Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Rustic Goat Cheese, Leek and Fig Tart

Maybe it is the onset of cold weather, but I have been cooking and thinking about food a lot more than usual lately!  Here is a quick lunch or light dinner tart that I made yesterday that came out quite well, and you can make it in about 20 minutes, largely unattended.  It's a great easy mid-week recipe than can be altered in many ways, depending on what you have in the fridge.  I made mine with store-bought pastry, but of course it would be even better if you had the time to make your own.  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out pastry and place it on a baking sheet.  Saute chopped leeks in butter until they soften and just begin to brown.  Spread ingredients evenly in the center of the rolled out pastry, leaving about 1.5 inches around the edge to fold over.  I used fig preserves and spread them thinly over the bottom of the crust, then crumbled a generous amount of fresh goat cheese over that, and then added the sauteed leeks.



Fold the edges of the pastry over your filling and press folds to hold like so:

Place tart in the oven for 15-18 minutes, or until pastry in golden brown and the tart is hot throughout.

I served the tart with a mixed green salad of baby lettuces with a simple vinaigrette and a Picpoul Blanc from Tablas Creek Vineyard.   It was really quite delicious I thought!  And you could definitely modify this in a hundred ways depending on what you have on hand.  Think blue cheese, pear, and walnut with a baby arugula salad?  I think I might try that next!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Let it Snow!

My new boots came from sorel just in time for the first snow of the season!  Aren't they sharp?  I have discovered that the key to enjoying winter is having the appropriate gear.  No one can be happy with cold wet feet, right?  So maybe these boots are a little bit of overkill for this tiny dusting of snow, but you get the idea, right?  Now I'm actually looking forward to getting a real snowfall!






Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving.  My main jobs were dinner the night before (the 3rd picture of the striped bass in foil) and the blueberry pie.








I am very thankful to have such a supportive and loving family on the east coast, the west coast, and in between! 
I hope you all had a lovely holiday!



Saturday, November 27, 2010

Sunrise to Sunset

So this was yesterday.

Sunrise over the mountains of California

Sunset over Boston

I'll be back tomorrow with a post of some yummy Thanksgiving food once I get a chance to regroup!  I hope you all had a happy holiday!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Change of Scene

I am on a little surprise trip to visit my family in California.  He are some images from around the house.  I wish frosty mornings in Vermont were so colorful!  I'll be here through the holiday, so hopefully I can get some great food pictures up next!




  

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Weekend Walk

Last weekend was beautiful and sunny.  Weather like that is very scarce up here in November, and fading fast, so we went out for a family walk to enjoy some end of the year warmth.  Here are a few pictures from our walk.






Have a happy weekend everyone!  I'll be back on Monday!


Friday, November 19, 2010

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Snack




Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Set of Scales

I'm very excited about this new pattern I've just produced for my gallery work.  It is reminiscent of overlapping scales, (as in reptiles, not weights and measures.)  I have just finished fleshing out the whole set to include a necklace, a ring, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings.  This set will be available in sterling silver and sterling silver and 14k mixed metal, as shown in the earrings image.  I'm very pleased with how they have come out!  I hope you like them too! 





Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Process - Mobile Jewelry Design

Hi all!  I just came across these funny images on my Iphone from an on-the-move jewelry designing session.  We were on a road trip to visit friends in North Carolina, shortly before this summer's New York Gift Fair, when inspiration struck.  But I had no pencil and paper!  Ack!  So I used Emmett's Doodle Buddy app on my phone.  Ha!  Here are a couple of the chicken scratch sketches I made, and the jewelry they became.  Enjoy!












Monday, November 15, 2010

Today's Inspiration - DIY from France

Do you all ever read this magazine?  My Mom gets it whenever she is in a major metropolitan area with a decent news shop.  She sent along her last copy and I was so impressed and inspired by the beautiful pictures and craft projects inside.



I love this alphabet shadowbox project!


There is a little gift guide section where I found the cutest little botanist kit for kids, with sketch pads, pencils, scissors, and a little magnifying glass!

The end of the magazine is filled with very detailed instructions on how to complete the various projects inside.  Only hitch is that unless your French is better than mine you'll need a little help with some translating because the vocabulary is very crafty-specific.  But I think it would be worth it!  Amusez-vous et bonne chance!




Saturday, November 13, 2010

Twist Fair and Friends

I spent yesterday evening in Northampton, MA doing a little indie craft shopping at Twist Fair and having a little dinner with my friends Carolyn and Cassie.  Along with getting a jump on my Christmas shopping, I wanted to see if Twist would be a good place for me to sell either my jewelry or my Fiddleheads work sometime in the future.  I'm still not sure about that, but we had a great time and saw some really beautiful things.  Plus it is always so nice and motivating to sit down and have quiet grown up conversation with my creative and industrious friends!  Thanks girls!  You are an inspiration!





Happy Saturday everyone!