Winter's Nearly Over Beet and Orange Salad

The sun has been starting to shine a bit here in the Pacific Northwest.  Not enough to pull out the capri pants yet, but I saw crocuses blooming on my walk today and the sky is so gloriously blue that it is making me start fantasizing about spring salads.  This salad has all the feel of a spring salad but made with readily available winter ingredients: beets, Cara Cara oranges, and spinach. 

It's actually two salads in one.  Instead of serving them separately, I present them on one plate for a really lovely presentation.

Sewing for Broke (And Corgis)

I was a crazed, sewing fool earlier this week...until my sewing machine broke.  I was immersed in a couple of sewing projects and was pretty mad when it happened.  It's an inexpensive Elna and while it's over 10 years old (they don't make 'em like they used to) I decided instead of repairing it to buy a new machine.  Maybe I will still have it repaired as a back up, but I thought it was time to get a little fancier machine that can handle more than just 8 stitches!

Spirals and American Hustle Soundtrack

 

Two things I am obsessed about this week:  My new spiralizer and the American Hustle soundtrack. 

We saw American Hustle a few weeks ago and at the time, I thought it was pretty entertaining, but didn't think about it much more than that.  Yet in the last couple of weeks, I have found myself thinking about the performances, the story, the music, and I have decided that I absolutely love this movie.  It does wax fairly nostalgic for the 70's and happens to make that time period look a lot sexier than I remember it to be. (Side note: I can't get over the facts, for some reason, that Christian Bale and I are the same age and that it seems that Bradley Cooper keeps playing the same roll over and over.) 

Doodles in the Sketchbook

I've been drawing like crazy lately.  Maybe it's because I am still getting over my cold and finding myself in front of Netflix many evenings.  Or maybe because I am in the middle of redoing both my blog and artist website and suddenly, the need to draw over takes any need to organize photos, check and refine old links, redesign logos etc.

Year of the Horse Needle Felted Sculpture Tutorial

This is now the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese calendar.   Chinese New Year is a big deal here in Tacoma,  Every new year (this year it was January 31st), a group of super secret glass artists distribute and hide 100's of glass spheres (Monkeyshines) all over the city.  I have never found one.  But then again, a lot of my friends get up at 5 AM to go find them and I come along 4 hours later and come up empty.  Oh well, one day I will find one!

Instead of a sphere, I decided to make a needle felted year of the horse sculpture.

How Did I Live So Long Without a Spiralizer?

As you learn to cook more using whole foods, you start to get bored of the normal knife work in chopping up a carrot, zucchini, etc.  You crave different textures.  That is where some unique kitchen gadgets step in and make life a little more interesting.  

I was looking to purchase a spiralizer for veggies and was baffled by all the options offered online.  A friend, who is also a veggie fanatic, had purchased several gadgets and offered to let me try them out.