Rain's Thursday Art Date - Signs of Spring

Photo

scanned version

I did an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") featuring spring nail art for Rain's Thursday Art Date.  I am showing a photo and also the scanned version.  My scanner turned the real pink colour of the flowers painted on the nails into purple which is fine too.

Here is the answer to yesterday's riddle by the way. It is c) daughter

A Riddle

This is a cute riddle to solve. You can google the answer if you give up! I did get it right the first time (for once).

Its Famous Meatballs

Ikea recently shared the recipe for its famous meatballs. They want to cheer us up during the COVID pandemic.  You can also get the recipe from  Freshdaily Inc here.

Image via Ikea

Ikea Meatballs at Home

Serves 4 (16-20 meatballs)

Ingredients

For the meatballs

• 500g beef mince
• 250g pork mince
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic (crushed or minced)
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 5 tablespoons of milk (whole milk)
• Generous salt and pepper

For the cream sauce

• Dash of oil
• 40g butter
• 40g plain flour
• 150mL vegetable stock
• 150mL beef stock
• 150mL thick double cream
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Method

For the meatballs

1. Combine beef and pork mince and mix thoroughly to break up any lumps. Add finely chopped onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg and mix. Add milk and season well with salt and pepper.
    
2. Shape mixture into small, round balls. Place on a clean plate, cover and store in the fridge for 2 hours (to help them hold their shape whilst cooking).
    
3. In a frying pan, heat oil on medium heat. When hot, gently add your meatballs and brown on all sides.
    
4. When browned, add to an ovenproof dish and cover. Place in a hot oven (180°C or 160°C fan) and cook for a further 30 minutes.

For the Swedish cream sauce

1. In frying pan, melt 40g of butter. Whisk in 40g of plain and continue cooking, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes, allowing the flour to cook through.
    
2. Add 150ml of vegetable stock and 150ml of beef stock and continue to stir.
    
3. Add 150ml thick double cream, 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Bring to a simmer and allow the sauce to thicken. Continue to stir.
    
4. When ready to eat, serve with your favorite potatoes – either creamy mash or mini new boiled potatoes. Enjoy!

Long Eggplant Melt

Eggplant melts are becoming a favourite dish of mine. This time I used the long eggplants that were on sale. I simply sliced them in half, baked them for half an hour at 350F with olive oil, salt, pepper and basil. Then it was the fun part of topping them like pizzas. I like to use chopped onions, tomatoes, olives, hot peppers and finally slices of cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes at 350F.  They tasted good with everyday cheddar cheese this time.

They are filling and low carb.

Banana Pancakes

My sister in California shared this banana pancake recipe from All Recipes. The very next day DeniseinVA also shared it. I had to try them and they did not disappoint. They taste like banana fritters except they are not fried, lovely banana taste.

And here is the solution to yesterday's puzzle for those who didn't get the answer:

Give yourself one minute

So can you find the zero in this puzzle, give yourself one minute!

I will post the answer tomorrow.

Paint Party Friday - Jellyfish pattern

Welcome to Paint Party Friday. This is a jellyfish pattern I did on Instagram a few months ago for @alexandrasillos. I had so much fun contemplating nature's patterns.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - What a Mess!

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date 'What a Mess' theme. I remembered doing this piece back in 2011 for Paint Party Friday and thought I would share it here again. I had spilled some yogurt down the stairs. Here is the post from back then.  Interesting from the old comments, only Valerie and of course Kristin are still posting today, people do come and go as in real life.  I used to work in watercolour pencil in those days.  Then I picked up the courage to use acrylics.  Now I am lazy and use markers.  And I think I spill more these days.

Pause for Thought

I found this meme to be so true, pause for thought.

And here is the car highlighted below, from yesterday's post for those who didn't find it:

Find the Car

So can you find the car in this puzzle?  I will post the answer in tomorrow's post.

Open the Lock

This was a tough puzzle, I only figured it out after I saw the answer myself.  I will leave the answer in the comments below as nobody seemed interested to try this one.

Relative Importance

I thought this was a good diagram for the times!

The 25th Birthday

Well son K celebrated his 25th birthday last week. Daughter L baked him a lovely cake with a Toronto Raptors theme. Actually she baked a smaller one for herself and her boyfriend and dropped the larger one off to us. We then celebrated together via Facetime from their condo to our house. It was the best party we could have had under the circumstances and the cake was delicious. We ate cake and took photos and played music. And sang happy birthday of course.

It was a red velvet and chocolate layered cake, L said she did the Raptors team colours.

In other news husband M did a fantastic job colouring my hair, even trimmed my bangs.  The very next day I cut his hair and he was happy with it.  It seems Amazon had run out of hair colour when we tried to order more for the next time.  However L got some from the drug store for me.  She didn't want me wandering into too many stores myself unnecessarily.  She was sure to wear mask and gloves herself.

Paint Party Friday - Fingerprint Pattern

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I am showing this fingerprint pattern I did on Instagram a few months back for @alexandrasillos.  Natural patterns are so fascinating.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Bubbles and Bubbly

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date's 'Bubbles and Bubbly' theme. I chose to do some bubbles in a bathtub ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").  It's been awhile since I sank into something so luxurious, how about  you though?

Tourtiere

I had a packet of puff pastry in my freezer and decided to make a tourtiere (meat pie). It was based on this allrecipes recipe/video. Instead of mashed potatoes I used cauliflower mash.

Salmon or Tuna Loaf

This fish loaf was inspired by an English Kitchen recipe. I have made both a salmon loaf and a tuna loaf.

2 cans fish plus its liquid
1/2c breadcrumbs
4 tbs melted butter
1 tbs dijon
2 eggs beaten
1/2 onion minced
1/2 tsp parsley
2 tbs minced sweet pepper
splash or worcestershire sauce
splash of hot sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 tsp black pepper

350 F

Butter a loaf pan. Mash fish including its liquid. Add breadcrumbs, melted butter, onions, sweet pepper, parsley
whisked eggs, mustard, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, and lemon juice. Bake 35-40 mins or until golden brown and set (it took 40 mins in my oven).

Squirrel Feeder

Don't you think this is the cutest squirrel feeder?

Easter 2020

Daughter L had received these beautiful vases of sympathy flowers from her workplace when her paternal grandmother passed on March 29th. The flowers look very Easter and springlike with the lilies. A tiger lily bud fell off the 2nd arrangement so I put it in a tiny vase as pictured in the 3rd photo.  L lives with her boyfriend at a condo now but the flowers came to this house.  I am the one who most enjoys flowers so it is a win-win!  She made sure to thank her co-workers.

How will you celebrate Easter? We plan to do a Zoom conference with husband M's family today, it will be a large group. I heard that Zoom conferencing is being used ten times as much as last year due to Covid.

Have a good Easter as best you can everyone!

Whole Wheat Pasta Primavera

I found an old package of whole wheat pasta in my pantry and decided to try making the pasta primavera recipe on the package.  Years ago we decided whole wheat pasta tasted terrible. I did some googling and some recommended boiling whole wheat pasta for a bit longer, say 15 minutes. They also said it should not be treated like regular pasta with tomatoes, cheese or even cream sauces. Here is what I did. It was delicious.

Whole wheat spaghetti
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 sweet pepper cut into thin strips
1 c sweet peas
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs cornstarch
1 1/2c stock
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Cook spaghetti 15 mins (whole wheat takes a bit longer than regular pasta).
Heat oil in saute pan. Saute onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, and basil. Add sweet pepper and peas.
whisk corn starch into the stock, stir into the vegetables. Mix in the pasta and enjoy.

Paint Party Friday - Palm Fronds

For Paint Party Friday, with Easter in mind, I did some palm fronds in ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") format in permanent markers.

Wishing you the best Easter.

We were invited to a wedding in early August, we decided to RSVP our acceptance.  They will understand if we are not able to attend due to Covid concerns.  I hope it will work out as I do love weddings.  It is a wonderful young couple, we remember going to visit the groom as a newborn, how time flies, sigh.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Calla Lily

For Rain's Thursday Art Date's 'Easter' theme, I am showing these pink Calla Lilies I did for an Instagram challenge earlier this year for @alexandrasillos. It is done on cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") in permanent markers.

Well our Walmart online grocery delivery was cancelled without reason yesterday half an hour before its expected arrival.  We were so angry and disappointed.  It was our first and last time using their service.   I donned my mask and gloves and went to my usual grocery store.  It is what we will do from now on.  There was lots of toilet paper, kleenex, meat, albeit no flour.  The cashiers were behind plexiglass screens and there were social distance markers indicating where we should stand in line.  It was not very crowded at the time and I was happy to get stocked up with groceries.

Hair Colour

Well I ordered some hair colour from Amazon a few weeks ago, as I can't go to the hairdresser anytime soon. Husband M says he will colour my hair for me. He has an idea as he watched his late mother do it. We can probably find a good youtube instructional video as well. I never paid attention to what the hairdresser did.

That reminds me, I promised I would try to give him a haircut.  Many years ago I took a basic haircutting course.  Although my daughter wasn't impressed with some of her childhood photos when I cut her hair myself haha.

My DIY Mask with filter pocket

I made this washable DIY Mask with filter pocket last week.  I will cut the filters from a vacuum bag. Here is the video I chose to use.  It is simple enough that I could hand sew the mask as I never learned to use a sewing machine.  Fortunately I can hand sew a bit.

Funnies

I saved some funnies for you today, hope you enjoy them!  That is if you are not tired of these jokes. I must admit I have seen so many of these now.

Banana Oat Muffins

I made these banana oat muffins from an allrecipes recipe with whole wheat flour and oats. It made the perfect breakfast for me with a cup of coffee for many mornings. It was very good for my husband too. Son K likes sweeter pastries.

My sister in California was running low on groceries the other day and only had one banana left. She found this one banana banana bread recipe which I thought might be useful to keep. Although most of us make banana bread when we have too many ripe ones left over.

Farinata

Haven't we all been taking stock of our food supplies lately? I remembered I have had this chickpea flour in my pantry for years and years, never used after one failed recipe. It was perfectly ok, so I found this Farinata chickpea flour bread recipe on Allrecipes. Here are my adjustments, it came out even better the second time around (photos above).  I found this really easy to make so I will probably do this again, I have lots of chickpea flour left!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c chickpea flour
2 c lukewarm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 onion finely chopped
5-6 tbs olive oil divided

Instructions:

Whisk flour, water in a bowl. Rest 2-6 hours covered with plastic wrap. At this point, preheat the oven 450F. Skim any foam off the top of the flour mix. In a frying pan, cook onions in 2-3 tbs olive oil with rosemary, salt, and pepper. When onions start to brown, scrape everything into the bowl including the oil.

Meanwhile, in an oven proof skillet, heat 3 tbs oil. Add the flour mix to this skillet. Place the skillet into the oven 18-20 mins until the farinata is golden brown. Slice into wedges and serve hot.

Paint Party Friday - Tea and Cake

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! These Tea and Cake ACEOs (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") were inspired by a post Jan of The Low Carb Diabetic made the other day. Please enjoy!

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Stencil Art

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date. Her theme is 'stencil art' this week. I am not really a crafter but I made a simple dragonfly stencil, cut it out with an exacto knife as pictured below, and used my Sharpie oil paint pens with the stencil to create the above on chocolate brown cardstock.  I suffered some (paint) bleeding on the blue dragonfly so I stencilled in a white one next to it to cover that up.  I am pleased with the effect.  Thanks for inspiring my creativity with stencils today Rain!

My April 2020 Calendar Page

My adult children both have April birthdays, so I am celebrating them this month with a birthday cake on my April calendar page!

The quote from Shakespeare reads 'April hath put a spring of youth in everything'. My first crocus bloomed in the garden around March 19th, how timely.

We got our first online grocery delivery yesterday and were quite happy with it.  The problem is to get another delivery slot in the near future.  They are super busy these days.