Zombie Glass Baubles

A recent re-discovery of my collection, cough! Hoarding, tendencies, turned up a few great street finds. This one was from one of my walks. It was a bit of chain, with a couple of glass beads on it. I found a handfull more in my collection that matched rather well and brought this great ankle bracelet back to life. It's not pictured on my ankle because that is a really hard picture to take and looked more like an accident waiting to happen.

Asian kind of night

After a lovely Pho dinner with friends I was reminded to check my kimchi. I realize that I did not technically "make" this today, but I am going to take the fact that I made an effort and had to process this lovely little first batch of kimchi, moving it from stages of room temp fermenting to fridge fermentation, lidding it and making sure that I am not going to kill myself upon consumption. I believe that the final result will be consumable this weekend. But until then, here is the Kimchi recipe I followed and here's what it looks like 4 days in. Mmmmm. All signs good so far, check out the fermentation bubbles...

Blue Goat, Black Buffalo

or something like that. A nice evening out with friends and the stir stick to Spencer's cocktail equals a new pendant for the collection. Copper wire, copper chain, bamboo stir stick. Modeled by the lovely Leah.

Simple Circle Pendant

I have lots to do today and I wanted a brief escape to y studio for a moment. I found a scrap of hemp twine and a length of silver. A little heat and hammering and we have this lovely.

Curry Chicken Salad

I try my very best to do as much with a bird, on the rare occasion that I do buy one. Every spare morsel of that creature is enjoyed and used to nourish our bodies with the thought that it gave it's life to feed us. I know, it's a bit much, but I think if everyone thought at least a little in this vein, we wouldn't have obesity, factory farming or popcorn chicken. Finished with my mini soap box rant, now on to the foods.

Curry chicken salad:
1 c chicken, whatever meat you want tu use, cut up into lovely little pieces
1/2 c carrot shredded
the tops and heart fronds/leaves of 1 bunch of celery
2 scallions thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
2 tbs mayo
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp yellow curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
( if you would like the vegetarian version of this, use grilled tempeh in place of chicken, it's very nice texture and flavor.)

Purple Cabbage Slaw:
1/2 head purple cabbage
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
core & shred the cabbage and toss with vinegar and salt, let stand on counter up to 12 hours in advance, or you can toss before you make the chicken salad, but the longer it site, the better the texture and flavor of the slaw

serve the salad on top of the slaw and enjoy with a nice cup of Kombucha, which came out very nice and I didn't die after drinking so there wil be more coming. For any who want to try, it's actually pretty easy.

Also, a warning about this lunch, if you have cats, they will notice that you are having chicken.

The Calm of a Friday Kitchen

I managed to get home at a reasonable hour this evening, so I played in the kitchen for a few hours. I had enough time to get a few things started, cook dinner and prep foods for this weekend. I started my OWN kimchi. Spencer, don't worry, my life insurance is paid up. I will document how this progresses over the next few days and write about how it tastes. I also checked on my kombucha, it should be done by Sunday. So, this evening I made just a simple roast chicken with roasted winter veggies and toasted some bread. Simple and satisfying, though didn't pair well with the weather at all, with it being 80 degrees and all. I really wanted sushi, but the bird was purchased and NEEDED to go in the oven.

Roast Chicken:
1 chicken - hoy you procure and get it to an oven ready state is your business. Mine came from Ellwood Thompson via Bell & Evans.
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste - well, you'll taste it later. about 1 teaspoon of each will do for now.
3 large rosemary sprigs - shove these in the nether region it's more about the aromatic flavor than making it pretty.
Bake said chicken in oven 375-ish ( my oven = no temperature or numbers on knob to let you know how hot it is or isn't as tends to be the case more often than not.) Roughly 63 minutes bake time will get you crispy skin and juicy meat if it's roughly a 3 pound bird.

Veggies:
I threw the trinity in since I will be roasting off and boiling down the carcus to make stock for soup. If I am going to eat something that was once walking around, I am going to use the entirety of it. Take whatevers left from preparing the veggies for the oven and put it aside to make stock with. This would be the peels from garlic, celery bottoms ( the tops are best for stirfrys and salads), onion skins and the buts that get cut off.

3-5 ribs of celery
2-4 carrots
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 sprig of rosemary, stripped of it's leaves
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper

rough chop everything and toss together in baking pan with oil, salt and pepper & rosemary.

bake with chicken 45-50 min

Enjoy with rough country bread toasted with olive oil and rubbed with garlic

Chambord Court

The elegant gathering of duchesses and ladies with the oh so elegantly curated effervescent drinks required a touch of class that could only come atop a small bottle of Chambord. Combine with the wire basked adorning a bottle of bubbly and a hair pin, you have quite a nice little head piece, one that might even scoff at Princess Beatrice's gaudy gathering.

a little time for little earrings

Here is a cute pair of simple silver earrings, hammered silver circles and ear studs. Nothing fancy or crazy.

Trash to Treasure

I found this washer while out on a walk . It was laying amongst some gravel on the roadside and looked like it wanted to come home in my pocket. I "cleaned" it up a bit and gave it a quick coat of spray laquer. Added some silver findings and a chain and BAM! it's a beautiful, steam punk-ish fob. I had a little motivation and made a postcard too. I felt like I needed to spend a little more time in the studio after last nights "piece".

a good night for good Mates!

Thanks to Karen for an awesome birthday present, tickets for us to go to Mates of State!!! We were accompanied by the dashing Michael Clifford, aka bodyguard extraordinaire, thanks for walking me to my car. So this evenings wear is environmentally appropriate. Found silver thingy on the venue floor and "of age" wrist band = awesome concert bracelet. Great, great night and awesome show Kori and Jason!

Pancakes & Pendants

I had a little inspiration today and a little time to myself so I decided to conquer two of the things that pushed me to compose this blog in the first place. Pancakes for breakfast and a pendant for, Lunch? Na, just a little time in the studio to make a pendant.

I tried someone else's recipe for pancakes, I was looking for something to use my sourdough starter on that didn't require me to bake bread and this is what I found:

The Nourishing Gourmet's Sourdough Pancakes

It's a great recipe and makes way more pancakes than 2 people can eat but so good.

This pendant was created from a puddle of wax that dripped onto the dresser from a candle. I really liked the shape and color. I placed it with some balsa wood that had ash ground into it and used a two part epoxy and some copper wire for the finishing touches.

I am really liking the color and feel of copper, its warmth is nice, especially in the cold, grey month of February.

Cap this day off with a great dinner with family and an adventure with some snow ninjas and sleds, tis a pretty perfect Sunday.

Spicy Saturday Night

I love when I get nights at home, ALONE with Spencer. It's few and far between but they are really special and fun when they do happen. I wanted to make a fun dinner for the two of us and really didn't want to go to the store if I didn't need to. So, kitchen challenge for myself, I used what I had on hand and came up with this spicy Asian* dish (I say Asian because there is no real regional or national cuisine that I am pulling this from, it's a combination of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Korean flavors and spices the result of which I am usually happy with).

Spicy Asian Stir Fry:

1/2 lb of frozen shrimp, raw, de-veined shell off or on is up to you, I like on and I peel them myself.
*2 carrots, peel and julienne
*celery tops and inner ribs, chop roughly
*1/2 yellow onion, rough chop - scallions too, I had a couple on hand.
*( save all the bits from the trinity that you don't use for cooking / eating and freeze in a bag, saving for making a pot of stock/broth)
cauliflower floretts and the green leaves at the bottom, they have a great bitter / bright / spicy flavor, much like bok choy, great for this application

2 tbs peanut oil

cook shrimp in 1 tbs oil in large skillet until just barely done, remove and set aside
stir-fry veggies in the other tbs of peanut oil, carrots and onions first, then the rest of the veggies

prepare the sauce while these are cooking in a separate bowl

( I also made a batch of mung beans, but they are not necessary to make this dish.)

Sauce:

4 cloves garlic, smashed and rough chopped
2 tbs red chili pepper paste
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Place the shrimp back in the pan with the veggies after they have cooked through for about 5-7 min, toss lightly with the sauce and serve over a bed of brown rice.

This was such a good dish, and just the right amount for the two of us.

We topped it off with a piece of chocolate tiramisu cake and Hardywood's Mocha Stout. My god was that a perfect combo.

Then on to the rest of the Spicy Saturday night; Reading on the couch and mine craft.

Desk Choker

It occurred to me about a minute ago that I have a date with Spencer and other various engagements that will keep me from the house and in effect, my jewelry bench / kitchen for the remainder of the day. Quick, think on your feet woman, what can you make with the accessories on your desk? Thanks to a leftover red ribbon from a Valentine's treat, a magnet and rendom pin, I have created a choker that is cute and simple. Two little hearts to go with me for the night. Happy Friday.

It's the Simple Things

it's a dark and rainy, cold February night and I wanted nothing more than comfort food this evening, so I turned to a staple of mine, grilled cheese and fried brussel sprouts. I know what you may be thinking and no, it's not boring if you know how to do it right. You have to invest in the proper ingredients, make all that you have with this simplistic dish sing together. If you pair the appropriate pieces together then they all play well, meld, fall in love. That's what this month is for anyway right, reflection on the simple things that we appreciate, love and longing for little things like warmth and sunlight; summer perhaps. Well, we're not quite there, so here's a little home made love to make you realize that this isn't so bad, right where we are.

Brussel Sprouts:
Pre heat your pan and add the oil to it now.

you will want to cook these first since they will finish cooking off and hold heat nicely while you are preparing your GC. You can be adventerous if you like, and use two pans at once, but I think, if you want to choose the simple way, go with one pan and enjoy the full experience.

take however many sprouts you think you will eat, leftovers are fun, but these are stinky when reheated and all of your co workers will not be very happy about what you've chosen for lunch.

Cut the brown end bits off and compost. I'm sorry, what, you don't compost. Well, it's best you get started.

Cut the cute lil brussels lengthwise in half and dust with salt.
Throw them mercilessly into the flames and watch them burn. Soooooo yummy. Place a lid or another pan over top and let the steam seal in and cook the sprouts through evenly. Cook long enough to be fork tener and have a nice caramelized crust and browning over some parts of the sprouts.

set aside in a bowl and cover, hold until your cheese is finished grilling.

Grilled Cheese:
2 slices Rye bread
2 oz ( or a little more if you feel adventurous) white organic cheddar
( the yellow is just added into yellow or orange cheeses anyway, not necessarily fake, made by adding annatto perhaps, just not the most, simplistic and natural state the cheese could be in)
1/2 tbs olive oil ( yes, butter would be great here but that's not what I used)

When cooking the grilled cheese, I like a nice heavy anodized aluminum skillet, seasoned to perfection, by about 30 years of cooking. Spoiled, I know. I have an old Commercial Aluminum Cookware piece, but any pan, so long as it's NOT non-stick, those will give you cancer for sure, will do.

Use another pan or lid to another pot to cover the pan and sandwich while cooking, you will want the cheese to melt all the way through and not burn. You will surely get a nice golden brown crust with, if you are lucky, some cheese that has escaped its crusty confines and puddled on the skillet surface to find a nice crispy complexion.

Enjoy both, slowly and ponder the simpler things in life. Like toasted marshmallows. I went there.

Thank You

It's been a very eventful day, that I am glad is over, but very glad for all the events that did happen, with exception for the gunshots outside of my window just now. This is a little tribute to my day and the amazing little sister that I got to spend the rest of my evening with. Paper, copper chain, ceramic seahorse bead.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today was a pleasant surprise kind of day. It really is the little things that make it all worthwhile. Spencer made dinner for the two of us. All local VA goodies cooked to perfection. Well, with the exception of the virgin coconut martinis that is. All Perfection. I had a spare moment to collect a few pearls and soem silver wire and wrap a few twigs from the previously mentioned trip last year and make a fun little pendant. Now I'm off to enjoy the remainder of the evening with my love.