Our multi-talented son, Matt, made both of these bowls. The one on the left page was turned on a lathe after various pieces of wood were glued together. It holds our favorite autumn treat, peanuts & candy corn. I prefer the candy corn with a chocolate flavored top end but they are hard to find.
The bowl on the right page won’t hold much with that dip on the side, but isn’t the wood beautiful! It has an edge of rough bark.
These tiny sketches were done this past week — I drew the corner of the building, Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative, just today after we drove past it on our way to the Med Center (for Bill this time, not me). I snapped a quick photo because I liked the angles and curves. The iced tea and salsa are from yesterday’s late lunch while waiting to pick up our corgi from the groomer’s.
I have only four more to do to reach my goal of 50 tiny sketches by December.
. . . sketched without any pre-planning. Today I was busy baking a birthday cake for Bill (his birthday is tomorrow), and gave no thought to doing a daily ink sketch. Until remembering this evening that I still have 2 more days of this self-imposed challenge.
So I drew the first thing I saw.
My mother always made red velvet cake with an old-fashioned boiled milk frosting, also known as ermine frosting, so that’s how I used to do it. But Bill grew up with a cream cheese frosting, and now our daughter says that’s the correct topping for red velvet. So I did it their way.
Today’s ink sketch of half of my Panini Caprese looks a bit weird. And I had eaten part of it before realizing they forgot to toast & press the sandwich! But the large pieces of fresh mozzarella, ripe tomato slices, and spring mix lettuce were just to tasty to complain.
We were in Brenham for Bill to have PT at the clinic, but we also walked a bit of the downtown area like we used to do when we lived just north of town, visiting a book store and one of the restaurants we used to eat at.
Actually, this was my third cup — I had been up since 5:00 a.m. and it was still too dark to let the indoor pets out or feed the outside cats. So a good time to drink tea, read a book, or sketch . . . .
A couple of weeks ago, when Bill was still in the hospital, our daughter and I headed across the highway to eat at Freebird’s, a Texas burrito restaurant. But instead of burritos, we ordered “walking tacos” which consists of Doritos or Tostitos corn chips topped with any burrito fillings of your choice: rices, beans, various proteins, grilled veggies, lettuce, guacamole, cheeses, and sauces — perhaps not the healthiest base for fancy nachos but I think it’s my new favorite “junk food”.
A recent article in our rural electric magazine told the history of Frito Chili Pie, the forerunner of the walking taco commonly served at football games. Fritos were originally sold here in Texas c. 1930s as an ingredient for casseroles and the company regularly published recipes, eventually one that consisted of Fritos, chili, cheese, and onions layered and baked in the oven.
I began this journal page a couple of weeks ago . . . then kept putting off adding color. Drawing images in ink comes easy but, even after all these years, applying watercolor can feel intimidating.
Our daughter Kristen has been experimenting with pickle recipes. The carrots, with peppers, onion, and garlic, are very hot — just the way she and Bill like. The pickled onions are especially good on fish tacos! Since the surgery that removed what was left of cancer (and a good chunk of my colon), I have trouble eating certain foods. But when they are pickled (or “soured” like sourdough and sauerkraut) I have no problem. A favorite Tex-Mex restaurant serves pickled onions on their fajita salad and I love them — so I asked Kristen to make some.
About the only bread we eat is sourdough from H-E-B’s bakery because it doesn’t give me heartburn. But I’ve been curious about making my own. Years ago when we lived in Kansas I tried to get a starter going but it died — Bill thinks the fluoride in the water was the problem. Now we have well water with no chlorine and I think it would work, but I was advised to use bottled water at first.
I recently bought some “very active” starter on Etsy. It has taken several daily feedings to recover from being lost a few extra days in the mail system, but it looks like it’s now ready to try making some bread. The sourdough starter in the sketch is right after removing the “discard” and mixing in new flour and water; afterwards it just about doubled its volume from what is shown.
I sketched this with an Elegant Writer, using a wet paintbrush to tease out some washes from the water-soluble ink. That round thing in the center is a scale to weigh the added flour and water. The funky thing in front is a Danish dough whisk. The lined basket is for proofing the loaf before baking.
The weather is finally cooling and I am reaching for hot beverages more often throughout the day. Years ago, Australian artist Liz Steel told me how much better loose-leaf tea is than tea bags and I absolutely agree! She also introduced me to Taylor’s of Harrowgate, which is my favorite brand.
The white bone china mug with Scotties dancing on it was a gift once chosen by our granddaughter Mikala, who knew I love Scottish Terriers. I keep it just for cocoa, an instant blend that I mix up myself.
An extra benefit I’ve found to using the Pentel Milky White brush marker: you can paint over it! After loosely placing some tiny words on the tea tin label, I went over some of the white with metallic gold watercolor.
