Red Circle Press Exchange

I've finally begun my plate for the next Exchange that's approaching (imminently - eek!). I've mulled over the concept of Chance Operations & realised that some of my previous work can be seen along those lines & it gives me the opportunity to try out some new techniques without putting too much thought into it - the problem being, that the more I dwell on an idea, the less I like the outcome!

Anyway I've tried a new spit bite mordant this week on the wrong side of a plate. Rather than fully prepping a beautiful piece of copper, I've taken on the idea of "Chance" in the respect that mark's have already been made to the underside of the plate in chance encounters. I dropped the spit bite onto the plate, allowing it to settle as forces dictate (again; chance) & left it to bite for an hour (it not being a particularly aggressive mordant). I had a few minutes left of my session to do a test print & I'm quite pleased with it. The original  marks on the plate are equally as beautiful / interesting as the spit bite mark, creating a dialogue. I'm going to do a second spit bite on an area that didn't take as well & then get on with editioning it. Sounds so easy doesn't it?!

Busy being me

Well we've had a busy time recently.

I saw the Benjamin Button film at the cinema with friends. Very enjoyable but ask anyone who's seen it what they thought of it & they immediately say "Long"... not how you want to be remembered! Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett were excellent - a very poignant tale.

Did I mention that we've taken on an allotment with friends? I'm a little sceptical due to the amount of time its going to take, considering we don't have a lot of it and the spare time we do have is taken up with our son, doing things on the house & all the other general bumpf that makes up normal life. That said, we're really looking forward to all the lovely fresh fruit & veg we hope to get from it & it's giving us some extra, quality time with our friends too - so watch this space! Tom's enjoyed visiting the site & we took my Mum, Dad & niece (aged 9) and they were all suitably impressed too! My niece, Ellie, already has plans for the things we can grow & I hope she'll visit more often to work with us :)

Baked pesto chicken with risotto

Nice and easy! We really enjoy pasta tossed with some chicken (optional), chilli flakes, thinly sliced broccolli, cream, pepper and blue cheese - really simple & tasty after a day at work but our son has gone off pasta for some unknown reason. Rice is currently ok (& so is Thomas the Tank Engine spaghetti in tomato sauce - grrr), so this is an adaptation, which went down very well!

Chicken breast per person

pesto

foil

risotto / arborio rice

garlic clove

celery stick finely chopped

half onion finely chopped

teaspoon of chilli flakes

100ml white wine/sherry or cap full of  Chinese rice wine (optional)

handful of veg (mushrooms, peppers, broccoli thinly sliced)

500ml approx. chicken or veg stock 

cheese (we enjoyed stilton in it this time)

knob of butter

pepper

100g parmesan grated

Prepare the chicken: place each breast on a sheet of foil, score breast & smear a teaspoon of pesto over each one. Wrap, place on baking tray & put in oven (Gas mark 5) for about half hour - in this case, the time it takes to make the risotto.

Fry off the onion & celery. Once it has turned an opaque colour, add the risotto rice, stir for 1 min, add the wine/sherry (if using), chilli flakes & garlic. Once the liquid has absorbed add a ladle of stock & the chopped veg (needs to be bite-sized chunks for even cooking). Keep adding the stock a ladle at a time until the rice is cooked, which takes about 20-25 mins. Once it has cooked add a knob of butter, pepper & the grated parmesan. Cover with a lid & leave to rest whilst you get the chicken out of the oven & plate up. Serve with some chopped up blue cheese on top if desired.

Egyptian Tomato & Chickpea soup

We've been busy this week doing things round the house, getting snowed off from work & nursery (& enjoying fun in the snow!), with lots of deadlines to keep me busy at work... just time for another soup recipe fully endorsed by my son (& we rather enjoyed it to too!). Must try to write up the oven-baked pesto chicken with risotto that we had last night at some point too...

Egyptian tomato & chickpea soup

Half an onion, finely chopped

Half a leek, chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped/grated

stock cube

600ml water

tablespoon of tomato paste

teaspoon of cumin

1/2 tsp of allspice

1/2 can of tomatoes

1 can of chickpeas

150g of (basmati*) rice, washed

seasoning

sumac

Fry off the onion & leek, add the garlic, tom paste, stock cube, spices & pepper (I tend not to add extra salt when using a stock cube), stir for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes, chickpeas & water. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 mins. Add rice & cook for further 10-15 mins until rice is cooked through. I take out about 1/3 of the rice & chickpeas, blend the remaining soup & return the rice & chickpeas to give a slightly thicker, smoother consistency with the odd burst of chickpea & texture of the rice. This of course, is optional. Sprinkle sumac over before serving for an extra je ne sais quoi (oh, lardy-dah!)!

* Basmati rice is our choice of rice but of course, use whatever you have to hand / prefer!

Chance Operations

I'm taking part in another Print Exchange organised by Red Circle Press called Chance Operations & I have yet to begin a plate... I thought I'd begin by googling the term.

This appears to be the general consensus:
Chance Operations are methods of generating poetry independent of the author’s will. A chance operation can be almost anything from throwing darts and rolling dice, to the ancient Chinese divination method, I-Ching, and even sophisticated computer programs. Most poems created by chance operations use some original text as their source, be it the newspaper, an encyclopedia, or a famous work of literature. The purpose of such a practice is to play against the poet's intentions and ego, while creating unusual syntax and images. The resulting poems allow the reader to take part in producing meaning from the work.

It was first considered by John Cage (composer) & Merce Cunningham (dance choreographer) in the fifties, so that's given me something to mull over.

And so I thought I'd google Simple Pleasures... and succinctly put, they can be seen as a holistic approach to your humdrum life in the form of small things that bring a little bit of happiness throughout your day. Now that's a Chance Operation!

Printmaking today

Well, Tuesday night is my night for the studio. Green Door recently held a short exhibition at The Beetroot Tree in Draycott, near Derby and together with the Christmas break, they have taken my mind off the important things - printmaking! I had a really good session in the studio last week. I began several plates before the break & then floundered with them... where do I go from here? The break allowed me to take the pressure of myself & to look at things with a different perspective. I have incorporated embossed textures to Movement pt 2 which I feel has finally resolved the issue... hopefully!

The good thing about etching is that once you have run off a few test prints, they have to be left in the dryer & as I tend to do just one session a week, the break gives me fresh eyes to view the work.
So! Tonight I shall have a look at last week's results and decide if that is the right direction & if so, I shall run off an edition to accompany the original Movement piece.
If you want to know more about the studio or indeed what etching entails, check out Green Door's website. You can also view my portfolio online there too.

Recipe: Lentil and cabbage soup

Well, perhaps I should let you into the secret of the soup that had my 3 year old son coming back for more!

Lentil & cabbage soup (bear with me, it's tastier than it sounds!!)
1 carrot
1/2 onion
veg stock cube
1.5 pts of boiling water
tom paste
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
4-5 handfuls of red lentils
shredded cabbage (as much or as little as you can handle!)
seasoning
parmesan or other grated cheese

Chop carrots into cubes & finely dice onion. Fry off in a little olive oil or chilli oil (if available). Add tomato paste & chilli flakes & fry for a minute. Add stock cube, lentils & water. Bring to boil & turn heat down to a simmer. Cook for half hour. Add cabbage & season. Cook for further 5 mins. Blitz with a hand blender if you wish, taste & serve with grated cheese on top if you wish.

Really tasty & filling - excellent for a winters' day.

Sunday 1st February - don't mistake instant gratification for happiness

Today I finished knitting a tank top for my son (he likes them!) and made a quick soup for lunch. I had to take the car to the garage in the morning & to pass the time, I read one of the magazines left lying around. It was freezing in the waiting room & the soup recipe inspired me to make something hearty and warming... so check out the recipe!

Talking of recipes; we had friends over for a meal last night - a nice informal evening to discuss the merits of taking on an allotment (more of which later!) and my husband cooked a fabulous meal: a caribbean lamb curry cooked in the slow cooker, with rice, a lovely bean salad, fried plantain & quick-fried prawns. Pudding was Jamaican ginger cake served with raisins soaked in rum & a really good vanilla ice-cream... mmm!