I sold a photo... I sold a photo...

Apparently, my photos as photos are better than my photos as super-cool mats. :-P

Who'd-a-thunk?!?

I'm pretty stoked about the "Saturday shoppers" out there, being as I have gotten an order each of the last two weekends. Hopefully they'll order when I'm HOME on a weekend too!

Maybe later this week, I'll even post a few more pictures. 

The one thing that I'm NOT liking, is that in order to get a matte photo printed, I have to wait like, a week. Because there are NO PHOTO SHOPS in east-jabib-j-action-ville. Just Walgreen's and Walmart, and those both do matte (or luster) by mail only. What the heck? Ok, OK, there's the "Flash Foto" booth next to the sketchy bar attached to the tattoo parlor (I wish I was kidding), but I'm wary pulling into the parking lot, let alone walking up to the window.

I really hope that when we get to Virginia, there's a "regular" photo shop nearby... if not, oh well. Walmart will have to do.

Friday Post on Thursday :-P

So I was hoping I'd get to type here that I was a MASTER PAINTER and got ALL the paintings I was "supposed" to do this week *cough*month*cough* done. Instead, I decided to learn first-hand what one of the medieval torture methods felt like. And to think... I managed to do it while painting. I'll pause on that so people can stop reading later if they have weak stomachs ;). Needless to say, we ate well this week (What's for dinners to be blogged about... mmmmmm), but I did not get many paintings done. Only 8 more to go and then the big reveal this summer :-P I'm hoping for at least 1 tomorrow... but then it's gotta pause until after the move. At least they aren't taking as long to dry as I expected...

As far as Etsy goes, I have gotten a few questions as to some images, and a few sales (yay!) but had to raise my prices (boo!) hopefully it doesn't hurt the sales. I was TRULY giving stuff away ;)

I did finish another pair of BOOTIES for a friend of a friend. The yarn was so soft and silky! They feel fabulous!

So that's my crafty-ness this week... if icky owie things make you go "blech!" Stop reading here. It's been nice, see you next week. :-P











So medieval torture. I ripped my fingernail off. Not the whole thing (fortunately) and amazingly, I didn't even "break" the nail. I just ripped it off 1/4 of the way. OW!  I was trying to push paint out of a tube (old paint... OLD tube... not a good combo) and so I was using the table to push on it - like you do with the last of the toothpaste? And my hand slipped, and slammed into the table. And apparently, my fingernail went in the opposite direction as my finger. (makes ME cringe typing it. GROSS) I jerked back quickly, grabbed my hand, gasped, looked down, and was not comforted by the sight of blood. DARNIT! So I trimmed off my fingernail as close to my finger tip as I could ( I thought it was broken and wanted the smallest "flap" I could manage to have to deal with) and threw some antibiotic ointment and a couple of bandaids on before grabbing an ice pack and retreating to my comfiest chair with my hand over my head. I proceeded to sit like that the rest of the day, because I was now grumpy, in pain and mad that I didn't finish my painting. And that's no way to try and finish a portrait. This morning after my shower, I was brave enough to CAREFULLY remove the nail polish and discover that I did NOT break it (which is good - no flap) but i did trim it REALLY low - so I'm going to be uncomfortable for a few weeks now. Awesome. I was a little bummed that it wasn't gross - it looks like a regular finger nail still... just tender. I like it when my owies LOOK owie.  Plus, I was excited to possibly enter it in to the Hunduddle Hussy's Road Kill Contest (knowing full well it wouldn't win, but thought it might give the Hussy a chuckle) So that is why I'm not finishing my paintings. It's PART of the reason I didn't paint today (I didn't paint today because I got sidetracked) and I might use it as an excuse to not paint tomorrow. We'll see.

The postman.... Charter's screwed me again...

I like our postman. He's a nice guy, everyone has nice things to say about him, but he's got his quirks. One being that every time I try and watch a DVD in the morning/afternoon (around lunch time) he comes by about 15 minutes before my movie is finished and ready to go back into it's little Netflix envelope and into the mailbox. Grrr. I can usually still see his truck, but you know me... I'm surely not running down the street to return a movie. That's why we have Netflix, so I don't have to try too hard to get the movie back at the store. When I'm NOT trying to get a movie (or something else generally) in the mail... he comes at like, 3:30 (an hour after I'm usually done with my movies). Somehow he has "foil-Betsy's-Plans-ESP"... today however, that was not the issue. Today, he scared me. Lets say that he pulled a "pick up the mail 15 minutes early" trick on me yesterday... and I managed to get my letter in a mailbox anyway. And then today, I get ANOTHER letter from Charter (who I hate - their customer service is awful and I will never use them again) but they must know that I just throw away their letters without opening them, because they started sending them in generic envelopes... in any event - the envelope wasn't sealed well, so I wrote a "STOP MAILING ME THIS CRAP AND KILLING TREES" note in red sharpie on their letter, put it back in the envelope, and wrote "Return to Sender, Unsolicited Mail" on it. I dunno... maybe they'll get the idea. I also got a letter from Dish, and was in a foul mood, so wrote on that envelope as well. These two letters, as well as an Etsy shipment and a Netflix movie (obviously) went in the mailbox today and the little flag went up. I ran some errands, and when I got back, the little flag was down, there was new mail in the box, and on top of it... my Etsy shipment and Netflix movie. Did I notice the netflix? no. Did I immediately remember my previous Etsy shipment that "made its way to the mail"? yes. was I scared poopless that my etsy shipment was now floating around who knows where, but NOT in the mail system? yes. Did I go hunting for it? Yes. Thankfully, I didn't get shot doing so, and it wasn't there, and I eventually realized that netflix was there too, and that the Postman probably just had to put my nasty letters in a different box, and got sidetracked, thereby re-inserting my "to be mailed" letters back into my box with the new mail. I hope.  Either way - the Etsy order will  have to go out tomorrow, cause the post office is closed, and we'll see for sure if it's a problem with the envelope, or a simple "this lady is crazy if she thinks Charter will leave her alone" mistake...

What's for dinner? Nutmeg Chicken

As requested... NUTMEG CHICKEN!! (and sweet potatoes!!)

Somehow... I don't have a picture of this. And since we'll be moving soon, I won't be making it in the VERY near future... I do have a picture of the sweet potatoes I had WITH this... but in the photo, the chicken is covered by a pan lid. Sorry.

**** EDIT *****

I made nutmeg chicken... and took pictures. Aren't you happy? :-D

 

 This dish is delicious with some sweet potatoes and green beans... mmmmm. It can easily be made "for 1" or for as many as you need to feed.... mostly because it's a it's also a "no measurement" dinner... :-P have no fear however... you'll be fine.

Ingredients:
Chicken Breast
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Ground Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
Feta Cheese

First and foremost - beat your meat. Smash those chicken breasts with a meat masher, a cup, a pan, your hand... something, until they're all one thickness. The thick part should be the same thickness as an un-smashed thin part (or at least really close) This will allow you to get even cooking of the chicken, while leaving it juicy and conveniently, very tender! (it's also pretty much required to pan-fry chicken)
P.S. That's pretty much all your "prep" work for this meal.

- Heat a frying pan with oil to medium high heat
- Shake your garlic, onion, salt and pepper so you have a 'dusting' over the entirety of the oil. Use MUCH LESS nutmeg - it's potent stuff. When I make it, I use a 10" frying pan and literally "tap" the ground nutmeg on my finger once (with the shaker top). That's it.
- Add your chicken in, top-side down (the smooth side) and let cook until golden brown. Don't touch it. Don't poke it, just wait. You should notice a bit of "white" around the edges when the bottom is cooked. Don't flip it over until the bottom is nice and brown. That should take about 5 minutes.
- While that's cooking,  slice some feta - 1/8" thick or so... it's not as good thicker.
- Flip the chicken, and place the feta slices on top of the chicken breast - I usually use 2 slices to cover the whole piece, but it will depend on the size of your feta block.
- Cover with a lid and let it finish cooking - about another 5 minutes.The feta doesn't really MELT but it gets softer and a little gooey.
- Serve. The whole process probably takes about 15 minutes.

SWEET POTATOES!
Even hubby agrees that sweet potatoes go well with this dish.
My Gramma's way of cooking them is probably one of my favorite.

- Wash your sweet potatoes, and poke some fork holes in them
- Pop them in the microwave and microwave for 5 minutes per potato. This basically cooks the potato.
- In a small frying pan, melt a pad of butter on medium heat - just enough to coat the pan, not enough to puddle
- Cut the cooked sweet potatoes in half, and lay the "open" sides down.
- Let cook until carmelized (it will "blacken" a bit, and that's OK)
DONE! Hubby requires marshmallows with his... I don't :-P
Stovetop, this probably takes 10 minutes.

Tips for this making this meal a 15-20 minute event (for 1 or two) - Measure out your green beans (I use frozen) and place them in some water in a small saucepan on the stove. Just leave them for now. Wash the potatoes, poke-em, pop em in the microwave and hit go. Throw the oil in one pan on the stove and turn the heat on. Throw some butter in a second pan and turn the heat on. Pound your chicken (wash your hands), throw in the spices, throw in the chicken (with tongs).  Swish around your butter, cut your potatoes, throw them on. Turn on the burner with your green beans. Slice some feta. Flip your chicken (when it's time), throw your feta on and a lid. If the potatoes are done before the chicken, just remove the pan from heat - they'll stay warm.Once the green beans are boiling, let them go for a minute or two and turn the burner off. You can leave them a few minutes more in the hot water. Once your chicken is done, drain the beans, throw some garlic, butter, salt maybe on em, swish 'em a round and plate everything.

Ready, set, EAT!

Blog Spot #2

The most exciting part of being on this meditation blog, is the author still hasn't used the picture that she originally liked so much!  Today's post uses "The Gates of Summer"

What's for dinner? Crackers :(

So I got a request last week to post my famous "Nutmeg Chicken" on here today. Well, needless to say, the weekend hasn't gone as I expected, and you're not getting Nutmeg Chicken this week.  Why you ask? It all boils down to a nice little cooking tip that I thought was generally well-known. When cooking meat - especially for other people, you must continue cooking until the meat has reached at LEAST the minimum temperature that is considered "safe"... even if you're going to take it out and let it rest for a while (where cooking continues to happen). If you don't... people get sick. People like me. boooooo. At least, that's what I THINK caused this  illness that started on Thursday. I had food cooked by other people on Thursday, and by 4:00, my standard snack time, all I wanted was Triscuits. No cheese... just crackers. For dinner? I had a bowl of cheerios. Hmmm... something's not right here. Maybe I'm dehydrated? So Friday, I drink 48ish ounces of Gatorade, but I'm not feeling any better. Cheerios for breakfast, a nibble at another luncheon, and a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. Not good, but seems better. By the time 4am hits, I'm bowing to the porcelain idol. No fun. Saturday was a little better - I didn't want to eat, but I wasn't feeling like I was going to die. Sunday? Finally, I'm hungry! awesome! Not. The world goes bad on me - in my worn down state of food poisoning, I've picked up a stomach bug, and I'm thinking "I should go to a doctor. The box on my Pepto says go to a doctor. I feel like I'm going to die."  However today, I finished another thing of Gatorade and a sleeve of crackers, I've moved to the couch, and I don't think I'm going to die before tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm betting that I won't be in the mood to look up pictures of my Nutmeg Chicken, or even think about writing the recipe until at LEAST the end of the week. Chances are, you won't WANT to hear about any misadventures on Wednesday either :-P

I feel extra crafty this week!

Extra Crafty Week! Got some good stuff up on Etsy, and got some WONDERFUL comments (though not on here :-P) Spent some time at the craft store on base, and did a LOT of painting! The project is a surprise, but when it's finished, I will DEFINITELY share.

I'm also realizing how busy the next bit of time is going to be!

AND... I've been posted on another blog!!  A meditation blog writer found my goodies on Etsy and asked if she could work it into her blog... so a bit of free advertisement! Fabulous!!  You can see the article/blog/plug here.

AND I sold some artwork! whoo hoo! It's a GOOD WEEK! This is the first artwork I've sold on Etsy :) I'm liking it!!

SERIES UP!!

WHOO HOO! I finally got all my 'Pathways' Series up!

The photos are all displayed as ACEO as I mentioned last week, but I have all 16 of the Pathways Series up and available, as well as all my options for printing. Go me!

Now on to the next Series... I'm thinking Flowers... it will be May shortly after all, and April Showers bring May Flowers :-p

In the mean time... pick your favorite image that's up there now, and comment here on it. Lets see how many comments I can get ;)

Make Up "What's For Dinner" - Lamb... mmmmm.

1st... what I made, then what you can add :-P

Directions: Mix all ingredients together in a marinating container (zip lock?) and add Lamb and marinate at least 1.5 hours, or up to overnight.

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp lemon juice

5 Tbsp olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

4 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp rosemary

2 tsp dried majoram

Now... instead of dried marjoram, the recipe calls for a cup of chopped fresh mint.

Let me tell you, I did have a FABULOUS cut of meat (it was Easter), but this was delicious. It was delicious the first time I had it too though.  Great when grilled.

mmmmmmm. For Easter, we ate it with sweet potatoes, a fabulous salad, and green beans

Delicious, see?

French Toast - no measuring style :-P

Oh no! It's Monday (like, 8PM on Monday) and I realized I never posted something for today's "What's for Dinner!" Well, to be honest, I ate a small dinner at my neighbor's, cause she's rad, and am going to have some leftovers in a minute, but since neither of those are spectacular, here's my "backup What's for Dinner". I'll pay you all back with another "what's for dinner" tomorrow... whoops!!

So I love French Toast. Hubby's a big fan himself. I know a lot of people who don't make french toast at home, and I'm not 100% sure why. It's easier than pancakes! And we use Bisquick for pancakes and waffles.

I don't "measure" my french toast ingredients. Probably because we'd always help mom when we were little to make it (we did "science experiments" with the vanilla and she turned it into an educational experience). But there are no hard-and-fast rules on proportions for french toast... so why get extra stuff dirty? You'll find recipes out there that use more ingredients, but if you aren't making french toast because "it's too hard" just try this one.

Easy French toast has 4 ingredients.
1 - Eggs.
2 - Milk.
3 - Vanilla Extract.
4 - Bread.

What kind of eggs, milk, vanilla and bread don't matter. Heck, I'm pretty sure I "made breakfast for father's day" when I was too young to have been trusted with the stove and used orange extract and he still says it tasted good... so if you don't want to use vanilla, or you want to use some OTHER extract... have at it!.

Generally, you're looking for a ratio of 1 egg to 1/4 cup milk to 1/4 tsp vanilla (which would probably make... 2-3 slices of french toast). I totally eyeball everything. 1 egg is about 1/4 cup... so equal parts egg and milk, and then I LOVE vanilla... so I just splash it all in there until I feel like it's good. Then I stop and watch the "vanilla storms" come up. Try it... you'll see :-P

So you're going to take a flat dish, I use a pyrex baking pan usually... and beat your eggs up with a fork. You want to beat your eggs first, because it makes mixing the milk in easier later. Then you splash some milk in there until it looks 1/2 and 1/2 eggs-milk. Mix that on up with your fork. Then splash in some vanilla. Mom used the lid to measure out the 1/4 tsp... I just splash away. The vanilla has a chemical reaction with the egg/milk, and makes these cool storms. You can entertain yourself and watch them for a bit, or just stir in the vanilla. Take your bread (I like using potato or white best, but Irish soda bread is pretty good too) and dip it in the mixture. Flip it over to get both sides. If you want to soak up a bunch, leave it in longer. I don't like mine TOO mushy, so it's generally a quick dip, flip, dip, out.

You'll cook them on a greased griddle (the same one you make pancakes on) until they're browned on one side... then flip, brown, EAT!

Now, this is where MY family deviates from EVERYONE else. We eat our french toast with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Apparently, the thing to do is use syrup? Hubby switched over when he learned the "good way". So make up a batch of french toast this weekend and pull out that bottle of cinnamon, and enjoy some french toast that doesn't require a trip to IHOP.

a BIG new step!

So... after much odgeda (sp? it's more a sound than a word...) after much... anxiety/nervousness/confusion/etc... I finally figured out how I plan on posting my photos on Etsy. Like, the regular old photo photo's. Not the fancy schmancy specialty mats that were up there already. So it's becoming a photo shop FINALLY. I only put up 8 actual PHOTOS today, but I have another 8 ready to go. It's a process to get them up, so I'm gonna spread the wealth a little bit.



So they're up there as ACEO - Art Collecting Cards essentially. $0.75 each, and then there's some listings for the standard size prints. Hopefully I'll quickly get up the "Photo" listings for standard size photos and a listing for greeting cards, then people can look at the photos, and order the size/type they want - without doing the whole custom order thing (which is great, because customers don't seem to be SUPER psyched about having to do everything custom-wise).

With any luck, I'll get the other 8 photos for "April's Pathways Series" up and the other ones up and you'll all decide that they're awesome and you need some 8x10's for your house. :-P

Doughnut Day!

So today's "Misadventure" is sadly not truly mine :(.

It normally would be, but Hubby and I didn't go to my parents for Easter this year, so we missed

DOUGHNUT DAY!

(the 2nd best day of the year in my opinion... following Zimmer Day - another family holiday)  

However, Sister was kind enough to pass along picture messages all day of the progression of the donuts. The story goes that my Grandma makes these German doughnuts for Easter every year, and all the girls get together and make doughnuts.

(there were boys this year, because all the girl grand kids are either big enough to not be home, or too little to be trusted, but I'm thinking this isn't the best idea, because knowledge of the fabulousness of doughnuts on doughnut day is getting out among our male population... which is significantly larger than our female population. Which could easily lead to no doughnuts on Easter...) 

It used to truly need to be a group activity in order to beat the dough for 30 minutes!! But now that there's Kitchenaid, it's a little easier :-P

And before you get TOO excited... 

No. 

You don't get a "Misadventures" and a "What's for Dinner" on the same day. 

This is, in my opinion, still a secret family recipe :0D.

So first, you mix all the doughnut batter for a LONG time, and then let it rise

 Until it nearly spills out the bowl!

Then you cut the dough into doughnuts and put them to sleep for a while...

This is part of the reason the little kiddo's must stay away from Gramma's... 

no touching the table and NO PEEKING!!  

They need their rest if they're going to be as delicious as they are. 

And one must be QUIET when the doughnuts are rising 

(mostly because where there is noise, there is fun, and where there is fun, there is motion, and where there is motion, there is FLAT DOUGHNUTS... noooooooooooooooo)

Here is Cousin (#12) learning the way of the doughnut. 

In order to EAT a doughnut on Doughnut Day (when they are BEST) 

one must WORK for it. 

This is about when Sister became a crazy "German Lady" 

wandering the kitchen in an apron with a spatula, threatening to smack any hands that came too close to an undeserved doughnut.

"NEIN!! Go Away! No Doughnuts for you!" :-D

These... are the fried doughnuts as they finished Doughnut Day

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Deliciousness.

And THIS is what they look like when you eat them. 

Rolled in granulated sugar... delicious, sugary air. 

And I'll tell you, I loved being "included" in Doughnut Day, but not so much on the 

"THESE WERE THE BEST DOUGHNUTS EVER!!" 

comments I got on my cell phone and facebook. 

I might scream if someone tells me once more about  

how good 

these fabulous doughnuts that I didn't get to eat any of. 

As it is... I might be heading to the store to find the ingredients this week... :-P

Success! Kind of...

I did it. I finally finished the little set of baby booty AWESOME CHUCKS! And they are SO stinkin adorable!  One problem. They're too tiny. I used a size 2 needle, and they came out 2.75" long. Hard Core Premie sizes there people. 5-7 lb baby. Baby in question? Came OUT 7+. LAST MONTH. So... if anyone out there knows of a premie... these are for sale. :-P Etsy me. :-P In the mean time, I'm off to find some slightly larger needles to try again. At least twice. But aren't they CUTE?!?!?!?

Philippino Menudo

So I was at my Gourmet Club Planning Meeting the other day, and we are doing an "Asian" meal this month. I REALLY love my Filipino food, and we will be making my "Filipino Mama's" recipe for Pancit Bihon (and I'm so psyched) but I brought up my FAVORITE Filipino dish... Menudo, and I got a lot of icky faces, and people who had DEFINITELY not eaten what I had. Apparently, Mexican's have a dish called Menudo as well - and it has all sorts of nasty ingredients in it. Fish and intestine and other gross stuff. Well, Filipino Menudo is SUPPOSED to have liver in it, but my "Mama" hates liver, so she doesn't put it in hers. Maybe that's why I like it so much :-P

So in honor of Gourmet Club, and the misgivings about Menudo, here is the recipe as I was best able to copy it down from an "Intuitive Cook."

(not my picture... I stole it from the internets. Sorry!)

Philippino Menudo!

1 Can Chick Peas

1 Can Tomato Paste (to thicken if necessary)

2 cans tomato sauce

7 Bright Leaf Red Hot Dogs, Sliced

1 Cup Raisins

2 Red/Yellow Peppers Sliced

1 Onion Sliced

2-3 Potatoes, diced

4+ Garlic cloves, crushed

3 cups pork, cubed

1 tbsp brown sugar

1.5? Cups Toyomansi (Pilipino soy sauce with calamansi – sour fruit juice)

1.5 cups peas and carrots (frozen is fine)

1.      Fry potatoes slightly to cook and hold shape

2.      Marinate Pork bits in Toyomansi for 5-10 minutes

3.      Put pork and marinade in cold pot and bring to boil. Cook until pork is cooked.

4.      Reserve pork and marinade in separate bowl

5.      Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil until garlic is browned and onion is transparent.

6.      Re introduce pork, strained from juices & cook

7.      Add marinade back with peas and carrots and bring back to a simmer for 5-10 minutes

8.      Add chick peas, tomato sauce, hot dogs, raisins, brown sugar, and peppers. Mix well and let simmer until peppers are tender

9.      Gently add cooked potatoes and stir.

Serve with White Rice                                                     Yield: 6 servings

Just some FYI's - You can probably use any type of hot dogs... the "bright leaf red hot dogs" are my "Mama"'s favorite.  Toyomansi is available in oriental markets, but if you don't want to buy it (it comes in a pretty big bottle) you can PROBABLY substitute some lemon juice with your regular soy-sauce. TheFilipino's use toyomansi on a lot of things as an "added" soy sauce. For instance, they don't COOK Pancit with it, but they do add some right when they eat it, like we'd add soy sauce to chinese food, or lemon juice to sea food.
 

My Etsy Adventures this week!

So I knew that after last week, I had to SOMETHING with my Etsy-Adventures. So I got the blog all blinged out with links to my Picasa galleries and instructions on how to buy marvelous stuff from me! (note the new pages to your right :-P) And I made sure that all my artwork was listed as "Fine Art" so people MIGHT actually SEE it when they search now?  (Here's hoping at least).

I also investigated the Alchemy archives and bid on a few people's requests. It was enlightening to see what people were asking for. I sometimes wish I could actually be focused enough to really hone in on one medium... but what fun is that? I suppose you need to be famous before you can be really successful at things that are all over the place... like these celebrities who have fragrance collections, and reality celebrities who went from tabloid news to fashion designers somehow.

Either way, I DID get a new posting up. My Military Thank You Cards! (also available with any artwork found in the Picasa Gallery)

Isn't it marvelous!?! :-P

So check out my gallery, and let me know what you think. 

Which art piece is your favorite?