! ! V A C A T I O N ! !

{image from here}

Yeah! Finally! I'm leaving for Peru in a few hours! See you in a few weeks!

xo,
Michelle

Shop Update!

Hello! What's shaking??? Busy here, prepping for my Peru trip, lots of painting, finishing up miscellaneous projects and cooking up new ones. Not too much in the actual cooking department; I even had to skip this past month's Daring Baker challenge because I couldn't find time (it was an Orange Tian this month, and I still would like to try and veganize it.)


I put two new prints in the shop today! I obviously have spring on my mind lately, and I show you some doodles from my sketchbook soon too.

Happy Wednesday!


"Night Wisdom"
8"x10"
watercolor on gessoed paper


"Tell it to the World, Mister Fox"
8"x10"
watercolor on gessoed paper

Morning!

Hello! Super-awesome morning here, filled with sunshine, no winter coats, and a big to-do list. I spent the weekend making a dozen or so mini (4"x4"!) veggie paintings to bring to Fuego this week. They are basically redos of my current veggie series, but I'm going to scan them later and upload because some are improvements! I'm going to do another dozen too, with a Brooklyn theme. I'll show you soon!

These three paintings here, I did a week ago, and the only one I am really happy with is the "Love" one, so that is the only one that I have put up in my shop thus far. I've been playing around with using some markers with watercolor and abstaining from using black. Hard for me! The others...I dunno yet. I have a whole bunch of sketchbook pages with this theme on them, so I'm just going to keep playing.

Happy Tuesday!

Daring Cooks-March Challenge-Risotto

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

For this challenge, I have had a bunch of dried mushrooms laying around and decided to put them to good use. I made a basic vegetable stock while adding the dried mushrooms to rehydrate, and then adding this to the Risotto base. Super yummy and fantastic for a rainy night! Nik and I enjoyed this while watching that movie Men Who Stare at Goats (which is really good!)


Vegetable stock:

2 large potatoes, quartered
4-5 smaller carrots or 1 big one (I had small finger-sized ones)
bag of dried mushrooms (I had a wild mix from Whole Foods)
2 small onions
water (I filled up my 3 1/2 QT. pot about 3/4 of the way with water)

I really enjoy Bryanna Clark Grogan's veggie broth (scroll down a little) and just kinda freely added in some of the same ingredients she uses in her dry broth powder to my stock.

Simmer for an hour. I discarded the potato and left everything else in to be added to the Risotto base.

Risotto Base

Ingredients:
2 oz. olive oil
1 small onion, quartered
14 oz. Arborio rice
2 oz. white wine
vegetable stock , simmering 2 pints 1 L

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil
2. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
3. Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
4. Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two).
5. Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
6. Repeat Step 4 and continue stirring often.

Yum!

Happy Friday!

Happy weekend! I'm going to check out the Armory Show on Saturday and hopefully go to Hangawi for some yummy vegan Korean food. I also have to do my taxes, reorganize space for new printer, clean apartment, work on new print repeats for freelance work, yada yada yada busy weekend!! *mwuah*

p.s. The above bears are a new print in my shop! Yeaaaaaah I have a thing for bears lately, if you haven't noticed!

Shop Update!

Hello and happy March! I'm going to kick this month off on the right foot, with a small shop update. Hooray! Here are two recent paintings I've completed, both with watercolors and markers, and are available in print form on Etsy.

Summer Reading


Polka Dot Mountain

Daring Bakers-February Challenge-Tiramisu!

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Let me just tell you, tiramisu might be my favorite dessert ever, and I can't BELIEVE I've never made a vegan version of it. And it's totally easy, despite the recipe looking kinda longish! My poor friends and family can expect for me to shoving slices of this at them at every upcoming gathering! (I know! Poor them!)

I took these pictures in the morning after it had been in the freezer all night, so that is why it is a little frosty-looking. Bonus, it is DELICIOUS frozen!




Vegan Cherry Amaretto Tiramisu!

VEGAN LADYFINGER COOKIES (from the Whole Foods website)
2 cups flour (I actually used 1 cup white and 1 cup wheat flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1 cup vegan sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup soymilk, rice milk or almond milk

1. To make the ladyfingers, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda and set aside. Using a mixer, cream together margarine and sugar until fluffy. Stir in maple syrup. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined, alternating with additions of milk. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats; set aside.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into 1-inch balls then roll each ball into a 2-inch-long stick. Makes 16-18 cookies. Arrange on prepared baking sheets, leaving a few inches of room between each ladyfinger, as they spread! Bake 8 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are firm and just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheets for about 1 minute. When firm enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

VEGAN TIRAMISU FILLING
2 cups Soyatoo Rice Whip whipped cream
8 oz. tofutti better than cream cheese
3/4cup powdered sugar
1 TBS vanilla extract

1. In a stand mixer or with a hand-mixer, blend until smooth.

LIQUID FOR DIPPING LADYFINGERS IN:
1 3/4 cups strong brewed coffee or espresso, cooled to room temperature
1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice
2 tablespoons Amaretto (or Marsala Wine)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

(you can dip it anything really! Pick a flavor or two that you love and substitute them in! I want to try a kahlua/coffee mixture and then a totally fruity one with orange juice/strawberries in the summertime!)

ASSEMBLY:
1. Stir together coffee, cherry juice, and amaretto in a shallow bowl. Dip a ladyfinger in coffee mixture, soaking it about 4 to 5 seconds on each side then transfer to a 5- x 9-inch glass baking dish. Repeat with 8 more ladyfingers, arranging them in the bottom of dish.

2. Spread half of the filling evenly over ladyfingers. Make another layer in the same manner with remaining ladyfingers and filling. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour then sprinkle with cocoa and serve. Tiramisu is always better the next day, after the flavors have melded together more. You can either store it in the fridge or the freezer, both versions are tasty!

Sketchbook Doodle: Oh Brother!

Sums up how I feel about the weather this week. But, no one wants to talk about the weather, so lets draw birds instead! It's been a stressful week at work, but I have combated it with lots of painting and doodling and tea at home! Nik and I found an awesome tea place in Park Slope this past weekend, and stocked up on tea. My favorite so far is the apricot. Mmmm. We also got Cherry Blossom, Black Currant, and the old favorite Earl Grey. We also found the Superhero Supply Store, which might be the greatest store ever, with their stock of Matter and Anti-matter, etc.