bricolagelife

collage a day: psychic shield

last week my horoscope told me "your sensitivity is extra acute so make sure your psychic shield is up". make sure your psychic shield is up - it struck me as a powerful phrase. and excellent advise. i jotted it down and began digging up images to construct into collages. these are the first two interpretations. 

taste this :: beans + cornbread from the impecunious pantry

i had the idea for days, envisioning my ingredients and how the flavors would work together. a dollop of olive oil, a small piece of pancetta, half a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic, a cleaned and de-veined bundle of swiss chard, a sprinkling of red pepper flakes. a small can of black beans, a large can of chopped tomatoes, dried basil, black pepper, the little ziplock bag of leftover red wine in the freezer. a 50 cent box of cornbread (an egg, some milk), the herbed feta cheese that was on sale at the grocery store down the block. several meals in one pot, served in shallow bowls, making us both so happy. for under ten dollars. and so delicious.

see what i see :: beach collections 1

gleaned from the beach. driftwood, bone, feather, rust, peach pits, walnuts, acorn. my inclination more often is to choose ephemeral collections. they last only as long as it takes to photograph them. i did bring that awesome piece of rusty metal home, tho :)

taste this :: confetti salad from the impecunious pantry

it was another one of those days. persistent excessive heat warnings and vacancies in the fridge and on our pantry shelves have been a regular challenge lately. what kind of tasty dinner might we concoct (without heating up the kitchen) from what we had on hand? this is what we found:

brown rice, one carrot, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, frozen corn and peas, half a red onion, a can of pink beans, salt + pepper, half a lemon, a few grape tomatoes, olive oil and a little pico piquin.

by using the rice cooker to prepare the rice early in the day we kept the kitchen cool and the rice was chilled in time for our cold salad that evening. we grated the carrot, diced the tomatoes and onion, rinsed the beans and defrosted the peas and corn. everything was tossed together in a big bowl, the flavors tasted and adjusted until it was just right and... voila! a perfect summer meal (that we ate for lunch and snacks in the days following this dinner). and not a single trip to the grocery store was necessary.

i've been thinking... sometime in the future when our pantry is less impecunious i will make a revised version, adding grated cheese and chunks of avocado (i can't believe how expensive they have become) and lots of cilantro. yum! and, like all good recipes - you may add (or delete) anything you like :)

 

making stuff :: quote -> collage

"An argument is only an emergency of self-definition"  - rachel cusk, "aftermath" GRANTA 115

this quote from the granta i've been reading got stuck in my head and i had to get it out. today i made this collage before going to my day job.

 

taste this :: thrifty granola from the impecunious pantry

it was more than a week since i had dumped the last of the boxed granola into my late morning bowl of yogurt. i was craving the toasted crunchy cereal when i realized we still had a jumbo box of old fashioned oats on a shelf in the pantry. the mornings had been too warm for oatmeal so the paper canister had been overlooked. but on this particular afternoon the weather had cooled to the high 60s and i cranked on the oven as i set about finding my trusty recipe. 

we had no nuts or seeds, no coconut, figs, cherries or apricots in the impecunious pantry. but being the queen of substitutions (and now - of omissions, too), i was up to the challenge of constructing a batch of tasty granola from whatever i had on hand at the moment -the bricolage way.

a recent trip to aldi had gleaned us a box of juicy raisins and a small bag of dried cranberries. these made up the fruity portion of my mix. an increase in the volume of oats covered my lack of coconut flakes and the sweeteners and canola oil we had on hand allowed for a tasty browning in the oven. a dash or two of ground cinnamon rounded out the simple flavors.

this is my thrifty (and very tasty) version of homemade granola:

preheat the oven to 300.

in a small bowl whisk 3/4 cup of vegetable oil with 1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup maple syrup.

in a large bowl toss the oats with as much ground cinnamon as you like, pour the liquids over this and mix well with a wooden spoon until all oats are coated.

dump this mixture into a large (13 x 18 or so) baking sheet with lip or cake pan and spread it around evenly. i baked mine on two baking sheets for more even toasting because my oven is wonky and likes to burn things. do what works best for you.

bake in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes, watching carefully and stirring frequently to get an even browning. (the barefoot contessa bakes hers at 350 for a full 45 minutes but i would have a kitchen filled with smoke and burned oats if i did this. i recommend staying near the oven when making this and not wandering off to fold the laundry or check a few emails, if you know what i mean.) we like ours about medium brown, but remove yours from the oven as soon as it looks right to you. set pans aside and let them cool, stirring occasionally.

add 1 1/2 cups of mixed raisins and dried cranberries to the toasted oats in a big container for storing (we use a one gallon glass jar with a snug lid) and stir with a long spoon until well combined. be sure to wait to put the lid on until the oats are fully cooled or you may end up with soggy granola.

as all of my ingredients were purchased as generic-type brands, i estimate the couple of pounds of finished granola to cost us a whopping $3.75! i add a piece of fresh fruit when we have it and a good dollop of cherry kefir (at about .30 per serving) to make a perfect breakfast in a bowl. w eats his by the handful right from the jar as a snack :)

and if you have all the necessary ingredients to make this granola using the original recipe - i speak from experience when i tell you i highly recommend it, too.

right now i am: making rag balls

from the leftover strips of cotton sheeting we used for egg dying. it began with the big clump of threads we had on the table after shredding the sheets. being unable to throw them away, i pressed them into a tight bundle and began winding scrap strips around and around and around the core. this is a strangely satisfying activity, inspired by seeing this

in the reconstructed henry darger room at the intuit. i may never have a whole hamper full but maybe a bowl full will do.

happy friday, everyone :)

 

nice finds :: inspired by women's work

who does she think she is?  : a powerful doc 

various illuminations (of a crazy world) maira kalman exhibition (with commentary) (thanks again, sk!)

vivian maier : images still haunting me

the zero waste home : a video that has planted a seed in my head causing me to rethink everything (via abby)

women's philanthropy : aid for japan and more

making stuff :: lemonade (metaphorically)

late last year i took advantage of an offer for free prints from a certain online digital photo processing company to see how my color collection photos would look on paper. when they arrived they'd been cropped all funky and were, at first glance, sadly disappointing and completely useless. until i decided to cut them up and see them in a new way. i'm quite pleased with the outcome (and relieved they were free).

what lemons has life handed you lately that made good lemonade?

nice finds :: tilt shift maker

i would like to tell you i wasn't awake into the wee hours this morning, bleary eyed and telling myself just one more image and i'll go to bed... but that would be untrue.

oh wow. and it's free. tilt shift maker

(again, i am probably the last person on earth to discover this. tilt shift)