Warm Prawn, Mushroom and Watercress salad with a lime sweet and sour dressing…

One of my favourite additions to any snack, is the humble mushroom.  I love the earthy flavours they give and the fact that they absorb other flavours so easily.  Here is a very simple 15 minute meal that will fill you up with a tangy mixture of ingredients that literally come alive whilst you eat.

 

Serves 2 as a snack/starter

12 large prawns

12 Mushrooms sliced (I used shiitake but they did turn out a bit tough…try Chestnut or regular field mushrooms)

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2cm fresh ginger chopped finely into thin sticks

Red Pepper chopped into bitesize pieces

4 tablespoons of chopped Green Beans

Juice of one lime

2 handfuls of watercress

2 tbsp Sesame oil

1 tsp chinese 5 spice

1 tbsp Soy sauce

1 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tbsp honey

2 slices Brown bread (to serve as toast)

 

1.  Fry the mushrooms on a moderate heat in sesame oil for a few minutes, adding the garlic and ginger.  When slightly browned, add the red pepper and green beans.

2.  Add the lime juice to the pan and toss the ingredients in it for a few minutes.

3.  Throw in the prawns and cook until pink.

4.  Add the soy sauce and the chinese 5 spice, making sure all of the ingredients are covered, heat for a further 2 minutes.

5.  Stir in the tomato sauce and the honey until all of the ingredients have been covered, then stir in the water cress and serve immediately with fresh buttered toast.

YUMSTERS!!

 

I didn’t have any, but some toasted sesame seeds would be a great addition!

My Art is getting lost…

My head hurts and I’m recovering from being stuck in bed for a few days, which I hear you say is ENOUGH of these incessant moaning protestations…and so from that last reference to my health for the moment, I move along to the state of my art.

I am feeling, like I do in most of the school holidays, that I never seem to have the time to produce art work anymore.  I could quite easily sit for days on end painting, making things messy and devoting all of my spare minutes to my heart, but real life has got in the way.

Real life is not bad but real life is what I expect myself to do if I’m ever going to get anywhere … I want to paint today and so I am going to.  I want to paint for the rest of the holiday, but I know I have school marking to do, which sucks.  Maybe I could paint in their books…nope.  Not allowed.

This part of me always surfaces when I have been laid up ill, or if I’ve slept too long, or when life is being awful challenging.  Head before heart? Heart before Head?  Who knows.  What can I make of this mood if I cannot make art?  How can I put my feelings into words, why not channel it into a painting instead.  None of you will be able to read it in the conventional way, but you might be able to grasp my feelings.

Depression, or a flash of inspiration?  Who knows. 

I’ve posted some Art I did a while ago to get me going…

Random Handmade Wands…and The Force Unleashed!

I recently made a larger batch of wands, for three different customers, all of which were of my own design.  I’ve included pictures of them in this post, but the most interesting idea I’ve been given today is by my friend Robbie, who suggested I give Lightsabers a try.  At first, I thought it a funny idea, however, the more I think about it, the more intriguing I find it.

Lightsabres are unique, as are wands in the wizarding world and so making them would give me variety, I assume and another avenue for my making.

Take a look at the pictures below and see what you think.  I’ll keep you posted! =D

Pastamongous!

 

Hellooo.  I have really missed blogging, but as might happen with all bloggers every now and then, life just got a little busy!!  I made this rather colourful dinner tonight, which I named Pastamongous.  It’s easy peasy!! =)

(Serves 2 with big piles or 3-4 normal portions!)

1 red pepper

4 garlic cloves peeled

1 onion chopped

1 aubergine chopped

3 large tomatoes chopped finely

2 shallots chopped finely

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

1 packet of haloumi cut into chunky squares

1 packet of meatballs

As much pasta as you want!

 

1.  Roast the pepper, onion, garlic cloves and aubergine in a preheated oven at 230 for about 20-25 mins, until golden brownish

2.  Put pasta on to cook

3.  Meanwhile, cook shallots and tomatoes for 10 mins or until soft.  Add tomato puree and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Pop the meatballs into this sauce, cover and simmer until ready to serve.

4.  Fry or grill the haloumi until golden brown.

5.  Combine the pasta, meatballs in tomato sauce and roast vegetable and place into serving bowls.

6.  Sprinkle haloumi chunks all over it and gobble it all up!!!

Udon Soup…Fast!

Hello my yummy yumsters!

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while…been whirled up in a new term at school and making the most of my last days of freedom.

Today I was out shopping for my packed lunch ingredients when i wandered past the oriental section of the supermarket and spied Udon noodles.

Now I happen to love eating out at Yo Sushi and they do an amazing hot and spicy seafood soup, with Udon noodles in it, so I thought I’d have a go at making one.  I completely forgot to take a picture I’m afraid, as we gobbled it up pretty quick, so I’ve posted a pic of the Yo Sushi version.

I wasn’t as extravagant with the seafood I used, in fact I chose to use some smoked salmon I had in the freezer.  I also only had a white onion, whereas I would prefer to use spring onions.  Plus I added one of my favourite ingredients…Oyster mushrooms.  YUM!  You could of course add any other veg to the dish, but I think it’s traditionally quite clear and fresh.

 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of Sesame oil

Half an onion chopped (or 3 spring onions chopped)

2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped roughly

One packet of oyster mushrooms, chopped roughly

Three leaves of dark green cabbage chopped finely (I used Cavolo Nero)

200g smoked salmon chopped roughly 2 stock cubes (in 2 pints of boiled water)

1 chilli chopped into rings

2 tablespoons coconut milk

2 teaspoons Fish sauce

1 teaspoon of Soy sauce

Half a teaspoon of Ginger

Half a teaspoon of chilli powder

One packet of  ‘straight to wok’ Nudon Noodles

 

Method

1.  Fry the onion and garlic in sesame oil for five minutes

2.  Add the oyster mushrooms and fry for a further 5 minutes, until they are soft

3.  Add the chopped cabbage and chilli and stir until coated with oil, then add all spices, sauces and coconut milk.  Stir these in and cook for a further 5 minutes

4.  Add the stock and bring the soup to a rapid boil.  Allow it to boil for ten minutes

5.  Add the salmon and stir into the soup thoroughly,  Cook for 5 minutes

6.  Add the noodles and stir, cooking for a final 5 minutes

 

Serve immediately.

 

You could add more chilli if you want, however it is already pretty spicy!! =)

 

 

 

 

A nice bite to eat…

Dom and I popped to Maidstone the other day and stopped off at a scrummy little cafe.  Living Cafe.  If you are local, then I’d advise you to make a stop.  It’s a really fresh, rustic and nutritious food and drink.

My top favourite is the Breakfast smoothie, a delicious mix of Bananas, honey, oats and milk.  Utterly filling, but so yummy, I nearly always finish it before my food arrives!!

This time, we both went for sandwiches.  Dom had Kentish Gammon, with cheese, mustard on white and I went for mozzarella, basil and tomato on granary brown.  So yummy and fresh.  They also serve a little portion of home-made chips.  Exactly the right amount.  They also serve great hot food, snacks and beautifully home-made cakes.

Like it says on their really smart website, you sit waiting in ‘serene and easy-going surroundings‘ either inside or out, in the sweet little courtyard garden.  The food is fresh and colourful and locally sourced and the service is relaxed and friendly.  Everything I want from a summer lunch out in town.

Yumsters!

An Arty Phartee lesson for a friend…

My friend Cheryl mentioned that she wanted to paint a mural in her home.  She and her husband Andy have visited Africa and on one visit, they found a pretty little Hornbill.  She wants that to be in her mural, however she doesn’t feel confident enough to paint it.  I assured her that she could with a little practise.

I went round to her house, armed with watercolours, paper, paintbrushes and a few other bits and pieces, to try to teach her how to paint.

I started with a tonal exercise, asking her to make a series of tones, using one colour.  We started with red.  When she had achieved that, I provided various white objects to use as tonal studies.  Also on her dining table, where we worked, she has a darling little set of egg-shaped condiment vessels, including a pepper pot, which we used in this exercise.

Then Cheryl moved on to trying out her new learned technique to paint from her photo of the Hornbill.

This is her first attempt.  We then had a lovely lunch break and returned to work, this time using watercolour paper, with mind to making a better and more thorough version of the picture.

Beautiful isn’t it!  Considering that Cheryl hadn’t painted before, the progress she made in just one day was just brilliant! I am so proud! and when we put her first and second attempt together, the improvement was obvious!!