My Succulents

I never knew I'd become a "plant lady." I used to kill plants all the time. Part of it was just me being so busy I'd forget to water them, and the other part was pure A.D.D...just plum forgetting them. With a lot of patience, care and attention, I have mended my ways and now enjoy a houseful of plants. I also never knew you could become addicted to plant-collecting. I have been looking forward to our weekly Saturday Farmer's Market trips for a new reason--succulents. Tony has (logically) advised me to only buy ONE succulent plant a week--tricky, but it gives me something to look forward to. When I get my new plant home, I have to decide which of my 1950s animal planters will be the most attractive home for the succulent. This is also something to look forward to. Here are some I've done in the last few weeks:

I've also discovered that they make a nice gift for my very special friends.

**Unrelated, but readers may be pleased to hear I got an A+ in my first college course...I know I was.

Dula and her Rice Wraps

Vladimir loves his new backyard...every night when we finally manage to drag him back inside, he passes out in his favorite chair and is comatose the rest of the evening...this is a good thing.

Tony bought and potted a Chocolate Mint plant...the only thing I can come up with to do with this is put it in some sort of sweet bread. Any other ideas?

Herbs handy at the back door

The tomato patch. Basically, I knew I needed to get the plants in STAT, so I really only planted tomatoes because I can't live without them. We planted 11 varieties of heirloom tomatoes including: 2 black brandywines, orange oxheart, red zebra, green zebra, mortgage lifter, rainbow, and Nebraska wedding...the other 3 I can't remember off the top of my head. Hopefully they thrive--since the garden is in my backyard this year, I think I'll have time to weed and water accordingly. I also planted a bunch more basil in there for pesto, and I'm trying a row of heirloom squash seeds a friend gave me (though it might be too late this year for seeds, we'll see).

This crazy vine (above) takes over the back fence, and since we moved in we've noticed a lot of the back neighbors (mostly immigrants from here and there) picking the leaves. Once Tony was back there and a lady asked "is it okay that we pick these?" and Tony of course told her that it was fine and asked her what she did with them.

This morning the doorbell rang and there was a light knocking, so I answered it. A sweet-faced woman stood there with a plate wrapped in foil. "For you and husband" she said to me. I asked what it was and she told me "wraps, for you and your husband." I didn't correct her, but I did ask her name (Dula) and thanked her a bunch of times.

The wraps are very much like a dolma--grape leaf wraps--they are filled with curried rice and chicken. Very delicous. I just can't believe how kind our neighbors are. Even when we were gardening, 5 or 6 people came over to introduce themselves. I already feel more at home in this house then in the last two apartments I've lived in. Hooray for the kindness of strangers.

Still Life: Unpacked

Well, things have finally slowed down, and I feel like I have some time to blog again. I haven't stopped any projects, but I've recently being doing nothing but projects. We're in the new house on 19th and Washington--and we LOVE it. It's a really old place with wood floors, big doors and the sweetest landlady we could ask for. Before doing much unpacking, I was determined to get some flowers on the porch: 3 hanging baskets, 1 window box (1 out of 4 done), and a standing bowl...it just makes me feel happy every morning when I go out to water them.

Below are some pictures of the house...really bad pictures, and we're way behind on unpacking so--look at those huge windows!

We'll get there. At least my flowers are looking good, the herbs are up and the garden is planted--more on that later.

A Rainbow of Chard

Prettiest Google image search = "rainbow chard"


The array of colorful photos that came up was quite pleasing to the eye. Now, what to do with rainbow chard? I'm not entirely sure...I've been adding the stalks to various stirfries, egg concoctions etc. As much as I'm enjoying the chard, I can believe I hadn't familiarized myself with it sooner. I'm going to play with sauteing the leaves tonight. Another foodstuff I'm loving lately is this rice mix I bought while at the Whole Foods store in Omaha:

It's slightly nutty with a really nice texture. I'll be bummed when it's all gone...which is soon.

So, as usual, I'm sorry that my posts aren't frequent but my laptop is "in the shop" for a while and I only have internet access while at work. Soon I'll have it back though, and I'll be back on it.

My composition class is stupid and boring, what did I expect? I'll get through it.

What I'm really excited about though, is my newest art project. "Swarm" is still a plan, but I don't have the space right now to work on it. Currently I've been dutifully turning out what I call my "coaster people." (pen and ink, some watercolor...people I've drawn on the backs of coasters from the bars) I have a date set in stone at the Zoo Bar for my art show: Sunday August 9th. Mark your calendars because I'm going to have about 3,000 of my little friends and I'd love all of you to come see what I've been (and will be doing) manically drawing for weeks now. Pictures soon...I did a Zombie Series I'm pretty proud of.

That's all I've got for now. Things are going really well, I'm happy and having a good time with everything I'm doing (even the apartment shopping Tony and I are doing is fun) and I look forward to sharing it all with you.

Still Here

Hey Readers! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my blog! I have been a busy busy girl for the last few weeks. I haven't played in the kitchen in so long!

Here's what I have been up to:

1. Seeing some really great shows at the Zoobar this month
2. Getting all of my school stuff in order...FAFSA, tuition payment, etc...start on April 2nd!
3. Trying to make room in the apartment for a massive art project I've been working on...involving watercolored bugs, lino cuts and huge sheets of paper...more later
4. Biking, Swimming, Running nearly everyday--sometimes more than once a day...swimming is coming along. I can freestyle the 1/2 mile now but when it comes to doing anything else after that, well, even biking home after that is exhausting...can't imagine biking 13 miles and running 3 after the swim yet. Still have 4 months til' triathlon.
5. Well, to be honest, the training is spreading me pretty thin and leaving me little energy for much else (something that will have to be assessed soon enough with school and all).
6. Trying to figure out where we're going to move to (our building is going to be bought by the antelope valley thing)...I'm definitely excited about this moving prospect because I'm tired of paying WAY too much in rent for this place.

That's really it...I'm going to snag Tony's camera and get some pictures of the art project up soon! I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the spring weather.

Taco Night

Okay, this is an awful picture-Tony was so hungry he was rushing me-but I had to include it anyway because my fish dishes are my favorites. Since we didn't really get to celebrate Valentine's Day on Saturday (stuck working), Tony and I made some badass fish tacos. Mostly Tony made them, but I was sous chef. First we made a chipotle mayonnaise out of 1/2 a beaten egg, adobe sauce and peppers, salt, lime juice and olive oil. We mixed that in with shredded cabbage, red onion and green onion and put it in the fridge to get all delicious. Then Tony taught me how to make a tempura batter (flour and club soda, which makes the air bubbles!) and we fried mahi mahi. Then we layered the slaw, fish and fresh avocado on a tortilla and squeezed some more lime on it. Voila! Delicious!This silicon frying screen is a must by the way.

Cold Day, Warm Oven

Sunday was my first day off in quite some time. So, how did I spend my day? In the kitchen. It wasn't one of those beautiful 50-60 degree days we've been having, so I didn't feel guilty hanging around the oven. I'm pretty proud of these loaves even if they are malformed and still dusty from the flour. My next bread undertaking will be a whole wheat flax seed. Possibly next Sunday. After baking my bread I cooked up some curried peanut soup. It was creamy, coconutty, spicy and our dinner guests loved it. I would have posted a picture, but we ate it all.

Katy (one of the aforementioned dinner guests) turned me on to a really neat cookbook she got at an imports store in Omaha (they sell it on amazon.com and at 10,000 villages too) called Simply in Season It is organized into the four seasons (and a fifth chapter called "all seasons") and encourages local, seasonal eating. In addition to a bounty of vegetarian recipes, there are many meat recipes too.

A sampling of winter recipes included: Golden Carrot Bake, Vegetable Vindaloo, Marrakesh Lamb Stew, Stuffed Beets, Maple Parsnip Soup (which I plan on trying next week) and many others. It is written by a group of Mennonites in British Columbia and does wax spiritual at times, but I don't have a problem with that--eating good food is a kind of spiritual connection. Anyhow, I've been enjoying this cookbook and plan on buying a few of the others should the recipes stack up in the kitchen.