Working...

I spent most of the week and weekend working...in the yard, in the garden and in the kitchen...anywhere but my studio! It's been awfully quiet in my Etsy shop the last couple weeks which makes it difficult to feel very motivated to create. I won't feel too sorry for myself or complain for too long...don't worry, but so slow! Sales just came to a screeching halt after a pretty good February. Anyway, I will always keep on keeping on.

We made insanely yummy pizza this weekend - eggplant, mushroom, mozzarella, goat cheese, roasted garlic and caramelized onion. Good god it was delicious. I also made a fantastic cocktail to go with it. I don't have a name for it, but it's sort of an herbed lemonade with vodka...so good - watch out!

Ingredients

2 oranges

2 lemons

2 limes

4-5 good sized sprigs of rosemary

1 bottle of lemonade

vodka

Cut the fruit up in chunks and drop in the bottom of a pitcher. Add in the rosemary and muddle all together. Add lemonade and stir. If you are patient, let it sit for 30 minutes or so. Put ice and however much vodka you like in your glasses and add top with the lemonade mixture. Drink up!

I've also used lemonade concentrate and only added part of the water, then topped the drink with some soda water for a little fuzz. Super fun and yummy.

Cross your fingers for me for some sales this week!

New Jewelry + Eggplant "caviar" recipe

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! Ours was adorable. Nothing fancy, just an overall great day. Well, the Eggplant Caviar I mentioned last week, but hadn't tried yet - turned out great. It's soooo good. So, here's the recipe and below it, a couple notes about my small adaptations:

Eggplant Caviar

2 medium eggplants

2 large cloves of garlic

1 medium onion, outer skin removed, but left whole

2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 TBSP tomato paste

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/8 tsp cayenne (or to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Assorted vegies and bread for dipping

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Cut a slit into the fattest part of each eggplant and stick in a clove of garlic in each. Rub the eggplant and onion with 1 TBSP of the olive oil. Roast the eggplants and onion on a baking sheet for about 40 minutes, rotating frequently, until the eggplants are collapsed and the onion brown. When done, cut the eggplants lengthwise and lay cut side down on several layers of paper towels to drain. When cooled enough to touch, peel the skin off and cut in quarters. Cut the onion in quarters too. Puree the onion and eggplant in a food processor. Add the rest of the olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, cayenne, salt and pepper and puree until very smooth. Check for seasoning and serve with bread and/or vegies. It's good warm or cold.

**I didn't have tomato paste, so I added about 1.5 TBSP of balsamic instead of just 1 tsp. I also added a bit more lemon juice and a little more olive oil since it was lacking depth without the tomato paste. But, it turned out wonderfully! YUM! Next time, I will add a couple more garlic cloves in the eggplants - the roasted garlic was outstanding!!

And, last but not least, a few more pieces of jewelry to share. The first 2 are already in My Etsy Shop, the other 2 should be listed today or tomorrow.