya think?

Copyright 2013/Ben Bensen III