Re-surfacing

Greetings!

I've come up for air. The holiday rush is dying down and I can once again resume blog-ness. It was a very busy season at AV Framing--thank heavens! I hope the same for all the other independent frame shops and local businesses.

As a self-proclaimed "Jeffersonian", I believe each individual should, at some point in their lives, own and operate their own business. Trading your dollars locally, keeps the revenue in your own community. It literally multiplies the value of the money. For instance, when you go to Starbucks for your coffee, that $5 goes off to God-knows-where. But when you spend your $5 at B-Java here in Indianapolis, BJ will deposit that, combine it with others and reinvest it in her own business...or pay herself and her employees, perhaps purchasing your goods too. In turns, several of us small business owners might touch that $5 as it passes through our accounts.

Indianapolis is doing alright these days--not great. Due to an influx of Super Bowl 2012 money and the general poor health of its residents, there are lots of building cranes around town...mostly for hospitals. But a quick drive through the city center reveals when this was a boom-town. In the first couple decades of the last century, Indianapolis was wealthy--very wealthy. There was local industry, sure. But what Brian and I contend is that there was also a small local business on every corner. Those shopkeepers turned those $5 into beautiful homes and neighborhoods. They built the city, in essence. We live in one of those homes still.

So I was emboldened by locally-spending clients this year and I shall move that money around to other local businesses like:
Pogues Run Grocer (Indianapolis' only food co-op)
B-Java Coffee and Tea
Indy Winter Farm Market
La Parada
Sunset Acres Farm
...and many more

There's my economic re-surfacing advice. Stay away from Walmart and Starbucks and Target and the giant bank-du-jour. They will take your money out of your community and save it all for themselves. Therefore, it doesn't really pay you to save a couple bucks at a big box store. It actually costs the community you live in.

Thus concludes the soapbox speech.
Thank you (bows)

Sarah

Cookin' Day! Custard Pie

So Brian didn't stop at biscuits and soup--oh no!
He went completely insane and made pie crust (since we had a flour-covered counter)!






Then he whipped up a positively perfect custard with our raw milk, raw cream, homemade butter and little golden eggies from our girls--mmmm.

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Few foods can make me cry, but this did it! I thought of my grandmother and her custard pie and got misty. It was scrumptious!

Cookin' Day! In the pots

While those buttermilk biscuits were working, we started the usual chicken/veggie soup for his folks' Tuesday din-din. This is the yummy stock after the chicken (leg quarters, in this case) boiled for a few hours with celery, onion and seasonings.


Meanwhile, I had a craving for red beans and rice. So I soaked a pound of beans overnight and started them on the stove in the am with a beautiful ham hock, onion, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, crushed fennel/caraway/cinnamon...and cooked for hours. Over basmati, it was a DREAM!


And the dehydrator was running with some older winesaps and organic cranberries. When fruit gets old--dry it out! Or you can give it to the chickens--who go NUTS!

Cookin' Day! Buttermilk Biscuits

We tend to do all sorts of chores on Sundays. If you've read some of this blog before, you know that we lead an odd lifestyle--a little more old-timey than most folks these days. So our cooking is generally from scratch.

Really scratch...like making our own butter. That's another post.


Yesterday, Brian awoke with a mission from the baking gods! He started the day by making buttermilk biscuits. While he mixed the dough, I buttered and floured a juice glass for cutting.

Here's the final results--delish with my homemade apple butter. How Hoosier!

Washington Post Weighs in on "Good Food"

Interesting article about keeping "good food" accessible and affordable. Steps to take to accomplish what many want!

What are YOUR thoughts? Elitist or Practical?

Sarah

Can't Eat Helathy for Cheap, eh?

I beg to differ!

I'm starting a series on how to eat healthy and local for cheap. Heres the criteria:

* must be more than 70% locally-grown/produced ingredients
* either seasonal or preserved from fresh in season
* reasonable portion sizes -- not like your local restaurant "trough-size" portions
* recipes are generally for two as that's our household, so multiply to feed more, but serving cost is same.
* I'll include where I sourced the ingredients, so you can find them too!


Today's Local -- Pulled pork with Kale
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Ingredients:

* 1/2 container of pulled pork and separate bbq sauce (from IWFM, $10 full, $5 for 1/2)
* 1 onion, sliced (Cumberland Farm Market, $.30)
* 4 cloves of garlic, smashed (Cumberland FM, $.25)
* 1/2 bunch of fresh Kale (IWFM, $3, $1.50 for 1/2)
* EVOO for saute and spice (Trader Joe's, organic EVOO, and Sweet Curry from Penzy's)

Saute onions until translucent with the diced ribs of the kale--about 8 min.
Add garlic, and pulled pork, until onion is browned and pork is heated through--about 5 min.
Add kale leaves coarsely chopped until soft--about 5 min.
Season with some of the bbq sauce, salt/pepper/seasoning of your choice.
Enjoy!

This meal cost about $7.20, so $3.60 per serving. We were both hungry and finished full, but not loaded.

Sarah

Viewing Art on a Computer?

I just opened the very first VIRTUAL Fine Art Show on the website!
"Vibrant Views", recent paintings by Janet Skinner. Ms. Skinner has taken her view of the macro plant world and transformed it into saturated colors from her own perspective, rich with texture and life. I have been a fan of her work for some time now, and am delighted to present it in this format.

It's got me thinking about what it means to view art on a computer, particularly non-computer generated art. Is it an end unto itself? Is it more convenient? Is it flat? Is it exciting?

I don't know the answers to these questions. Can you help? We could start a discussion about this topic. Feel free to share your thoughts. I do not moderate comments...anything goes. But if it's rude, crude and socially unacceptable, I'll remove it ;)

Back in the spring, the Indianapolis Star (I would link to the article, but they purged the link) got interested in the closure of the physical gallery space in Fountain Square--where I had been showing art for 3 years. They were interested in the whole downsizing model of a business needing to close and looking for another option. In this case, when I was healthy enough to re-open, I knew it would look and feel very different. That's when the idea of a VIRTUAL art gallery and MOBILE frame shop was born.

There were several people interviewed and many supporters. In the article, the Dean of Herron School of Art and Design, however, said that art should not be viewed on a computer. That it should be felt and seen in person...lived with (I'm paraphrasing). I completely agree! The hope, of course, is that a viewer is moved by a piece and decides to purchase it and hang it in their home or office to enjoy everyday! So then, what of this interim VIRTUAL model? Where will it go--I don't know. But I'm enjoying the journey.

What are YOUR thoughts?

Sarah