Homemade Hazelnut Gelato

I normally don't post about food I make, but this was quite an experiment so I thought I should share. A while ago I read the book, "Under the Tuscan Sun," which is quite different then the movie. Anyway, it has lots of italian food recipies and I've been itching to try them out. Last week I make a folded peach tart with marscapone and it was quite delicious!

Tonight I tried Hazelnut Gelato.

First I had to toast the hazelnuts and chop them up.

Then I had to whisk 6 egg yolks, 1.5 cups of sugar and combine it with a pint of heated half&half.

This was supposed to be heated until it "almost" boils but when I was chopping the hazelnuts it boiled over, smoke going up and almost setting off our fire detector. I frantically salvaged most of it and toweled off the burner.

I poured this mixture into a bowl and put it in the fridge to cool down.

After I finished chopping the hazelnuts, I whisked the nuts, the juice from a lime and 1.5 tablespoons of vanilla into the mixture. Then as I was attempting to put this into the ice cream maker, I spilled even more of it on the counter. I was going for cleaning every surface in my kitchen.

So now, it's in the ice cream maker churning away and I'm anticipating it's demise.

Old Florida in it's Finest...

For my birthday my dad surprised me on Friday by taking me on a airboat tour of Lake Hatchineha and parts of Lake Kissimmee. We saw tons of wildlife; gators, birds, deer, cows, spiders and a huge hornets nest. The best part was how close we got to everything and how I got to take pictures of things that I couldn't of taken on a regular boat. Plus, it was a pretty unique experience. Here are some of my photos from the day...

Smart Creative.

So I'm loving working at my new office downtown. I have the pleasure of working for Smart Creative. A brand development/marketing agency that has a lot of fun with the whole creative process. Our ribbon cutting is going to be November 12th at 9AM, so if you're available and in Lakeland on that day, come down and see our new office! We've been painting, putting together furniture, buying quirky items, installing new faucets and of course, doing some very creative design work.

So for all of you artists and photographers out there... do you see the world in photographs? I'm constantly putting a frame around visuals that I see. I view the world in photographs and think often "that'd make a good picture". I should just duct tape a camera to my hands. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

It's been forever...

I've neglected blogging lately. oops.

Here in a nutshell is what has been going on:

My piece, An Unlikely Solution won an Honorable Mention at Arts on the Park Gallery and will be on display until the end of October. Go check it out! Tues-Fri 12pm-4pm.

I started working with Smart Creative and we got an office downtown in Lakeland! We're at 208 Pine Street, come and see us! We've been putting together desks, painting, and daydreaming for what our space will/should look like! It's been way exciting and already I've worked on some pretty exciting things. Well, maybe for some pretty exciting clients... but compared to the monotony of website editing, it's extremely riveting work and it's keeping me busy!

We've had an artgroup meeting! Our next one is November 2nd at 6:30PM! We're also going to get together at first friday and sketch in the park. Email me at artgrouplakeland@gmail.com if you're interested or would like to be on our mailing list.

I made a logo for Oasis' new ministiry, Dirty Hands:

I created a logo for ElderPoint Ministries in Lakeland, which I'll post later.

That's about it for now. I'll write more later! I hope you're all having a creative, productive day!

Oh night sky.

The Brown's Photo Shoot!

This past Wednesday I photographed Stacy, her three beautiful girls and her husband, Ben. They are such a fun family to photograph because they can really get into the poses and even come with creative ideas. I love it! We took a ridiculous amount of photos but here are a couple of my favorites...

This one was Stacy's idea and I absolutely love it.

I love that the girls were all wearing the same flip flops in different colors.

So perfect! I love this one.

And the laughing that ensued afterwards. haha.

An Unlikely Solution

So I'm posting some more about my latest art project that I worked tirelessly on for the past few weeks. I wanted to take pictures through the progression...

The idea was to illustrate the number of homeless in Lakeland to the number of vacant residential properties. I started by doing some research. In Lakeland, FL there are 768 vacant residential properties listed, numerous retail and office buildings and over two million (yes, I said million) square feet in industrial space. There are currently 675 people living homeless in Lakeland. I decided to focus primarily on the residential properties and was trying to think of a way to illustrate this basic need with this basic solution. So... I came up with a basic answer. Pegs and Holes.

Step 1.
Buy wood and supplies.

Step 2.

Measure and make chalk lines for the holes to be drilled.

Step 3.

Drill 1443 holes. Wonder why you got yourself into this project on hole 53.

Step 4.

Sand and stain the wood.

Step 5.

Stain the pegs.

Step 6.

Add the frame work around the sides and hammer in the pegs.

Step 7.

Polyurethane the wood and add the "finishing touch".

I'm not posting a picture of this yet because I want it to make it's "debut" at the Platform Art Party tomorrow. But I'm VERY excited about it! I really hope that it inspires thought. I am also entering it into the Lakeland themed Arts on the Park show, so hopefully it will be seen there next Friday night as well. Here is my artist statement that I am posting with it:

Ever wondered how many homes sit empty in the city of Lakeland? As of now, there are 768 registered vacant residential homes. That is 93 more than the number of homeless that have been counted within our city. 

Each peg represents one of those homeless individuals. 

Each hole represents one of the homes that sits vacant. 

I’m not suggesting that the solution is to give every homeless person a free house... I’m just seeing a basic need and a basic solution. A need for shelter, and an empty roof. Beyond residential there are vacant retail and office properties and over two million square feet of vacant industrial space, all the while builders are still building and individuals walk the streets and sleep on benches, store fronts and concrete rain or shine. A need and a solution so close but separated by countless rules and regulations.