Onion Glasses: They Work!

Okay, I admit it. This is about more than about the glasses. I love this girl. Look at her!

Here she is at Thanksgiving cutting onions with the pink onion goggles that Jeff got me for my birthday. He thought they were hilarious. I thought they were cute, but totally non functional.

WRONG.

I may never mince a clove of garlic or chop an onion without them again.

Slow Cook: Curried Coconut Chicken Soup

Art of the Slow Cooker, Recipe #3. Fantastic.

I made it after dinner last night, cooked it during the night via the lamp timer, finished in the morning in time to cool and put it in the fridge before work and reheat for dinner tonight.

Mmmmm. I have a similar recipe that I make on the stove. I make lots of soups, but this is better than stove-top soup. The flavors have time to meld and deepen. And it's much less effort. Go figure.

Soul Food for Survival

Photo: Delish

Life is all but slow these days. You know, that darn job. The one I wanted so much. The one taking over my life.

I read a couple blog posts last night, looked at Jen's little books and wondered "how do people do it? how am I going to get creative time to survive?"

Standing under a hot shower last night, an answer came.

Chop, chop. Brown, brown. Roast, roast.

Earlier that day between sips of my morning coffee, I chopped and roasted veggies for a vegetable soup. After deciphering the instructions on my lamp timer, I set the slow cooker for four hours. Even though I had to resist lying down for a cap nap by the time I was ready to get out the door, it was worth it. I had energy at work, I made it to QiGong class, and the soup was delicious.

Mmmm. Depth and flavor.

Art of the Slow Cooker is my guide these days: a new book, a birthday book.

It may save me.

My Picks from Caldwell Snyder Gallery in St. Helena

Artists unknown. This gallery features artists from around the world. I might have to visit their San Francisco gallery soon.

More Art from Cindy's

Spotted in the bathroom at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen.

What kind of guesses do you have about how this was done? It looks like paper painted and then another layer of paper and paint on that layer. Type of paper? Process?

Elizabeth McKinney at Cindy's: Happy Days

One of the highlights of my weekend in Napa Valley with the cousins was a meal at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena. The menu looks simple enough, but Cindy Pawlcyn, best known for her Napa restaurant, Mustards Grill, breaks all the rules with nearly every dish she makes.

"Forget everything you've known about tamales," our waitress told us when we asked about this dish on the menu. She was right. [Big sigh] The meal was as refreshing and soul satifying as our day at Indian Springs spa.

And what is a good meal without fabulous art. Here's one artist work I fell in love with at Cindy's. I can't find anything about her on the web, but the staff told me he name is Elizabeth McKinney.

Fall Splendor in Napa Valley / Calistoga

Napa Valley / Calistoga was a feast for the eyes and a salve for the soul this weekend. I've NEVER seen it more beautiful.

Photos by cousin Jodee