Food Is Good

Alli is almost done with her surgery rounds, but I've grown to see that cooking is something that I can ACTUALLY do. Here's some more of my creations.

Here I am on the way to making another Greek Salad, this time as a side.


It was a side to lamb. I figured I should give it a try since it was the recipe of the same chef that I had ordered it from in New York.


Then I made these Melon Slushes from a cantaloupe we bought at the farmer's market. There is also pink lemonade concentrate and ginger ale in it. They were really refreshing.


For my first pasta dish, I made Spaghetti with Red Bell Peppers and Kalamata Olives. It tasted like The Olive Garden. There was a lot of Parmesan cheese in it.



For a side, I tried to make a Chilled Avocado and Mint Soup, since it has been so hot out, but it was probably my first two thumbs down dish. It was too minty or something. The flavor was just something that you became weary of. Although, it did look cool, so it took very good pictures.











I went to Whole Foods and got a Salmon, big enough for two meals, so that I could experiment. The first night I cut the skin off the part I wanted to cook, which was really hard, and I never want to do again. Then I marinated it in an Asian flavored mixture that had Soy Sauce, mustard, Bourbon, and maybe a few other things. It turned out suprisingly good. Alli previously thought she didn't like Salmon, but now she does. :)


Alli made cookies! She got the recipe from Molly in our home group and they are good! Even better with ice cream.


For the second part of the salmon, I left the skin on and cooked it in a skillet, one side on the stove, and one side in the oven. Then topped it with a tomato vinaigrette. We also made Hush Puppies! They were kind of scary because you fry them, but the dough was really sticky, so it was hard to figure out how to put it in the oil with it in a ball. We took the picture with our two most successful tries.


And we had breakfast for dinner the other day. Ricotta Pancakes with Orange Syrup. They were fun to make and really good. Probably the least healthy thing I've made too. But we made the Orange Syrup by boiling orange juice with orange zest, water, and sugar. I learned words like blanch and julienne.

SODT :: MOUNTAINS

This is a first of many (hopefully) in the series 'Shadows of Divine Things'. They are based on the writings of Jonathan Edwards. He viewed almost everything in the physical world as a 'type' or a representation of something in the spiritual world.

As mountains are not ascended without difficulty and labor, and many rocks and steep places are in the way, so men don't attain to anything eminent or of particular excellence without difficulty. It is against our natural tendency to ascend, but when we get above the clouds and winds, we will enjoy a perpetual serenity and calm. The perfect and uninterrupted calm on a high mountain is a type of the heavenly state.

The footage is from my trip to the Smoky Mountains in late June.

The Grouchy Chef

Now that Alli is out being a doctor most days, I (Mark) have decided to give cooking a try. Alli calls me the Grouchy Chef because when she asks me questions while I am cooking I get really flustered and can't cook and think at the same time. But I don't look THAT grouchy, do I?

I bought a "Food and Wine" magazine, mostly because I liked the layout and photographs, but have really tried to make some interesting things.








My first go was an Omelet with Herbs. It was ok, I think I put too many herbs in it, but it wasn't bad.

















We had some ribs in the freezer, so I went all out, because ribs are one of my favorites. We went to the farmer's market and picked up some veggies and fruits for the next couple weeks. This recipe was for Blueberry-Glazed Ribs, so I made this Blueberry Syrup and after putting the ribs in the oven for an hour and a half, you brush this mixture of blueberry and other stuff onto the ribs and broil it until it browns. These were some of the best ribs I've ever had to be honest.


















We have a lot of leftover Blueberry Syrup, so I put it in lots of different things like vanilla ice cream.


















Next, I made a Summer-Vegetable Casserole that had potato, zucchini, tomato, yellow bell pepper, and onion in it. The dish was pretty good, but was more of a side in my opinion.


















When we were at the farmer's market, we also got some red grapes so that we could make this Harvest Cake with Grapes and Sangiovese Syrup.












It was a little lemony and sweet enough for me to enjoy it.

You serve it with a grape syrup that you make by boiling grape juice.

Finally, there was a bunch of Greek recipes by a chef of a restaurant in New York called "Kefi". We went there when we were living in New York and loved it, so I really wanted to make a few of his dishes. So we made these Greek Salad Sandwiches, and they were AWESOME.


We made the dough from scratch, and then you fry it. You spread a tzatziki suace (which we also made) and then top it with the greek salad (which would have been great even by itself).

There will be more dishes soon!

Year One

For our first anniversary, I made Alli a book from the blog that she has been writing since we've been married. Here's a few of the spreads from it.

Two Owls and Puffin

Fourth and final installment of 'Watercolors and Bird'

Cardinal

3rd in the 'Watercolors and Bird' series

Mallard

2nd in the series of 'Watercolors and Bird'

Watts/Burke Wedding

Here's a video I shot from Ben and Kate's wedding this weekend in Decatur, GA. Hope they are having a happy honeymoon in Savannah!

Thanksgiving 2009 - The Kiddos

Six months after the fact, I edited some stuff I recorded of the family.

Woodpecker

First of a series (hopefully).
Watercolor, Gouache, Paper Cutout

Voyage Through the Mind

Here's another old one from SCAD.

Take a Load Off

I was going through some old projects and found this one from my first year at SCAD. I sort of want to remake it using a better camera.

Hot Air Balloons

Finished this collage a couple months ago and I finally got around to taking a picture of it.

Acrylic and Cutout Photographs on Cardboard

Vintage Pepsi

Hurst, Tx

The Diva

"Harry?"

Leap Frog Scout

You can check out this animation I worked on at Janimation last August on their website... type in Leap Frog in the search and you'll find it. They didn't want to give me a copy of it for some reason, but there it is. I did the background and all the motion graphics going on next to the 3D dog. A different freelancer, Aaron, did the animation for the dog.

Raccoon Pals

Here is an illustration I did for my new niece's baby room. Click on it for some zoomage. You can order this poster for yourself on zazzle here.