Blarney Castle Painting and Irish Potato Candy Recipe

I've been working on this watercolor of Blarney Castle for a really long time. I finally vowed to finish it before St. Patrick's Day.

I don't really know anyone who really likes to use watercolor as their favorite medium. My favorite medium is pencil, so watercolor is as different as you can get in terms of control. Pencil does exactly what you want it to, watercolor does what it wants.

I'm not sure that the painting is 100% finished right now, but it's finished enough that I would only have to put 15 or 20 minutes of finishing touches on. I am considering slightly more detail on the bush and maybe some clouds in the sky.

I always paint and draw on the floor, I don't know why, I do have as easel, I've just never used it. Fortunately, my easel doesn't go to waste  as my sister uses it a lot. You can see some of her drawings here.


I only use a few supplies which is great if you like to paint "in the field." I have never painted on location, although I would like to try sometime. I dislike when people watch me paint or draw.
 

I use cheap paints (the $5.00 for the whole set kind) because I have found that the expensive paints have added ingredients which helps the paint dry faster on the paper. I am told that you can buy "stuff" to make the expensive paint not dry so fast but it seems like a waste of money when the really cheap paint works well.

I once had to take a watercolor class for college and I hated every minute of it. The teacher made us buy expensive paint ($5.00 a tube and we needed about 7 tubes.) Then he made us "experiment" constantly. If I was going to experiment, as a student, I wish I wasn't using $35.00 worth of paint and $60.00 worth of paper.

I do still have a lot of expensive paints left over and I keep telling myself that when I get really good at using watercolor, then I'll use those paints. I am told that they will not fade as much as cheap paints. I'll have to do a "fade check" to see.

Below I have a St. Patrick's Day Recipe for Irish Potatoes. These are American coconut candies. The candies are rolled into balls to imitate little potatoes and then rolled in cinnamon to look like dirt on the potatoes. If you like coconut, you will probably love them.

Irish Potatoes

Ingredients:

- 4 Cups Powdered Sugar

-2 1/2 Cups Flaked Coconut

- 4 ounces Cream Cheese (1/2 an 8 ounce package)

- 1/4 Cup Butter

- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- Cinnamon or Cocoa Powder

Instructions:

Cream the Butter and Cream Cheese together in a medium sized bowl. Once smooth, add the Powdered Sugar and Vanilla Extract. Add Coconut, you may have to use your hands to blend it together. Pour the Cocoa or Cinnamon onto a small plate. Make 1 inch balls of the "dough" and roll them in the Cocoa or Cinnamon.

You can eat these right away but they are best slightly cold and keep for a few weeks refrigerated. If you are going to refrigerate them, put each individual candy into a tiny fluted liner, available at craft stores.  

Andy and I always make Irish potatoes (covered in cinnamon) and Chocolate Blarney Stones (rolled in cocoa powder.) We make the Blarney Stones more rectangular in shape, similar to the actual Blarney Stone. Making two batches uses up one whole package of cream cheese and adds variety. Many people like the cocoa covered ones much better than the cinnamon, but the cinnamon is traditional.

Movies for St. Patrick's Day

The Rock of Cashel, Ireland (Carraig Phádraig)

The Rock of Cashel is said to be the spot that St. Patrick converted the King of Munster to Christianity in the 5th century. The buildings on the rock date back to the 1100s but many buildings were present before these were erected. It is one of the greatest archaeological spots in Ireland. There is one account that stated that St. Patrick died on March 17, 460 CE. In Ireland, and among Catholics, March 17th is a Holy Day, in the United States, it is a day of festivity and parades.   

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than watching a good Irish movie and eating Irish food? Since St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday and the St. Patrick's Day Parade, an American one, these movies include both Irish and Irish American movies. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held on March 17, 1762 in New York City to honor the Irish fighting with the British Army.

  
Waking Ned Devine: A hilarious story about a man who wins the lottery and the whole town that cashes the ticket. It's actually a lot funnier than it looks and has a great soundtrack. Warning: Brief nudity (Rated: PG.)

The War of the Buttons: Two rival gangs of Irish children and their idea of what it means to be adults. I believe the whole thing is available on youtube or OnDemand rent from Amazon for $2.99. Warning: Brief nudity (Rated PG.)

Angela's Ashes: The serious memoir of an childhood in the slums of Ireland. Warning: "Irish" language. :D They are bad words there but not here. (Rated R, but personally I think it is appropriate for mature teenage audience due to the historical aspect of the movie.)

Good Will Hunting: An Irish American genius works as a janitor at MIT and doesn't have aspirations beyond that until he is caught fixing math equations by a leading mathematician. Warning: Language. (Rated: R.)   

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: A coming of age story about second generation Irish and Austrian tenants in Brooklyn. I believe the whole thing is on youtube, it was made in 1945.

Hope you enjoy! I think we will be watching Waking Ned Devine and War of the Buttons this year. A lot of people like to watch The Quiet Man on St. Patrick's Day but I can't stand watching that movie for more than 5 minutes. Andy really likes it though. (I don't know if it's the bad acting, the bad storyline or John Wayne.)

I guess I'll add The Quiet Man for all of you masochists out there. :D

** Between Andy and I, St. Patrick's Day is also known as "The day we get to  feel like normal people." :D (Those of you who know us well, know why.)

Colonial Kitchen Garden for March

I hope to be officially starting my garden today, although I still have some chives growing from last summer and hope to grow some garlic chives for next year. Garlic chives, or Chinese chives are a delicious staple of Asian cooking. It is frequently the ingredient that makes Chinese food not taste right when you make it at home. They have a very mild onion flavor with a hint of garlic--they're delicious.

I'm going to be taking a lot of hints from "Every Man His Own Gardener," published in 1767. I always seem to plant things too early or too late and this book dictates what should be done in a garden and when.

Locally, the rule of thumb for planting is " after Mother's Day (2nd Sunday in May,) but the cold-hearty plants should be okay.

   

For March it recommends:

• "About the eighteenth or twentieth of this month, is the time to begin to sow the cucumbers and melons which are to be planted under hand or bell glasses."
•      "Plant cabbage plants of all kinds, the beginning, or any time this month, but the sooner it is done the better. Let them be planted in good ground, at two feet and a half distance each way, or thereabouts.
       This distance is to be understood of such plants as are to remain to grow to their full size; but such as are to be cut young, may be planted closer ; and eighteen or twenty inches a-part will be sufficient.
  Sow the seeds of cabbages, of any sort the beginning or middle of this month, for autumn and winter use: let them be in an open spot of ground, each sort separate.
       Red cabbage seed should also be sewn about the middle, or latter end of this month, to raise some plants for winter service.  "
•  Other plants to be planted: Lettuce (transplanted from the winter,) Spinach (planted every two weeks to ensure a constant supply,) Onions, Leeks (sewn at the beginning of the month or in February,) Radishes (planted 3 times in March and thinned out,) Carrots and Parsnips, Asparagus, Artichokes, Beans, Peas, Turnips, Celery, salad greens, Nasturtium (for salads,) Purslane, Potatoes, Dill, Fennel, Chives and Mint.
• "It is the custom now with such people as are obliged to make the most of every spot of ground, to sow a thin crop of onions the first year, on the new asparagus beds ; and this may be done without hurting the asparagus, provided the onions are not suffered to grow about the plants. "
• Using lettuce or parsley for borders around plant beds.

I think I will just be enriching the soil, planting, chives, leeks and onions, and starting my tomatoes indoors (something that was not found in colonial gardens except for show.) I thought that the winter would have killed the chives that are already out there, we had so much snow this year, and I did nothing to cover them. Has anyone already planted?

Simplicity and Beauty

"Oh, I got plenty o' nuttin'
And nuttin's plenty for me
I got no car, got no mule
I got no misery

De folks wid plenty o' plenty
Got a lock on de door
'Fraid somebody's a-goin' to rob 'em
While dey's out a-makin' more
What for?"

-- George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

Simplicity is always something I am working on. I always think deeply about it when I am cleaning the house or when things start getting messy. I feel that as Americans we are conditioned to believe that life is a competition and he who dies with the most material possessions "wins."

As the Porgy and Bess song says, many people are focused on working to buy new things but they are also unconscious of the stress that is attached to belongings. Many people focus on saving money to buy an item but never fully think about where they will keep the item and what kind of upkeep it will need.

Not only does "upkeep" entail the normal functionality of the item but also the stress of cleaning it and around it. Anyone who has a lot of small figurines on their mantle will tell you about what a pain it is to dust. It is something a lot of people don't think about but less stuff means less cleaning and less stress. Few people associate new items with more stress; it is hard to see past the shiny newness and the novelty of things in stores.  

Some people cling to things as if the memory will fade if the object is let go. I am continually striving to surround myself with things I use or things that I think are beautiful. The things in my house should represent who I am today and not who I was 10 years ago. I recently removed all of my books from the bookshelves.

My bookshelf had slowly collected books since High School. Unfortunately the shelves were filled quickly and more recently acquired books have been piling up in my room. The books I use a lot now, never made it to the shelf and I would have to dig them up to use them. It created a lot of stress and wasted a lot of time. I looked over my bookshelves and realized that the books on the shelf represented my interests and needs, 5 or 6 years ago. Now that I have the books I use everyday on the shelf and have donated the books I didn't need, I feel like the bookshelves are serving me and my current purposes-- what they should be doing. 

The rest of my belongings should be doing the same. I've been donating things and throwing useless things out and I have to say that I have yet to have needed any of those things as of yet. Having my bedroom and belongings serve my purposes has left me with a lot less stress and more time to do things that I want to do.  Less really is more and the best things in life really are free, who knew? :D










I've been inspired by:

• A Guy Named Dave: Dave proposed a challenge where he would whittle down his possessions to 100 items. 
• Minimalist Fun: This guy took Dave's 100 Things Challenge and wrote a lot about it.
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau: A book published in 1854 by Thoreau, a leading transcendentalist writer on his observations on living as a minimalist.    
• Choosing Voluntary Simplicity: A family dedicated to living debt free, working from home, living "green" and simple living.

Civil War Era Knitted Fringe and a Sneak Peak of the Knitted Civil War Reticule

Since I didn't anticipate a tie for when the Civil War Era Knit-Along would be I've decided to hold it in June and let everyone know what materials they will need now so that they have time to get them .








The Materials are:

- 1 Skein of size 10 Crochet Cotton.
- 2 size 00 knitting needles (double pointed are fine.)
- Lining fabric, 1/4 of a yard should be plenty

I think everyone will be pleased with the pattern. It's an open period stitch that makes for a pretty and daint purse.

It is a very small stitch for this project.

I've also been working on some knitted fringe, I was thinking of adding a bit to my dress. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I think it's pretty enough. I should have ironed the fringe out straight for the pictures.

The Instructions: 

Cast on 9 Stitches.

Slip 1, Knit 2, Yarn Over and Knit 2 Together, Knit 1, Yarn Over and Knit 2 Together, Knit 1.
Turn the knitting over and cast off the first 5 stitches and pull the remaining 4 stitches off the needle and untangle them to form one fringe. Holding the knitting in your left hand, cast on 8 more stitches by looping the yarn around the needle.
Repeat.

The joints are a little "wonky" but after a while it evens out and looks pretty. It's different than normal knitting but only takes a few tries to get right. Make sure to knit loosely.