Creative Cooking Simple Serving

I am honored to once again to have my work featured in Where Women Cook. I came home last night and found my autumn issue waiting for me and I never stop getting excited to see my work or ideas published. I never take it for granted that there are so many very talented individuals wishing that they too, could share their ideas and talent with the world and they are hoping that someday they will be able to do so.


So, thank you Where Women Cook for doing such a beautiful job with my feature and the layout is, as always, spectacular. This issue is especially exciting because it features Cristina Ferrare of "Big Bowl of Love" from OWN network. She will be one of the keynote speakers at The Creative Connection Event that is just only a couple of weeks away now! I can't wait. Remember, like I said in a few posts ago, if you grab this button and leave a comment and post the button on your blog's sidebar, your name will be entered to win either a subscription to Where Women Create or Where Women Cook. Jo Packham, founder of both publications, generously offered that to my readers!

CONTEST GIVEAWAY! 

Just grab the button below. 

Place button on your blog sidebar just until Sept 15th. 

And leave me a comment that you did so.

There will be Two winners:

One will get a year's subscription to Where Women Create

One will get a year's subscription to Where Women Cook

Click HERE for details!

Issue of Where Women Cook that features my latest work

But for now, let me say that the little feature I did for Where Women Cook is a feature called "Art Bar." It is a regular feature only added in a couple of issues ago. I believe mine is the third Art Bar? Not sure exactly.  I chose to feature one of my favorite holiday drinks: Wassail.


I fell in love with this European traditional punch back when I lived in Germany. There are many ways to make this punch and so I shared my version in Art Bar. I will share some of the photos that were not used, as the feature is purposely kept to only four pages and only the recipe.  You will have to read WWC to get all the photos and the recipe.....yes....the recipe (for a while at least) stays in WWC to be fair to them. But I will say, that this punch is served warm and is so good, (and beautiful) that serving it year round is something too hard to resist. But I will give you some serving tips, as they could not be included in the issue...so I am giving you something, even if not the recipe.  :-)


I hope you enjoy the extra photos and tips.

I use a metal, vintage punch bowl when serving warm punch. Not only does it lend to the traditional feel of the punch, but the metal keeps the punch warm longer. I line up the tarnished silver goblets on an old mirror for texture and old world beauty. 

Sometimes, keeping things simple is simply elegant. Just lining up the goblets on an old mirror is all that is needed for this little drink station....

I like using an antique, tarnished creamer, instead of a ladle to dip out the punch. Have you ever noticed how ladles are awkward to handle and tend to spill the punch anyway? Now you know what to do with those little three dollar creamers you find at any flea-market but wonder what to do with them. They are easy to hold, and pour directly into any little cup, without spills!

Using left over fruit to decorate is an easy, quick, and inexpensive way to finish off the table. Save your money for great appetizers and don't spend it on decorations...guests will love the simplicity and will enjoy gabbing and eating the tasty treats that you were able to purchase with the saved $$.

As a special treat, poke the oranges with cloves in a decorative manner. If you have a guest of honor...poking his/her initials into the oranges is a nice surprise! In this case, I honored Where Women Cook. A little trick: First float the orange to see which way it floats. Poke the cloves on the upside and if necessary, poke one or two toothpicks on the bottom of the orange which will help stabilize the orange to keep the cloves upward. Be sure to push the toothpicks far enough in to keep them from falling out.

The baked and scored apples look so cozy among all the floating fruits and spices. It just screams autumn! I love the crinkled skin. You will need to cut fresh lemon and orange slices before serving - they aren't so pretty after simmering in the punch :-)

Well, I just couldn't put away all the fun ingredients without playing a little...I guess you can see where my heart is...


If you want some fabulous recipes, some really heart-warming stories about some fabulous women to inspire you, this is a really great publication that Jo Packham has created. This publication is for women (or men) who like to cook, who love to peek into other women's kitchens, and who love a good inspirational story. I am really honored to be a part of Where Women Cook. If you are looking for some connections, inspiration, or just wanting to jumpstart your passion to a new level, again, I will be at The Creative Connection Event, and if you are still on the fence about this, I encourage you to visit their blog which will give you lots of information, ideas, and last minute registration deals and tips.


Well, that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed the little bit of eye candy. I always enjoy getting up a post that shows my passion. I have been super busy finishing up a huge project and I haven't had a moment to rest, gather my thoughts or even clean up after my project. And boy, how I can't wait to share with you ANOTHER HUGE project that just landed in my lap...but it is a project that will take quite a while to work on, a TRUE labor of love, and will fulfill many, many years of dreaming, loving, wishing, and a very unbelievable story that goes with along with it. It will be such a fun project, a long project, I may start a whole separate blog about it.....stay tuned!


Until then my dear readers, I wish you all the chance to create, dream, wish, and continue to grow your passion in a direction that fills you up with pure joy.


from my house to your house,

In the Heat of the Moment

Hello Everyone!

I hope this very hot summer is finding you all doing well; creating, and staying somewhat sane with this heat. I have tried, unsuccessfully, several times to get out a new post, but Blogger would not allow my password to go through, and I have no idea why. Blogger has also deleted my posts due to "illegal" fonts or something and would not "save" my posts when I was half way done with them. I have no idea what that means, since I am only using the fonts provided by Blogger. I have started (and almost completed) this post now about five times. It took some doing to get this up again, and I am about to pull my hair out with this server. Hence the opening photo - I feel like I lost my head there for a week or so!  :-)

I have a couple of quick fun updates I want to get out and if you hang in there, I have a creative, (but sort of sick) confession that I will share, but sure to regret later, I am sure....

First I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS to CHRISTIE and a friend of her choice who is the winner of the free pass giveaway, plus hotel to the Creative Connection Event. Click on Christie's name above to read more about this interesting winner!  

Christie - The Winner of TCC Event passes plus hotel!

As I have mentioned before, I am attending The Creative Connection Event next month, and I am very excited to attend. The more I learn about the wonderful classes the more I can't wait. Although I will be helping out most of the event, I will try to take in a class here and there. Hopefully a photography class or something in publishing.

But what I found out that is super cool?

All of the cooking classes! Not only are there cooking events, but there are cooking classes at the Cooks of Crocus Hill site, a fabulous and very prestigious cooking school in St. Paul. Cristina Ferrare, Diane Cu & Todd Porter, Carolyn Robb & Sarah Champier, and Terry Walters are experts in turning their passion of cooking and food into careers and will be sharing how they did that at the event. To have these professional ladies, who have been there, done that, share their adventures and experiences, is something I am looking forward to hearing and learning a lot from.

And once again, Jo Packham, the co-founder of The Creative Connection Event is offering us creative women a way to hear these fabulous professionals with us being down to the last 25 days to the big event!

Visit The Creative Connection Event Blog for the details. The rules are SUPER SIMPLE and the rewards are great! 25 days, 25 winners, who will get 25% off when they register. 

Click HERE to go to link for information about registration.

Okay, my good friends. I have been super, super busy and very tired! I have had a very exciting and fun job these past couple of months. I was offered a fabulous (but very challenging) to shoot a book! At this point, I am not sure what I am allowed to share with you, as the publishers haven't told me yet, but I will get some information and as soon as I get the "okay" I will be happy to share.

But the book is about a quilt designer and I was hired to scout a location, style the entire shoot, and photograph ten quilts, the cover, the double spread shots, the opening page shots, and all the detail shots. I really LOVED this assignment! The quilts were to have an "environment" and "be very different" and not traditional. Luckily I did not have to do, what I call, the "clinical shots" of just a flat shot of the quilts. Those were being done by the publisher in their studio. I got to do all the beauty shots and location - which is extremely hard when working with quilts, but I loved that the publishers trusted me with my ideas and styling.

So, back in May is when I had to scout a location and shoot the cover and a few detail shots. I have never worked with this publisher before and so I working blindly, so to speak. So, after many, many days of scouting, and even sending out a mass email to friends about finding a place, I happened upon a place purely by accident.

Visiting a friend's store (I will provide all details, when I get more photos to really be able to share), the owner's husband happened to mention the abandoned space above the store, and I was running out of time, and Ta Da!  A VERY run down, awful, but beautiful "set" awaited me! I was in heaven!! So much light! Giant windows! Cracked wallpaper! Dirty floors! Heaven!  Below are my scouting shots of some of the rooms...

I rented a U-haul, my barber husband and I hauled props and furniture above, I took hostage many props from good friends, generous store owners, and went to work. The publisher was thrilled with my first disc of photos and I spent hours and hours, day after day, designing areas, moving furniture and downloading photos and learning new programs to meet their specifications.

Believe it or not, I am really making this very long story short to get to what I want to say just for today...

Then the shoot was delayed....May went by....June went by....July went by....and so guess what? I get to now shoot at the end of July and into August....can we say HEAT WAVE...as in triple digits??? The abandoned place had no electricity and it being on the top floor it was at least 120 degrees on some days!  My dream location, my heaven on earth, is now H-E-L-LLLLL!

Well, I delayed shooting an entire seven days because it was just impossible with the heat wave. But, I had a deadline, and so I HAD to get some shooting done. So, for the last three weeks, that is what I have been doing and nothing else. If you ever want to test your age or stamina, go do something in the heat for hours on end....you will feel OLD!  And after a while, you start to do things like talk to yourself, have a shitfit when you realize you left something in the car and the LAST thing you want to do is walk down a huge flight of stairs, down the street, go get it, and then back again, and chance tripping over the long, long extension cord I had running down the stairs into the store. You soon realize that equipment doesn't like heat very much either must remain somewhat cool as well. 

Gatorade - drank 1 large bottle an hour at least!

I had a few fans, but they did very little to help, except to blow hot air on me. I wore a cut-off t-shirt sleeve on my head, and dipped in ice-water from the cooler I brought and wrapped it on my head to prevent heat stroke. But it was this one particular day, a day of extreme labor, that I think all the fans in the world and ice-watered, and a t-shirt sleeved-wrapped head, didn't save me from what I now realize was a day that the heat got to me.

I had been avoiding using a particular room because the windows were nailed shut, but I knew this room would be good for a huge double spread shot - a sewing scene with lots of mannequins, a huge work table, an ironing board, and all sorts of goodies and props. I bit the bullet, and decided to go for it (which by the way, the publishers loved the photo, thank God), and I had to clean out the room for there were some gross stuff on the floor. 

I was very hot, very tired, and decided to clean, set up the scene and come back the next day and shoot. During all these weeks, I took "behind the scenes photos" for my dear readers, as I know you like to see what "really" took place in addition to all the "pretty shots." So below is what I started to sweep:

As I started to sweep (and this was the "good" corner), I notice something odd...do you see it?

 That's right! A dead bird...one who died of a heat stroke!!

So here I am, kneeling next to this dead bird, taking a photo (so my readers could appreciate all the gross stuff I had to deal with when I can finally show you the "pretty photos"), sweat dripping into my eyes as I lean forward, my knees killing me, stifling HOT in this room, trying not to shake as I lean in and focus on this little, sweet bird, and suddenly it hits me....


.....what am I doing??


.....why in the world am I on my knees like this?


.....what is wrong with me?

I pause, then really think about how crazy this is....because I just realized.....I rented a perfectly WONDERFUL 100mm lens that would allow me to STAND and get GREAT shots! Yes! How crazy am I to kneel, when I can stand without kneeling to get close and grunting like a pig in this heat!! Yes! That is the answer!! I am not joking...this is the truth...do you see how sick a person you have been following all these years...are you ready to unclick the "followers" button yet....?

So, I hop up. Go to the next room, change lenses, all excited at how "smart" I am for thinking of this, go back into the blistering hot room, and STAND and get great photos without even having to get CLOSE to the icky thing....I mean...sweet thing....

Below are the photos I quickly snapped, STANDING UP, in the DOORWAY (next to the fan) and while I snap, with the camera to my eye and as I point the camera, I am thinking...now this is where it really gets bad, as if it isn't bad enough, I think....I wish the lighting was better today...damn clouds....

It wasn't until my long drive home (this location is 1.5 hours away from my house) did I start laughing at myself and my excitement over my lens and my thought process and how others might actually think it was crazy to be taking photos of a dead bird in the first damn place! I can't believe I am telling you this story.  But in my defense...this was at the end of a long, hot day, after about three weeks of long, long days working in the heat, so I really feel the heat got the best of me that day...and I am sticking with that story. 

And I will add, that when I told this story and showed the photos to my friend, Renee (yes, I am outing you, Renee), she laughed and laughed and SHE said: "Oh, only if you had a cloche and covered the bird, and then took the photo to show your readers how sick you really are...." And we both laughed until tears...  And what is even sicker?? I really, really wish I had thought of that!

 Well...Okay...


So, how does one end a post like this with a thoughtful quote or a bit of wisdom? Well, I could say something like:


Creating from the soul and with real passion can bring out pieces of us that we never knew...


or


Creating from our heart and being true to our soul is not about being honest with not just yourself, but also with others....


or I could tell you what I am really thinking right now...


I REALLY WANT TO OWN A TOP QUALITY CANON 100MM LENS, AND NOT HAVE TO RENT


Hey! You just try kneeling on a hard floor, in 100 degree room, and photograph a dead bird, then you can judge....  :-)


from my house to your house

Connecting with Creators

NEW ANNOUNCEMENT! BIG CONTEST!

Click HERE to get FULL details!!

July 28, 2011:
This is a new and additional announcement to this posting! This contest was just announced today and the contest will end at 11:59 on AUGUST 4th! That is why I am sticking it at the top of my post in red and not my usual grey.  To get full details about how to enter, the rules, and how you may win TWO free passes plus hotel accommodations to The Creative Connection Event, click above. Don't know what in the world I am talking about, or why I am so excited? Read on, and the post will fill you in plenty! Oh, and if you keep on reading...I am having my own little contest giveaway myself. But you have to read the post to find out what it is...you will love the giveaways...that I am sure! 

Who would have thought that tearing strips of fabric and tying them around a lamp shade could make someone so happy? Well you looking at her, or rather reading her blog. But that is what I did a few nights ago. Yup, I finally redid my living room, and tearing and cutting linen strips while sitting on our new sofa apparently gave me a very contented look upon my mug. As my barber husband commented the next morning, he said, "It was so nice watching you tear up fabric last night..." He didn't get exactly why I was so happy with my strips of fabric, but he was just happy to see me happy. 

I had no idea he was even watching me. You see, we got a new sofa, he was snuggled on one end, legs stretched out, and I was happy on the other end, snipping away, and apparently entertaining my hubby. But I guess, my contentment showed - and all it really took was some strips of fabric and a pair of scissors. 

And that is what I want to talk about today - contentment and joy in creating. And while my barber husband may not have understood why I was so happy snipping away at fabric, there are a lot of people who do and I get to meet them this September at St. Paul, Minnesota, at 

The Creative Connection Event!  

(Okay, don't think I don't know you are waiting to see my living room photos, and feeling ripped off that I told you about redoing it, and then just go on like I never mentioned it...I'll get back to it. Now, do I know my readers, or what?)

This coming September 15, 16, 17th.

Click HERE for more details!

If you have no idea what this is, I will briefly go over it, but you really need to just go to the fab website and read all about it and then just sign up and go! This event is like no other. I have been helping with writing the website for months and learned so much about the event, I am very impressed with the level of talent and dedication! 

Basically, Jo Packham, the co-founder of this event saw a need for crafters to connect. She also realized that crafters and foodies are so busy doing what they do best, that it is difficult to get their products known. That is where The Creative Connection Event  (TCC) comes into play. Networking, cyber world, blogging, it all comes together with the crafting and food world. And business women who have been-there-done-that and have taken their passion and turned it into a way of life are there to connect us all!

Here is just a SMALL SAMPLE of what TCC has to offer:

Key Note Speakers: 

Click HERE to read about all the speakers!

I personally cannot wait to meet these women and hear about their adventures. BlogHer is a big participant and sponsor that is offering a lot valuable information for those of us who create and blog. If you aren't familiar with BlogHer (I wasn't until I met the fabulous, Loralee, last summer on my photo shoot to Pioneer Woman's ranch, who introduced me to the BlogHer world), then BlogHer is another huge treat that TCC will introduce you to! 

In short, BlogHer supports and encourages women bloggers. The founders of BlogHer are pioneers when it comes to blogging and the information they have to pass on is valuable to anyone wanting to take blogging to the next level, or wanting to learn about blogging, maybe considering taking their passion more public, or even to the possibility of making a living at it. TCC is the place to connect and do this. The people who attend this event would totally, totally get my glee at sitting on my sofa, completely content with my strips of fabric and scissors. And somehow, at TCC, I would probably learn how to make a friggin living at how to snip my strips, blog about it, and make a living...not bad, when I think about it.   :-)

In fact, Jo is so passionate about getting women connected, sharing our passions, and helping women to network with one another, that when I asked her if I could blog about the event she offered to give away a year's subscription of Where Women Cook and Where Women Create!  

So, I decided to have a little CONTEST and GIVEAWAY from now until September 15th.  Below is a button and if you grab the button and post it on your blog's side bar until September 15 and leave me a comment that you did so, then I will put your name in a hat (and it will be a really cute, vintage hat, at that). When I return from the TCC event, I will pull a name out of the hat, and two savvy gals will get a one year subscription to either WWCook OR WWCreate. 

I don't think I have ever done a giveaway before, so I am excited to do this and want to thank Jo for offering this for my readers. If you wish, you can thank Jo as well on her blog, or Facebook page and let her know you appreciate it too. Very cool that I can giveaway something that I love so much.

CONTEST GIVEAWAY! 

Just grab the button below. 

Place button on your blog sidebar just until Sept 15th. 

And leave me a comment that you did so.

There will be Two winners:

One will get a year's subscription to Where Women Create

One will get a year's subscription to Where Women Cook

Click HERE for details!

Between keynote speakers, panelists, event meals, workshops, networking, shopping at the Market Place, watching cooking demos, getting autographs from authors (yes, Jo asked if I would participate in the autograph party, which will be an honor, but sort of feel a little weird at the same time...don't ask me why, but it does...but it's a good weird) but between all those activities, Jo will also be launching her new book 

New Book:

Where Women Cook Celebrate!

Click HERE for more details!

I am extra proud of this book because for several months, I was hired to help interview and assist in writing about some of these extraordinary chefs. I got to talk with them and learn about their diverse backgrounds and honed my skills on writing with deadlines, within strict word counts, and edit and re-edit again. It was a great job that I would love to do again anytime! The book is different from Where Women Create magazine in that each chef has a particular celebration and recipes to go along with it. One particular chef I remember interviewing (and still stay in contact with) is Sandy Coughlin, better known as The Reluctant Entertainer, who has one of the most informative chapters with all kinds of entertaining tips. There are organic chefs, French chefs, chefs who started out just cooking for a hobby...and more. It is a fantastic and fun cookbook, even if I say so myself :-)

Okay, besides TCC having tons of classes, workshops, networking (which is the coolest part - make sure you bring lots of business cards with you, you will meet tons of very cool, creative women - and men - Matthew Mead will be there teaching!) there is one more really cool event I will mention in this post that is super exciting that TCC is offering.....

Pitch Slams!

Have you heard of them before?  In short, these are events in which professionals in certain industries (usually the publishing industry, but in TCC's case, much more) will sit and listen to your idea and give you feedback. And in some cases, some ideas are picked up on the spot! 

Some Pitch Slam events are very expensive to attend and almost all are very limited in number. Most have strict rules on how long you may speak, what you may bring, and what you may leave behind (if anything) to the industry representative.  It can be super intimidating, and pretty white knuckling, but TCC is here to make this Pitch Slam professional, but a really positive experience for you so you can walk away with some expert advice. It is a chance to get the full attention of an expert and show your idea - something that is really hard to get!

So for example, if I wanted to pitch my book, and if there was a publisher being represented at a pitch slam event that I wanted to pitch to, then I would sign up, pay my fee, and pitch the best pitch possible in the hopes that I would "wow" them so much that they would shake my hand and hand me a huge contract right then and there! Okay, actually, it doesn't really happen that way, except in my head, but in practice, you do want to "wow" them in the few minutes you get, and at least get them to remember you enough to want to follow up with more information and so on.

Well, TCC is having a Pitch Slam event for all sorts of creative industries....if you have an idea for cookbook, or children's book, or let's say you always wanted to be a designer for a craft or paper company, there will be an industry rep at the TCC Pitch Slam! How many times have you gone to a craft store and rolled your eyes and thought, "Geeze Louise...I could have made that in my sleep!" Well, now you can pitch your ideas and maybe get picked up to design for a craft company in your sleep! 

Or maybe you always thought you would be a great gift designer for a company and have a zillion ideas but no where to take them to...now you do! Or a textile designer? TCC has an industry leader looking to hear your design ideas on that too. Or how about a guest on a TV show? How many times have you thought you would be a great guest on a TV show, but you are not sure how to pitch your idea to the network? Now you can try it out and get professional feedback. Remember, these professionals have "been-there-done-that" and most are still doing it. There's lots to do to prepare and get ready. And many more industries that I didn't even list.  A limited number of spaces are available and some rules you need to know, so I am going to send you to two places to get all the info you need to visit and read up on. Spaces are filling up, so get going!

First, the official website that tells you all you need to know just click below:

PITCH SLAMS: 

Click HERE for PITCH SLAM Details!

and 

The TCC blog has tons of good ideas about lots of stuff, but just the other day, they put out some really good advice on Pitch Slams, so here the info from the blog as well: 

Click HERE for TCC blog details on Pitch Slams!

Okay, that is it for now. As you can see, I am really excited about this event. Mainly, I am excited because so many of us work and do and do. And while the blog world is great, and without it, many of us would be pretty isolated when it came to our crafting and cooking only because so many of the people in our daily lives just don't get our passion. They love us, and they respect us, and they tell us how much they love our creations, but they really don't get how our juices just get flowing at 1AM sometimes - with just some scissors and strips of fabrics. And at The Creative Connection Event, well, there will be 100's and 100's of creative souls, for three whole days who DO GET IT, and are in all stages of their passion. Some are just barely discovering what makes them tick, and some have been ticking so long, that they are there to help other get ticking too, all while getting "rewound" and refreshed themselves! So I really hope I get to see you, meet you, and finally get to give you a hug.

And to refresh yourself a bit, here are a few photos of our living room. I haven't had time to take "real" photos. I am in the middle of a big shoot and I could barely squeeze in the time to do this living room, but I have put it off for so long. You know the saying, the cobbler's kids never get shoes....you'd be surprised at long it takes for me to get my own house done. Well, probably not, you are in the same boat, I am sure.

Oh, and I am still looking for the "after" photos of the kitchen. I didn't forget, but I am afraid I may have done what I always feared that I may do, but haven't yet - until now, maybe. I think, but not sure, but I think I may have downloaded them accidentally into a file I didn't mean to do. That means I have to hunt for them among thousands of photos. Hopefully this isn't the case. I will keep you posted.

But here are a few photos of our living room, and when it is all completed (not done yet) I will give you a tour...but for now, here are a few quick pics until I can take real photos...oh, and feel free to leave a comment even if you aren't grabbing the button - I always love hearing from you no matter what!

 From my house to your house,