DIY: Clay Portraits

With summer vacation upon us, here's an easy, fun project that the kids can do on a lazy day. Have the kids each roll out a piece of clay in a roundish or squarish shape, whatever they want. Use a toothpick to carve the design. If you're lucky enough to have use of a kiln, use terra cotta clay, or if not, use the oven bake stuff (Sculpey is great) or even air-dry clay. Once it's dry the kids can paint it or just seal it with a clear lacquer.


Now take a piece of scrap wood and paint it any color (I used black). Attach a hanger on the back or go the completely cheapskate route and just put two staples in the back and wrap a little wire between them to create your own hanger. Affix the dried clay art to the wood with a good dollop of Gorilla Glue or Liquid Nails.

These look great alone, or make a bunch and group them. My latest idea: colorful clay targets with bulls-eyes in a Kandinsky style, grouped on the living room wall. I'll blog that when it happens; I'm guessing about the tenth of never.

The Reluctant Hostess

My friend Macie hates to cook. We meet once a week for lunch and I secretly suspect she is only doing it so that she can serve the leftovers to her family for dinner.

Well, imagine her surprise when she found herself in charge of lunch for 40 at her sister's baby shower recently. She turned to me and I turned to Jen, hostess extraordinaire. Jen's advice: "Don't cook; assemble."

What does it mean? This:

Appetizers
Cooking: Quiche
Assembling: Fresh mozzarella, basil leaves and cherry tomatoes on skewers, with oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled on top

Main Dish
Cooking: Enchiladas
Assembling: Chef salad

Dessert
Cooking: Cake
Assembling: Costco Cake

OK, that last one might not followed the concept exactly, but you get the idea.

Above all, be flexible. Macie was thrown when many of the ingredients she needed were out of stock/out of season/too expensive. ($3.50 for a red bell pepper?!) So her tray of grapes and brie became a mixed berry salad, and the magic salad she'd planned on became chicken salad sandwiches made with chopped chicken and the basil dressing she'd made the day before. (She served it to rave reviews and ended up with a new recipe.)

Follow these tips and who knows? You might actually get to enjoy the day too.

Macie's Menu: Baby Shower Luncheon for 40
Mixed fruit salad
Spinach dip with pita chips and raw veggies
Chicken salad sandwiches
Green salad
Cake
Lemonade, sparkling water, juices

See how everyone is giving big toothy smiles except Macie?
That's because they weren't in charge of the food.

Jalapeno Bagels

My kids have gone cuckoo for the jalapeno bagels at Costco. We've been out of them for a while so I decided to try making them from scratch. (Now you know how much I hate going to Costco.)

I have had a recipe for these in my recipe binder labeled "to try" since my daughter read a story called Jalapeno Bagels in second grade. It included a recipe "from a real Mexican-Jewish-American bakery, Los Bagels Bakery & Cafe, in Arcata, California."


Jalapeno Bagels
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 tsp. dry yeast
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
5 cups flour
1/3 cup jalapenos, chopped
1/4 cup dried red peppers

Mix water, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add flour and jalapenos and mix into a ball. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is stiff. Add red peppers and knead for 3 minutes. Let dough rest 10 minutes, then cut into 12 pieces with a knife.


Roll each piece of dough on a table to form long tube-like shapes. Then, for each of the 12 pieces, connect the two ends by overlapping them about 3/4 of an inch and rolling the ends together to make a ring shape. Make sure each joint is secure or it will come apart while boiling.

Cover with a damp towel and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm spot. In a large pot, bring 1 to 2 gallons of water to a rolling boil. Place bagels in boiling water and boil until they float (15 to 30 seconds). Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

What happened to the hole?

Janet's notes: I left out the 1/4 cup dried red peppers, and instead of making the dough by hand, I threw all the ingredients in the bread machine and put it on the dough setting. I think I used too much yeast because they rose beautifully, then collapsed when I lifted them off the cookie sheet to boil them and never recovered.

Verdict: Flat but tasty!

Raising Silkworms

Bieber getting comfy on her queen-size bed.

Happy news! We have two new additions to our family. They are a pair of silkmoths and their names are Justin and Bieber. They were foisted upon us--I mean, we adopted them from my son's second-grade science class. By the time Max brought them home, the rest of our family had missed the real action--the cocoon spinning and subsequent hatching.

Justin and Bieber's love nest, covered with gauze.

The moment Max got them through the front door, he and Elise disappeared for about two hours. When they emerged, Elise had created an amazing studio apartment for them, complete with a sofa for lounging, a rug on the floor, and a queen-size bed with silk sheets. Hubba hubba! I guess it set the mood, because within a few hours, Bieber started laying eggs.

She pushes this thing out of her tail and the eggs drop out. These were the first two eggs.

A little later.

From what Max told me, silkmoths do not have mouths; they hatch, mate, the female lays eggs, then both male and female silkmoths die, their life cycle completed. Kind of sad, but we kept it matter of fact and when Justin kicked the bucket Max was OK.

RIP Justin

So what happens when Bieber's eggs hatch? (There can be up to 500, apparently.) No mainstream nursery in our area carried Mulberry trees, which is what the silkworms eat, so it was off to Exotica yesterday, where I found a 7-foot-tall Russian Mulberry tree and somehow jammed it into my Altima Hybrid for the trip home. Sean planted it and now we wait.

15-year-olds sure do come in handy.

To be continued...

Pet Peeves: Driving

I'm delighted to post a new entry in what has become a regular feature of this blog, "Pet Peeves." It seems that lots of you like complaining just as much as I do. Yay! Complaining's the best.

Today we'll talk about driving pet peeves. Here are a couple from my blogworld friends:

SibStudio said...

My pet peeve is right from this morning - good grief how hard is it to flip on the turn signal so I know why you just stopped for no reason in the middle of the lane!

By the Book Paper said...

What I thought of today (because I experienced it) is people who are going to turn when driving but do not fully make it into the turn lane so you cannot get past them. That is what they make a separate lane for!

This one is pretty similar to my own biggest driving pet peeve: When you are in the right lane (but there is no dedicated right-turn lane) and going straight, leave enough room for people to get past you so they can turn right.

And another thing. When it's your right of way, take it. Sometimes I get behind someone who slams on their brakes for no apparent reason and then I realize it's to let someone at a stop sign/light/driveway pull out. It's not nice, it's not thoughtful, it's just dangerous to all the other drivers expecting you to follow the rules!

Finally, and I know this one is common, don't go under the speed limit. When I lived in Hawaii they posted a minimum speed right under the maximum speed on the freeway. Genius.

And even though my daughter is only 12, she just looked over my shoulder as I was writing this and spouted off one of her own: "When your mom and dad freak out about someone else's driving and that's all they can talk about for 10 minutes." She's grounded.

What's your biggest driving pet peeve?

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Even though you may not recognize Kate DiCamillo's name, you've probably heard of her novel Because of Winn Dixie. It was turned into a pretty popular movie a while ago.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane tells the story of a child's beloved china rabbit, that becomes lost. Edward changes hands several times and experiences life through the eyes of each of the children who subsequently own him. I read this book out loud to my 8- and 12-year-olds and in a couple of parts, I found myself too choked up to continue. Max said, "But it's not even sad!" I said, "But it's just so moving," to which he rolled his eyes in (I must admit) an admirably teenage way.

I read a review of this book on Amazon and the reviewer suggested that DiCamillo be brought up on child abuse charges for some of the sad situations Edward finds himself in. And although I laughed at that highly exaggerated reaction, the book is sad at times, even a little toward the brutal side of sad. You might want to skim it before reading it to your kids but this novel is such a rare combination--for children, and beautifully written--that I highly recommend giving it a shot, even if you don't have children. And if you like it, be sure to check out her prior novel, Despereaux, which is great too.

Back of the Box: Pasta with Artichokes and Butternut Squash

It's been a while since I've done a back of the package recipe, so I did a little searching in my pantry and found this box of shells, with a good-looking recipe on the back. If only I had butternut squash and baby artichokes lying around, I wouldn't have to go to the store but alas I found myself searching the produce section yesterday. Butternut squash was no problem but the baby artichokes were nowhere to be found. Second store, jackpot! A little pricey though at $6 per pound...asparagus or sugar snap peas would probably make a good substitute.


Barilla Pasta with Artichokes & Butternut Squash
1 box Barilla Medium Shells - Conchiglie
1 butternut squash, diced
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
12 baby artichokes, quartered
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake butternut squash until slightly brown and cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a large skillet, heat olive oil and saute onions for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Then add artichokes, season with salt and pepper and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Combine with roasted squash.

Cook pasta according to package directions (8 minutes). Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the water. Add liquid to sauce and stir well. Combine pasta with sauce and top with cheese and parsley.

By the time I had cut these and got the camera out, they were already starting to brown. Soak them in cold water if you want to prep them ahead of time.

Janet's Notes: If you haven't ever eaten baby artichokes, you're in for a treat. Take off all the tough outer leaves until you get to the soft inside leaves; they'll be a pale whitish-yellow. Cut the top off to remove any thorny leaf ends, and the bottom of the stem, and then quarter to use for the recipe. (There is no choke to remove.) Most Trader Joe's stores sell them, though they weren't there the last time I went. Don't you hate it when Trader Joe's stops carrying items you count on? Sorry, still bitter from the ground turkey breast discontinuation of '08.

Also, I overcooked the squash so it mushed instead of staying in chunks, which turned out better in the end--the kids got some nutrition in spite of themselves.


Verdict: Good, simple, and healthy weeknight meal. I added meatballs but if I had gourmet chicken sausages I would have done that instead.