Update in photos

Photos from my life the past few days

Fresh fresh fresh

Even though I hate the heat, you really can't beat Summer foods :) fresh corn on the cob and juicy watermelon! And for tomorrow a romaine salad with fresh-from-the-garden cucumbers. I haven't figured out what to do with all of the cucumbers I get actually: salads, dip, raw? What do you like to make with them?

Xoxoxo - Amy

Mmmmm!

Lime tilapia fish tacos for dinner tonight! Fresh beans from the garden! Yummmmm!

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Made chicken soup from scratch for the second time this year! Kirk was sick last week when I first attempted making it and it came out pretty darn good. (at least thats what he told me since I'm a vegetarian) This second time around I have mended my mistakes and hopefully tonight it will be really darn good :) Thought I'd share the recipe I've been toying around with:

Ingredients

• 4 cups chopped, cooked chicken meat
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 8 ounces egg noodles
• 12 cups water
• 9 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

Directions

1. In a large stock pot, saute celery and onion in butter or margarine.
2. Add chicken, carrots, water, bouillon cubes, marjoram, black pepper, bay leaf, and parsley. Simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Add noodles, and simmer for 10 more minutes.

photo courtesy of the eclectic cook

One More Day

Ahh So tired from the show today! The best thing to come home to is a bowl of TJ Butternut squash soup and a hot pot of green tea. Rejuvenation at it's finest :)

Update in Photos

Wow, so it's been a good while since I last posted, and you know me, I'm better at showing than telling, so here are a bunch of photos from the past few weeks:

spent some time at the outerbanks with Kirk's lovely family

our kitties exhausted from the 105 degree day a few weeks ago

pretty packages to be sent

a tiny tissue holder I sewed!

seeds started for the fall crop

Insane Japanese shishigatani (pumpkin) taking over the yard

Japanese Sun gold cherry tomatoes

These Japanese cucumbers grow longer than 2 feet!

A baby pumpkin peeking out

The flowers on the shishigatani are enormous and they bloom only in the earliest morning hours

Chicken fertilizer from our very own

A stray cucumber crowing on the bean vine

So the photos ended up being mostly about the garden, oh well. I will try to get a post up about Artscape in the future! Hope you all are doing fine and happy!

xoxoxox

-Amy

Garden Update: Carrots and tomatoes

Things have been getting busy around here again! Artscape is looming closer and closer and it's finally starting to feel real: I have so very much production work to finish! 

We've been getting some nice sunny days recently and the garden has grown by leaps and bounds. Out of the 3 black skinned watermelon, 2 have set nicely as well as my two sanjaku (Japanese cucumbers). They are sending out little tendrils and climbing out of my raised bed. 

I harvested a small section of carrots today that I planted back in April, they are more of a baby type organic carrot and are super sweet! I also for the first time have saved seed from an organic lettuce crop that went out a bit earlier than I had expected (last photo). I'm excited to try planting these seeds once more in a few days.

Hope you all are doing grand! 

xoxoxo -Amy

Food I'm loving

I've been busy in the kitchen the last few days, thought I'd share some of my favorite creations. I've been trying really hard to like salad (what kind of vegetarian doesn't love salad...? me...) so I've been spicing up those boring green leaves with more lovable ingredients like the one pictured above. My mom gave me some Chia seeds which are supposedly all the health food rage right now. I've been sprinkling them on salads and in my oatmeal. They're actually pretty tasty if you can get over the tapioca like texture.

The other thing I've been trying really hard to do is make my own hand rolled sushi/maki rolls. The ones pictured are just a plain seasoned rice roll and they were 美味しい  (delicious)!  

The last photo is not something I made but Jacques Torres chocolates my Mom got me when we were in NY a few days ago and I'm so in love with the "wicked fun" flavor which is a ganache with  ancho and chipotle chiles! 

What foods are you all loving right now? 

Fall is in Swing

Finished putting together all of the Fall Home Show Invites this afternoon! I decided to make them this year instead of having them printed as postcards like I've done in the past. They are a bit more whimsical but I think it goes along well with my new work. If you would enjoy receiving a mailed version, just shoot me an e-mail with your mailing address and I'll gladly send one over to you!

Also, I created a page on the website devoted to the Home Show this year. So if you haven't seen it yet, you can take a peak here!

In other news, I'm doing some redecorating in my studio. Ever since I came back from Omoi in Philly, I just can't get the image of their side wall out of my head. It was covered in Black and white Japanese Manga drawings and it just looked so cool! I'm trying to figure out how to recreate a similar look. Also, I decided to try my hand at apple sauce tonight. It came out tasty but had a way smoother texture than store bought apple sauce. It was a good first try at least! 

What kinds of Fall food do you like to cook?

Garden Fresh Dinner

Tonight I fixed the first dish that used vegetables from the garden! I was so excited. The baby spinach was ready so I made tomato and spinach toasts which are super healthy, super delicious, and quick! The fresh spinach tasted so much better than what I buy at the store! 

Here is my recipe if you want to try it sometime:

Tomato and Spinach Toast

Ingredients:

- 1 cup sliced grape tomatoes

- 1/2 cup minced onion

- 2 cups baby spinach

- Garlic (however much you like!)

-Garlic salt

- 2 tbls. butter (non-dairy for me)

-Italian herbs for taste

- 4 pieces of toast

Directions:

1) saute onion and garlic with butter on medium high heat until onions begin to caramelize.

2) Add tomatoes and garlic salt,  cook on medium heat for 3 - 4 min.

3) Toss in spinach and stir/ saute for another 3 min or until spinach shrinks and becomes  dark green.

4) Divide into four and serve hot over crisp toast. Enjoy!

Update in Photos

It's the weekend! I guess I forgot that I have a blog :) Here is a quick update in photos of what I've been up to recently not necessarily in order!  Try to keep up: 

1) Finished up my last Show of 2009 at Dulaney's Holiday Bazaar, it snowed! Really nice show met a lot of nice crafty folks. 

2) Almost done my custom orders YAY! 

3) Beginning my Holiday baking extravaganza including, and not limited to: Sugar cookies, peppermint yule log, apple pie, spritz, and a ginger bread house.

4)Studying Japanese Language, I've graduated from hiragana and onto Kanji now. Tokyo here I come!

5) Got some Christmas spirit into the house and also some destroyed by the kitties.

6) Perfected my rice ball (onigiri) making to some extent they tasted great :)

what have you all been up to?  Have a lovely rest of the weekend!

Updates!

Hello! Sorry for the short hiatus from the blog! I've been super busy this last week. Did another show this weekend to benefit my church. It was an unusually short show that went for only 3 hours. Pleasant, warm, and left me time to clean the house.  My goal this week is to finish all of my custom orders before Thanksgiving! We will see. Then I have one more show at Dulaney High School's Holiday Bazaar on the 5th of Dec. before I call it a year! I'm looking forward to the little break between shows to focus on my metalsmithing and holiday baking! So excited! 

One of the layer cakes I'm going to make on my break!

did you know that in Japan, Christmas is celebrated with Strawberry shortcake and KFC Chicken? 

Running Around

Yet another gray day here in Baltimore. I've been running all over delivering orders and sending packages out at the Post office. It seems like my experience at the Post office varies depending on who I get at the counter... I was told today that I could not get delivery confirmation for any of my packages because they were too small. Even though I've ALWAYS gotten it and I haven't changed my packaging in ages. Who knows. On a lighter note, finished baking these divine sweet potato tea biscuits.  Now I'm off to refill my collections gearing up for Ridgley's show on the 14th.  Have a great Halloween Weekend everyone!

What I'm working On

So I've been experimenting again with Polymer  and I think I really like the new techniques I'm working on! Here is just an example of a pin design that is in the works. I'll have more photos to come!

Also tonight I'm making Japanese Curry, or "Kare Raisu" and I"m pretty excited about it. Curry became popular in Japan during the Meiji era when India was under British administration. Popular curry dishes include Curry served inside bread (Kare Pan) and Curry served over noodles (Kare Udon) What is your favorite dish to make?