Alaska’s coast… in a kayak?

Image: CoastLiving.com

Isn’t this the most beautiful picture? I love this! How serene. I got this image from Coastal Living. They sent out an email with a view of the day, along with an inspirational message. Great idea. Check out their website at http://coastalliving.com – GREAT magazine!

Now for the message that came along with the photo:
 
“I would not exchange my leisure hours for all the wealth in the world”
-Conte de Mirabeau
 
LOVE IT! Isn’t that the truth? You only have one life, ya gotta live it… Be inspired by this message, sometimes we all need something to give us a boost, let THIS be it! Money is nice, but… your time and the way you spend it is priceless…
 
Catch you back here tomorrow!

Charles Sovek… a great artist…

Our painting by artist Charles Sovek

CHARLES SOVEK, great artist, super nice guy… I can’t remember who stumbled across his website first, me or my dad… It was FULL of information. An artist that SHARES his knowledge, WOW! I devoured his information, he made it look so easy. I ordered the BASICS book and received the nicest postcard from him and a note written inside. How truly thoughful was that? I will treasure that always. Charles Sovek passed away June 8, 2007. While his website remains full of the information he provided years ago, we will miss his constant updates and wonderful paintings!

 This painting entitled “Backyard Vignette” is 9×12 gouache on board. It’s one of our treasures… Fred surprised me with this painting one day. We always looked at his website and picked the ones that we would buy if we could… and tada… one day, there it was! If you get a moment check out his website www.sovek.com , you can still order books and DVD’s and SEE all his wonderful work. There are so many paintings on this website it will boggle your mind!

Gone but not forgotten, and that’s for sure!

If you get a chance visit my photo blog at http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com !

See you back here tomorrow!

Bowtie pasta with sundried tomato and scallion cream!

Food & Wine

I was trying to think of what to make for dinner… ugh, I don’t want to be in a rut and make the same thing time and time again. We were both in the mood for some pasta, but we just weren’t sure HOW we wanted it… I happened to be on Facebook and I saw that Food and Wine magazine had posted a recipe that was quick and easy and sounded DELICIOUS! So off we went to the store, hunted and gathered the ingredients, popped home and threw it together in NO TIME! Seriously. This pasta sauce ISN’T. EVEN. COOKED! I had some reservations… hmmm, seems like you should at least cook it. I usually do try a new recipe pretty much as it’s shown, then the next time I make it I tweak it and change it up a bit. The only thing I did with this recipe is to use basil instead of parsley (LOVE tomatoes and basil together!) which the recipe did have listed as an alternative, and I used sundried tomatoes in oil instead of reconstituting… I also used mini bowties, well, just because I like them and they’re cute!  This. Was. Delicious. Say no more… I will be making this time and time again!

If you get a chance, check out this recipe. It would be nice paired with a small salad or a crusty loaf of good bread (as Ina would say). The recipe also mentions that it would be good with fusilli pasta, as the sauce would hold on to the crevices. See the wine pairing suggestion from Food and Wine below…
Pairing Suggestion – A fruity red wine will be ideal with the rich sauce and the assertive, salty taste of the sun-dried tomatoes. A slightly chilled bottle of Barbera or Dolcetto from the Piedmont region of Italy would be perfect.

Bow Ties with Sun-Dried Tomato and Scallion Cream

SERVINGS: 4   FAST / VEGETARIAN

Ingredients

5 scallions, white and light-green parts only

6 tablespoons chopped reconstituted sun-dried tomato halves (about 12 halves); see Note

1 cup light cream or half-and-half

1 pound bow ties

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

  1. In a blender or food processor, puree the scallions and sun-dried tomatoes with 1/2 cup of the cream.
  2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the bow ties until just done, about 15 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and toss with the puree, the remaining 1/2 cup cream, 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water, the salt, pepper, and parsley. If the sauce seems too thick, thin it by adding more of the reserved pasta water.

 Notes

Reconstituting Sun-Dried Tomatoes In a small pan bring enough water to a boil to cover the dried tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, then remove from the heat and let steep in the hot water for about 5 minutes. Drain. You can also use drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes for this recipe. Since they’re already soft, you don’t have to reconstitute them.

Variation

Bow Ties with Sun-Dried Tomato and Herb Cream An equal quantity of chopped fresh basil or chives or 2 tablespoons of tarragon would be a good alternative or addition to the parsley.

Remember to visit my photo blog at http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com!

Image via Food & Wine – Melanie Acevedo

A walk to remember…

Move more – Eat less… it’s what the experts say we should all be doing… Well, we’ve been really good about moving more, that’s for sure (we could probably eat a little less, but…). Charlie (our Jack Russell) is instrumental in our fitness regimen… if we don’t get him walked at the bare minimum of four miles he’s wound up tighter than a tick (ick, what does that mean?)… Here are a few pictures from our walk today. We live near the West Ashley Greenway, it’s a great path that goes many miles out… Today we ventured out 2 miles and back 2 miles with a quick reward stop at Petco for Charlie… He loves to shop… then as we headed back down the greenway we detoured at Dolittles (another pet store with cool toys and treats) and then headed home. Hope you’re able to get out this weekend. It’s so nice this week, I’m looking at my Brookstone “weather station” and it’s shows 75 for Wednesday… holy cow, can you imagine August? Eek… for now, the nights are still cool, YAY!!! So a fire in the fireplace is what we look forward to! Have a great weekend… until tomorrow…