Sketch Saturday

It's kind of fun to put one's artwork behind glass, even if one is not sure it belongs there. A somewhat finished piece (of two baby eggplants in a ceramic saucer) produced over two classes. It seems to take me forever to build up colour, it's all light wash after light wash after light wash. But that's my style and I'm sticking with it, for the moment.

This week in the garden

The eucalyptus are coming into bloom. This pretty specimen is on our neighbour's lawn.

My Creative Space

A whole lot of hole punching. For little gift tags. To be included in a give away so very soon!

Check out many more spaces at Kootoyoo.

Red

Monday night meal

It feels like a long time between drinks here. Maybe because I went a whole weekend without snapping away on the digital camera. I resorted to film which calls for a little more discretion.

With CF card located and back safely where it belongs, it times to share tonight's meal. I was not so disappointed to find out Mr T was off to conference dinner and didn't require a date. Beetroot time! I like mine roasted, in a salad with a sharp vinaigrette, salty feta and candied walnuts. You can make friends with this salad for sure.

Quality time

I'll be spending some quality time with 'Pearl' this weekend. We're going to ride to the beach. It's not just down the road, more like 90km down the road. I'll definitely be up for some rest and relaxation after the effort.

Thankfully I've just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and now I'm onto The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith making for some slighter easier reading on the sand.

Green tea 'ice cream'

You know what they say '...when in Rome'. So while I was in Japan I did my best to savour many green tea flavoured food stuffs. On our last night in Tokyo I finally got my hands on a bowl of ice cream. Sure it was a little too cold for ice cream, but the taste was sensational. Green tea is slightly bitter and I like that with sweet.

I was looking for an easy mid-week ice cream recipe and came across this:
300mL cream
1 tbs matcha (green tea) powder
100mL sweetened condensed milk (I used the low fat stuff)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Whip cream and matcha together until you have soft peaks, then fold in essence and sweetened condensed milk.

Add to ice cream machine as per manufacturers instructions. I think I churned for about 8 hours.

The flavour is really good, but I'd love to try making ice cream proper...

Tasty treats

1. Green tea custard in profiteroles. 2. Hot cocoa in a can, from a vending machine. Doubling as a hand warmer. 3. Salmon roe on rice with a fresh green salad. 4. Cold bento for the Shinkansen. Mmm onigiri! Hmm pickled vegetables.

Oh deer!

They were cute, if not a little pushy if they knew you had (or saw you buy) deer crackers. As visited on our way to Todai-ji Temple in Nara, the old capital of Japan. Incidentally this year Nara is celebrating its 1300th anniversary as the previous capital of Japan! It's hard to fathom a history like that when you live in a country so young.

Year of the Tiger

Yesterday the weather played nice, so we headed into the city for Year of the Tiger celebrations. So did many others. The city was alive with drumming and the sound of fire crackers going off. We celebrated with plates of dumplings in China town.