Who says you can't play with your food?

I am hungry, and it's been a long day. But what to do, it's only day 7 and I can't skip out on this project, but I am so tired and I hear friends and a magazine calling my name, also a plate of long awaited tots. SO, I gave myself the time it takes to cook tots, roughly 15 minutes in a toaster oven, so that was long enough to make a pair of earrings, out of un cooked prawn crackers. If you have been to any of my parties, you will know this is a much loved party snack, fried puffed up slightly shrimp flavored rice starch. So good! But, they look like plastic and have the texture of a shrinky dink before they are cooked, so perfect for jewelry. Wrap them in some wire and TA DA! Beautiful earrings that I am actually considering adorning myself with again. Happy Friday y'all! I am done in 12 with 3 min to spare on the tots!

Look mom, I made Crudités

Festivities that include my mother leave little room for me in the kitchen, so I improvised where I could and made Crudités. The simple yet always satisfying, ever-present at parties, tray of cut up cold veggies.

So simple, it was cheating, well almost. It counts, it's not as creative as I could get, but it was Riva's birthday and we got carried away with other things. All in all, it was a good evening with fun had by all.

Small Plate of undigested foods consisted of:
Grape Tomatos
Carrots
Cauliflower
Artichoke hearts
Olives

dipping sauce: salt, pepper, rice wine vinegar, mayo, sour cream, greek seasoning

Of Questionable Intent

Realizing that I am in a bit over my head and not planning for the lack of day or the amount of things and obligations that I pile into it, I have found myself in quite a pickle. How ever will I make food, much less jewelry. There is NO time!. But wait, Oh, there are random desk assortments and office supplies! I really feel that anything which has some substance to it can be turned into jewelry. So, Ta Da! Here is my air plant brooch fastened with some copper wire that has been bent into a pin. It just so happens that today I am without jewelry ( the necklace doesn't count, that's always on), due to gym routine and early morning blearyness.

So, I am excited to have my new adornment and conversation starter for the day. This is also to my advantage since I am heading to a networking event tonight! All good things. Thank you tiny air plant and random officeness.

Fish Dish

I am heading to the grocery store later this evening, but the new year and fresh start spirit has me cleaning through the remainder of the odds and ends in the fridge. So, I have a random dish that I threw together based on frozen and canned goods. The result, a lovely fish dish with bright flavors and an Italian / French vibe. I really enjoy a good cupboard challenge. Here's what I have on hand and that's it, go, make something with it. The results are rather refreshing. It's something like dressing yourself on laundry day. Not a lot of options but a lot of previously unseen possibility.

Fish Dish with a Italian / French Vibe ala Carra

pre heat oven to roughly 370 - I don't have #'s in my oven so I really have no clue what the thing cooks at.
(Hence the lack of baking skills and lack of baking type recipes that will appear on this project.)

4 - 5 frozen pollock filets
1 bag frozen peas
1 jar marinara sauce
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
3/4 c green / kalamata olives
1 tbs capers
oregano & rosemary ( I have fresh growing in an herb box in the yard, so having a little really punched the dish up but dry can achieve the same thing, well, almost.)
1 tbs olive oil
1-2 tbs wine - I was drinking red, so that's what happened
salt and pepper to taste

rice 2 c + 4 c water and 1 cube veggie bullion (chopped up) and steamed in a rice cooker ='s RICE!!
Don't have a rice cooker? Well, that sucks for you. I don't know how to cook rice without one.

dice onion and garlic, saute in large skillet until tender / clearish with the olive oil- 5 min
chop up olives, watch out for pits and finger tips!
add olives, capers, herbs,seasoning and marinara to pan, heat through until almost bubbling - 3 min
pour peas in the bottom of a 9x9 or a little larger evenly place fish filets over the peas
pour the sauce over the dish evenly
bake for the time it takes to enjoy a glass of wine, which evens out to be 20-25 min
( I really encourage light to moderate drinking while cooking, makes things more fun, even more sporting. At the very least, it's relaxing.)
poke it for doneness but since the sauce going in was hot, it will cook pretty quick.

Pul the dish from the oven and let stand for 5 min, helps it to be happy.

Serve yummyness over rice. Enjoy family style!

Kivi approved!

Simple Soup

Busy days at home are going to be a very hard obstacle to get around, but here's a good attempt at making soup out of almost nothing. The holiday crazy has left me without the grocery store goods in over two weeks and there was no way I was leaving the house in my state of get it done messiness! So, soup it is. This concoction was borne of all the leftover bits and canned / frozen goods that I found about the kitchen.

Creamy Veggie Soup -
4 c pasta water ( reserved pasta water, leftover from cooking pasta the night before makes an awesome soup starter / thickener)
1 1/2 c milk
1 can cream of celery
1/2 c potato flakes
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c parmesan cheese
2 c cooked rice
1 can black eyed peas
1 tsp tarragon
3 tsp Penzy's Fox Point Seasoning
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce sauce
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbs salt ( big pot of soup here)
2 tbs butter
1 bag frozen mixed veggies - peas beans, carrots, corn

dice onion and garlic and saute in pan with butter
after softening to clear-ish state, aprx 5 min, add all liquids and soup
bring to simmer, stir in potato flakes with whisk ( acts as a thickener )
throw in everything else and stir a few good times, let come to a slow simmer and turn heat off, let stand 5 min and serve with gigantic slab of rustic bread

6-8 servings

it was yummy and leftovers are amazing!

Day 1, Fail, but well

OK, so, I was planning on making some awesome New Year Nachos (black eyed peas make them special, it's a southern thing, black eyed peas bring luck and wealth in the new year eaten on the day of), but the day got away, and friends and family were to blame. We had an awesome lunch at Pho So 1 with Helen and Adrian who were visiting RVA for the holiday. After working really, really hard on the house we got an awesome surprise and we were made dinner. So, I made an appetizer of the strangest thing ever that I found at Ikea from the trip up on Friday, Crab Spread and Fake Caviar made from seaweed. It was delish, tho no one else would dare to try. So, I am easing into this whole thing. Not too bad for new years day.

Happy New Year

Ok, so, thanks to a good friend of mine,Noah Scalin and his book 365 Creativity Journal, I am attempting a slightly insane project attempt. So, for the year of 2012, I will be creating something each day, to hopefully help me get out of my creative rut and regain a sense of self. So, for the next year I will be either making a piece of jewelry OR cooking / baking. Hence Pancakes and Pendants, two of my favorite things to make, neither of which am I very good at but it's the creative journey and the inventiveness that matters.

For those of you who know me, I know what you are thinking, that cooking is like cheating, but I am challenging myself and my writing skills and I will be WRITING DOWN all of the recipes that I will be making and posting them on the blog with the pics and events of the day. So there will actually be written documentation of the foods that I make. ( you are welcome KM. )

Wish me luck and please try to beat me along the way, I will need inspiration and a bit of motivation, especially when the going gets tough and life tries to take over.

Best wishes to all for 2012. Here goes!