Cool it Tax Man.

I have tax questions and scoured my brain for anyone I know that can come over and have a beer with me and answer hypothetical tax questions.  Like "What if I gave clothes that I embroidered to Goodwill? Do I deduct the price of the jeans or the price of the jeans plus the million dollars they are clearly worth after my bleeding fingers were done putting little kitty whiskers on the knees? " and "Am I supposed to pay taxes on tooth fairy money?" But seriously folks, I have questions.

Turns out all I know is artists, beatniks, movie directors and musicians. All my tax accountant friends moved to warmer saner climates (Hi Tracy!) So this also means most of my pals have some sort of show going on just about every weekend, we are almost always selling something on social media as well as trying to oh so subtly yell "LOOK AT THIS STUFF I DO! NOW GIVE ME SOME MONEY!" Some of us have a hard time reconciling what we do, with getting paid. It's never enough, but also it's too much! On any given day my emotions about my work swing from "I'd do this stuff anyway.  Here, I just want you to have it." all the way to "I am amazing and I should be getting paid a bazillion dollars for this shiz! Who wants to represent me?!" Which illustrates how bad we are with financials.

I'm making an appointment at a square office today.  I'm going to pay someone to answer my questions about sparkly beatnik money. I wonder if they'll let me pay with art?

Depression Soup

Because of my new favorite celebrity from Illinois (now in upstate NY) Clara Cannucciari and her You Tube Channel Depression Cooking I've been thinking of this recipe from when I was a kid. It's from my Mom's side of the family and found in the trusty DeCori Family Cookbook, in which the recipe is attributed to Helen DeCori and Kay Nuciforo and so my Mom says it must be a Roman recipe. Menestra Shama loosely translates (as passed down) to "mock soup" or "poor man's soup" or "depression soup" I don't know and no amount of internet searching or English to Italian internet translators can clear it up, so please, if you know someone that speaks Italian or better yet lived/s in Northern Illinois AND through the depression AND speaks Italian, please ask them for me if they have any insight to the etymology of the Shama part of Minestra Shama. So anyway, on to the recipe that taste very yummy, was one of my favorite soups as a kid and costs a total of $4.25 to make.

Tomato Paste 1.25
Ditalli Noodles 1.75
Cabbage 1.25
I assume you own olive oil or some type of oil, salt and pepper.

Minestra Shama
4 qts Water
1/2 lb Ditalli Noodles (or any noodles really)
1/2 Head of cabbage
1 8 oz Can Tomato Sauce or 1 8oz Can of Stewed Tomatoes or 1 Tablespoon of Tomato Paste (whatever you can afford)
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil (or vegetable oil - again whatever you can afford)
1 Tablespoon of Salt

Bring water and tomatoes to a boil, add salt, put in the sliced cabbage (long thin strips), when the cabbage is soft put noodles in and cook until tender. Pepper to taste.

My mom always made it with the tablespoon of tomato paste and more cabbage, less noodles and I suppose it would be good with a little Italian sausage in it as it's kind of yummy as a spicy soup, but really it's best as is with a grilled cheese sandwich.