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School started a couple weeks ago, and I started working on my art. Full-time. I finally finished one of my entries…
(grahite pencil, aprox. 8″x11″ on moleskine sketchbook) This is for a international moleskine exchange, where each of us draws a self-portrait, then sends it to the next person, and they draw themselves and the person whose book they have. Inspired by Sara’s picture in the woods, I drew her, and myself as a lurking tree. It was fun. I confirmed my love of working in pencils. This is becoming as much a food blog, as anything else. For the 4th week now, we’re starting to get overwhelmed by this amount of greens, though I have to say, we’re probably eating the healthiest ever…. I love the convenience of getting super fresh veggies, all in a span of 5 minutes, and not having to pick out anything myself. It’s all there, already in a box. All I have to do is divvy with Sue, and then start to plan my meals. I’m finding that sharing the “whole share” was the best decision we could have made. It’s just right for our family of four. If I use one item everyday, or combine a couple smaller items, we pretty much have one thing every week. Now, if you’re a vegetarian, or you cook 3 meals a day, the whole share would work better, but this way, we’re either having a salad, or a side or main dish made with veggies. It’s awesome! This week we had(my half)…
I had some cabbage left over from last week, and today I had time for cooking. So, I decided to tackle a more adventurous recipe. I found it in Napa Cabbage Gratin, thanks to Slashfood. You can look there for the recipe. I forgot to add the nutmeg, but it was de-lish anyhow. The cabbage gets sweet and tender. I added a little half and half, because I had a large amount of cabbage, and not enough cream. My non-picky son really liked it. It was our side dish, but could easily have been a main dish for a vegetatian meal. I’m really excited about roasting the beets, and also using the beet greens as I do spinach. I’ll keep you posted on the results. In the mean time, go make something yummy. I hope next week we start getting some veggies with color. But who knows what will happen with the lack of sun we’re having… Now that the boys are done with school, I will have a bit more time at home, and will hopefully come up with some other interesting dishes. As of Sunday, our first born, Willik, is 8. Happy birthday Willik!!
I can’t believe how big he’s getting. He’s had a great year, and has transitioned very well. He enjoys the new house, especially the backyard, and will soon be enjoying the much desired tree house, as Fab is getting read to build it. He has made friends easily, done a superb job with school, ace-ing everything on the report cards. He played soccer this spring and had a great time getting back into it. He’s very tall, loves to smile, and still will read anyone under the table. (Just this evening, he started and finished a whole book, Magic Tree House’s Christmas in Camelot) He retains all kinds of trivia, and continually wants to share it with all with us. He will talk to anyone who will listen. He is extremely generous and sensitive, very much a perfectionist, and has grown a lot emotionally and spiritually. He had a great birthday, which ended with me making a cake I’d never made before. Carrot cake with tart chocolate ganache icing. This was Willik’s request(it’s my mom’s recipe) and it turned out yummy. He took a version of these as cupcakes, as a treat to celebrate his birthday at school. This week has been so busy, I have barely had a chance to think, much less cook creatively. We also had a birthday(another blog entry) and several days of eating out. The list of goods were:
Finally, yesterday, the last day of week 3, I was able to make something new and creative.
I made Roasted Butternut Squash and Kale Soup (Here’s the recipe I came up with after doing a little research…) Ingredients: 1 medium/large butternut squash 1 large onion, chopped 4-6 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces 1 medium bunch of kale, cut into long thin strips chicken broth( at least one carton) 1/4-1/2 cup of cream
Instructions: Roast butternut squash( I did this a couple days ahead). Cut in half, remove seeds, brush on a little olive oil and roast in a 375 degree oven for 45minutes-1 hour. It should peel right off the skin and basically look like it’s been pureed. Set aside. In a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pan, cook the bacon. I like to cook it til it just starts to crisp up. Remove the bacon to a bowl with a paper towl to absorb the excess grease. Leaving the rest of fat in dutch oven, add chopped onion. Cook for about 7-10 minutes til onions are soft and translucent, on a medium heat. Add kale, let it cook down and shrink and soften. This will also pick up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the kale and onion are soft and gooey, add pureed squash. Stir it around a bit to get it incorporated with the other ingredients. Add chicken broth. Cover, and let it simmer. After a few minutes, check for thickness, add a good bit of salt and pepper, and taste. If it needs more liquid, add water. Let it simmer for a few more minutes, and at the last minute, add the cream. You can even use milk, or half and half, if you have no cream on hand. Give it a minute, for the cream to heat up, taste one more time, and serve. Garnish with fried bacon. Yummy! The kids liked it! The roasted squash is really sweet.
This week, when I went to get my share, it was pouring down rain! It’s been raining on and off, every day here! I brought my cardboard box back for the farmers to re-use it, and I was told I was the only one who brought the box back. This week there were some of the same things from last week, and some new veggies
Because there were more pickles, and I had yet to use my pickles from last week, I decided to look for and make a batch of refrigerator pickles. I did lots of research, and decided to make my own spin on it. They turned out good, but a little too sour. The news around our house is that Willik now has a broken pinky.
Specifically, he has a buckle fracture on his left little finger, in the middle phalanx.
Aren’t you glad to be able to learn about anatomy through my son’s tragedy? Anyway, he broke it while playing with his uncle, down in Maryland. Tossing a football around, and then receiving one that bend his pinky back. Willik seems to have a history of having bad injuries down in Maryland. I, myself don’t have a very good memory of Maryland. I actually have Maryland labeled as a hot dog state. That’s a blog entry for another time. Anyone have a bad relationship with any states? Please leave a comment. If you don’t have any bad relationships, leave a comment about good one. Just leave a comment! Last week, our first csa share started. From Myerov Family Farm. If you don’t know what a CSA share is, it’s when you “buy” into a farm, and help support the local farmer, and then every week, throughout late spring, summer and early fall, you get a weekly share of vegetables, herbs, and maybe fruits from whatever is harvested that week. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the start of our shares. One of the funnest aspects to me is the surprise. I won’t know from week to week, what the share will bring. I am splitting a whole share with a friend, that way we’ll see what it’s like and see how it works for our families. Last week we received several things:
It was so exciting figuring out what to make.
We’ve had brown butter pasta with swiss chard and tatsoi and sage. We’ve had sliced cucumbers. Yesterday we had shrimp mizuna with thai rice noodles. And today we are gonna have the lettuce in our salad. I will also be making refrigerator pickles. I can’t wait for this week’s share!!! Have you been there? I am there right now. I know I should be creating things, but I don’t seem to be able to. I have ideas of grandeur, but even picking up a pencil seems like too much effort. Something in me really wants to paint and draw, but I sabotage my own efforts by coming up with reasons why it can’t or won’t happen. Here are some reasons:
If it’s not that, I end up spending too much time on the computer on facebook(which I’m currently taking a break from) or even looking at art, photography, tutorials, ideas for other projects, and I do just that– look, and don’t do or make anything. Is anybody familiar with this behavior? What do you do when you get there, to just kick-start your creativity? How do you get out of the mire? How do you overcome accomplishing much, with little time? I think since doing the mural for the church, I have been in this creative desert. I have been praying alot about this next step as it concerns my art and my time and efforts. So maybe now I need to start acting….. Would love your thoughts…. |
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Copyright © 2013 Gláucia Mir | artist - All Rights Reserved |
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