Late Night Musings (Contains art)

I’m typing this on my Lion-enabled computer.  It’s taking some getting used to, scrolling “backwards” – scrolling up moves the screen down, now.  It’s like the iPhone and the iPad.  We just got back from Lawrenceville, and are both a bit tired and ready for bed.

Today was spent doing a number of travely bits.  We attended the farmer’s market for the second week in a row, and got more delicious farm-fresh vegetables.  Some honey, which I’m very much looking forward to using.  A few other items.  Then we traveled to the farm where we got our milk from, and saw happy cows in action, doing their cow-thing.  The farm is far out of our way, but I think it’s important to see where your food comes from.  It’s making me look at everything in a whole new light.  Why can’t 90% of our food be local – by which I mean, from within a day’s traveling distance?  I feel like everyone would be better off that way.  It seems that post-World War 2 industrialization had a lot to do with how our food and meats are now grown and processed.  I’m a little too tired to post specifics, but there are several books on real food that explain why agriculture and meat-processing became so industrial, and we lost a little bit of what amazing food we had before it happened.

In other news, I’m working on some Edward Gorey-inspired art.  Gorey was an incredible children’s book author and illustrator who passed away in 2000, and did very gruesome, ghastly, darkly humorous Victorian-inspired children’s stories.  The Unstrung Harp, The Curious Sofa, The Gashlycrumb Tinies – all these works and more were both written and illustrated by Mr. Gorey.  His art is unique and almost instantly recognizable, thanks to his style.  An example of the Gorey-inspired work is below.  If you’re interested, it will be in my Etsy shop upon completion, and I would love to do commissions in a similar style.  Leave a comment below with your email address or mail me at greylikestorms(at)gmail.com for more information.

A Mixed Stew

The last few days have been busy; my wife had a four day weekend off at work, so we spent as much time together as we possibly could.  On Wednesday we picked up some farm fresh milk and pastured eggs, and on Saturday we attended the Sandy Springs Farmer’s Market.  The market runs every Saturday from 8:30 to 12:30, and is located in the parking lot of an old closed Target on Roswell Road.

It was pretty great to see everyone out and about even though the day started off rainy and overcast.  Thankfully, the temperatures were down, and walking around outside was comfortable.  This was my first farmer’s market experience, and I enjoyed seeing the variety of vegetables and products on sale here.  We picked up a bunch of the best peaches I’ve ever had, some giant zucchini, some leafy greens, and a pastured chicken that will become dinner for us tomorrow night.

The Sandy Springs Farmer’s Market website:  http://www.sandyspringsfarmersmarket.com/index.html

After reading several books on real food we’ve been trying to adjust our diets to that lifestyle – eating vegetables that are in season and organically grown, getting pastured eggs when we can, and going for grass-fed meats.  That’s meant a lot of salads over the past week , which, it turns out, isn’t that bad.  I’ve been making a great salad dressing that’s tasty and simple all rolled into one.  There isn’t even any measuring involved!

Simple and Tasty Dressing:

olive oil

white wine vinegar

spices to season

honey

mustard

Take a bowl and add a splash of the vinegar and olive oil.  I think a 1:2  vinegar to oil ratio will probably work best.  Try to go for enough liquid to coat the salad leaves, but not leave a pool of dressing when you’re done with the salad.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, etc – dill works well – and add a tablespoon each of honey and mustard(Dijon works really well).  Take a whisk and whisk your dressing until everything has been incorporated into one smooth liquid.  Add your salad leaves to the bowl and toss until the greens are coated well.  This dressing depends a lot on personal taste, so feel free to experiment with the best ratios for everything.  

On the illustration front I’ve been doing more anatomy studies – I inked a pig’s skull and a bear’s skull from the Cyclopedia Anatomicae, and both turned out well for first attempts.  I did them in my Moleskine, which I’m finding works very well for these inked sketches.