Victory, sweet victory

As I laid in bed waking up this morning, I was determined to not let my failures yesterday stop me so soon. So I threw on a sweatshirt and slippers and not even stopping for any morning tea went down to my studio and conquered that solder! Ahhh...it was so nice to see that solder flow. Of course, this ring is by no means perfect or really well done. I dropped the stone when fitting the bezel and broke it in half. Then proceeded to krazy glue it together (and to my self for a while as well!), I don't have the right polishing agents, so it's not quite as pretty as I would like it to be, I realized some solder didn't actually take and the tip isn't soldered correctly, and this was my very first attempt at doing a bezel (the part that wraps around the stone). But all in all, I'm very pleased and happy with the outcome! I will wear it proudly and puff up my chest, even though anyone who really knows anything about working with jewelry would most likely scoff at my elementary attempts. But I won't care, I'll flaunt it around and get a tan line around it.

Look for more to come hopefully soon!!!

Devonly.,

Yours

*Disclaimer: I know this may look like some other pieces that you've seen out there that are created by others. I in no way mean to copy or "steal" anyone's designs. I merely am trying to teach myself how to make things and am inspired by so many other artists. I truly am looking for my own voice with my art and I feel by exploring many other styles and concepts I will eventually find my own. So I sincerely hope and pray I have made no enemies by taking a wonderful idea and attempting it myself.

As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? Well, today when life gave me the wrong kind of solder that wasn't working on my long awaited jewelry project, I made chocolate chip cookies. That's what I love about cooking and baking - I know exactly what to do and most likely I have all the tools and ingredients already here. And if I don't, there are a million places I could find them within minutes from my front door. I don't have to order anything online that takes weeks to arrive. Thus, the great difference between cooking and silversmithing. Anyways, the dough is setting in the fridge, so I can't yet attest to their wonderfulness, but let's just say that both Harley and I are licking up any crumbs of dough that has splattered around the kitchen. In the raw, the dough is so good! I'm sure the cookies will be jut as divine.

Onto another note: You'll have to forgive me for being absent for (eek-gads!) months! I didn't really intend to take such a break, but here it is February and my last post was about using up Thanksgiving Day left-overs. I haven't been terribly busy per se - I mean, beyond the normal state of steady chaos that my life runs at - I just have been floundering at life. I have this terrible habit of finally being comfortable at one place in my life and then having a mini-crisis of sorts where I feel like I'm not doing what I should and quickly I'm planning my next greatest endeavor in life. My soul begins to scratch at my insides and won't let me rest until I'm well underway in investigating what it wants and doing some serious soul searching.

So, what does that next thing look like for me? Well, I don't really know yet. I know it involves dedicating more time to art and hopefully jewelry. (For christmas, Jason set my studio up and just today I was attempting to make my first piece. However, there are a lot of tools and supplies needed for one simple item, and it's very frustrating to do anything without them all. So, needless to say, I wish I had something to show you, but it would all look like scraps and random bits of things. Hopefully I will have something to share soon though!) Anyways...oh, yes - art and jewelry. I never have allowed myself scheduled time to pursue art the way I have always wanted to, and I think that is what my insides are telling me this time. And perhaps (hopefully!) this next step also involves some major veggies and chickens...but more to come on that later! So I hope to be doing some postings of a little different sort coming up soon and I hope that you'll enjoy them as much as I will!

Until next time,

Devonly,

Yours

Turkey Turkey, Soup Soup

Confession: I don't really like Thanksgiving dinner. But somehow I keep making it every year. I guess some traditions are like that: you don't question what they are, you just keep doing it because you've always done it that way. So, I keep making the traditional dishes (and lots of it!!) every year and am stuck with a fridge full of left-overs I don't really want to eat anyways, and then I just wait until they have probably been in there too long to still be considered safe to eat and I can justify throwing away the pounds of food - probably enough to feed a starving village somewhere...ones with lots of flies everywhere.

But this year, I am determined to eat what I can stomach and make it into something I will actually like. And this winter has been the winter of soups for me - I've probably made one a week at least since the first scarf came out of the closet to warm my chilly neck. This soup is easy to prepare, and you will most likely have all the ingredients sitting around in your fridge anyways. And, dare I might say, your house just might smell even better than it did on Thanksgiving. You can also add any other veggies you have on hand (mushrooms, leek, etc.), these are just the ones I used.

You will need:

1 TB olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion (I even used green onions)
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup rice
2 cups turkey - pulled apart or chopped
6-10 cups water
4 stems kale, pulled from the stalk and chopped
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over med-high heat. Add the onions, celery, and carrot. Stir occasionally until the veggies start to get soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for about one minute. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the rice and stir for one minute. Add in the turkey and enough water to cover the ingredients by about 1/2 inch. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 2. Stir in the kale and herbs, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. You can add more water at this point too if it's too thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

So, if you're as sick of turkey sandwiches by now as I am, make this soup and you won't even know you're eating left-overs! Enjoy!

Devonly, yours

Goodie-Goodie-Gumdrop Salad

No, this salad doesn't have gumdrops in it, but it sure has lots of goodies in it! And it's super yummy, perhaps causing you to exclaim "goodie-goodie-gumdrops!!" while consuming it bowl after bowl (which is what I've been doing lately!) You can mix-and-match veggies as you please or to what's in season. Either way you toss it, this salad is a great staple to any recipe library and keeps for a few days, so lunch is all ready and dinner's side dish is waiting for you when you get home.

You will need*:

6 cups chopped dark greens (kale, chard, mustard, etc.)

1 1/2 cups cooked, cooled grains (lentils, wild rice, quinoa)

2-3 cups chopped assorted veggies (tomatoes, celery, carrots, onion, radish, fennel, broccoli)

1 lemon

1/3 cup well-stirred tahini

2 TB water

2 garlic cloves

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. sugar

To prepare salad, combine all the veggies in a LARGE bowl, set aside.

To make dressing**, combine the zest and all the juice of the lemon in a blender with the remaining ingredients***. Buzz a while till smooth and creamy. Toss with the veggies, and WA-LA! A wonderful year-round salad.

*In the salad I have pictured here (and if you're short on time and/or are close to a Trader Joe's), I combined TJ's chopped Southern Greens Blend, a pouch of TJ's pre-cooked Black Beluga Lentils, tomatoes, carrot, celery, and red onion.

Devonly, yours

**Recipe courtesy Epicurious.com


***You can also add a blop of honey if you want it a little sweeter, or some herbs or spices if you're feeling spicy

****My apologies for the funny spacing in the posts recently, I am being forced to post in IE as opposed to Firefox, and it makes all my spacing jankitty-like*****

*****Phew! That was a lot of footnotes!!

Pumpkin Cake with Ginger-Buttermilk Glaze

If you're like me and made the pumpkin butter recipe from last week you feel like you still have a bunch left over even after putting it on and in anything you are consuming. So, that means it's time to make pumpkin cake! There's nothing I love more than smelling something containing pumpkin baking away in my oven. And especially if it's topped with a gingery goodness! So, when life gives you pumpkin butter, make pumpkin cake!

You will need:

Cake:

2 1/2 cups pumpkin butter*

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

Glaze:

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup sugar

2 TB. butter

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1 TB. fresh ginger, minced

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a tube pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Step 2: Beat together eggs and butter in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Add in the vanilla, pumpkin butter, and buttermilk. Beat until combined.

Step 3: In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt.

Step 4: Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixer in two batches, mixing completely between each batch. Pour into the prepared tube pan and bake 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Step 5: Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then turn over onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Step 6: Make glaze: Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and drizzle over the cake.

Enjoy!
Devonly, yours

*If you do not have the pumpkin butter, you can substitute a 15oz can of pumpkin puree into the wet ingredients and 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp. Cinnamon, 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1/2 tsp. cloves, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp. allspice into the flour mixture.

Not So Fast!!

This last weekend Jason and I did one last yard clean-up and prep for winter. It's so bittersweet pulling out all the vegetable plants that you nurtured and cared for all summer long and reaped such yummy produce from. But, they would have shriveled up and died anyways, so I guess I'm doing them the respectful duty of taking them while they still have some beauty, no?

Anyways, that's not my point. My point is: some of those dead things in your yard are actually quite beautiful and can still be put to some use. I saved some of the more odd and unique clippings from dead-heading my plants for the winter and some general pruning. Just arrange them together like you would a bouquet, and you have a lovely fall focal piece. If you have a lot of darker-colored dead-heading, it would be kind of a spooky porch-piece for Halloween. Too bad I decided to prune the day after...oh, well...Next year for sure!

It just might take some creativity and unlikely pairings. For my fall's end bouquet, i have clippings from:

Lavendar
Crocosmia
Arugula flowers
The last withering hydrangea flowers
Barberry

Dried fenel flowers

Devonly, yours

Currently Reading

These are the books I have just finished, am currently reading, or am reading next (minus Marquez's Chronicles of a Death Foretold, which has been returned to it's owner..swoon!). And I will be reading them all in my lovely new chair. What are you reading?

Confessions of a reader:



1. I am quite sporadic in my reading. It could take me 3 days to 9 months to finish a book. Which, when doing the latter, is quite hard to follow an intricate story.



2. I'm rather rough on my books. I like to carry the one I'm reading with me - everywhere - in case I get the opportune time to hunker down in a cafe for a while with it. This means it's tossed into the large curjumbled abyss that is my purse along with other things that may or may not consist of that day's lunch, keys and general purse items, shoes (yes, my purse IS that big), water bottle, and perhaps a day's errand purchase or two.

3. I really don't read that much. Not nearly as much as I'd like to. It's getting better, but very slowly. Reading is an activity that I have to be sitting still, for a while and give all my attention to it. Therefore, this usually doesn't happen very often at home. Lately, Jason and I have been going to our local pub and he will work and I will read. This is the ONLY reason I still know anything that's going on or can keep any of the characters straight in Wuthering Heights.

Devonly, yours