I have a new blog.

Hey Everyone,

I have decided to start a blog about my adventures in cooking, baking, tea, knitting, jewelry… all the things I love to create. I figure my artistic pursuits deserved their own area yet, since they are a homogenous part of my existence, I wanted to meld them with my LJ life, thoughts and communications.

The new blog is called Cooking Up Art and I’ve arranged the posts there to feed directly into LJ. I just wanted to let you know they’ll be piping through and I hope you enjoy reading them.

[Cooking Up Art] Ode to New England

Cooking Up Art website

I’ve been thinking about chowder. I’m not a big fan of potato chunks,
dairy products have decided I am not their bosom friend anymore in
quantities greater than tablespoons, and clams are, well, texturally,
um… interesting, at best.

So, why am I thinking about chowder since
these are all major ingredients in it? I want to find a way to make a
tasty chowder that tastes as good to me as the chowders of my youth
smelled. I am originally from Rhode Island, home of the quahog and many
interesting ways to incorporate said invertebrates into recipes. Rhode
Island had a clear broth chowder that I distinctly remember. I also
remember experiencing some seafood bouillabaisses that were served in a
trough for the whole table to share. Both of these were far more
intriguing to me than milk based chowder.

I’ve been mulling the creation of chowder I’d like for a few days now. I walked to the local
seafood market and bought some salmon trim for the protein, sautéed an
onion, garlic, thyme and other herbs, then added chopped celery, two
tomatoes and frozen corn. Yes, I’m cheating. In my defense, fresh corn
on the cob won’t be in season for many, many months. I didn’t think my
urge for chowder would wait that long. My concoction has been simmering
in the cauldron much of the afternoon and is ready to eat.

The result: After dinner, I added more lemon juice and salt and will allow it to
simmer. It’s tasty, yet it’s lacking something. Perhaps I’ll know
tomorrow when I reheat it for lunch. It’s a recipe with promise.