what's cooking at your place?

Its winter here... OK... there's no snow. I admit our winter's are hardly worth a wimper ... but we still think about soups, keeping warm enough and avoiding runny noses and worse! What I dont like about winter is that I have to wear shoes!

I stayed at friends on the weekend up on the range (Great Dividing Range as its known - extending along the entire eastern side of Australia). My friends assured me it can get a lot colder up there than here... yet its only 2 hours west. It was wonderful sitting in front of their fire... and it seemed a million miles away forn the very green urban environment I wake up to each day.

I didn't get enough photos of their views... nor have I downloaded what I took... so stay tuned I hope for some decent pics from weekend!

image: Sabra Krock - I'm afraid I've never used
such fancy things as this  But I did like the photo
... it does spell out that baking is on the cards!
Plus I'm into blues and browns at the moment 

Why these photos you ask? Well... lots of home cooking where I was on the weekend... people who bake from scratch...  Thats always particularly nice in Winter. But thats a whole other story. 

Sabra Krock

anyone got one of these?

Now this is more like something I would get around to cooking! I'm a fan of quinoa. of green food, particularly herbs. I found this at "a billion tastes and tunes" blog.... the recipe for Quinoa Tabouli was adapted from a Moosewood book... simple ingredients... looks good to me!

Quinoa Tabouli

1 cup raw quinoa

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried mint or 

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

4 scallions

5 garlic cloves

2 or 3 bunches fresh parsley 

3 or 4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

I just noticed these images below at two posts at the same blog called "they draw and cook..." ... any of you draw and cook... I find the camera every now and then to record something but I must admit its been awhile since I drew something I've prepared for the table.

A Well-Salted Salad with a Little Vinegar and Good Olive Oil by Bozena Wojtaszek. This one is all textile and thread!   NOTE: Text and link from the blog!

Spring Garden Soup by Meta Wraber. 

Chickpea Dip by Sali Swindell.

Whilst posting this I thought of the wonderful Janis at Paintbox who delights us with her take on things around San Francisco where she hails from  ... and her drawings... like this one. Posted May 17...  its missing a title hence link to that actual post...   so just visit the blog and you'll find it and many other treasures! - May, 2011... 17th.

A sketchbook drawing inspired by Francesca's post on making tea
with fresh jasmine blossoms. * Note from Janis

And I'll finish with this from the also clever and lovely  Sanne van Windon in the Netherlands whom I was delighted to see had a post at Bloesem on her wonderful work last week.

"Last week was about flowers and melon gazpacho, really nice on a summer evening". Sanne's text!

Sanne

Sanne

Images from the Bloesem blog story : Art in your home : Sanne van Windon

Sanne van Winden is a Dutch illustrator and pattern designer , who graduated at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague at the fashion&textile design department. You can find her colorful portfolio right here, read her journal here and visit her etsy shop right here. I also love her designs over at Envelop. 

{in the image below, Bedcover  by Beddinghouse} Text from Bloesem!

well busy week... must run!

Ive just booked at seat at the local Slow Food evening "the History of the Pie" ... after the talk we apparently partake and the warning is... dont eat beforehand! I can't promise drawings... but I'll try and take photos!

Art and food do go together so well don't you think?

The Slow Food manifesto:  SLOW Food began when delegates from 15 countries gathered in France and endorsed this manifesto, written by founding member Folco Portinari, on 9 November 1989... Read more here.