Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope your day was warm and lovely and surrounded by loved ones and good things to eat. xxxx

Sketchbook Wednesday - Mushroom Soup!

 One of my favorite savory delights is this quick and easy Mushroom Soup. I got the recipe from my mother (I'm not sure where she got it from) and have been making a variation of it for nearly 30 years.

 As I've mentioned before, I pretty much cook to taste, or with what I have on hand. For this batch I started by sauteeing crushed garlic in butter until it is golden. I then added thinly sliced mushrooms (the more the better, IMO. I think I had a couple of cups of mushrooms on hand). If your pan feels too dry, add more butter - I probably used 1/3 cup of butter all told. 

Season your mushrooms as they cook as desired - salt, pepper, chili pepper, until they are savory and delicious. I also tend to saute them until they are well cooked and starting to caramelize. You can stop sooner if you prefer them that way.

By now, you should have cooked mushrooms swimming in liquid. To this I add a Tablespoon or so of flour so that the liquid bubbles and thickens up. When it's thick, turn off the heat and add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice so they are tangy and delicious.

 While your mushrooms are cooking, you can start the broth part of the soup. You'll need about 8 cups of broth of your choice. I used herby homemade chicken stock, but you can use veggie broth or beef or your choice of bouillon. The more flavorful your broth though, the better your soup will taste. To add some extra richness to your broth, you can bring it to a boil and then use some of the hot liquid to temper a couple of eggs to add (if you haven't tempered eggs in soup before, you can see how to do it here). 

When your broth is hot and your mushrooms are done, add your mushrooms to the soup base, stirring until everything is well combined. 

Taste, and adjust your seasonings. Many times I end up adding more lemon at this point. I like it tangy as well as savory. 

Serve with warm, crusty bread and get ready to revel in the yum!

Sunday Sketching

In the teensy purse Moleskine balanced upon my knee...

Sketchbook Wednesday - Cooking Quince

 Earlier this fall, I posted a picture on instagram of some of the funky pineapple quince ripening on the tree in my backyard.

 Quince is not your typical fruit. It is rock hard and astringent.  Not really something you pick and eat out of hand.

 Cook it though, and it becomes a totally different story! There are lots of recipes out there on the interwebs (I used this one for the crop I harvested this fall).

Cooking - with the addition of some sweetening and spices, it transforms into this highly fragrant, spicy elixir of deliciousness. Plus! The fruit magically turns pink and tender. It is a delightful surprise to your palate. If you can run down some quince of your own, give it a try.

Sunday Sketching

In the teensy purse Moleskine balanced upon my knee....

Sunday Sketching

In the teensy purse Moleskine balanced upon my knee....

Sketchbook Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff

After a lengthy blog break, I thought I'd try to start up again.

After a month of #inktober sketchbook journaling, (you can see them all on instagram. My instagram name is tlchang37 if you want to see them, or follow along) with requests for things like actual recipes and instructions, so this month, I will attempt to do so.

However, much of my cooking uses things like recipes as a guild line, rather than rules. I'm listing the ingredients I use and some directions that may help, but outside of baking, the rest of my cooking is more by taste and what ingredients I have on hand.

That said, this is what I did for this latest batch of Beef Stroganoff.

Stroganoff happens at my house when we have leftover Sunday roast.

I started off heating some olive oil in a large frying pan and added a few cloves of crushed garlic. 

When they turned golden I added a diced onion and continue sauteing until they were golden brown.

Add some butter to the pan, and then add sliced mushrooms.  Saute until they are as done as you would like (I like them very done. Browned and starting to caramelize). Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Add roast beef (cut into bite-sized pieces), and just cover with beef stock. If you don't have any stock, use beef bouillon dissolved in warm water. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. (If you are using raw beef, rather than pre-cooked, you need to simmer long enough to cook it through before proceeding further).

While this is simmering start adding the dairy. Many recipes use milk or cream. We like it really tart in our house, so we add sour cream. A bunch. Sour cream is quite thin though, so I also add cream cheese. Up to an entire brick. Stir until it melts and incorporates.

Add a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce.

If this is not tart enough for you (which it never is for us), add lemon juice - to taste. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Play with spices!  You can also add other veggies you have on hand.

It will thicken up as it cools. Serve over rice, pasta, quinoa (my favorite) or greens (I had leftover stroganoff over sauteed zucchini tonight).  

Let me know in the comments what you do with stroganoff, or let me know if you try this out and how it works for you.

At the very least, let me know if this is a useful thing, and if I should blog more of it in the future..?

Happy cooking!

Sunday Sketching

In the teensy purse Moleskine balanced upon my knee....

WIP Wednesday -

Still enjoying experimenting with these mixed media portraits in my sketchbook.

After resolving the face, I then try to experiment with some different materials and approaches to determine what I want to do....

(Some of the variations I tried out...)

This is what I ended up with.

Terrific Tuesday - Justin Gerard Sketchbook!

 My Justin Gerard sketchbook came today (and it is marvelous!)

 I was lucky enough to get my order within the first 50 - and lo! There be a wererabbit on my front page! :-)

The sketches are scrumptious, as always. You can see a bunch of them on his blog. Or better yet, order one of these puppies for yourself! You won't be disappointed.  Yum!

WIP Wednesday - tentacle head

This was supposed to be a quickie fun-sketch. Is turning into a Big Sketchbook toned drawing...

Rather reminiscent of the state of my brain at the moment!

RIP - Jack-the-wonder-dog.....

January 2000 - July 2011...

I miss you terribly, you Good Dog....

Sunday Sketching -

Teeny purse Moleskine. Around 30 minutes.

Larger sketchpad. Not quite 10 minutes?

Sunday Sketching -

Tiny purse Moleskine from the back of the room (much squinting happened)....

5x7 sketchpad and closer-up 'models'....

Sunday Sketching -

I tried a new view today - drawing a child upside-down (kind of messes with your head!). This also demonstrated a good example of reverse psychology: one of my wiggly Primary boys-who-cannot-sit-still spent part of the day hanging upside down in his chair. Tired of trying to get him to sit upright-with-feet-on-the-floor, I told him he needed to *stay* in that position so that I could draw his face. He did try for a few minutes, but then managed to remain relatively upright and forward facing for the rest of the time rather than stay still in an inverted position. :-)

(Try it though! It turns your learned-drawing-behavior - un-surprisingly- upside down).

Temporary Digression....

Over on tor.com, Irene Gallo has been hosting a thread: Show us your tentacles: A Lovecraft art meme which captured my fancy. I really don't have time to be doing anything but painting my current horse book, but due to forces that seemed beyond my control, I was unable to resist the compulsion to draw a Cthulhu of my own... I did a rough sketch of a tediously unoriginal critter trying to be sort of creepy when I realized that I needed to just go with what I've become practiced and adept at doing-which is, turn *any* kind of thing into a fairy (I've been doing almost nothing but sparkly fairy illustration since the middle of 2006). So, I am 'embracing the cuteness' and the result is Fairy Cthulhu:

I am now seriously behind where I had hoped to be today, but it was an incredibly fun digression. Now back to the coal mines.

[Edit for Vickie: I drew him in one of my Utrecht "oatmeal" paper sketchbooks. The paper is so lovely that I bought a small stack of various sizes. Drawn with graphite and white charcoal.]

Sunday Sketching-

Minor tragedy struck today. When I got to church and went to pull out my nearly-full Moleskine (and all of it's drawing accompaniments - pencils, pens, erasers, sharpener, tiny tin of colored pencils - all perfectly placed in a small 4x6 velcroed, cloth 'envelope'), alas! It was *not* in my purse. Dang. I've been carrying that envelope of drawing supplies around for over 5 years, and this mostly-Sunday Moleskine for nearly a year. Feeling kindof naked and bereft without it. Have looked all over in the car and at home, but it is nowhere to be seen.

I had to use my not-nearly-as-sensuously-surfaced Strathmore mini-sketchbook that was in my other bag. And scrounged a scratchy ball-point from the depths of my purse.... I don't draw in pen that often, so eased myself in by drawing drapery (baby blankets and leather jackets...)

By the time we hit Primary, I decided to attempt some pen faces (which I suck at. I am very eraser dependant apparently). Actually this is a very good exercise and I'm sure will help me be more precise in my initial laying-down-of-lines.

I just would really like my good, purse-drawing-kit pen.... :-(

.

(My Moleskine does have my name and phone number in it. Maybe it will still return home).

Trying out the new sketchbook -

Can I just say how awesome this toned sketchbook is? I love being able to put the highlights *in* rather than just leaving the white of the page. Of course, I'm not getting to use it right now, because I am drawing Wind Dancer book interiors like crazy. I did these on the retreat last weekend (copying Master drawings to get a feel for the yummy, smooth paper):

This is after a Burne-Jones head study.

And this is after a Hans Holbein study. I have a Dover book of a bunch of his portrait studies from King Henry VIII's court. They are fabulous - and for the most part show somewhat homely, very 'real' looking people. Not idealized at all.

And this is a totally uncharacteristic Alphonse Mucha study. Loved it that he has some 'monster drawings' in addition to his more typical lyrical ladies and lovely art-nouveau botanicals.

Graphite and white charcoal. Drawn in an 11x14, hardcover Utrecht sketchbook with 'oatmeal' pages.

Sunday Sketching -

With some Saturday sketching thrown in for good measure...

Watched a broadcast Saturday night - in another dimly lit room..

I'm going to have to start carrying around a mini-book light with me. These old eyes are not what they used to be. Getting kinda tired of trying to sketch in the dark. Can't see what I'm doing...

And today was quick-head-sketch day -

- about two to five minutes a piece. Heads a bit smaller than a quarter.

Sunday Sketching

*sigh*

Apparently my ability to stylize is hugely dependent on how long I have to look at the person I'm drawing (which this week, was not long enough), and how close I am to them. My eyes are getting detectably older, and drawing-from-a-distance is demonstrably more difficult.

At least when I am attempting to base the drawing on actual, recognizable characteristics, and not totally make it up...

maybe someday when I grow up....?


[I will post the winner for the book-giveaway tomorrow.]