Locavore Supper

The other night's supper was almost entirely from local sources. The hart's heart was from my neighbour, who once a year shoots a buck and gives me the heart. While I pan fried it in local onions, Richard boiled up some of my red-skinned potatoes with some of his own carrots. He mish-mashed them together as a side dish. Talk about your 100-mile diet. This one was the half kilometre version.

Mark Your Calendar!

Our little Art Sale is coming up. Should be fun! Please contact me if you need directions. Would love to see ya'll!

Happy Birthday Richard

For Richard's birthday, I decided to make him a Chicago Blackhawk's cake.


That insignia sure is complicated once you start applying it in icing. But in the end I was pleased with the results.


The birthday boy was too!


Even better? The checkerboard interior.


2010 was a good year. A Stanley Cup win for the 'Hawks and a great birthday for Richard.

Dunvegan...

My friend Olive from Ottawa, who meets up for trading with our ATC group in Dunvegan -- here in Ontario -- gave me this post card from a recent visit to the Isle of Skye. Our Dunvegan looks a little different than its namesake.


She also snapped this pic of the town sign, complete with its Gaelic translation. Thanks Olive!

Moooo!

Don't forget! Only one week to go till the deadline for our centrespread challenge. The theme is COWS and the ATC will appear in ATC Quarterly. E-mail a hi-rez jpeg of your cow-themed ATC to editor@atcquarterly.com or snail mail me (with SASE) to: 19698 Cty. Rd. 24, Dunvegan, ON K0C 1J0 Canada. Deadline: November 15/10.

Ghoulish Trade

We had our artist trading card meet-up on Saturday and many of the cards were seasonally-themed.


Harriet's cards featured grave stones she photographed while in Japan.


Olive did scary faces...well sort of scary faces à la Picasso.


Evlyn's cards were scary -- well sort of scary -- masks cut out of colourful fun foam.


Elisabeth did watercolours of fall foliage.


Barb's cards spelled out the word "Halloween" and were very scary.


Flip's animated jack-o-lanterns were adorable.


Holly's carved pumpkins were carved from linocuts.


Suzanne made jack-o-lanterns using suede and seashells...


...and they were displayed in a totally funky manner. Great trades everyone!

Potatoes & Chard & Snow

Snow on the last day of October? Definitely time to dig up the potatoes.


And there were lots of those suckers down there.


Richard and potatoes and snow. Oh my!


Check out those lovely potatoes!


Meanwhile, I figured I'd better pick some chard.


I'll be able to gather this chard for a little while longer...or until the deer find it, which ever comes first.


Lovely stuff, no?


I then thawed the puffball I had made into schnitzel a few weeks back and made a few layers of it with tomato sauce, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and steamed chard. A puffball lasagna if you will.

Black-Eyed Susan ATCs

Last Saturday was our artist trading card (ATC) trade. We had 13 or 14 people who attended, lots of cards, and lots of fun. These were my offerings, sketches of the last flowers of the season.

100 Things to Eat Before You Die #7

You gotta try dry rub barbecued ribs. These were from a highly recommended place in Memphis, TN called the Rendez-Vous.


Foodies Jane and Michael Stern loved these ribs to bits. And they weren't wrong. Fab!

Salsa Verde

My friend Natalie gave me a bag of tomatillos a few weeks back. And since I love salsa verde, I thought I'd make a batch.


It's actually pretty easy. You take the little paper husks off the fruit. The recipe called for 1 1/2 lbs and this was pretty close.


Cut tomatillos in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.


Dump into a food processor with a half a chopped onion, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1 or 2 chopped jalapenos, salt to taste. Process till smooth.
Because I froze this stuff, I didn't add the 1/2 cup cilantro leaves the recipe called for. I'll add this just before I serve it.


And pour into jars and seal. Summer in a jar. Can't wait to crack one open with a tortilla chip in hand.

The Old Buick

My friend Peggi's husband Bill has this fabulous old Buick parked in their yard.


Now I know nothing about cars...


...but I know that this sure is a neat looking car.


I took a few photos of is so that I can draw it again.


I drew it in colour pencil some years back, during the winter. Might be time for another visit?

Mark Your Calendar!

This year's small art show -- with Holly Kelleher and Natalie Rowe -- will be held on Sunday, November 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Dunvegan Recreation Hall. I have been working madly to paint some ceramics. As well, I have done some folk art painting on wood. If you need directions, lemme know!

Tennessee Travels #7

We loved southern cooking. Oh that barbecue! We had pulled pork sandwiches in Nashville and...


...ribs in Memphis. (We tried both dry rub and wet versions and loved both.)


The biscuits at the Loveless Cafe are the best in the world. Martha Stewart got a lesson there and Bobby Flay had a throw down with Carol Fay Ellison, the biscuit lady.


And if you're ever down south, finish off your meal with a piece of chess pie. Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

Tennessee Travels #6

While in Memphis, we stayed at The Peabody Hotel, a legendary, luxury hotel.


The big draw is the twice daily march of the ducks who spend their days in the lobby fountain. The duck master oversees their peregrinations.


At 11 a.m. the ducks arrive and at 5 p.m. they march back, on a red carpet, to their duck house on the roof of the hotel. Quacked us up!