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Feed Your Soul. 

Check out my contribution on what feeds my soul 

as well as all the other wonderful work!  Cheers.

summer staple: noodle bowl

Vietnamese Noodle Bowl

the recipe you see here is based on personal preferences and taste.  yum.  we've tinkered with the dish, and enjoy these bowls so much, we could eat this once or twice a week.  seriously good.  

bowl:

1 cucumber, julianne (about 1/4 - 1/2 c. per bowl)

1-2 carrots, julianne (about 1/4 - 1/2 c. per bowl)

lettuce or spring mix (small handful per bowl)

bean sprouts (about 2 T. per bowl)*

3 T. peanuts, chopped (roasted for extra flavor)

1/2 lb. shrimp, pork, beef, or chicken, grilled  (we like shrimp & pork best) or substitute with tofu, cooked to your preference. 

vermicelli rice noodles, cooked according to directions as pasta.  drain.  rinse with cool water. leave draining.   (we use 1/2 a box and have enough for 4 servings)

dressing: 

1 clove garlic, minced

2-3 thai chilies, crushed (remove & add seeds according to the heat you desire.  we use the chili and a few seeds to add a hint of heat)

1 tsp. natural brown sugar

2 T. warm water

2 T. fish sauce

2 limes, juiced (about 4 T. lime juice)

2 T. fresh cilantro, chopped

To a small bowl or container, add warm water and sugar.  Mix until sugar is dissolved.  Add remaining ingredients and stir.  (I like one part water, one part fish sauce, and two parts lime juice.)  This same dressing tops broken rice dishes.   We love those as well!  

Allow the dressing to sit a few moments before using.   You can make ahead and it will be great!

Prepare the ingredients and keep separate.  Once all is prepared, you're ready to assemble your bowl.  In the base of your bowl (1 bowl per person) stack:  carrots, cucumbers, lettuce or spring mix, noodles, sprouts, chopped peanuts, grilled meat, shrimp, or fried tofu.  If serving, provide the dressing for others to top before eating. 

These noodle bowls are great for outdoor music/theater venues, picnics, backyard eating, or dinner with friends.  Very satisfying.  If you know ahead of time that you want to make this or have on hand, you can make all the parts and keep in the fridge.  This is good room temp or cold. Enjoy!

*we substituted sweet peas from the garden for this week's batch.  haven't started growing the sprouts yet.  we didn't use peanuts this batch or lettuce (as we only have arugula available).

life stories: home

we love traveling.  simply put.  we love hiking, driving from one place to another and watching the scenery change, & enjoying nature in all its forms.  we enjoy our visits to friends and family who are living away from us.  through thoughtful conversation over the weekend, we've chosen to take the trip scheduled for this week later in the month.  which means, time at home.  

our summer has been filled with spontaneous trips to the botanical gardens, the aviation museum, and the science museum (on those rainy days).  we've run in circles in the front yard and back.  painted. made bubbles. made play dough.  all the life stories that come together in our cozy home.  this week we'll give each other time to read, work, create, and laugh.  we'll share more snoozes than normal (at least we parents hope to) and find rest and joy in our friends who will drop in.  

thank you, summer.  thank you summer for your bright, sun-filled days.  thank you for the growing garden that we pick from daily.  thank you for warm water in the pool and for butterflies in our yard.  thank you for family days and family nights.  for chasing fireflies in the front yard.  thank you for the gift you provide in keeping us healthy and whole.  

enjoy your summer rituals as we do.  off to enjoy the summer day and show love to the cozy home.

inspiration: julia pott

illustration by julia pott. 

julia pott is just simply an awesome illustrator.  i recently purchased her show reel from her etsy shop and have really enjoyed her work.  the illustrations that i have, including some original drawings (being included in each purchase) make me smile.  i love the way she connects life through her animals.  the first time i was introduced to her work was through her short film First Crush on This American Life Live.  good stuff.  enjoy browsing her site and her blog and go see what's new in her etsy shop, along with an amazing shop update.  so inspiring.  enjoy.

life stories: silk painting

jo and i enjoyed some time this morning painting on a large piece of silk.  

our fence, after painting.

the piece of collaborative silk art, one half visible.

we love this piece.  along with the others i'd made a few christmases ago for play (which he wears most often as capes), the lovely large piece of silk can become inspiration for so much play!  i look forward to seeing how jo uses his new silk for forts, roofs, tents, picnics, and more!

whole foods, super natural foods

food creativity.  food thoughts.  we've been incorporate more grains into our diet as well as eating as many whole foods as possible.  our CSA is amazing and inspiring and aids in our quest.  we love the foods we're given and want to use them to the best of their potential.  a friend in st. louis has been a guide over the years in this pursuit, as she's living a healthy whole-foods lifestyle.  one of my favorite cookbooks, super natural foods, came from her christmas 2008 and i'm just now really getting into the recipes.  recipes from that book forthcoming.

because i miss my classes throwing clay, i find a good substitute in baking and making pasta by hand.  yum.  each batch is better than the last, which is encouraging.  fresh spinach & ricotta ravioli like those we cooked on our trip to italy is a must.  the kneading in making bread & pasta certainly connects to my clay work.  my goal is to bake bread once a week, or make the grilled bread we love or fresh pizza dough.  crackers are next on the agenda this week, and i'll tell you how that goes.  a special treat that we made for a few friends last week: oatmeal fruit cookies (mostly organic & whole foods), from the cookbook i recommend below.  

since the recipe below fits into the scheme of our CSA & garden and is so good and comforting, I wanted to share it with you.  we've enjoyed making this over the last year or so.  so good.  so good.

Sausage & Greens Soup adapted from Simply in Season:  Recipes that celebrate fresh, local foods in the spirit of More-with-Less.  Herald Press.  The unadapted version can be found on our CSA's blog.  You can also adapt the recipe to be a meatless sausage or some other creative protein.  

1/2 lb bulk sausage (we had amish sausage on hand, with virtually no fat, so i added 1 T. olive oil)
  Brown in soup pot and drain all but a spoonful of fat. Remove meat.  (though sometimes i forget to remove the meat.  works well either way)

Add: 
1 cup onion, green onion, chives (we love using green onions from the garden)

garlic scapes to taste or 1 clove garlic, minced

  Saute in reserve fat until soft.  Return sausage to pot, if you removed it.  

Add:  
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup potatoes, diced
1/2 cup turnips, cut into sixths (my addition)

sea salt and fresh pepper to taste
  Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Add: 
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1-3 cups of fresh spinach, kale, chard, watercress, or any other young tender greens or combination of greens, chopped
parsley to taste.  (A must!)

  Cook until tender.  
  Serve with freshly grated Parmesan or other hard cheese and enjoy!  Great with toast & garlic butter. 

Enjoy!

time to sew

my hands have been busy this past week getting the quilts complete for the bereavement group last night.  whew.  i'm glad that all have their work in hand, stories shared, and plans to continue with a monthly gathering.  such good support has taken place among these individuals and families.  they give to each other because they know what they need to receive.  they support + love each other in ways they need love + support.  it's a beautiful weaving of stories, tears, and laughter.  

as i've been stitching these quilts by hand and machine, i've been thinking through the next series of works for my shadow/art boxes.  of course the image found at twig & thistle stayed in my mind, and i just had to work with that image this week.  you'll see my two interpretations above.  one for my sweet husband for father's day today and the other for mixed media.  sew inspiring. 

tweet. tweet.

isn't this birdie cute?  love the colors, too.  check out this great new download by deer sweetheart studio on modish blog.  so sweet.  

life stories: trains

life and art intersect for me constantly.  what i create often reflects what we are engaged in through our backyard & nature outings, what's in the lectionary cycle, or where my dreams arrive.  much of my focus in the present moment takes place as i recognize the colors, shapes, and sounds around me, often giving thanks for the unexpected.  

one of my blockprints is called life quilt: dreams (pictured above).  each square is filled with a dream i have for my son or of moments in life -life stories- that we have encountered at the time of it's creation in 2008.  i reflect on these preschool days and have new hopes or hopes realized, i am constructing a new square to create.  as i do so, i look around our space at the life stories we are creating each day. among other activities, today jo has played trains.  he puts them together, takes them apart, reconfigures the trains and the tracks to new combinations of shape and color.  i love watching his intent motions and seeing his joy at what he can do.   the train is back in it's basket, waiting for another inspired moment of play.

playing with trains.  a trip to the aviation museum.  picking up fish at the seafood market.  simple moments.  life stories.  

IndieFixx Summertime Galleria

summertime is truly upon us.  we're enjoying the warmth of the outdoors & bounty of the garden (ours & our organic farmer friends).  i'm also finding inspiration in so many amazing artists, illustrators, and crafters around me, from local to across the world.  over the summer, i want to share some of those inspirations as i encounter them, whether for the first time or a return to their creativity.  

i've mentioned indiefixx's great feed your soul downloadable art project.  now meet the indiefixx galleria, a juried gallery of indie goods that features a variety of folks.  i am happy to be among those juried for the summer galleria.  check out my wears as well as these other folks!  you'll certainly enjoy the creativity that's here, and maybe find something to make your own.  discounts apply, but you need to visit the listings to discover them.  

cheers.

a few images of camping moments

messenger birdies now in the shop!

i love this new carving!  the messenger birds are too cute!  i can see them announcing a birth, celebrating a special day, or just because they're sweet.  you can write your own words in the leaves OR i can provide custom lettering.  each bird print is a little different than the other, which is an aspect of printing that i love!  find yours here in my etsy shop.  all who purchase an item until 30 june, receive a surprise gift!  

i love dirt!

what joy to wake up and find oneself in the garden pulling clover from the creeping jenny, checking on the blueberries in their beginning-to-ripen state, and surveying the growth of herbs & veggies in the garden.  what joy.  what joy to see the growth of a logo carved by hand into use for the YCW.  what joy.  what joy to know that your son spent his first night camping with grand-dad and a recent high-school graduate uncle.  what joy and a little curiosity.  what joy to head to the mountains for camping, joining them soon.  what joy.

i love dirt, whether between my fingers pulling weeds, carving a tree from a block (not so much dirt, but a similar process for me), or hiking in the mountains in search of ferns and moss (so inspiring).  what will we see, dig, gather, and delight in?  the earth. the dirt. each other.  (i certainly hope so!)

as i take a few days away to retreat into the woods, enjoy the sights and sounds around you.  feel free to continue to tell me "what feeds your soul".  i've really enjoyed hearing from you here on the blog and by other forms of communication. 

peace.

a question for today

so...i want to know.  since i've had this on my mind in a couple of ways, visually and in the fidelia' sisters article:  

what feeds your soul?  

leave a comment or contact me and share what feeds your soul.  you can expound or use a few words.  you can sign your name or leave an anonymous post.  i would like to hear from you!  

a head's up - the feed your soul art project

jen at indiefixx asked me to contribute an original work of art around the theme "feed your soul" for download on the site.  she has some amazing artists' & illustrators' work available for free download on the site.  you'll want to go, run, jump, click on over.  i've been able to print many and they are hanging on a clip on my fridge, as i'm in the kitchen so often to enjoy these.  others will go on the inspiration wall, along with the great works by folks from the march pikapackage, which came in the mail a little over a week ago.  i'm in love with all this beautiful art!  

the best part about the work that i've printed & placed on the fridge is that i can rotate the art with great ease and enjoy so many artists at once!   there is new art posted every monday, so go take a look.  i love today's editions!  

oh, mine will be available sometime in july.  will give you a head's up when it's online.