7 Days in the Arts

Last chance to see galerie yoramgil\'s exhibit of new works by Moti Cohen. The Israeli artist\'s latest series seems to be about relationships. He depicts human forms and gestures in pieces like \"Courting,\" \"Comfort\" and \"Mother and Child.\"

[additional-authors]

Keren Engelberg

October 7, 2004

Saturday

Last chance to see galerie yoramgil’s exhibit of new works by Moti Cohen. The Israeli artist’s latest series seems to be about relationships. He depicts human forms and gestures in pieces like “Courting,” “Comfort” and “Mother and Child.” The show closes today.
462 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood. (310) 659-2641.

Sunday

This weekend marks the annual Santa Barbara Festival of Art and Jazz. Drive up the coast with your honey and take in the beauty of the county courthouse gardens, where the festival will be held. Jazz music by Peter Clark and Friends, Somos Son and Rebecca Kleinmann, an art show representing 210 artists and wine from local vineyards are some of the highlights of the three-day fest.

Oct. 8-10. $5 (general), free (children 12 and under). 100 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. (805) 695-8686. www.meifestivals.com/sba.html.

Monday

Awards season continues tonight with the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Jewish Image Awards. Hosted by “Arrested Development’s” Jeffrey Tambor, the gala celebrates positive portrayals of Jews in television – in shows like “The O.C.,” “Sex and the City” and “The Simpsons” – and movies like “Saved!”

6:30 p.m. $250. Beverly Hilton Hotel, 9876 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. R.S.V.P., (310) 201-5033.

Tuesday

The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) celebrates the art of Ella Smilkstein Trout with a retrospective of her work, titled “People and Places: Stories to Remember.” The photographer captured images from the 1970s-1990s of Jews in Coral Gables, Fla, including Russian Jewish immigrants, and also photographed local entertainers. Her work is on view weekdays at the NCJW through Oct. 22.

543 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles. (323) 651-2930.

Wednesday

Angst-ridden Jewish girls battle drugs and emotionally absent parents in one-woman shows this week. “Coke-Free JAP” gives us Sage Saperstein (Fielding Edlow), a 92-days sober sexually precocious NYC Jewish princess attempting to date sans cocaine haze for the first time in years. “Pipe Dreams” presents Nicole Blaine telling her true story of growing up with a crack-addict mother, her struggles to save her mother and raise herself and her brother at the same time. Remove them from their pigeonhole, and they just might be worth checking out.

“Coke-Free JAP”: Wednesdays, through Nov. 3. The Complex Theatre, Hollywood. (646) 325-7052.
“Pipe Dreams”: Thurs.-Sat., through Nov. 6. The Hudson Guild Theatre, Hollywood. (323) 960-7745.

Thursday

More art today, and lots of it. Get a head start on the L.A. Art Show with tonight’s gala reception before the masses descend on the Barker Hangar this weekend. Or attend this weekend and catch one of the accompanying symposia, like their Friday afternoon discussion on “Frida Kahlo: A Mirror of Mexico.” The show intentionally coincides with the two area museum exhibit openings for the first time this year. Its calendar of events includes LACMA’s “Renoir to Matisse: The Eye of Duncan Phillips,” and the Museum of Latin American Art’s “Ruffino Tamayo” exhibitions.

Oct. 15-17. $18 (general), $150 (Oct. 14 gala). Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Air Center, South Field, 3021 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 822-9145. www.losangelesartshow.com.

Friday

Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker are some of the notable names discussing the influence of Howard Zinn in the doc, “Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train.” The octogenarian historian, activist and teacher has been a voice for nonviolence and social justice since his work in the early civil rights movement in the 1950s, with his book, “A People’s History of the United States” having become a classic text of American revisionist history. The film opens today at Laemmle’s Music Hall.

$6.50-$9.50. 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 274-6869.

SPECTATOR

With the holidays now a sweet memory, my cookbooks are back on the shelf, and it’s time to read for fun. But a true foodie can’t leave the kitchen for long. A new novel (with recipes, of course) has me giggling as I rest my weary bones, and have I got a tzimmes for you.

Based on a true story, “Cooking for Love” (iUniverse) is a fun romp by nationally known journalist and food writer Sharon Boorstin, author of the touching memoir, “Let Us Eat Cake” (HarperCollins).

Miriam Epstein Levy is a married Jewish cookbook author who fantasizes about food, while her divorced best friend, Kate McGrath, fantasizes about an old flame. When Kate Googles her now-married former lover and he invites her for a rendezvous in Malaysia – a Muslim country yet – she begs Miriam to come along. But here’s the kicker: these two adventuresses are not 25 or even 35 – they’re 49.

“Women in their 40s and 50s are not too old to have fun,” said Boorstin, whose manuscript was turned down by New York publishers, claiming there was no market in this age group for fast-paced, sexy “Chick Lit.” Undeterred, Boorstin took the rebuff as a challenge and published it herself, and, in one day, an e-mail campaign catapulted “Cooking for Love” to sales rank No. 23 on Barnes and Nobles’ Web site

“Women in their 40s, 50s and beyond apparently agree with me that there is a market for a novel that deals in a fun way with the problems we face – for starters, that we’re getting older,” Boorstin said.

When Jewish heroine Miriam gets off the plane in Kuala Lampur in her sensible brown Naturalizers, she’s there only as moral support for her eager-for-love friend, Kate, who sports glamorous clothes, newly lifted upper lids and a better-than-Botox, Restylaned brow. And this gal’s thongs have nothing to do with feet.

But Boorstin leaves no balabusta behind when it comes to adventure. While Miriam’s thoughts seldom stray from food – a bikini wax reminds her of Grandma Estelle plucking a chicken – she claims her share of the, shall we say, action. Where once her ingenuity was confined to exploits of the kitchen kind – cashews and ginger in her latkes, dried cranberries in her tzimmes – Miriam emerges as a bold heroine, and Boorstin emerges as the consummate storyteller to stir up this wickedly hilarious brew.

“Cooking for Love” is available at www.sharonboorstin.com and www.bn.com. The author will be signing books at the Yiddishkayt Family Festival on Sun., Oct. 10, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Plaza, Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles. For more information, visit yiddishkaytla.org.

Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Melting Pot Memories” and can be found at www.cookingjewish.com.