Hey everyone and happy Hump Day! Every Sunday I love making dinner for my family and I hate to brag but it turned out pretty darn good this past weekend! I made frittata with rosemary garlic home fries. I followed a tried and true recipe for the frittata but I freestyled the potatoes with lots of butter, herbs, fresh garlic, onions, and romano cheese and it turned out SO yummy. I posted a status on Facebook about my dinner and some of my friends expressed interest in getting their hands on the recipe for the frittata, so I thought I would post it for the world today! This recipe is from the Broccoli Forest cookbook and it’s excellent if you can find a copy of your own:
Ingredients:
2 tbs olive oil (you might need additional oil or butter when sauteing the veggies)
1 tbs melted butter
1 small onion, minced
1 small clove garlic, minced (I usually use 6 cloves in mine)
1/2 tsp salt, basil, oregano
1/4 tsp thyme, rosemary
freshly ground black pepper to taste
5-6 mushrooms, sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small bunch or spinach, swiss chard, or kale chopped
1 small green bell pepper
5 large eggs, well beaten
grated mozzarella cheese
grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
In a large cast-iron skillet, cook the onion and garlic with salt and herbs in combined olive oil and butter for 5-8 minutes
Add remaining vegetables and cook over medium high heat until the vegetables are tender for 8-10 minutes
Turn the heat way up and pour in the beaten eggs. Cook on the stove-top for several minutes, lifting the edges, and letting the uncooked egg flow underneath the cooked egg (as you would for an omelet). Turn the heat back to medium as you do this.
As soon as the egg appears set, sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top and then top it off with the parmesan. Place it in the oven at 350 for 12-15 minutes (until it’s firm and the cheese is melted and slightly brown).
This recipe is one of my family’s favorites and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! One again, it’s from the Broccoli Forest cookbook and it really is great, especially if there’s any vegetarians in your family. What is your favorite thing to cook for dinner? Do you have a primarily vegetarian cookbook that you would recommend? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
PS: Sorry for the lack of pictures of the frittata – it was completely devoured before I got around to snapping some pics!
Howdy everyone and happy Tuesday! It’s my 450th post here on http://www.lifewithlilred.com so I just wanted to take the time to thank all of my fantastic readers for their continuous love and support! As you can see by my featured image photo, my reader map is growing nicely as is my amount of followers! Over 750?! What even?! You guys are awesome, seriously.
There are a lot of really fun posts coming up which I’m so excited to share with you all soon! In fact, I’ll be starting a new one tonight for one of my clients that I think all of my jewelry lovers on here will appreciate. Which brings me to the next thing that I want to bring up…As you guys know by now, I freelance write through my blog for local artists, businesses, and musicians in the Akron, Ohio neck of the woods. So if any of you ever need any type of advertising for your product, art, music, or anything else that you can think of, please let me know!
You can get in touch with me in an abundance of ways, like:
Leaving me a comment on this post
Emailing me at: sarah.mush6794@gmail.com
Sending me a friend request on Facebook at: Sarah Mushenheim
If you plan on friend requesting me on Facebook, I do insist that you shoot me a message to let me know that you’re one of my readers. Usually I end up deleting the request when I get one from people who I have no mutual friends with or who don’t live in my general area. Once you contact me we can discuss the post, payment, and whatever else you might need! 🙂
I hope all of you guys are having a great week so far, I know I am! Who’s excited for the new episode of American Horror Story: Hotel tomorrow? Whose blog should I immediately start following? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
PS: Make sure you give my Facebook page a like! Pretty please?!
Hello everyone and welcome to a very special article on lifewithlilred. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to know Nelson Morris, a teacher, an artist, and now a new friend. Nelson recently had a part of his work entitled the “1000 Faces Project” featured at the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and it is currently being displayed at the Waterloo Sculpture Garden and let me tell you, those who can make it out are in for a treat. Learning the intricacies of Nelson’s artwork was such a joy and I know I shouldn’t be saying this but I’m going to anyways…I have never been so excited to work with someone. Take a look at the interview conducted by yours truly as well as some photos of Nelson’s creations:
Lil Red: So the first thing everyone is obviously going to want to know about is your latest creative endeavor, the “1000 Faces Project”, so tell me more.
Nelson: Of course. It started when I was a student teacher in Middlefield, Ohio. My art students never wanted to do portraits, which I think comes from the social anxiety a student can often feel from the fear of making a mistake. I fought tooth and nail with them about it and one day I set up a still life of a plaster cast and the kids drew it. Something in them clicked, similar to the light bulb moment that I had during a trip to New York City to help a fellow artist. I saw so many people and all I wanted to do was draw all of their faces. This project is about diversity and the subtle facial differences that make us unique. What makes us the same? What makes us different? I wanted to find out, so I began making casts.
LR: Approximately how many faces have you cast?
N: So far I have 165.
LR: And you think you’re going to get to 1000?
N: Yes, I really do. At the Ingenuity exhibit I was set up on stage casting audience members. I casted thirty faces there and got a great response so hopefully I can keep that momentum going.
LR: Has it been difficult finding people willing to sit for you to get their faces cast?
N: Yes! The casting part is easy, it’s finding people that’s the hardest. I can transport an 1800 pound statue on my own and it’s horrible but finding people is much harder.
LR: How have you been finding people to plaster?
N: First I started by reaching out to my friends on Facebook but then I quickly ran out. I then started adding all of the people on the “people you may know” section – I sent a friend request to anyone who looked sane! That’s how I got in touch with you!
LR: I’m glad I look sane to you! But I do the exact same thing when I want more views on my site – a friend on Facebook is a potential viewer.
N: I’ve met some great people from it, too. One time I got to cast a group of fifteen people in the basement of the Fastlane bowling alley in Barberton after it closed thanks to finding the owner on Facebook.
LR: I didn’t even know bowling alleys had basements! What are some of the most memorable moments from all of the people you’ve casted?
N: I’ve had some creepy ones, that’s for sure – but I’ve also had a lot of really fun ones too…Except for the first cast that I ever did, which was on my own face. As an artist, you always experiment on yourself first, so I was home alone at my parent’s house and I stood in front of a mirror and started to cover my face in plaster. I had straws in my nose, walrus-style, so I could breathe and after about three layers of plaster I covered my eyes and did the rest by touch. This was in June and I had hay fever at the time and the straws stuck up my nose kept on bumping and tickling me and before I knew it, I felt a huge sneeze coming on. I tried to pry the cast off but it was stuck on there pretty good and for a split second I thought to myself, “great, this is how I’m going to die – with a plaster face mask on”. But I got the cast off and I survived! However, the plaster that I used originally was very rough and gritty and when I pulled the mask off some chunks of plaster got into my eyes…I spent forty-five minutes in the shower trying to wash it all out.
LR: The things people do for their craft. Can you tell me more about the process of creating a plaster face cast?
N: Well, the process was a bit messy to start because I’ve only plastered bodies, never a face. I used to use about six layers of gauze impregnated with plaster but now I’ve got it down to only one to two layers. Like I said, making the casts is the easiest part now. All you do is dip the gauze in water, squeegee it off, and slap it on the face. I’ve got the process down from a half hour to ten or fifteen minutes flat.
LR: What do you think the finished product is going to be like once you’ve finally cast 1000 faces?
N: It changes all the time. I think very architecturally though so the idea right now is to have the faces lined up next to each other, kind of like in the old underground catacombs. When they’re lined up next to each other is when you can truly compare and contrast them. I also want to incorporate audio into the project. I take recordings of the voices of everyone who I’ve plastered and I would like to make it so if you touch one of the faces you can hear the voice of the model.
LR: Wait what? How do you plan on doing that?
N: I know it sounds crazy but stay with me! I’ve played with this idea before with a life sized terracotta statue. The sound chip was solar powered so when the sun lined up just right the statue of the woman would begin to sing. But that was just for one statue – I had no idea how I would do it with hundreds of face casts. I started to ask around for help and the head engineer of 107.9 (a Cleveland radio station) told me about a processing board that might make the idea possible. I happened to find a hobby group dedicated to working on the processing boards in Akron and I emailed a member with the subject “For The Sake Of Art”. He replied and has been helping me with creating the codes and wiring to give the plaster masks voices.
LR: I’m so excited to see the “1000 Faces Project” in all of its concrete and audio glory. So, if you could say one thing to a young Nelson before he had a beard, what would it be?
N: Everything’s gonna turn out alright.
Pretty cool, huh? Not only is Nelson an artist extraordinaire, but he also teaches pre-k through 8th grade. How he has time to breathe is beyond me! He told me a great story about how on the first day of one of his classes he presented the students with a basket of one hundred pencils and a pair of bolt cutters. He cut off the eraser to every pencil because his students don’t use erasers in his classes so that they can learn how to fix their problems on their own. This goes along hand in hand with the mantra he tells his students daily: “Making a mistake isn’t a problem when you’re creating art work. You have to learn from your mistakes and adapt from them”.
Nelson is a self funded artist who creates customized pieces and will be selling replicas of the tiles seen in the pictures featured on this post. If you are interested in any of his art work old and new or have ideas for a custom piece, you can contact him at:
Or you can shoot him an email at: nmorri12@kent.edu
If you live in the Akron/Cleveland, Ohio area and are interested in having Nelson cast your face he now offers free house casting parties. If you can get five people to attend, he will come to you. But if you get ten or more people to come to the party, all of the guests will receive a free record of their face which will look something like this:
I want to thank Nelson so much for sitting down with me for a chat because it was seriously an honor. If you have any questions for my new friend you can reach him through any of the mediums I posted above or leave me a comment to relay to him. Would you get your face plastered for the 1000 Faces Project? What do you think Nelson’s finished product is going to end up looking like? We wanna hear from all of you, so leave us a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
This week I reached 100 Followers on my blog. Thank you so much for your support. I can’t believe this happened. So Excited!!!!!! ❤️💖🎉🎉😊😍🎊💫🎉💥❤️💖💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
I wanted to thank you all but hosting a giveaway on my blog.the first giveaway on my blog!!!! ☺️ After a lot of thinking I have decided to give away…. drum roll please…..
The Urban Decay Smokey Eye Palette
or
The Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette
The winner gets to pick between the two palettes. They are cult favourites and I am sure you will love them as much as I do 😘
The give away is open worldwide…. till 31-October, 2015
I will announce the winner on 4th November, 2015
How to enter
Follow my blog or Subscribe via email
One additional entry for following me on instagram
Hellooo everyone and welcome to the newest edition of Man Crush Monday – Larry David style! This one may be a head scratcher for some of you but there is nothing more attractive than a man with an award winning sense of humor! Enjoy this clip from one of my favorite shows, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and then let’s discuss:
Dear Larry David,
Oh Larry, you beautiful bald headed Jewish man, you. Thank you for creating the brilliance that is Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Television as we know it would be nothing today without you, NOTHING. You were the brains behind the literal best sitcom of all time and your sense of humor is completely unmatched by the comedians of 2015. Thank you for creating TV shows that I can sit down with my parents and enjoy. Thank you for creating TV shows that I can quote to my wits end with people who are in on the Seinfeld and Curb jokes. Because let’s be honest, people who haven’t seen the shows just wouldn’t get it. Your infamous tongue in cheek openness about subjects ranging from people parking outside of the lines to absolutely nothing at all have earned you the tip of my cap. Hubba hubba, sir. Do I find you hella attractive? Not at all…Openness, right? But do I find your amazing creativity enviable and incredible – Yes, I do. Larry David, you are a genius and I LOVE YOU!!!
So there you have it, this week’s Man Crush Monday: Larry David Edition! Who is your #MCM this week? What is your all time favorite episode of Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend, I sure did! As you guys might remember me mentioning before, I figure skated competitively for a hefty portion of my youth. Thanks to my background as a skater, I’ve been given the opportunity to coach figure skating for the Special Olympics. I had my first practice with my skaters this past Thursday and it was one of the best times of my life! Let’s discuss:
Every Thursday for the next several months I’ll be at the Kent State ice arena for an hour coaching my new friends for the Olympic games in February. I had the best time during my first evening getting to know all of the skaters and their parents. It also felt so good to get back on the ice because I haven’t skated since last winter! I spent my time on the rink going back and forth between different skaters to check on how they were doing and help them improve. It was so rewarding every time a skater accomplished something that I helped teach them!
I had so much fun coaching my skaters but I also really enjoyed just standing back and watching them skate. All of my friends seemed so at peace while they practiced their sport and it was nice to see big smiles and hear laughter throughout the rink. I was legitimately bummed out when the session came to an end but I made sure that before the ice got Zamboni-ed that I was able to have a race around the rink that I promised to one of my speed skaters. He was thirteen years old and was a freaking speed demon so I can imagine I’ll be constantly reminded of his victory every session by him and his uncle, which I’m so okay with!
I seriously can’t wait until next Thursday so I can see my students and their families again. It was so touching how gracious the parents or guardians were after I got off of the rink but I should be the one thanking them because I think I got much more out of my time than the skaters did! I’m so excited to go on a coaching journey with my new friends and their support systems and I’m so ready for another wonderful session this week!
In other news, my boyfriend Kyle and I had our two month anniversary on the 20th which is really exciting stuff! I also got to sit down with one of my good friends to discuss her Trades Of Hope campaign this past Thursday so you can expect an article about that in a few weeks! AND after skating this upcoming Thursday, I’ll be staying in Kent for a little while longer to meet with a really talented musician, John Patrick Halling, to chat about his cross country tour this past summer! It should be a lot of fun so keep your eyes peeled for lots of cool new posts. 🙂
I hope all of you are having a great start to your week and make sure you tune in at http://www.lifewithlilred.com for all of the latest and greatest! What was everyone up to this weekend? How do you plan on celebrating Halloween? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyyy everyone and TGIF! The newest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel entitled “Mommy” premiered on Wednesday and now it’s time for my personal opinions on it. There were some things that I loved, some things that I wanted more of, and some things that I didn’t particularly care for, so let’s discuss:
Introduction of Ramona Royal – LOVED: I adore the fabulous Miss Angela Bassett. I think that she’s completely and totally fantastic so I was so pleased that they gave her character an introduction fit for the queen that she is. From the scenes of her campy B-list movies to her kidnapping of Donovan, I thought that it was flawless. I hope that she gives the Countess a run for her money (or lack thereof) because I still can’t get in to Lady Gaga. My fingers are crossed that Bassett gets significant screen time this season to fill the humongous void that was left by my beloved Jessica Lange.
^^^ Yes, I used this meme during last week’s opinion post but it just seemed to fit so well after my J-Lange swan song!
Ten Commandments Killer – Want more of: Detective John Lowe is hunting after a serial killer who murders people who break one or many of the Ten Commandments and I am such a fan of this idea. I think that it’s edgy, I think that it’s cool, and I think that I desperately want this story line to develop more. It seems like in every episode we only get a brief look into a crime scene that the TCK left behind and then that plot twist completely disappears. I think that Ryan Murphy and his sublime team were extremely creative with coming up with ways that people could get killed based off of the Ten Commandments. In episode three, for example, Detective Lowe enters an office building for a gossip magazine and all of the employees have their tongues nailed to whatever surface they are nearest to for “thou shalt not bear false witness”. That’s brilliant, now give me more of it!
The Countess’s sexcapades – Hate: I’M SO OVER IT! And I swear it’s not just me who’s dogging on Lady Gaga because of my personal distaste for her being on the show…Literally 99% of the people who I interact with on social media agree that they’re getting sick of every scene that the Countess is involved in being a sex scene. It’s tacky, it’s cheap, and it’s so overdone that I just can’t deal. I have seen literally no real acting from Gaga since her debut on the show which is why I don’t care for her as the leading lady. Anyone could do what she’s doing right now and I genuinely believe that. As soon as I see some range in the scenes that she’s involved in I’ll definitely have more love for her, but until then, I’m over the hump fest.
“No pity party in my bar!” -Cleopatra (And can I just say that Denis O’Hare does not get enough credit on AHS. He’s SO underrated despite his brilliance as an actor. I think he’s doing a terrific job and I wish Cleo was getting more screen time because I’m kind of obsessed.)
Over all, I thought that “Mommy” was good. Once again, it wasn’t “OMG” worthy, but it was good. Every episode since the premiere has been improving slowly but surely so I’m going to give episode three: three stars.
^^^ DA DA DA DA DA DA DA, MEET ME AT THE CORTEZ!!!!
You can catch me at the same time same place next week for a synopsis and opinions post on the new episode of American Horror Story: Hotel. Until then, what did everyone think of “Mommy”? What did you love? What could be improved on? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyyy there everyone and welcome to the synopsis of the third episode of American Horror Story: Hotel, simply entitled, “Mommy”. We were introduced to a new character and witnessed a few deaths at the Cortez tonight so let’s discuss from the very beginning:
High fives for killing: “Mommy” begins with Tristan seeking out James March in the room he stumbled into during last week’s episode. He offers March his gratitude and a raised hand in the air, “you’re right man, killing is awesome”! March is quite pleased with this and tells Tristan that his “murder palace” hasn’t been put to good use in years. While this discussion among new friends is taking place, Will Drake enters the room with Claudia, discussing plans on tearing up the floor containing March’s meeting room. Lucky for Mr. March, Tristan is on the case with his mind on murder and murder on his mind. #REDRUM
Family drama at Chateau De Lowe: In this week’s episode we learn more about John’s lovely wife, Alex. There is a touching sequence in which she explains her career, saying how she wanted to save other people’s children but never bear her own. However, these feelings of indifference changed once little Holden came along. “I finally fell in love for real after having Holden” she swoons. Life was looking good for Mr. and Mrs. Lowe until their son got kidnapped (#obviously). We then view a scene of Alex’s suicide attempt where she lays in a bathtub overflowing with bloody water and her wrists slit wide open.
We then witness a family therapy session at the Lowe residence where Alex explains her anger towards Scarlett and her story of seeing Holden. With tension at an all time high, Alex visits her husband at the Cortez with divorce papers in hand. When Alex attempts to leave John has a mini-breakdown and expresses his fear that he’s going crazy. Alex accompanies him to his room where she puts him to bed, they have a little hanky-panky, John suggests they have another baby, and Alex leaves promptly. Once Alex is in the hallway she has visions of a woman recently killed and in all of her confused running around, stumbles upon Holden. She approaches the little boy who is staring at the ground, lifts his chin up, and hears her son speak for the first time in over a year – “Hi, mommy”.
RIP, we just killed the Claudia: Naomi Campbell’s AHS debut was short lived because she got the axe on this episode. Remember the junkie who Sally sewed into a mattress during the season premiere? Yeah, me either. ANYWAYS, the said junkie emerged from the mattress that Miss Claudia laid her perfect body on, did a little stabbing, and that – as they say, is that. The young man runs from the scene of the crime and into John’s arms begging for help. He is rushed to the hospital and the doctors agree that his frenzied and frazzled state is compliments of withdrawals. We also learn in his dying breaths that the mattress man thought Claudia was Sally whom he had the intention of killing. “She said I would be free”…#LIAR
The Countess AKA GOLD DIGGER: Once Tristan takes it upon himself to murder Will Drake to prevent the renovation of the hotel, he decides to break into his room to seduce him and then kill him mid-bang. This would be murder was prevented by the Countess, however, who shook her head “no” as soon as Tristan pulled out his knife. Later on, we find the Countess attempting to convert Mr. Drake to Gagaism, which Tristan interrupts – much to his displeasure. The Countess then takes Tristan to have a little chat in which she reveals to him that she’s not as rich as he thinks. According to the vampiress, all of her money was lost thanks to Bernie Madoff (#asshole). “Will Drake can’t die until after I marry him and take every goddamn penny”…Well, goddamn.
Bitter Donovan is BITTER: Poor ol’ Donovan is down on his luck this episode. He just got dumped, he hates his mother, hates himself, and is bitter at the world. In tonight’s episode you’ll find that Donovan has a lot of built up anger against his mother dearest, Iris. He exits the premises of the Cortez and into the streets to drink the blood of junkies and brood in solitude…And then, thanks to the poor choice of trying to kill the “Slaughter Sister” herself, he winds up in the trunk of the car of a new character.
Ramona Royal (Angela Bassett): In tonight’s episode we’re introduced to Ramona Royal, played by the fabulous Angela Bassett. Miss Royal was the queen bee of B-list movies who wanted nothing more than to be considered a “serious” actress. Over dinner with a fancy producer, the Countess approaches their table and makes the producer leave just by looking at him. We then see some good ol’ Ebony and Ivory action because apparently Lady Gaga only signed up for sex scenes this season. The ladies fell in love with each other and Royal got turned soon after, which she describes as “glorious”. The years go by and everything is going just dandy for a while until a new love interest enters the scene. “There was nothing I couldn’t be…except hers forever”.
Ramona Royal found love in a hopeless place with a not as good as Tupac rapper of the 90’s. Royal decides that she wants to be with him for forever and proceeds to turn him in a recording studio. After the deed is done the new couple enters the main room of the studio to find all of the workers dead with a tear streaked Countess in the producers chair. The Countess shoots Royal’s new man in the head and a grudge between the two vampires begins.
So what does Royal want with Donovan?: So glad you asked! Now that Royal has Donovan in her clutches she tells the Countess’s former lover about her desire for revenge. This sort of revenge requires someone with inside access to the Cortez, however, because Royal wants the Countess’s kidnapped vampire children. #SNAP
So what does Donovan do?: Nothing, really. Donovan is told to leave once Royal finds out that he got his bitch ass dumped. So back he goes to the Cortez with his tail between his legs and a mother who is now suicidal thanks to his harsh words. Iris enlists the help of Sally to off herself once she decides that she can take no more of life as “being the joke”. Sally doles her out a hefty OD of heroin which to her surprise doesn’t kill her. So, Sally goes to Plan B…suffocating Iris with a plastic bag held in place over her head with a belt. Lucky for Donovan, after a pep talk with Cleo at the bar, he finds Iris just in the knick of time…Dead, but not dead enough to not be turned. He cuts his wrist, holds his blood to his mothers mouth, and brings her back to life as a vampire. #CountessChocula
So there you have it, the Cliff Notes version of the newest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel “Mommy”. What did everyone think of tonight’s episode? Who is your favorite character in the hotel thus far? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hello hello everyone and happy Hump Day! Usually today would include a post about my Woman Crush Wednesday for the week but unfortunately, I don’t have one! After months of recapping my women of inspiration every week I’ve simply ran out of #WCWs. So what do I do now? I need your help! Who is your #WCW this week? Who is your all time favorite female musician, artist, or actress? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
HELP!!!!!!!!! Please?! And until next week when I hopefully have a new woman crush make sure you tune in for my review and opinions on the newest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel which airs tonight! Talk soon!
Hellooo everyone and happy Tuesday! Mama has a lot of homework to do today so I decided to go with a short and sweet post so I can get back to work. There isn’t much to this little blip in the whole world wide web except for me asking you guys to give some love to my Facebook page and the pages of some of the talented people that I’ve had the pleasure of writing for! Please do it…PLEASE?!
^^^ Give a like to one or give a like to them all and I’ll like you forever! 😉
^^^ DO YOU NEED ME? DO YOU THINK I’M PRETTAY?!
I also am pleased to announce some of the other articles that will be posted on lifewithlilred within the end of October and the beginning of November:
Nelson Morris: For The Sake Of Art
An interview with the talented John Patrick Halling of Kent, Ohio
An inspiring campaign for Trades Of Hope ran by one of my dear friends
I hope all of you are having a fabulous day and as always keep it posted on lifewithlilred for all of the latest and greatest! How is everyone’s week going so far? Anything awful or exciting? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
lifewithlilred 