Life in the vineyard and our experimental kitchen

Still happily making art out here in the vineyard. I'm halfway through my stay at Mas Els Igols.  I want to drag my feet now to slow the time down. I'm happy with my work progress, almost finished carving six lino plates. They're more complex than things I've done before.  I'm looking forward to sharing them, but they're not quite there yet. 

Art is not the only thing getting created here. We've turned the residency into our 'experimental kitchen'. Everyone here loves to cook (and eat!) And we're having these lovely meals every night. 

Like this:

And this:

Yes, that IS creme brûlée, although it gets called creme Catalan in these parts. Made in the toaster oven. We have only that and a two burner hot plate, but every night is a culinary adventure. We ( meaning Cedric, while we cheer him on) are getting lots of things for the garden, and from the wild (like freshly foraged asparagus). We've started a little snail farm too. The boys visited a neighboring farm today while Candice and I worked and came home with some fresh cows milk. Every meal gets one dish with almonds from our trees. Tonight's was almond and chocolate chip cookies, also via the toaster oven. We're earning it though, working hard and long every day. This morning we got up early and rode up the wee mountain behind our house to the church we can see perched atop. It looks so close from our farm, but it was an hour and a half grind straight uphill. I can ride, and I had to get off and walk more than once. It was worth it though, for the view...

and for the ride back down: twenty minutes of steep and windy road through vineyards and villages. Heaven. 

The pics up top are for my new artist bio. I've been selected to be 'artist of the month' in April for the federation of Canadian Artists in Vancouver. They asked for a picture of me outstanding in my field, but I chose to sit ;-). Not sure which one to use. Probably the second. 

Next up? We are resurrecting the old press that was here on the property. We're taking a couple of days off and heading down to Valencia for las Fallas, their big festival. We're back Tuesday evening, and I should be ready to start printing by then. Will keep you posted.