Have you ever heard of a lemon cucumber??? I stopped by a friend's house a few days ago as she has such a lovely garden, and I wanted to beg for one of her cucmbers. My husband had stopped by a few days before and she gave him an English Cucumber that was out of this world. When I arrived, lucky me, she was in the garden harvesting a few things and had just picked the lemon cucumber and asked if I would like to have one. Sure!!!, I'm always game to try something new.
As it turns out, a lemon cucumber does not taste like a lemon, just looks similar to a lemon.
When cut open, they have the loveliest green center and the richest cucumber smell I've ever smelled.
I decided to look around for a recipe that would be fitting of my precious little cucumber and I found a delightful website called 101 Cookbooks, A Natural Foods Recipe Journal. The recipe that caught my eye is called Orzo Super Salad
1 cup dried (whole wheat) orzo pasta 8 - 10 medium asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch segments 1/2 a medium head of broccoli (or broccolini), cut into small trees small handful of cilantro(or mint if you prefer), chopped(I used mint)
1 small clove of garlic, mashed with a big pinch of salt and chopped 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
a small handful of sprouts 1/3 cup almonds, toasted 1/2 small cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch pieces 1 medium avocado, sliced into small pieces 1/4 cup feta, crumbled
As usual, I made a few changes. While shopping for the ingredients that I needed, I came across a Quinoa pasta that looked interesting, so I decided to give that a try rather than the orzo.
The recipe says to throw the broccoli and the asparagus in the boiling water for the last 30 seconds of cooking. Be sure to do this as the vegetables stay crunchy, but not as hard as they would be if they are completely raw.
For the salad dressing, be sure to mash the garlic with the salt as directed. Makes all the difference in the world.
I'm growing pear tomatoes this summer and they are just beginning to ripen, so I decided to add them to the mix. I'm also growing jalapeno peppers, so I added one of those as well. I do like my peppers!!!
I left out the sprouts as I was just too lazy to make the trip to the store where I can find them, My neighborhood market typically doesn't carry them.
You can find the full recipe HERE. This is such an amazing salad. The mixture of the mint, lemon and garlic make for an especially tasty salad dressing. I used a Bulgarian feta which is rather creamy, fabulous! Since the feta added such a creamy aspect to the salad, I left out the avocado. Be sure to add the slivered almonds and be sure to toast them. Adds just the right amount of crunch to the salad.
You can eat the salad just as it is or serve it on a bed of greens. It would make a wonderful light supper and then the leftovers are perfect for lunches.
Once you visit 101 Cookbooks, be sure to look around a bit as she has some wonderful recipes posted. I plan to just camp out a while on her website as there are a number of recipes that I want to try.
Hope you enjoy the salad as much as I did if you give it a try!
True beauty comes from within, and validation and self worth must also come from within.
This past week, while doing a little cleaning, clearing out, I came across some pictures that had belonged to my grandmother, pictures of me, school pictures. I looked, I thought, and I shredded the pictures.
A good portion of yesterday was spent on the internet doing research. I write for The American Opera Society of Chicago, so I research our scholarship winners, operas that they have been in, what's happening in the opera world here in Chicago as well as other cities. The job can be a little overwhelming, and at the same time, quite rewarding. While I was looking around the internet, I just happened upon this byline,
"How To Wear Everything You've Been Told Not To."
Of course it caught my eye, we all want to look our best. There was a video that accompanied the story, so I took a look. To be honest, I had never heard of Ashley Graham, but I loved her enthusiasm. Take a look!
As it goes with the internet, one thing leads to another, and to be honest, I can't remember how I got from her Glamour video to her TedX video, but as I watched the TedX video, her words brought me back to those school pictures and the fact that I had shredded them.
What was it that prompted me to shred the pictures? What was it that I saw? It really wasn't so much about what I saw, but what I felt and what I remembered. My heart ached for the little girl that tried so hard to just look pretty. For me, it wasn't about weight, but a perception of beauty.
My fourth grade picture brought back memories of coming home from school and working with my hair. It was so thick and curly, with what seemed a mind of its own. I would get out my mother's curlers and do my best to tame my hair. Maybe that would make me look pretty.
As the years went on, my hair grew longer, still thick and full of waves. I devoured every fashion magazine that I could get my hands on. There was advice on how to wear makeup, how to frame your face by plucking your eyebrows. I tried it all and yet, when I went to school, I was told I looked like a witch. True enough, my nose is long and I have sharp, piercing green eyes. Boys would laugh and shout out, "beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone." Most days, I would come home in tears. I would look in the mirror and wonder how they could call me a witch, and wonder why I couldn't be pretty like so many of the other girls. My grandmother had told me the story of the ugly duckling more times than I wanted to hear it. I didn't want to be the ugly ducking, it was too hard, and what if it never changed?
Ashley Graham makes the statement in the TedX video that only 2% of the women in the world feel that they are beautiful.
So what is beauty?
Beauty can be seen in the person who has compassion for others. Beauty is seeing joy in another person's face, when they smile without any inhibition. That beauty is reflected back to you when you know that it was you who allowed that person the freedom to feel so uninhibited and free. Beauty can be seen in the selfless act of a child when they want to share their food, their toys, or a kiss.
Beauty is not about clothes, or makeup, or any of the other external things we can surround ourselves with. It's not about how much we weigh, how tall or how short you are, or even the color of your hair. Yes, true beauty does come from within. Some of the most beautiful women I've known would never make the cover of a magazine. But they had a profound sense of making this world a better place, somehow, and making all those around them feel wonderful about themselves.
Shredding those pictures will never make the pain of those young years go away. To be honest, there are more of those pictures in existence, like all school pictures, there were sheets of them! The picture is not the point, the person in the picture is the point. I'm sure that many of you have very painful memories, memories of not being accepted, unloved, not good enough. These things can rob us of being who we were meant to be. But think about it, none of that has anything to do with beauty. It's all about some other person's inability to bring love into other's lives as well as their own.
Be you, be authentic, and know that you are beautiful.
In case you missed the post, last Friday I talked about the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It's a very motivational read. I encourage you to go back and take a look at some of the comments that were left on last Friday's post. Some were very thought provoking, and I especially appreciate the heartfelt honesty that some of you shared.
The winner of my book is I Say Sew.
Congratulations!! Please email me at sewbussted@yahoo.com with your address so I can get the book out to you.
When it comes to making a duffle bag, the sky is the limit! You can choose to have something demur, or over the top creative. If you think that making a duffle bag is in your future, think a little about some of the things you might have that will work as fabric. An old quilt that has seen better days and yet has large areas of untattered fabric, a hand woven rug, even placemats! Below, you'll see a bag that was made from a burlap bag used for transporting coffee.
The bag below could very well be made from a wool blanket.
It's your bag, so why not go all out and make it jungle crazy!
I came across this bag in a Sundance catalog. It's actually a carpet bag, but I love the fabric combination.
Here's the burlap bag. Might be a little itchy against the skin, but interesting nonetheless.
A little quilted inspiration.
Now for some add-on ideas.
Create an extra compartment around the bottom.
Do you like to keep up with your yoga routine when you travel? This bag has an extension with a belt that holds the yoga mat. Also take note that the side pocket has a zipper and there's an elasticized pocket on the end for a water bottle.
An even easier application for carrying a yoga mat would be to incorporate it into the carrying straps.
The Grainline Portside duffle bag has a pocket on either side of the bag. It might be fun to add a zipper to one side and a flap to the other.
When thinking about color combinations, don't forget the zipper, it can also be an accent.
Really make your bag your own by adding a monogram.
Don't forget the lining. It's fun to look inside a bag and see something a little unexpected.
For those of us who might over pack...just a bit ;), how about adding removable wheels? You can find the tutorial HERE.
I actually once rolled the wheels off of a suitcase!!! It's a long story, but my car was parked in a different area of the airport, one which I thought wasn't that far away. I asked the taxi driver how much it would cost to take me to my car. He said $4.00. I thought to myself, that's $6.00 by the time I give him a tip...just to go around the block. So off I went walking. It was a LOT further than I thought. The $4.00 would have been a bargain. By the time I got to my car, I had rolled off one of the wheels of my suitcase. When I arrived home and my husband saw what had happened, he couldn't believe it. "Why didn't you just pay the $4.00?!!!" I explained that in my mind it wasn't that long of a walk until I actually started walking. He fixed the wheel and guess what, it cost $4.00 to fix it!!! And I learned a lesson :)
Have a wonderful day!
Rhonda
It is not the critic who counts; Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, Or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; Who strives valiantly; Who errs, Who comes short again and again, Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; But who does actually strive to do the deeds; Who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; Who spends himself in a worthy cause; Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, And who at the worst, If he fails, At least fails while daring greatly, So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt
My apologies for not posting the Sew News magazine winners yesterday, but better late than never!!
So here are the 4 lucky ladies;
Shelia
Elleegeemakes.com
Joi Bostic
and Mary Ellen
Congratulations ladies!!!
Be sure to email me ASAP with your addresses so I can get your magazines in the mail. My email address is sewbussted@yahoo.com
Now for a little sneak peek at the fabric that I'll be using to make the bags for the sew along.
I have a few fun ideas for the bags that will give you some options that you might enjoy incorporating into your bags. Be sure to check out tomorrow's Monday Morning Inspiration post as I'll be showcasing duffle bag ideas.
