bolt fabric - week one.

here's the uncut fruit (ha! see what i did there?) of this week's assignment from lilla roger's studio school. this first section is devoted to bolt fabric design.
please pay no mind to the fact that the poisonous amanita muscaria is pictured right alongside cooking equipment.
i can honestly say that i was a little out of my comfort zone creating images to be used on fabrics such as aprons, tea towels, quilting supplies, as well as a multitude of other items. it seems that most folks rely heavily on digital media for this type of work. while i am a traditional-media kind of girl, i did learn quite a bit about creating refined icons this week.

cerulean.

'hick's orchard' • 7X10" • watercolor on paper

what an amazing bright, spring weekend, eh? (except, perhaps, if you live in minnesota or wisconsin.)

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i got my hands in the dirt and wrangled some early weeds. adam mowed the lawn for the first time this year. we grilled our saturday night dinner and i finally think i (may have) mastered a vegetarian "meat" sauce for loaded veggie dogs. we finally watched '7 psychopaths' which i think is my current favorite movie. it reminded me of 'reservoir dogs' although not quite as violent.

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we have a very exciting vacation planned for the end of this month. i plan to take full advantage of the time to relax as i have a couple big projects planned for june. 

more on june to come!

spiced whole wheat oatmeal cookies.

perhaps it's time to revisit and share one of my most popular recipes. i still follow the the ingredient list closely but tend to add a bit more of one thing, and change up the fruit or chips each time i make it. sometimes i add some extra spices like ginger or cayenne.

1¾ cups whole wheat flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
2½ tsp vanilla extract (definitely NOT the imitation kind)
1 cup dried cranberries, blueberries or other fruit
1 cup white chocolate, cinnamon or butterscotch chips
3½ cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)

preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

whisk together all dry ingredients except the oats.

beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until well blended.

stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended and smooth.

stir in dried fruit and oats (and get a great shoulder workout).

keep dough chilled until ready to bake.

drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. bake about 14 minutes, one sheet at a time, until cookies are lightly browned and just barely firm when lightly pressed in the center. rotate sheet halfway through cooking time for even browning. 

remove sheet from oven and let stand until firmed slightly, about 2 minutes. transfer cookies to racks to cool.

(the recipe makes about two dozen cookies.)

a perfect autumn day.

a hearty brunch to start the day, home made by my awesome husband. that rockhill bakehouse marble rye is so delicious.

checking out the foliage while making our annual trip to hick's orchard in granville, ny.

we picked a half bushel of perfect jonagold and northern spy apples, then went to the cider house for cinnamon sugar donuts and a bottle of apple wine.

a hearty, spicy vegetarian chili in the slow cooker to be enjoyed with a sparkling apple wine and a scary movie!

supernova sauce.

what's a girl to do with an overwhelming harvest of habanero peppers that happened to all be ripe at nearly the same time? how 'bout make a hot sauce that is so extremely, ridiculously spicy that it will take a year to use!

supernova sauce

(makes approximately 12 ounces)

20 fresh habanero, stemmed and seeded
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water or orange juice
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon agave nectar

•preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
•roast the habanero and garlic for about 20 minutes on a baking sheet. toss occasionally to prevent burning.
•place the roasted habanero and garlic in the food processor or blender with the remainder of the ingredients. blend until smooth. feel free to add more or less liquid to achieve your desired consistency.

a lot of laughing.

you know, the following pictures might not accurately capture all of this past weekend's camping trip to lake harris. scratch that-they definitely don't.
how could you encapsulate a gigantic amount of awesome laughter, abundant food, positive energy, and fireside banter into a handful of photos?
we were surrounded by amazing people all with the same brash sense of humor and an excellent recall for eighties movies. it made for conversations that always ended in brays of laughter that were so intense your cheeks hurt from the effort.
we considered who our doppelgangers would be and tried to determine their names.
we debated whether that streak across the crystal clear night sky was actually the milky way or just a "bunch of clouds". (it's definitely the milky way.)
there were bald eagles and a roving bunch of very large raccoons who pillaged our food on the second night.
did i mention there was a lot of laughing?

a saturday in photographs.

quest for beer.

the first major pit stop on our way to virginia was adam's choice. no big surprise that he mapped a course directly to the dogfish head brewpub in rehoboth beach, delaware.

i was road weary and out of sorts from having woken up at 3:00 am. adam was completely rejuvenated and nearly giddy over the fact that he was able to be in the presence of so many of his most-recent-favorite beers.


we grabbed a table on the patio and ordered up some food. adam had the crab cake sandwich and i got the ale macaroni and cheese. still having a five hour drive in front of us, there was not as much beer savoring as would have been preferable but adam was sure to grab a case before we left for our next destination.

i am a faker*...i mean, baker.

*to be sung along to this tune.

chilly, late fall weather screams for baking, no?
plus it's a great opportunity to try out some of the recipes i have been socking away on my Pinterest pages. (i have invites left for Pinterest. comment on this post or email me if you're interested.) this is a bit of a Franken-recipe as i pulled from three separate cupcake recipes to make this one.

 

Spicy Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

(makes about 24 cupcakes)

 

1 (11.2-ounce) bottle Guinness stout

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit. prepare muffin tins with liners and set aside.
in a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, baking soda and salt.
in a large bowl, combine the Guinness, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until completely incorporated. mix in the sour cream.
add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold to combine. gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, folding to combine. divide into the prepared tins.
bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. set pans on a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes. remove cupcakes from the pans and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Bailey's and Cinnamon Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2+ cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Creme

pinch of salt

beat the butter until light and creamy.
beat in 1/2 cup of sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, Bailey's and salt until combined.
continue to add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency and sweetness is reached.

honestly, every night is date night.

adam and i have an established tradition of not exchanging gifts at holidays. despite this, we do take each other to a rare dinner out alone for our respective birthdays. nearing his 34th year, adam's choice of sushi luckily led us to the fantastic place right in downtown glens falls, siam thai sushi restaurant.
adam successfully experimented with a captain crunch roll in addition to his usual sushi platter. i took his word that it was the best roll he's ever had because while there are vegetarian sushi rolls, the captain crunch was certainly not one of them.
i filled up on edamame and tofu with cashew nut sauce. despite what i always say about ordering sushi, i can never resist the thai dishes, especially the ones that threaten you from the menu with their multiple red chili pepper warnings. admittedly, i have quite a taste for spicy food, but i have never found those dishes with the pepper icons to be as hot as they are advertised.
would it be foolish that next time i ask for my dish "thai hot"?

three days.

whoa.
it's been an exhausting holiday weekend; which is slightly ironic considering the fact that i don't feel like i "accomplished" anything substantial in the arena of artwork or housework.
in lieu of projects and tasks we filled the days with lakeside parties and dinners outdoors. we got enough sun on our skin to turn a little color even with multiple doses of pasty, suffocating sunblock. i definitely ate too many salty things, but potato chips are so worth the next day puffiness!
also, we received our first returned rsvps and i'm happy to say that we officially have guests attending our wedding...not that i was worried or anything.
i hope you all had an excellent weekend; extended or otherwise!

despite my name, i am not french.

today is the last day of my four day weekend. i've been pretty lucky with the weather and have been able to get out, dig around, rake and uncover the new growth in the yard. happily, our first tulip opened and it looks like my rose bush survived the winter.
i'm trying to occupy my mind in the kitchen as i wait for fed ex to deliver my new macbook pro. i am typing this post on my old macbook and i feel a little sheepish about how excited i am for the new machine; like i'm cheating or something.
i decided to try a recipe that i've never made, nor have ever eaten. it's a vegetarian version of choucroute garnie which i found in one of our many cookbooks. apparently, this cookbook has what might be the only vegetarian version of the recipe because after only a quick google search i found that choucroute garnie is possibly the least vegetarian dish around. images are of a dish piling over with sausages, bacon and other animal products.
no bother; it was an excellent excuse to go to our local natural food store and pick up some veggie sausages. the recipe also calls for reisling. it's an odd feeling to be in a liquor store at 9:30 AM on a tuesday; the merchant hadn't even put cash in his register yet.
all but the sausages & tempeh are in the crockpot and hopefully my delivery will arrive soon so i can steal some time up in the studio before going back to the office tomorrow!

doldrums.

adam cooking something sure to be delicious.

recently it feels like things are moving at the speed of light and in slow motion at the same time. i'm no physicist but i'm pretty sure that's not possible. it seems that i have a task list a mile long and am always working on something but when asked what i've been up to, the answer is always, "not much".
it's times like these when you take inspiration from where ever you can find it; like here, here, here and here. and you know i can always get inspired by food and recipes like this, this and definitely this.
speaking of food, what's for dinner?

(parentheses)

hi all.  it might be a little quiet around here for the next week.
we're hosting thanksgiving at our place, so please send me your most peaceful and well organized thoughts.  adam's making his first turkey (16 pounds!) and i will be preparing some delicious meatless loaf (although "loaf" isn't the most appetizing word).
i've also got a fancy new printer coming in the mail tomorrow.  i spent a pretty penny on it, but it comes with a $300 mail-in-rebate (which i would like to receive before the next ice age).  that printer will (hopefully) be the gateway to me making (and selling) some prints of my artwork.  i forsee some trial and error in my near future.
happy holiday!

veggie burger experiment.

i eat a lot of veggie burgers.  there's probably three to four boxes in the freezer right now.  i get anxious if the supply drops below two boxes.  i like to have a variety of choices; black bean and "chicken" patties are a necessity.
considering my near addiction to these easy meal makers, it's a wonder i waited so long to try my hand at making them from scratch.
i figure the best place to start is an attempt to replicate my favorite frozen burger flavor-black bean.
i would say that the outcome was positive.  on the next try, i will certainly bake the burgers longer, perhaps at a higher temperature.  they were a little soft on the inside for my tastes, but were otherwise delicious.


chipotle black bean burgers
adapted from veggie burgers every which way by lukas volger

3/4 c TVP (textured vegetable protein)
2/3 c boiling water
1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed (1 1/2 c)
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced, plus 1 TBSP sauce
1/2 c frozen corn, thawed
juice of one lime
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp dried chile pepper flakes
1 cup cooked brown rice
3 TBSP whole wheat flour
3/4 c panko bread crumbs
2 TBSP oil

•preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
•reconstitute TVP by pouring boiling water over it.  let sit for 10 minutes.
•combine 1/2 cup black beans, garlic and the onion in a food processor and pulse until coarsely pureed.
•place remaining beans in a bowl and coarsely mash with a potato masher or a fork. add the bean-onion mixture to the mashed beans, and then gently fold in all the remaining ingredients. let stand for 10 minutes.
•shape into 6 burgers.
•in an oven safe sauté pan, heat oil over medium-high heat.  add burgers and cook until browned on each side, 6-10 minutes total.  transfer pan to oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the burgers are firm and cooked through.

french fries and beer.

beer, a liter being the standard size of course.

i am completely exhausted; like eye-burning, apathetically tired.

while i laid down and closed my eyes for what many would consider a full night, it's likely that the two+ liters of beer, piles of fried potato and cheese products residing in my gut contributed to my lack of quality sleep.  that is the only successful outcome of attending oktoberfest after all.  crazy cab rides, giant steins of beer, rich food, porto-potty acrobatics and good friends make for a memborable time; although my only complaint would be the lack of live german music.

i would be napping right now, but i can't seem to stop being distracted by my new toy.  i am not going to pretend to be super cool and aloof because the iphone 4 is pretty darned awesome.  there really is an app for everything.  which is why, if you will excuse me, i must get back to it.

earthlings.

"as long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields"  leo tolstoy



for those who thought that food, inc. was a movie that everyone should watch, i would challenge that earthlings is twice as enlightening.  i suspect that earthlings didn't get as much attention as food, inc. because it is difficult to watch and shakes the curtain of ignorance; whether you don't know or don't want to know.

earthlings is an intellectual and comprehensive look at the five ways animals have come to serve mankind; as pets, food, clothing, entertainment and as test subjects.

(you can watch the entire movie from the website and it's available via netflix)

meatout.

if you weren't already aware, this weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the great american meatout. 
honestly, i am not doing anything special, mostly because i've been a vegetarian for about 20 years.  of the many types of vegetarianism, i adhere to a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.  i haven't knowingly eaten a meat product since freshman year of high school.  while i do consciously prepare vegan meals, i have never tried to completely convert to this type of diet.
as the years have passed and i've become a little less teenage angsty, being vegetarian has morphed into a normal part of my life.  i rarely point out this personal, ethical choice to others and am not on a mission to preach the vegetarian way of life.  the only times it is brought to my attention as out-of-the-ordinary is by non-vegetarians, which are most of the people in my daily life. 
my non-scientific observations suggest that the general public is a bit more educated about vegetarianism than it was two decades ago, but often people have a visceral reaction to meeting vegetarians.  i still get comments about how i can't possibly be getting enough protein.  (what am i, some kind of body builder?  this is one of my trigger statements as it shows people's lack of understanding of nutrition...or it suggests that they subscribe to that whole adkins phenomena.)
i can always tell when someone doesn't know many vegetarians (or perhaps they only know vigilant preachy ones?).  we can be eating together and they will ask, "does it offend you that i eat this [insert non-vegetarian food item here] in front of you?".  it does not offend me when other people eat meat, because it is only fair for me to assume that they made an educated decision to do so.  while i feel that eating a vegetarian diet is ethically and environmentally responsible, other people can (and do) disagree.
ultimately, it's important that people are aware of the impact of their choices.  my knowledge of the meat industry practices and it's inhumanity are too much for me to overlook.  i will not personally support those activities when i can eat satisfying, healthy and delicious meals without meat.
anyone else out there vegetarian?  do you ever get quizzed or lectured and if so, how do you deal with it?

double decadence.

we don't do much for valentine's day around these parts.  i tend to think of it as a commercial holiday, much like most of the other holidays that exist.  adam and i don't exchange gifts...ever.

but what we always do (holiday or not) is EAT!
here is adam's contribution to yesterday's meal:

broccoli and squash macaroni & cheese via 30 days, 30 ways with macaroni & cheese








and here is what i contributed:

cinnamon roll cheesecake (sans frosting) via culinary concoctions by peabody.

i should also mention that this was my first cheesecake making experience and i was a little bit nervous.  it turned out fantastic and wasn't hard at all.

one of my favorite things.

even though it signals the end of summer weather, flip flops and eating dinner on the porch, i look forward to going to the orchard to pick apples every fall. it's more than just a tradition. it makes me happy. maybe it's the sugar high from eating more apples in one day than i do the rest of the year, or maybe it's the fresh, hot and delicious cider donuts, but i love the annual trip to hick's orchard.

i never quite understand the folks that drive all the way out to granville just to go into the apple barn and grab an already picked bag of apples. there is nothing quite like going out into the orchard and picking them yourself.

when pulling into the orchard and after you sign the safety waiver, the orchard keepers always ask what type of apple you have come to pick in order to send you in the right direction. i usually say northern spy, but i know full well that we will be walking throughout the orchard to pick multiple different types. this apple variety indecision gets me into trouble because i never seem to be able to distinguish the different types of apples once i get walking around and eat a few. now, i can tell the difference between the easy ones, like red delicious (yuck!) and the green varieties, but the others all start to blend together. i kick myself every year for not bringing a little apple cheat sheet (something like this, except easily printable).

anyone have a resource they can direct me to?