Welcome to Pink Town!

This piece seems like it's buzzing with radioactive energy. An awesome urban watercolor by Charlie.

The Real McCoy with Olives and Rosemary

Charlie bought me a pasta maker this week so we decided to break this baby in! We made olive and rosemary pasta. We made a fresh marinara sauce with pork sausage, and tomatoes. It was dang good!

Recipe for the pasta
1 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
2 large eggs
2 tbs olive and rosemary, chopped fine

Recipe for sauce
2 links of pork sausage
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 large piece of garlic
2 tsp capers
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley for garnish
Top with parmesan cheese

Pop My Cherry Tomatoes

I pickled some red cherry tomatoes this week. I can eat them today! Yay!

Comfort Food--Chinese Style

Jook is such comfort food for me. It's versitile and tasty. You can put anything into it. Like roasted chicken like I have in the picture topped with thin juliennes of ginger, sliced scallions and cilantro. You can put any toppings like soy sauce chicken, roast pork, fish, dried scallops, any veggies. But my favorite thing to mix into my jook is thousand year old egg, which I unfortunately didn't have in my cupboard. Dang!
I like watching people on youtube gag on thousand year old eggs and freak out because it's too 'exotic' for them. I think it tastes so good. It's the same to me as eating gorgonzola cheese.
In any case, jook is hearty, warming, soupy and reminds me of childhood.

Here's my recipe:
Ingredients
4 cups water
6 cups of chicken or veggie stock
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 fresh or smoked turkey wing
1 (1/2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger
Chopped green onions (optional)
Fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
Julienne-cut peeled fresh ginger (optional)
Low-sodium soy sauce (optional)

Preparation
Combine rice, salt, oil, ginger, and turkey wing in a large Dutch oven, and toast slightly. Then add the liquids and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and cook 2-2 1/2 hours or until soup has a creamy consistency, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; keep warm.
Discard ginger piece. Remove turkey from soup; place on a cutting board or work surface. Cool 10 minutes. Remove skin from turkey; discard. Remove meat from bones; discard bones. Chop meat into bite-sized pieces, and stir meat into soup. Garnish with green onions, cilantro, julienne-cut ginger, and soy sauce, if desired.
Add any other additional toppings that you like, like chopped thousand year old eggs. Enjoy!

Eli's Collection

Charlie's brother is a huge fan and collector of Charlie's work. This is one of the pieces Charlie did about 5 years ago that has been part of Eli's collection. I had no idea what this piece looked like until I went to visit Eli in Baltimore and saw it, it's now my favorite of his 'Urban Red' series.

My 15 mins at Arlene's Grocery

I was a part of a student showcase at Arlene's Grocery last night. It was the most fun I've had in a very long time being on stage. I was energized but mostly freaked out and nervous. But I did it! Surprisingly, chewing gum helped quell the nerves. I got up there and played Amy Winehouse's, I'm No Good, on the drums and it was so fun. Especially with all my friends and family rooting me on and screaming my name at the top of their lungs! I felt like a rock star for a few minutes. I want to say thanks to Stephen for being one of the most motivating teachers I've ever had and the band for always giving their all for all the students. And of course my fans--family and friends--for coming out. You rock!

Charlie's 30th birthday Mexican Adventure 2007

This is an excerpt from my stick figure journal from about a little over a year ago when Charlie and I and friends visited Mexico for his 30th birthday.
You can see our amazement as we finally reached our destination at Hotel Posada Eden Costa at the bottom of the page. And from the winding road on the left side that it was quite a journey to get there!

If Squid Were Flowers

I used watercolor pencils to draw my squid flowers. I gave this piece to my brother in law.

So Much Chicken, So Little Time

I threw this concoction together with some leftover roasted chicken from the other night, crescent rolls, frozen peas, cream cheese, yogurt, curry powder and cumin. I filled some crescent squares and folded over the edges and baked for 15 mins. The salad is a tomato, bean sprout, and red onion salad with a sesame, ginger soy dressing. I didn't feel like slaving over the stove tonight and I wanted to make something quick, easy, tasty, and filling!