An Omelette

 Welcome

Found on Pinterest 

🥚🫑🥚🧅🥚🧈🥚

Let’s make an omelette today.

This is a 5 ingredient omelette 

I made for breakfast yesterday.

(Plus a few herbs/spices)

Let’s get started!

🍽 🍽 🍽

Read through all directions first!

Really!

You will need:

1/3 Cup roughly chopped red bell pepper

1/2 stick butter

1 Cup roughly chopped mushrooms

6 Large eggs

4 Tablespoons milk or cream

Seasonings

I used fresh ground salt & pepper,

Dried minced onion (had no fresh!)

Dried Anaheim chilies, crushed

Onion powder

Let’s get started!

Prep work:

Crack 6 eggs into bowl.

Add 4 Tablespoons milk.

Whisk together, set aside.

Get your skillet hot, add 1/4 stick butter to melt. 

Add in mushrooms and stir until cooked

(About 1-2 minutes)

Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon.

Set aside.

Leave as much butter in the skillet as you can. 

Place skillet back on heated burner.

Add to hot skillet chopped red bell pepper.

In melted butter, stir until peppers are crisp-soft.

Remove from skillet with slotted spoon,

leaving as much butter in pan as you can.

Add to mushrooms, set aside.

🥣 🐄 🥣

Add bowl of whisked eggs and milk to hot skillet.

As eggs start to set, 

push an edge to the middle and tip pan 

so eggs will run onto hot skillet surface.

Continue gently pushing semi-cooked eggs towards middle, tipping pan so runny eggs flow onto hot skillet surface.

When eggs stop running freely,

Turn heat down.

Add your sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, 

leaving a 1 1/2” border with just eggs.

Cover skillet for 30 seconds on low-medium heat.

Watch! You might need less time!

Add salt and pepper, sparingly.

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

Now is the time to make your omelette Your specialty!

Choose your herbs and spices and sprinkle on egg mixture 

Sparingly!

You can always add more later.

Check your egg mixture now.

I like my eggs well done, so if there are runny parts

I place a lid over the skillet 

and keep the heat at med to med-low for no longer than 

less than 1 minute (think 30-45 seconds).

🧈🥚🧀🥚🧈

Now comes the tricky part.

With as large a spatula as you can find,

Quickly 

flip half of the omelette over, on top of the first half.

Don’t worry if it breaks apart, just flip it until

 half rests on top of the other half.

This really does take a bit of practice!

Slide omelette out of skillet and onto plate.

Voila!

You’ve done it!

Kaleidoscope by inkspired and KaleidoCam 

A few beginner tips:

These are just a few things that if you are a beginner cook you may not have heard of, or known.

1. Cooking is flexible. You will make mistakes, but most of them you can still eat! Relax, have fun!

2. When breaking eggs and a piece of shell falls into the bowl, use a large piece of shell to scoop it out. 

Much easier!

3. When whisking eggs, slightly tip the bowl to one side. You will see others holding the bowl while whisking; this is why. Makes the job faster, easier. 

4. Eggs cook better when room temperature.

5. Before you turn on the heat, set all ingredients out and to the side. This includes all bowls, spoons, etc.

6. If your omelette just looks too messy on the plate, add a topping! Think ‘blanket to cover it’. 

Easy fixes can be green chili sauce; melted cheese 

with a dollop of salsa or a couple of mushroom slices;

small  amount of sour cream, spread lightly 

with a red bell pepper twist on top... 

Remember, you are learning!

7. I use salted butter, so I do not add much additional salt. Depend more on the flavors of herbs like basil, lemon pepper, onion powder or dried minced.

You can taste more flavors if they are not covered up by salt. 

8. Fresh herbs have the best flavor. Dried herbs lose their potency and become weaker in flavor. Keep this in mind! You will need different amounts depending on the freshness of herbs & spices. 

(Was reminded of that the hard way with oregano and spaghetti sauce!)

Polish artist Alina Sibera

I hope you try out omelettes if you have never cooked one before.

There are all sorts of tasty ingredient exchanges to make each one unique and yummy.

‘Til next time,

inkspired

If you have any suggestions or comments, I love to hear from my readers!

‘In the Pink’ paper floral centerpiece or wall hanging

Created by inkspired 

Antique Theaters Part II

Welcome!

All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam 

Let’s continue exploring antique paper theaters

popular in Queen Victoria’s Era.

German wood and lithograph paper antique theater

Courtesy Ruby Lane

Here is a nice diagram showing you how the layers work,

from a top view.

Matinlumineux.blogspot.com

Remember, you want your scenery backgrounds

removable so they can be changed for different ones

to match the play.

Slots are your friend for that need!

Courtesy of museumofplay.org

 skd-online-collection.skd.museum

 Spinal Grand Theatre Nouveau Palace, eBay.com

The more slots for backdrops you have,

the greater depth and realism you will have.

You also will have more room for extra actors,

furniture, props, etc.

 The above 2 are both from geheugenvannederland.nl

Courtesy papirteater.dk

And what great actors/actresses there are!

Fairytales

Aladdin -

Museumofplay.org

 From an article on Flickr

You can also find soooo many copies of original

antique theater backdrops,

accessories, greenery -

there is a lot out there to explore!

 Papirteater.dk

 Goriniart.com

Skd-online-collection.skd.museum

Hmmm...

Don’t want to go overboard with the theme,

but I sure do like paper dollhouses,

Paper dolls and paper ephemera.

This fits me perfectly!

Here are just a few more -

I found the above illustrations from Pinterest:

Theatre a decouper

Geheugenvannederland.dk

Skd-online-collection.skd.museum

Papiertheater-forum.eu

eBay

Museumofplay.org

I hope you try out this vintage play time fun.

I would love to see your finished theaters!

You can leave a comment/photo for me,

the directions are at the bottom of this blog.

Nothing gets posted until I say ok,

so no need to worry if you just want me to see. 

‘Til next time,

inkspired

Truth - usually discovered before coffee or 10am,

whichever comes last -

Putting pants on can be difficult 

when your brain is not yet awake.

It’s best to sit down when attempting.

When ignoring this truth,

the loud thuds and groans only irritate The Dog.

And you still won’t have your pants on.

Boredom Busters, Part III

Welcome!

All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam 

‘The cure for boredom

is curiosity.

There is no cure 

for curiosity.’

- Ellen Parr

We are now under severe restrictions 

on our ability to go where we want,

do what we want, see who we want.

Many people have already been under ‘house restrictions’ 

for a week or more.

Patience can get frazzled.

Artist Sandra Boynton

Tempers may be elevated.

Minion humor

And then there are the kids!

They are stressed out too!

I hope you will come away from today’s blog

with a few ideas to relax everyone,

use that creative side of the brain,

and just have some good ‘ol fun!

Let’s start out today with a couple more

Painting Projects:

Painted Swirly Flowers

From an article in Make and Take

You will need:

Some kind of palette-
 plastic lid, watercolor tray, plastic plate

Paintbrush

Paper 
Acrylic paints, various colors

Suggested- 

drop cloths, paint ‘smock’ or old shirt

From Make and Takes, 2016 article

How to:

Pour a few colors of paint onto your palette.

Take a paintbrush and dip into one color.

Without rinsing, dip into a second complimentary 

paint color. 

Do not blend!

Make a large circle ‘swirl’ on your paper,
 Making it into a swirl shoe.
Reload your brush with paint.

Make another next to it.

If you would like your flowers to have 
slightly different ‘tones’, try another swirl 
without reloading your brush with fresh paint.

Swirl in a third  circle.

(Refer to photos)

Made-by-mejulie-ryder.blogspot.ru


Using a largish brush, or a sponge cut into a thin leaf shape
Load with 2 or 3 colors of green paint.
Using a swiping motion add in some leaves.
(Refer to photo)

Load your brush with the flower colors (2)
and use a short quick ‘swipe’ to make flower buds.
Take a small paint brush and load 
with a light color value of your flower colors. 
Add in a bit of detail/highlights.

Here is a finished example,
with some slightly different ‘tweaks’.

Copyright Julie Ryder

Almost done!
Using a small paintbrush 
dab black or very dark flower color 
to center of each flower.
Using the end of your paintbrush
dip into white or yellow and make 3 dots
in the very center of your flower.

Here is another example to inspire you!

Sorry, the credit for this was in Russian!

For young artists,

have them dip a finger into a thin layer of paint. 

Then press their finger around the colored swirl.

Voila!

You now have a bouquet of flowers with leaves!

As you can see, your flowers can be very simple

or look more elegant

Depending on what you ‘add’.

Oh do send me photos of your results!

Next painting project:

DOTS!

ChristysCornerStudio.com

Dots are simple and any age can make one.
The more skilled the artist,
the more complex designs you can use.

Let’s start with a simple project:

YouandKids

You will need:

Paper - plain, watercolor or mixed media
Colored markers, any size, any brand
Post-It Notes

Pick out a simple shape - 
look at preschool age coloring books 
for some shape ideas.
To start, make your shape solid with no inner cut out areas.

Using your Post-It notes, cut the shape out.
You can patchwork the notes together so you have a large enough area for your shape.
Be sure to have as much of the ‘sticky’ area 
on your pattern shape as possible.

Smooth your shape onto your paper.
The sticky areas should hold it in place.

Now take the main color marker and start randomly making dots on your paper. Concentrate more dots around your shape, with fewer dots out to the edges.

Posted on Pinterest by Srirup 

Take a complimentary colored marker and make more dots.
When you are pleased with the color balance,
and the edges of your shape are mostly covered
you are done!
Carefully peel up your sticky note shape.
😁

The above photo shows using paint with pencil erasers.
This works really well!
You can also use Q-tips (cotton swabs),
pen caps, dowels - just look around for round shapes!

I think using acrylic paints is much easier than dotting with watercolors, but experiment with what will work best for you, and/or the ages of the kids creating also.

Here’s another design variation,
same technique:

Posted on Pinterest by Rachel Hinderliter

Starting to have some dotty fun?
Try using acrylic paint dots on rocks!

 For sale on Etsy

Try some dots on thick card stock and make bookmarks!

ShopWorldLove


I hope you try some Dot Art,
and really have fun with it.

That’s it for today’s Boredom Busters.
‘Til next time,
inkspired

Truth, usually experienced before 10am or coffee-
Nothing is kept in the plate cupboard
except plates.
Not coffee, silverware, napkins or mugs
can be found in the plate cupboard.
Just. Plates.