Sweet Dumpling Pumpkin

It has been super busy. 

During the summer, I just spent my time on paintings. Now it’s time to come back into reality!

I teach art to children in NJ. Last week, they asked me if I was preparing a costume for a halloween party. Nope. I didn’t even notice that halloween displays are already everywhere. Instead going out shopping for a costume, I visited the farmers market after a long while.

Halloween has arrived at the farmer’s market. Actually, the market is full of orange pumpkins and a spooky atmosphere. It won't stimulate my appetite, but next to the huge Jack-o'-lantern pumpkins, there are boxes and boxes of many different types of squashes. All of them looked nice, and I picked several cute pumpkins which were white with green striped jackets on.

I cut of the tops and scooped the seeds out with a spoon. I was going to add some butter and brown sugar before I put it in a oven, but I noticed while cutting the top off that there was something shiny on the surface. It was actually a sweet syrup! Like the
name suggests, these pumpkins are super sweet.
I just baked it and it tasted like pumpkin pie.

Thank you for coming the opening show.

So many people were at the show even though there were no announcements about the show at the entrance!
Also, it was my first chance to see and talk to another botanical artists. I wasn't trained as a botanical artist. Maybe, many of the artists are similar. They may just happen to be called botanical artists because they paint botanical subjects - like I do. However, I felt like it was the first day of high school. I was very nervous to see others because I would be the only one who didn't know anything. What a negative attitude! But it was stuck with me until the very moment of the show's opening. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. All of the artists who I met that night were very friendly, and had sincere respect for each other. The exhibition organizer was very a charming and thoughtful lady. I felt so relieved. It was not only fun to meet the artists, but very encouraging for me. Particularly, one lady, who painted a pine corn, deeply affected to me. We had an interesting conversation and she told me about her shadow -how she drew the color of the shadow which has many many layers of color, but it is still light and with beautiful transparency. I knew the color of the shadow is the key, but just tried to find the color I'm seeing. She actually creates the color of her own, yet very realistic.

At the end of the night, one thing I could think of was the next painting I would start.

I would like to thank all of my friends who came to visit me at that night again. Thank you everyone. I couldn't find the way to keep going without your support!!

Arugula and tomato pasta

The bitter taste of arugula was a sensation to me. The first time I had it was at a small restaurant downtown. My friend and I sat outside and I ordered a salad. I honestly don’t remember what kind of salad it was, but the bitterness of the green matched the other ingredients very well. I asked my friend what the name of the green was? He answered “Uh? It’s arugula.”, as if he is talking about broccoli or some other regular vegetable! Later, I figured our that it is very regular vegetable here. Also, another friend of mine in Japan pointed out that I had it several times with her. The worst of all, she said, is that I liked it very much and asked a waiter what it was. I assumed the flavor of arugula here was much stronger. It was probably a much stronger sensation because it had been some time since I last had it.

Anyway, since then, arugula is on my standard menu for summer salad. Today, I wanted to try something different. In a hot summer day, I love eating pasta salad. Tada! Cold tomato salad with arugula!

Gooseberry

Berries are always a fancy sight to me. It looks like a bead made from precious gemstone. At the market, berries are sold in a blue green cup. Rows of berry cups are very neat and people who pass by the cups cannot resist picking up one or two from the cup.... I wanted to, but I always hesitate to pick anything offered on the street, even when it’s completely free to try. 

“Which one should I get”, I was thinking in front of the rows. I could get two, but one at a time. Blue berry, raspberry, red currant, white currant, and gooseberry!!! Oh, this was totally new to me, and it caught my attention immediately. I was so excited to taste it. I thought it must taste like a secret, hidden fruit --rich like a fully ripen peach and juicy like a newly picked watermelon. It didn’t taste that good so I guess I expected too much.

Anyway, the look of the berries was still very attractive! I started to draw and thought I would finish very soon, but its complicated color got me! I took a long time to finish only one small berry! Through the half transparent skin, I saw a few white fibers and several black seeds among its watery and transparent flesh. These made the color more complicated. On the top of that, each skin has red sparkles on it. So many layers in a tiny berry. When I finished my painting, the berries were not in good shape any more. So, I cooked berry sauce adding a little bit of lemon juice and sugar. It matched very well with plain yogurt.

Watermelon raddish

The name tag in front of a radish box said "Watermelon radish, but it's not a watermelon." It was strange enough to stop by. It looked like a regular radish to me, but I understood as soon as I saw one cut in half. It looked just like a watermelon – beautiful and rosy inside with a white and green rim. Actually, it was slightly bitter.
I cut it paper thin with a slicer and soaked it in a icy water for a little while. After adding lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, some green leaves that I found in my fridge, salt, and pepper… the fresh radish salad was very crunchy! I also added crushed deep fried YUBA (Tofu skin) to make it extra crunchy.

Evil Okras

The sign said "Isn't it special?"

It was from a wooden basket that looked like a barrel which was almost empty. I leaned over to the basket to see what was inside. I thought there were a few hot peppers laying on the bottom, but these were Okras. Surely, its beautiful but rare maroon color made it very special. The silverly hair of Okra is remarkably striking because of the color. Tiny tiny hair is all over its skin! My roommate told me that it reminded her of a snake. Yes, she got an idea, like poisoned snakes, these vivid light green seems to be a warning of poisoned snakes, telling us "DO NOT eat me because I AM POISONOUS!" One more reason she thought of a snake was the shape of Okra, which I don't agree much with her.

To me, the Okra remind me of a devil's fingers or horns. The deep bloody maroon color is proof of a hot spicy angry taste! Actually, the taste was fresh and mild as regular Okra.

Have you seen this flower?

I found this delicate flower in our apartment backyard. I thought it must be NOBIRU, which is a wild flower in a spring field. (I think NOBIRU is a plant native to Japan, but its scientific name is A.macrostemon. ) NOBIRU bulbs are tasty and fresh like a spring wind.

However, it wasn't NOBIRU, not scallion, not chive, of course, not garlic flower, but it should be in the Alliaceae family! Its bulbs look very similar to NOBIRUs', and I assumed it might be as tasty and fresh as NOBIRU bulbs.

It reminds me of a professor at an art university where I was studying. He was a crazy mushroom lover, and once he was poisoned by eating a mushroom which he found in neighbor's bush. Often he told us was : you never know about mushrooms until you actually eat and experience it.

I won't dear to risk my life for it, but does anyone possibly know what flower this is??