New Beginnings, x5

Tinky Winky's new beginning has put a smile on his face 

Tinky Winky, the "gay" Teletubby, lol, has come out from his longtime home in the guest room, to play in the light of the livingroom. My late mother bought him for me for my 40th birthday! He now prefers to sit next to my similar-colored violets, blooming more profusely as the days grow longer. For a bit of background on the Teletubbies, click here. "Uh, Oh!"

My flower gardens' new beginnings

Spring isn't quite here, and snow is in the forecast for Wednesday, but I've cleaned off several flower gardens of their fall leaves and winter detritus. This tiny Feverfew will grow to 3-feet tall, with hundreds of tiny white daisy-like flowers.

My chive pot is going on 25 years old this year. It has been backed into a couple of times, and hit with the snow plow, but is really none-the-worse for wear. I might sand it and give it a new paint job later this spring. I use these chives all season long, in almost everything I cook.

Tiny daffodils are just beginning to show their heads.

The "dead tree" garden's Myrtle, or Periwinkle, in front of Pink Gardens, is really spreading nicely at the base on all sides. This garden is nicely naturalized with several varieties of day lilies, iris, daisies, fox gloves, rose campion, tulips, sedum, and several other perennials.

Young day lilies, iris and Feverfew sprouting.

My culinary new beginnings

My great friend Mary surprised me with these lovely "bleue" eggs the other day when she came over. They are cage-free and organic and absolutely fresh, and besides the very artistic packaging, the eggs were various shades of teal and light blue. For the story of Platine Bleue heirloom eggs, click here!

I wanted to "experience" these special eggs as much as I could, so I used them in three great dishes. First I made a very European omelette with two of them, adding Gruyere cheese, mushrooms, scallions and a tiny amount of truffle oil. Ooh-la-la! Next I hard-boiled two of them, and made a very simple salad from them so I could really discern their flavor. I made a fresh olive oil mayonnaise (a LOT of hand beating; I used a "plain" egg for the mayo so I wouldn't waste a special one), and added a  few capers and a couple leaves of julienned tarragon to the mashed-up hard-boiled eggs. These blue-shelled eggs had very yellow yolks, so the egg salad was vibrantly colored. Very Hamptons! Lastly, I made my favorite simple egg dish, scrambled eggs. I used a spare amount of grated Vermont cheddar, again I wanted to make sure the eggs were the "star" of the dish, sea salt and freshly ground "rainbow" peppercorns, and made Pumpernickel toast on the side. I don't think I've ever enjoyed eggs as much as I did these Platine Bleues! A huge thanks to Mary!

My photoshopped cars' new beginnings, new home

I've begun a second blog, "artandcolourcars" just for my fake cars. I started it a few weeks ago, and have kept it very low-key, though the hits have started climbing in the last week. I will be posting my cars there as I finish them, creating a virtual parking lot as it were for my creations. Please stop by if you've enjoyed my cars in the past. Above is my "proper" 2012 Dodge Charger, the 2-door coupe with flying buttressed C pillars. Link to artandcolourcars here.

My personal new beginning

I've very recently been "discovered" and I didn't even have to sit at Schwab's Hollywood soda counter in a tight sweater—good thing actually, lol, for everyone involved! My car art, which Peter De Lorenzo has been kind enough to run on his Autoextremist site several times in the past few years, has caught the eye of Automobile magazine in Ann Arbor. I'm now working on my second assignment for them, which will be published in the June issue of their magazine. This is my first print magazine publishing credit for my photoshopped cars, and I couldn't be happier. It has been a dream of mine, forever, to have my car art published in a car magazine, but I had given it up a long time ago, along with several other dreams. Well, it's about to come true, and I hope everyone out there that enjoys "my" cars rushes out and buys the June issue of Automobile which is on sale in early May!

A big hello to everyone, and see you next month.