OMG! Google her! Right now! She's a Portuguese artist and her installations are absolutely stunning! As you know, I end up using my Google-fu a lot for Nerdopolis and Nerdwars, especially at the end of the month when I'm helping fellow Fraggles work their projects into challenges. Yarnardent made a doily and this artist was mentioned in the description so I Googled her. WOW! Since it was a doily I found these pictures:
But then I saw all these pictures of giant shoes! I am so in love!
And my inner Starwars geek squee'd at this:
I want to use this as inspiration for a much smaller project somehow:
She works with wrought iron to! How cool is this teapot???
Happy Anniversary Curt! You're the only guy who can be the Gomez to my Morticia!!!
Seven stories, each from a different ancient culture, each focusing on a different aspect of love. The Egyptian, Isis and Osiris (one of the stories I got the book to read) on Love is greater than Nature. Inanna and Dumuzi, the Sumerian tale of the cyclical nature of love, although since Inanna gets mad at Dumuzi and banishes him to the underworld, and it is his sister who loves him enough to trade off six months a year, so he can still be in our world, it may be more about sibling loyalty, since Inanna's love is all about her vuvla and in my mind lust. Then the Hindu Shiva and Sati, the Passion of the mind. The Song of Songs, a Hebrew love song in the Catholic Bible we read as kids??, is a sensuous yearning love. The Greco-Roman Psyche and Eros is supposed to be about forging yourself - but I see it more as curiosity killed the cat, literally in terms of Psyche's sisters and almost Psyche herself. Layla and Majnun, loving for love itself, from a distance, the madness of unfulfilled love (and in my opinion the most depressing story in the book - spoiler - everyone dies) Finally the Celtic Tristan and Iseult (the other story that prompted me to read this book) Is about choosing duty and honor over love, king, country, promised marriage, yet loving until death do you join, also pretty depressing.
The book is well worth the read, because of references to these timeless stories, and it's good to know that lust and premarital relations was going on for thousands of years, not just today.
I had to work the three days before Valentine's Day, and the day itself, but I still wanted to make Curt a yummy decadent dessert. So, I cheated a little and combined some stuff from Rachael Ray and Michael Symon. Symon had made a chocolate cheesecake covered with dark chocolate ganache and topped with bourbon cherries. Curt however, doesn't like cheesecake ( I know!!! wtf??) Ray had a long time ago, made a cake where she substituted beer for water and added cinnamon and nutmeg. SO here's what I used:
Duncan Hines Perfect size chocolate cake mix (comes with it's own easy release pan)
butter (amount from box)
1 tbsp cinnamon
about 1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
6 tbsp Yards Chocolate Love Stout
1 egg
I followed the directions on the box and cooled overnight. For the ganache I heated the cream and sugar, then added the chopped chocolate and stirred until it started to get thick, poured it over the cake and "pushed" some over the edges to get the sides.
1/2 cup heavy cream
bar of 86% and one of 72% dark chocolate rough chopped to one cup
1 tbsp coconut sugar
After dinner I put all this in a heavy sauce pot and stirred occasionally until thick and saucy:
2 cup frozen dark cherries
1 tbsp coconut sugar
1 cinnamon stick
juice of 1/2 and peel of 1 lemon (pulled the peels out once done)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1tsp real vanilla extract
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup Knob Creek bourbon
Poured sauce still warm over slice of cake.... cannot even begin to describe how good this was!
Woman at work wanted some easy recipes, so here's a quick go to for me. (so quick I don't have a picture of the finished product).
Roasted three poblanos on the stove - need a gas stove just rotate the pepper directly on the flame until blistered on all sides, then put in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap to steam off the skins. rub the skin off with paper towel (don't rinse you wanted the charred taste) cut in half and de-seed.
Meanwhile put a thin layer of red sauce (basic tomato basil is good the poblanos add some spice without making it hot ) put a frozen stuffed shell inside each half pepper and put in crock pot. I then threw in some leftover meatballs I had in the freezer but that is optional(Jane likes 5 not 6 things...). Fine chopped some basil, oregano and garlic (you can use dried spice and dried minced garlic or leave off - I don't use a lot of salt so I always increase the herbs to make up for it) sprinkled over the shells, and then top with more sauce. Don't drown it - sauce won't evaporate in a slow cooker- should still see parts of the shells and meatballs.
Cook on low for at least 6, if you are working 8 or 9 won't hurt- just put more sauce on the bottom and less on top so things don't burn. 15 minutes before you want to eat sprinkle on some shredded mozzerella ( I used Sargento's pizza cheese mix this time - but any Italian/Pizza ish cheese will do) cover - and once the cheese is melted it's time to eat!
The ONLY drawback to this recipe is the cheese doesn't get brown on top. I used a crockpot liner for easy cleanup (seriously whoever invented these is a genius!!!) but if you want brown you can always skip the liner and then before serving hit it with a kitchen torch, or I guess you can torch it on the plate or use an oven proof plate and throw it in the broiler a minute before serving. I just deal with no brown. It's still good.
