Sadie Painting

Did I mention that Sadie died in September and we're still heartbroken?

This started out as a sketch as above. Chui said to make the eyes bigger, and fixed the reflection not to be a precise dot, but more diffuse on the eyeball. Also he had me compare the whites in the couch vs. her fur, which was the lightest part of the painting. The detail on the pillow is not too detailed, which would look finicky. The painting is inspired by a number of Cavalier paintings, one sent from a friend who photographed this Manet.

Chui himself made this sketch of Sadie which I've posted before, it's lovely. The fur is amazing.

And various other artists:

 

From a friend's house, don't know the artist

Karalan Piirakat - Karelian Pastries

1. Rice porridge 2. Dough rolled into log and divided 3. Pirkko showing rolled out oval
4. Ready to bake 5. Brushed with butter

Karelia is the part of Finland that borders Russia, and they have a unique cuisine that I grew up loving. These "pastries" originate from Karelia, but can be bought all over Finland, in fact no one makes these there, they are so easy to find in the grocery stores. They are eaten at breakfast or lunch, and are savory, not sweet. For us here in Wakefield (or as it happens, Montreal for this post), they are a special treat, and our friend Pirkko came over and taught us how the make them.

Rice Porridge:

3 dl arborio rice (= 1.27 or 1 and 1/4 cups)
2 1/2 dl water (= 1 cup)

boil until water is gone (watching carefully). Then add 1 L milk (add 2 cups at a time) and cook on low heat to make porridge, cook until milk is absorbed then add more as needed until porridge consistency and rice is cooked. It takes about 4 cups)

Dough

4 dl rye flour (1 3/4 cups)
1 dl white flour (0.4 cups, that is a bit more than 1/3 cup but less than 1/2 cup)
2 dl water (warm)
1-2 tsp salt

Mix in mixmaster or by hand (Pirkko did by hand with a wooden spoon). To roll out, use a lot of flour on the board or mat. Roll dough into a log and divide, then roll pieces by hand into balls and then use rolling pin to flatten into oval shape (see photo). Put rice in centre and pinch sides first, then continue pinching into shape as above. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes or until bottom of pastry is brown. Brush generously with melted butter and serve with hard boiled eggs.

Christmas Turkey?

Could you eat this bird? We were supposed to have her for Christmas dinner, but I don't know if we will have the heart to do her in. We had 10 turkey chicks, and when there are many you don't get to know them. But this year, the raccoons killed 9. So... this one turkey is left, and we got to know her, and she is nice. So I don't know... maybe we'll have ham this year.

Still Life with Coffee Pot

Final night

First + second night

3rd night

I had a hard time with the background grey, it is french ultramarine blue with sienna brown. I guess all greys are a mix of blue with orange or brown, as my father told me. Trying to make the pot look metallic was not so hard when I tried to just copy the colours one by one, and their shape, and darkness or lightness, without thinking to much about the whole.

The real thing. Fake flowers though.

Butter Chicken

This recipe is from my friend Rachel, who got it from an Indian Restaurant Cookbook which has long since been out of print. I have made this recipe a great many times for dinner parties, and served over basmati rice it is delicious, and easy to make as well. This pic shows chicken from our farm, all cooked up. It seems like a lot of ingredients, but they are mostly spices. From the book: "Butter chicken is made from freshly cooked tandoori chicken joints reheated in tomato sauce laden with butter and cream." Mmmmm. Serve with some jarred lime pickle, I like Patak's.

Tandoori Chicken

8 pieces of fleshy chicken
1 cup thick plain yoghurt
2 tbsp tandoori spice mix (I use Patak's in a jar)
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic

1. Make deep cuts in the chicken with a sharp knife, arrange in a single layer in a glass dish for marinating and baking

2. Mix yoghurt with all spices, lemon and crushed garlic, salt.

3. Spread mix thickly over chicken, cover with foil, put in fridge to marinate x 8 hours

4. Bring back to room temperature x 1 hour then remove foil, cook in preheated oven at 350F x 45-60 min  or until cooked through.

Now use this to make the butter chicken:

Ingredients:

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 cm ginger peeled and finely chopped
1/3 cup butter
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp EACH ground ginger, paprika, chili powder
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ssugar
1 tsp salt
1 can of chopped tomatoes drained
juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
2/3 cup whipping cream
4 tbsp fresh chopped coriander


1. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger in butter until light gold, about 5 minutes on med heat

2. Stir in all the spices followed by the tomato paste, sugar and salt. Add the tomatoes and lemon juice. Leave on low heat

3. When cooked chicken is cool enough to handle, cut into small neat pieces and add to the tomato mixture, simmer half covered 20 minutes  until chicken is well heated through. (Note: I put in all juices and sauce from tandoori chicken).

4. Gradually blend in the cream, stir and reheat briefly. Serve sprinkled with fresh chopped coriander. And the jarred lime pickle on the side.

Scones for Breakfast

This is a great recipe from a medical student that I worked with named Colleen, and it makes me wonder what she is doing now- I think she became a surgeon. I should look her up. Anyway it's a wonderful recipe that she gave me to make with cranberries, but it really works well with any kind of fruit - I made these for J using blueberries.

Ingredients

3/4 cup buttermilk or plain yoghurt
1 egg
2 3/4 cups flour (for whole wheat scones substitute 1 cup with whole wheat flour)
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter melted a bit in the microwave
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fruit blueberries here (but I often use frozen cranberries, chopped strawberries, whatever is on hand)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix yoghurt + egg and set aside

In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Mix in melted butter.
Mix in cranberries, sugar.
Add wet ingredients and stir until soft dough forms. Use hands to form a large ball and put on a dinner plate, pat into a circle and cut into 8 wedges like pie pieces.
Place on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes. They don't need a lot of room as they don't expand when baking. While still warm brush with melted butter and sprinkle with icing sugar. Makes 8 large scones.

Unbaked scones on baking sheet

Ready to eat

Carrot Haul 2014

We dug up about 100 lbs of carrots this year, a record.

The best find was the giant carrot

It looks only medium sized on its own

Then compared to the dog  it looks bigger (the pumpkin had some animal was gnaw on it- it wasn't the dog, she even spits out the vegetables when we give her leftover stew).

The best size comparison is the baby

Below is soup a recipe from my friend Sylvia, and we have made this soup many many times now- delicious.

Moroccan carrot soup

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

1 cup chopped white onion

1 pound large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 2/3 cups)

2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup plain yogurt, stirred to loosen

Preparation

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes. Mix in carrots. Add broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Stir cumin seeds in small skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes; cool. Finely grind in spice mill.

Remove soup from heat. Puree in batches in blender until smooth. Return to same pan. Whisk in honey, lemon juice, and allspice. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle yogurt over; sprinkle generously with cumin.

Per serving: 154.7 kcal calories, 42.1 % calories from fat, 7.2 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 22.1 mg cholesterol, 18.7 g carbohydrates, 3.2. g dietary fiber, 11.8 g total sugars, 15.5 g net carbohydrates, 5.0 g protein

Nutritional analysis provided by Bon Appétit

I Love New York

I love New York. I love it like a person. So I wanted to paint it. This is the Pomona statue in New York, which is in front of the Plaza hotel; I took the photo in the springtime, and when the exercise was to paint from a photo, I brought it to class. Chui told me to zoom in on the statue, because otherwise it would be lost in the painting. There are a lot of blues in the trees, much more than I thought, until Chui corrected me, and the shadow under the fountain is very dark. He told me to make the statue itself "more elegant" and shaved off a lot of the fat by painting over it. A lot of viridian green in that. However, the original statue is even more elegant, and fluid. I don't know how they did it, those bronze masters; Bitter, the sculptor, sadly, died in a car accident before he completed it.The fountain and monument were commissioned by Pulitzer and the story about that is found here.

This is what happens when Sempe comes along:

Garden in Mid Summer

These photos are from early July. We got a good jump start on the butternut and acorn squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelon, but then the stupid beetles got the better of a lot of the plants, and we have little veg developing

The potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, radishes, chard, lettuce and herbs are doing not too badly

The geese kept escaping and leaving their nasty poos all over the place, but J walked the perimeter of their pond and mended all of the holes in the fence so they are again contained

I'm so pleased with the hollyhocks, I grew them from seed last year and they're well established in the goose garden now

And the poppies, bee balm, and flox

The chicks and ducklings had a certain attrition, not sure why.Soon they'll be big enough to send to the butcher. I do feel a bit badly about the Peking ducks, as they do look sweet and like pets.  In the scheme of things, J had to shoot a raccoon and a couple of skunks that were found circling their pens.

And the obligatory photo of little Sadie...

And the house.

My Favorite Hospital

The RVH is so beautiful. Here is the Allen Memorial one fall morning

The coach house with the horses head. I think this building is for epidemiology now.

Part of the medicine building, with a gargoyle on it

The Neuro

Sunny day

Cloudy day

The Women's Pavillion

 The Women's Pavilion and the Ross Pavilion

The Medical Pavilion

And the funky air conditioning situation on 10 medicine

The clinic examining rooms look so retro to me

The laundry elevator

The people elevator- my favourite retro elevator ever in the Ross Pavilion- I love the art deco detail and Bakelite buttons

The beauty salon at the RVH

Views from the hospital