LAW 108: Blessed Samhain, or what the h… is Halloween?

Just a quick note or two. When i realize how long i have been thinking about writing another blog entry, but actually not doing it, i realize just how wrong some of my fellow employees where when i announced my retirement. "Ooh, you'll be bored! You'll be back to work in no time".

Mr & Mrs Anonymous ready to party!

Well, on some levels they were right, not on the boredom front, never that! But work? Well, there is still never enough time in the day to touch every project that i am working on, much less house(boat)work.

View from the fire pit

Any how, Hallows is come and gone, there was a small, very pleasant party Saturday at the marina. The new fire pit is functional, the weather unbelievably beautiful, the food beyond drool worthy, and thank the gods, election 2016 is indeed almost over.

Samhain dock side altar

I'll post some really yummy fish dishes that we've had real soon now. I promise.

Mungo was not surprised at Flippy the Flounder's choice.

But for now: now is the time to look inward. To sit quietly in the dark, to review the choices we made in this past year, embrace our mistakes and forgive them. Now we have weeks of quiet, calm, dark solitude. We should all use it to recharge our bodies and spirits.

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 107; A love affair with cauliflower

Cauliflower has always been one of my favorite veggies, raw or cooked i say bring it on. It is an incredibly versatile player in the culinary games; stew it, fry it, grill it, puree it, bake it, roast it. The list of styles and ethnicities of the humble cauliflower goes on and on.

Last night's entry into the cauliflower sweepstakes will certainly becomes a staple dish here on the Floating Empire. So simple, so delicious; stovetop roasted Cauliflower. Yum, yum, yum. I'm sorry i honestly do not remember which Facebook feed i tracked this down from. When i asked Dr. Google he came up with many variations, but not the site that i remember.

Regardless, it is simplicity it self, and i will share it with you. What you need: a cauliflower, approximately 3 TB of butter, sea salt, fresh sprig of thyme or rosemary, a couple of Tablespoons of red wine vinegar and a stove top safe deep dish pan with lid, preferably of course good cast iron.


Trim the cauliflower in the normal fashion, taking care to slice the bottom end so that it can set evenly in the pan. Melt the butter, throw in the herb, sprinkle the cauliflower with salt, cover, turn the heat down to low/medium low and walk away for at least 25 minutes, perhaps as much as 35. I would err on the side of less time than more. At this point the bottom of the cauliflower will be completely caramelized and smell unbelievably good. The cauliflower is likely completely tender at this point. Carefully flip up over, cover and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. All you are doing here is adding a nice brown crust to the top. Gently flip back right side up onto a pretty serving platter. Deglaze the pan with a couple of TB of red wine vinegar, reduce and serve over the cauliflower. The site i got this from recommended serving it with a Hazelnut Gremolata, which i made, blithely substituting for everything i did not have, which was pretty much everything in the recipe. It was still recognizable, but of a slightly different species. Honestly i won't go to the trouble the next time i make this, it was simply to good naked.

Although we did indeed consume the entire head of cauliflower between the two of us, it wasn't the only thing on the menu. Our good buddy Justin, fish monger extraordinare of Geresbeck's fame brought in some whole red snapper the other day. This is not an ordinary event and of course we immediately decided that we would feast on red snapper. Since the weekend was incredibly windy we opted to bake it in parchment, Spanish style. Stuffed with lots of lemon slices, shallots, fresh thyme and stuffed green olives. I bedded it in a puddle of tomato sauce, and topped it with a little more. This, in lieu of our first choice, grilling over an open fire. It was good, but nothing beats whole fish on the grill.

We raved about the cauliflower all night long, it was great, it's not often that a vegetable side dish will completely eclipse a really good entree.

More later
Morgainne

LAW 106: Dinner anyone?

One of things that fall means if you live on the Chesapeake Bay is the change of emphasis on just which shelled sea creature will grace your dinner table. The tide and the seasons swing inexorably  in a great circle and our dinner plates here reflect that.

In spring we gear up for crab season, waiting impatiently for those tasty little spiders of the sea. Oh but way before summer is over i, at least, start seriously jonesing for oysters. September rolls around, technically it is the start of Oyster Season, but alas, the water is still to warm and the crabs are still abundant.

This past Saturday that all changed. A slipmate came knocking on our door with the offer of fresh caught oysters. We didn't say no! So armed with a bucket full of oysters they had plucked from the Kent Narrows that morning we prepared for an evening of epicurean gluttony.

Venus, oops, i mean Oysters on the half shell

Evidence! This is round one from Saturday evening. As you can see we enjoy our condiments with our oysters, but let me tell you, they were so wonderfully fresh and briny that we mostly just ate them naked. Surprisingly we were incapable of eating all of them Saturday night. We shared the last dozen or so Sunday afternoon with friends and family here in the marina.

Last night we finally got around to grilling the Black Sea Bass that we had been given. Have i ever mentioned that people in marina's take care of each other? We do. Any way the sea bass was a gift from our local fishmonger. He was passing on the bounty as it had been gifted to him.

Yum yum. Fresh sea bass, stuffed with garlic, sea salt, olive oil and fresh herbs grilled over hickory. Oh my, heaven; not to mention the butternut squash, also roasted over hickory and broccoli with garlic, shallots oyster sauce, ginger and yellow bean paste.

Yes of course there were bones! A finger lickin experience.

Somehow we refrained from eating everything in sight. The squash was really big. With astonishing foresight i cut the halves into half. Roasting it all, buy saving the cups for breakfast.

Into the pan!

Anyone for 'poached' fresh eggs? Yes, free range, yes, also a gift from another slip mate. Anyway, eggs and squash Not a bad way to start the day.

Ready to dig in.

Hmmm, maybe we should all just forget about money and live in a gift economy.


For dessert a shot of the Super moon of the other night.

Night shots are so difficult and the moon comes up so fast.

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 105: What's for Dinner?

I want to be up front here. I will eat almost anything, from almost anywhere; i do however draw a line across which food from China will not pass. This may not be fair to Chinese producers, still there has been too much information published that points to all sorts of contamination, why take a chance? Besides the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay makes not eating Chinese seafood hardly a sacrifice. Since we're talking fish here i would also like to point out that i also boycott any 'farm' raised seafood, this to me is also a 'no brainer'. Mungo and i try to eat as locally as possible. Again living on the Bay makes this an easy matter.

So, last Friday we had just walked into Geresbeck's, our locally owned grocery store, making a beeline to the fish market. Justin(the seafood manager) is a great guy. He offers locally sourced seafood, mostly wild caught, as well as the standard offerings. Since we have gone out of our way to 'make friends' with the people we interact with on a daily basis he has been very accommodating; and searching out and delivering at great prices a wide variety of special requests. I've written at length about the glories of the grilled and stewed octopi. So when he and Jack saw us coming they were ready for us.

Turns out that Justin had special ordered a rather special treat for another customer; what he didn't realize was that the smoked black cod fillets came as a two pack. Since this is a very very pricey fish this could have been rather big ouch! But, ahem…. good Samaritan's that we are, we obligingly took it off from his hands. Justin didn't lose any money, we got a great deal, and an almost two pound fillet of smoked sable fish(it's other name).

Mungo trying to distract me, i think the cat's in on it too!

Oh my! Oh my oh my, can i tell you just how drool worthy this piece of finny goodness was? Although neither of us had ever had this particular species of fish smoked before we were not at all worried that we would not like it. I have never met a piece of smoked fish that i didn't like. Go ahead, feel free to call me a smoked fish slut. I grew up in a part of the country where smoked and pickled fish made frequent appearances on the party table, and had lived in Denmark for a year i knew just what to do with this little treasure. Enter a platter of Scandinavian sushi, err, Smorgasbord. Well really a Smorrebrod platter, daintily little open face sandwiches, surrounded by the best fresh vegetable garni and pickles.

Yes, dinner!

So our first night's dinner consisted of the loin of the sable fish, pumpernickel bread, sweet cream butter, Havarti cheese, assorted olives, fresh radishes and green onions, paper thin lemon slices and homemade  Sichuan cucumber pickles.

Culinary heaven!

So in total we managed to dine on this almost two pound piece of piscatorial pleasure for five, no six separate meals. Two supper Smorrebrod platters, two lunch time snacks and a hard to describe, but very delicious concoction i found in one of the late, great Bert Greene's cookbooks. A hybrid cornbread, (made with polenta) quiche, which always features a grated summer squash, lots of onion, and in this case the last little bit of smoked sable fish flaked into the batter. Oh, did i mention lots of cream? It is very good right out of the oven, but frankly i think i like it better as a leftover breakfast or lunch at room temperature.

So all in all it was very good eats this past week.

More later,

Morgainne

LAW 104: Mungo's Dream

One of the greatest joys that comes when you live on water is all the amazing opportunities for bird watching. Here on the Middle River our favorite birds to watch during the summer and early fall are the Ospreys. What wonderful birds of prey. They of course nest all over the upper bay, commandeering virtually all of the tops of channel markers, buoys, any relatively undisturbed flat surface they can find, including tree tops. If you've never seen an osprey nest, they are huge, messy, untidy masses of sticks.

We have been lucky enough to watch at least one or two nesting pairs every summer since we moved onboard. One of our favorite late afternoon pastimes involves relaxing under the 'Drinking Tree', yes, of course with a glass of wine, watching the Ospreys fish for supper. They almost never miss. A sure sign that fall is here, the Ospreys take off for warmer climes.

Any way, Mungo's Dream goes like this……..

The chair in question, visualize the Osprey!

An Osprey lands on the back of an empty lawn chair says "Hey", …. amazed, perplexed, we uncertainly go "Hey?" back. The Osprey continues the conversation, asking us if we were okay, letting us know that they were getting ready to head south for the winter……."We just wanted to make sure you guys would be here next spring, we really enjoy watching you."

Alright, just a little on the surreal side, but….
More later,
Morgainne

LAW 103: Happy Labor Day, Where did August go?

Hmmmmmm. Well, i've been a bad little blogger girl. Some how i have let an entire month slip away unrecorded, unremarked. What can i say, it has been very very hot.

8.26.16.1 & 2, from August Kalends

Every time i went to make paper, it either became brutally hot and humid, or it rained. Average drying time, four days. Not good. Although i am really jonesing to try making paper out of the ubiquitous water weed that is literally coating about half of the river, i'm waiting for cooler weather.

8.24.16.1 & 2, from August Kalends

I did finish my August Kalends project; although with four fewer signatures than i had planned. I had not taken into account the fatness i would get just from the collage work, so slowed down on that front. I'm taking a break from that project right now. I'm thinking i need some new collage material.

Ganesh Mandala, i think it's done!

I did finish, i think, my Ganesh mini quilt/hand embroidery piece. It is still hanging on the studio wall, uncut, as i want to make very sure i am happy with it, before cutting off the backing.

Outline done, no the hard, long part begins

I have started another wall hanging, this one a Phoenix. It will be completely stitched, and i'm thinking of some bead work on it as well. It should take a good long while to finish.

Week two progress, breast feathers

As you can see, Magellan does think that my computer really does belong to him. Here he is from yesterday, employing the Edgar Cayce method of web surfing.

The night before Hermine was scheduled to impact our area this is what the sky looked like. Spooky beautiful.

Okay so that's the round up, i promise to be better. Please feel free to check out all of our other sites, including Mungo's newest; colonizeearth.org.

More later,
Morgainne, aka Gail

LAW 102: August means the end of ICAD

August is not only the harbinger of the first harvest, happy Lammas, only a little late to all of you. I hope you are enjoying the wonderful fruits of the planet. August also means the end of the annual ICAD art challenge. It is a pretty simple challenge on the surface, make a piece of art for 61 days on an index card. It is an opportunity to play, to experiment, to take chances and to not be afraid of failure. Mungo and i both participated this year. He did a really cool, very much appreciated project, a 'writer does art'. He laid out, and mapped out an image that was gridded out over all 61 cards. Than did free form writing around the marked out image. People read the art every day, and waited impatiently for the image. I imagine he will get around to posting it on his blog real zoo now.

Here are the last two pieces i did for ICAD, you can see all of them, sequentially at my art page, https://www.facebook.com/theartofgailelwell13/

For Those With Eyes to See

Let the Day Begin

Although i was a pretty consistent every day art maker before the challenge, i am also a 'butterfly', with many different projects going at once. Once i settled into small format collage as my medium of choice for ICAD i found the daily ritual was sharpening, focusing the way i was approaching the ideas and challenges of collage. This was/is too cool to give up. Tammy through Daisy Yellow of course encourages us all to continue with the daily practice, particularly through art journaling. This is of course a very good idea, but felt unsatisfying to me. The practical/ambitious  part of me wants to make things that i can show or sell.  So i hit upon a hybrid of sorts. I am already a book maker, i've played around with the idea of 'artist' books before, so the idea of a  daily collage journal came about.

My hope is to sustain this project for an entire year, i'll be happy with completing August and will see what happens after that. The project is called Kalends; the format is 4.5 x 6", so it is roughly the same size i was working during the ICAD project. Each of the books will have between 14 and 15 signatures, each signature will have 8 pages. The paper is a heavy weight, wet or dry media, Canson 9 x 12". By folding and tearing i will get one signature out of each page. I am creating four pages every day; each signature contains two days of collage. Due to the nature of hand book binding the four pages of each day do not always flow together. A design continuity challenge to say the least.

Here are the images for the first signature, in the order you would see them bound in a book.

 

I will share more later with you,

Morgainne, aka Gail

P.S. Images of Mungo's piece