Great Trade

On Thanksgiving every year my family goes to Gabriola Island for the weekend. The artists there open their studios for a studio tour. One of the artists on the island is Tammy Hudgeon. She does really beautiful glass art and has now branched out into painting as well. I think she is an amazing glass artist but like her paintings even more. They speak to me!

This past Thanksgiving my crow proposed a trade with her. She had a painting that I really, really loved but the price was a little steep given our budget at the time. So, he proposed that I make her a necklace (she already has one that she bought at Slice of Life)  and then pay the difference for the painting. She went for it!

What with being sick, work, family etc it has taken me a little longer to finish than I expected but....(drum roll please) it is finally finished!!!!!

Here it is...

Tammy is currently inspired by horses, birds, blues, turquoises and the word "wild". So I tried to incorporate these. Luckily I love the same colours and have a large stash of beads of various kinds. I actually didn't have to go buy anything to make this. Everything was in my studio stash. Can you say pack rat? I used a vintage pill box for the main pendant. I glued a vintage bus token to it and then created a mini collage inside that says "unlock your wild" with a small skeleton key glued beside it. In amongst the beads I added word charms that say "dream" and "create" plus a charm of a horse pulling a stage, an angel's wing and a Buddha. I am really happy with how it turned out.

So, now to mail it. I didn't want to just wrap it in paper and send it off so I made a felt envelope with a bird on it. The bird is made out of a scrap of silk that my father brought back from Thailand for me many years ago. Seeing as how the name of my studio is Die, Adjust or Migrate putting a bird on the envelope made sense.

So, now all I need to do is pop it in the mailing envelope and get it to the post office. I have a few other packages to put together so will get those done today and do a post office run tomorrow. Hopefully I will feel well enough to do that!!!!

How to make fried green tomatoes

This one is for you, Daddy! As I have mentioned before, my dad was from Georgia. He knew how to make good ol' Southern food like nobody's business. Fried green tomatoes is my all time favourite Southern dish (closely followed by home made biscuits with honey, grits and fried chicken)

When we go to Gabriola for Thanksgiving we always stop at one of the local gardens to pick up green tomatoes. It is almost impossible to find proper green tomatoes at the veggie markets in town. The tomatoes have to be totally green - not even a speck of red on them!!! This year we got to go back into the greenhouse and hand pick the ones we wanted. We came home with two big bags - one for us and one for my sister to fry up. Yum!

So, here in 7 easy steps...how to make yummy, delish, scrumptious fried green tomatoes!

1. Slice the tomatoes thinly (but not too thin!). I usually cut them about 1/8" to 1/4". The thinner you cut, the crispier they will be when you fry them!

2. Lay them out on paper towel and salt well. Let paper towel absorb water from tomatoes. Put layer of paper towel on top and absorb water. Switch paper towels as needed. You want the tomatoes to be as water free as possible!

3. Dredge (or do the shake it method I use!) the tomatoes in flour (I added a touch of Seasoning Salt but this isn't necessary)

4. Let floured tomatoes sit on paper towels for a little while so that the flour really sets in.

5. Fry in fry pan using vegetable oil at medium heat (if you want them to be healthier I guess you could use olive oil but I just go with the cheap stuff) This photo only has 3 tomatoes in it but I usually put about 6-8 slices in at a time.

6. Fry for 5-8 minutes, turning as needed. The longer you fry, the crispier they will be.

7. Put onto paper towel to absorb some of the oil. Eat and sigh in satisfaction!