Thursday, July 18, 2013

Competition Dining

I love watching the food channels.  It is somewhat of an addiction.  If I had it to do all over, I would have become a chef.  I did get my Top Chef Certification a couple of years ago.  I am hoping that when I retire in 6 to 8 years that I can do something in the food area.

Well, in NC, there is an event called Fire in the Triangle.  It is competition dining, pretty much like an Iron Chef Competition.  Two chefs are pitted against eachother and there is a secret ingredient.  There are 6 dishes, three made by each chef.  There is a winner at the end of each night and then there are semi finals and then a finale.  We went to the very first one this summer.  We had gone to a couple of them last year but they sold out quickly this year.  I took pics of the dishes and will show them here.

The secret ingredient on the night we went was . . . . . . . . . . . .   PEACHES!

The first course was Peach Poached Shrimp Crab Salad, Fennel, Bread & Butter Peaches.  It was really good!


The second dish was Peach Lacquered Quail Green Lentil Salad, Toasted Party Nuts, Fried Cipollini Onion, Grilled Peach, Peach Vinaigrette.  This dish was AMAZING!


The third dish was my absolute favorite of the night.  It was Peach BBQ Chicken and Pork Belly
Peach Caramel, Charred Corn Salad, Slaw, Candied Peanuts and Rosemary!  I have never had pork belly before but it is amazing!





The fourth dish was Roasted Pork Shoulder with Peach & Vegetable Stuffing, Maple Caramelized Brussels Sprouts & Peaches, Crispy Potato Dumplings, Thyme- Mystery Brewing Co. Evangaline Gravy.  It was good but my husband hates brussel sprouts so that wasn't good for him.  I didn't think the presentation was all that great either.


The last two dishes were desserts!  The first one was Salty Pecans, Chevre Donut, Caramelized White Chocolate, Blackberry Cream.  SO AMAZING!


The last dish was Peach Gallette Strawberry Peach Bourbon Sauce & Sweet Cream.  This wasn't as good as the other dish but I was impressed by all of the dishes.

If there is competition dining in your area, it is something you must do.  We had so much fun.

Hugs, Meg



 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Teddy Dressed Up

I received this Teddy Bear image from a friend in one of my card groups!  I was so excited to get this, I just love it.  I just had to make a card with it this weekend.  I am sending this card off to a very special person, whom I owe a swap card to this month.  She is such a great person, and even though we have never met, I adore her.  She has such a great heart.  I don't think she reads my blog so I don't think she will see this card before it gets to Australia.  She runs a great card group so if you are interested in getting involved in one, message me and I will get you hooked up!





I hope she loves this card!

Happy Tuesday!

Hugs, Meg

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Ladybugs on the Way

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love ladybugs!  Well, when I needed to make a simple birthday card for a friend at work, I decided to make one with ladybugs.  I love this new stamp set that I got from Stamps for Life.  The ladybugs and sayings are amazing! I am also having fun using washi tape!

Hope you like the card -





Happy Sunday,

Hugs, Meg

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Animal Zentangle

Here is another Zentangle that I did for a swap.  This is a little bit different than the others I have done.  I actually used a stamp on it and hand drew a bird.  It was fun tangling in the bird's wing and tail feathers.  I need to do more tangling so I get better but I am pleased with what I am doing so far as a beginner!





Hugs, Meg

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Zentangle in June

I have been enjoying Zentangling these days.  I haven't done as much as I have wanted to, but I am in a swap once a month so I have at least done that.  The theme of the tangle was Nature so I tried to make the tangle look like leaves and flowers.  I love the swirls and I had gotten so cool colored micro pens to be able to tangle with as well.


Hope you like it!

Hugs, Meg

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Sunflower

A couple of days ago I post the Funky Tree painting that my daughter and I did.  Well, today I am posting a sunflower that I had painted a few weeks ago with a friend of mine.  My daughter has taken this painting for her apartment, so I now only my my pics - LOL! 

So here is the blank canvas!


We then painted the canvas with a light blue, leaving an oval for the sunflower.  I painted the sides o the canvas so the oval is on the bottom at the moment.


We then started the yellow sunflower, and the leaves:


It was so much fun adding the white:






We then painted over the white with a light yellow:



Then we started adding browns:





And the finished project is below:


Sunday, July 7, 2013

Midnight Tree

It has been so long since I have posted on my blog.  I am sorry I have been gone for a while.  I went on vacation in June to Las Vegas - had an amazing time, and have had a medical scare.  I just didn't feel like doing any crafting.  I finally am doing better and got into my craft room today.  I will be posting items that I have made in a few days, but today I am going to post another Artistic Abandon painting that my daughter and I went to together.  She had been wanting to paint a picture there for her apartment that she will be moving into August 15th.  She has done some on her own that I will post here as well over the next few weeks.  She is really artistic!

So we did a Funky, Midnight Tree!  As always, we started with a blank canvas, but we then painted the beginnings of the moon:

 

Then we painted rings of blue and blended, putting black in the upper corners.


Then we painted black hills below the moon.


At this point, we started the beginnings of the tree.  This is the trunk and a few limbs on the left side.


We then started putting in more branches.  Here is a pic of my daughter working on her painting.  (She would seriously kill me if she knew I posted this on my blog - good thing she never looks at it!)







More branches are added:





We then added the swirlies!  Love this part!





That is my finished tree above.  My daughter's tree is below.  They both look so different, but I love them both!