Marinated Artichokes

We recently had marinated, grilled artichokes while traveling in Monterey County California. When we returned home I checked the internet and couldn't find a recipe so I have tried my hand at creating my own.

Marinated and Grilled Artichokes

I use a gas grill, but these still have a delightful smoky taste. Must be the slightly charred petals.

4 large artichokes
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup light olive oil
1 teaspoon granulated garlic/garlic powder OR 4 or 5 sliced garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 onion - thin slices
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Slice artichoke tops off, trim stems. Boil or steam artichokes until bottoms pierce easily or petal pulls off easily.

Drain artichokes and allow to cool. Cut each in half lengthwise and remove fuzzy center and any purple tipped petals.

Mix marinade in a large plastic bag and add cooked artichokes. Coat on all sides with marinade. For best flavor marinate overnight in the refrigerator or a minimum of 1 hour. Turn the bag over a few times during the marinating process.

Remove artichokes from bag and place cut side down on medium hot grill. Grill until lightly browned (5 to 7 minutes). Turn over and drizzle some of the remaining marinade over the artichokes. Grill until the petal tips are lightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Serve hot, at room temperature or cold.

Garlic Mayo:

1 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods or Hellman's)
Minced garlic (best to use FRESH garlic, not that bottled stuff) I use a micro-plane to get the garlic as fine as possible. The amount of garlic is up to you. Personally I use 4 or 5 cloves.

Mix together. Keep refrigerated.

Sewing is fun!

I found a blog with directions for sewing in a zipper. For me, zippers have always been a source of frustration. Well, apparently all I needed was concise instructions I could look at! These are some of the bags I have made using this easy zipper install technique and donated zippers.

I haunt second hand shops and thrift stores for fabric. At times there are some fantastic finds!

The fabric for the bags with the straps came from upholstery swatches. They don't show up there well on my bedspread!

Keeping busy....

A casserole carrier; a bowl; a zippered bag; and a triangle bag.


A casserole carrier with Christmas kitten fabric; a bowl made with canine motif fabric with pink polka dot brown fabric; same fabric for a zippered bag; and a triangle bag made with a different canine motif with a lining made form fabric with black doggie bones.

For a close up just click on the photo.


In between getting the house cleaned for the holidays I'm continuing some sewing projects. All of these were from yesterday.

The fabrics I used for these projects were found at Joann's Fabrics. Watch out for the power of cute!

It has been awhile since we returned from our ride East....and we have been busy.

The first weekend in October we attended the Sacramento Ride for Kids.

In a weak moment I volunteered to make 300 wallets fro the Forgotten Senior Project. It took me several weeks of working and getting nothing else accomplished. No photos of the wallets...was just glad to hand them off to the fellow heading up the project.

We rode to San Simeon November 7 through 9. As it turned out it was the only nice weather in the middle of a couple of weeks of clouds and wet.

Larry has been preparing the house for winter. The chimney is swept, the gutters are cleaned out.

Larry also continues to hone his computer skills assisting others with problems. It is amazing the number of people who accidentally download a virus or two to their home computers!

I continue to improve my sewing skills. Picked up a new serger...and I am learning to use it. Can't imagine how I have managed to survive without one in the past! I had to re-thread it within an hour of getting it - only took my an hour of trying. It is much easier now.

Today I watched a tutorial on sewing in zippers....now why wasn't this type of thing available when I was younger. The lady's explanation was awesome and I made 4 cosmetic size bags this morning. Can't wait to use this method some more!

I've been making more handbags, cosmetic bags, bags that hang from a cord around the neck and casserole carriers.

I am actually using up most of the fabric I have been purchasing throughout the year. I have promised myself I will NOT buy a bunch of seasonal fabric...limits one!

We joined the digital TV age last month. We had purchased a digital TV a year ago but didn't see the need for a digital signal....duh! It took 3 weeks to get it working properly, but we are now (almost) problem free. Love the National Geographic Channel!