Posts from the ‘The Travel Section’ Category
Donuts, the dessert you eat for breakfast, have been on my mind since I heard about a place in Wichita, KS that makes unique flavors like salted caramel, orange cream cake, oatmeal cookie, and maple bacon. Passing through on a weekend vacation to Oklahoma City with my sister gave me the perfect opportunity to pick up a dozen for the road.
As you can see by the photograph we had no trouble at all sampling 12 different donuts in two days.
Donuts, like pizza, cookies, cheeseburgers and other circular shaped foods, come in such varieties that the design and color of the food is almost as exciting as the taste.
(clever segue, eh?)
I thought so. Above is one of my newer paintings – another featuring stenciled shapes with embellished patterns and textures. I’m really enjoying the lighter feeling these recent paintings have shown and all that can be done with a a simple shape and overlapping colors.
Looking at this painting now really has me thinking about what other objects (food or otherwise) are circle shaped…bowl of soup, cup of coffee…what is your favorite circle shaped item?
Part of the great studio clean up I embraced the other day uncovered all my matted original paintings from my first solo trip to New York City over the summer. Uncovering them brought back all my warm fuzzy feelings for wandering the streets for world renowned art galleries, stuffing my face with food made by angels in heaven, and of course painting in my 10 foot by 10 foot cell, er…pod…I mean hotel room.
The paintings are gradually getting listed for sale in my Etsy store. And I’m completely torn about that. I am not sure I want to sell them. But I want them to be “out there” so up they go slowly but surely.
What are you doing today? I hope your weather is pleasant and you’re enjoying something good…tell me about it!
A couple days ago a friend posted on Facebook a question I wanted to answer but couldn’t at the time think of a reasonable answer. It wasn’t until today when I was walking home from the farmer’s market carrying a sack of tomatoes and listening to music that I found my answer. She asked;
If you were going to give your Summer 2011 a title or headline, what would it be?
Me: A Mixed Bag
What would yours be?
I have to admit my favorite part of Ozark culture is the “hideaway” part. The part where you run off to the mountains with your special someone, get a room, and basically stay in the room except for the occasional trip out for food. If that kind of living is up your alley then you too should visit Eureka Springs, Arkansas just south of Branson, Missouri. They’ve got a fancy old hotel that I just love. I love it because the floors creak when you walk on them and the hallways all seem off kilter and it feels like going back in time. And they have a spa in the hotel. Need I say more?
Eureka is a totally laid back place. Most of the people you see there are hippies, bikers, or tourists. And everyone is nice. Except this one old gal that works at Two Dumb Dames (a candy store) who was anything but polite about cutting up some fudge for us. Anyway – Eureka is a small town based on the idea of healing spring waters. I’m not sure if the water is drinkable anymore but there are a surprising amount of spontaneous water holes all over the town. That and a lot of stairs. A lot. Bring your tennis shoes. You’re gonna hike.
Do as I say, not as I do (those are not very good tennis shoes I’m wearing). Another cool thing about Eureka is it’s a totally animal friendly town. I can’t count the amount of cats, dogs, deer, and butterflies I saw on my morning walks. It was nuts. I am not a huge fan of animals just running up to me but this cat was very friendly. In fact it lives in the hotel we stayed in and it followed me for a good part of my walk. Did I mention there are butterflies? Swarms of them. Not kidding – like X-files style amounts of these insects were everywhere we went. See?
Well, that’s just two, but believe me there were many more. I’ve been visiting Eureka for about 6 or 7 years now and each time I find something new that I love. This time, I fell in love with some of its foods. We ate great stuff at Bubba’s BBQ, Chelsea’s dowtown, Lovin’ Oven on the highway (where a 20-year old will always call you and everyone “darlin”), and nothing tops dessert at Dr. Baker’s Bistro after 9pm on the roof of the hotel looking out on the town. Each morning our hotel provided free and delicious food. Hot food, cold food, all kinds of food. And a variety of fruits in jars like this:
And they sold those jars in the lobby. Hooray! I decided to take a jar of Blueberry spread home. But at home last night I found myself alone….bored….hungry….with just a jar of blueberry fruit spread. This could only mean one thing. I made some dough and let it sit overnight so that in the morning I would have fresh, delicious, piping hot, toasty English muffins. With fruit spread from my favorite place in the world.
Oh the joy. The pure sweet tasty victory! Try making your own English muffins. If you’re intrigued enough about my very delicious blueberry jam – buy it here. If you’re in the Ozarks make sure you get to Eureka Springs. Then come back here and tell me about it!
