Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Sushi

Konnichiwa!

I made sushi last night and it was so fun!  My friend, also named Lauren, shared with me that recently sushi has been her go to meal so I decided to try it.  I made cucumber rolls and Philly rolls. The Philly rolls had a combination of smoked salmon and cream cheese and I added cucumber to some of them.  I was amazed at how good the sticky rice turned out, I was eating it straight out of the pot before making up my rolls.  Here is the directions for the vinegared rice also known as sumeshi from the cookbook Easy Sushi by Emi Kazuko. 

1 3/4 cups Japanese style short grained rice
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt

- Soak rice in clear cold water 10-15 minutes, then drain.

- Transfer rice to a deep saucepan, add 2 cups water.  Cover and bring to boil over high heat, about 5 minutes.

- Lower heat and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes or until all water has been absorbed.  do not lift the lid.  Remove from heat and leave, still covered, for about 10-15 minutes.

- Mix the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in small bowl.

- Transfer the cooked rice to a large shallow dish, if you have the set-up a Japanese handai can be used, I had used a pie plate. 

- Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold the vinegar dressing into the rice.  Do not stir.  Let the rice cool to body temperature before making sushi.


Friday, March 19, 2010

Tea Time

Mmm banana bread and Irish Breakfast tea.  Nothing is better than a pot of Irish Breakfast, more flavorful and all together more delicious than its English counterpart, served with my classic Fiesta Ware.  I don't often follow in the British ways of enjoying an afternoon tea, but my overly ripe bananas were calling me and so I whipped up a little chocolate chip banana bread.  What a treat for Mr. Johnson and I.


Happy Friday for everyone!  I am off to a girls weekend in Seattle, all of us haven't been together in the same spot since high school so this should be a blast.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

First Day Back in Architecture

Yesterday was my first day back in architecture!  I have begun volunteering at a small firm here in bridgetown.  I really like the work that architecture w produces and I think it will be a fun school studio-like environment to be involved in.  I am also interested in architecture w's artistic exploration within the design process, they have made beautiful abstract paintings and built plaster cast models that diagram and depict the architecture.  The project I will be working on is a design competition for the Kuwaiti embassy in Tokyo.  I am excited for this opportunity and all that will come out of it.


Check out the website of architecture w.  And in case you were wondering what I wore on my first day, here is a picture of me!

 

Monday, March 8, 2010

Discovered Pleasures

Yoga has taken me by surprise.  It is the real deal!  Usually I am suspicious of exercise activities that are within the general dance family and are not ballet.  After years of training in ballet, most of the time loving it and sometimes becoming quite frustrated by its rigor, I have realized the discipline, grace and athleticism that ballet requires is exceptional.  This being said, I was quite happy when I enjoyed the first yoga practice I had ever attended.  It was a physical challenge and I felt it in my upper body the next day! It really is relaxing, during the quiet stretching times I have a chance to let go of my busy thoughts or pray.  I know many people have already jumped on the yoga bandwagon and I am glad to report that I have too.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sunshine and Patios

I am welcoming myself back to blogging.  In my hiatus I have tripled my official blog followers, awesome!  I am loving the sunshine.  This weekend Mr. Johnson and I took advantage of the glimpse of spring and went on a couple of long walks along some of our favorite streets.  We discovered a great restaurant/bar that has an amazing patio.  The patio spans two levels, on grade a propane fire pit forms the center of the space and above there is a roof patio that looks onto the lower patio, the street, and the prettiest church in Portland.  We sat upstairs and dreamed up ways to build a fire pit in our own patio.

 
 
The fire pit at Radio Room is hidden by the throngs of people in this
summertime photo.

 
Another wonderful patio atop the downtown Macy's at Departure.  
I want to work for the firm that designed this bar! 

  
Next time I will get a shot of the enclosed garden patio at Holeman's.  
Apparently it is so much a hidden gem that there are only decent photos of the front!

Monday, January 25, 2010

A Day in the Life of the New Rennasiance

I started adding color to my painting last class!  It was so exciting.  Cliff, just having his mouse infusion was back to his cheery joking self and everyone seemed to be in good spirits because of this.  Carol had found some peace as she explained she had "put her sister in the freezer" a technique administered in hope of her sister chilling out, and the usual drama continued.  Menopausal womens' chit chat aside, I think my painting really is coming along quite nicely.  Even with the first glaze of color, the painting appeared to have greater depth.  In following the Carracci
Tradition, I first painted a black and white underpainting and then will be adding thin color glazes until the painting is completed in full color.  The master's were right in essentially painting their subjects twice.


 
 

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New Things of the New Year

-New Determination
Chinese fortune cookie fortunes, I will pay no attention to you!  You think producing nagging fortunes in this economy helps?

-New Direction
Architecture.  It is time to renew my focus to become involved in the field of architecture.  It took me a tempting but ultimately unwanted job interview (not in my field) to redirect my focus.  Since then, I have followed up with the firms I have applied to and I have suggested a volunteer opportunity at one of the offices.

-New Leggings
OK.  Probably not life changing but ohh so comfortable and stylish.


I have been a bit behind on my blogging lately but I wanted to say the other weekend was wonderful.  We spent Saturday with Laura and Chris.  Laura and I went shopping downtown hence the legging acquisition, while the men had fun with toy helicopters and firearms.  We didn't hesitate about boosting the economy that day.  It was most fun just spending time with them, they are great friends and an inspiration to me.  Laura and I cooked Indian together, I must say we (at least I)  have greatly improved in our cooking skills since we were college roommates.  It has been a good start to 2010.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy Holidays

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We sure did!  Mr. Johnson and I went to his home town, Wallowa, for Christmas.  It was good and busy; baby, dogs, family and food!   Crab for Christmas Eve was delicious.  My present from Mr. Johnson is awesome, I am including a picture because just telling you that I got  a magazine rack for Christmas doesn't quite do it justice.  And I am definitely enjoying re-reading Harry Potter with my new collection.  The day after Christmas, Mr. Johnson and I went up to find snow at Salt Creek Summit.  It was a beautiful day and the snow had formed jagged crystals like I had never seen before.  The ground looked like it was covered in shattered glass!  We had a great holiday, and I guess it is now time to live it up in the next decade!