My Aunt's Home Cooking!

So when I was in St. Pete Florida this past May I was able to go visit my Aunt and Uncle in Tampa. My Gram and I went over for dinner and it had been wow, probably 6 years since the last time I'd been to their house. My Aunt Wei is Chinese and cooks  DELICIOUS food! This time she was just getting started when we arrived so I got to help her in the kitchen a bit!

 I love how crisp vegetable are when they are cooked in a wok. Aunt Wei had these super long Chinese green beans that she stir fried and then in a rice noodle dish she had some kind of squash that looked like a cross between a zuccini and a melon. 

 Teeny tiny shrimp for flavor and some kind of chewy black vegetable rehydrating. Yum!

 I primarly helped by putting the shrimp on the skewers with pineapple and par cooked onions & peppers. 

There was SO MUCH FOOD! Grilled Salmon, Tuna and Swordfish, the shrimp skewers, stir fried green beans, the rice noodles with squash and a roast duck that they had picked up!

 It was a serious FEAST! And more importantly it was a really fun evening spent catching up with family. My cousin Jeannie got married last year and I wasn't able to make it to the wedding so it was great to see her and get to meet her new and very entertaining husband Kiki. 

They also brought dessert and were so sweet to find me a gluten free vegan treat at Whole Foods so I didn't feel left out! 

Hmm, I think I need to get down to Florida to visit this side of the family more often because it was so much fun seeing everyone!

Dinner With Gram

So for as much of a foodie as I am, I'm surprised its taken me this long to share about my food adventures while while visiting Florida in May! 

The 1st night I got to my Grandmother's in St. pete we went to The Peninsular Inn for dinner in Gulfport where  was able to get a gluten free meal!

It was a gorgeous night with a nice breeze and a band playing on the adjacent patio. 

 We had a wonderful waiter. Seriously, he was literally the most knowledgable and accommodating person I've ever met in any food service related role when it came to gluten free and immediately put my "eating out" nerves at ease! Not to mention the way he addressed and interacted with my Grandmother was hilarious with is light and totally joking sarcasm and referring to her and her friends (who frequent the place weekly) as "those girls" as if they are always up to no good.

It was quite nice and Gram as I call her told me all about her Ladies Club that goes meets there for dinner every Wednesday for the Early Bird $2 a glass wine special... cuz you can't beat that! ;)

Inspiration from Florida

Whew, life has gotten super busy of late but I haven't forgotten about this little space of mine. While I'm working on some new posts I wanted to share with you all some of the inspiring artwork I saw while on my wonderful 2 week getaway to Florida back in May! 

The Dali Museum

Went to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg while I was in Florida.

Taking pictures in the gallery wasn't allowed so instead I took pictures of the gorgeous architecture of the museum itself. It was fantastic! I can't wait to pick up the black and white film I took!

The Craftsman House

There is a beautiful craftsman home on Central Ave in St. Petersburg Florida and it happens to be full of beautiful pottery by several hundred different artists!

You can bet my brain has been full of ideas for my ceramic work ever since! :)

Driftwood Beauty

Sorry about the infrequent posting of late.. I just got hired to a new part-time job at the YMCA!! And started in a more official role as apprentice at the studio.  Between the 2 it will be a 42-45 hr work week so the posts may continue to be infrequent over the next few weeks as I get adjusted. 

In the mean time I want to share some more of my adventures in Florida! While in St. Augustine my Aunt took me to the Baliker Gallery. We went on a week day so we couldn't go inside because the gallery is only open during the weekend but Paul Baliker has a lot of his driftwood sculptures outside so we walked around the grounds. 

 I had never heard of the artist, Paul Baliker before, but he works in both wood and bronze and his work is stunning!

 This looked like a work in progress with the dragon head emerging from the drift wood. 

 This statue was my favorite. I'm pretty sure it is made entirely of driftwood and it is absolutely incredible! There are so many things to capture your eyes. 

 The central character is a big octopus surrounded by all kinds of sea creatures.

I love natural drift wood but this beautiful art work took it to a whole new level!