Weekly Status Update - 09|12|27

Better late than never, right... Anywho, most of the week I was trying to think of different things to do with mushrooms. Sunday night I decided to make Mushroom Soup. It called for 8 1/2 cups of mushrooms. A carton of mushrooms is 8 oz and my hungry logic converted 8 oz to one cup. The carton looked bigger than a cup and even confirmed "8 oz = cup fact" with the stocker so of course I bought 8 cartons of mushrooms.

For your reference 8 oz of mushrooms is actually 3 cups. The one and only time I considered returning groceries, I misplaced my receipt. Immediately, I made a double batch of mushroom soup.

Here's the recipe :

5 oz bread
4 tbsp butter
1 small onion
8 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2/3 cup red wine
4 cup veggie or chicken stock
salt pepper

1. soak bread 10 min. drain and squeeze.

2. In large pot, melt butter, add onion. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook till mushrooms release liquid.

3. Add bread and thyme and pour in wine. Cook till alcohol evaporates. Pour in stock. Cover simmer 30 min.

4. Blend together

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Then I came up with a "Chicken and Rice Soup" Recipe with what I had around the house :

1 chicken breast
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
splash of olive oil
8 oz of mushrooms
3 carrots
splash of white wine
5 cups of chicken stock
tarragon
fennel
white pepper
bay leaf
1 1/2 cups of steamed rice
dallop of sour cream

1. Cube chicken. In large pot heat olive oil. Add onion and garlic. Add chicken.

2. Cook chicken for the most part. Add chopped mushrooms and coined carrots. Shake in tarragon, fennel, and white pepper.

3. Add a splash of white wine. Then chicken stock. Add 1 bay leaf. Cover and let simmer 30 min.

4. Take out bay leaf. Add Steamed rice. Stir. Add a small dallop of sour cream. Stir.

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I took the last carton of mushrooms home for the holidays and served them up with eggs and sausage for breakfast.


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With mushrooms on the brain I made a Mushroom Cloud Mobile! yay!

Felt mushrooms are made with a long rectangle of felt spiraled up into cylinder and stitched shut. Then cut circle of felt and stitch a loose running stitch along outer edge. Pull tight to make sack, then stuff with fiberfill. Hot Glue cylinder inside mushroom cap. Waaa laaa!

Weekly Status Update - 09|12|20

Basically felt like I woke up on the wrong side of the week. Constantly felt off balanced. But luckily pulled through and got back on track by the end of the week. Compared to many people around me, my week was just full of mild annoyances. Time slipped through the cracks in the floor that is still covered with a pile of clothes. A little dirt around the house is a pretty good price to pay for the amount of time I spent with friends. I have a feeling that this upcoming week will again be jammed packed with socializing and neglect of the daily routine.

Weekly Status Update - 09|12|13

A little experiment I thought I would start - "The Weekly Status Update"

I do have a tendency to become fixated on a given thing for a given period of time. Thinking a new Sunday Night routine will be focusing on my latest obsession and start a photo documentary project. Goal is to keep it up for a year and see what happens.

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Deadline for Guildess Juried Show STATS is this Tuesday December 8th!

For More Information : http://guildess.wordpress.com/

Guildess is a contemporary female art collective based in Milwaukee, WI. Guildess was started by Miranda Levy and Brittany Parker in January 2009. Our goals are to grow, learn, network, and serve the community together. We host regular Gallery Night shows (which men and women are both invited to enter) and a yearly member’s show. Each exhibition benefits a local charity. We also organize educational workshops and social events for members. We meet monthly to critique art, chat, laugh, eat and plan upcoming events.

Family Portraits

A family friend was in town over Thanksgiving Weekend and wanted portraits taken. The session went well. Kids will be kids, but luckily there were no major meltdowns or huge crying and screaming fits. I borrowed a room at my parent's house to set up a makeshift studio and my mom got snacks. It was a great experience since I've been doing another photographer's postproduction work for the past two years and haven't really been behind a camera lately. The most interesting thing about the session was the three way conversation between my father, mother and I after the Purins Family left. It is a likely possibility that my father and I will become business partners and open a father/daughter studio in 2010. He used to own his own film business DG Films, but had side company called Parallax Productions. Stay tuned for future development.

Beardana

Inspired by a local tavern party in my neighborhood and fueled by my love for beards I made a couple handfuls of "Beardanas." This morning I put a bunch on consignment at the Riverwest Co-op, located on the corner of Clark and Pierce in Riverwest. They will be on sale till early January. The Co-op will be selling them for $7, but this Sunday, November 29th I will have a tote bag of them at Blackbird Pabst Beard Party. Come out and drink cheap beer... find me and I'll sell you one for a mere $5! I have a variety of plaids and solid colored beards. Ladies this is your chance to know the joy of winter face warmth and men... well, sometimes your beard just isn't full enough.

Riverwest Co-Op

Blackbird Pabst Beard Party