I fell in love again...All things go! All things go!

Last night Clint and I made a 4 hour trek to see my favorite musician, Sufjan Stevens! (Well the Beatles will always be my number 1, but you get the drift) And let me just tell you it was AMAZING! Hooray for Sufjan!!! First off I have to say Clint wins mega husband points for going on this trip. Sufjan is not your traditional musician, so he was exposed to a whole new type of music. And although he did manage to fall asleep for a short second, I think he liked it too. (Although he led me to believe he liked the movie Waitress too, later to find out he didn't...)

If you haven't heard of Sufjan, you may recognize his tunes from Little Miss Sunshine. If you haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine, you really ought to. Its hilarious! Anyhow... There is music and then there is art, and what Sufjan does is truly the best of art. I listen to Sufjan nearly 80% of the time I am in the studio and I just love his music so much!

One of my favorite parts of the concert was when Sufjan said something like this, "When I was growing up my father told me to be a lawyer, because the law is forever. My stepmom told me to be a postal worker, because the government is forever, my mother told me to be an engineer, because that is forever too! But I became an artist, because art wins, Art is really what is forever!" Hooray for becoming an artist Sufjan! You motivate me to make better art.

So we drove to the concert and then drove back, getting back at 3:00am! But it was worth it. So I was figuring last night that between this, going to kirtland with clints parents this weekend, and driving to kentucky twice I have been driving about 26 hours, about the same distance from ohio to utah!

Kentucky Show

This weekend a classmate of mine and I drove down to Lexington Kentucky to install our exhibit, Interval. The show turned out really great and it was a lot of fun to put together. Both of us make pretty understated, quiet work, only she primarily works with Black and my work is almost alway pretty light. So together they complimented each other very well I think. I showed some post grad work as well as a few things I was working on for my thesis. The above piece is my most recently completed work, Remnants.

If you are around the area the closing reception is this friday. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend making a trip out to Kentucky. So far, I think it might be my least favorite state. Not very impressive. Ha ha.

Just My Luck

Today Clint and I had to give talks in our ward. And so of course about an hour before church I got this gigantic mosquito bite on my forehead! The little jerk was trying to keep me from giving my talk. I came upstairs to show Clint, who said, "its no big deal..." Oh PLEASE! I have a welt the size of a quarter on my forehead! He said, "I wish it happened to me instead of you, because it really wouldn't bother me." I disagreed. I think any self respecting person would be a little self conscious to have a third eye in the middle of their forehead, especially when having to stand in front of a large crowd of people. Well a moment later, Satan the mosquito was foiled when I remembered that I could part my hair on the opposite side. My bangs saved the day. The End.

Garden + Ice Cream Maker = True Love

my roommates gave me an ice cream maker for my wedding and ever since then I have been making ice cream non-stop. I lay in bed thinking of new ideas for flavor combinations and I get so excited! The first kind I made was using the fresh mint in our back yard and it was delicious! Mint is of course one of my favorite things. After the mint I decided to be more creative and I was inspired by my favorite ice cream shop, Jeni's ( They always have very creative, gourmet and absolutely delicious flavors) So I made Cucumber Coconut Sorbet and Butternut Squash ice cream with Caramel & candied pecans. And they were both a success! hooray!!!

Cucumber Coconut Sorbet
I love how cool and refreshing cucumber is. People don't give cucumber enough opportunities as a desert flavor, but I'm telling you this one is delish! Its light and tasty, with a smooth texture. Yum!

2 large Cucumber
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 can light coconut milk
Juice from 1 lime
3/4 cup simple syrup, Recipe below

Blend the cucumbers and honey together in a blender or food processor until cucumber is almost pureed, but still has some chunks. Refrigerate for 6-24 hours. The honey will draw out the moisture in the cucumbers. Then blend again until smooth, and pour into a fine strainer, pushing out juices and discarding pulp & peel.

Combine the juices with a can of coconut milk & lime juice & simple syrup
Freeze in Ice cream maker for 20-30 minutes or until thick and creamy. YUM!!!

simple syrup : Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup sugar
2. 1/4 cup light corn syrup
3. 1/4 cup water

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water and bring to a boil. Cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Let stand until cool, 30 minutes.

Butter nut Squash
The squash has a richer flavor and is more decadent with the caramel and pecans. We has friends over for dinner last night and they were shocked that the secret ingredient was squash. Its taste a little like pumpkin pie only more mild.

Start by peeling and cubing one medium sized butternut squash. Boil for 5-10 minutes with a little vanilla in the water.
Use your favorite basic vanilla ice cream recipe, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, some nutmeg a little brown sugar.
Add a cup of the cream mixture in a blender with the butternut squash and puree until smooth. Mix with remaining ice cream mixture. Pour into fine strainer to remove pulp. I would probably strain this twice. I only did it once and the texture was a little too grainy.

Then pour into ice cream machine! and freeze!
Yummy yummy yummy.


Next up, I'm thinking Basil Lime.... I love my garden!