Sweet Corn and Red Pepper Soup

We often give cookies as a gift around the holidays but you can also do hot meals that can be reheated soon after they are given away. You could give a neighbor this in a mason jar with a nice lid and a card, as long as they eat it within a few days.




7 cups vegetable or chicken stock
8 ears fresh corn on the cob, shucked
1 medium carrot, grated
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
2 tbsp vegetable or organic canola oil
2/3 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup dry sherry
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced
Fresh parsley or cilantro, minced

In a heavy pot, bring stock to a boil. Add ears of corn and simmer 5 minutes. Remove corn and set aside to cool. Cut corn kernels off cobs. Then use the back of your knife to scrape the "milk" off the cobs into the stock. In a skillet, saute' a carrot, onion, garlic and green pepper in the oil until soft. Blend corn kernels, cashews and sherry in a food processor with enough stock to help puree the mixture. Add puree' to soup pot, bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with red pepper and parsley. Serves 6.

Please note:
This is from Mother Earth News Oct/Nov 2007 page 66.

Art

Tractor Supply Company

Tractor Supply Company supplies everything you might need for your backyard and even some indoor things. I came across the store a long time ago and discoved that even though I'm more of a city dweller this store offered a lot of what I liked. The pricing on the goods in this store is much more competetive than Lowes and Home Depot. Even though you might think that you have to be a farmer to have any interest in this store, think again! You can buy anything from basic garden equipment to birdseed and things for your kitchen. The store publishes a free magazine that features recipes and stories from people around the USA living a rural life and many of them are successful business owners. The stock symbol for this store is TSCO. Even if you live in a city loft I can guarentee something will appeal to you.

Opening of Fusion Studios

Jennifer Szalkowski and Kerri Frech are having a studio open house for the joint venture they have formed with Lake Erie Artists Gallery. The opening is tonight in a space next to Lake Erie Artists Gallery in Tower City Center. From 4 PM - 8 PM tonight they will serve wine and appetizers. Stop by and do some of the Christmas shopping that you have been putting off. Buy some original art and enter a raffle to win some original artwork by Cleveland area artists.
firetamerglass.etsy.com
frechstudio.etsy.com

With a name like Smuckers ...

Ohio's economy is moving away from manufacturing into different and much more diversified economy. However, we should not lose all of our manufacturing. With the manufacturing that is left, we need to make sure that employees are treated fairly with a decent wage.It is important make consumers understand that buying a jar of jam that is marked One or Two dollars higher than the generic store brand has the cost of the employee worked into the pricing. Sure the company profits but the employees get health care and above average manaufacturing pay. That is important. People complain about jobs getting shipped overseas but they are the same people visiting dollar stores and paying for cheap wares made in China. Word the the wise, buy quality not quanity and consume less.

I had the opportunity to visit the Simply Smuckers Store in Orville, Ohio a few weeks ago. Smuckers is a name that is synonomous with wholesome goodness. It is not a just a well crafted advertising campaign, it is the truth about the company. Sure all large corporations have pitfalls but this company has not strayed from its core values. I watch the ticker symbol and monitor the stock market based on Smuckers stock. You would never guess that they have many brands under the umbrella of Smuckers. Some of the brands are Borden / Eagle Brand, Pillsbury, Jiff, Martha White etc. The company is located in a farming community that is vibrant and has an excellent workforce. Think of fresh air not smokestacks.

tugboatprintshop

Tugboat print shop told me about the way they work and this is what they had to say:

Our work is our day job. Its much more work than a day job, and much
more stressful at times, but always more satisfying!

We have always known that we would have our prints for sale online
through our official website, www.tugboatprintshop.com. The idea for an
additional online shop came to us when we discovered Etsy. Etsy provided
us with a easy-to-use template and the means to reach a broader
clientele. We are always eager to find new ways to let people know who we are,
what we do, and what we make.

Traditional Printmaking techniques are processes that are drawing
focused-media (etching, woodcut, lithography, etc). We love
drawing--especially detailed drawings. With printmaking, we create the time-consuming,
intricate drawings that we want to be making and are also able to
print multiples. Editioning allows us to share our work with more people at
more affordable prices.
It's true that digital media can also reproduce things. But giclee, or
offset or inkjet prints, have no real artistic merit. It is just a
file or an image, it isn't really an object of art.

Running a business is something that is new to us, that we learn more
about everyday.

We work to keep ourselves scheduled for more and more shows, projects,
and opportunities each year. This keeps us attuned to what is going on
and propels us to make new work that is part of what is going on in the
arts. Also, our lifestyle basically centers around constantly making
newer and better work. Thankfully, we're the type of individuals that
tend to find inspiration/ideas in nearly everything! We are
continually bouncing ideas for new projects off of each other and often
experience a back-log of ideas (too many projects--so little time!)

Our best advice for people selling work online is to maintain your
vision for your work. Take good pictures, communicate with your customers,
ship fast, and deliver something you can be proud of!

Take the Handmade Pledge