November 23, 2014 Kimbell and Amon Carter Museum and Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb with Camargue red rice, cabbage and string beans

Billy, Suzette and I left Dallas shortly after 11:00 so we would arrive at the Kimbell at 12::00, when it opened.  We arrived at about 12:05 and found folks streaming into the museum, so we walked briskly to the Piano Building where the Impressionist Portraits organized by the Musée d'Orsay (a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900; Wikipedia) exhibit was hung.

When we entered the exhibit we were immediately confronted by self-portraits by and portraits of many of the greatest impressionists, like Monet, Caillebotte, Renoir, and Manet.   There were two large formal group portraits of groups of artists, one in Monet’s studio and the other by Maurice Denis of a group of the Nabis painters looking at a Cezanne?  still life on an easel.  Besides many portraits of the greatest Impressionist and post-impressionist painters (the Musée d’Orsay website categorizes its collection as “Toward the New”), the exhibit included some of the greatest works of impressionist and post –impressionist art ever made, some of the strongest works in my opinion were Edgar Degas’ “Absinthe Drinkers” and Paul Gaugin’s “Self-portrait with Yellow Christ” and Odilon Redon’s hauntingly mysterious portrait of Paul Gaugin in profile with a darkened face juxtaposed by a curtain of gold leaf.  

There was also a lovely Renoir of a young woman bathed in the same sun light and apparently sitting on the same patio where he painted his Boaters Party (at the Phillips Gallery in Washington) above the Seine.  Suzette’s favorite was a portrait of a woman with a green shawl by Camille Pissarro.  I loved a Woman with a black shawl by Renoir, perhaps for the same reason; the shadow of light both piercing and falling on the head of the person from the shawl is rendered beautifully.  The artist that I was most impressed by was Edgar Degas, perhaps because there were lots of his portraits in the exhibit, from one of his first portraits painted of his grandfather, to a young woman in profile painted in 1865 and a fabulous portrait of the orchestra in the orchestra pit at the Paris ballet with his first rendering of ballet dancers in 1870.    

After the exhibit Suzette shared a glass of pinot grigio and a chocolate biscotti as we waited for Billy to finish viewing the exhibit. 

We then walked up the hill to the Amon Carter Museum, where we were met at the door by a gentleman docent who was a retired college professor, who invited us to a lecture tour of the Bingham Exhibit.  This is apparently the largest exhibit of George Caleb Bingham works, ever assembled.  I don’t want to go into too much detail, but all his greatest works, including Fur Traders on the Missouri from the Metropolitan Museum were in the show.  The only major picture not included was his “Lighter Unloading Goods” because it is hung in the White House, although there was an interesting vintage daguerreotype of it.

Suzette finished early because she also wanted to see the American woodblock print show also, I found outside the Bingham exhibit sitting in front of a new Agnes Pelton painting I had never seen before.  Here it is:

We went to the woodblock prints, which prominently displayed  the works and techniques of Gustave Baumann and a wonderful Howard Cook of a biplane flying over a city dated 1931 that we had never seen before.  I ran back to another gallery with Texas portraits in it, including one of Bill Bomar by Dickson Reeder.  Billy and I worked with David Reeder, Dickson’s Brother, at Pier I.

Finally around 3:30 we were finished with art and Billy drove us back to his home in Dallas.  When we arrived Rebecca was starting on dinner.  
Here is the marinating boneless leg of lamb roast:


I watched some football on TV and by 6:00 we were ready to eat.  The meal was predictably wonderful.  Rebecca had marinated a boneless leg of lamb overnight in olive oil and fresh rosemary from their garden and made a carmelo sauce with fresh parsley and garlic chives.  The hit of the meal was the red rice from the Camargue, which is a relatively new variety of rice cultivated in the wetlands of the Camargue region of southern France. It is a short-grained and unmilled variety of rice and is therefore quite sticky. It is a brownish-red colour. It has an intense somewhat nutty taste and a naturally chewy texture. Cooking time is generally 35–45 minutes depending on the amount of "bite" desired after cooking. It is best cooked like a risotto rice, i.e., sautéing in butter first, then adding small amounts of water or stock until absorbed and repeating for the duration of the cooking time. It is generally much more filling than white rice, so less is needed per person (Wikipedia). She also included PPI string beans and cabbage from last night’s meal for a hearty Fall meal.

We drank the E blend from Spain and liked its clean flavor,complexity and hearty tannins, although we were not blown away by it.  

Bon Appétit

Bon Appétit