Delicious and Lovely Too!

We have had local organic produce delivered weekly by Terra Organics for a good part of a year now. We used to belong to a CSA (community sponsored agriculture): you were allotted a certain amount of food each week that the farm produced. I found that tedious and slightly boring. I had to go to the farm every week and tromp through the dust or rain or mud and often we received the same items (like fennel) over and over again.

So we stopped with the farm share and went for a year with erratic visits to the farmers' market and a lot of guilt that we weren't doing a better job of eating "local". And then we discovered Terra Organics. They delivered! You could get fresh organic produce from your region! There was variety! If you didn't like something (like fava beans), you could request a substitution any time!

But now I am starting to see a similar pattern to the CSA. We get a huge bag of produce once a week and if I don't use it quickly, like in a day or two, I forget about it or push it out of my mind and then suddenly another week has gone by and we have yet another bulging bag of produce to try and shove in the fridge between the other bags of veggies slightly turning into mush. I even found a bag in the back of the fridge today that just contained brownish-green liquid. What it had been, I will never know.

So I am making a renewed effort to start using everything in the veggie delivery again. Luckily, Terra provides a helpful sheet of recipes every week, suggesting ways to use what is in the box.

This week the recipe sheet included Beet Hummus. I modified it slightly. (Less cumin, more garlic) and it is fantastic! The color is so bright and looks fabulous paired with the cucumber and multi-colored carrots that came from Terra as well.
Beet Hummus

4 medium sized beets, cooked, peeled, and cut into quarters
2 generous Tablespoons tahini
3 cloves garlic
5 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon cumin
salt to taste

To cook beets, scrub well and then cut off tops and bottoms. Place in sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 1/2 hour. If the beets are really big, you can always cut them in half so that they cook faster. Then run under cold water to remove the skins.

Combine beets with the rest of the ingredients in your food processor.

Process thoroughly. Check taste and texture. Add more lemon juice or water if it is too thick. Add more salt if necessary.
I love the color! The tahini and lemon cuts down the sweetness of the beets. One bite tastes like regular hummus; the next tastes like beets. I think this would be lovely as an appetizer with cucumber or pita triangles.

It's a nice twist to an old standby. I have been eating hummus for nearly 25 years since my sister married a Palestinian and brought home a ton of "exotic" recipes. So a little switch up is a good thing!

Don't Look! The Installation

Here's how my chandelier (and peacock if you look close!) look in the Madera Architectural Elements installation in downtown Tacoma. Except for the opening preview, you can only see the setting by peeping through holes cut into paper that is covering the windows.

Yes, that is a horse head on the bed! We thought we would have a little laugh with that.
Don't Look!

Saturday, Aug. 14-Sept. 14 view anytime from the sidewalk
Preview event: Thursday Aug. 19, 5-8 p.m.
Gallery 301, 301 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma

Things on My Mind

Whenever I have a lot to think about, I usually ignore those "important" things and start thinking about my garden instead. Like these sunflowers. They are right in front of the window of my studio where I work on cutting and filing my reclaimed tin pieces. I like to sit and gaze out at the sunflowers instead of thinking about my work:

• I have a mosaic project to work on but I set it aside until I know that my insurance will work out with installing on the park grounds. Which really means I'll get back to work on it probably by Monday, but I don't like to have things hanging.

• I have an anchor to finish sculpting an octopus upon (photos coming soon).

• I have my dinner party for 20 next Saturday--8 days away from now!!!

• I am going to a seminar at the Conference for Creative Entrepreneurs up in Seattle tomorrow and I must, MUST finish a fabulous necklace to wear to it to show off my mad skills.

But instead of doing any of that right now, I am thinking about my tomatoes. Look at these babies; they are so ready to step onto the spotlight of our dining plates.

Oh, yeah, I am also thinking about dessert. I made these flourless chocolate cakes with a hard whisky sauce tonight and they were delicious. I used some organic chile chocolate from Theo's and it added a nice little bite. But I already ate two, so I will try to refrain from eating any more (tonight).

Now You Can Look (Recycled Tin Chandelier)

I am happy to I have finished my recycled/reclaimed tin chandelier and it is now waiting to be installed in the storefront installation.

Here it is in the actual space it will be in and with a pink light bulb. I think it will look fabulous at night.

I love how it looks against the red wall in our dining room. I am sad to give it up to display for a while. I want it back in my house!

Don't Look!

I am working on a galvanized steel/reclaimed tin chandelier as part of an art installation in downtown Tacoma. The show is called "Don't Look" and a group I am a member of, Madera Architectural Elements, organized the whole thing.

The Volcano wrote up a nice little teaser for the show.

I have been wanting to make slightly more functional work with my reclaimed tin sculpture, and a hanging lamp seemed to be the ticket.

I have been cutting out dozens and dozens of little flowers and circles and filing and sanding them.

Then I have been selecting which pieces will look nice together in each dangle. It's very meditative and extremely satisfying for me to work on labor-intensive pieces like this.

I am using steel and freshwater pearls to create the "chains":

Here it is after just hanging a few of the chains on. I am really liking the look of it so far. I made the frame itself out of left over duct metal my friend Jennifer had lying in her basement. She is going to weld a stand for it and I will attach a light bulb in it as well.
I have to have it done by Monday, I will post photos of the completed project.

Don't Look!

Saturday, Aug. 14-Sept. 14 view anytime from the sidewalk
Preview events: Saturday, Aug. 14, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday Aug. 19, 5-8 p.m.
Gallery 301, 301 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma

Sketchbookapalooza: Drawing Day #2

In stead of counting the drawings themselves, I think I am going to count just the days that I work on the book. Remember, the theme is "in flight".

You can create your own sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project too!

Sketchbookapalooza: Drawing 1

I've decided I am going to share my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project with you, one drawing at at time.

I counted all the pages last night in this little book. 40. Back and front equals 80. So I am going to attempt to create a drawing a day for at least 80 days since I may make multiple drawings on some pages or I may do-over some other pages entirely.

After reading the info sent in my sketchbook packet, I realize some people get really creative with this project: they modify pages, make fold outs, even rebind the whole thing with new pages! But instead of trying to focus on flashy sketchbook tricks, I just want to focus on drawing.

I don't draw much anymore. I sketch constantly. I sketch new jewelry designs, I sketch mosaics, I sketch garden planting ideas, but I don't often just sit down and draw for the sake of drawing.

Which is why I signed up for this project. It is forcing me (in a good way) to draw a little bit every day for a few months. Maybe it will get me in the habit of drawing (not sketching) again.

My theme is "In Flight". When I asked some friends what they thought of when hearing the phrase "in flight" all responded with in flight movie or flying in an airplane etc. While I thought of planes, I also thought of animals that fly and spaceships and non-existent mythical beings that fly. So I am going to include a little bit of everything. Maybe it will be a mini encyclopaedia of everything that flies. I will see it when I get there.

A Perfect Summer Salad

I love all the fresh and delicious veggies we have been getting in our local organic produce delivery. I decided to make lunch today with the spinach and cucumber we received this morning.

I also have to stop at this time and give a shout out to our propane grill. Ever since we switched to propane from charcoal, I am out grilling in any type of weather. (Although today is no rough stretch as it is supposed to be around 81 F)

Grilled Chicken Spinach Salad

serves 4

Chicken and marinade:
4 boneless chicken breasts
3 cloves chopped garlic
juice of one lemon
2 T olive oil
salt and generous pepper

Dressing:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 T olive oil
1 T Champagne or other light vinegar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Salad:
1/2 cucumber, halved and thin sliced
3 green onions, coarse chopped
handful of cilantro, coarse chopped
1/4 red onion or sweet onion, thin sliced
1/2 pound baby spinach

To finish:
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 salt

Combine chicken with marinade ingredients and let sit for at least 15 minutes at room temperature. 30 is better.
Warm up your grill.

Combine dressing ingredients in large salad bowl. Add cucumber, green onions, cilantro, and red or white onion, red pepper flakes and combine well.

Add 1/2 pound spinach to veggies and dressing. Toss again.
Cook chicken on heated grill.

While chicken is cooking, turn on oven broiler.

Combine ricotta and salt and then spread out in broiler-proof pan. Broil 5-7 minutes, or until edges are starting to brown. Stir once during cooking.

To finish, divide greens between 4 plates. Top each salad with ricotta and sliced chicken breast.
Garnish with a lemon slice and crusty grilled bread. We paired this with lemonade and it was incredibly refreshing. Yum!

Sketchbookapalooza

I am taking part in a very fun art collaboration, the "Sketchbook Project", organized by the creative souls behind the Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, New York.

This co-op designs massive art projects with the premise that anyone who wants to participate, can.

The Sketchbook Project is a project in which you select one of their themes (I chose "In Flight"), you send them $25-$45 (depending on if you want your piece to be recorded digitally or not), they mail you a blank sketchbook (smallish and red-bound), you mail it back full of sketches and collage or whatever pertaining to your theme (by January 15, 2011), and then it tours the country with all the other sketchbooks other artists have made, and eventually ends up back at the Brooklyn Art Library where you can go and take a look. I paid the extra $20 so that I can view it online as well.
Fun! I just received mine in the mail today and I want to get started on it PRONTO, but I have a little too much other work that I need to be doing first. So I will think about it all week and hopefully start working on it by this weekend!

With still 89 days to sign up, you too can fill up a sketchbook! I would love to hear about other artists participating in this. My friend Ann introduced me to this project. I love the idea of making something and then letting it go out into the world without much control over who will see it or how it will be displayed!