Among the countless blessings this blog has brought to my life is this one: I have met and become friends with a few cookbook authors. They are delicious people to be around, naturally, and if I manage to fox my way into their house they may actually cook for me, but the invaluable bonus is that, once I've come to know and trust them, once I've witnessed how exacting they are, and how much pressu
Right off the bat I will tell you that Griffin did not partake in this meal. This one was all for Mike and I.
I have been staring at a package of tofu in the fridge for nearly a week now, waiting for a night that we were kid-free to make something that we would both [...]
You can get a free sample of Fekkai Salon Glaze hair care. This free sample is a hair clear shine rinse that is supposed to be safe for all hair colors. This one may be a very limited offer as well.
Welcome back to Kid-Friendly Food Fridays! We started this weekly event to feature healthy, yummy, delicious, and quick recipes to make for kids! For more information on this weekly event, please visit the Kid Friendly Food Fridays Headquarters! We welcome you to submit recipes and ideas for this feature to gingerlemon_girl at yahoo dot com! This is my favorite chocolate cake! I made it for t
Mmmm....duck, another meal I should not have made right before the wedding. It's just so delicious though. I also find that whole duck is often over-cooked, or I just prefer under-cooked, whichever way you want to look at it but I don't like dry meat. This preparation yields a very moist little duck, and it's relatively easy for such an impressive looking dinner. It's perfect for a romantic dinner
We all want hair that is shiny and smooth. For years now, the only true way to achieve that level of glossiness and texture, was a trip to the hair salon with a high-end glazing process.The experts at John Freida have developed a new treatment that promises salon-quality glaze at a very reasonable price. And all it takes is three minutes in the shower to turn lifeless, dull locks into mega-watt shine! It's called John Freida's Luminous Color Glaze ($8.97). In four beautiful ways to glaze: Clear Shine, Sheer Blonde Color Glaze, Brilliant Brunette Color Glaze, and Radiant Red Color Glaze.So simple to use, too. Just hop in the shower and after shampooing, squeeze out excess water. Apply the Clear Shine Gloss through your wet hair, from root to ends. Leave on for three minutes, then rinse. Sty
In an ideal world, I am super organized and plan for all possible outcomes. My make up is always perfect and I am the the epitome of calm and cool. In reality, I seem to be flying by the seat of my pants these days and it ain’t pretty. I have been [...]
Happy Patty's Day!!!!!!!!!Click for better viewThis color is much more neon in person.
Nope I am not turning into a nail only blog. I leave that up to All Lacquered Up. Check her blog out for all the latest and greatest in nail love.
Here's my entry for the Royal Foodie Joust!Ginger-Lime Tofu with Citrus Marmalade Glaze, Coconut Quinoa with Pink Peppercorns, Orange Balsamic Chard and Radish GreensI'm so pleased with this menu, because they compliment each other so well. The delicate flavour of the quinoa counterbalances the citrus kick of the tofu, and the greens had a smooth, almost creamy texture from the radish tops.The tofu was wonderful in itself, with the texture very akin to pork, and even the color was spot on. I find that red wine and tofu cooked together in most forms makes for a good substitute for heavier meats in recipes. My fiance said that it reminded him very much of a gourmet version of orange beef he used to get at Chinese restaurants, and he gobbled up everything left in the pan, including the leftov
Large Ceramic Black Glaze Seated BuffaloBronze-Like Black Glaze FinishSeated on a Custom Fitted Wooden Stand18"W x 9"D x 6"H (8"H on Stand)Circa 1940 $1,175Click Here to See Additional Photos & Purchase Information
A friend wanted a brief lesson in mastering the art of choux pastry today. So easy to make, it's the basis for cream puffs, eclairs, and many appetizers and hors d'oeuvres. I thought we'd make a classic favourite to use up some of our choux pastry. I like making these with a mocha chocolate glaze.Banana Cream Puffs With Mocha Chocolate GlazeCream Puffs:1 cup water1/2 cup butter or margarine1 cup all-purpose flour4 eggsFilling:5 egg yolks1/3 cup granulated sugarDash salt1/3 cup all-purpose flour1 1/2 cups milk2 tsp vanilla extract1 tbsp butter or margarine2 ripe bananas, mashed1/2 cup whipping creamMocha Chocolate Sauce:1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips3 tbsp whipping cream2 to 3 tbsp strong brewed coffeePreparation:For cream puffs, in saucepan, heat water and butter to boiling. Add flour all at once; beat 2 minutes until very stiff. Remove from heat.Beat in the eggs, one at a time,until dough is smooth. Beat until satinlike.Shape 8 mounds of dough on greased baking sheet. Bake at 3
See, I don't put on makeup in the weekdays unless I'm out for a lunch appointment or to meet a client. Having a home office means I've saved time and money on makeup and all. So when the weekends is here, I like to experiment with my mineral makeup palette.One of my favourites are putting on and mixing lip glosses and colours for the lips. I have some nice lip glosses and glazes from Monave Mineral make up and if you haven't tried mineral makeup, you should. Sharen sent me the mini Mango Glaze and Allure Glaze, both belonging to the family of browns, which happen to be my colour tones. What I like about Monave lip glazes is that they are vegan and give a natural finish. You can wear it on its own for a relaxed weekend and let the bronzer or blusher on your cheeks shine. If you need a little more colour, brush it on top of your lip colour, a light one for the day or a darker shade for the night.With mineral make up , you can be versatile and experimental. Vegan means it's made with
Porcelain Blue-Glaze Bamboo VaseWith Six Character Qing Dynasty YongZheng Mark at the BottomVery Good Replica of a Qing Dynasty Vase from the 1930s10.75"H x 4"WCirca 1930 $375.00Click Here to See Additional Photos & Purchase Information
Porcelain Blue-Glaze Bamboo VaseWith Six Character Qing Dynasty YongZheng Mark at the BottomVery Good Replica of a Qing Dynasty Vase from the 1930s10.75"H x 4"WCirca 1930 $375.00Click Here to See Additional Photos & Purchase Information
3 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chile powder
1 teaspoon minced red or green chile pepper
2 ripe mangos
In a small bowl, make the glaze by combining the orange juice, honey,
cumin, chile powder and chile pepper and mixing well.
Slice the mango by cutting the two large side portions from each side of
the mango pit. Score these portions deeply in a crosshatch pattern,
cutting down to but not through the skin. Place the mango halves on the
grill, cut side down, over a medium fire, and cook for 2 minutes. Turn
over, brush liberally with the glaze, cook for an additional 30 seconds
and remove from heat.
When the mangos have cooled to room temperature, turn them inside out by
pushing them from the skin side. Serve resting on the skin. Serve one half
of a mango per person.
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 pound yellowfin tuna fillets
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
In a medium bowl, mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, lime juice, balsamic
vinegar, garlic, ginger, and 1/4 cup cilantro. Add tuna fillets, and turn
to coat evenly. Let marinate for several hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. In a small
bowl, mix together honey, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 2 tablespoons
cilantro; set aside.
When grill is hot, reduce heat to low, and place tuna fillets on grate.
Close lid, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Flip fillets over carefully, and
close lid again for another minute to sear fish. Open lid, and continue
cooking until barely done, basting frequently with marinade. When fish is
almost cooked through, brush the honey glaze over both sides of fish, and
remove
1Glaze
1chipotle chile in adobo — minced
2 teaspoons adobo sauce
4 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons chipped fresh cilantro leaves — chopped
the shrimp
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound) — peeled and
deveined
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoons sugar
The cooking times below are for extra-large shrimp (there are 21 to
25 in one pound). If this size is not available in your market, buy
large shrimpthe next size downand adjust the cooking time slightly.
Either a nonstick or a traditional skillet will work for this recipe,
but a nonstick simplified cleanup.
Make the Glaze: In a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients and
stir to mix. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over high heat
until smoking. Meanwhile, toss the shrimp, salt, pepper, and sugar in
a medium bowl. Add half of the shrimp to the pan in a single layer
and cook until spotty
Cone 6 glaze test before firing - looks nothing like the fired colorCone 6 glaze tests after glaze firing to 2230° FWorking at the ceramic studio at the Art Student's League of Denver allowed me extensive use of their bucket and commercial glazes which was fabulous. I had a great deal of options available to me. Now that I am going to be working from my home studio, I am faced with the daunting task of making my own glazes or purchasing commercial glazes. Stocking and furnishing my studio has proved to be expensive and I have a wish list a mile long. I knew it would be like this in the beginning so I make do where I can. I have the basics and it's amazing how many common every day things can substitute for the "real" equipment.For example, I'd like a slab roller but a good one cost $1,000+. So, I use a humble rolling pin, 2 wooden slats as guides to get an even thickness and regular old canvas. It works but not with the same ease as a slab roller. One of my first tasks is
Cone 6 glaze test before firing - looks nothing like the fired colorCone 6 glaze tests after glaze firing to 2230° FWorking at the ceramic studio at the Art Student's League of Denver allowed me extensive use of their bucket and commercial glazes which was fabulous. I had a great deal of options available to me. Now that I am going to be working from my home studio, I am faced with the daunting task of making my own glazes or purchasing commercial glazes. Stocking and furnishing my studio has proved to be expensive and I have a wish list a mile long. I knew it would be like this in the beginning so I make do where I can. I have the basics and it's amazing how many common every day things can substitute for the "real" equipment.For example, I'd like a slab roller but a good one cost $1,000+. So, I use a humble rolling pin, 2 wooden slats as guides to get an even thickness and regular old canvas. It works but not with the same ease as a slab roller. One of my first tasks is
While it may look like I'm getting ready to bowl with my ceramic materials, I haven't quite lost my mind yet! With the help from my friend and ceramic's mentor, Mary Cay, I performed a more complicated glaze test this past week. It's called a "Triaxial Blend" and I used Robin Hopper's text, The Ceramic Spectrum (page 96) as a guide.The idea behind the testing is that you get 21 different variations on 3 base glazes which opens up quite a new world of color development to the ceramic artist. It was a pretty cool experiment. For base glaze "A" I used a Val Cushing cone 6 glaze, VC Satin White Liner, pg. 130. For base glaze "B" I used another Val Cushing cone 6 glaze, D base pg. 123 and added copper carb at 3% and cobalt carb at 1%. For base glaze "C" I used Denton 6, pg. 282 from the Electric Kiln Ceramics Book and added copper carb at 2.5%. There's a few keepers, but I'll need to look at them a little more closely in the next week.Meanwhile back in the real world, my Epso
Looking inside the peephole into the kilnPlate-o-pendantsI was pretty dang (I say "dang" because this is the expletive my daughter often uses when excited) excited when I opened my mini Aim kiln this morning. My friend Mary Cay had given me some old glazes and underglazes a few weeks ago. Many of them needed to be reconstitued with a bit of water, and I decided what the heck...let's give them a whirl on some of my pendants that I had bisqued last week. 2 of the glazes I tried were low fire crystal glazes and one was a low fire glossy apple green.I think they turned out pretty well! So well, that I went and purchased some other crystal glazes at Mile Hi Ceramics today. While I plan to make most of my own glazes, these are pretty handy for small sized items and they fire to cone 06 (roughly 1880 degrees F) which uses a little less power than at cone 6 (around 2230 degrees F). Now, I just need some findings to begin listing them on Etsy in the near future. That and figuring out ho
Glaze Tests March 21, 2007The "keepers" in my opinionGee, is it really Thursday already, because it feels like the week is just flying by! Here in Colorado, we have been enjoying warm spring days for the past few weeks; that was until Mother Nature decided to remind us that she's still in charge. We woke up to about 4 inches of snow in the Denver metro area this morning. I really can't complain because come summer we'll be crying for moisture.My goal for my blog is to post every 2-3 days, and this week I let 4 days stretch between posts.... Not my intention, but what can you do? I could backdate my post to make it look like I posted yesterday, but I won't. It's not like I don't have anything to say either. I have a blog post saved as a draft with future blog topics all ready to go.Anyway, let me get back on topic. I wanted to share my glaze test tiles that came out of the kiln last week. I had tested a high calcium semi-matte base glaze recipe from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes
Have you ever been to one of those really nice, modern restaurants where they offer a selection of breads for a starter? If you have, you may have been lucky enough to run into Balsamic Glaze. It is used with olive oil (extra virgin of course) as a dipping sauce for breads. What you do, or rather what the chef does, is put a small amount of Balsamic Glaze into one of those tiny ceramic bowls and then add olive oil to it. They seperate, so you have a bowl full of olive oil with this black stuff in the bottom. Just dip your bread in, making sure you get to the balsamic glaze and yummo - it is a real treat - a sweet/tart flavour that really compliments the richness of the olive oil and fresh baked bread.
After looking high and low for this stuff for simply ages, I finally came across it in Coles of all places (in the condiments aisle). Don't get it mixed up with the normal balsamic vinegar whatever you do, as they are two different things altogether. The glaze is thicker and m
(Updated June 2008) My friend Susan and I are both fans of the frozen salmon filets they sell at Costco. They come in a bag with each piece of salmon individually shrink-wrapped. Susan likes to just cut the corner off the shrink-wrap package and put the salmon in ...
