Sweet & Savory Figs

I did get a chance to make a fig dish last week, using a recipe from a blog called Vanilla & Spice. (Even though I have a cart full of cook books, I still get most of my recipes from the internet...I know a lot of people do, but it still makes me feel guilty.)  It was modified based on what was in the house and what DH will eat--no apricots, different spices, some herbs, used scallions, and some dried tomatoes I wanted to get rid of. While the result was decent, it once again confirmed I'm not a fan of mixing sweet and savory in most cases. Did really like the couscous, though. Almost forgot to take a pic, and it's not nearly as good as the one on Vanilla & Spice, but here it is.

I've never cooked fresh figs before, they definitely have a mild flavor, and don't taste like fig newtons (which are awesome). Definitely would cook them again, but maybe for dessert or one of the fig and onions tart recipes I saw while looking for this one.

There are currently stuffed peppers in the oven, so expect to see a post about that later. Hopefully there are some stuffed pepper fans out there for that! 

Pretty in Pink

We were at my parents for lunch today (a small birthday celebration), and Mom asked me to cut some flowers for the table--specifically the sedum. So I went with the color scheme there, and although it's hard to tell in this picture, all the flowers are pink or white. These are all flowers from their gardens, hand tied in a small vase with silver and blue pebbles. My camera didn't take the greatest pictures, but the best shot is below: straight down on the floor. The colors turned our really nice with the lighting.

Straight down on the floor; the colors turned out really nice with the lighting. Not too concerned with roundness and uniformity in this one. With the various flowers I had it would have been difficult, and the asymmetry turned out rather nice for a casual arrangement.

The Second Life of Lilies

Lilies stand for purity and modesty, and although it's not so easy to see in this sized picture, most of these are just beautiful. Both the blue flowers and waxflowers from last week's arrangement died, so I rearranged the lilies, what have now all opened, in a simple Japanese teapot. It belonged to my Great Aunt Claire, who lived in Japan for several years in the 1950s. It's the right shade of brown for the light pink.

I arranged these free in the pot, no stones or foam. It was small enough that only about 4 or 5 stems made a nice support for the others. One side had a bit of a whole in it, but I didn't have any more flowers, which I suppose is fine for a quick second leg. Removing all those darn pollen pods was really messy, I still have stains on my hands.

As you may see from the opening of this blog, I have an interest in flower language, specifically Victorian flower language. However, I can't keep it in my head all the time, so I use a site called "In the Garden" which is resourced from actual Victorian era flower guides. It's one of the most comprehensive lists I've seen, and that's why I use it. Even if you're not interested in using it, it is an interesting concept. It's also something to consider if you want to wow your girlfriend or significant other with an extra special bouquet.

Well, that's all I have for now; we may be going to visit a garden today, so I may have more pictures soon! The rest of the lily pictures--it was really hard picking just one--are here.

The Mysterious Blue Flowers

We went to Produce Junction again this weekend (stay tuned for a fig dish later this week), so of course I had to get flowers. While their flowers aren't usually the best quality (they're often dirty or squashed--I don't think they're handled all that well by staff), they're very inexpensive and great for practicing my developing arranging skills.

The first thing I picked up were these tall spikes of blue flowers. Try as I might, I haven't been able to identify them on the internet. Perhaps later I'll be able to find them in one of the field guides. They have a lot of petals when opened, I counted about 15 on one, but you wouldn't know it when they're closed. Next were some lovely purple large asters of some sort, followed by coral waxflower and pink asters. But then I saw some lovely pink lillies. They're rather small, but I thought they would look better with the blue and waxflowers, so I put the asters back.

Due to the amount of time I had on Saturday, and the flower choice, I thought a vase arrangement would be better than going for the floral foam this time. This is a hand-tied arrangement, which allowed me to play with the depth of the bouquet a bit, and choose placement a little more than arranging right in the vase.

I usually take several pictures of each arrangement, from a lot of different angles. Because of the depth of this one, I took several straight on from the side, and then a series at an angle. I think the angled ones came out better--it's easier to see the flowers. The rest of the pictures, should you wish to see them, are here: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a361/zairafirefly/my%20art/flowers/sept%2015/.

If you can identify the blue flowers, please let me know in the comment section.

New Curtains!

I wasn't really going to write about my personal life a whole lot, but the new curtains for the balcony doors arrived today. They look really nice after the old ones, and DH likes them, too. 

First Post!

Starting a blog is something I've thought of several times in the last few years, although I never really had the motivation to do so. I don't keep up on facebook or other such things, so this may be sparsley used, or even abandoned in the end. But it's good to try new things and see if maybe I do like it, after all. 

Having interests in many areas, I expect I'll be blogging about writing, food and cooking, flowers, books, art, knitting, etc. This may will turn into a writing blog rather quickly, especially as National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org) approaches in November. However, expect different sorts of things to appear here.

Finally, thanks to Rai and KK from Suburban Senshi for helping me with the title.