painting and cooking

 When a local wine shop offered a painting class, I thought it'd be a fun

thing to do with some friends. And, bonus ~ the price included a glass of

wine. Well, we found out by trial and error that the class was not for amateurs.
 There was a printed sheet of instructions on what to draw (the outline) and what
 paint  colors to use, but the instructor did not show us how to do this. So, we winged
 it. We called the  instructor to our table a few times to ask questions, but let's face
 it, art takes  a lot of know-how, talent, and practice. We laughed, drank our wine,
 and did the best we could. This is my friend, Barb with our paintings.
Mine is on the left.

It was worth a try. I wouldn't mind practicing at home ~ or actually

taking an instructional class sometime.

Thankfully, I'm much better at cooking than I am painting. This was a chicken

and black bean tortilla soup that I whipped up off the top of my head. I had

posted the picture on Facebook and Jane had commented that I should put it

 on my blog with the recipe and I told her that I didn't have a recipe! I can see

 or taste a dish in my mind and create as I go. Much like an artist who can

draw or paint something from their head, that is how I sometimes cook.

Remember my great-aunt Sylvia that I talked about visiting at the end of

October and how her son - my cousin, Greg passed down her cake plate

and linens to me? And then I talked about finding one of her recipes 

in my mom's recipe box. Aunt Sylvia quietly passed away in her sleep 

on November 9th. How fitting that I had recently found one of her hand-written

 recipes recently...I knew I had to make her pork tenderloin last night.

While I was cooking, I was thinking of my great-aunt and could picture her

in her tiny kitchen, lovingly preparing this same dish for her family. I served

the pork with cheesy zucchini brown rice and sauteed green beans and yellow

 peppers. I find that rice is easy to "doctor up" according to your tastes. I simply

 cooked the rice according to package directions and stirred in shredded zucchini 

and shredded sharp cheddar cheese when the rice was done cooking. I added a

little bit of the shredded zucchini to the green bean mixture.

What creative endeavor are you naturally good at? What do you enjoy

doing but need more practice?

Linking up to What We Accomplished Wednesday,

 Work it Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesdays

and

Tweak it Tuesday