Wait Until Dark...

This is one of Audrey's most amazing performances and this is also one of the scariest movies I've seen.. but it's really, really good. See it! 

Bow Tie Pasta Chicken Salad: To Feed Almost the Whole World...

Bow Tie Pasta Chicken Salad:

1 (12oz.) pkg. bow tie pasta
1 (12oz.) pkg. spiral pasta
2 (16 oz.) Kraft coleslaw dressing (Christine only uses one bottle and I like that very well)
1 C mayo
20 oz. pineapple tidbits, drained
2 small cans sliced water chestnuts
2 C celery, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 pkg. craisins
1 C red grapes, halved
2 small can mandarin oranged drained
1 large (12oz.) can salled cashews
6 chicken breats, cooked and chopped

Directions:
1. Mix coleslaw dressing & mayo
2. Make this the night before, Add everything except oranges & cashes... which you add just before serving.
3. After salad stands overnight, toss and add more dressing if needed.

LDS Museum of History and Art: The LeConte Stewart Exhibit... Part 1

If you grew up in Kaysville, then you have no choice, you must see this exhibit. Many of these paintings are pictures of my memories.. places that no longer exist today or no longer exist like they were. LeConte Stewart is our painter, biographer of the land, farms and barns that have passed away and been replaced . "Barnes are going" he said, "they tear them down or they fall down." We aren't an agrarian society anymore, but farms are our foundation, they are what we came from.

My ten year old home stands on the site of some one's old farm. It makes the land sacred to me. Someone carved an existence out of the wilderness and survived on this land. It gave them the very bread they ate. LeConte Stewart had the talent to paint anywhere. I am so grateful that he recorded this place that is so dear to my heart and did it with such care. His life was glorious and he new success in his own time, which is something for any artist. But, he was troubled by great tragedy in his life losing all his siblings and his mother within a few short years. I wish I knew how and why they all died, but I can't find it anywhere.

In any case, LeConte turned to nature and art for comfort.

Painting is more than expressing the appearance of things; it is expressing the spirit of things. When you know and love a tree, you can paint its spirit, the quality God gave it.  ~LeConte Stewart

He was a fan of this little bit of Whitman...



AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

I also loved this declaration of faith:

I would like to tell you what kind of Latter-day-Saint I am. I couldn't be anything else, and that's why this church- the things that it proposes have got me enraptured. The Lord started it, and all I can do is fall in line. I tell you, it's over powered me. When I go out now and paint a tree, I just feel His spirit. I tell you it's marvelous... ~LeConte Stewart

Go! See the exhibit and those pictures will sing you a song that you'll remember from when you were very young.

LDS Museum of History and Art: Part 2...

 The LDS Museum of History & Art is a summer tradition, but we should go even more often. It is really excellent. And, if you have questions, the missionaries there are really knowledgeable. In addition to the really great LeConte Stewart exhibit (REALLY excellent).. there is a quilt show and a very fun children's activity center. .. In fact, don't take your kids unless you've planned to stay because they can learn some Mexican dances wearing the big skirts.. collect eggs from chickens and play farm etc... They won't want to leave.

I'm sorry about the terrible photos. I have never been able to take a decent photo w/out natural light. But, anyway I wanted to show you a few of the beautiful quilts they have on display. This one above was my favorite. I love crazy quilts. It's fun to read about them too. They all have an amazing story.

I don't know how to make quilts, but I know enough to know that this one was hard..

They have a fun magnet board for children to design their own. L likes crazy quilts too.

Z'Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad: The Real Recipe...

RECIPE...
Marinade

• 2 oz. Achiote
• ½ c. Orange juice
• ½ c. White vinegar
• 1 t. Black pepper, ground
• 1 t. All spice, ground
• 2 oz. Garlic clove
• 1 T. Paprika
• 1 T. Kosher Salt
• ½ T. Oregano, ground
• 4-6 Chicken breast with skin

Preparation:
1. Add all 9 ingredients to a blender and blend well.
2. Place all chicken in a large dish. Using gloves, make sure chicken gets thoroughly coated.
3. Marinade 4-6 chicken breast

Cooking chicken breast: Salt and pepper chicken breast and place melted butter down on Teflon skillet top. Place marinated chicken skin side down and place a weight on top. Sear for approx 4 minutes till crispy then turn over. Cook till done then turn on skin side down for approx one minute before slicing.

• 1 oz. Lettuce shredded 1/8"
• 1 oz. Red Cabbage shredded
• ¼ Avocado sliced
• 1 Roma tomato-small
• ¼ c. Sweet corn
• 2 T. Cotija cheese
• ¼ c. Black beans
• 2 T. Pumpkin seeds
• 3 oz. Ranch Vinaigrette
• 5 oz. Achiote chicken breast sliced

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in large salad bowl. Pour ranch vinaigrette over salad and mix well so all ingredients are covered.
Dressing recipe:

• 2 c. Favorite ranch dressing
• ¼ c. Balsamic vinegar

Mix two ingredients until consistent throughout.

Or, you could go eat it at the restaurant like I did... It's really yummy.

Summer Love: Wedding Cake Toppers...

LoVe BoxES SHoP...

Grudges & Dragons...

A Poet in Zion has posted her Friday Post... you'll not want to miss her Dragon Poem...

OK.. discuss.

I love what I do...

This is how I spent my day today... I hope I can find better outfits for these guys tomorrow. And, hopefully, some jewelry and flowers for these cute brides.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: At Hale Center Theater...

Kyle Olsen & Angela Jeffries who brilliantly played Sydney Carton & Madam Defarge in Hale's production of Tale of Two Cities (which I hope they will bring back very soon!) were cast as Freddy Benson & Christine Colgate. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and my face was sore.

The cast and crew at Hale are very hard working. They do 3 performances on Saturdays! The Ensemble must have had 10 costume changes. And, the dance numbers were spectacular. This wasn't a show for wimps. The set designers and the costumers at Hale knocked it out of the park! Lucky Angela got to wear about 6 different, lovely yellow frocks and you should have seen her matching orange luggage!

Now that you're all excited to see the show.. I hate to say that I went on the very last day... :( I won't do that to you next time. But, I hope to see Kyle and Angela in a new show very soon... They are such great talents.. I worry that Utah won't have them for long.

East meets West: Custom Painted Wedding Cake Toppers...

Finished painting this beautiful couple just this evening. I love painting East Indian Brides and their beautiful gowns.
Find more Wedding Cake Toppers... at..
LoVE BoXes SHoP...

LoveBoxes.. goes Down Under!!!

My Wedding Cake Toppers are being featured this week on a wonderful Australian On-line Magazine... called Little Wed Hen. I love the article so you must pop over and see why I'm up so late bragging about myself.

Bride & Prejudice...

I was looking through some of the movies I've blogged about and didn't see this one, which is a travesty because it's just so much fun. If you didn't guess from the title, it's the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice. This movie is a little silly I admit... but I LOVE it! It's the color and the clothes and the amazing dance numbers. This is a musical! And, in the end they ride away on elephants.. beat that!

Oh and P.S. this film is pretty much G rated if I recall... which is really refreshing.

Without Love: Hepburn & Tracy...

In my interest in classic films, I don't know how this one escaped me. If you've seen The Mirror Has Two Faces with Barbara Streisand, that film was a remake of Without Love. I like both films equally and I like them both quite a lot.

In this one, Tracy plays a brilliant scientist who has been burned in love. Hepburn plays a widow who has experienced love at it's best. They have different reasons for choosing to marry as only friends...

That's all I'm telling you.. It has it's Hollywood wierdnesses as far as the script goes. There are a few awkward moments and it goes a little long in spots.. but, it's a pretty fantastic little film all in all.

BTW... It's fun to see Lucy in this too. She's very pretty.

Catherine the great...

Honestly, I haven't read much of Catherine the great... so I don't know how to judge this program. The point of the program seems to be to show how she slept with the right men at the right time. .. how very enlightened of her. The program almost totally ignored the reforms she made in Russia and concentrated on her "relationships" with different men.

I just don't know how accurate the history is, but I do know that the focus was not on her accomplishments/failings as ruler of Russia, but on her affairs instead.

I didn't feel like I learned much about her or about Russia.. so.. take it or leave it... ehhh..

Can anyone recommend a better book or film?

Voyage of the Dawn Treader...

I think all of these films have been really well done. It's been a long time since I've read these stories, but they seem to me to follow the books fairly close. This one is no exception. I am just so thrilled they were made. My girls both loved it.

Owl Tutorial: These are Fun...

If you could see these in person, you wouldn't need a tutorial, they are that simple.
We found this free needlepoint pattern and took it to a copy center to enlarge it. We enlarged them in 3 sizes. I wanted to sew two layers of fabric together to make it stronger & add another layer for the tummy for visual interest. But you can make these any way you want and that's what the kids have done, which has made it fun. BTW.. we didn't want the tail or feet, whichever that is in the picture. I have a few copies left of the pattern, if you are interested.. I would be happy to mail them to you. Just leave me a message.

One you cut out your pieces, you will have two layers for the front and two for the back as you can see here. The blue here is the tummy. Then you cut out nose and eyes. We found some buttons to play with from our craft stash, but you could use felt or fabric or even paint.
Then, you sew on the tummy, the wings, and the beak. The eyes are my favorite part. I start at one end of the eye and sew straight across to the other end. Then, I use the reverse setting and go all the way back and then to the middle where I reposition the needle and repeat until I've made a pizza wheel all the way around.

Then, we hand sewed button eyes, pinned our wings and then all four layers we pinned carefully together. We made sure that the pins went through all the layers and then sewed around. For our project, we used only the machine and we found that it was easier to sew from one ear to the other leaving the top open to stuff. This way we could put the beans in the bottom and they wouldn't be falling out as we sewed up the top.

We used poly pellets in the bottom, but you could use dry beans or rice if you wanted or you could use fiber fill for the whole project. I like the heft that the pellets give to a toy, but don't recommend them for small children who chew on everything... It's probably a safety hazard.

Then, you just sew up the top. It looks VERY homemade and has a childlike charm. It's a great project if you've got a stash of random scraps you'd like to use. We had a 9 year old boy that needed a little help with the machine, but everyone older was able to make their own. I hope to have a photo of all the owls together at some point. If you make them.. Let me know. I'd love to see how your owls turn out!

If you want one and don't want to make one, the 3 I made are all for sale in my Etsy Shop..

Love Boxes SHoP..

Cafe Terigo...

While I'm talking about Park City Restaurants, I don't think I've ever mentioned this one before and it deserves a mention. This is not light fair... the food is extravagant. The photo above is their famous dessert... bread pudding with homemade cinnamon ice cream. Why isn't cinnamon ice cream a flavor available at the store? I don't know because it's so yummy. Their risotto is perfect, their fish is amazing. I've been there at least 10 times and never been disappointed. It's also nice and quiet and has a beautiful atmosphere with quotes from Victor Hugo and the like on the walls. It's a pretty place. Give it a try and tell me what you think.


424 Main Street
Park City, Utah 84060
(435) 645-9555Open Mon 11:30am-2:30pm; Tue-Sat 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-9pm

Hapa Grill...

I have no experience with sushi, but after eating here, I want to eat more soon. It was melt in your mouth delicious. My salad was also really different and yummy. This is already new favorite place in Park City. And, I was there with such fantastic company :)

Owl Pillow... Was fun to make..

This owl pillow/bean bag was very fun to make. "How to" post coming first of next week. :)

Afghan from Afghanistan...

This is my cozy chair. This top white blanket is an Afghan that my cousin Jonna made for me while she was serving our country in Afghanistan. You wouldn't think something so comforting could be made in a war zone.. but there it is. I already felt like Jonna and all our servicemen and women had done something truly wonderful for me.. so I didn't need this blanket, but I sure LOVE IT. And, I will treasure it. Thank you Jonna. Thank you for the blanket and thank you for your service. I'm very touched and grateful for both gifts.