It's the time of year again and I've started painting for the Big 500.  The Big 500 is a holiday art show that showcases 500 artists! Each artist is given 10 wood panels (8 inch by 8 inch) and all the same price, which means there will be about 5000 pieces of affordable art-work. This show gets crazier and crazier every year, and the line to get in for opening night is pretty insane. People camp out and wait in line hours before. When the doors open, it's a mad house to get in and there will be art collectors ripping art off the wall. The best part about the show is that there is art from established artists to emerging artists. All of the art work is the same price and it's hung saloon style (all mixed up). There is also a huge diversity of art from portrait artists to abstract to mixed media, pretty much there are no rules! One year someone did crochet male parts, on their panels (true story). I have been participating in the show since it first opened years ...
I had a friend of mine, tell me about this amazing little apple stand, and it so happens to be pretty close to my house. One of my favorite things about living on the edge of the city, is having access to local farms. It's an apple stand that sits in front of an orchard and you pay based on the honor system.  So you pick out what you want and leave it in a home-made wooden box.  It's pretty great. The apples from this stand are so crisp and fresh, that I could eat them all plain. It's one of those stands you could smell that apple fall smell before you walked up to it.   Since it's  fall, why not bake?  I decided to make some apple pie bread and the crunch of the crumble on the top, with the fresh apples.  It's that good.  I have been eating this bread nearly every morning dunked into my morning tea or hot coco. If you want to be really naughty, toast a slice in the oven and then add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Serious business. Yum. Ing...