Delicious days: week 1

Delicious and simple

Sunday

Pasta

Quick polenta. Don't forget salt. Stir in smoked mozzarella at the end.
Roasted tomatoes -- little red tomatoes and chopped garlic, olive oil, salt. 425° until crinkled. Add chopped fresh basil.

Also made pesto. Chopped basil leaves tiny. Chopped garlic cloves. Mixed together with olive oil and salt. Next time might try mortar and pestle... 

I froze this in ice cube tray.

Monday

Chicken

chicken curry 

I planned to marinate chicken in tandoori spices, but decided to go with the simpler chicken curry recipe from NYTimes cooking app. I used a bit more curry powder than called for, also didn’t use tomatoes but added frozen chopped spinach instead. It’s good and worth jazzing up a bit, but next time I’ll: 

*marinate the chicken pieces in tandoori spices mixed with a cup of yogurt

*Sauté some garlic with the onions. 

* cook the chicken BEFORE adding  coconut milk

*add some other vegetables

*top with herbs, as suggested. 

Good with brown rice 

Tuesday 

kale

Surprise! this was delicious. But I like kale. I almost thought it would be my entire dinner, but then I fried a little sliced chicken sausage and leftover polenta in my iron skillet. That was enough.

Kale
Heat up 1/4 C. olive oil in hot skillet. Add 3 cloves garlic. Cook one minute or until light brown. Add kale, ribs removed and coarsely chopped, and chicken broth. Cook. Stir in red wine vinegar. Salt to taste. Cook a little more, until not crisp.

Wednesday

Sopa de calabaza*

The hard part is peeling a pumpkin. But it's worth the trouble.  Soup alone wasn't quite enough, so I finished with chocolate and roasted almonds. I mean I ate them later, but writing this now makes me think almonds might be good with the soup. Chocolate too!

Place in soup pot:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds pie pumpkin, peeled and chopped
chopped up celery, carrot, and onion( I use the kind you buy pre-chopped at Trader Joe's)
A box or can of chopped tomatoes, either large or small -- depends on how tomato-y you want the soup
garlic, parsley, bay leaf,
chicken broth and water,  to make 5 cups
3 ounces white wine
1 T. honey
1 T. cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Cook until pumpkin is soft.
Mash or blend with immersion blender.
Add 1 cup heavy cream.

*based on a recipe from Goya products

Thursday

Eat out

Friday

Eat out

Saturday

Salmon

Thaw frozen salmon. (I used Sockeye.)
Rub with olive oil, seasoned salt, and pepper if you want. Put on parchment paper. Bake at 450° about 12 minutes per inch of thickness,
Recipe says make a sauce: Mix 3 T. olive oil with herbs to equal 1 T., and 1 T. lemon juice and some lemon zest. pour sauce n top of fish and tent it with foil and let it rest 5 minutes.
Also made brown rice (Trader Joe's frozen)
and salad of mixed greens with olive oil, vinegar and mustard.

Only in Miami: Remember those flamingos at the race track?

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Miami memories!

Here's a contour drawing of a flamingo. I colored it with Copic markers. 

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Book club: recommended

Written Tuesday night:
Dear Friends,

It was book club night — also pumpkin soup and good bread and salad and sangría and gingerbread and applesauce. 

I already posted my books on Goodreads -- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino.

We argued and laughed jotted down books recommended by others. Here are some:

Lincoln in the Bardo. Novel. One who didn’t like it gave it a second try and now she loves it.

The Circle by Dave Eggers. Novel about Silicon Valley. Not good. Don’t read.

Drinking Arak off an Ayatolla’s Beard by Nicholas Jubber. Recommended for me, about Iran

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali: Novel, Good so far, light read, beautiful cover! Recommended 

Pilgrim, Poetry by David Whyte. Amanda, who read this, said she loved it, but she said it might not appeal to people who are new to poetry.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb: Not your usual book by a psychotherapist. Recommended.

Love,

k

Ask a question, write an essay, make a book

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jia Tolentino asks herself a question and then answers it and that is her essay. You don’t know what the question is; I had fun guessing. Sometimes she injects herself into the text, and sometimes she’s more professorial, but you always know she’s THERE.


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Reminded me of Florida

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jagged, sad, and gorgeous. I usually start novels but can’t finish them. This was the opposite— I HAD to keep reading.
Thanks, Steph, for sharing it with me!

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Scribble and paint

Written yesterday:
Dear Friends,
It’s 4 p.m., and soon I’m driving to Woodland, to attend a benefit for the ArtFarm project that I love. It’s the program that welcomes artists to spend time at Yolo County farms. Yolo is next to Sacramento County; the counties meet in the middle of the Sacramento River. There will be displays and tastings from farms and wineries — if I remember right, there’s lots of food, and music too. And an art auction, at the Hotel Woodland.  I expect the whole scene to remind me of small farm towns in Ohio.  I’m meeting Mary Kaye and Leigh there. 
Here’s some scribble and paint. Can’t keep away from colors! 
Love,
k

Imagine orange

Written last night: 

Dear Friends,

Halloween is not supposed to be relaxing, but mine was. 

🎃Take Zing! to Tony

🎃Walk the mile across I Street Bridge to Burgers & Brew in West Sacramento (West Sac is a separate city just across the bridge.) 

🎃Relaxing lunch there with Patrick & Steph. I like the way people at tables around us are laughing and relaxed at lunchtime. We laugh too.

🎃All at once I realize it’s autumn. I decide to spend an hour cooking. That’s just enough to get lentil soup bubbling and make some gingerbread. 

🎃I am willing to share some of this with my neighbor Sandy, but she declines. She doesn’t like lentils. 

🎃She comes over with a sandwich, and helps me try some pinot noir that might be good for Thanksgiving. 

🎃She loves the gingerbread. I didn’t have time to make applesauce to go with it, but vanilla ice cream was fine. 

🎃I draw these marigolds. Imagine they are orange. Orange marigolds are the flower of Día de los Muertos, November 2. 

Happy Halloween!

Love, 

k

Getting to Absolute Zero

Written last night:

Dear Friends,
Around here, some people had the day off and some had to work. I decided to take the day off —  to not go to the gym, and never mind that Monday is the hardest class! That had NOTHING to do with my decision to stay home. Not to cook or clean or even paint and draw and read and shop. 

I have been trying to simplify my life, because I feel a debilitating sense of urgency that makes me want to hustle. It’s because I know now for certain that my days are numbered (never mind that I do not know the number), and also that I just plain want to focus on the good things. So it made sense this morning to take a break, breathe, focus, meditate —To remove myself from the urge to DO things. 

Secretly, I thought that by not doing anything, everything would get done. 
But nothing got done.  No checking off my to-do list. I’m not sure this makes sense, but by not doing anything I didn’t do anything. 
It was indeed a relaxing day. Hope you had the same!
Love,
k

Idaho surprised me

Dear Friends,

I wish I had drawings and paintings to show you Boise, Idaho, but I don’t. Yet.

I got back home Sunday after a long Idaho weekend with my high school friends Carol and Susan. Carol and her husband Dennis have lived in Boise many years.

Boise (Pronounced BOY-See) was more beautiful than I expected. On a guided trolley tour Friday we learned the city began as a stop in the Payette River Valley for gold miners and fur traders and is now the fastest-growing region in the Pacific Northwest. It has volcanic soil that depends on irrigation from the rivers and, yes, grows lots of potatoes, many of which are sold to McDonald’s. Albertson’s grocery store started here. There's a big Basque community. There are lots of new homes and shopping centers and budding tech activity; Boise is the headquarters of Micron Technology. Yet Carol says there’s a feeling among old-timers that growth is unwelcome. 

Here are some photos. Oops! I didn’t take any of the city itself, but Boise is a lovely place. These  photos are from our Saturday drive to the resort town McCall, Idaho, two hours from Boise.  Carol said she’d drive us two hours north to McCall or three hours east to the famous ski resort Sun Valley; Carol said Sun Valley has higher mountains, longer and possibly more challenging ski runs, and more celebrities per square inch.  Susan and I chose the smaller, closer resort. There was even a little snow on the ground when we got to McCall. We celebrated Carol’s birthday at the Cutwater restaurant in the Shore Lodge on Payette Lake in McCall. 

And if you’re really interested, here’s a link to a map of Idaho:

Love,

k

Boise is a city along a river 

Around it is a desert
It's called high desert

After the desert, trees begin to sprinkle the hills

There are a lot of farms 

Farming is 20% of the gross state product

Just finished this book

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Dreamt Land is reportage, memoir, history, and an unabashed love letter to California. The author, Mark Arax, grandson of a raisin farmer, grew up in California’s Central Valley and lives there still. He became a reporter for the LA Times, and then a writer of books. This is not a quick read, and it must have taken him years to research and write.
I read it because I am fairly new to California, and I know that a good way to know the state is by understanding water policy. Also, I have a marine biologist friend who has warned and educated me about California’s water conundrum. She introduced me to this book, and I thank her!
I’m hardly a policy wonk, but this book could make me one. Arax is a fine writer, and he has no simple answers.


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No sad sunflowers, please!

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today Zing! and I went hunting for sunflowers, and we found them on a quiet road outside Winters, CA. Yes, there is a sunflower field across from Pedrick’s nut store, but those flowers looked sad. You do not celebrate in a field of sad sunflowers. So Zing! and I drove a little farther. We were looking for a field where we felt safe to stop. We found one buzzing with bees.

Love,

k

Those white boxes are full of bees

For the love of pink and blue

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Here are some flowers I’m painting. Looks like I’m favoring pink and blue!

Love,
k

11" x 14"
acrylic on canvas

16" x 20"

acrylic on canvas

9" x 12"

acrylic on canvas board

Sunday wanderings

Written last night:

Dear Friends,
1. Today I got lost coming home from the winery. 
Heringer’s, on the other side of the river.
I wandered back home the long way.

2. Then I sat reading (about bridges) outside on a bench
with Zing! sunning beside me.
We had several conversations with friends who passed by --,
about good hiking near Auburn
and cooperative living in West Sacramento
and the charm of dogs who can’t jump.

3. At the winery a woman named Toni introduced her husband.
He said he goes to Miami on movie business.
He laughs at all the fancy cars there.
He tells the parking attendant to be careful with his plain truck.
It's full of equipment
worth more than many Lamborghinis.

“I pray we’ll meet again,” Toni said as we left. 
It’s a good reason to go back and buy wine.

That was my Sunday.
Love,
k

California wetlands

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

The Yolo Basin - Davis Wetlands reminds me slightly of the Florida Everglades. It’s flat, wet, and grassy. So of course I have wanted to explore it. You zip through this area on I-5 to San Francisco, but it looks inaccessible from the freeway. Finally today I got to see the place.  About 40 people showed up for a wildlife tour sponsored by the city of Davis,  including a bored teenager visiting from Switzerland and many photographers with giant lenses.  I enjoyed just  finally being there.

Love,

k

This is Tule grass, native to the area

Tule and a cormorant in the tree

Home to someone

Lots of the crowd carried photo gear

I wasn't swaying -- the bookshelves were

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

I have decided to relax and treat this like a real four-day weekend.

This morning Zing! and I drove 20 minutes away to the Davis Water Treatment Facility. It’s in the middle of a field outside the city. A wildlife tour begins there tomorrow, and I might go. I like to check out places ahead of time because the secondary roads are still new to me. 

Back home, I read for probably two hours — a book about water management in California. (Clark would chuckle at the thought, but water is such a vital force here that I want to know a little about it.)

Then I looked at trees and drew some flowers.

Then, after dinner, when I was at the table coloring the flowers, I felt my first earthquake. Just a little shake. It was unsettling, like maybe I was going to faint, but it wasn’t me that was swaying — the bookshelves were. Just slightly. I thought I was imagining it. Then Zing! looked up in alarm from his pillow on the floor. And then the pendulum on the brass clock went knocking wildly side to side. Then it stopped. 

I can’t imagine getting used to it.

I called Steph and Patrick. Steph said it made sense — she’d just heard their house creak, and it doesn’t normally do that. 

It was real — here’s the Sacramento Bee headline just now:

Magnitude-6.9 earthquake strikes Ridgecrest, California; felt as far north as Sacramento

Glad to say all is back to normal.

Love,

k

I love bridges -- I love books about bridges

A Tale of Two Bridges: The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridges of 1936 and 2013 by Stephen D. Mikesell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to know more about my new state of California, and one way to learn is through its bridges. This book is about the Bay Bridge
I learned
• it is actually two spans -- one from San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island and another from the island to Oakland. Together they are the Bay Bridge.
•the Bay Bridge was completed in 1936.
•There was a reconstruction in 1963, when the rail line was removed.
•There are two levels on the bridge -- top deck westbound and bottom is eastbound.
•The bridge was damaged at Pier E-9 by the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.
•One person was killed on the bridge when she drove the wrong way after the earthquake. (The book suggests she did not follow directions of a Caltrans worker, but her family was awarded more than $1 million in 1991-- the LA Times said officers failed to properly control traffic. Mikesell does not cover this aspect.)
This book is about the differences in the initial Bay Bridge construction and the rebuilding of the Yerba Buena-Oakland span after the earthquake. It's rather dry, but I loved reading all that detail.


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Just showing up

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today I went to the gym and then to a — what do you call it? meeting? rally? demonstration? — those things that happened around the country to protest the treatment of people in detention at the southern border. It was at the U.S. Courthouse. I went just to be another person there. I didn’t shout or carry a sign or anything. I didn’t even really hear what the speakers said. I stood in the shade beside a fountain, which dulled the sound, and anyway the audio was terrible. But I didn’t care because if we’ve watched the news we all know what the speakers said. There was a bigger crowd than I expected; it filled the patio at the entrance to the courthouse, and there was also a crowd along I Street, holding signs so drivers passing by could see.* Lots of cars honked in agreement, and big trucks sounded their horns often too. 

Dignitaries talked. I was standing at the back edge, next to a man in a suit, wearing sunglasses. He carried his iPhone oddly — under his armpit, kind of like a pistol. When someone important — you could tell by the louder applause — began to speak I asked the man, “Who’s that?” he looked straight ahead and didn’t respond. So I guess he was security for that person, whoever it was. There was also a strategist from the governor’s office standing nearby. He did smile hello. 

Earlier this morning I went searching for fields of sunflowers. I don’t want to miss their big bloom this year, like I did last year. I found some in Yolo County, but they were on a busy road. I want to stop safely and draw them. I’m going to search for a more rural field later this week.

Love,

k

* Move on email this morning said "400 people showed up on their lunch hour today to say CLOSE. THE. CAMPS!" 

Zing! prefers poetry in the park

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Zing! loves poetry. He listens when I read to him. But he doesn’t go to poetry events — until this evening. On summer Mondays the Poetry Center has poetry in the park, and that means dogs are welcome. After dinner today Zing! and I walked over to Fremont Park and sat on the grass. We heard spoken word — a loose term that tonight meant words as entertainment, storytelling and a bit of call and response with the audience. The poet was Jenny Lynn, who has a “Dare me to say it again” attitude. She was followed by Jeanette Sem, but Zing! said one poet was enough for tonight.

He did nod that we should go again.

Love,

k

Stupendous poppies

Dear Friends,

These flowers are stupendous. I encountered them a week ago when Zing! and I were walking through Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park, and I just had to go back to see them again. Sunday, when I finally got to draw them, people gathered around — not to see my work, but to see the flowers.  Everybody started talking. I learned they are called Matilija poppy and are named after an Indian chief. They come from southern California. They shed their flowers and turn into sticks after summertime. And their nickname is the fried egg poppy.

… and when I checked the web, I learned Matilija poppy is native to chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitats, primarily from Santa Barbara County, and that it was a candidate for state flower, but  was beat out by the California poppy. Below my drawing is a photo I took yesterday. 

Love,

k

Nothing-special Fridays are my favorite

Dear Friends,

A nothing-special Friday. I think this might be my favorite kind. I went to the gym, bought markers on sale at the art store made rice pudding, cleaned house. And walked Zing! 

Love,

k

Rhubarb and maybe strawberries

Written yesterday:

Dear Friends, 

I’m writing this around 4 p.m. because I just finished drawing (and cooking) the rhubarb. I remember Grandma Krumm cooked rhubarb, but I don’t think Mom did. It is from the farmers market. 

Later I’m going to meet Mary Kaye and Leigh to try out a new restaurant in East Sac. 

Now I’m going to paint … waiting until the last minute to take Zing! for a walk — maybe it will cool off a bit.

Love,

k

Two days to draw an artichoke

Written June 10

Dear Friends,
I would have drawn an artichoke for today, but I ate it.

Janie, Sandy and I just came back from Ella restaurant (I have been told people around here call it Ella, not Ella’s…) where we celebrated Sandy’s birthday and also her purchase of a condo here. She liked renting here so much that she bought a place. That’s when I ate the artichoke. 

Other than that, I did organizing, paperwork and budgeting. I would rather draw an artichoke.

Written June 11
And, yes, I did get some artichokes today. The recipe is from the New York Times. Dip the leaves in lemon juice, garlic and salt, whisked together with melted butter. Or maybe olive oil. 
Love,
k

Becoming California

Dear Friends,

I’ve been here almost three years, and at last I’m becoming California. When I got here I thought all the fruit was delicious. Now I sniff at so-so farmers market cherries bubbling with lemon and sugar on my stove to bring out what small flavor they have. I know better ones are coming. When I got here I still thought the ocean was on the east, like in Florida. Now I am planning to take I-80 West to hit 101 and drive along my new watery edge of America. And three years ago I was overwhelmed by wineries, embarrassed  because I loved the bottles at the grocery store. But this morning I went with other artists to draw at a lovely winery in Yolo County and deemed it perhaps still developing — too raw, too new. 

It took a while, but I’m becoming California  — our cherries, wine, and even our ocean make me happy.

This morning (May 25) I drove to Great Bear Vineyards in Davis. They welcomed artists to come in and draw. That is the generous, large spirit of California.

Love,

k

Great Bear Vineyards

Inspired by California missions

(I did not stay for wine tasting at 11!)

The big old barn smelled sweet

They dry lavender here

There was a field of lavender nearby, not quite in bloom

Lavender from another season

still attached to drying post

I tapped these barrels in the barn and thought they were full

my friend Leigh said they sound empty

They grow grapes and lavender … and apples

Be careful what you draw

Dear Friends, 
I’ve been drawing flowers for a month, and last week I also got a balcony full of real ones.  Be careful what you draw ... it may come to you! I’d already bought some ferns and pink flowers. And then my neighbor Ellen, who is moving to Arizona as soon as her husband retires in June, brought me red geraniums and schefflera and deep pink bougainvillea.  Now they all line the balcony. Best of all, Ellen tied a bell from Thailand onto a bougainvillea branch. She remembered that I told her I love the sound.
Love,k

Here’s the vine that I hope will attract hummingbirds.

Flower season

Dear Friends,
Flowers abound here and I'm aiming to draw one a day.

Love,
k

Dogwood on 7th Street