Joe the Interior Decorator

Now I know what happens when Joe is cooped up in the house all day, almost all day, because the weather is rather nasty. It was WINDY and icy outside. Still, Joe had to get out, so we went to check out a few antique stores in the area. Mostly to look. After we came home, our pork roast for dinner had to be cooked for 2-3 hours. Joe started poking around in his den.
More of his cool stuff went up on the walls. Guns and swords and shark jaws and bullets, bullets, bullets. Of course, he's only warming up. More and more stuff to come.
Note: all the guns on the walls are air guns.

Here, Joe the interior decorator sits contently in his den. All I can say is that I'm glad that he has his own den to decorate!!

Kayo's New Red Kettle

Here are my newest acquisitions to the kitchen. I had been eyeing this cute red electric kettle since before Christmas. Well, my rationalization is that I really don't need a bigger stove-top tea pot for my everyday use, because Joe drinks neither tea nor coffee. It's rather convenient to boil a small amount of water for a cup. But when we have company, I could never make enough tea for everyone. Then I thought why not get an electric kettle, which boils water so quickly and keeps hot. Of course, I wouldn't just get an ordinary silver kettle for my kitchen. Right? Once again, at Target, I found a perfect red kettle to be had.
I somehow didn't buy it right away. Don't know why.... Last night we were at Target for other things, and since we are expecting dinner guests this Tuesday, I really could use the kettle! There I finally picked up My Red Kettle. I was happy!! On you right in the picture is the red Pyrex glass bowl with a cover that I found today at the local antique store. Could not pass it for ten bucks!!

Sausage Making

We finally tried sausage making with Joe's venison meat this afternoon, then into evening. It was lots of work, besides we weren't quite sure what we were doing. Sasage spice mix boxes tell you to follow the instruction of your meat grinder. And the meat grinder gives you many different attachments without detailed instructions. All in all, sampling a little taste of the sausages at the end was worth the hours of work in the kitchen.
Here's Joe grinding his meat, a mixture of 60% venison and 40% pork.Our first batch was sweet Italian sausage. The first time handling the casing was no easy task. Dinner time. There was no room on our kitchen table, so we set up our dinner plates in the living room. We had cooked venison roast all day in the crockpot for taco dinner, with rice and beans, tomato salsa, cheese and lettuce. Joe whipped up much deserved margarita, too. It was a very nice break.

After dinner, we got right back to work. Breakfast sausages this time. They turned a lot more like sausages!!

Fish Friday

On our first fish Friday of Lent we had northern pike, aka poor man's lobster. Remember that ugly fish Joe had to fillet the other day? Except for the tough skin and many sharp wicked bones, the fish is actually delicious. Simply boiled and dipped in butter, with a little lemon juice, it tasted almost like lobster. It was my first taste of northern pike, and I enjoyed every bite of it.

Happy Valentine's Day

This was our dinner the day before Valentine's Day. I made soy glazed chicken thighs and sauteed veggies served with jasmine rice. I figured I baked a tiny cheesecake, from a tiny cheesecake recipe book by a Japanese woman, why not have some sake with the meal? And on Valentine's Day, I worked all day and came home to this candle-lit steak dinner Joe had prepared. The steak was perfect!! The wine choice was good, too.
Tomorrow, Fat Tuesday, we go to Lagniappe!! Our tradition. That reminds us that our blog celebrated its first year anniversary recently. We'll have a toast to our "Wedded Bliss" cajun/creole style tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the weather has turned pretty ugly. Snow, rain, and ice. Joe blew snow this morning and this evening, and probably will have to get up early again to blow snow tomorrow morning.

Lastly, here's an update on Joe's den. This is only a few of his trophies, only the beginning. His room will be filled with deer antlers!!

Coffee Break

I started four new paintings (all 24"x24") today. My next art show is going to be below the bridge. I was fortunate to be included in the group show featuring all the artists from the U.P. And I kind of have to hurry getting ready for that!! I decided to paint four seasons of the U.P. wilderness, a little like Japanese haiku poems, each singing of a different season.
The photo below doesn't really show what my paintings are going to look like, yet. Trust me, the following phase of my paintings isn't much better. Joe will come home tonight and say "I only see a bunch of funky colors." So I'll post more pictures when they look more "normal."This afternoon I also received a package from my brother. One thing I ask my family to send me is the freshly roasted coffee beans from Yamada Coffee. I couldn't resist the aroma from the package, so I decided to take a break from painting and brew myself a small cup of coffee.

I probably had too much caffeine for the day.... Let's have Joe deal with my buzz!

Now, time to go back to my paintings.

A Trip North

Yesterday we made a trip up north. I (Kayo) had a couple pieces of artwork to drop off for the up coming alumni show. It didn't take much to bribe Joe to come along: a husky burger and local micro brewed beer at Douglass House for lunch (oh, he loves me so)(Yes,Yes I do:). Also Michigan Tech University was having their annual winter carnival. The whole campus and town were filled with snow sculptures.
The picture below is Snoopy sleeping on his house, drunk from who knows how many fishbowls of alcoholic beverages. I think this little sculpture was my favorite. This year's snow sculpture theme was something about games of all sorts. I didn't get lots of particular video game themes... but still they are quite impressive. Just imagine those crazy students working in the frigid cold, even all night before the judging. Some of them are scaled to be like small houses, with amazing details. Only engineers-to-be can create such things.

Pokemon!!

It was a wonderful trip. We had a nice visit with my painting teacher Joyce at her new studio. Also unexpectedly we ran into my old friend Randy at K.Brewing Co. (his second home, we believe) and my other painting professor at one of the snow sculptures. I love visiting this little community with many familiar faces and places... after all that's where we started dating!

The kicker was we didn't go fishing... but somehow got this huge northern pike (measured 32 inch long)!! Joe's dad and brother had gone ice fishing and caught big enough a fish. It turned out that I am the bad luck for them.

Joe got to fillet a northern all by himself for the first time, getting directions over the phone.

Finally we poured ourselves pints of K.B.C. beer to relax for the evening. P.S. Of course, we didn't finish the whole growler last night. We're savoring our seconds right now!!

Welcome Strangers!

It was last week that I got this e-mail message from someone who wanted to see more of my paintings, and I invited this stranger to my studio space at our home. It's pretty crazy, I know, but Joe even says he's gotten used to such.
Yesterday morning we had Thom and his brother over for a visit. They both skied in a cross country ski race and were heading home for Minnesota. I basically showed Thom my artwork throughout the house, while Joe got to talk with his brother about fishing and hunting. This not-so-ordinary meeting turned wonderful. Sometimes, you just have to listen to your own heart and ignore that one should never talk to or invite a stranger to your home!
This is my newest painting that I finished for an alumni show at university I graduated from. I figure it's a better picture to look at than the dead deer.