Just finished a good book. "Service Included" by Phoebe Damrosch. If you have ever worked in a restaurant or love to eat out in good restaurants this was a very revealing, entertaining, fun book in the realm of very high dining set in a master chef, Thomas Keller restaurant.

My cousins new web site

My cousin Anne Wheeler just debuted her new web page. She lives on Mt Desert Island in Maine. She does a beautiful job on tiles. Check out her web site:

http://web.me.com/annewheelertile/Site/home.html

Conch Houses

This is a giclee of my painting "Conch Houses". I usually sell this unframed with a gallery wrap, but a customer requested a frame. I had my friend Scott make me a nice wide frame and I painted it the customers requested colors. I think it looks sharp and I am shipping it off Friday. The print on canvas is about 12"x24" and usually sells for $275.00 adding the frame added another $150.00 so the total is $425.00.

As I have said in previous blogs it is spring in the Keys and it is a little different then our northern neighbors. It is in like fast action. Several types of trees like the gumbo limbo, mahogany and Jamaican dog wood have all just lost their leaves and instead of going dormant for 6 months these trees are bare for just a couple of weeks and then they send out their spring buds. This a gumbo limbo outside my front door and the tree is just filled with soft green fuzz. The bees will come next, and then we will have plenty of nice shade for the summer months.

I am watching a pair of mourning doves outside my window building a nest among the climbing night blooming cactus just out side my front windows. The Dad bring the Mrs. a few twigs and she arranges them just so. It is very sweet and I will look forward to the babies arrival.

Vintners Dinner

Well the Bocce Sisters played fairly well last night, maybe we didn't play very well because we attended the 11th Annual Taste of Key West Vintners dinner Sunday night at the Casa Marina. We arrived to passed Hors d'oeuvres and then we were seated at our table with our own wine rep from the Van Duzer winery in Oregon. http://www.vanduzer.com/

The room was filled with people and beautiful flower arrangements and many many bottles of wine. Dinner started with a cold gazpacho with a crab and avocado mousse on a crostini. Really nice served with a lovely Pinot Gris.

Next came a beet and heirloom tomato salad with a smoked garlic vinaigrette and a creamy goat feta. Really good. Next came a crab and marscapone ravioli with a sherry cream sauce, it disappeared before I could get a picture of it. This was served with a delicious pinot noir rose.

The main course was spiced duck breast with vegetable root gratin that was amazing and capers and fois gras and baby veggies. The duck was soo tender. it was delightful. We had 3 different pinot noirs with this so the wine was flowing and the table was covered with glasses.

Desert was a key lime mousse with macadamias. It was good but we were all looking for chocolate. There was a lot of table jumping and sampling other tables wines and I know we all had a great time and from the sound level in the room I think everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. A must do for next year! We all brought home wine and thanks to Lucy we made it home safely!!!!

By the end of the night things got a little blurry.

Sugarloaf school of painters

Well I haven't painted with the group I often paint with on Thursdays in quite a while but I was able to today. It was a beautiful spring day and we all worked on smaller canvases today. This was a romantic evening at home with just some brie and crackers. This one is 8"x10".

There were several still lifes and some fruit and sunflowers and orchids to paint. I dreamed up my own still life. Fran thought this one was nice especially that friendly yellow pickle in the left rear. I think it was a crookneck squash but who knows, but it does look friendly! This one is 5"x7"

This one I worked on the least as it wasn't my favorite, but I do like the comfy chairs and again there is that friendly yellow pickle! This one is 5"x7" also. All in all the paintings from the group were great and it always is fun to paint with other people.

Finally back to that painting

Well I got back to work on the painting. I put in some giant juicy mangoes and key limes, worked on the pineapples and added coconuts and a ghost of a boat.

Fleshed out the boat a little more and added a pile of coconuts for sale on the beach. Its starting to take shape and I will add some signage and maybe another boat or two and chairs on the porch and some fishing equipment.

Comfort Stir Fry

So on the way home we stopped at Tim's in Homestead. Most foodies in the Keys knows Tim's because it is our closest oriental grocery and a treasure trove of wonderful ingredients. Here is part of my haul.

Here is the makings of a stir fry with eggplant tofu, onion and Chinese broccoli.

Stir frying the tofu.

The greens and eggplant.

Then mixed together with the rice noodles. I added some sauces, garlic and ginger, very comforting after a long drive home.