NaBloPoMo: Make ...Home Decor?

'Bearded Hillbilly'

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt is, "Do you tend to buy or make the decorative touches in your home?"

If you read my post a few days ago on crafts, i.e., paper trees, you will see that I rarely make my own. Frankly, I do not have the time, the energy, or the patience to make them, at least for the most part, though these trees were an exception!

Rather, I consider myself more of an artistic person, at least in terms of drawing. I didn't realize I had a talent for it until I came across some beautiful photos of orchids in a National Geographic magazine.

There were a number of them that I drew, one in particular for quite some time. In fact, one of my drawn pictures I later had framed, as I spent hours replicating the photo as best I could and felt it deserved some merit.

What fascinated me about these orchids were that some of them looked like they had human or non-human faces. Unfortunately, though I later purchased the magazine years later, it is currently in one of my storage boxes. Otherwise, I would feature the original and my version here. Never thought I'd be writing about it one day!

However, you can see the picture above of the detailed 'Bearded Hillbilly' as this particular flower was called. Rather appropriate a name, don't you think? ;)

"Desiderata" (meaning "desired things" in Latin) is a prose poem that hangs on a wall in my kitchen of all places. However, I didn't want it in my living room though I think it may be more suitable there or perhaps even in my bedroom. Read the piece and its history here.

Another favourite piece of decor as silly as this may sound is an attractive calendar - pardon the flash - this year's hanging perfectly on a narrow wall between my bathroom and the living room. My current one is called 'Treehuggers' which caught my attention immediately as (1) I love trees (2) I hug trees from time to time and (3) a social media name that I use has 'treehugger' as partof it. Thus, I thought it amusing that I discovered this "leftover" calendar on sale at Banyen Book's annual Groundhog Day (that lasts a weekend).

Over the years, I've had pieces of purchased artwork come and go like this one; it didn't seem to fit or suit anywhere in particular in my current home. I love gerberas, one of my favourite flowers (especially orange and yellow). And I love to dance and sing - the words are "dance" "sing" "love" "live" - so bought the picture and had it framed. Interestingly, the glass on this frame broke twice, once when I moved. I'm considering reframing it in plastic or perhaps just removing the frame and laminating it instead. That way it won't break!

I have a built-in shelf which I adore that lines one wall and part of another in my living room (and bedroom as well). On the longest side in my living room, I have a number of books displayed in various arrangements. 'The Ringing Cedars of Russia series' written by Vladimir Megre has such gorgeous book covers, that I think are meant to be displayed. This is why these books stand the way they do.

Though I used to have an altar, created spontaneously with various heart-shaped objects, some small crystals, cards, and the like, my place is too small to have one. Instead, I have a Burmese temple guardian made of limestone outside my door. It feels like the right spot for it as my place is too small and it doesn't feel like it belongs inside.

This 'artifact' (as I suspect it's machine made though who knows) is a story in itself. For another blog post perhaps? This one is getting too long, actually longer than I expected. I didn't know I had that much to say about this topic. ;)

What types of decor do you prefer and/or are most attracted to?

NaBloPoMo: Make...a Dish Disaster!

Clip art of burnt-looking rice

Today's themed question: "Tell us about a dish you attempted to make that ended in disaster. Have you ever re-attempted the meal?"

This unusual prompt follows on the heels of yesterday's prompt on favourite dinner ... hmmm ...

As I referred to in yesterday's post, I have burned rice before and unfortunately more than once which is why I got a rice cooker! ;)

Other than that however, what comes to the forefront of my mind is when I recently imitated from memory, my Mom's recipe for oven-cooked cabbage. I had added vinegar (not sure how much, but definitely more than what was required), sliced apples (not enough), and a think a touch of sugar for sweetness to a small red cabbage in an enamel roaster. I may be missing an ingredient here, though I believe those are the main ones.

Clip art of red cabbage

You may be familiar with the strong smell of cooked cabbage, or rather cabbage that is cooking, aren't you? Now imagine that with the added aroma of white vinegar, a distinctly strong odor. Not a pleasant combination, not even separately!

The stench permeated the air even despite the stove overhead fan, a lit candle, natural lemon essential oil spray, and an open window. And not just in the air for that evening, nor even the next day, but also the one after that! In fact, I would say at least two days if not more!

Man, did I ever learn the hard way with this non-award winning recipe!

Did I repeat making it? I sure did, though with a lot less vinegar and it tasted much better! ;)

Tell me (so I don't feel alone in this), did you ever have a cooking fiasco?

NaBloPoMo: Make...Dinner?

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt is, "What is your favourite thing to make for dinner?"

Years ago, after learning how to make this from one of my sisters, lasagna with meat used to be my favourite, albeit it was time-consuming to make. Then I stopped buying non-organic meat, thus stopped making it. (I know I could have made vegetarian lasagna, but for some reason never did!)

The look of shredded beef is so unappealing both in look and in smell, especially when cooking! Does it make you feel squeamish inside like it seems to for me?

Stir-fried rice with veggies and/or sometimes with added cooked eggs like you see in Chinese rice dishes became my preferred dinner years later.

The past few years however, I combined the use of two of my favourite appliances (which I blogged about on November 21, 2014, during the previous NaBloPoMo challenge): my crock pot and rice cooker, both small and cute. The crock pot was meant primarily to save time and the rice cooker for an expected outcome of perfectly cooked rice (as opposed to me overcooking it, i.e., think burnt!).

I think my favourite became organic beef made into a stew over or rather, mixed in with rice, sometimes with loads of veggies, other times not. (The photo above that I took features cilantro which I used to hate, now love, as well as rice that just happens to have lentils and split peas in it.

Truly, I could experiment with the crock pot to make simple or creative dishes, though I haven't just yet. Perhaps my next preferred dinner will become the result! ;)

What is your preferred dinner? And do you happen to know of a simple - a few ingredients - and healthy crock pot dish? If so, please consider letting me know.

This post is linked to both #NaBloPoMo and also #WordyWednesday, written in part as a word prompt from B-A-R (Blog-A-Rhythm) member, writer and blogger, Aditi Kaushiva for Wordy Wednesday. ;)

NaBloPoMo: Make...Paper Trees!

Paper tree I made at a Christmas dinner

Today's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) question on the theme of 'make' is as follows: "What was the last craft project you attempted?"

Though I'm not generally an artsy-craftsy person, I have from time to time made some crafts with a group of women usually and enjoyed it. Over the years, some of my craft creations included a pine cone wreath, tiny-mouse-head-and-tail-in-walnut-shell Christmas tree decorations, a pendant, and I'm not sure what else. I obviously do not have much or any of these remnants left as reminders, just memory.

The latest craft project that I learned about at a local library was one that excited me greatly. In order to understand why, you need to realize that I love trees. Yes, I even hug them from time to time. And in fact, one of my social media names has "treehugger" in it. ;)

Me hugging a tree

The library project involved making trees out of paper, or rather paper trees primarily made out of old books that the library was discarding. A good use as any!

I discovered that the larger the book, the longer it takes to make them, so the books were sectioned off in chunks of pages. I was drawn to a book in Persian: so elegant and feminine with its curved characters. See the picture below of the first paper tree I made.

Eventually, I ended up making a number of them for a Christmas desk-decorating contest - usually with a theme of trees at least for me - made out of glossy advertising flyers, only to discover there was no contest after all, at least this past year.

Ten trees I created for work and seven for home. And why not? My home theme is trees, including (believe it or not) a tree-patterned shower curtain! Not my ideal perhaps; however, the brown silhouette of the tree matches the fake wood flooring. (I'm glad I don't have tile floor!)

My tree shower curtain

I even made a paper tree for a community Christmas dinner I attended with some acquaintances to add to the decor. They all loved it and one designed a star to top it. ;)

What project, recent or otherwise, have you made that you thoroughly enjoyed? What of its essence did you particularly enjoy?