Romancing the Ordinary

Hepaticas

It's the secret to life.  Or one of them anyway:  find joy in the simple things.

A year after my husband died I felt especially down.    I was in one of those "nothing is good, everything is hard, poor me" sort of moods.  I stubbornly pushed myself to come up with one good thing, maybe two.  It was spring and I remember thinking "well, at least I can walk out my door and be in the woods."  So I did.  The hepatica's were blooming.  Sweet little lavender flowers with tri-lobe fuzzy stemmed leaves.  Everywhere.  Dotting the forest with little peeps of joy.  On my way home, I remember thinking "at least every spring the hepaticas bloom."   Then it was as if I noticed for the first time that "I really like the color blue when its in the sky."  That little hike was what got me on to healing.  I know people have animals as totems, but mine would have to be a hepatica.

Today, that deep sadness seems miles away.  I can come up with a long list of good things, some I am sure would make people wonder.  Gathering beach glass, looking inside a flower, the color and texture of ground cover in the woods, hearing the waves on Lake Michigan from my bed.   Romancing the Ordinary.

I am not the first.   Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote a delightful book seven years ago: Romancing the Ordinary - A Year of Simple Splendor  - goodness, it's only $.03 on Amazon!   If you are having a hard time coming up with your mental list, this one is sure to jump start it.

Beach Gems

My bounty!

It goes without saying that it is always a delight to walk a beach.   I used to gather one striped stone for each walk and then put them in my garden;  this past year I started gathering beach glass as I hike along Lake Michigan.  Some days the beach is "dry, and others like today I get a handful - 63 pieces!

It strikes me as odd to find pleasure in treasures that are the result of littering. Once Lake Michigan does its trick though, my finds are indeed gems.  I like the notion that they are priceless beauties - like peering at the colors inside a flower - hidden joys always there for us.  I silently delight in finding the rare red, blue or aqua piece.  I wonder too,  how is it that while walking a good clip and deep in thought that my eyes catch the glow of green no bigger then a piece of sand?

It's peaceful and meditative.

I slip each jewel in my pocket.  Someday I'll create a mosaic and capture the energy of the wind in my face and colors on my mind.

Spoiled rotten - my backyard

Cranberry Salsa - A Gift from the Bog

One of the rites of fall is stocking up on cranberries.  When I lived up north, I loved the trip to the bog to gather them.  I usually can and freeze them for use all year long - why just eat them in the fall?  This year I purchased them - but at least they are a local Wisconsin gift from the bog!

This recipe from the Michigan Extension Service is my first attempt at cranberry salsa.   It is flavorful - but next round I'd add a few more Serrano peppers.  Also, in case you are curious...here is a good reference for "understanding" peppers:  http://www.missvickie.com/howto/spices/peppers/peppersdict.html.

6 c red onion chopped
4 large Serrano peppers, finely chopped (more!)
1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp salt
2 c sugar
6 tbsp honey
12 c or 3 lbs whole cranberries, rinsed

I chopped the onions and peppers in my food processor.  Place all ingredients but the cranberries in a large pot and boil gently for 5 minutes.  Add the cranberries, reduce heat slightly and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Ladle the salsa into clean hot canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch free at the top.  Twist on covers and rings and boil in a canner for 15 minutes.

Chocolate Irish Cream Cake

"Eggs at room temperature"

I haven't made this recipe for ten years or more, until this weekend.  Now, I wonder why I waited so long!  The process of this recipe is enjoyable and the final product exquisite for a dinner party or celebration.

12 oz chocolate chips
1/2 c unsalted butter
6 eggs at room temperature, separated
1 c sugar
1/2 c walnuts or pecans very finely chopped
4 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of cream of tarter
2 c whipping cream
1/4 c powdered sugar
4 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream
2 oz chocolate curls

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 9 or 10 inch springform pan.  Melt chocolate chips and butter in double boiler or microwave.  Beat egg yolks until thick about 5 minutes.  Add 1/2 c sugar 1 tbsp at a time into the eggs.  Add melted chocolate, nuts, Irish Cream and vanilla.
Beat egg whites with cream of tarter.  Gradually add remaining 1/2 c sugar once stiff peaks form.  Gently fold a quarter of egg whites into chocolate and then fold chocolate mixture into remaining whites.  Pour into prepared spring form pan.
Bake 30 minutes, reduce oven to 275F and bake 30 minutes more.  Turn off oven and let cake stand 30 minutes with oven door ajar.  Remove cake from oven.  Dampen  a light dishtowel and place on top of cake for 5 minutes (cake will crack and fall.)  Cool cake in pan.
Remove springform and transfer to a cake plate.  Beat whipping cream then add powdered sugar and irish Cream.  Spoon whipped cream onto top of cake evenly.  To make chocolate curls, it helps to have chocolate warm - I heated in microwave to just before melting, and skim with vegetable peeler.

Step Right In, Sit Right Down

This table used to sit n my Grandma's basement.  My uncle tells me it used to have five leaves!

...Baby let your mind roll on.  Remember that one?

That is what I can do, now that I have a drawing room. My studio, if you will.  Thanks to Ali for donating her room, my brother Jay for donating my Grandmothers table and Pete for refinishing the table.  Having a space to work in has turned my desire into action.  That part of my brain, sat dormant, alive only in doodles these past twenty years as I pursued a career and raised a family.

My first memory of my love of art is drawing with my mother at age three or four while my younger siblings napped.  At age five I won a coloring contest.  In second grade the nuns rolled out shelving paper so I could paint murals.  That must have been my classical period as I painted crucifictions and church scenes.   The University of Minnesota's "Young Peoples Symphony Art Program" encouraged students to paint to music.  That made an impression me as I recall feeling proud to appear in school those days with a dress instead of my uniform and to be picked up by my parents early to view my compositions on the walls of Northrup Auditorium.  My first "exhibition" was a "contemporary piece" of swirly tempra on red construction paper painted to Aaron Copland's Rodeo.  Later a water color and then a Paul Klee-esk pastel with ink.  Though being competitive is not in my nature, from second grade through my sophomore year in college I was always the best of my peers when it came to art.

In college I majored in both art and biology and found they each took all of me, so my junior year I focused on the later.   Creativity snuck out in sketch books and other forms such as quilting, weaving, knitting and an occasional painting.  Mostly though it was all in limbo, until now.

My intent when I retired eighteen months ago was to resurrect my skills.  It puzzled me why I was doing everything but.  I realize now it was like searching for a box in the back of the attic.  I just found it and am slowly unpacking it.

Since setting up my studio, I draw almost daily. I am not as rusty as I thought, but certainly only a fraction of what I hope to be.  I reflect on how crafts take eight years of apprenticeship, and I feel as though I am in year one.  In my teens and early twenties I drew one to four hours I day - I hope to rekindle those habits.

I started an art blog.  You can follow my progress at http://nancylizette.blogspot.com/.  There, now I am committed!

Mulligatawny Soup

Golden bliss!

Just look at these ingredients - you know it has got to be good!  I sprinkle a few cashews and golden raisins on rice and spoon the soup on top.  This soup is excellent with naan - and don't forget to squeeze the lemon on top!   I am quite sure they serve this dish in heaven.

4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion
6 cloves finely chopped garlic
3 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 jalapeno, chopped
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp cumin
1/1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 c flour
1 3/4 c red lentils
9 c vegetable broth
3 tbsp minced cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
1 c unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 c fresh lemon juice plus wedges for garnish

Melt the butter and saute the onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno until browned, about 12 minutes.  Lower the heat and add dry spices, stirring about a minute and then add flour and stir a minute more.  Pour in the broth and lentils and cook 45 minutes, then cool.  When cooled, puree mixture in food processor  and then reheat.  Wisk in the coconut milk, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Reheat and serve in bowls (optionally on top of rice and garnish with cilantro and lemon wedge.)  If the soup thickens more then you like, more water may be added.

BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, if there is one thing I have accomplished in this life, I think it is perfecting the basic Tollhouse Cookie recipe.  I can mix these in about 5 minutes, probably in the the dark - though I haven't tried that yet.

1 c butter flavored crisco or unsalted butter (former is better unfortunately)
3/4 c brown sugar (or use 1 c brown and 1/2 granulated)
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp soda
1 1/2 c unbleached white flour
1/2 c rolled oats
1 1/2 c chocolate chips or better yet broken Dove dark chocolate
1 c chopped walnuts

Cream first five ingredients, then mix in salt, soda and flour.  Add chips and nuts and place in 1 inch drops on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 11-2 minutes.   Warning: these are quite addicting, but don't worry, they don't last long.

Siblings

Thanksgving at Aunt Cloettes ca 1964.

This one is for you Nic, Ali and Davyd.

I have said it before, but the best thing my parents ever gave me was my five brothers and sisters.  I remember once realizing that when I called one sib and no one answered, so I called the next, and the next... and realized I had five instant best friends.

Not that we are alike or that we agree, but we do know each other well.  We share our roots and traditions, we chased each other around, we kept each others secrets.  As adults we still love to play, to hear each others stories and we trust each other.  I can't imagine life without the rhythm of "Nancy, Greg, Eric, Jill, Jay and Kathy."

So, when I think of my children and realize that for all the things I have tried to give them...stable values, vacations in beautiful places, healthy lunches, college education...none are as valuable as giving them each other.