Apr201224
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Etching Souvenir Wine Glasses
Just popping in with a quick update today. Remember how I mentioned when Matt and I got back from our winery trip that I wanted to etch the date of our visit onto the souvenir glasses we brought home? Well, I did it, and it was super easy!
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Apr201218
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Savory Roasted Strawberry Sauce
Looks like tomato sauce, doesn’t it?
Gotcha! It’s made from strawberries. I couldn’t be more excited about strawberry season this year. I wasn’t able to eat the amazing red berries for about a year and a half due to a stomach disorder, but thankfully, I’ve recovered, and now I’m devouring them by the handful. They’ve gone into smoothies and salads and mascarpone cream, and I’ve pinned several dessert recipes (like strawberry lemonade bars, very strawberry ice pops, and strawberry cream cheese muffins) that I can’t wait to try.
But first I wanted to do something savory. I figured since people put strawberries on salads with chicken and strawberry vinaigrette, I’d make a savory strawberry sauce to top grilled chicken with. Matt thought this idea was a little crazy at first, but he ended up saying it was “actually really good — much better than expected.” It was delicious with our chicken, but I bet it would also work well with pork or salmon. Roasting strawberries with onions brings so much flavor out of them, and the tartness of the lemon juice and balsamic vinegar helps balance out their sweetness. Continue reading…
Apr201210
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Wild Flower Wall Art for Charity
If you’ve checked out my painting portfolio, then you know that I usually have a very realistic style. Lately, though, my work has taken a diversion toward the abstract — and it’s kind of fun! I made this wild flower collage for Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Cheers to Art! silent auction next Thursday evening to raise money for their children’s garden.
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Apr201202
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Virginia Wining and Dining in Charlottesville
Matt and I just barely managed to celebrate Virginia Wine & Dine Month — on the last day! What a gorgeous day it was, too. We were thrilled to drive northwest out of drizzly Midlothian to the bright blue skies and rolling green hills of the Charlottesville area.
We started at our westernmost destination in the community of Afton, Virginia, at Veritas Vineyard & Winery. Groups were picnicking and sipping wine in the lawn, and the wraparound porch was bustling with tasters coming and going. As we entered the winery from the back, a cook was preparing parmesan fricos, which we later got to munch on with our wine. I really need to make those at home sometime!
The tasting room looks quite impressive with its high, red ceiling and the word LOVE spelled out with wine corks over the bar. Now I’m inspired to make a giant S with the corks we’ve been saving.
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Mar201220
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Bacon Date Bars (Traditional and Gluten Free Versions)
Lunch at work has been catered by a local restaurant called The Empress pretty frequently lately, and one of my favorite dishes of theirs is the bacon-wrapped dates. They don’t look like much, but they taste like candy — sweet and salty, chewy candy. I’d never used dates at home, but I remembered that my Betty Crocker Cooky Book has lots of date recipes, and I decided, “Ooh, I’m gonna add bacon to one of those!”
Using the basic date bar recipe as a starting point, I added a quarter cup of chopped cooked bacon for every cup of chopped pitted dates. That turned out to be the perfectly addictive salty-to-sweet ratio. I reduced the amount of brown sugar a bit, as well as the salt, and I substituted butter for the shortening.
Of course, I didn’t want Matt to feel left out now that he’s not eating grain, so I whipped up a batch of gluten-free bars for him. I brought some of each kind to work yesterday, and they were very well-received. Here are both versions:
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Mar201214
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Leafy Felt Wreath with Daisies
Matt was in Austin for the last five days for the South by Southwest interactive media conference, so it was a perfect time for me to get crafty and participate in the winter Pinterest Challenge. I decided to tackle a project I’d never done in the five-plus years we’ve owned our home (the shame!) — make a wreath for our front door. Even though it was for the “winter” challenge, it totally screams spring, doesn’t it?
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