To Market, To Market

We prefer quality over quantity here at The Artists' House.   It's something that I am always trying to be more aware of, as hard as it is. This motto goes beyond things, it's also a motto we follow very strictly when dealing with what goes inside our bodies. We strive to buy quality foods that may cost more, but in the long run nourishes our bodies on a deeper level.

My grandfather grew up farming in Southern Illinois. In the late 70’s an article featuring his organic farm was published in the National Geographic magazine. Unfortunately, my grandfather was a bit ahead of his time and couldn’t make ends meet; as a result he lost the farm. While this was very difficult on my family, to this day, my grandparents garden, growing over 50% of their own food, as well as selling to the local grocery stores. Because I was so close with them, I too grew up with my hands in the dirt. I am genuinely passionate about the importance of supporting local farmers.

(Note:  If you haven't read any of Michael Pollan's books and you would like to learn more about the food you consume, I highly recommend giving them a read.  These two books changed my family's eating habits and made us more aware of little changes that really go a long way.)

And so today I'm going to share just a few tips, recipes, and personal stories with you concerning "quality food"...

Great ways to get quality food:
1.  Grow your own food
2.  Buy from local farmers
3.  Shop organic when you can

Grow your own food...
 

Josh and I love gardening; watching a seed turn into a beautiful plant that produces food, that we can then make wonderful meals from. It's been a bit rainy and cold here the past couple days and so Josh made this soup yesterday afternoon, and can I just say it was AMAZING!  The best Tom Ka Gai soup I've ever had!  The snow peas, cilantro, and green onions came from our garden; unfortunately our carrots aren't big enough yet.  

Thai Tom Ka Gai Soup Recipe:
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 2 cans (13.5 oz. each) coconut milk
- 4 hand torn karrif lime leaves
- 3 tbs fish sauce
- 1-2 tbs hot chili sauce
- 1 tbs mirin (rice wine vinegar) substitute with white wine vinegar or omit if needed
- 2 tbs grated lemongrass (about 1/2 stalk)
- 1 can bamboo shoots
- 4-5 slices of ginger root (about 4 tbs) (traditional recipes use galangal root if you can find it)
- 1 lb organic diced chicken (tofu is a great substitute)
- 3 carrots sliced lengthwise in 2-3 inch lengths
- 4 green onions diced
- 2 cups snow peas
- juice of 2 limes
- 8-12 oz. thin rice noodles (optional)
- 4 tbs cilantro
(Note: we keep lemongrass, karrif lime leaves, and ginger in our freezer at all times)

Combine chicken stock and garlic in large sauce pan and heat until boiling.  Add next 8 ingredients, through ginger root, and return to a gentle boil for about 5 minutes.

Add chicken, carrots, green onions, and snow peas.  Return to a gentle boil and cook until the chicken is cooked thoroughly, about 7-10 minutes.  Add lime juice and rice noodles and cook until noodles become soft.  Garnish with fresh cilantro to taste.

Buy from local farmers...
 

Our favorite nightly read these days is "To Market, To Market" by Anne Miranda.  Going to the local farmer's market is a great family activity.  Or why not consider signing up with CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  A lot of CSA programs even offer quality meats and cheeses.  And when eating out, support local restaurants that buy from local farmers.  

Shop organic when you can...

Since organic food is expensive and sometimes hard to find, when in doubt I recommend following what's called "The Dirty Dozen".

Remember that is isn't an all or nothing situation.  I encourage you to start small and do what you can, for the good of your taste-buds, your body, our farmers, and our mother-earth. 

Working in the Garden

I took some garden pictures today while I was working outside.  Here is my favorite...

I can't wait for it to bloom!

Bob Marley? Gollum? Which is he?

Josh brought home a little friend yesterday.  Somebody to either welcome or scare away our guests.

He's either very Bob Marley...

Or very Gollum...

I'm not for sure which.  What do you think?  Which is he?

Is This a Joke?

I just heard on the radio today that Utah state law mandates that snow tires be removed from all vehicles by April 1st. Hmmm. 

This morning, snow falling, I watched the temperature drop from 42 degrees to 32 degrees.  Panicked, I ran home over my morning break to find the tarps I needed to cover the plants covering my husbands projects instead.  When I went in the basement to find additional tarps I found water gushing in.  And in the midst of all the craziness, my garden still uncovered and freezing, my dog managed to run away.  Needless to say I was a bit late getting back from my morning break.

I'm now home, my dog is safe, and my plants appear to be fine.  I guess I'll be cleaning things up while Monet sleeps.

I really don't think this is funny!

A Stroll Around the Block

When I was a child, my mother loved looking at houses.  She was in real estate and construction; this was not just her job but her passion.  A popular scenario consisted of my sister and I sitting in the backseat of her car with a destination in mind, maybe volleyball practice or the grocery store, and before we knew it we were off the beaten path, mom peaking her head in the window of a house still under construction.  The worst was when we were on vacation.  We often got lured into the car with a promise of going to the beach or shopping, and before we knew it, hours had passed.  "Let's just stop and look at one more.  It won't take long", she'd say.  But soon it was past lunch time and my sister and I were more than ready to be done.

Hmm, it's funny how we grow to love certain things, things from our parents, things that drove us batty as kids.  

Now it seems I torture Monet with the same activity.  Although, we walk instead of drive, and because Monet is in her stroller, or her mommas arms, she doesn't seem to mind house hunting as much as I did.  I'd gamble though, that in a couple years, that won't be the scenerio. 

And so for now, strolling around the block and admiring homes is one of our favorites activities.

Enjoy...

Happy Monday to you and yours!

Have you read my post titled "Who Does She Think She Is"?  You should give it a read and then check out the website to see if there is a viewing in your area.  Truly this documentary has been one of the most moving films I've ever seen.

Also, if you're in the Salt Lake City area, don't forget about Cristin Zimmer's opening reception, this Wednesday, May 12th, from 5-8 p.m.  The show runs for a couple weeks.  I can't wait, I've been looking forward to this event  for months.

No More Drab and Dreary

Welcome to our home!  Will you wander with me...

Here's our cute little historic home located in Salt Lake City, UT.  We pulled up the grass two years back and xeriscaped our front yard.

Josh has custom made many items in our front yard.  Sculptures blend in with the plants, the rocks, and the bark.  They really add interest to the space we've created.  Above you can see a planter, a sculpture, and some number tiles that he made last summer.  I really like how they give the home a uniqueness that makes it stand out from the other homes on the street.

Once again we chose succulents for this beautiful planter Josh made.  They are so wonderful and water-wise.  I can't wait to see how they fill in as the summer progresses.

And here is our pet turtle.  He hangs out in the front yard and eats all the bad bugs.  He, he, he.  Honestly this little guy is not real, if you haven't already noticed.  Josh custom makes ceramic creatures.  Don't you love this little guy?

I love this time of year when life starts to pop out of our drab and dreary yards.

Each spring new life pops up in the yard along with ideas on how to make it even more beautiful.  As artists I think it is great to have a canvas that changes with the seasons and can continually be reworked.

Mother Nature, Why Must You Rain On My Parade

Looks like the weather has kind of put a damper on this weeks theme of gardening.  While my plants try to stay warm outside, covered with plastic blankets, I guess I'll have to get my sunshine from other source these days.

Here is a picture of Josh and Monet, working in the yard this past weekend.  I can't tell you how this warms my heart.  Josh is such an amazing Daddy.

And here is a bouquet I made on Saturday.  Lovely, isn't it!?

And while these photos do warm my heart, I am still very concerned for my plants.  Three days of rain and snow is what the forecast has predicted.

Stay strong Raspberry plant!  The sun will come back out soon.

Ruhbarb, you'll be fine.  Just hang in there.

Hey little snow peas.  You're one of my strongest.  Please help the others to stay positive.

Oh, my beautiful arugula.  You'll be fine, just stay low and warm.

And my little mystery squash volunteers, what a friendly surprise you were the other day.  Hang in there.  I know you can make it.

The good news is that our rain buckets will be full of water once the storm passes.

Mother Nature, I don't mean to be rude, I don't mean to threaten, but can this please be the last cold storm we get?

Decorating That Backyard Fence

Josh and I have been spending a lot of time in the yard lately.  It's that time of year!  This week I plan to blog about "playing in the dirt" and beautifying your outdoor domains.  

Today I'm going to show you some unique decorative ideas for your backyard fence.  Just like an interior wall, why don't you use these exterior walls to showcase art.

Here is one project that Josh put together.  He added small planter boxes to the fence.  Since the planters are small he planted drought tolerant succulents to the boxes since they will do better with the dry conditions here in Utah.

Josh and I love all these sedum succulent plants.  They are low maintenance, absolutely beautiful, and leave a small carbon foot print since they require very little water.

We also use our backyard fence to showcase some of Josh's ceramics.  The ceramics is durable to the outdoor elements and adds a feeling of uniqueness to our small outdoor space.

Isn't this amazing?  It's a recycled fence.  You can check it out over at apartment therapy.

I also love this idea, a great use for those beautiful old window frames.  Run Lori Run shared this idea on her blog.

Here's another great example that I found at Dallas Arts Revue.

What do you think?  What does your backyard fence showcase?

Turning Those Herbs Into Wonderful Summer Drinks

Do you want to know how to make the world's best margarita?  Have a seat, let me tell you a story.

Last summer... Josh and I helped some friends move.  While the boys moved heavy stuff, in my defense I was 8 months pregnant, Erika and I spent time cleaning out the freezer.  As we cleaned, elbow deep in ice cubes and frozen veggies, Erika came across a big bag of Lemon Verbena Sugar Pesto.  She kindly asked if Josh and I wanted it, a payment for our services.  At the time, I didn't even know what Lemon Verbena was, regardless though, I smiled and happily took the gift.

Two moths later... this beautiful bag of Lemon Verbena Sugar Pesto continued to take up space in our freezer, untouched and taunting me.  You see I, like my grandmother, hate wasting food.  Just yesterday I was thinning my arugula seedlings and instead of throwing away the handful of arugula seedlings I had plucked, I washed them and threw them on top of my dinner that night.  And the water that I used to wash the handful of plucked arugula seedlings, that water got dumped back in the garden instead of going down the drain.

And so the taunting continued...

Two months + 10 days or so... after a bit of experimenting, this beautfiul bag of pesto tormented me just enough that out of my tormented state, the most delicious margarita recipe was born.  And when I say most delicious, I geneuienly mean most delecious.  That summer, we had friends over multiple times and every dinner guest begged for the recipe.  Soon, this lemon verbena sugar pesto was like gold.  People were frantically asking around at the farmers market, needing to get their fix.

Current day... it's that time of year again, time to start planting our gardens and so I remind you, please don't forget to plant all those wonderful herbs.  It's so easy to make pesto in the summer and then freeze them for winter.  To inspire you, here is that margarita recipe...

Sugar Pesto Recipe:
Take two part sugar to one part herbs and food process.  Remember to wash your herbs, just using the leaves and discarding the stems.  Make sure the washed herbs are dry before processing them.  This sugar pesto works well with mint for mojitos or lemon verbena for margaritas.  Great for drinks, fruit salad, baking, etc.

The World's Best Margarita Recipe:
In a martini shaker, shake these ingredients well:  1 shot lemon verbena sugar pesto, 1 shot tripple sec, 2 shots good tequila, juice of 2 limes, and ice.  Using two plates, one with water and one with sugar pesto, dip the rim of the margarita glass first in the water first and then in the sugar pesto to cover the rim with sugar pesto instead of salt.  Pour the margarita into the glass and serve immediately with a sprig of fresh lemon verbena and a slice of lime.

Cheers!

Metamorphosis

I think Mother Nature felt bad about it's prank.  Within a matter of a few hours, we went from a winter wonderland to a sunny spring day.

The sound of melting snow, dripping off our house, brought me outside.

The seedlings, along with me, were looking up to the sun and smiling.

And to further brighten my day, my husband brought home some more beautiful pottery.

I love this bowl.  It could serve nicely as an Easter center piece.

May the sunshine smile on you today.