Well, The Hun did it and we have been knee deep in heirloom tomatoes for the entire summer. He tells me that this will last right up to Thanksgiving, give or take a week. No complaints from me, and he trades the excess with the gourmet shop in town for a loaf of bread now and again. Yes, Placerville has a gourmet shop. It even sells Parmigiano cheese that is not in a green and red can.

BTW The Hun just had a small operation on his sinuses. If whining were an Olympic sport he would be up on the medal platform with the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background.

We have heard nothing from our phantom subscriber in quite some time. The Hun is convinced that she has gone undercover in preparation for the war against Iraq. Xina feels that she has taken a much needed R&R and is calmly carving stamps on a mountaintop retreat in Nepal.

road trips and classes

This show was proof positive that the seminal point and perennial hot bed of stamping has become over saturated with shows. In all the years I have been doing stamp shows never have I had so many one-stamp sales along with requests to charge the sale to a credit card.

The classes were great. It is always a pleasure to meet new and talented crafters and see how they interpret and expand upon my ideas. I have, and always will, emphasized technique over project so that the class participants come away with the tools to enable them to continue to create on their own.

Since the show was on the weekend, my classes had to be given during the week. Many people came up to me at the show and said they were unable to take a class because they were working. I spoke to Lauri Lewis at A Little Bazaar and she indicated that she would love to have me down again on a weekend for more classes. We will let you know by special bulletin when this is scheduled.

246-004L

Last I spoke to Paula Amari her stamp and mixed media show in St. Mary’s, Gorgia this coming February, is filled in so far as exhibitors are concerned. Many “A” list companies have signed up. The Ichiyo Art Center, Burnt Offerings, PostModern, European Papers will be there, and she even got Barry at Rubber Poet to come out of hibernation. Exhibitors will be placed in multiple historic buildings within the old part of this beautiful and charming town.

The list of classes and teachers is awesome; Linda O’Brien, Barbara Sawyer, Stephanie Mc Kay, Lisa Ohmer, Kaye Phillips, Kathy Martin, Carolyn Hurst, Nancy Dunn Lawrence, yours truly and many, many more. And the class prices are 1/3 less than anywhere else.

And on Saturday night Paula has scheduled a harbor cruise including a Southern style dinner for $25 (this may be your only chance to get to see The Hun in his natural setting and not under the great pressure of being my class helper – he promised to be nice to everyone).

Great classes, great exhibitors, perfect weather and only a ferry ride away from Cumberland Island (where John Kennedy Jr. was married). Contact Paula for a complete listing of classes, exhibitors and a neat map at 877-313-6745 or www.oldtowncrafts.com for complete info including housing. And don't worry about food; Paula has invited everyone over to her house ;-).

Detailed View

hot flashes

Linda Johnson has just moved the location of her Stamp It Rich store in Placerville (my local) to the historic downtown area. She has purchased a wonderful old 1890s era building and totally renovated it to include, among other things, a huge classroom space. With this move she has become the premier stamp/craft store in El Dorado County. I have already taught my first class at her Grand Opening, and have several more scheduled.

In response to some very positive feedback and a lot of nagging, I have completed five new goddess doll figures and four new mold boards (available next month). See the doll stamps on the Web page here.

267-002L

267-003L

267-001L

The dolls work really well on fabric, clay or paper (when you emboss them with Bmuse powder they look enameled.) We also have some new sayings, along the lines of “when you talk to yourself be nice.” This is something we can all relate to since I am the meanest person to me.

The last new thing is my age – holy mackerel, when did this happen? I'm feeling a little tender since my birthday last week was a milestone. But instead of slowing down I'm shifting into high gear, playing with clay, coming up with new classes, stamp images, etc. It’s only a number – right?

faux gem stone

Use green metallic to emulate jade, rose hyacinth to get a rose quartz like color. Experiment with the other colors to discover your own faux gems. Buff the finished piece on a wheel or piece of course cloth and you will be amazed by the end result.

246-005L

forget collage this is grad school

But she, as is her reputation, has gone overboard. Not just joss papers and other ephemera. Not just pages from old foreign books and bit and pieces of ribbon or yarn or metallic floss. She is now offering playing cards from the far corners of the world, in designs much different then we are used to. Including a little essay on the history and evolution of playing cards. As if this weren't enough she has found sources for game pieces, like dominoes, in different materials, sizes and shapes (like Tri-Ominos), which boggled my mind (I get free advance samples to play with.)

And all this at prices that have caused me to, at least twice, tell her that a critical part of staying in business is to make a fair profit on one’s wares. Not only are her prices so low as to shock, but also she keeps finding better sources and lowering them even more, aside from her sales and specials. Check her out at: www.SkyBluePink.com.

We will continue to carry some of her products but the full and expanded line will be found only on the SkyBluePink site.

decorating dominoes

This prompted me to look at my line of stamps and see which, if any, would work with such game pieces. It turns out that my sheets of petroglyphs and goddess embellishments fit perfectly (how clever of me to foresee this trend.)

Plate 238

Plate 239

I also have a bunch of small petroglyphs and Native American symbols that will work, and some postoids and faces, along with Asian symbols and chops.

15-007B

30-008B

163-010C

180-012B

bistro hun

Essentially any bread pudding is stale bread soaked in an egg custard and baked. Fresh bread simply disintegrates. Simple enough. And if you don't have any stale bread hanging around, buy one fresh and leave it out for a day or two, or oven dry it a bit. You can speed up the stal-ing (is this a real word?) process by slicing it into two or three pieces to expose more surface to the air.

Being the foodie and all around glutton that I am, I like my pudding very rich. However, much to the delight of ERA, you can make a very credible pudding with low or non-fat milk or that great new product from Land O Lakes, non-fat half and half. It stands up beautifully to baking and tastes great (we use it everyday in our morning coffee.)

A good basic recipe is two to two and one-half cups of liquid (cream, milk, etc.), two eggs and two yolks, to eight to nine ounces of bread (about six cups when cut into small cubes.)

These are some of my favorite savory variations followed by a general step-by-step.

• Wild Mushroom and Cheese
• Caramelized Onions and Roasted Garlic
• Roasted Fennel, Sausage and Apple

Butter a two-quart baking dish well (very important, as the eggs cause it to stick) or alternatively eight one-cup ramekins. Bake the pudding at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes for the casserole or 30 to 35 minutes for the ramekins, until lightly browned on top. The ramekins work best for company as each guest gets their own individual pudding. Run a thin knife around the edge and invert them onto the plate.

For the Caramelized Onion and Roasted Garlic, use about 1/4 cup roasted garlic puree, three large onions caramelized in olive oil, 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar and 2 Tbs. sugar. Use 2 1/2 cups liquid, 2 eggs, 2 yolks and about 9 ounces of cubed bread. Mix everything together including some rosemary and salt & pepper, let stand and bake as above.

For the Fennel, Sausage and Apple, thinly slice four bulbs of fennel, toss with 3 Tbs. olive oil and bake at 425 for 30 to 35 minutes, turning once until soft and slightly brown. While this is roasting, crumble and sauté 1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage until lightly browned, remove from the pan, add 2 Tbs. Butter, sauté one apple, peeled, cored and sliced, until tender and golden brown, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Mix these three ingredients together with 2 cups sour cream, 1/4 cup apple cider, 3 eggs, 2 yolks, some sage (just a little as sage is a very powerful herb) and salt & pepper. Bake 350 as above.

Some other time for the sweet versions, including chocolate bread pudding.

That's all for now!
Roberta