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Ellia对我们的问题非常感兴趣，把制作每道菜的步骤都清晰列出，你甚至可以按照她的方法制作一遍，那份细心难能可贵。Ellia生活在美国，是一位剪纸手工人，在简单朴实的生活中，她看到更多色彩，剪出讨人欢心的棉被小姐，XBOX小男孩，还有一系列限量版贺卡，她的剪纸世界是可爱的单纯的。看她的作品，让我想起中国传统的剪纸艺术。我在乱猜，要是把一些现代的元素加入到这种传统的手工中，加以推广，剪纸艺术可不可以变成一项全民运动呢？

http://greenbeanbaby.typepad.com

Photos from: Ellia

Wednesday | 农历十月初五

In USA, Foodoll meets Ellia. Ellia loves creating works of art in paper.

Foodoll: “I think everyone likes to eat chicken in the world.”
Ellia: “Do you like to eat baked chicken breasts?”
Foodoll: “It sounds great!”
Ellia: “I always feel good to hear when someone likes your cooking, especially when you spend a day and a half preparing it!”
“最喜欢听到别人称赞我做的食物味道好，特别是当你花了一天或大半天去准备。”

Ellia’s best cocking course —–The baked chicken breasts
1. Clean off any excess fat
2. Season the chicken in different spices such as adobo (a latin seasoning), a lot of minced garlic, some pepper and salt, and regular seasoning salt.
3. Add half cup of water and one tablespoon of chicken　seasoning.
4. The same product used to make chicken broth for soups.
5. Place the seasoned chicken in the pan.
6. Add plenty of butter.
7. Add thinly sliced green and red peppers, as well as sweet onion slices.
8. Add a chopped potato or not.
9. Put the whole pan into the oven to stove for about 20 minutes.

8 people Christmas dinner
“I am very nervous, but everyone loves it very much, especially my husband.”

Christmas dinner menu
15 pound turkey
pasta salad
asparagus
scallion salad
mustard potato salad
corn bread
dressing (similar to stuffing)

Foodoll: “I am fat, because I like to eat many sock, and you?”
Ellia: “I try to eat healthy but not too healthy! Because I am a vegetarian who is allergic to a lot of fruits and vegetables.”
“我是一个对蔬菜过敏的素食主义者”
Foodoll: “Oh, that’s full of contradiction”
Ellia “Yes, my meal plan is limited. I will eat certain vegetables regardless of the allergies but my doctor said I shouldn’t be really. I still eat my tomatoes though!!!!” 

Ellia’s favorite food
My favorite food right now is bruscetta and triscuits (a coarse kind of cracker). They are very simple kind of food. My cravings are fiber and tomatoes. It is very easy to make and not too fattening!

Ellia’s daily menu
Breakfast: Peanut butter and jelly on a whole grain slice of bread (one slice, not two!), a small glass of lactose free milk or a cup of water.
Lunch: Banana nut bread slice, or some freshets bread, or maybe pumpkin bread (Some kind of homemade bread) to go with my cup of coffee.
Dinner: Something simply like buttered pasta with small cubes of tomatoes, topped lightly with parmesan cheese.

“But a good meal makes me happy.”
I create only when I am happy. Sometimes my meals can hinder my artwork though if it takes too much time to make, leaving me with little time to relax before I work on art. Or the food itself can make me want to go to bed instead of being productive. I guess it can go either way!

I love the entire work process. Since I do cut paper, I love cutting out all the pieces and gluing them together. I also love sorting through all of my paper and picking colors for my current project. That can take a while, so I like to relax and enjoy it. Of course, I love the completeness of a project, seeing it all together and completed. I guess I love every stage but the sketching once I have the idea to sketch out. The fun begins!

 

Ellia’s daily schedule
9am: My son Diego and I wake up.
10am: I start to clean and load the dishwasher if there are dishes in the sink
11:30am Play with Diego for a bit and try to read to him although I end up reading by myself as he runs around.
Noon: I will check my emails and maybe try to blog as I get Diego to take a nap.
2pm: Cook lunch. Then Diego and I may go for a walk.
4pm: We watch a short DVD or something while I clean up more if I have to or make a snack.
6pm: Start getting ready for dinner even though I don’t really begin it until 7 pm. after that time goes fast!
7:30pm: We eat and by 8:15 , I get my husbands plate together.
10pm. Diego goes to bed and my husband and I talk for a while or relax. Sometimes we play video games. I will run the dishwasher and clean up any mess around the house.
11:30pm: I go up to the attic in my studio and work on art.
3am: I go to bed.

Ellia: “I am a non-denominational Christian. What do you　believe?”
Foodoll: “I believe my sense of taste”

I am a non-denominational Christian too. It has been the faith I was raised on and haven’t had much of a problem with it. The main focus is keeping a relationship with God; it is not about just following a set of strict way of the life. I believe persons can still have their own individuality serving God, including tattoos and piercing.

I don’t believe being in any faith should be boring or so strict, especially on females. I believe God makes us all equal and unique and he doesn’t want us to give that up.

Ellia’s next plan
The new baby will come in April. My major plan is learning how to adjust. It won’t be as easy for me to stay up all night and work on art alone. The baby will want food or may want to be held. That is hard to do and work on art. So there is going to be a lot of adjusting. However, I am sure it will work out!

Foodoll: “I must play with food, sleep with food, so I look like food.”
Ellia: “I look like mine, so my artwork looks like me.”
我只像我，作品与作者总是有点相似的。

If you saw me at a booth selling my artwork, no doubt you would know I was the one who made the items in cut paper. Most of my characters are kidlike who are fairly skinny with a big round head. I’d say I look like that- haha! After all, many people mistake me for a 15 year old even though I am a decade older. But that’s okay, I like looking like my art.
以上访问已刊登于《Affa hands and minds cultzine》first issue