thoughts and projects

• I've decided to convert Violet's room back into my art studio. She insists on sleeping in the same room as Ethan, and so I figure it is pretty silly to waste a room just for clothes and a bed that no one sleeps in. Tonight I'm going to get Ryan to move her bed to Ethan's room (she has been in a pack n' play in Ethan's room for several months now, she might as well have a mattress to sleep on), and then we will get some plastic to put down in Violet's room to protect the carpet, and I will set it up to do art.
• I have been very motivated to do art recently. I have several commissions I'm working on, as well as some art that I promised to do and hadn't yet done. I have a large painting/project that I have decided to do that will take a year to do and will be amazing if I can pull it off. I'm pretty excited and I want to start it immediately, but that is hard when one of my main characters in the painting lives in Salt Lake, and another is moving to Montana... it will all work out, and it will be awesome when it is done. And I'm entering it into the 10th international church art contest next fall.
• I'm working on a commission painting, and about a week ago I put it aside because I ran out of orange paint. I figured I'd start up again once I had a chance to buy more orange paint.............did you know that red and yellow makes orange? Yeah, so did I. But I forgot. Last night all of a sudden I remembered, and did a head slap of "oh brother" type embarassment. So, I've started the painting again.
• I went to google some artwork from my favorite watercolor artist, who also was my watercolor teacher at BYUI... and found out that he died last year! then of course, knowing my brain doesn't seem to work as well as it used to (after all, I forgot how to mix red and yellow to make orange) I wonder if I did know and forgot that he died. But, in any case, I felt a sudden loss at having him gone. I was friends with his grandson, who was going to BYUI at the same time, and I have happy memories of painting on location, and of hanging out at Brother Bird's house with Rylan and another friend, Celia. When Ryan and I moved to Salt Lake, one day I decided to break out my paints, and I discovered mold growing on them. I panicked and called Brother Bird. He playfully scolded me for not painting enough with them that they would grow mold, and then told me how to clean them.
  

This is one of Brother Birds watercolors that hangs on campus at BYUI, and it is one of my favorites.

 
 

What can I say, I love food :)

I finally created a good recipe for oriental style noodles that involves ingredients that are not hard to find. They were also ingredients I happened to have in my house, so that was a definite plus. I hate oriental recipes that are basically soy sauce and brown sugar, so I have been trying FOR YEARS to come up with a simple dish that I wasn't dissapointed in the moment I took a bite. This one was actually pretty good, if I do say so myself. I might tweak it some more the next time I make it to make the flavor stronger, but overall this recipe is a keeper.

12 oz spaghetti noodles

2 scallions, diced

2 carrots, peeled and julienned

1 can water chestnuts, drained

1/4 to 1/2 cup steamed broccoli

mushrooms

2 tsp sesame seeds

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 spoons Panda Express orange sauce

2-3 tbsp soy sauce

1 spoon barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tsp grated ginger, or 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. (depending on how much you like Ginger) powdered ginger.

Red pepper flakes (Optional)

Cook noodles, drain and rinse in cold water. set aside. Saute carrots and the white part of the green onions in olive or peanut oil for about a minute or two. Add the garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes (if using, red pepper flakes are optional. it only takes a tiny pinch of them to get a pretty spicy/hot flavor, so this depends on how you like your food. I didn't use any, but thought some people might like that). stir around until the garlic become auromatic. Add water, soy sauce, orange sauce, and barbecue sauce. Stir for a minute or so, then add the mushrooms, chestnuts, and noodles. continue to stir until the water is completely evaporated. add the sesame oil, stir, and then add the broccoli. stir until you are afraid it is going to burn on the bottom of the skillet, and then remove.

I tend to "wing it" when it comes to cooking, so this is the best guess I could make at amounts of items. I rarely measure out amounts unless i'm given a recipe by a friend. Then, I try to follow it. Feel free to adjust the amounts of things, as I said it was a little less flavorfull than I wanted so I might tweak the sauce amounts. the spices were plenty though, it would be more of tweaking the soy sauce, orange sauce, and barbecue sauce amounts. I didn't want it dripping in sauce, and I didn't want it tasting like orange sauce or barbecue sauce. Anyways. :)