Food for Thought: Color Crush...RED

I'm a pretty monogomous girl with my all-time love of the color purple.

(*shhhh* don't tell.  It isn't a HIGHLY popular color right now...it's kinda like admitting your wedding colors 10 years after the fact. Oh wait. That WAS one of my wedding colors.  [you can send sympathy cards to my hubby later.  when we hit 10 years of marital bliss. just try not to laugh in his face.  it is still kinda fresh for the poor dude. lol.])

However, I do get constant little seasonal color "crushes".  I think I'm allowed.

Red.

Fiery, romantic, full of warmth and passion.  Earthy, bold, and influential. 

Oh...and good to eat.  mmmm.  (Truly, I think I'm quite capable of becoming a 500 pound woman if I weren't so incredibly vain and stubbornly on a perpetual diet to curb myself into eating NORMALLY.  I just love food THAT MUCH.)  *sigh*

I ran out of liquid food coloring at a critical moment making these raspberry meringues, or they would be much pinker.  (I went through almost a whole bottle this weekend having WAY TOO MUCH FUN making mini volcanoes for Jeron and his neighbor friend.  Geez...I LOVE the smell of vinegar.  not.)  They may not be candy cloud pink, but they still taste fabulous with coffee, or...my fave of late...wine, cheese, and meringues.  It makes every moment between 8pm (kids are in bed!!!) and 10 pm (Byron goes to bed weeknights) feel like a spectacular holiday. 

(recipe below)

Isn't it funny how you get a style crush and you start seeing it everywhere?  Yah...here is my lunch today. Red pepper and tomato soup with a little cheese for yum factor. I love this orange-y red paired with a dark turquoise.

Throw in a big of black, green, and yellow...awww.  Perfection.

Not so sure WHY exactly I love Babybel cheese so much.  Maybe because it beats the kids' cheap string cheese by a long shot.  Mabye because the wrapper makes me feel like it is Christmas.  In the fifties.

Maybe because the happy wax looks like a constipated PacMan.

Not gonna lie.  I LOVE that part.

Kids' mini volcanoes

Fill up a Dixie cup with baking powder about half way. Add a few drops of food coloring (let them pick).

Poke a hole in the bottom of a second dixie cup, turn it upside down and place it atop the first cup.  Tape them together around the rims of each cup.  Take your volcanoes outside, or put them in the sink.  Let the child (or help them to)slowly pour in vinegar (through the hole) until it bubbles out.  Once it stops, they can pour more and more.  It'll just keep going...for.e.v.e.r.

Susie's notes: Forget the whole topper thing unless you have tape that somehow works on wax.  My Scotch tape doesn't, and it is a royal pain in the ... to get the cups together.  The kids are just as enthralled with it sans top, and you have way less work to do.  Also, you can do multiple colors for a fun effect.  When you add the baking soda to the cup, add about a 1/2 Tbs. at a time, a drop or two of color, and then more soda.  Keep going, layering soda and color until the cup is as full as you would like.

Raspberry Meringue Hearts

Whites from 3 lg. eggs (room temp)

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. Raspberry extract

1/8 tsp. liquid red food color

Garnish: powdered sugar

Position oven racks to divide ofen into 1/3s; heat to 225 degrees F.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment and trace heart shaped cookie cutters (with a pencil) to cover each sheet.  Flip the paper over.  Beat eggs with cream of tartar on MED until soft peaks form.  Turn that bad boy up to HI and add sugar...sloooooowly....  Beat 8 munutes or until stiff, glossy peaks form and the mix doesn't feel grainy.  Beat in extract and color until blended.  Pipe mixture onto the hearts, swirling from the outside edges in toward the middle in a concentric pattern, until heart is filled with mix.  Bake 2 hours.  Turn off oven.  Leave meringues in 2 more hours or overnight.  Peel off parchment paper and dust with powdered sugar.  Store airtight or freeze up to 2 months.

Susie's notes:  Scared of "piping" stuff?  Use a large ziploc baggie with the end snipped off.  The hole needs to be kinda big for these to look nice and puffy, so aim for an opening on your piping bag to be not-quite-as-big as the tip of your pinky finger.  I fill up two HUGE cookie sheets with 2 1/2" hearts (40 hearts) and then I make polka dots (like Hershey's kisses) all around the cookies with any remaining mix.  The meringues can easily be used for cake decorating, as toppers on cupcakes, etc.  Here is a pic from my baby shower (with Aislynn).  There is one cookie on the top and then you can see the little polka dots around the bottom, with the roses. 

Enjoy!

What is your color crush this week?

Inspirations: Lessons in Carving

Crazy.

When I lie down to sleep at night, I feel like I'm carving.  Still.  Because I've been doing it all day.  For days and days on end.

No. Not snow.
Not waves, either, unfortunately.

I see the process of painting in sort of a weird way, I think.  I'm not really sure how you are SUPPOSED to see it, but...to me...each canvas is like this GIANT bar of soap.

 Dove soap. 
(because it smells so dang good)

When I put a color on my canvas, it is the surface of the soap.  It is bland and void of depth.  It can be ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS in its shape and composition, but it is lacking something.  When I paint in a layer of slightly darker color, it carves out a deepness into my image.  I go deeper.  With each molecule of black that I add to my original, boring color...I carve out an existence around the edges of my drawing.  But it isn't enough.  The Darkness can never define ALL of any picture to the point where it meets the great expectations of the vision of the Painter.  Now we move to the White.  It only takes the slightest touch of Lighter colors...usually at the center of each object, to do what no sculptor can master...raise the image right off the plane of surface.  The touch of the Master Artist's brush, soft and gently applied, hits the very core; and it is transcended out into this surreal eternity that can't be explained in 2 dimensions.  The image is shaped by BOTH the Darkness that surrounds it AND the Light that defines/heightens it.

Whoah.

Got a bit philosophical with my late-night self.

Like I said...I see the process of painting weirdly.  To me, it is spiritual.  It is cleansing.  It is life's lessons all wrapped up in a physically fulfilling format.  It is messy.  It is inspiring.  It goes best with true inspiration and a strong cup of coffee.

Why coffee?
Because coffee smells DANG tasty.  
(and because I can't get my paint to smell as good as Dove soap, no matter how hard I try)

Inspirations: Cupid

Love 'im or hate 'im. He's the little dude that can make it all happen for you. Or...he's a weasely grim reaper who keeps missing his mark.  I'm kinda crushing on him lately.


Either way, the cutie is pretty inspiring.
 

 
 
[Source 1, 2, 3, 4]
 
Sending a little love your way (and hopes for a restful and SWIFT end to your "work" week)...

Self Portrait: Monday Hair

Why do all the MOST BRILLIANT ideas come after 11 pm?  Well, I should rephrase that.  Brilliant ideas often come after 11 pm UNLESS they involve those pink foam curlers that we all remember from our childhood.

The story goes something like this...

You are walking down the aisle at WalMart, blissfully unaware of the lollipop your child has stuck to your drooping left boob when you SPOT THEM.  The pink foam calls to you.  You are instantly transported back to the carefree days of youth.  You remember waking up feeling like a fairy freakin' princess, all bouncy and light headed with rainbows and butterflies flitting about.   Back then, sparkles were magic and hearing Daddy say "you are my little PRINCESS" meant that it MUST be truth.

Where was I...back to the pink foam curlers...

You stare at them for a few seconds, lost in thought (and standing in some foreign sticky substance...probably dripped sugar from the aforementioned sucker), and decide that the only thing holding you back from snatching this kind of magic up for your cherub daughter is the fact that they probably will cost you $15 bucks.  What???!!!  $2.99???!!!  (Or some other ridiculously low price...I don't accurately remember.  I was undeniably in a stupified fog.)  "They're Mine!!!", you say.  You proceed through the store, feeling like you are standing a bit taller, floating as if you are once again a princess.  Oddly enough, people stare at you.  It must be working.  Buyer's remorse flees as you realize the power of beauty to bolster your self esteem.  How WONDERFUL of a mother you MUST BE for getting this priceless gift for your daughter.  (You'll realize later that they weren't really staring at YOU, but...rather...the swinging faux nipple piercing in a brilliant shade of banana.) 

Back at home, some level of sanity returns as you realize that the curlers *may* be slightly too large for your pixie daughter's poor little head to sleep on.

Here is where BRILLIANCE at 11 pm enters the picture...

"Why don't I try out the curlers?  I've been all inspired lately by all these cute movie stars with their loose curls.  I know I'm a PUNK, but...maybe I could get away with some curls?  Maybe?"

(Idiot.)

Here is what Monday morning looks like, post PINK CURLER DEATH ROLL. 

(as I'm unrolling curlers...albeit with black bags under my eyes from rolling into the wee hours of the night...)
"I'm gonna look so CUUUUUUTE.  What a way to start my MONDAY!!!!  My hubby's gonna take one look at me and....."

*blink, blink*

"Oh, my DEAR LORD.  Tell me I didn't....  And I have to leave in 5 minutes!  Oh, oh, OOOOHHHH....!!!" 

That's ok.  Maybe it looks better from the side...

Ok, maybe not.  This is bad.  This is SO VERY BAD. 

The top????  PUH-LEASE tell me the top layer is uniformly curly so at least it looks like I did this on purpose.

Is it too early to start drinking?  Because......I'm thinking Monday morning at 8 am when I'm rounding the corner to 31 is about as good a time as any.

What if I just pin up the sides and all the curls come together at the back??  What does THAT look like?  (fyi...that kind of optimistic questioning on a Monday morning can only lead to trouble...kind of like the line of questioning coming from a kindergartener that starts off something like this, "Mommeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyy????  How mad would you be at me if I.......?"  Really, it just won't end well.)

Well, I do have to say that my hair today  is a true representation of me.  I have a LOT going on on the top...a bit crazy, squirrelly, and goofy....a very (um...how shall we put it nicely without being mean to my God given motherly tummy-beauty) "soft and fluffy" middle....and the bottom is very "bouncy and keeps going long after I've stopped moving".  Yep.  That about covers it.  Thankyouverymuch PINK FOAMY CURLERS for helping me create my artistic self-portrait.  In my hair.  Just in time to take Jeron off to school in (glancing at the clock....AAAAA!!!) 5 MORE SECONDS.

I quickly snagged a few of Aislynn's little claw barrettes off the counter and pinned my hair all willy nilly toward the back.  Off on my errands I ran for the next 3 hours.

Moral of the story:  On a Monday morning, you might as well just lick a lollipop, stick it to your PRETTIEST boob (since you have the choice in the matter and people will be staring...best to put your best hoot forward...); than to tempt fate with the PINK CURLERS FROM HELL.  Don't say I didn't warn you.