A favorite lunch

A favorite lunch lately has been this, or something similar. Goat cheese, avocado, kale, and sunflower seeds on wasa crispbread. The avocado is what makes it for me. Today I simply sliced it, rather than mashing it, and sprinkled homegrown sprouts on top. I like the crisp & creamy contrast. Actually, what I really like about this is how quickly I can put it together, because either I am totally hungry by the time I get home from teaching or if it's a studio day, I sometimes wait too long to eat. And by the time I go down for lunch, again, I'm really hungry. This lunch is usually accompanied by an apple with peanut butter and raisins or plain greek yogurt topped with frozen berries, agave nectar, and granola.

Soon, I will be sharing something with you that is a little more exciting (perhaps) than what I ate for lunch!

In the open air

This morning I sat looking north out my window, at the neighbor's green shed, at the dry peach colored ground and painted a couple small studies. After lunch on a whim I cleaned my travel palette, added fresh watercolor, and prepared some paper. Then at a little after two o'clock I set out on foot with paint, brushes, jar of water, and foldy chair in hand. Down by the creek next to the trails I sat and painted two studies of the water zig-zagging up to red twigs and a shadowy bridge. Lots of bikers and walkers were on the path above me and two young boys visited, wondering what on earth I was doing there. Later a yip yap dog barked at me but his person kept him at bay.

If the calendar didn't say February first I would have declared it was spring break. It was good to get outside and break from my routine.

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ps. Plus I recently finished this letterpress print, check it out! :)

for the love of quinoa

I am on a good-for-me food kick lately. Perhaps it started around Christmas when during the winter break I was able to take more time to prepare meals. Since then M. and I have eaten dinner at the table every night, with candles, placemats, cloth napkins, and nice music or simply quiet, rather than sitting in front of the television. And I love this new practice for the two of us. Another habit we are keeping up with are our walk/runs several times a week. He jogs back and forth to meet me while I fast walk.

This morning for breakfast I made cinnamon quinoa based from Heidi's recipe. So good. It stuck with me, which oatmeal does not.

My new favorite pasta is the quinoa pasta by Ancient Harvest. We attended a fabulous dinner party (great company and amazing food) over the weekend and I had that pasta for the first time, it has the best texture and is gluten free.

Recently I signed up for Amy Chaplin's newsletter and like her healthful food tips and her essentials pantry pdf. A couple weeks ago we made her creamy cauliflower soup with greens, using kale from our garden. The recipe is in the January issue of MSL and on her blog.

I am enjoying the The Cook without a Book Cookbook by Pam Anderson and like her lentils recipe for soft tacos and twice we have made the skillet potatoes and eggs for breakfast. She gives lots of ingredient options and suggests pairings in the recipes which are very flexible based on what we have on hand.

Sunday night we made (pork-free) Posole based on a recipe in Bon Appetit, but served it over polenta rather than using hominy. (didn't have hominy) It is very good and am glad we still have leftovers.

I am happy there is now an e-subscription available for Vegetarian Times!

Plus I am making a little list of nuts, seeds, and powders to order from nuts.com. Including chia seeds.

Sunday I started some alfalfa seeds in our sprouter. Looking forward to those.

And I think that's it from me for now. How about you, any food bits you want to share? Have you made anything lately that is so good you'll make it again?

Winter in the wetlands, on film

Like creatures we trodded thick paths and over mounds of dry grasses. Summer hides this winter carpet with water, frogs, dragonflies, and reflections of the blue sky.

The wind rustled while pointed stripes of geese answered overhead in the sun's last gloaming.

(Click through images by clicking at the right of the photo. A little more here.)

Beginning

A few highlights from lately:

Over this winter break I have actually enjoyed cooking. We got cuts of salmon and trout that we prepared at Christmas with wild rice in roasted delicata squash (from our garden) and fresh brussels sprouts. The salmon we baked with orange and honey and the next day the trout I simply pan seared lightly breaded and sprinkled with a little lemon. Gosh, it was so good. We never buy fish, so it was such a treat. I thought I was eating little morsels from heaven. And of course I have made cookies, homemade bread rolls, and cinnamon rolls, as you know.

The temperatures have been rather mild so we have been taking lots of walks. And I have discovered how much I enjoy finding things when out and about (which makes me miss living by forests and the ocean.) On Christmas I pocketed two holey rocks found by the river and recently I brought back a great piece of lightning burnt wood from the wetlands. I took a picture of it on film, and am about to send that roll off for processing.

New Year's Eve day was sunny and mild, which perhaps inspired a little fit of organization. I completely cleaned out the medicine cabinet and bathroom cabinet, then tackled the silverware drawer in the kitchen along with a few other drawers. It felt good to get those things done before the new year.

And with the new year comes new studio projects. Yesterday I freshened up the watercolor palette and began a new series. Plus I finished up the first letterpress card of the year, a small run I made as thank you notes for the preschoolers. And above you can see part of a new inspiration/idea wall for winter.

On January 9th Stephanie Levy begins a new Creative Courage e-course and I am happy to be among such a great line up of guests. You still have time to enroll!

Happy New Year!