Big News!

If you live in Northern Michigan or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Porcupine Press just published its monthly issue of UP Magazine, and there is a two page spread on my lampwork beads with an interview I gave them a few weeks ago! I am so geeked, the photos are huge!!! Unfortunately, you can only see the article if you can get your hands on this current issue, they do not publish online. There is a link to my Etsy shop at the end too. Here is a photo of the "Fairy House Bead" they included in the article.
I have joined Twitter and really enjoy how easy it is to use anytime. Made some new foodie, Michigan and bead/jewelry friends. Fun to hear what people are preparing for dinner or having at a restaurant. It is attached to my facebook page, which, unfortunately, I rarely update, but the Twitter comments are updated on my Facebook page automatically...
Rendezvous is this weekend and two of my kids are in the performances, so we'll be enjoying the music all week, should be a lot of fun! Can't believe how talented these kids are these days, I think many of them could easily be on Idol.

Easter Parade

My favorite things about Easter are 1.) Family Time 2.) Excuse to buy chocolate for the "kids" & 3.) The opportunity to create a memorable meal. I don't normally have a lot of time to make a meal that takes more than thirty minutes, so a holiday, when I am off for the day, is a perfect time to peruse my cookbook library(it IS a library) and spend time creating something my family will love! Yesterday, it was Pastitsio, a Greek Lasagna with two layers of pasta, a layer of spiced meat(I used lamb and lean angus beef with cinnamon, allspice and cloves), and a rich creamy bechamel sauce. Thanks to my Twitter friend, Kalofagas, whose blog I also subscribe to, for the wonderful bechamel sauce recipe, it turned out perfectly! In the past, my bechamel sauce would not "fluff" properly and I couldn't figure out why. Then, with my Peachtree Inn cookbook, by Cynthia Collins Pendregon of Fredericksburg, TX, I made a lovely Black Raspberry Cobbler. We picked the black raspberries last summer and they were so sublime, the kids and DH loved the cobbler, some had seconds!

Although this is not what many would call "art," I feel that cooking is an art...you are creating a memory of family and occasion, which will stay with all partakers for years, if not forever. I have many memories that are tied to food, and sometimes, in a restaurant, at a friend's house or just walking down a street, I will get a "whiff" of something that pulls out a long ago memory, appearing with feelings and all, like magic. Food is art, the kind you get to see, smell, taste and literally take in, be a part of, I love it!