Mustard-roasted snapper

We had friends for dinner Saturday, and it was fun and delicious: snapper with a mustard sauce, rice, peas, salad (with homemade garlic croutons), and Mom's peach pie. Which was almost a disaster because the peaches were mealy and tasteless (due to refrigeration at the store, gardening friends say). I'd already made and blind-baked the crust, and had the topping ready. Taste buds primed, I improvised with half Publix frozen peaches and half fresh raspberries. This peach melba combination is irresistible.

Mary gave me Ina Garten's Back to Basics, where I found this recipe:

Ina Garten's Mustard-roasted fish

I'll write it here too, the way I made it for six:

Take 2 pounds of snapper fillet and cut into six fillets. You can leave the skin on or not.
Cut a parchment circle to fit the bottom of a large casserole dish.
Place the fish, skin side down, on the parchment. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Mix 16 ounces creme fraiche, 6 T. Dijon mustard, 2 T. whole-grain mustard, 1/4 C. minced shallots, and 4 t. drained capers. (I think I used more.)
Pour it on top of the fish. This makes more sauce than Ina's recipe, but I did it because that's how much creme fraiche I had. The sauce is delicious.
Bake at 425° until the thickest part of the fish flakes. It took 15 minutes.

Make small art look good

There's no reason to belittle my recent work -- even though most of the pieces are 8" x 10." I follow Lyric Kinard's advice and stitch them to gallery-wrapped canvas. First paint the canvas to complement the work. Then pin the little quilt where you want it. I stuck straight pins through to the back -- you WILL prick yourself! Then sew in fairly big stitches, knot carefully. I put a blog of hot glue over the ends to make sure it's secure. Here's the back

And here's the front:

A couple more:

Glue hanger onto back of your quilt

What I made: plastic quilt hanger with magnets

One day I described this method to a roomful of quilters: You cut a strip of plastic and hot glue it to the back of your quilt. More than one person gasped. It's just not right! We quilters make a pocket, slip a rod through, then hook it onto the wall. But "regular" people understand picture hangers better. So why not put one on the back of a quilt?

I got the idea from a 2011 Quilt Surface Design Symposium workshop with Cynthia Corbin. She uses this technique, with a sawtooth hanger instead of magnets. She said it works for any piece up to 24" wide. I had an 8" x 10" quilt of a cone flower. I wanted to send it to my mother, who hangs things on her refrigerator with magnets.

First I had to get a plastic sheet from Home Depot. I thought I could use my craft knife on it, but I was wrong. I had to go back and get the plastic cutter that was recommended. I cut my first strip, using my quilt cutting board and plastic ruler: I ended up with a shard of plastic. So I read the directions: you have to score the cut 7 to 10 swipes before snapping the 1 1/2" strip off. By the time I was finished, I'd also swiped the edge of my plastic ruler, which is no longer straight. And I dug a groove into my green cutting mat. This piece of plastic was getting expensive, but I'm going to hear from my mother soon, and she'll be happy because she can hang the little quilt onto her refrigerator. I like this technique.

Mary's Almond Cake

I'd forgotten how good this is. It's simple, too.

Mary's Almond Cake

Mix:
3/4 C. butter
3/4 C. sugar
12 ounces almond paste

Add:
grated zest of one lemon
grated zest of one orange
1 tsp. brandy (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla (I skipped the brandy and made it two tsp. vanilla.)
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Add:
5 eggs
Beat, but not too much. You don' want the top of the cake to end up frothy.

Add:
1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Butter a 9" round cake pan and cut a circle of parchment or waxed paper to go in the bottom of it. Butter the parchment too. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 325° for 45-55 minutes, until the cake shrinks from the sides. Cool. Top with a glaze of 2 T. apricot jam, warmed with 1 T. water. (I prefer confectioners' sugar  and water.) Sprinkle with slivered, roasted almonds.

Tallahassee Farmers' Market - LocalHarvest

Tallahassee Farmers' Market - LocalHarvest

Clark loves sunflowers, so I buy them every Saturday at the farmers' market.
Here they are in the back of the car:

And here in the beautiful blue vase Patrice gave us.

Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know I'm going to like/maybe love this book. Loved their life of J Pollock. But in the very beginning they blame van Gogh's mom. I'm not sure for what, but it's her fault.

June 13. I finished it Sunday. It was long, but I was on vacation. Also, by reading it on Kindle I never felt its many pages. When finished, I needed a breather. Now, Thursday, i can face the miseries of Vincent van Gogh. Living with him, or befriending him, or working with him in his relatives' art galleries or during his misguided pursuit of the ministry must have been a tromp in a swamp with no mosquito repellent. You come out resentful.VvG would top you and be hellishly resentful. You'd come out feeling used. VvG would think you should have given him more--LOTS more.  Cash, sex, paintbrushes, whatever.  He lived in all CAPS all the time. Even his father, a minister no less, damned him to hell.  A sister accused VvG of actually killing their father, who died of a stroke just inside his front door.  And the mother -- Long- suffering  is her name.

I knew the outline of VvG's life. Now I know in detail how tortured he was.  While mental illness is treated better these days, there are still many friendless people obsessed, ravished, and rejected -- as Vincent was -- over everything, everyone. If only all of them could paint.


View all my reviews

van Gogh biography

Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh


I know I'm going to like/maybe love this book. Loved their life of J Pollock. But in the very beginning they blame van Gogh's mom. I'm not sure for what, but it's her fault.


View all my reviews