Zen Cat Art

Happy Easter...

Yes, I know Easter was yesterday but it has taken me a day to fight off the sugar coma.

A delightful basket from Jim and Tracy, Michael and Hannah, and Jodi and Puddin'.  What fun!

Home-made hot crss buns.  So good.  One for breakfast, one with tea, a bite or two before bed.

Carrot Cake, the perfect thing after the ham and mashed potatoes.  Just a sliver, well...maybe two slivers.  A nibble here and there.

And I wasn't the only one down for the count.  Lots of cat treats and catnip may have played a part.

A good time was had by all...  

ChowderHeads... good soup!

Most of you know I'm a foodie, but as a subgroup of foodie, I am also a "soupie."  And ChowderHeads has good soup!

Above is my partially eaten bowl of sumptuous New England Clam Chowder.  I knew I was going to take the picture so I just gave it a taste...and kept going.  I couldn't help myself, hence the half eaten food shot.  The sandwich is a three cheese Panini.  It was good enough to come back a few days later and have it again.
And today, I brought Phil to test it out!  Soup comes in three sized bowels: baby bear (that I was eating), moma bear, and papa bear which is 16 oz and comes in a bread bowl that Phil loved.

This time I had the blissful lobster bisque and a Waldorf Chicken salad.  The salad was excellent and the bisque was beyond expectation (which was pretty high).

Amy is the lady (in blue) with the magic spoon.  Amber is in the background.  The menu includes soup, panini & wraps and salads.  There are some standards like the New England Clam chowder and some specials.  I was glad to have the lobster bisque today.  If you don't have time to sit they can pack it up for you or you can take home some right out of their refrigerator case and impress your family at dinner.
And just in case you are a desert person...

Sharing the space with Chowderheads is Love Hearts Bakery.  Chocolate Guinness cake, Morning Glory muffins, chocolate chip cookies, and more... and some of them vegan.  Allison could be the undoing of many a weight watcher but it would be such a delightful way to go, you couldn't hold it against her. 

Congratulations ladies! I think you have a wonderful place.  If you are in the neighborhood (202, just outside of town in Litchfield) please give them a try.  You won't regret it! 

Lemon Owls...

I sliced some lemons for a "ladies tea" last Friday and there were a few slices left over.  I thought I would make iced tea out of the tea left in the pot.  So the ice tea never happened and they sat in their dish for another day until it was time for them to go.  But I was reluctant, they were so thin and yellow and cheerful looking.  As I held this little guy up against the light, it looked like a little owl face to me.  And anyone who knows me will tell you that if you put two eyes on a paper bag, I will name it.  So I propped him up on the cactus that sits on the window over my sink.  And there he is, making me smile while I do dishes.  Not a bad thing.  Really.

His name is Kabosu.  (Japanese for lemon)

Cutting the lemon
the knife
leaves a little cathedral:
alcoves unguessed by the eye
that open acidulous glass
to the light; topazes
riding the droplets,
altars,
aromatic facades.
~from A Lemon by Pablo Neruda

Breakfast on the deck...

I'm enjoying all the autumn colors.  Even on my breakfast place.  And only 4 points on Weight Watchers.  And speaking of Weight Watchers, I am doing pretty well although I find the new system unnecessarily hard to figure out.  And essentially the same as the old system but with new books and calculators.  The food values are weighted toward whole foods instead of calculated on calories, fat & fiber content.  They are trying to get us to eat better.  But lets face it - they have to change the program periodically to get you to come back and to sell new products.  Weight loss is a big business.  That being said, the big bonus for me is that my blood sugar is much better when I'm on Weight Watchers and even if I weren't losing weight that would be a big plus!

The last summer vegetables...

The last red tomato in the patio pots.

I'll pick the green ones tomorrow and let them ripen on the window still.  We didn't get many but they were pretty good.  The local farm stand filled in nicely.
Time for a little ratatouille.  I guess you could call this "pre-touille."

And "post-touille."  OK, it was funnier when I thought of it than it looks in print.  The ratatouille was very tasty and I wish I had made more.  There was barely enough to freeze for another meal. 

Recipe: Catatouille (OK, so I can't let go of the touille part)
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
1 or 2 sweet red peppers
2 green frying (Italian) peppers
1 large or 2 small zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 med eggplant (I peel part of it but not all)
2 or three cans of Hunts Fire Roasted tomatoes (fire roasted is more important than brand - Muir Glen is also good. Regular size - you can see them in the before picture.
A bit of good olive oil.
Salt & pepper, and I like to add some cumin & a bit of sweet curry powder.  It smells like autumn to me. I also add basil from the garden and sometimes a bit of oregano but go easy or it will taste like spaghetti sauce. 

Chop everything into 1/2 to 3/4 inch dice - even size - and start the onion with a little oil, stirring it till it wilts and just start to brown.  I use a Le Creuset 7 qt "French" oven pot.  It's my absolute favorite pot!  After the onion is on it's way, I add the garlic making sure it doesn't burn and get bitter.  Then I add the peppers; stir them around a bit until they have a minute to mingle with the onions and garlic.  Then the squash and eggplant hop in and heat up while I open the cans of tomatoes.  Start with two cans of tomatoes (or one 28 oz).  You don't want to it be stewed tomato soup.  If I'm willing to part with any of my garden tomatoes, I'll put one of those in as well.  Add your chosen spices and simmer low and slow.  Taste after 45 minutes or an hour.   1 point for 2 cups on Weight Watchers, if you care.

I really wish I made more!    

I'm such a foodie...

I have been reading Judith Jones, The Pleasure of Cooking for One. 
Judith is the woman who had the foresight to publish Julia Child's first book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, along with other's almost as famous.  The recipes in this book are delicious.  I haven't made the souffle on the cover yet, but it's coming.

Here's a picture of an individual pineapple upside down cake that I tryed out before making it for company.  It was delicious and the larger version was a success.

I set the table, made tea in a pot, watched the snow come down and was rather pleased with the afternoon tea & yums.  

 
 

Irish Soda Bread

I love Irish Soda Bread!  This is kind I made for St. Patrick's Day. 

I think I will have to make another for Mother's Day.  After all, I'm a mom & I'm Irish. 

Yum!

Art & Bread...

I baked the most amazing loaf of bread today!  I love to bake bread but this is my first shot at Pain de Campagne.  I haven't baked any "artisan" bread in ages and I wasn't sure how it would work out.  But "nothing ventured, nothing gained."  

The recipe is from Brinna Sands of King Arthur Flour.  She starts by saying "I'm hoping that if I commit this recipe to print, as it stands now, that I will stop obsessing about it and be able to move on.  What I'm really afraid of is that, even then, I may not want to move on..."

It's made with a biga, the Italian name for a kind of pre-fermented dough or sponge.  Brinna says that the French have more complex names for this kind of thing but "biga seems to be a good name for a creature that has taken up habitation in your kitchen and keeps reappearing."  It will certainly keep showing up in mine!

Yesterday, after letting the mixed biga stand for several hours to develop complexity and flavor.  (I left mine for 6 hours having gone downstairs to paint and forgetting about it).  I covered it with a bit of plastic wrap and set it in the fridge.  Today I let it warm up for a few hours and then added the rest of the ingredients.  It does the last rise on a bread peel dusted with cornmeal and cooks in the oven on a baking stone. 

 You need to spray some water inside of the oven when it first goes in to make the crust crispy.  It steams and spits and works magic on the bread. 

When you take the loaf out of the oven, after about a minute, the bread starts to speak.  It makes the most wonderful crackling sound.  I was in awe.  I brought the bread on its rack into the studio with me so I could hear it and smell it while I finished the project I was working on.  It was wonderful. 

And the taste...truly sublime!

So it struck me that baking bread is like art.  The first thing that is required is "showing up at the canvas."  A long time before Nike coined "just do it" my Dad used the phrase to get moving when I was stalled with fear over something I wanted to accomplish.  If you want to paint you have to take out your paints and stand in front of the canvas.  If you want to make bread you have to take out the flour.  It may sound obvious but I have been reading some recipes for years with out trying them.

You have to know the basics.  Flour, water, salt and yeast.  Oil or watercolor, canvas or paper or cloth.

 You can't be afraid to experiment.   

And to get good at it, you have to do it again.

That's the good part.  You get to do the things you love, (baking and painting for me) again, and again, and again!

Spring... please...

There is still a pile of snow four foot high at the end of my driveway.  It's stilll going down to down to 17 degrees tonight but it was in the fifties today and these little darlings pushed their green pointy heads out of the ground reminding me that Spring is coming!  

Buddha - who has been up to his neck in snow several times this year - and once over his head at 18 inches - is finally enjoying the sun.

So Phil and I headed out to Great Barrington for a ride and a bit of breakfast.  Excellent bagels, even by New York standards, with a bit of lox and cream chese, a sunny window and a copy of the Sunday Times...bliss!

Sunday morning...

I love Sunday mornings.  It’s the one day of the week that usually has no agenda.  The one time I can feel totally guilt free taking off.  Sure, I could decide to clean the basement or paint the bathroom – those things need doing and weekends provide the time.  But somehow it’s more of a choice on Sunday than it would be on Saturday.  Getting up early on Saturday to do chores seems reasonable but if you get up early on Sunday it’s too quiet, too peaceful to crank up the lawnmower or start hammering nails on the deck.

So what is there to do?

In New York it was bagels and the New York Times.  But in CT it’s a forty-minute drive to the closest sudo-bagel, sold in a place that doesn’t even serve smoked salmon to go with it.  I know if you have lived in NY your jaw is hanging open in disbelief but it’s true.

When I was young it was either church or fishing.  Both were spiritual experiences for me.  My Dad was a wise man and I learned as much about being a good human being standing next to him on Jones Beach Pier as I did from our minister—who was a wonderful man but further away from my problems than my Dad.

Sundays are still a matter of food and reflection...my favorite tea in my favorite cup on the deck watching the sun creep across the lawn, listening to the birds.  If I sit still enough the chickadees will come and get my crumbs.  Throw in a home-made lemon apricot scone and it doesn't get much sweeter than this. 

I check the plum tomatoes that are beginning to turn red. 

Decide, yet again, not to throw out the scraggly pansy plant that keeps producing one more delicately beautiful flower. 

Watch the wild turkeys wander across the back lawn--the youngsters are growing up.  Toss some bread to the crows, throw a hand full of seed out for the chipmonks that race across the deck after each other.  Inhale the cool crisp air at its best before the heat of the day. 

Take another sip of tea. 

A full moring and not yet even 9 am.  Sure I have things to do.  And I will get to them, but not yet.  It's Sunday morning... and they can wait just a little longer. 

~*~ The recipe for the scones is on the right hand nav under pages. ~*~