A tourist in my town

I’ve recently gotten back into painting, which completely affects how my eye sees artwork. The lens through which I look at a painting varies greatly. When I was in Paris last year, I was there as a true tourist, soaking up the L’Orangerie and D’Orsay. When I go to the Philadelphia Art Museum with my camera, I am looking to capture people looking at art. And when I go after I have been in the habit of painting, I am looking to learn from the masters, to gain insight and tips I can use in my work. Or, sometimes to just stare in awe (check out that detail in the “Water Mill” painting by Frits Thaulow below).

This past weekend we went into the city to eat at a cafe, visit the Rodin museum, walk the streets with the changing leaves crackling under our feet, and visit the art museum to catch a special exhibit and visit with some of my favorite paintings.

I also snuck in a trip to the art supply store in town where I bought some Arches oil paper. I will be working on a still life tonight and intend to be more deliberate about sharing my artwork in this space.

Finding light…

Yesterday summer hit us so hard. As I was walking around the farmers market sweating and seriously debating why I carried my camera, I started noticing the beautiful light that was peaking through the tents onto the vegetables. I instantly was inspired and so glad I brought my camera 🙂

A weekend trip to the capital

One of my best friends lives in Washington, D.C., and I always love heading down her way and being a tourist. She’s shown me so many hidden gems in her town and I was so happy to be with her and her husband for yummy food, dodging the rain, and checking out some new-to-me monuments.

The farmer’s market and coffee in Old Town Alexandria, and the Air Force and Pentagon monuments — all wonderful opportunities to stop and see (and photograph)!

The rain didn’t stop us too much, and each time the sky broke open, it apologized with gorgeous clouds and beautiful sunlight.

The flowers left on the various memorials at the 9/11 Pentagon monument were so touching.

Halloumi and quinoa salad: healthy and pretty

I was at Trader Joe’s the other day and found halloumi cheese. It was a moment of inspiration and I picked up a quinoa blend and got creative in the kitchen.

I’ve said before how I love food souvenirs, so I made this dish special by using an olive oil and fine balsamic I brought back from my last trip to Italy. I couldn’t have been happier with how this dish came out. Here is a rough description that could maybe pass for a recipe?

Ingredients:

• halloumi cheese
• spring mix
• dried quinoa
• roasted red pepper
• red onion
• lemon
• olives
• cucumber
• olive oil
• balsamic

Directions:

This is where I will be pretty loose on the instructions. I caramelized a red onion in some olive oil, added in some sliced roasted red pepper, and then added water and the quinoa right into that pan to cook so the grains were nice and flavorful. Make as much quinoa as you want according to the package instructions. When the water is cooked out and the grains are done, fluff with a fork, season with salt and pepper, and squeeze the juice of an entire lemon over the grains. For extra fun and flavor, add some lemon zest, too! Set aside and let cool. I made 2 cups and that worked for 4 servings of this main course salad.

Chop up your olives and cucumber and set aside. Lay a bed of spring mix, add a healthy portion of the grain mixture on top, top with olives and cucumber, then drizzle olive oil and balsamic over everything.

Now the best part: grilling the halloumi! I have a grill pan that works perfectly for this — heat it up until it is nice and hot, then add 2 slices of cheese to the pan and grill on each side until nice grill marks develop and the cheese is nice and hot. Top your salad with the halloumi and add a bit of extra balsamic right onto the cheese.

I loved all the flavors and this salad kept me full and satisfied. So many unique flavors all combined into one dish.

 

A sunny day deserves a sunny dessert

I needed inspiration on what dessert to bring to the Mother’s Day picnic later today. The arrival of sunshine instantly made me think of lemons. Lemon bars it is! They are baking now and smell delicious — I hope they taste like sunshine.

A morning around town

Sunday is the perfect day to drink too many coffees, indulge in treats, and to stop and enjoy the moment. And after all the gloominess of the past week, the sun is shining and I couldn’t be happier! Thank goodness for the warm sun and a leisurely morning.

Pretending to be a tourist

On my quest to practice my photography, I lugged my camera everywhere this afternoon. I have a lot more practice ahead of me, but the first step is just getting used to carrying my camera, taking photos, and getting comfortable with taking lots of baaaaaad photos. I have a feeling I still have a lot of out of focus, too dark, too light, blurry, grainy, generally unattractive photos in my future…

Hopefully it isn’t too long before the ratio of good pictures to bad starts to swing in a better direction!

Today I stopped and saw the art museum, coffee and pastries, and Mexican dinner.

 

I need to practice my photography

I’ve had my camera for several years now, but if I’m going to be honest, I really haven’t ever used it to it’s full capacity. In the field, on trips, or in the moment, I never trust myself to use my manual controls. But I want to practice. I so admire blogs with beautiful photos and I know my life will be enhanced if I can capture photos I’m actually pleased with — not just eh about. So, it’s time to practice. And in the theme of this blog, I’ve decided its time to be a tourist in my own town and my own home. Taking my camera with me everywhere to practice, practice, practice. I just uploaded a batch from this morning and only a few turned out. But that’s ok 🙂

Join me as I stop and see at the farmer’s market, then in my kitchen with some produce, (and donuts) I bought.

The best vegetarian French onion soup

I’ve been a vegetarian since the summer of 2004 and there aren’t that many foods I miss. To each his own though and I never am one to preach my views. What I am here to tell you though, is that I really missed French onion soup. What isn’t there to like about a warm bowl of yumminess topped with baguette and loads of melted cheese?

Sadly, typical French onion soup is made with beef broth and for the longest time I assumed this was a food of distant memory.

However, after a recent trip to France with the boyfriend, I decided to make him a French-themed dinner. He isn’t a vegetarian (and says he isn’t a fan of soup?) but I decided it was time to experiment to see if I could make a version of this favorite food of my past that I could have once again.

I researched recipes around the web and combined several to make this version — which I think is perfect. The non-vegetarian, soup-disliking, not-even-the-biggest-fan-of-onions, boyfriend even said this was good!

Ingredients:

• 4 large onions
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T butter
• 4 C vegetable broth
• 1 T vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T herbs de provence
• 1 t thyme
• 1/8 C red wine vinegar
• 1/8 C apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• baguette slices
• gruyere cheese, shredded (lots of it)

Directions:

I made this in the crockpot, but if you don’t want your house to smell like an awesome caramelized onion all day, I’m sure stove top would be fine and you would just lessen the cooking time by a lot.

Cut onions in half pole to pole and slice. Dump all the onions into your crock pot, top with oil and butter. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours, then bump to high for an hour. You can stir occasionally, but if you aren’t home, no worries. The onions cook down and start cooking in their juices, only getting darker when you bump the crockpot to high.

When the onions are finished, keep your crock on high and add your broth, Worcestershire sauce, herbs, and seasoning. If you aren’t vegetarian, regular Worcestershire sauce is fine. And in fact, you could use beef stock, too if you want. The original recipes all call for sherry. However, I don’t like keeping alcohol in the house and found the vinegar blend to be a wonderful substitute. If you have sherry, that would be fine to use here though.

Continue cooking for an additional hour on high. Use this time to slice up your baguette into one inch slices and shred your cheese. Toast a few slices under the broiler until crispy and set aside.

After the soup is nice and hot, ladle into a stoneware bowl (or any bowl you have that can go under the broiler). Top the hot soup with your toasted baguette slices and then add lots of shredded cheese. Place under the broiler and watch the magic happen.

Eating my souvenirs

To keep with my theme of making the most of this gloomy day, for lunch I heated up some leftover French onion soup (recipe posted above) and treated myself to one of my root beers from my fall vacation in Maine.

I’ve traveled a lot and learned that one of my favorite souvenirs to bring back are consumables. Nothing makes me happier than using my honey from France, my olive oil and balsamic from Italy, my maple syrup from New Hampshire, or jams and herbs from various parts of the world. It makes the every day feel a little bit more special, and that absolutely aligns with the goal of this blog!