Friday, May 30, 2008

tweaked my asparagus shrimp stirfry

I had a friend over for lunch today. I know that asparagus is her favorite vegetable. I have some lovely asparagus growing in my tiny garden. So I decided to make what has become my favorite recipe of the asparagus season= Shrimp-asparagus stir fry. I loved my old recipe, but thought it needed something. I didn't like the fish sauce so I nixed that and added the oyster sauce. Really a good move. I asked my guest IF she might suggest something. My luncheon guest suggested added a few peanuts on top. Perfect. She is GOOD! Great to have a friend who loves to eat as much as I do.

Wish I had taken a photo. It was YUMMY!

Please view the original post for the current recipe. I just edited it as I didn't think I needed a whole new post.

ENJOY!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

butterfly using positive and negative spaces

When someone in Quiltart posted a site with the note, everyone needs one of these, I got inspired.

Here is the site

http://www.quiltwarehouse.com/Jan%20Designs/wire_quilt.jpg

I was absolutely going to make some iris. I love iris. I am anxiously awaiting their perfumed blooms. They are not yet blooming here, so I had none to study. Then as I started thinking about this months challenge, positive and negative spaces, I decided to cut out some iris as outline and others as solids. Because my iris are still not blooming, I went on-line. Didn't like anything very much. Tried a few sketches. Looked at a LOT of photos and sketches. Decided to give it a rest. Nothing was appealing to me. My sketches were not what I really wanted in positive negative spaces.

Took a break. Cooked some wonderful lentil soup. Ate. Relaxed. Gave myself an eye treatment; lay down with hot compresses on my eyes to try and get the oils flowing. Daydreamed/ processed. Many of my best ideas come either when I am falling asleep or 'processing' in the morning before I get out of bed.

Then I got on a new track. Witness the aluminum butterfly made from left over pieces of flashing. The flashing pieces are each 5"x7". I used 4 for each side. My next challenge is figuring out how to fasten the pieces together and hang it.