For Your Inspiration: Summer Wonderful Salad

Summer Wonder Salad

3 cups watermelon

2 cups cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1/4 cup feta cheese

2 Tbsp scallions

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

chop, mix, chill.... divine!

For Your Inspiration - Playing With My Food

Every once in a while I'll be working on dinner and something will strike me, capture my attention. There is such beauty in the mundane world. Color, line, form. If you are looking, seeing, you will find it. This day it was a head of red cabbage.

It's often interesting how the photographs only vaguely capture what my imagination is seeing as I snap the shot. A little fiddling with a digital editing program often can bring the visual images closer to my inner reality.

Who knows what will happen with these images. Ideas float and flow as I imagine how they might be translated into some larger work of art. Perhaps for now this is enough; to simply gather and to play.

If there is a lesson here it is that there is beauty everywhere. Stop. Play. Feed and nourish your creativity. If you want a really great recipe for red cabbage here you go:

5 cups sliced Red Cabbage
1/2 cup dried Cranberries
1/3 cup Rice Vinegar
1/3 cup Sugar
2 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/4 cups sliced Green Apples
1/4 cup chopped toasted Pecans
Combine cabbage and cranberries. Whisk together vinegars, oil, sugar, salt and pepper. Toss with cabbage, cover and chill for 2 hours. Add apples and pecans and serve. I found a wonderful pecan, cranberry, rosemary package at Trader Joe's and it was divine in this slaw.

Chocolate and the American Quilter's Society Show

Working, working, working.
Well. 
Mostly.
I'm very distractible.

When I have a writing assignment I tend to find every little other thing that needs to be done. I do the dishes, I answer my Email. Today I just had to get up and take ten minutes to put together my favorite brownies. Then of course I had to take a picture and share with you.

Peppermint Brownies
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup margarine or butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup flour
dash salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Melt butter and chocolate. Beat eggs with sugar and extract. Fold in chocolate, flour, salt, nuts. Bake in a greased 9x9 pan at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Cool. (yeah right!)


Icing
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons margarine, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1-2 tablespoons milk
drop of green food coloring
Mix, adding just enough milk so it spreads or drizzles. Spread on cooled brownies - or not if you simply can't wait.

So. Now that THAT is taken care of; there are still spots available in some of my classes at the American Quilter's Society show in Paducah, Kentucky in April. 

JUST FOILING AROUND is a favorite. Are you attracted to gittery, sparkly, shiny stuff? Do you have a sheet or two of foil hanging around that you haven't quite figured out what to do with yet? "YES!" I hear you say? Then you will love this class. I mean, really, really looooooove this class. Oh, and just to whet your appetite - we also play with painted Wonder-Under.

class number 6504 Just Foiling Around: Wednesday, April 21, 2010  5:30 pm to 8:30 pm

PHOTOS ON FABRIC teaches my favorite solvent photocopy transfer technique and more. I'll have samples and demonstrate the properties of different commercial ink-jet photo-fabrics. This one is all about easy.

class number 6509 Photos on Fabric: Saturday, April 24, 2010  8:30 am to 11:30 am

It would be lovely to see you there! Let me know if you have any questions. Tell your friends!