Farm Food: Kansas City Steak

This is a Kansas City Steak from one of our grass-fed black angus cows. The steak is the same cut as a New York Strip, but this guy was huge and thick. 

I marinated it for about 30 minutes in a little bit of Dales marinade and a sprinkling of a Grill Seasoning on both sides. Then I handed it off to this guy:

And, it came back like this!

Yummy grill marks.

Placed on a bed a Gruyere cheese grits and alongside roasted asparagus, this was certainly a fine dining meal in!

Cookies and cream health cake

Yes, this is actually a cookies and cream cake with Heath candy bar icing. Here's the inspiration.

It's a basic cake batter, I used this one, with Oreo cookies mixed in the batter. A lot of Oreo cookies. Then, I used this icing recipe and added broken up Heath bars to part of it. That part I placed in between the cake layers. The rest of the regular icing was used on the outside of the cake. 

It was delicious. Just eat it and enjoy. 

It's Friday: Tear something up!

My art box

When I was much younger, I was given this: 

Inside is this:

My mom gave this art box back to me several weeks ago. Do your parents and/or grandparents do this to you? They've been holding on to all your old stuff, and they plot to reunite you with things you had long since forgotten about? So re-entered my art box into my life.

As I'm working on my new wall in the dining room, I determined I would attempt to make a piece of art. I'm really no painter at all, or sketcher, drawer, sculpture or the like, but I figured worse case would be just throwing my art away. I already had the supplies!

For my project, I focused on the watercolors. I have no idea why. They just spoke to me. 

A few days ago, Google's homepage was pea pods that spelled Google. Pea pods are special in my family, relating to a baby counting book I would always want to read involving a pea pod with one falling out. 

So I saved the Google homepage. 

I enlarged the image and focused on one pea pod. Then I outlined the edges so I could trace them. 

I played with the watercolors on a scrap of the same paper I was painting. 

And then I painted a pea pod. 

It dried a little brighter than I planed on, but for my first water coloring attempt, I find it to be a keeper. 

I've added it to my dining room wall; however, I'm waiting on a few more prints before I unveil the completed wall. For now, I'm just focusing on the fact that I painted a pea pod with water colors from approximately 1987. 

Saturday project

After my anniversary gift of  a new table and chairs, I knew the next step in our dining room was the walls. They were blank and boring

and the large mirror didn't make as much sense in its place anymore since the table was moved. 

So I contemplated ideas. And, I contemplated some more. And, then I decided I wanted it done. 

I used this as inspiration, from House Full of Pretty: 

I checked Hobby Lobby's web site, and they had all their frames half off this weekend! I ran to the store and purchased a ton of different sizes and styles of frames. Then I came home and hung them on my wall. Some of the frames I already knew what I would put in them, but others I still don't. I wanted them all hung on the wall so I could then live with them and decide what should go in each frame.

You may ask if I drew out the design I wanted before hanging them. No.

You may ask if I arranged them on a table or the floor to find the perfect shape. Nope. 

I hung them on the wall. And I got this:

I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and I have room to build on it over time. 

The mirror got a new home on the opposing wall, and it fits the space much better. 

The view from the front door. I think the dining space looks much more open and spacious. 

You can see that several of the frames still have their pretend image inside them. And, I got a few items that weren't and won't be framed artwork to mix it up a bit. You can see a C tile here. 

The green photo is a photo I took at an olive orchard in Austin with my BFFs Kathy and Anna. The sunset is a photo Chris took in Taos last year, and the wooden saint piece is a work of art from my mom from Santa Fe, and it depicts the saint for writers, journalists and editors, Saint Frances de Sales.

I'm leaving this wooden frame empty to help break up the textures. 

And, some of the frames are actually boxes. 

This is a piece of scrapbook paper that I found; really liked the print and colors; and covered the photo box filler with it. 

I'm really happy with how this project turned out, and I'm excited to fill in my frames. Stay tuned!