Record your Life

A little journal that I inscribed this past week. What a wonderful gift idea.

Dinner Club

So we gathered, the five of us, to begin this adventure in food.

I brought New Age White Wine... served over ice with lime.

Since it was K's night, he was responsible for the meal. To begin...fresh rosemary sea salt bread...straight from the oven.

The Lavender crusted Tuna prior to cooking.


First Course: Filo stuffed with Three cheeses and herbs...served with Harissa infused Olive Oil.



The Main Course: Seared Tuna with a Lavender Crust and a Wasabi Avocado Sauce, Spinach Souffle in a Tomato.



Dessert: Lavender Sorbet with an Almond Tuille.



Thanks to K for a wonderful Dinner! And to everyone else for fabulous memories. I can't wait for D's turn next!

Food and More Food

Things here at Amon Design Studio have been a little out of sorts. While I couldn't possibly live without my computer, I did have to for a bit while it was being reformatted. All is corrected and I'm back and running better than ever.

This picture is of a dinner I made for my lovely boyfriend a little while back. He apparently doesn't "care for" scallops although anyone that does would love this dish. I simply wrapped some large sea scallops in bacon that I had found at the farmers market (it was honey rosemary bacon!!) and grilled it on the indoor grill. With it, I paired roasted potatoes and asparagus.

I love, love, love roasted vegetables and think that you can never mess them up. Oh and if you have a convection oven at home, do roast them with that...it makes for some fabulous food.

One last food related comment.

Our dear friends K & J are back from exploring Europe and have invited us to join them in a dinner rotation. Basically, each "member" cooks a meal in turn and we enjoy a lovely meal each time! For me, it is the perfect way to spend time with friends and save a little money. This week is K's turn...he is a master grill er!

Fragrant Garden Roses

Good Monday morning. We've had a bit of nice weather this weekend and it has cheered me up immensely!

As a promise to myself, I have been keeping my little heirloom vase full of beautiful flowers. Gosh, it really does do a person some good to have them around.
Starring in this arrangement are some fragrant garden roses (not from my garden---if only). They were a great find at the local Central market here in town. And boy do they smell great.

Usually supermarket (and even wholesale) roses just don't have a fragrance. These however, smell just like you would dream a rose would smell, like a perfume that you want to put on right away.

So for this Monday, I have stopped to smell the roses, and I challenge you to do the same.

Watercolors

After receiving Sarah Midda's South of France: A Sketchbook as a wonderful gift from my pen pal, I did a few little watercolor cards. I love her whimsical style and was inspired by all of the shades of colors and her little sketches of produce.

Hooray for color other than gray.
It has been so mediocre here in Austin the past while.
I'm wanting vibrant shades of summer colors.

New little treasure

I am enjoying this new little gold Seiko watch more than I would have ever imagined. I have a strong draw to watches of all kinds but there is something so ladylike about this one. It was $20 at the Assistance league shop on Burnet road...one of my favorite thirfts in town.

Off for more frilly and romantic ventures ahead.

Heirloom

This year, for Christmas, I received a little flower vase from my grandmother, Viola. The story goes that they had this vase on their family farm in New Sweden, Texas and that it belonged to my grandmother's mother and then her sister, Ethelia. After Ethelia's passing, my grandmother got it.

I have received quite a few little heirlooms from my grandmother and they all mean the world to me. I made a promise to myself to keep it in my studio full of flowers so that I can enjoy my heirloom and the happiness of fresh flowers every week.

We often live such hurried and frantic lives that I want to stop to see and smell the flowers. My little heirloom will help me do just that.

It's design is interesting and in all my antiqueing and estate sale adventures I have never seen a vase like this. Certainly, they don't make them anymore in this design. It is a fluted bowl, that has a lid with holes where you thread the flowers through. It makes flower arranging simple and lovely. I am throuroughly enjoying the results of my gift and my labor.

Thank you Mema.