Joe and I sometimes take cooking classes at our local “Kitchen Shoppee” www.kitchenshoppe.com here in Carlisle. We took a class a couple of weeks ago on cooking Pacific Northwest foods. One of our favorite things was a salad with lemon dressing. Just writing about it makes my mouth water. I have modified the original recipe after testing it at home. Here goes.
SPINACH SALAD WITH LEMON DRESSING
2 lemons, Meyer if you can find them
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon shallots
1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Meyer lemon infused olive oil
6 ounces spinach
1/2 cup crumbled feta
With a zester, remove the skin from 2 lemons. Place the water and sugar in a small saucepan and add the lemon zest. Bring water to boil, stir until sugar is dissolved and cover. Remove pan from heat and allow liquid to cool to room temperature.
Transfer the lemon mixture to a small mixing bowl through a fine-meshed sieve. Remove the sieve and discard the rinds.
Add the shallots and vinegar to the bowl and whisk well. Continue to whisk while adding the oil, a few drops at a time.
For the salad, clean and cut spinach into small pieces. Sprinkle some feta crumbles on top along with some dressing and enjoy!
Some additions to consider…craisins (excellent) or some fresh cut strawberries.
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Patricia Votruba sent me this photo of her finished project after taking my Garden Medley workshop this fall. It turned out beautifully. Thanks for sharing Patricia.
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I know, if you read my blog regularly you would think that I have shown you all the quilts I photographed in Houston at the International Quilt Association Show, but no, I still have more photos to share.
“Roseate Spoonbill at the Shore” was made by Melanie Marr from Houston, Texas. I am always impressed when someone can take a color, like the white head and neck, and give it such depth and dimension. Impressive.
Susan Brubaker Knapp from Mooresville, North Carolina made “Maximum Cat Nap”. Again, I am impressed when someone can make cat hair look so real that I want to touch it. By using thread Susan is able to achieve the look of real hair. Again, I am impressed. Check out Susan’s website to see more of her wonderful work http://www.bluemoonriver.com/
Karen Eckmeier from Kent, Conn. made “Tiny Town” and the pieces were in fact really tiny. To find out more about Karen visit her site at http://www.kareneckmeier.com/ I liked how Karen extended the center design into the border. Very nicely done.
Susan Schlotzhauer from Colorado Springs, CO made “Really “Wild” Flowers! Second Season”. It looked to me like this would have been a quilt that was really fun to make.
It does not show well in the photo but several areas of the quilt are dimensional which added a nice touch.
And on top of all of that was exceptional quilting.
This quilt brought a smile to my face. It is called “Rare Birds” and was made by Rachel Wetzler. It won 3rd place in the Art Whimsical category. To see more of Rachel’s work go to http://rachelwetzlerquilts.blogspot.com/ If I got the story correct Rachel meets with some other professional quilters once a month and she made each bird to reflect some of each of her friends characters. Very creative ideas.
This next quilt was made by Gail Stepanek and Ronda K Beyer of New Lenox, Illinois. The name of the quilt is “Me and My Shadow” and it won second place in the Traditional Pieced category.
Look at the details on this quilt. The quilting is ah-mazing.
Until next time….