Welcome to Heidi's blog......Tales of life in Portland with my baby, Hank.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

R.I.P. Elizabeth Taylor

I was so sad to hear on the radio this morning that Elizabeth Taylor had passed away, she was 79 years old.  She was notorious for years of health problems, and they finally got the better of her.  She is one of my all time favorite actresses.  One of my favorite movies (with her) is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  She was at her peak of perfection here, and certainly personified "Maggie the Cat". 

She was equally notorious for her many (7!) husbands and her insane jewelry collection.  I have her book "Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry" and it's so crazy.  Jewels named for her!  She was one of a kind.

She had to be one of the most beautiful people ever, and her acting was just as amazing.  We've truely lost a legend.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Skot Olsen - amazing artist

One of our (my husband and I) favorite artists is Skot Olsen.  You can visit his website at http://www.skotolsen.com/.  I think we may have first heard about him on our honeymoon in NY in October of 2002.  We visited as many galleries and art museums as we could, and his work was at one of the galleries we went to.  This gallery was (not sure if it's still around) in Greenwich Village fairly close to where we were staying but was part of a bar and when we went the gallery part wasn't open.  Luckily, there was someone working at the bar that was nice enough to let us in to peruse Skot's work.  We became big fans right then and there, eventhough we couldn't afford to buy anything - I don't recall if any of it was even still available for sale.  It was beyond our budget for sure either way.  We were finally able to buy one of his works a few years later when he was showing at our friend Jamey's gallery (Gallery Bink) here in Portland.  We bought St. Architeuthis a year or so later.  Then in 2008 we bought Great Western.  Now we've been lucky enough to buy Catch of the Day - this is the image in this posting.  Skot says St. Architeuthis & Great Western are some of his favorite works and both have been made into giclees available on his website (so perhaps there's some truth to that).  I hope Catch of the Day is another on of his favorites - I do know it'll be mine! 


Thursday, March 17, 2011

Recipe - veggie spaghetti & meatballs

Last night we made vegetarian spaghetti & meatballs.  It's actually a quick weeknight dinner, and is pretty low in fat as well.  We paried it with steamed broccoli, but of course what you pair it with is up to you.  I like a green veggie, but you could also do garlic bread.  Here's what we did, although there are a lot of ways to vary this recipe (and probably even improve on it!):

1 package sausage Gimme Lean
1/2 onion
1 large can of Italian crushed tomatoes
olives (we used Kalamata and just used up a jar in the fridge)
sun dried tomatoes (to taste, we used the rest of a jar we had in the fridge)
pecorino romano cheese
Parmesan cheese
black pepper
dried basil, thyme & oregano (since it's winter, no fresh herbs to pick in the backyard)

thin spaghetti (this could of course go with most types of pasta)

Start with the meatballs - in a large bowl mix the Gimme Lean with some of the herbs (I just used a large pinch of each) and add some pecorino romano (I probably used 2 tablespoons).  You could of course saute some garlic & onions and add to the meatballs, but I was all about making this quick last night and they still turned out delectable.  Mix with your hands.  In a large saute pan pour in a few tablespoons of EVOO and put on medium-high heat.  Form the meatballs (I made them pretty small so had lots) and saute the meatballs until lightly browned - this is pretty quick, probably 10 minutes total.  Then put them on a plate with a paper towel while you start on the sauce.  **Note - I don't recommend adding salt to fake meat - it's already way overloaded with sodium.  I didn't even add any to the sauce for this reason.  Plus the cheeses also add salt.**

In the same large saute pan add more EVOO and saute the onion for a few minutes.  Add a large pinch of each of the dried herbs to the onions, saute for a minute or so more.  Then add the large can of crushed tomatoes, the chopped olives and sundried tomatoes and whatever else sounds good.  You can of course add garlic to the onions but I haven't been that into garlic lately.  I was going to add a can of artichoke hearts, but decided not to since we didn't need a ton of food for the two nights we'll be eating it.  Add a handful of the pecorino romano to the sauce, then the meatballs.  Heat until meatballs are warmed through and serve over the spaghetti with more Parmesan on top.   Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tattood Baby back pieces

My husband, Julian, had a great idea - tattood baby back pieces!  Not sure if getting your baby tattood is legal or not, maybe in Portland since we're so "weird!".  The advantage is that you do save a lot of money - the baby's back is small, so it would be a lot cheaper to have a full back piece done.  And then it could just grow with them as they got bigger.  You are making a big decision for them when you decide what will be on their back for the rest of their lives, but, heh, you're their parents - you have to make the tough decisions.