Journal to a Muse

Salsa and Ice Cream

Today wasn't quite the day I expected.

But it WAS a good day! I feel like I got quite a bit done. Saw a client. Wrote up and filed month end reports. Requested referrals and networked. Odds and ends at grocery store. Minor house keeping chores done in late afternoon. Good end of day round up conversation with DH and dinner out at new place that actually stays open after 10 pm!! Watched hockey (our team lost, though.) and made great strides on a WIP.

I'm disappointed because when I looked at my calendar Sunday, I thought there'd be lots of time to PAINT. And I didn't even get close. So it seemed appropriate to read the following in an artsy newsletter to which I subscribe:

Strict instructions to wannabe artists don't always work. Directions like "go to your room and work five hours a day and produce 30 finished works a month" can trigger the old self-sabotage response. There's something else. Somehow the neural tissue needs to be realigned so the artist sets a new course of his own volition. In my observation, it's a self-anointed, narcissistic ego-force that awakens the
mad mentor within.

Artist, zap thyself.

Tomorrow my schedule has some largish gaps. Perhaps I can sketch or read.

In the mean time, I'm still digesting the rather bitter pill in the most recent Vogue Knitting (November 2007). One of the esteemed knitters says that crocheting seems on knitted garments is "like putting salsa on ice cream." I assumed she meant this was a bad thing.

But DH, bless his heart, didn't react like I expected.

He just asked, "Have you ever HAD salsa on ice cream?" as if it might be a good thing. *
Does this look like salsa on ice cream to you?

*AND...

Turns out there's actually a recipe for salsa ice cream on the website of my local TV station. Sounds pretty OK to me. So not such a big blush for the knit + crochet business.

Salsa Ice Cream

Chef: Cathy Zeis, Z's Creative Cuisine

Ingredients:

1 cup Chef Cathy's Mango Salsa

4 large fresh peaches, washed and sliced about 1/2" thick with skin on

1/2 stick unsalted butter1 cup Splenda Brown Sugar * or 1/2 cup regular brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Favorite No Sugar Added Ice Cream or Angel Food Cake

Fresh mint for garnish

Directions:
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add Chef Cathy's Mango Salsa, peaches and brown sugar. Stir to incorporate. Add cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and spoon over ice cream or cake. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.