I’m ready for my close up Mr. DeVille

Other than the OWOH zentangle journal, I haven’t been inspired to create art in almost two months. Sad I know. I have to get my butt out to the studio soon.  However, ever since I went to New Mexico for Christmas I have been very inspired to make New Mexican food. NM food is different from Mexican food, it’s much hotter. When we were in NM we picked up 10 lbs of hot, chopped green chili. Hot green chili is not something we can get in California. California doesn’t have the climate or the taste for growing the hot variety that New Mexico is known for.  As you may have gathered from an earlier blog post of mine (click here to read), I, or rather we, have an obsession with all things chili.

But alas, this post is not about chili.  In our house you can’t eat chili without making flour tortillas or “torts”.  And in our house, these wonderful little round discs are a source of love, comfort and joy. Not only do we make them as bread to go with our New Mexican food (like normal folks), we make them when we are feeling in need of comfort food. (Like weird folks.) The whole family makes them.

Here is my recipe for the Breshears Family Torts. If you aren’t interested in how to make torts, you must at least scroll to the end of the post for a really cute pic.

Start by preheating a cast iron griddle (or any type of griddle you have) using a medium to high heat. Approximately 7 out 10 on the dial.

2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp.  salt
1/3 cup BUTTER FLAVORED Crisco
2/3 cup warm water

Note: For this recipe you must use BUTTER FLAVORED Crisco. It makes a big difference in the taste.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the BUTTER FLAVORED Crisco. (Are you annoyed yet by my use of all caps for BUTTER FLAVORED Crisco?). Use a fork to cut in the shortening.  Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. Knead the dough for a few minutes but do not overwork.

Separate the dough to make 8 even sized balls. Dust each ball with a little flour and, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough so that it forms a round disc.

But don’t worry if the torts don’t come out perfectly round. It’s hard to do so without using a stencil. Ask my family, in the twenty plus years that I have been making them, they rarely come out round. Sometimes they look like alien shapes.  So imagine my surprise when, as I was rolling one out to photograph, I heard it say “I’m ready for my close up Mr. DeVille.” Isn’t it pretty? No? I guess it’s just me.

 

Roll them out so that they are approximately 1/8” thick. A little thicker is good too.

Place your tortilla on the hot griddle. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side. Use a spatula to flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. as shown below.  Keep an eye on them because they burn quickly when you aren’t used to making them.

By the way, cooking torts does not distort torts into alien shapes. The one shown here is different than the almost perfect one above and more like my usual odd shape. 

Place them in a towel for serving immediately or in aluminum foil to keep them warm for later. You can also use a tortilla warmer.

They are ready to be served! Enjoy!

And last but not least, no discussion of torts is complete without this picture:

 

This is my guy and my girl keeping me company while I made torts back in Aug 1989. They used to steal bit of dough to make eye patches and mustaches. It was so funny. I hope she doesn’t kill me for showing it to you all.

Thanks for reading.

2010 ONE WORLD ONE HEART Giveaway

 

Hello, 

Welcome to my blog and welcome to the 4th annual global One World One Heart Blog event sponsored by the wonderful Lisa Swifka's of A Whimsical Bohemian.  So glad you have stopped by to say hello. This is only my 2nd year participating and the first year was a real blast.  I met so many new and wonderful people last year that I wanted to participate again. I hope that if we don’t already know each other that we will soon get to know each other well.  After all, you can never have enough friends.

If you want to find out more about this years event  (and participate because, well, the more the merrier) please visit Lisa’s site by clicking here or the One World One Heart image above.

On to the giveaways. This year I have two items to give away:

The first is an original, unframed 9 x 12 painting on canvas board.  The background is scrapbook paper.  The girl is painted with colored pencils and acrylics.  The flower is a 3-D silk flower.  

 

The second giveaway is a handmade Zentangle doodle journal.  The cover was painted then the magic carpet doodle was added. The signature pages are made of smooth white paper that will accept the crisp fine lines of the Sakura Micron pen.  The giveaway will include the pen and doodle legend. The doodle legend was created from some of my past doodle drawings.

I will choose two winners in a random drawing from all of those who left a comment.  You must leave a comment to be eligible to win. You must include a link back to your blog or leave an email address so you can be contacted should you win. Please note only bloggers are allowed to leave a comment as this is a blog event.

This year's event ends February 15th and I will be announcing the winners on that day.  The first name chosen will be able to choose which prize they want.  The second name chosen will get the other giveaway.

The winners must contact me with their mailing address within a week or a new names will be chosen. 

PS: If you commented and are listed as a follower you will have a second entry in the drawing as a thank you. Following is not required to enter.

The post will be closed as of 5:00pm PST for new entries. The Winners will be announced before 8:00PM PST

The word for 2010 - Optimism

What we feared last year came true.  My Guy was laid off from work just before we were going to leave for Christmas vacation.  As a friend said ‘How heartless are people who can lay off workers just before Christmas and then go home to their family and enjoy their holiday?’  I could never understand that either. 

Luckily, we had already paid for the airline tickets and all of the Christmas presents we wanted to buy for the family we were going to visit. My Guy and I decided before we left that we were going to forget what happened and enjoy ourselves as we’d planned.  So off we went and we had a wonderful time.  

However, since coming home, it’s been a little tougher to get back to living with some energy.  I’ve been uninspired and a little depressed. However, as I say in my journal page, I don’t want to live like that any more.  I need to stay hopeful and positive for the both of us. 

So the word of this year is Optimism.

Setting Goals for the New Year

Happy New Year everyone

I hope you had as much fun experience bringing in the new year last night as we did.  My Guy and I started with a great homemade New Mexican food dinner complete with posole, tortillas and red chile. Yum.  After a few failed attempts to wish the family a happy new year (no one home), we settled in for a few rounds with a new Wii game.  It helped me realize out just how uncoordinated I am. 

After a couple of hours of Wii, we made Martinis and watched the last Batman movie on DVD.  I wasn’t the first time we’d seen it, we originally saw the movie at the theater. But it’s my favorite Batman movie and I am still in awe of what a magnificent actor Heath Ledger was.  He was AWESOME in that movie. 

We tried watching New Years Rocking Eve at midnight and, I must say, I really love Dick Clark. I grew up watching him and his American Bandstand. He is an inspiration. However, there comes a time for everyone when you should retire and let someone else take the reins. Dick, I think it’s that time.

So I’ve been thinking about goals for the new year. Our family will be having some trials this year making life and art challenging. My goals for this year will have to take those trials into consideration.

Art Goals

1. Create more using the supplies on hand rather than buying new.
2. Create more art with recycled materials.
3. Practice drawing more often. I have a few sources I am going to use.  One is the book and workbook for Drawing on the Right side of the brain. The other source for drawing help is at Drawspace.com
4. Collaborate more often
5. Submit our mother and daughter journal for publication.
6. Start writing morning pages again.

Work Goals

1. Finish VQL
2. Update Website monthly
3. Restart Block of the month.
4. Finish and move into new office

Personal Goals

1. Be thrifty
2. Eat out less
3. Volunteer at Domestic Abuse help center
4. Watch less TV
5. Eat healthy and exercise more.
6. Win the HGTV Dream Home

OK I think I better stop before I feel overwhelmed. 

Portraits and Rice Bags!

What do portraits and rice bags have in common?  Not a lot, usually, but this year they are the items I made as Christmas gifts for my family. 

I can finally show it off. The portrait of my lovely daughter, that is. 

Yes, I know the shadows and the mid-tones could have been better, not to mention the hair but I loved it and I think (I hope) she did too.

It was painted from this photo:

The portrait was started a while back and sat in my studio in various stages of completion for such a long time. It became a part of my day to walk in the studio, look at the picture and wonder what else I should do to it. I know this is going to sound crazy but I procrastinated finishing it because I knew it would be gone when it was done. It was comforting having it around. Having it in the studio was like having her there to keep me company while I worked on other projects.  Just in case you are wondering if I’ve gone off the deep end, No, i didn’t speak to it. Ha ha!!

But now I’m going to miss it too.

Best compliment ever - When I gave it to her, her husband said I captured “Milli” perfectly. That’s his pet name for her cute as a button nose. Awww!

Several years ago, I made a rice bag (i.e. heat therapy bag) for my husband because he suffered from migraines. He loved it. Since then I have made rice bags for other members of the family because almost everyone in his family has migraines.   This year, in addition to the painting, I made a few more. 

In case you are wondering what a rice bag is, it’s simply a small cotton fabric bag filled with rice and includes a washable flannel cover.  You put it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and then place it where it hurts.  Because it’s filled with rice, not too tightly, it conforms to your face and feels good. The smell of the microwaved dry rice is comforting as well.  It’s a quick and easy gift that keeps on giving.

 

Do you make any gifts for your family?  If so, what were they? Please share.

My Fondest Wish

Is for you and your family to have the 

Merriest Christmas 

and

the very best New Year.

This is the Christmas card I made for my family and friends this year. I wanted to share it with you, my very dear blog friends.  Thank you all for coming to visit me.

See you when we return from our holiday trip.

I’ve been keeping a secret from you.

Yes, I’ve been keeping a secret from you.  Why? I was afraid that if I mentioned it, I would jinx it and it wouldn’t happen. Superstitious much? OK, what am I talking about?  This:

Last August I received an email from the editor of Art Journaling Magazine by Summerset Studio asking if I would like to submit my journal for consideration for publication in their magazine.  You can imagine just how fast I said ‘Yes, I’d love to’, packed up my Moleskine, and shipped it off. It’s been agonizing waiting to hear (or see) if it was going to be used in the Winter issue….. Yesterday I finally heard.

IT WAS!!!!  I’M PUBLISHED!!!

I got a copy of the magazine in the mail yesterday. Here is the cover:

and there, the Gallery, were my journal pages.

 

I have been floating on air since I saw it. My husband just giggles at my perpetual smile.

To see these journal pages close up:

Lower Left: Soul Journals
Top Middle: New Journal Pages
Lower right: Crossing Paths Again

Expressing feelings without words

I’m not big on words, never have been.  Probably never will be no matter how much I try. I internalize everything especially the bad.  But this page wasn’t about the bad, it was about how I have felt since learning about the new grandbaby. It’s about feeling light and airy and colorful inside. In other words…..Happy.

I bought a new journal recently because it has fabulous textured paper and it opens flat. But, sadly, it’s not meant with be used with wet media and I almost tore the paper several times just adding gesso to the page.

To create this page  I used water color crayons and Inktense pencils to limit the moisture on the page.  I actually like how the colors came out and the transparency in the flowers.

Things My Mother Said

This weeks theme, besides being late, is about things my mother said as I was growing up.  Some of those words were also repeated by me to my own daughter.

Some of the funny things my mother said were:

“It’s just as easy to marry a rich man as a poor man.” Said by the woman who married a poor man and didn’t know any rich men.

“Don’t drink coffee it will stunt your growth.” She was right about this one.  I used to dunk my ginger snaps in coffee served by my aunts and I’m only 5’2”. Damn that coffee.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”  How many times have you heard this? When my daughter was young she thought that money just magically appeared in your bank account. When I told her we didn’t have money for a certain toy she’d say “Well Duh, just go to the bank.” Ok she didn’t say “well duh”…she knew better…but it was implied.

“I hope when you grow up your kids are just like you.”  I think this one came true….and you know what? I’m more than ok with that.

“If you get hurt don’t come running to me.”  I never got this one, who exactly was I supposed to go running to if not my mother?  I always want my kid to come running to me when she needs me. That’s why I had kids. 

“You’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached.” Sadly, this one is still true.

“If I told you once I told you a thousand times.”  She probably did too.  do kids ever listen to their parents? 

“Just wait till your father gets home.” My mother used this one on me and it worked. However, when I tried this one with My Girl but it didn’t because her dad wasn’t as strict as I was.

 

What are the Momisms either told to you or those you have said to your own children?

Christmas Trees Everywhere You Look

I joined an ATC swap at ATCsforAll.com and the theme was Christmas trees.  Here is what I made for the swap. I hope they like them because I had fun with them.

 

 

Have you swapped any ATCs recently?  I hate that I don’t create and swap them more often.  They are so fun.