Tonight’s the night! The 20th anniversary of Project Return’s Annual Birdhouse Auction. This popular event attracts whimsical and creative structures for indoor and outdoor use as well as bird themed art. It all goes to a great cause supporting girls in crisis. The auction is held at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Westport CT after a preview of the artwork is displayed for two weeks in the storefront windows of Westport CT. This will be the third year I’ve participated in the event.

Most people think of me as a cookbook author but there’s another side of me—The side that grew up drawing  from life as I saw it on Saturday morning cartoons.  Those were the days when cartoons were still created on cells before the age of computers. I particularly liked all of the detail in the really early Disney cartoons that my parents used to watch in movie theaters with feature films. It got to the point where I actually “dreamed in cartoon”. I loved my two dimensional world. It was a happy retreat for me where anything was possible. My imaginary friends weren’t invisible to my family, I’d drawn portraits of all their familiar faces.  Best of all was  I wanted to design my own hat or coat I’d just draw them and like magic they were right there before my eyes.

There was just one problem with my artwork then and now… I never really mastered the human form or face. My people always looked more like political cartoons (recognize Nixon, tailors Haldeman Erlichman and “Little Johnny Dean?).  As a teenager, I wrote a fractured fairy tale turning Watergate into The Emperor’s New Clothes !

So I decided to stick to what I know best whether it was  dressing  household pets  to prehistoric animals as paper dolls. Here I have some dapperly dressed dogs :

And some “Designosaurs”:

For the 2013 Project Return Birdhouse Auction, I decided my paper doll concept was for the birds and created the character Alfred Albatross who ended up in the window of Brooks Brothers:

 

This year I got this inspiration to dress doves in the Edwardian and 1920’s attire from Downton Abby and put them into a coatrack frame. It was on display inside Brooks Brothers until tonight where it will be up for silent auction. 

This will be the first year where credit card bids will be made by cell phone so the mantra is “CHARGE”— Both as much as you can!

 

 

 

 

 

Some people like to mix things up on Thanksgiving with pomegranate glazed turkey or hazelnut stuffing. I’m not saying I’m one of those but I do tend to deviate from the norm now and then on Saint Patrick’s Day. Many times I’ve substituted Brussels sprouts for boiled cabbage or I will make an “Irish Tiramisu” using Bailey’s for dessert. This was one of those years for me. I decided to serve my corned beef as a side dish. In this case, I only needed about 6 oz of slivered deli corned beef but you can make this dish even better the day after if you have your own boiled corned beef from the main event.

I’ll admit I was inspired by kale sprouts I’ve recently started seeking out at Whole Foods. They are a product of Belgium and come in a 150gm bag.

They are really quick to cook. I simply trim off some some of the brown leaves from the sprouts and arrange in a large shallow glass bowl. Fill with about 1 1/2″ of water. Sprinkle with sea salt and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stop microwave, redistribute them in the water, and cook 1 minute longer.

Drain Sprouts well on a paper plate and allow to cool to room temp.

Roll sprouts in a paper towel to squeeze out excess moisture.

Now for the cream sauce: heat 2 cups of milk with 2 tbs fresh snipped chives in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Make a roux by melting 1/4 cup butter and blending in 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp onion powder a few grinds of black pepper and a dash of nutmeg. Blend together with a wire whisk over medium heat until bubbly and smooth.

Blend in heated milk and bring to a boil, stirring until thickened.

Take about 6 ounces of deli sliced corned beef, roll up and slice into julienne strips. (If you are using home-cooked corned beef, just chop up leftover meat since the texture tends to break apart more when simmered on your stove.

Stir into chive cream sauce. Add drained kale sprouts.

Spread into a casserole and cover with buttered breadcrumbs.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden and bubbling.

This actually a great post- St Patrick’s Day dish just like a turkey casserole after Thanksgiving. There I go again comparing the two holidays. I can’t tell you how many times I say Happy Thanksgiving to people on St Patricks Day!