Thursday, December 17, 2009

Hooded scarf

I'll be making as many of these as possible this winter. Pictures to come.

Update: I LOVE the way these work as scarves, but the hoods don't look great on me. I gave lots as gifts, and everyone loved having an instant hood at my aunts very cold Boxing Day party.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Cello Lesson!

My classroom management professor loves to assign projects that seem mildly pointless until they are complete. For this project my randomly assigned partner N had to teach me to play the cello! It was really fun the first time, then I realized we recorded the lesson with no sound. Epic fail on my part. N was considerably less enthusiastic about teaching me the second time around, but had lots of patience with me. I think the lesson was a huge success! I showed N how to do gesture drawing, and he did a really neat drawing of his cello he hung in his house.

I wanted to add the video of me learning the cello with no sound, but blogger says no, and N may be upset with me, so just use your imagination!

Until Next time- Happy Bow Circles!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

My Evolution/ Old school examples

I have TONS of art that I have made through out my career as a student. I know I don't have the lesson plans for these, but you may be able to use them as inspiration for something.

 
This was watercolor ( I think)and colored pencil the whole year I was in 5th grade we did mid evil inspired things. I also have my gargoyles, and will try to take pictures.


 This was my second year of painting I think, so I already kind of had a grip on the media, I don't remember there being much of a prompt for this. we went outside, my teacher talked about trees and how artists used to study nature...... Yeah I wasn't listening, there was a cute boy in the class. BUT we got to sit outside to paint, and had to do practice sketches before we started. I vaguely recall using a mini dry erase board, which I'm sure I thought was neat. You can buy melamine board at Home depot for pretty cheap, cut it up, and have a cheap class set of dry erase boards. Crayola makes dry erase crayons if you are wary of giving your kids smelly markers.



Chalk pastels on dark paper with a model. Good for practicing highlights and shadows. For secondary this could be adapted with still life set ups or a manikin. The point was highlights, not nude models!! Make sure you get a dark paper with a good tooth. This was Strathmore dark drawing paper and was awesome.


Write your name in a triangle, trace it all over the page in reflecting ways, and volia! Radiating name design.


This was painting class in High School, we were lucky enough to use oil paint back then. I used a program similar to photoshop to make a photo I took monochromatic (I made mine a negative too). It was a neat way to learn about tints and shades on a more sophisticated scale in HS. Plus, it was me, so I was instantly hooked.



This was a silly project I made up for myself at the end of the year. I got really into copying masters paintings in acrylics on a small scale, which I should post later, and this kind of evolved out of that. The image in the middle is a study I did for a self portrait, which I glued to some Masonite, with a matte board frame. Trees were kind of my trademark in High School. The lettering is Greek and random. this would be a cool "About me" project, the lettering could be things about the student, and around the self portrait could be stuff they are into.


This got me interested in German Expressionism. It was a 10 min extended gesture activity. The length was fine in college, but for secondary students I can see interest loss after 5, which is a shame, because having to go over my lines is what makes this image I think.



The prompt for this project was pick a song, draw how it makes you feel using hatching and stippling. For your students you may want to specify the song needs to be appropriate. I sketched everything out with a pencil and went over it with sharp lines using a Micro pen. I still want to go back and fill in the background so it is very dark and the box will pop.
BTW the song was Portishead: Glory Box

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Melted Crayons

In the never ending task of organizing my craft space (pictures of finished product coming soon….. I hope) and the frenzy of back to school shopping (teachers snag those marker deals while you can) I realized that most of the crayons that I have in the giant shoe box under my desk are awful. After going through and picking out all the tiny nubs and random no brand crayons, leaving behind only good looking Cryolas (really, any thing else is just a waste of money) I had almost a full box of crayons left. Since I am a pack rat, and totally unable to get rid of anything that I know could still be used, unless I’m giving it away to someone to use, I decided to make some new crayons.
The exciting thing is, making your own crayons is really easy, but they aren’t going to be the skinny sticks you’re used to, unless you have a mold. The advantage to not having sticks is that the crayons will be a lot easier for little kiddos to hold onto, and you can give out multi colored crayons in goodie bags, or as prizes, and kids are always excited to see the cool colors in their crayon. These flat wafer crayons are also perfect for texture rubbings.
Step 1: after separating out the crayons you want to use, peel of the paper wrappers. Depending on how many crayons you have, this could take a while, so put on a good movie, or grab a friend to talk to and help out. After your first 200 crayons your fingers are going to hurt if you are peeling with just your nails (and by the way, paper cuts between your nail and finger really hurt.) I would suggest getting an exacto knife and slitting the paper down the length of the crayon, and then peeling away, much easier and much faster.
Step 2: Pick out the colors you want to use, break them up into small pieces. You can do this snapping them by hand, but you might get a bruised finger. A hammer works well too. The smaller the pieces are, the quicker they melt, and when a crayon doesn’t melt all the way, then it is susceptible to cracking. (as seen)
Step 3: Stick the crayon pieces in a mold. I used a mini muffin tin, but you can use anything as a mold, as long as it will go in the oven or stand up to heat. Candy molds can make cute shapes, but if the mold isn’t metal then you will have to pour the wax in. Do this by melting the wax in a jar using the double broiler method, and pour wax in mold. If you want to do multi colored crayons this is not the best way to go.
Step 4: Turn the oven on at 250 degrees (keep warm setting on my oven) and bake the crayon mold until all of the wax is melted, this will take between 7 and 10 minuets.
Step 5: Take tray out of the oven and stick it in the freezer. Leave in the freezer for about 20 minuets.
Step 6: take out of freezer and pop crayon wafers out. The colder they are the easier they will come out. But be careful, the colder they are the more likely they are to break if you pop them out and they fall on the table. (as seen)
While the new crayon discs look cool compared to the nubs they used to be, they are unfortunately no better then the crayons they originally were. This means that if you have been buying cheapo brands like rose art your new discs are still gonna suck. The good news is that the cheap crayons tend to rise to the top when they melt, so you can rub the bad part off if they accidentally get mixed up with good quality crayons.
So have fun, experiment. You can do crayons according to seasonal colors, complementary colors, solid colors or even a rainbow. This is an easy project for kids to help out with too, they will be excited to color with something that they made. If you don’t want to keep all of the wafers you made, you can always give it to your students art teacher, or a local daycare, I’m sure they will enjoy the new crayons much more then the dirty broken pieces.
UPDATE: My mentor during student teaching shared her method of making rubbing crayons.
1. Use an electric skillet and soup can to make a double broiler. Fill skillet with water and soup can with crayons. Turn on.
2. When crayons are melted pour crayons into a mold. My mentor used the plastic balls that bubble gum machine prizes come in, sitting in an egg carton.
3. Put mold in freezer.
The pros: crayons melt all the way, so breakage is reduced. You don't have to heat up your whole oven.
The cons: You might have to find supplies, they aren't always in your kitchen like my method. You cant make multicolored crayons. the colors mix too much.
Until next time!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Stuffed chicken

New delicious recipe! I trimmed my basil plant again and used this recipe to get rid of some of that delicious herb. As always, I didn’t exactly follow measurements (or even bother to get out a measuring cup) but I did try to stick close to these general measurements. this fed about 5 people with a breast left over, but if you have big eaters I'd generally say one breast per person.
Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breast
halves, skinned
2 Italian sausages
¼ to ½ cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese (feta or other)
3 basil leaves, shredded or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled (I used a lot more then this)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter melted

Mushroom-Wine Sauce
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine
¼ red onion
2 garlic cloves
2/3 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into 4 pieces
Salt and pepper

Directions:
For chicken:
sauté sausage in a pan.
Preheat oven to 350F. Pound chicken between sheets of waxed paper to thickness of 1/4 inch using meat mallet. Pat chicken dry.
On top of chicken layer cheese, cooked sausage, basil, and sun dried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper ( I didn’t). Roll chicken up, starting at one long side, into tight cylinders. Tie ends with string or stab with toothpick to secure. Or you can cut a slit in the breast and stuff that way. Dip chicken in egg, allowing excess to drip into bowl. Roll in breadcrumbs, shaking off excess. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate.)

Place chicken in 8-inch square baking dish. Pour 2 tablespoons melted butter over (or put a piece of butter on top of each piece of chicken. Throw extra chicken stuffing and basil leaves on top of chicken in pan. Bake until cooked through, about 40 minutes.

For sauce:
Meanwhile, melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, minced garlic and mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add wine and boil 3 minutes. Add stock and boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and swirl in 4 tablespoons cold butter 1 piece at a time (to thicken). Season sauce with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Remove string or toothpicks from chicken. Cut rolls crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Fan on plates. Serve immediately, passing sauce separately.

I served this with steamed red new potatoes. It was reallllllly good.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sewing Organization

Over on Just Something I made I found a sweet free download to keep all of your fabric remnants in order. While I consider myself to be a pretty organized person, this just seems a little much for me. Regardless I saved it to my crafting folder, and maybe one of these days I'll come across a free afternoon in which I can organize the fabric in my sewing room.

I also came across a cool thread spool storage solution over at Celebrate Creativity, something I will try out the day my sewing room is not also the guest room. If anyone tries this project let me know how it turns out.

Until Next time, have fun organizing.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Drink some Melon.

Just in time for the 4th of July! Delicious drink recipes.

Watermelon Lemonade
I found this on Good Life {Eats}

Small Seedless watermelon 15ish cups. (I used about half, but a whole would work too)
Two 12 oz cans of Lemonade concentrate
Wisk
Strainer
Knife
Blender
Cut up Watermelon in cubes and blend in blender strain through fine mesh strainer if you have one, or don’t like pulp. Add melted Lemonade concentrate and wisk together. Serve chilled. Makes about a two-liter pitcher.

This is kind of tart and strong; (but so refreshing) I would cut this in half and add water to dilute it some, which would make two 2-liter pitchers of the lemonade. Perfect for a party.

Sparkling alternative: Add Sprite to dilute the mixture.

Slushy Watermelon Mint Mojito
I found this in Southern Living

5 cups cubed seeded watermelon
1 cup sparkling water, chilled (or Sprite…. Again)
3/4 cup white rum
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, undiluted
Mint sprigs (optional)
Lime slices (optional)

Arrange watermelon in a single layer on a baking sheet; freeze 2 hours or until completely frozen.

Combine frozen watermelon, sparkling water, rum, mint, and limeade in a blender; process until smooth. Garnish with mint sprigs and lime slices, if desired. Serve immediately.

Quick and Easy Watermelon Mint Mojito:
Add Rum and crushed mint to sparkling Watermelon Lemonade.

Until Next Time, Drink Responsibly and all that.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Mail Labels

I found the cutest mailing labels ever at: A Very Chocolate Wedding. They are a free download so I have nothing to say other then I will be using these all the time!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tin Can Vase

I like to give flowers to people. When I do I think that they look nicest when they are in a vase, and it seems that when you give someone flowers not in a vase you never get to be the one to arrange them. I have always liked to play around with flowers and arrange them, and think I kind of have a knack for it.

BUT…. Vases are expensive, and if you are not giving them to your mom or someone you are really close to, most the time you don’t want to spring for a vase. Unless it is included with the flowers, and what’s the fun in that?

I came across a good solution to the problem: Tin Cans. On Design Sponge there is a great tutorial for making beautiful tin can vases. When I decided to try to make them it was a spur of the moment decision to take a professor some flowers after she broke her arm during class. So I didn’t have as good materials to work with as the website describes.

For my tin can vase I used some wrapping paper that’s was as similar in color to the bunch of flowers I got at Sam’s club (Hey it was a last minuet thing, don’t judge me.) as I had on hand. I used spray adhesive to attach it (3M super 77) and arranged the flowers in the tin. If I did this over again I probably would have used a shorter can and flowers that hung over the edge more. Although, having chicken wire would probably help. This seems like a good idea for centerpieces for a formal event or even a wedding on a budget, as you can customize the color entirely.

Until next time.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Holga Madness.

Looking for a fun way to get kids interested in photography? Want to break into the art yourself but cant spring for a pricey SLR? Looking to upgrade to medium format but don’t know if you should spring for that Seagull TLR? Are you trying to break out of the formality of 35mm photography? A Holga might be the camera for you.

Personally I’m not sure what made me want to go out and buy a Holga. I had been thinking about working with Medium format film for a while, but I had the option to rent a camera from school for free. The reasons are as lost to me now as they were the day I sent my friend Kelly an instant message during our Art Criticism education class.

Me: I think I want to buy a Holga
Kelly: Do it!
Me: I think I’m going to pick one up on my way to work.
Kelly: Do it!

Obviously Kelly was all on board, she is a Holga fanatic herself. Luckily for me I work right across the street from Precision Camera so after a quick bus ride from campus to work, I went into Precision and checked out the offerings of Holga cameras. They had almost every color but my favorite: purple. This was slightly disappointing, but I decided to go for the black camera. I was thinking I would eventually resent a pink one for not being purple, and the black one had a built in flash a feature that the colorful models lacked. After plunking down a mere $45.00 I picked up some 120 film and headed out. This camera was everything I hoped it would be. It is fun, experimental, and really broke me out of the shell I was growing with photography.

Why are Holgas great for kids? They are relatively cheap, so if they loose interest you haven't wasted too much money. And the negatives are big, so if you are going to try printing the photos rather then having them done at a photo lab, then the child can see the image better then they would on 35mm negatives. And there is always the crazy experimentation that kids love, the Holga was made for that.

If you are getting a Holga know that out of the box there are no instructions on how to use it, so your going to have to go online to figure out things like how to load the film, what the buttons on it do, and what the quarks of the Holga are. I’ve tried to put some of that info here so you don’t have to look too far.

Helpful Holga Facts:
The Holga is a rangefinder, this is different from most cameras that everyone knows.
Distance settings- Shown with images. you can select portrait, small group, large group and infinity.
F-Stops- The Holga has two F-stop settings, cloudy/ flash and Sunny
Shutter Settings- shutter speed can be controlled by the F-stop or be held open for long periods of time, this switch is located at the bottom of the camera.
Flash- The batteries that power the flash are located behind the mask in the camera. In cameras that do not have a flash there is an attachment spot for a flash to be attached.
Holga Halo- the vignetting around the edges of the photo that occur on a sunny day. this is caused by the over hang of the plastic around the lens.
Blur- Holga photos often turn out blurry around the edges. This can be frustrating, but it is one of the things that gives the Holgs its charm.
Light leaks- Due to the inexpensive nature of the camera there are often light leaks around the edges. this can be controlled by taping the camera at the edges. Some people enjoy the leaks as they are each unique to each camera.
Printing tip: Holga negatives tend to be flat, embrace using filters, they will make your images rock.

Loading Film

General Holga Info
: this includes info on the odd quarks that your camera might have, along with photo examples. This should give you pretty much all the info you need.

Wikipedia 120 film

Until Next time, check out some of my Holga images above.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

French Onion soup.

Some how this blog has really turned into something incredibly food dominant. I guess I just like to eat, and now that I’m not in school for the summer I have been having time to experiment with food. More on crafts soon I promise! I made a wrap skirt, but didn't take any process pictures, so I’m trying to figure out how to explain what I did.

My Great Grandpa Papou Mancy opened a steak house in Toledo Ohio back in the day. It’s called Mancy’s and it’s still there. My great Uncle John ran it after his father died, and now his son runs the place. Mancy’s has this awesome French onion soup that they have spent years perfecting, and since I haven’t had it in about 2 years I decided I wanted some. I told my grandma to call her brother and get the recipe, but of course he didn't answer, and it’s just as well, as I’m sure he wouldn't appreciate my posting his recipe online. (UPDATE: They put it on Pinterest! If you follow me you can find it) I did however make some French onion soup, and as always I played around with it so it is nothing like what I found online.

6 sweet (Vidalia) onions. (or 4 if you use Texas sweet onions, cause like everything else in Texas, they are big.)
3 tsp butter
Salt
Thyme
Parsley
Bay leaves
20 oz of beef broth
20 oz of chicken broth
Cooking sherry
Apple cider vinegar.
French bread
Mozzarella
Swiss cheese
Gruyere cheese.

Cut the onions in half, and then cut across so they are like crescent moons. (Or just cut how you like, I’m not a cutting Nazi. Just please don’t dice.) Put the butter in a pot and melt it, lay down a layer of onions, sprinkle with salt, put another layer, sprinkle with salt etc. till all the onions are in the pot. (It’s going to look like waaaaay too many, trust me, its not.) The recipe I went off of said not to stir, but I thought it would be good to coat the onions with butter, so I did. Just don’t stir a ton, because you want to let the onions reduce down, and if you are standing there stirring it takes forever.

At this point go make yourself a Gin and Tonic, cause you are going to wait a while for these suckers to reduce down and caramelize. I’d say a minimum of thirty minuets. Don’t worry about the onions burning; because that just adds to the flavor, but if you keep the heat high then make sure you can keep an eye on them. After a while they will start to turn brown and taste super sweet (if you are the kind of person who tastes constantly) start stirring, because you want all the onions to get a chance to brown and not stick to the bottom totally.

After you are happy with the color. (Mahogany is what the recipe said, but I didn't wait that long) pour enough cooking sherry in to cover the onions, put the heat on high and reduce the liquid to syrup. This will take like 15 minuets, but don’t leave, because if it burns your house will smell (but the flavor will rock) you want to control the amount of burn. Note: Every recipe is different, and I found ones with red wind and white also, so it seems you can use what you have on hand if you don't want to go out and buy sherry.

Once that reduces pour in the chicken and beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley. (Sorry I didn't measure this, just put however much you like) I accidentally bought cilantro, which it turned out I needed for other things anyway, but this just proves to me that parsley is not really all that necessary. If you don’t like it leave it out. Also if you want the soup to be thicker use less of the beef and chicken stock. The recipe I used called for half that amount of both and I didn't think it was enough. Throw a dash of apple cider vinegar in there too. The recipe I was going off of said 10 oz of the vinegar, and that frankly would have ruined it. No more then a tablespoon. Let the whole thing simmer for like 10 minuets.

Cut up a French baguette and put it in the oven and broil at 375 for a few minutes to make the croutons. The size of each piece should be about the size of the bowel you put the soup in. Pay attention here, these are easy to burn.

Okay, we are almost done. Put the soup in an oven safe bowel, and using a cookie sheet, stick it in the oven with one of the croutons on top and a slice of each cheese. If you put the Swiss on top it will brown better then the other cheeses. The cheese should overlap the opening of the bowel so the cheese can drip down the sides and crust over. This is what makes the Mancy’s French onion soup I think. If (like me) you don’t have a bowel that can go in the oven just use a coffee mug, it works wonderfully. I found that if you put the mug to the side of the broiler in a gas oven it browns the cheese the best. You could also use a torch if you have one.

If I had the time this is what I would probably serve this soup with:
Steak, Mushrooms, and Onion rings

Although it is a meal in its self.

Until Next time.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Texas Pecan Pesto.

My brother came up with the name for this while drinking a lone star beer. Go figure.

For some reason or another basil grows really well in Texas, despite the heat. An important aspect of basil maintenance is cutting back the plant before it flowers so that it continues to grow fully and doesn’t get bitter. The draw back with this pruning is that you are left with a ton of basil, more then you can usually use to spice up one meal. After you have had your fill of garnishing salads, and topping bruschetta, give this recipe a try.

2 cups fresh basil
Olive Oil
½ cup parmesan or Romano cheese
½ cup pecans
4 medium sized garlic cloves, minced.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Lemon.

Official recipe for any pesto.
Combine Basil garlic and nuts (traditionally pine nuts) in a food processor, pulse several times slowly drizzle olive oil into the mixture while blending. Add cheese and blend together.

Snore.

My recipe.
Throw basil, Pecans, Garlic and a half a cup of olive oil into a food processor or blender and mix together. Remove from mixing device, add cheese, and more olive oil, as much as you like, and stir together until pesto has reached desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste, and throw some lemon in if you think it needs an extra kick.

A food processor is probably best for this recipe, but I didn’t have one, so I just used a blender, which I found to work just fine, although I had to dig the blended part out and push the non blended part to the bottom myself, which I wouldn’t have had to do with a processor I’m thinking. The half a cup of olive oil that goes in the blender is mainly to keep everything moving and from sticking to the blender insides, although there will still be some of that.

I also found that using already chopped pecans made life easy also, cause you can in theory leave it all to the end and just mix in with the basil mush after it is out of the blender. I put half in the blender and mixed half in later. It seemed like having the nuts in the blender helped the mixture move better.

So how does putting pecans in pesto make it “Texas?” Well, it adds a taste that other nuts seem to be lacking. You can also use pesto in ways other then just Italian spaghetti. You can use it in pasta salad, an awesome pick nick staple. Its also good on baked potatos, tortillas, and as a dip for chips.

Helpful tip- if you don’t want to eat a ton of pesto all at once you can freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray if you leave the cheese out and add it later.

Until next time.

Friday, June 12, 2009

UT in the press

There are always exciting things going on at an art school and the University of Texas is no exception. Despite being in the shadow of a nationally recognized football program (literally, the art building is right next to the stadium) we still know how to make headlines of out own. In my painting class last fall Sharon, a fellow student painted a bizarre giant painting of a gerbil. There were some things that were objectionable about this painting, but no one in the class said anything about it in the spirit of free speech.

Eventually everyday we came into class and Sharon would discover her painting had been turned to face the wall. She would turn it back and notice some paint on her canvas that had come off the wall. After this happened several times despite her putting notes on her canvas saying “do not touch” she got the Professor involved. The culprit it turned out was the instructor of an informal painting class that used the room at night and whom many other students had run ins with. Everyday we were all excited to learn the drama that had unfolded the day before.

A few months ago there was an article in the paper (Statesman.com) about Sharon, her painting, and the woman that was causing her so much trouble. It appears that the woman might have called the paper because the drama with Sharon caused her to quit teaching painting at UT. The article is pretty funny, and the comments on the article are even better. One of the comments gives the link to the woman’s blog, where her take on the whole story is particularly nasty.

Until next time, happy reading!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Moroccan Stewed Chicken

I know that food is not the main focus of this blog, (UPDATE: Who cares?) but I love food, and this recipe was AMAZING. I found it in the January issue of Women’s Health magazine and just tried it last week. This is my personal adaptation, which is a little more haphazard then the original recipe, and has a few extra ingredients. It’s so quick and easy! You can find the Men’s Health version at http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/mens-health/3191/moroccan-stewed-chicken/
Image from website.

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
I large zucchini, cubed.
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can diced tomatoes
chopped fresh cilantro
½ Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken stock or water
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 cloves minced garlic
1-ish onion
1 bell pepper

All of these measurements are totally subjective other then pouring out cans I didn’t measure a thing. I’m sure I put more of the spices then was called for, but I tried to use the measurements as a guide to my haphazard pouring. I used a 2 cup can of chicken stock instead of one cup. It will seem overly soupy but if you keep any as leftovers it will evaporate in the fridge and the extra moisture will be needed. Also any kind of chicken will work, even leftover rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Make:
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
Sauté two cloves of garlic and half a large onion, or a whole small onion and bell pepper.
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, place them in the pan and cook them for two to three minutes on each side, until brown.
Add the zucchini and continue cooking, stirring occasionally.
When the zucchini has browned lightly, add the chickpeas, tomatoes, chicken stock, cayenne, cumin and cinnamon.
Turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Season to taste with more salt and pepper, add garnish with chopped cilantro. Serves four. (although it served my family of 4 more or less twice, so unless you get seconds expect leftovers)

Side:
Cook plain couscous according to the box instructions, add pine nuts, raisins, and chopped cilantro (this is from the Magazine). From Me: plain couscous is BLAND. To make this better add ground cumin, garlic powder and celery salt. You could also just use a box of flavored couscous. To get the flavor of the pine nuts, raisins, and cilantro in the couscous, mix it in with the boiling water.

Serve: in a bowl together not much broth.

Mmmmmmm! Until next time.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I'm Blogging!

I suppose that I should start by explaining my aims here. I have been having a fantastic time studying to be an art educator the last few years and want to share my experiences, and collect feedback about how people feel about art education. I have also been collecting wonderful crafts, lesson plans, gadgets and projects on the Internet and would like to share them with the world.

Now you know a little about me. It seems that a first Blog post should be memorable, but I know that no one is reading. My biggest goal is that I will not end up a post in one post wonder: http://1post1der.blogspot.com/

Until next time.