Kitchen capers

Today on the menu, meatballs.  Podestos is again offering their extra lean ground beef @ $8.95 a pound.

I actually masked and gloved up and went into the store.    I had been missing my Podesto beef, and for last few months prior to pandemic, they were selling an extra lean ground beef at $3.99 per pound.   But, it was inferior and I think so many of us complained, they brought back the expensive grind.    I think they double grind it.  And there is never a chip of bone or a piece of gristle in it.  Worth the extra cost.

Podesto is known for their meat department.  Actual butchers to talk to, get recipes and advice from, and to give personal friendly service.   Lots of butchers on duty.  There are always 3 or more in sight.  They can scoop up a pound of ground meat and know by touch that it is one pound.   It always amazes me they hit the mark most every time.

Raleys extra lean beef is not as lean, and not processed as well.  And everything is pre packaged in the cases.   Gristle, bone fragments, greasier.

So today I have meat balls in bbq sauce  in the crock pot.  Hope  they will be done by noon and I will test them.   I sure hope its as good as It used to be.

This is an old picture. 

Update:  yes, its great.

Keeping cool with Koi

Temperatures soaring here for the next few days. 

Brrr....  breaking through the ice. 

This was a hugely challenging project.   

But challenges are interesting and fun, otherwise why would we do them?  

Pandemic in the kitchen.

Culinary art.  Otherwise known here as using whatever is in the freezer  and pantry.

Day before yesterday I noticed a carton of non dairy creamer in refrigerator with a looming use by date.  It was going to be used in a pie, but I did not feel like making a pie.

Sometimes I make cream of broccoli soup with this product, but not today.

So, I concocted a tomato bisque soup with a can of no salt added petite cut tomato pieces,  onion and garlic powders,  pepper, and on a whim,  a couple handfuls of unsalted white corn tortilla chips from Trader Joes.  Simmered on low for a few minutes.  Served hot in mug with soup spoon.   OMG.  Its so good. 

 Leftovers in refrigerator were even better cold the next day as between meal snack.     The tortilla chips were genious!    Next time I may add a little chili powder. 

Koi

The other day i posted a pic of this with fish blocked in with opaque  white.  This is the next step.   I was planning to experiment with gesso and Citrosolve on the background. But theres something kind of fresh and simple about the way it looks now.  I think I will leave it alone.

I can overwork a piece if Im not careful.  And right now during this pandemic, with plenty of time on our hands,  its tempting to keep pushing a piece.  

Sometimes less is more. Sometimes not. 

Koi - update

Here are the two I showed earlier. 

Starting with darker and more natural colors in background, I lifted the acrylic colors by scrubbing out the stones with a hard bristle brish and Citrosolve, a cleaning product. 

This process can be speeded up by allowing the citrosolve to sit longer on the places you want to remove paint by lifting with a moist paper towel, but that takes it all the way back to gesso layer.  You lose the textural effects on the stones that way.

The stones are what I was striving for here. 

Fresh fish part two.

This series came about by accident.   Who said there is no such thing as an accident.  Freud?

I decided to stop painting fish and paint roses.  Im not good with roses so I started by practicing brush strokes in watercolor.    For a stylized rose.
After a practicing a few,  I was bored and left them on my art table to dry.   When I caught a glimpse of them from a distance, did I see a rose?   Or did I see a school of fish? 

Now that peaked my interest.   A rose is a rose, is a rose...unless its a school of fish.   Here's that first rose with some koi details added.

I painted a larger one. 

I carried it outside and called over to a neighbor friend.  What do you see?   I see a rose was her reply.   Aha!  This could be fun.     How could I find the line between the view seeing a rose, or a school of fish?  

Another version with more details but still a rose.

Now I questioned could I paint the school of fish and still see the rose?

What do you 

think?

So, I guess I was not through with fish yet.

But I'm through with roses.   

prise fraîche du jour

Fresh fish.      Im not sure I shared this series.  So here are

pics.     This is from first series of four.

Fish fresh starts

Warning!!!  Painting koi can be addictive.
Im proof of that.

These are two starters.    A friend said, while she loves the turqoise water I'm so fond of using, she'd like to see the bottom of the ponds in more natural colors.   So, that's what I am doing.

I was considering painting delta water scenes with native fish, minnows, catfish, bass, etc.  Sturgeon?  Before I try those other fish, this is a good time to play with colors I associate with the sloughs.

For many years we fished on the central California delta.  My oldest boys were toddlers, and inlaws were retired when we started our two days off trips to delta from the bay area.  My husband and I bought a great cruiser that was very convenient for children and for us.  My inlaws went with us and it was not long before they bought one of their own and berthed it near ours.  We stopped at a bait shop and settled in for the night, then next morning pulled out and found islands of tulles to tie up to, or anchor near.  The men soon had favorite spots.  I fished some  but was busy with entertaining the boys.   My mother in law sewed.  We all cooked and shared our meals.   It was wonderful. 

Our lives took other turns as husband was career bound and we needed to relocate in Southern California, then another move, and then following a big promotion, we were on our way to Chicago.   That was the end of our Delta fishing trips. 

More than a decade passed, as did that marriage, and it would be years until my next Delta experiences with a different cruiser, a different husband.    Older boys were grown and out on their own, but youngest son was still in elementary school.   So off we went to the sloughs only a few miles from our home.  Water skiing, exploring, and fishing.   

The water was dark.  Lots of tulles and water hyacinths.    Sea gulls.   Ducks.   Catfish, sometimes surprizing colors.  Yellow.  Greenish.  Didnt look appetising, but fun to fish for. 

These are the scenes and colors my painting bring to mind.   Here are the starters.