by Susan Lobb Porter | All things Chocolate, Family, Life |
Grandbaby, AKA Missy B, came for a visit.
Toddler in the house!
At the park.
In the doctor’s office.
Quick recovery. At the park again.
Walking with Dad (AKA FirstBorn)
Visiting Grandma’s ponies.
Hangin’ upside down.
It’s been an awesome five days. An exhausting five days. Now she’s on her way back home to her own house, her own routine. I will miss her full on the lips sloppy wet kisses. Her tiny little voice and her beautiful smile. Most of all I will miss her sense of style.
Sigh…
And then…JUMP UP AND DOWN because YAY!, it’s the New Year. Fresh start. New intentions. Computer back from the shop and I’m rarin’ to go. Get your seatbelts on, lovies, ’cause it’s going to be quite the ride in artland/blogland this year. Oh yes indeed. I’ll be sharing this all with you shortly so stay tuned.
But first, a look at the final indulgence of 2011 to grace my table. Grace my lips. Keep me up waaay past my bedtime in a carb and saturated fat induced blitz.
Can you say Belgian Chocolate? Can you say White chocolate? Can you say Key Lime? Can you say Tiramisooooooooo I’m in luuuuuuv with you???? Can you say holy crap this is AMAZING???
We split five of these among five adults. Had two and a half left over. They were that rich.
And now, for the month of January, it’s back to green smoothies and eating clean. And you know what? I’m looking forward to it.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Everyday Ordinary, Food, Photography |
I likes me my veggies. Like ’em a lot. So I spend a lot of time in the produce aisle checkin’ things out. The other day I wrote about the newest item in my holy crap! that’s amazing!!! dept. Broccoli Romanesco. Check Produce Art, Part 1 if you missed it. Because it’s cool. Really. Especially if you’re into patterns.
Today it’s all about color. About things so pretty you just want to eat them. It’s about finding beauty wherever you are–in this case, the produce dept. of the local co-op.
Winter squash. What’s your favorite way of cooking it? My friend Dieter makes a lot of butternut squash soup. I grew up with acorn squash baked with butter and brown sugar. Now that I’m all grown up I like it best with butter, a little salt and pepper. The Delicata Squash, the narrow one with yellow stripes, is easy to saute like zucchini. But it doesn’t taste like zucchini, it’s still the winter squash sweet.
Right next to the squash were the persimmons.
Fat luscious orange orbs. Then came the pears.
Gorgeous red pears that probably go by another name. Look at that pallet. I did some paintings recently using those colors. Love love love the orange and dark red combination. Not to mention the lime green zing. Oolala–another painting positively screaming to be made.
There were lots of pears. my favorite fruit for a still life. Or basic drawing lessons with charcoal. Form and volume. Light and shadow. Remind me of luscious fat bottomed women, the best kind to draw.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Everyday Ordinary, Food, Photography |
I stopped by the co-op after work today. Grabbed a couple of oranges and then whoa–did a double take.
What the heck is that???
That, my dearies, is Broccoli Romanesco. Which, according to my research, is a vegetable with an identity problem. In some parts of the world it’s considered a cabbage. In others, cauliflower. It’s not broccoli although you’d never know that from the name. I’ve never seen it before but OMG, it’s SO freakin’ GORGEOUS, don’t you think? Seriously, you CANNOT beat mother nature when it comes to cool designs.
Mother Nature obviously paid attention during geometry class. LOOK at the pattern. Just look at it. Since I didn’t pay attention during geometry–I was an art major, remember–I came home and looked it up. This is called a fractal form. If I understand this correctly, the pattern repeats itself small and smaller until the cellular structure of the material reaches it’s limits. So every little bump is identical to every other. Except smaller. That means even the tiniest bump you see has that crazy spiral pattern ad infinitum.
Makes me dizzy thinking about it.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Food, Life |
I’m writing this post on Thanksgiving day. Got one pie cooked (pumpkin), another in the oven (apple). We did the turkey thing last week when family was in town. Today we’ll dine on roast beef. And veggies, LOTS of veggies. Carrots and onions roasted with the beef. Broccoli and salad served on the side. And pie. Don’t forget the pie. A lot of food for just the three of us–Mr. Spouse, Darling Daughter and myself. Enough leftovers to take us through the next couple of days. Which is good ’cause most days I’ve got better things to do than hang out in the kitchen.
Like make art. I’m itching to do that right now. And I quite possibly will. It’s a low key kind of day, you see. Guests were last week. I could slip away and no one would notice. Mr. Spouse and Darling Daughter are happy watching football while Studio Grande calls to me. It’s a good place to be on a rainy, cold afternoon. A quiet place for meditation, introspection, creation.
But for now I’m in the kitchen, sitting at the table. My favorite place to write. I can look out the window. See the forest. And the gray skies. Check out the ever changing parade of wildlife. Deer. Coyotes. Jackrabbits. Squirrels. Sometimes a bobcat or a bear.
Or I can look to the right, at the purple wall I managed to get past Mr. Spouse’s conservative paint sensibilities when we repainted last spring, and enjoy some of my students’ art.
Sophie was sitting on Mr. Spouse’s chair until she was displaced by the spouse himself, come to check his email. We both leave our laptops on the table, you see. Now she’s awake and concerned…there’s a couple of pies cooling on the stovetop–the apple came out of the oven since I started this– and she can’t have at them.
Sometimes it’s tough being a dog.
I’ve got a couple hours free now that the last pie is baked. Mr. Spouse is back on the couch watching the game. Sophie has given up on the pie. I’m heading down to Studio Grande to meditate. Love on Studio Quat. And quite possibly, paint.
Before I go I’m leaving you with this. A marvelous video courtesy of my friend Judy Shreve. It’s short, under 10 minutes. And watching it will change your day for the better. Guaranteed.
by Susan Lobb Porter | Food, Life |
Family was in town over the weekend. We took advantage of the opportunity and celebrated Thanksgiving Saturday night. The whole non-enchilada enchilada. Turkey. Dressing. Mashed potatoes. Pumpkin pie. And yes, there were vegetables. Lots of greens–mustard, turnip, collards, kale–all chopped up and lightly sauteed in olive oil and garlic–the only healthy thing on the whole table.
I ate too much, felt like crap and swore off all non-essential edibles for maybe 12 hours. Typical post Thanksgiving pig-out remorse. Before going to bed I threw the remains in the stockpot and set the stove to simmer. By the time we woke up Sunday the entire house smelled like turkey soup.
But I was sooooo DONE with turkey.
I drained the stock, stuck it in the fridge and hoped it would just go away.
By Monday afternoon I was feeling kindly towards turkey again. So I took out the stock, dressed it up and turned it into soup. Some sort of cross between turkey and minestrone.
Check it out. Carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, kale, beans, turkey and stock. This is towards the end, after I tossed in a handful of Italian herbs.
Here is is with some shredded Parmesan cheese. Sourdough baguette, a little butter and that was dinner. Another option is to drop a big spoon of plain yoghurt right smack in the middle. Mmmm…yum.
And by the time Thanksgiving rolls around we’ll be done with the leftovers. YAY!!!
by Susan Lobb Porter | Food, Parents |
It’s Halloween, Mama’s first on the other side. So I baked some cookies tonight. Loaded them with her favorite stuff. I’ll sit down in the oak grove where we buried her ashes and share a couple with her. Probably should bring a beer for my Dad. He’s an old hand at this Halloween stuff. Been a ghostie now for a dozen years but it’s his first one in the ground with Mama. He spent all the others in a box on the cherry hutch. I’m sure he’s much happier now.
As far as cooking goes, I cook like I paint. It’s the mixed media approach. A little of this. Some of that. Never the same way twice which drives my family crazy but suits me just fine. Really. They can make their own cookies.
Edith’s Ghostly Cookies
Here’s what you’ll need. All that nice healthy stuff. Tell yourself that. It helps with the guilt. Oh, and one thing’s missing from the photo–vanilla. Remembered it in time for the batter.
The Rules:
- There must be REAL butter. If you don’t have real butter then go get some. Or steal your kid’s Halloween candy and forget the cookies. Really. Just forget them.
- Use at least 1/3 LESS sugar than normal. Half if you’re brave.
- Stop frequently and taste the batter. That’s the best part.
Ready? Okay.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup or less white sugar
- 1 cup or less brown sugar
- 2 eggs…or 1 if that’s all you’ve got
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- scant cup white flour
- scant cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup whole grain cereal (tonight’s cookies=oatmeal)
- chocolate chips to taste
- dried cranberries
- walnuts by the handful
Beat butter and sugar. Taste. Add eggs and vanilla. Taste. Add flour, baking soda, salt. Jump back when beater sends cloud of dry stuff flying at you. Mix it all together. Taste. Add oats. Taste. Sneak into bedroom with bowl. Lock the door. Eat the batter. Forget the cookies.
Or…. add the rest of the stuff. Chocolate chips. Cranberries. Walnuts. Lots of walnuts if Mr. Spouse isn’t home. At this point you may still forgo baking and just eat the batter. Or you can drop by the spoonful onto cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees until golden brown. Anywhere from 12 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your oven. Mine took 16 minutes.
Oh yum. Yum. Yum again–I can’t stand it!!! Now sit down with a cup of tea and a couple of these luscious little nubbins. Have a nice conversation with your favorite dead person. Wish them Happy Halloween.
