Chocolate Mini-Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I had the opening reception for my biggest show of the year last night. The Gallery at Yahara Bay Distillers was a wonderful venue with gracious hosts and we all had a great time. The best part was when three of my paintings found a new home and I hit the big 100 (# of paintings sold/donated since I started showing in Feb 2012). 

As usual, I made the hors d'oeuvres for the evening. I spent a good chunk of time on Wednesday in the kitchen and all four items were baked (three of them in mini muffin pans)! At least the weather was a little cooler to manage having the oven on for a good 2-3 hours.

One of the dishes I made was chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter frosting. The batter was adapted from a cake recipe and improvised quite a bit.

Ingredients (For 48 cupcakes):  All-purpose Flour - 1 1/2 cups; Cocoa Powder (I used Dagoba drinking chocolate with spices) - 1 cup; Sugar - 3/4 cup; Butter - 2 tbsp; Vanilla - 1 tsp; Salt - dash; Baking soda - 2 tsp; Baking Powder - 1 tsp;  Eggs - 2; Yogurt - 1/2 cup;  Water - 1/2 cup.

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F
• Line muffin pans with baking cups
• In the mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients, mix them quickly
• Add the wet ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer
• Pour the batter into the baking cups, about 3/4th full (about a tbsp)
• Bake for about 20 minutes! 

For the peanut butter frosting, I whipped together 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, milk  2-3 tsp - as needed. Once mixed to the desired consistency, I used a ziplock bag to pipe some on the cupcakes!

I am sending this to Cupcake Fest, hosted by Sreevalli.

Productive Day

I started and finished this piece today - something I haven't done in a while. The sun will get a small mirror in the center tomorrow after the coats of varnish. The painting is done henna style with acrylics on wood (not sure of the type) with textured lines. The painting is on a 12x16 cabinet door from the Habitat ReStore of Madison, WI. They are also doing a Salvage Art Show from April to June next year. I have a few more pieces of cabinet doos lying around that might also get some paint action before then. I am so thankful to have two of their stores in Madison and just the other day found two maple brand new cabinet doors for $3 each. The last day to apply is in the first week in Jan. This piece might get donated if it is not sold before then. Lately, I am very fortunate to sell paintings as I finish them :) This will be on show at a Holiday Art Fair this Friday and Saturday. 

The pieces I do on cabinet doors can still be used on a closet. That would be super cool! 

 

8 Season's Grille

Madison Magazine's festival of Food was last week in Madison. And I won a couple of gift certificates for the 8 Season's Grille. On Saturday, S and I had a romantic luncheon there, with a three course meal. Well, we had leftovers for the next day's lunch. I was surprised we had not been to this place before. The ambience was neat and the food was good - except for a couple of minor things. 

The chai was very dilute and though S liked it, I couldn't be happy with it, especially after the wonderful description they had on their menu. Chai needs whole milk folks. Especially when it is made from a concentrate. And my quinoa quesidilla was minus the quinoa. Even when I mentioned that to the hostess, there was no explanation and it was disappointing. But the bisque was totally worth going there in the first place. Delish! And the huevos rancheros was wonderful too. We couldn't have enough of the key lime pie. 

Thank you Madison Magazine for the free lunch :)

Chai

Roasted red pepper - tomato bisque

Quinoa Quesidilla

Huevos Rancheros

Key Lime Pie

She is a Beauty

I just finished this piece yesterday and am hoping she would go to the home of an inspiring friend. This friend has a yurt for a second home which is so heavenly and is adorned with blue & sparkly stuff. This henna-style peacock painted on wood would fit in perfectly and I can't wait for my friend to see this piece next week. 7x15 inches - acrylic on wood. Check out my works at www.artbybala.com and also do like my FB page at www.facebook.com/artbybala for regular updates!

 

Isthmus Green Day 2012

Volunteering for the Isthmus Green day, 4 of us managed to stuff 1000 bags with about 11 different things in a span of 3 hours yesterday. And today is the big day happening at Monona Terrace in Madison.  The keynote speaker is Mark Bittman and I am so excited to see him and hear his presentation this afternoon. Moreover I will be volunteering again at the main stage during his talk. I don't own any of his books, so hoping to come home with may be a picture with him. To top off the excitement - Dane County  outdoor farmers market starts today at the capitol! yay!

Painting & a Show

When I started this week, my goal was to finish two paintings and I did it! This is the last Mandala Painting (acrylic on canvas) for a show that starts tomorrow. I can't believe I am already starting my third show - all in the span of 2-3 months and this month is super awesome because I am having two concurrent shows. I will be putting up my paintings at BC Hair on the east side of Madison tonight, and this show will go on till the end of May. Check out my website Art by Bala for more. 

I am also planning to stop by the one at Froth House later tonight and see if any of the pieces sold this week. The opening last Friday was really good with about 20 or so friends stopping by. I have also sold three paintings so far at Froth House and a couple of necklaces.

Though I am not working at the University anymore, I am still continuing my research and things are busy. Too many things going on and my table is so full. Both exciting & exhausting!

Art Show Opening & Reception

A few months back, I wasn't even dreaming of this, but today I am very excited for my second art show happening at The Froth House in Madison, WI. The paintings went up on April 1 and today is the reception. I am happy I will get to see friends I havent seen in a while and a few are coming from far away places (not just for this, but definitely a bonus :)). Will post more pictures after the event, but here is a sample -- an festive elephant & an Om Ganesh. My paintings are generally very colorful and they seem to pop out really well against the red wall of the Froth House! To add to all this excitement - my next show starts in a week! In the meantime, check out www.artbybala.com to see more of my works.

Missing Our Baby Girl

Its been almost 5 months since we lost our big baby girl to Lyme's disease. We still miss her day in and day out. Kalki especially misses his play mate and doesn't really want to play with other doggie friends. One consolation is that she was a brave lil girl to the very end and we had the opportunity to have a great time with her before we had to let her pass over the rainbow. 

 

Mandala Paintings

I am doing two more art shows in April / May and trying to get things organized in the next week before things get really crazy again. And in the last 10 days I was able to finish a few pieces and though they are not 100% done (still need to finish the sides and attach hanger), I am happy the way they turned out. Both of them have a mirror in the center. It feels like the mirror is becoming part of my signature! 

16x20 canvas with acrylic henna style Mandala

10x10 canvas with a floral henna style acrylic Mandala

Mandala Painting

I finished this henna style acrylic mandala painting on 24x24 wooden panel today. As my month long art show at Mother Fool's coffee house in Madison is wrapping up (last day is 3/1), I am excited to start some new projects. I have sold 6 paintings so far from this show and three of the pieces were really popular! As everything else in life is kind of roller-coaster crazy for the last few months, painting has been very therapeutic and seems to be the only thing to keep my mind occupied without getting distracted. All the paintings in the show are listed on Art by Bala and will be available for sale on March 1st. Affordable original art supporting the community :)

Panel: 4 -- Henna Style on Wood

Here is one of the latest in the series. I love the copper + teal blue color with white henna texture. The panel measures 11x15 inches. Acrylic and finished with varnish. Needs to be hung at a slight angle to avoid reflection on the metallic color. Saw this color theme by one of our local artists during the art show in October and wanted to try it out. Mirror in the center. Will be listed for sale as soon as I can get my act together with Bees Beads & Colors! Last month was pretty busy with a lot of travel and this month is looking more crazier with work and also job applications. I got to spend part of today painting on a few gesso boards, after a delicious brunch of homemade Columbian style Arepa at a friend's. I am starting a couple of diptych's like this and also a small 5x5 four piece. Hopefully I can finish them sometime soon :) I have promised myself that I will sit and work on an Artist's statement after I complete 10 in the series and send samples to coffee shops in the city. Goal is to have an exhibit in town before I finish this position in June!

Slow Food Dinner @ UW Madison

On Valentine's Day this year - I fell in love - with Slow Food! That was the first day I volunteered to help in the kitchen with Slow Food UW Madison for their Monday Family Dinner Nights. A month after that I was their guest chef and on March 26, I lead together a wonderful team of friends in making a delicious dinner. I really haven't sat down to write about my last few months of the Spring semester in the kitchen with the wonderful kids of Slow Food UW. They do so much mind-blowing stuff, please check their website for a lot of cool information and upcoming events! Since then, they have graciously allowed me to cook with them every Monday night. I was a little bummed that they were off for the summer, but now that the semester is starting again, I was back in the kitchen tonight :)

Tonight's dinner was a simple vegetarian fare highlighting some of the fresh produce available at out local Farmer's Market. I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen grating about 2 pounds of cheese and doing a lot of sauteing. The lead chef Michelle, who is also one of the FDN interns made a delicious saute of squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, corn, onions and green beans seasoned with basil. A piece of garlic bread with generous amounts of sharp white cheddar cheese for the side. And the dessert was a rhubarb crumble. All very yummy! The kitchen ran very smoothly today and I so look forward to more dinners. My parents made it to the dinner with me tonight and were very impressed with everything they saw. I am going to be a guest chef again in October and really excited to start thinking about the menu :)

Photo Credit: R. Harris

Composting

Three months in the new house and we finally have a compost bin. A joint project between my dad, Shankar and I! Hopefully Kalki will not try to get in there and the bottom wooden box should keep the smaller critters away. Its 3x3x4 feet and cost under $15. Took us about 30-45 minutes to put it together. Happy Composting!

Guest Babies

We had two beautiful American Robins fledge from their nest last week. The nest was by the rose plant on the arbor in the backyard. Yay!

 

Farmer's Market - This Week

Here is the weekly update on what we got at the Farmer's Market this Saturday. New this week were Bell Peppers, Patty Pan Squash, Baby Bok Choy, Big Jim Peppers, Wax Beans, Kohlrabi and Golden Beets. We got more Door County Cherries and fingerling potatoes. Also more Corn. My mom already made a wonderful Cauliflower Pakora this morning, along with a Vegetable Biryani loaded with some of the veggies. I didn't get to cook at all during the last week. Hopefully this week I can get a go at making some delicious goodies, along with some cookies that have been on the to do list for a while. And Shankar got me a wonderful bouquet of my favorite flowers :)

Spoils from the Farmer's Market

One of our routines every weekend in the summer is to go to the Dane County Farmer's Market on the square. Especially with my parents in town, it is fun to take them to the market and watch them get excited about so many different things. Here is a quick glimpse on what we are eating this week that were grown locally. In smaller bags ( :( ) are spinach, arugula, shelled peas, crimini  mushrooms and cheese curds! The fruit bread is pineapple-apricot and the scones are pepper jack. I think it was the last week to get fresh  spinach at the farmer's market here. New this week are the raspberries. And I love the sunflowers :)

Wishes

With Madison receiving close to 21 inches of snow in the last couple of days, the roads are pretty icy today. And this was our first snow storm. With at least four more months of everything blanketed in white, I am already wishing for pretty colorful flowers!

Dinner Time

On Sunday, we had a couple of friends come over for dinner, and we had a wonderful time. Here's what was on the menu:

To cook the Turkish Orange eggplants I picked up from the Madison farmer's market, I made Mualle, a Turkish eggplant and lentil stew. The recipe is very simple - basically chop up the eggplants - I used two kinds, the orange ones and the green Thai eggplants, some tomatoes, onions, garlic, green chilies, mint / basil and some lentils. I used a pressure cooker for this dish - oil the bottom of the pan, layer the eggplants, and a mixture of the rest of the ingredients, and the lentils. Add salt according to taste. Top off with some pomegranate molasses, and cook for three whistles (or about 3o minutes). The Mualle is served with rice and yogurt.

I made a simple yogurt sauce, instead of plain yogurt to go with the dish, with some chilli garlic paste. The side dish was sauteed brussel sprouts.

Dessert was pears poached in a lemony butter-sugar sauce, topped with rum-raisin mascarpone and a date. Yummy!

The Icon @ Madison

Friday evening we went to State Street for dinner and ended up eating at the Icon - restaurant and tapas bar after contemplating a few others. This was our first time dining at the Icon. One of the nice things about restaurants on State street is that most of them have their menu posted outside, and we were surprised to find quite a few vegetarian options on the Icon's menu. We started with a seasonal Mango Sangria - I would go back again just for this sangria!

We ordered two hot tapas - the Patatas Bravas "spicy potatoes" with a sun-dried tomato aioli. This was a more fancy fine dine french fries, but was pretty well seasoned. The second tapas was the Piquillo Peppers "stuffed peppers" - peppers stuffed with vegetables and served with cous-cous. We did not have to wait for long for the food, and our flatbread - the special Margherita flatbread with Manchego cheese and cherry tomatoes. The best part of the flat bread was the crust. It was by far the best crust I have had on a flat bread / pizza. The portion was also pretty big on the flatbread, that we had left over for lunch the next day. We finished the meal with caramelized bananas, with pistachios and vanilla ice cream. And the wonderful dinner cost $35.97 :)

I think Icon is a wonderful place for good food without spending too much. I would seriously suggest that they reduce the crowding of the tables though. It was kinda weird to be so close to other diners at a restaurant like theirs. We would definitely go back, though I would prefer to be seated outside, weather permiting; will also be sure to take the camera along!

Crêpe Time!

Inspired by all the TV shows, I decided to make crepes at home for breakfast on Sunday. I made a whole bunch of batter, from Alain Roy's recipe, by whisking together 2 eggs, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp butter, and 1 cup of milk. My cast-iron girdle was awesome with even heating, in making these crepes. The filling for our breakfast crepes was bananas browned in butter and sugar, with some cinnamon and nutmeg, mixed with some ricotta cheese and topped with walnuts. The crepes did not turn out great, but waaaay better than what the competing chefs made today on Hell's Kitchen.

For dessert tonight, the filling for the crepes were peaches softened in a rum sauce - butter, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, glazed with some rum, then went the peaches till they were soft. I finished the filling with a spoon of creamy mascarpone. Yummy!