Richela Fabian Morgan's Blog, page 7
January 27, 2014
Braised Lamb Shank With Kidney Beans
To combat the Polar Vortex blues, I've been cooking a lot of hearty fare. My favorite dish so far is this braised lamb shank.The best part of this recipe is how easy it is. As a work-at-home mom, I really try to plan out dinner in the morning. Why the morning, you may ask? It's during the hours between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM that I find myself in the kitchen making breakfast and packing the kids' lunches. So making meals is naturally on my mind. I might pull out all the ingredients for dinner and decide what time to actually start cooking the meal. I'll put an alarm on my phone or clock to let me know when I should stop working and put dinner together.
Since this is a braised meal and our dinner time is around 6:30 PM, I'll set my alarm 2:15 PM. It takes 15 minutes to prep and 4 hours to cook. The best part is that once I put the braising pot in to oven, I can go back to work.
Ingredients2 lamp shoulder shanks (2 to 3 pounds of meat, bone in)1 cup red wine (I use Beaujolais since I usually have an open bottle around the house)2 cups chicken broth1 15-oz can stewed tomatoes plus liquid, chopped1 large onion, diced5 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped2 medium carrots, diced1 15-oz can of kidney beans, drained and rinsedsalt and pepper to tastefresh cilantro
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.Brown the lamp shanks in a braising pan. Add all the ingredients except the fresh cilantro. Cover pan and place in oven for 4 hours. After removing from oven, place in serving dish and top with chopped fresh cilantro.
Serve with cooked jasmine rice.
Enjoy!
January 23, 2014
January 21, 2014
Rest In Peace
Just a quick note about a tragic discovery in NYC. The remains of a missing young autistic boy were found. His name was Avonte Oquendo and he had been missing since the beginning of last summer.His face is forever etched in my memory from the fliers that his family and friends posted in every subway station. Every single station. I travelled from Harlem to Astoria to Bay Ridge, on my way to a shopping destination or to meet friends. The fliers were everywhere and I dutifully kept an eye out for him. But weeks turned into months, and the fliers became tattered or torn down. And hope became a fleeting sensation.
This ribbon is for you, Avonte. It's a silly gesture from a silly woman who never knew you, but I made it nonetheless.
January 15, 2014
January 10, 2014
Come Craft With Me At BookCourt
Happy Friday!I'll be in Brooklyn tomorrow, January 11 at 2pm, making coin holder key chains, bow ties, and flowers--oh, and signing books.
I'd love to see you, so come on by!
xoRichela
BookCourt
163 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718)875-3677
January 9, 2014
January 2, 2014
Happy New Year!
May your 2014 be filled with laughter and love.
xoRichela
October 11, 2013
Day 11 of 30 Days of Halloween: The Palest Comedian Around
Feast your eyes on a duct tape Jim Gaffigan! He's one of the funniest comedians around--surely the palest--and my kids love him, too. In fact, they read his book "Dad Is Fat." But I'm not so sure it was something they should have been reading...
xxoxR
Day 10 of 30 Days of Halloween: A Quest For Love
This is a quick post because I spent all day making this thing.
This is my duct tape version of Quest Love's "Mo Meta Blues" book jacket. I love this guy. What a fantastic book and what an incredible talent.
Good night/morning!
xxoxR
October 9, 2013
Day 9 of 30 Days of Halloween: Ian Somerhalder
This is Ian Somerhalder. I know him as Boone from "Lost," but nowadays he is known as Damon from "Vampire Diaries."Someone asked me to make a duct tape Ian pillow. The intent is to ask him to sign it so it can be auctioned. The money would go to the Ian Somerhalder Foundation whose mission is to further global conservation and green energy development. A great cause, don't you think?
So far I made Ian's face. The pillow will have to wait a few more weeks. But before I actually place Ian's face on the pillow, I thought it would be fun to imagine it as a mask. Anyone want to be Ian Somerhalder for Halloween?
His hair went through a few different iterations. Let's just say that it's hard to capture that tousled look with duct tape. He started out looking like Bruce Lee.
This is the closest I could get to Ian's coif. I just hope he likes it!xxoxR
