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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Monday, March 31, 2014

Is it really?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
I suppose in my case, today, it is.
It seems that today my words and pictures have equaled 1000!
Yes, this is my 1000th post and I can hardly believe that I've had 
that much to say and show.
Just goes to show you that a little rambling and wandering and wondering goes a long way.
So what's new...lets see...
Yesterday I took this equipment...
 Clippers to cut the nettles and of course gloves because they
don't call them stinging nettle for nothing!
 After a long winter of eating rich foods, nettles are one of the best detoxes around...
 I also picked some kale since it has become very sweet with all the cold weather...
 Norene came over with her daughter Haley and our mission...
 ...besides avoiding the sting of nettles...
 ...Was to make a monster batch of pesto!
After steaming the nettles for a few minutes (to take the sting out) we added garlic (lots!)
cashews, walnuts, Parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, salt, lemon juice, basil and olive oil,
whipped it up in our food processors and...
Presto...Pesto for the masses!
I spread mine into a cake pan, about 6 cups worth and threw it in the freezer...
 ...this morning I took it out by lifting the parchment paper and cut it into squares and
then threw it in a freezer container, ready to use as much or as little as I need.
they look like pesto brownies!
 ...just as yummy in a savory way...
 My latest passion is being inspired by this new book I just bought, 'Art Made from Books'.
When I was visiting my brother he had a similar book and I knew I just had to have this one
when I saw it in Paper Ya on Granville Island.
It's full of artists who have taken cutting paper to a whole new art form...
They actually cut stories and lift them out of the book but keep the book in tact and 
the pages come alive...

 How beautiful is that?!
 I'm not sure how far I'll get with my endeavours but I certainly want to try.
 So that big stack of old books Ive collected....BEWARE!
You could be my next art project!
You probably think I'm crazy to cut up a book. I wouldn't cut up any of the more valuable ones
but I do have a few that were really cheap and somewhat falling apart.
Anyway, the weather is grand and I even hear the drone of a lawnmower outside...it must be spring!
So I'm off to take Griff for a ramble and another daily adventure!
(1000...whew! who knows whats next?!)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

The pesto looks fantastic...how cool that you made your own right out of the garden!

And the book art...now that really gets the creative juices stirring. Hmmmm... I hope to see a new project of yours soon.

gz said...

congratulations!

That pesto looks good :D

Mairéad said...

Congrats on your 1000th post - I've really enjoyed all the ones I've read.
I'm tempted to make nettle soup as I've come across a few recipes (have you seen Irish chef Donal Skehan's blog - think you'd love it) and those paper art books are amazing.
Looking forward to the next 1000!