Tag: peppers

Nightmares on the Patio!

We all have those days – everything you think you are going to accomplish turns to some sort of monster or horror or nightmare as you do it.  I sure had different ideas for what I was going to do out on my patio this afternoon.  Ugh!  Ugh! to the point I have to laugh.  I really don’t know what to do with either of these except to chalk them up to experience.

This first one (above) is supposed to be some really brilliant orange geraniums on my patio table.  I don’t think so.  I get so – what?  Impatient may not be the right word.  What I feel is a need to work quickly, and perhaps therein lies the problem.  I drew them in with a pencil and set up all my paints and water and other supplies on a table outdoors.  In 85F or more weather, it was  hot.  But the heat is not the driving force for haste – it happens to me all the time, particularly with watercolor.  It’s something to really think about.

After shuddering at that first painting, I decided to just paint – no lines, nothing, just move along.  Sometimes in watercolor it has proven to be a great exercise.  Here, not so sure.  These are tabasco chilis that are ripening, and will soon be picked and dried, to later be ground into chili powder (we make our own every year, with different peppers.)  Like the first painting, everything went head over heels, and in the end, I just decided to make it more decorative than painterly.

I can always tell when I haven’t picked up a pen or brush for even a couple of days.  I felt all clumsy and disconnected.  Maybe being outside – something I have never done with gouache – added to it.  I really tried to paint from real life, plein aire, and I am not so sure that was for the best.

Oh, well.  I had fun.  Maybe there is something in that.

 

 

Cornmeal Biscuits

Cornmeal Biscuits

Instead of the usual corn tortillas to go along with our homemade chili verde, I thought cornmeal biscuits were a good idea. At first, cornbread floated through my mind, and then I thought of biscuits . . . why not combine the ideas together?

Cornmeal Biscuits

Preheat oven to 425 F.

3/4 c. butter, unsalted, finely diced
1 1/2 c. unbleached flour
3/4 c. yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 T. white sugar
1/2 c. chopped, fresh sweet pepper (I used pale, green Hungarian)
1/2 c. corn, fresh or frozen
2/3 c. buttermilk (or thin yogurt)

Combine dry ingredients – flour, cornmeal, salt, soda, cream of tartar, and sugar – in a bowl. Blend in, as for pastry, the butter, until combination resembles coarse meal. Stir in the pepper and corn. With a fork, stir in the buttermilk.

Check biscuits for consistency, adding more flour or buttermilk as you think is necessary.

Create a ball out of dough and knead briefly on floured board.  Roll out biscuits, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, on floured board, using 2.5 inch biscuit cutter.

Place on baking sheet. If you want, brush tops with extra buttermilk. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven quirks, until lightly golden. Cool on wire rack.

I got a nice baker’s dozen, but YMMV.