Big Sky Michigan Day

The *Official* August Break

Hello! What's all that sparkle and shine, you ask?! Well, let me tell you: As of today, I have signed on for The August Break, or TAB, as I think I might like to call it. Launched by photographer Susannah Conway, TAB involves posting one (or more) photographs per day on the blog, Monday to Friday, or every day or just so much as the spirit moves you. So instead of a full-blown post or recipe or inspirational roundup or what have you, I'll be posting some everyday photos from now until the end of August. I may include some text here and there -- then again, I may not. This is meant not only as "a little break from the pressures and expectations of regular blogging," but also as a reminder for me to be more present this summer by gazing at August through the camera lens. What do you think? Are you game? Want to play along? It'll be fun.



DIYpsi preview

I am super excited to be doing a show close to home this coming weekend. On Saturday I will be one of more than 35 artists and makers at the indie art fair called D.I.Ypsi from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Woodruff's in Ypsilanti. I thought I'd give you a glimpse at some of the crafty goodness that's going to be there. There is such a deep pool of talent for this show that I had a hard time narrowing my preview picks. In the end, I decided to highlight a list of goodies I've never seen in person thinking maybe you haven't either and will be tempted to come on down and check them out.

 Cascading Ball Jar Chandelier 

BootsnGus

Made in Detroit Belt Buckle

Vintage in Retrospect

Chuppys and Chuplettes 

Chuppy Love

Commissioned illustration for Bettula

Kelly Mitchell Fine Art & Illustration

Do you see what I mean? So much goodness. You have all day Saturday to drop by down in Depot Town and check out the wares, grab a beer and a bite and walk away with something handmade by one of your neighbors. Do it!

Corn!!! Can't get enough of it.

Happy Friday, everyone! Wow, it's so hard to believe it's August, you know? I wanted to share with you this photo of our back door. I am in love with this screen door. Sun pours in in the morning and I can see all kinds of luscious green out through the dappled sunlight. Ahhhh.

Well, actually, the real reason I am sharing this photo, is that I have a tasty soup recipe to show you and—after eating it three times this week—I still haven't been able to take a tasty looking photo of it. Ha! Nonetheless, I will plow ahead…

I know you're also thinking, "Soup? In the summer?… I think I'll pass." But if like me you are obsessed with the fresh corn right now you are probably finding yourself buying more than you can possibly eat while it is still fresh. I'm a wee bit of a corn snob and kinda refuse to eat it if I didn't buy it that day from a local farm — maybe one day later, but that's it. No grocery store corn. Can't do it. Extreme, I know, but there it is. So I keep buying more corn when I have day-old corn waiting at home (or even if I think this corn might be better than the corn I bought just minutes before — yikes! What if I miss out?!?). So last weekend with way too much corn on hand to eat on the cob, I made this yummy recipe from Heidi Swanson. It tastes like summery goodness, so even if you make it and freeze a good bit for a cold December day… you should try it!

Corn Soup
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

6 ears corn, husks removed
7 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch dice

4 medium shallots, chopped
3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. While it is heating cut the kernels off the cobs, reserving them in a bowl. Place the cobs in the boiling water. Turn down to low and simmer while you're prepping the rest of the ingredients, ideally 15-30 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, stir until well-coated, add a big pinch of salt, and saute until the potatoes are cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. When the potatoes are nearly cooked, add the shallots and garlic.

Remove the cobs from the broth when you're ready and add the potato mixture, along with the corn kernels and salt. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. For a chunky soup, puree about half of the soup and pour into a separate bowl as you puree it. Pour the puree back into the remaining chunkier soup and stir to combine. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.

Heidi served this with plain yogurt, salted and a swirl of harissa paste. I took one of her other suggestions though and crumbled a little feta on top and sprinkled with fresh, chopped dill. Yummers!

Illustrating a lifestyle…

Doesn't this look like a terrific spot to while away the hours and conjure up copy? It's a little view of the office of Shannon Darrough—lifestyle journalist, social media guru and style maven extraordinaire. I recently completed these drawings for Shannon's web site and had a blast working on them. I loved imagining and drawing the same scene from different angles and with similar elements in all. Fun!

Free Form Birthday Blueberry Tart

At last! I've found my way back into the kitchen. It took my birthday for it to happen, but I finally felt the itch to do a little cooking and it was such fun. I spent a good portion of a beautiful Saturday puttering around after a visit to the Brighton Farmer's Market — my new Saturday haunt! We grilled a whole chicken which I can not say enough about. If you have the time, it well worth it because tat's all the effort you need. A little olive oil, salt, pepper and about an hour and a half of cooking time — the taste is just incredible. For dessert I made this blueberry tart which I think you're going to love. (I'm still adjusting to the lighting in the new place so bear with the photography…)

The recipe was part of an article in this month's Food & Wine about the Island Creek oyster farm in Duxbury Bay in Massachusetts. I absolutely love oysters and the photos of a little floating shack out in the bay with people coming out in the evenings to cook together and eat and relax… sigh. It sounded so dreamy.  I want to make all the oyster recipes, but for now settled on this tart with blueberries fresh from a Michigan farm. The crust is quite similar to this fall tart I love to make and the taste  reminded me that I need to make more tarts! There is a hint of candied ginger in the crust and next time I think I will add even a bit more than the tablespoon called for in the recipe. 

Free-Form Blueberry Tart
via Food & Wine

Pastry
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling
1 tablespoon minced candied ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water

Filling

1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 egg white, beaten
In a food processor, combine the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the candied ginger and salt and pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until it is the size of small peas. Sprinkle on the ice water and pulse just until the pastry starts to come together. Turn the pastry out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until firm.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a 14-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the pastry in half (I like to fold it over the rolling pin) and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. Unfold the pastry and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

While the pastry is chilling, make the filling and preheat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl, mix the 1/4 cup of sugar with the lemon zest and flour. Fold in the blueberries and lemon juice and let stand for 15 minutes. (I added a couple of peaches to the mix but they melted away to almost nothing. The blueberries are the star here.)

Spoon the blueberries in the center of the pastry, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border all around. Fold the pastry border up and over the blueberries, pleating it as necessary. Brush the egg white on the pastry and sprinkle with sugar (raw sugar is lovely if you have it). Bake for about 55 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the tart cool to warm. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Longshot: The Magazine

What are you doing this afternoon? In just four short hours, the theme will be announced for Issue Two of Longshot magazine. Then, over the following 48-hour period, creative people from here there and everywhere will come together over the interwebs to make a magazine from start to finish. As it says on the Longshot site:

"We need writers, photographers, illustrators, videographers, information designers, editors, proof readers, fact checkers, baristas, chefs, bartenders, and carpenters. (Especially bartenders). We want submissions ranging from 140 characters to 4,000 words. Please send us your strongly reported narratives, design fictions, interviews, data visualizations, cartoons, family portraits, how-to guides, maps, obscure histories, recipes, war reporting, photo-essays, blueprints, ships’ logs, scientific papers, charticles, wood cuts, curio boxes, product reviews, and box scores. 

We want you to make it. We want to publish it first. We don’t want your rights."

Submissions are accepted for twenty-four hours after the theme is announced and then the next 24 hours are used to put together the magazine which is then published at noon on Sunday (PST). 

Depending on the theme, I'm considering putting together a drawing to submit. Looking at the past two issues, it seems that writing is the focus and that the art is directly related to articles submitted, so I'm not exactly sure how that all works, but it sounds fun nonetheless. So writers write, photographers photograph, and illustrators illustrate — and then let's all get together and send them in to make a fab mag. 

Let's get creative this Friday afternoon!

Necessity is the mother of invention

I have something funny to tell you: Three weeks to the day that we started moving into our new home, I finally planned to cook a meal. Go to turn on the stove... nothing. That's right, it took me three full weeks to discover that our stove wasn't even plugged in. For someone who more often than not blogs about recipes, this cracks me up. Thankfully one of our best -- and most generous -- housewarming gifts was a grill and we had already planned for the main part of the meal to be cooked on that. One tip I learned is that if you have an electric kettle, you're in steamed veggie business.

In recent years I have changed my corn cooking ways from boiling a huge pot of water to boiling just and inch or so of water in a skillet to steam it. Good fresh corn grown locally really needs very little heat to release its tenderness. I prefer to eat it after the main part of the meal -- kind of like the best summer dessert ever -- and usually steam it and then place it on a platter wrapped in a clean kitchen towel until we're ready to dive in. This time, I boiled water in the electric kettle, poured it into a wide skillet, popped in the corn and let it sit with the lid on while we ate. When we pulled it from the pan it was absolutely perfect! I may just stick with this technique from here on out.

Do you have any great meal ideas that are cooked exclusively on the grill? Let me know in the comments below and I'll let you know what I come up with this week as the stove is gonna need some ruminating and fixin!

Kids Art Fair

Every year on the Monday night before the start of the Ann Arbor Art Fair, the original Street Fair team puts on the Townie Street Party with live music, food drinks and free hands-on art activities to get the locals in the spirit of the fair. One of the highlights of the Townie Party is the Kids Art Fair. Young artists in grades 1 through 8 from across the county work for months to put together displays and art for the fair. The level of professionalism was incredible this year and I was extremely impressed. I was a bad blogger, forgot my camera and didn't even get the artist's name, but I purchased the above origami piece from a sweet young girl who makes magic with paper.  

This next item is a calendar created by Ella Markley. I met Ella a while back at Blue House where she had seen the 2011 calendar I designed. Her version is so well-executed and thoughtful -- great things are in store for this budding artist!

She got all the details right from the Lollipop Designs name to the themed drawings for each month. My particular favorites are the mailbox overflowing with love letters in February and the two girls -- Ella and her best friend -- watching the fireworks in July.

 

If you didn't make it to this year's Townie Party, don't miss next year to see the next round of Kids art! You're sure to be inspired.

Cobblestone Farm

Have you ever been to Cobblestone Farm in Ann Arbor? It's like a heavenly slice of nineteenth century rural life right in the middle of town. I recently did this little drawing of the barn to help promote it as a rental property so if you're looking for a place to host your wedding or big family reunion, check it out!

Crafter Love from Chatty Crafty!

Hello! The boy and I are still in between spaces and shuttling boxes between our apartment and the new place, so my blogging schedule is a bit off — not to mention I haven't cooked a thing in ages! But we're slowly getting there and I hope to be back on track soon with new recipes from a new kitchen and new creative endeavors. In the meantime, a long overdue look at two vendors I was introduced to at Chatty Crafty back in June. The collection of vendors at this show was just stellar. I just loved the booth of Let's Be Friends (above and below).

The creative mastermind behind Let's Be Friends is Felicia and she has such a great eye for creating an environment for her critters. Look at the emotion she manages from that sewed fellow up top — love!

The other booth I swooned over was Ophelia Terrariums. I'm a sucker for the recent explosion of terrarium happiness, but these gals are over the top. There is such detail in each one — a variety of earth layers in different colors, a wide range of plants and plenty of little people and animals and scenes to adore. The images below are all from the super-talented Shashank Shrestha who volunteered his time and energies to take hundreds of remarkable photos at the show.

Eye Candy over at Blue House

Finca Bellavista, Costa Rica via Adventure Journal

No, that's not my on that zip line headed to my new life, but I am over on the Blue House blog today with another round of Eye Candy. This time we're looking at—no surprise here—cabins! Come on over and play along, why don'tcha?!

North Fork Foodie Tour

Once again, it's the North Fork Foodie Tour! Here's a look at the design I did for this year's poster. If you're anywhere near the North Fork of Long Island in September, don't miss this fantastic event!

Dream houses

Several years ago, before I had moved to Michigan, my good friend BE sent me this photo. This is the house she envisioned for me. A dreamy, dreamy fog layered island home with canoes and trees in abundance. I've kept this photo in my email inbox ever since as an enticing vision of what could be. 

And now, four years later, this is a little glimpse of where the boy and I have landed. If she had told me that back then, I would have scoffed. Who could be so lucky?!

Bringing it Home: Art in the Park

At last! A local show. It's been great fun traveling for so many shows this spring, but I miss seeing all my local peeps! Come on out and say hello this weekend in Plymouth where I'll be a vendor at Art in the Park. I was so pleased and honored when they contacted me earlier in the spring to use my drawing for their posters. This is three full days with hundreds of vendors — hooray! I'll be in booth #801 on the northeast corner of Main Street and Penniman Avenue. You can check out the official guidebook for the show here.

p.s. photos of the house to come soon… promise!

Friday's To Do List

Magic Margin illustration

Allow me to introduce you to Magic Margin: The Classroom Typewriter Project Blog. I had the pleasure of working with Ryan Adney on a new banner for Magic Margin. Ryan is a high school English teacher in Phoenix using typewriters as a learning tool in his classroom.

The typewriter project, as it says on the blog, "is designed to get children to write without distraction." With about fifteen classic machines in the classroom, Ryan encourages his student to journal using whatever method they choose. 

"As you can guess, there are not too many people who use typewriters in their 21st century classrooms," he says. "I try to keep the technology in my classroom democratic; students can use whatever they want. It just so happens that the typewriter is the best. Well, I think that there is magic to be found being outside what is normally expected for an English classroom." Wow! I think these kids are mighty lucky to have a teacher with such vision. 

Here's a look at a couple of the student typecasts:

As any of you who have visited my booth or table at a craft show may have noticed, I love typewriters and like to incorporate my grandmothers' typewriters into my display. It is always children who are most intrigued by them and I love the way they stare and hesitate. I stare, too! I just love looking at—and drawing—typewriters. Apparently Ryan has a big old Royal HH on his desk in the classroom, so that seemed the obvious choice for the banner.

The blog is very active and I encourage you to check out more of the student typecasts — and to try your hand at a little old-fashioned typing!

Nashville's Hatch Show Print

On my recent trip to Chattanooga for Chatty Crafty (more on that soon!), my traveling pals—Courtney Fischer and Laura Berger—and I decided we needed a little taste of Nashville on our trip home. One of the highlights of our stop was visiting Hatch Show Print. Now part of the Country Music Hall of Fame, this letterpress printing shop has been churning out stunning letterpress gig posters and more since 1897. The early years were country music, vaudeville, circus shows and more. Nowadays, everyone from the Beastie Boys and Andrew Bird to Ira Glass and the Trans Siberian Orchestra seek out Hatch for their unique style. You can see a great selection of their more recent posters on gigposters.

The cats of Hatch figure very heavily into some of their designs. We witnessed this little fellow live and in person (in cat?!) mowing down on a little mouse dinner the night before when we walked by the shop after hours.

P.S. Chronicle published a great book about Hatch in 2001. 

Massaged Kale Salad

This is one of those things that I noticed one morning and then seemed to see it everywhere — massaged kale salad. This, of course, means that I had to try it. Basically, you massage sea salt into the kale (preferably dinosaur aka lacinato kale) with your fingertips. This softens the kale and releases its natural moisture and bitterness making it lusciously smooth and tender. This dressing is the perfect pairings of flavors and textures, too, with a nice kick from the ginger and the honey and lemon flavors melding it all together and softening it. I made half a batch for a delicious weekday lunch — mmmm! 

Massaged Kale Salad
Adapted from Eating is Art
Serves 2-4

1 bunch kale
1/2-1 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons lemon juice (one whole lemon)
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 apple (cored and sliced)
6 radishes (sliced)
1 avocado
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spread sunflower seeds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or so. Remove and let cool.

Rinse the kale well and then cut into 1/4 inch wide strips and place in a large bowl. (I prefer to remove the stems, but if you'd like, with the dinosaur kale, it's not really necessary.) Take about a half teaspoon of sea salt and sprinkle it over kale. Then, using your hands, massage and squeeze the kale vigorously, so that the kale softens and moisture begins to sweat out. Taste it to see if you need any more salt, which you probably will. Massage the kale until it’s moist and tender.

Mix together the lemon juice, honey, and ginger. Toss together with the kale. Add the apple, radish, avocado, roasted sunflower seeds and some freshly ground black pepper. Toss again to combine.

Enjoy!

Put a Bird on It!

Yes, that's right. Put a Bird on It. A handful of birds made their debut on the brand-spanking new Frayed Sew web site this afternoon. I had a great time working on this project with Becky who runs this fantastic little handmade shop in Helena, Montana. I haven't had a chance to visit in person—yet—but the photos show just how charming it must be!To see the birds in their natural habitat, go here now!

And now I'm off to pack the car for my last out-of-town show of the season in Chattanooga for this weekend's Chatty Crafty show. hooray!