just trust.

(*Nishe)

Don't have to try, love will take us there babe. Thirsty Merc

I have always believed that true love is effortless. We do what we do for our other halves with whole-hearted selflessness because we trust that they would to do the same in return. And that is what love is all about: Trust.

Swedish Meatballs

My handsome, romantic, agreeable Southern husband is one of the major ingredients that keeps this little blog chugging along. Not only does he bravely eat each and every experiment that comes out of my kitchen, he also helps with the chopping, the measuring, and (yes!!) the cleaning up. He cheerfully runs out for those ingredients I inevitably forget and need right NOW. He also gave me this...

And this.

So every now and again I like to make him his all-time favorite dinner, which is Swedish Meatballs. I'm always on the lookout for a good Swedish Meatball recipe, and I've tried quite a variety of 'em over the years. Which made it that much more exciting when I spotted a new one at one of my most reliable cooking resources, Cooks Illustrated. If Cooks Illustrated makes it, you KNOW it is going to be great, and this was no exception. Lots of Swedish Meatball recipes can be heavy and salty and overwhelmingly saucy, but not this one - the sauce is light and delicious and the meatballs are flavorful and just a tiny bit sweet. Pour the whole thing over some noodles (egg noodles if you want to be authentic, bowties if you are me and forgot to get egg noodles and didn't want to send the Southern husband out to the store yet again). Scatter a little parsley on top - not traditional, but good! -- and watch your true love's eyes light right up.

Ain't love grand??

Last but not least, please click here, and then go make some Swedish Meatballs.

Swedish Meatballs, from Cooks Illustrated

1	large egg
1/4	cup heavy cream
1	large slice bread, crusts removed and bread torn into 1-inch pieces
8	ounces ground pork
1	small onion , grated on large holes of box grater (about 1/4 cup)
1/8	teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8	teaspoon ground allspice
1/8	teaspoon ground black pepper
1	teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2	teaspoons salt
1	teaspoon baking powder
8	ounces ground beef
1 1/4	cups vegetable oil
1	tablespoon unsalted butter
1	tablespoon flour
1 1/2	cups chicken broth
1	tablespoon brown sugar
1/2	cup heavy cream
2	teaspoons juice from 1 lemon

1. Whisk egg and cream together in medium bowl. Stir in bread and set aside. Meanwhile, in stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat pork, onion, nutmeg, allspice, pepper, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder on high speed until smooth and pale, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl as necessary. Using fork, mash bread mixture until no large dry bread chunks remain; add mixture to mixer bowl and beat on high speed until smooth and homogeneous, about 1 minute, scraping bowl as necessary. Add beef and mix on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl as necessary. Using moistened hands, form generous tablespoon of meat mixture into 1-inch round meatball; repeat with remaining mixture to form 25 to 30 meatballs.
   


2. Heat oil in 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat until edge of meatball dipped in oil sizzles 3 to 5 minutes. Add meatballs in single layer and fry, flipping once halfway through cooking, until lightly browned all over and cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. (Adjust heat as needed to keep oil sizzling but not smoking.) Using slotted spoon, transfer browned meatballs to paper towel-lined plate.


3. Pour off and discard oil in pan, leaving any fond (browned bits) behind. Return pan to medium-high heat and add butter. When foaming subsides, add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until flour is light brown, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in broth, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits. Add brown sugar and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce is reduced to about 1 cup, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream and return to simmer.


4. Add meatballs to sauce and simmer, turning occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and serve over egg noodles or other pasta.

Click here for printable recipe

Warm and Cool

I hope everyone is not too tired of fall scenery yet, because I have a lot of it coming up:) I must say, it's really good to get back to creating some new work after taking most of the year off to deal with moving and resettlement issues.  All that stuff is pretty much set for now, so with luck I can stay on a creative roll for a while.  The weather is finally changing here in the mountains as we get later into the fall and I should be able to find some interesting subjects locally as we move into winter.
We were lucky to pick just the right time and the right area to stay in Utah this year.. I could get up before the sun and drive only a couple of minutes down the road each morning to a great spot for the twilight and first light, then return to the lodge for breakfast, allowing my wife to sleep in and not have to stand around freezing and bored. The colors were absolutely peak perfect everywhere and even the weather cooperated; that's usually the wild card that you can't do anything about, given the narrow time frame of the trees' schedule.  I found a great variety of subjects within this one small area, which is always a convenient and relaxing way to work and bagging some good shots early makes the rest of the day seem more relaxed.. kind of takes off the pressure to get out and find that perfect scene and light.
I decided to leave the slight blue cast of the cold early morning light in the brighter areas of this image.. it makes for such a nice color combination with the yellow of the aspens and the cool green grass; kind of a fantasy look in the soft light.   

Next one is going to be BIG

Time flies when you are having fun busy!

Finally FINALLY finished editing all my sisters wedding photograph, here are a few of my favourites;







If you want to see all seventy bajillion of them, feel free to peruse the Flickr collection (19 sets) 'Wedding Photographs'. There are only 1260 really and Heather has to leave a comment on every single one of them, kidding! (not really).

I didn't just want to leave it at that, so I also created a blog, which works like a virtual wedding book of sorts. You can see that by clicking here 'Wedding Blog', start with the 'About' section and then hop over to the 'Chapters' section. I think this gives you a good idea of what the day was like, hope you like it, as blood, sweat and tears went into it (hehe).

No more photography stuff for a wee while, although I am sure I will be posting more photographs from the day. Also its hard to go back to the old point and shoot camera, after my flirtation with a DSLR.

Next!
If you haven't checked out my new project, please do!

It is a site dedicated to checking out your naughty bits, for the good of your health, using the power of doodle.

Click here to see Doodle Nudity

I would really appreciate people having a look at this site and maybe clicking the facebook like button etc. It is a project that I am enjoying immensely and there is a LOT more to doodle with it. The thing that motivates me is the input from the people that enjoy the doodles, their thoughts and ideas. So any help, thoughts, ideas would be great!

The next blog post on here is going to lonnnnnnnnnngggg, as it was my four year blogoversary on the 29th of October. So to celebrate that, I am doing something a little special.....

Original Alice in Wonderland garden party costumes on display...

In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I believe these colourful costumes were worn during The Mad Hatter's flashback to the White Queen's garden party where people were dancing around a maypole, before they were attacked by the Red Queen's forces.

Alice in Wonderland movie costume exhibit

This exhibit of original costumes, designed by Colleen Atwood, from this year's hit Disney movie was on display at ArcLight Sherman Oaks cinema on October 18, 2010, during a limited theatrical re-release of the film.

Alice in Wonderland movie poster

Original garden party costumes from

Alice in Wonderland on display

There's no surprise there's a top hat in this display, as Johnny Depp's 'Mad Hatter' was milliner to the White Queen's role court before her sister usurped her throne.

If you like these outfits be sure to check out Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter battle costume, Alice dresses worn by Mia Wasikowska and a great selection of original props from the movie.

Alice in Wonderland movie poster

Buy the movie: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Buy the original animated Disney classic: Alice in Wonderland (2-Disc Special Un-Anniversary Edition)

Arts-and-Crafts, and Cams and Cambolts

The projects your blog hostess has been working on lately have actually been more in lending a hand to my buddy Scoobie than anything pressing of my own. Her place is under full-on decorating attack. It started with updating the kitchen I showed you a week or so ago, and now it's been adding some arts-and-crafts style furniture.

This is where that extra hand has come in: unwieldy pieces of lovely wooden assemble-it-yourself furniture which assumes you not only have that hand to spare, but an extra couple of feet, a six-foot stature and possibly a mechanically inclined hunk at your disposal.
At the moment, there's just me.

(Disappointing, all around, I know. :) )

But so far, we're managing. Once you put together one flat-pack assemble-it-yourself piece, you begin to figure out how those tech writers think when they come up with the instructions...

You start to get inside their heads....

You begin to take for granted all the things that are not implicitly stated as steps toward finished furniture. Like just because they SAY to do a certain thing, doesn't mean they really, really, really mean to do it right then. Or just because they don't say to do it, doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done.

Their heads are a scary place to live sometimes. I know, I used to be a tech writer myself.
Anyway, you can see Scoobie's completed sideboard here. She's still arranging the decorative goodies on it, but this is an early draft sample of what it might look like.
Note, those peach curtains are on their way OUT. While nice, and while matching the wallpaper circa 1990, they were left for her from the previous owners. Scoobie plans to remove the wallpaper and paint the walls a nice lights arts-and-crafts green, to tie in her red-and-green William Morris rug.

Here is a display cabinet she assembled all by herself, no hand or hunk-to-spare involved.
And this is the barrister bookcase we assembled last weekend. It took a few hours, and then we both took some Advil. But it looks pretty sharp!
I'll be excited to see how her office will take shape. And when it does, with Scoobie's kind permission, I'll share it with you all, too.

So everybody sing: "Cam bolt's connected to the... locked cam! The locked cam's inserted into... Side B! Side B's connected to the... Top A! Top A's connected to the... Wood peg...."

Arts-and-Crafts, and Cams and Cambolts

The projects your blog hostess has been working on lately have actually been more in lending a hand to my buddy Scoobie than anything pressing of my own. Her place is under full-on decorating attack. It started with updating the kitchen I showed you a week or so ago, and now it's been adding some arts-and-crafts style furniture.

This is where that extra hand has come in: unwieldy pieces of lovely wooden assemble-it-yourself furniture which assumes you not only have that hand to spare, but an extra couple of feet, a six-foot stature and possibly a mechanically inclined hunk at your disposal.
At the moment, there's just me.

(Disappointing, all around, I know. :) )

But so far, we're managing. Once you put together one flat-pack assemble-it-yourself piece, you begin to figure out how those tech writers think when they come up with the instructions...

You start to get inside their heads....

You begin to take for granted all the things that are not implicitly stated as steps toward finished furniture. Like just because they SAY to do a certain thing, doesn't mean they really, really, really mean to do it right then. Or just because they don't say to do it, doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done.

Their heads are a scary place to live sometimes. I know, I used to be a tech writer myself.
Anyway, you can see Scoobie's completed sideboard here. She's still arranging the decorative goodies on it, but this is an early draft sample of what it might look like.
Note, those peach curtains are on their way OUT. While nice, and while matching the wallpaper circa 1990, they were left for her from the previous owners. Scoobie plans to remove the wallpaper and paint the walls a nice lights arts-and-crafts green, to tie in her red-and-green William Morris rug.

Here is a display cabinet she assembled all by herself, no hand or hunk-to-spare involved.
And this is the barrister bookcase we assembled last weekend. It took a few hours, and then we both took some Advil. But it looks pretty sharp!
I'll be excited to see how her office will take shape. And when it does, with Scoobie's kind permission, I'll share it with you all, too.

So everybody sing: "Cam bolt's connected to the... locked cam! The locked cam's inserted into... Side B! Side B's connected to the... Top A! Top A's connected to the... Wood peg...."

Ghosts/ Happy Halloween

In Florence the ghost of Rembrandt haunts the pavement and people tread on him which is very sad.

The old skull theme is very suitable for a tomb in the floor of S. Croce........

 
....and in the window of a biscotteria....with all that ectoplasm stuff floating about.....

 ...just as it does in a painted over portrait on 22nd Street in New York.

Ah! The autumnal peace of a little Halloween lie down behind the leather school with all that Virginia creeper as warm bedding.

Happy Halloween!

Original Prince Caspian Lucy and Edmund Pevensie movie costumes and props on display...

In the second installment in The Chronicles of Narnia, 'Prince Caspian' blows a magical horn and summons the kings and queens of old back to Narnia to help him battle his evil uncle, 'Lord Miraz'.

Actual costumes and props used in

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

When the Pevensie children arrive at the ruins of their former castle, Cair Paravel, they exchange their school uniforms for more Narnian attire. These are the actual costumes designed by Isis Mussenden and worn by the two youngest siblings, Georgie Henley as 'Lucy Pevensie' and Skandar Keynes as 'Edmund Pevensie'.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie poster

These costumes and props were photographed on display within the Journey into Narnia: Prince Caspian attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando on September 22, 2010.

Original props used in Prince Caspian

Included in the prop exhibit was Lucy's dagger, a tiara, Edmund's flashlight and chess piece, Peter's pocketknife, a golden plate discovered in the ruins of Cair Paravel's treasure room and more.

Finally, in addition to the costumes and props on display, you also walk through the recreated stone table chamber movie set featured in the film which houses Lord Aslan's sacrificial alter.

Prince Caspian stone table chamber movie set

If you like these outfits be sure you check out the costume sworn by the older Pevensie siblings, Lucy Pevensie's battle costume and Peter Pevensie's battle armour, plus outfits worn by Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian.

Buy the movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Three-Disc Collector's Edition+ Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray]

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian